Horizon Zero Dawn Patch 1.03 Addressing Snow Deformation and Crashes

New patch for Horizon Zero Dawn now available

News by Adam Siddiqui on Aug 31, 2020

Horizon Zero Dawn on the PC has not been doing well, with the game suffering from many bugs and issues. Guerrilla Games has been working on to resolve the many problems with a new patch now available.

The patch is detailed below and should resolve the many bugs and crashes players have been facing since launch.

KNOWN ISSUES

Some players are experiencing an out of memory error during the game optimization process.

Some players are experiencing graphical settings issues, such as Anisotropic Filtering or HDR not working correctly.

Some players are experiencing performance issues on specific GPUs or hardware combinations.

We're aware of and continue to investigate issues that are not yet solved on both the player-compiled lists by u/EvilMonkeySlayer and u/Rampage572 - thank you!

PATCH NOTES

Please note: These notes may contain spoilers!

Crash Fixes

Fixed a GPU resource leak which could build up over time and cause instability.

Fixed a GPU hang that caused a crash that could occur when Asynchronous Compute was used.

Fixed a crash when AI would try to aim at an invalid position.

Fixed a crash that could occur when sound obstruction was calculated in highly detailed areas.

Fixed a crash that would occur when moving the game to a monitor with different DPI settings while in the menu.

Fixed an issue where some players would crash on startup due to incorrect memory allocation.

Fixed a GPU hang that would occur when the window was resized to a very small size.

Progression Issues

Fixed a progression issue where some players would remain a child and not transition to adult Aloy.

Functionality Issues

Fixed an issue where snow deformation was not working correctly in the Frozen Wilds area.

Fixed an issue where the Concentration skill could stop working.

Other improvements

4K Scaling - Fixed an issue where the game wouldn't render at 4K properly on boot.

Frame Rate Limiter - Improved Frame Rate Limiter functionality to be more accurate.

Localization - Localized specific error messages.

Windows Version Check - The game checks if Windows 10 Build 1809 or above is used (lower versions cause instability in DirectX 12).

Minimum Spec Warning - Improved minimum spec warning message and options.

Saving Issue Warning - Clarified text that is displayed when you do not have access to your My document folder or enough disk space.

Player Profile Validation - The player profile is now validated and corrupt profiles (caused by manual editing or tweak tools) rejected.

PATCH 1.02 (HRZ-PCR 14/5887879 03:52 - SUN AUG 16 2020)

KNOWN ISSUES

Some players are experiencing an out of memory error during the game optimization process.

Some players are experiencing GPU-related hangs during gameplay. The improved diagnostic data collection added in Patch 1.01 and Patch 1.02 is aimed at making it easier to track these down.

Some players are experiencing graphical settings issues, such as Anisotropic Filtering or HDR not working correctly.

Some players are experiencing performance issues on specific GPUs or hardware combinations.

Some players with a non-Latin-1 codepage may have had their save games missing after Patch 1.01; we have a script that can help relocate the missing save games. Please reach out to our team here using “Report Other Issue” for support.

We're aware of and continue to investigate issues on both the player-compiled lists by u/EvilMonkeySlayer and u/Rampage572 – thank you!

PATCH NOTES

Crash Fixes

Fixed an issue where some players would crash during their first game boot when the ‘game optimization’ screen is active and they ran out of disc space.

Fixed an issue where some players would crash if they updated their video drivers after the game was already optimized previously.

Fixed an issue where some players would crash during gameplay because of memory incorrectly being overwritten.

Fixed an issue where some players would crash during gameplay due to a texture unstreaming bug.

Game Improvements

Improved performance when auto-saving (e.g. when completing a quest step).

Fixed an issue where some players experienced that V-sync wouldn’t properly turn off in borderless mode

Fixed an issue where some players experienced out of sync facial animations due to them being locked at 30FPS.

Reduced memory used when streaming shaders.

Other changes

Improved crash report flow and messaging. Each crash now includes an identifier you can use to communicate with our Customer Support.

Added more features to improve diagnostic data collection when submitting a crash report.

PATCH 1.01 (HRZ-PCR 7/5880715 - 01:23 - THU AUG 13 2020)

KNOWN ISSUES

In addition to the issues identified previously, we're working on a number of high-priority issues:

Some players are experiencing startup crashes. Patch 1.01 fixes a few, but not all, of these crashes.

Some players are experiencing GPU-related hangs during gameplay. The improved diagnostic data collection added in Patch 1.01 is aimed at making it easier to track these down.

Some players are experiencing graphical settings issues, such as Anisotropic Filtering not working, 4K not displaying correctly, or HDR not working correctly.

Some players are experiencing performance issues on specific GPUs or hardware combinations.

We're aware of and continue to investigate all issues in this list on Reddit as well. Thank you to u/EvilMonkeySlayer for compiling this for us.

PATCH NOTES

Crash/Hang Fixes

Fixed an issue where the game would crash if the SteamUI didn't initialize properly on startup.

Functionality Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where Concentration and other slowdown mechanics wouldn’t work for everyone.

Fixed an issue where Windows/Steam profile names containing special characters would prevent some players from saving the game. We are still investigating other saved game issues as well.

Fixed an issue where Windows/Steam profile names containing special characters would prevent some players from saving screenshots in Photo Mode.

Other Fixes

Added improved diagnostic data collection when submitting a crash report.

Fixed several backend issues.

Fixed a video corruption issue for specific hardware. We’re continuing to look at other hardware configurations as well.

DAY 0 PATCH (HRZ-PC 596/5863656 09:58 - TUE AUG 04 2020)

Below are a few recommendations from us about what you can do to optimise your Horizon Zero Dawn PC experience. As always, your feedback and support is so appreciated!

Updating the Latest Video Drivers

Please ensure you're using the latest graphics drivers available for your card. Older drivers may cause graphical glitches or stability issues:

NVIDIA: 451.67

AMD: 20.7.2 (“Optional” / non-WHQL) or newer

Look out for new drivers released around launch that may offer further benefits for Horizon Zero Dawn on PC.

Initial Shader Compilation

In order to improve performance during play, we’ve implemented a one-time initial shader compilation before the game starts for the first time. This can take an average of 10-15 minutes for most systems to complete. Once it’s completed, you won’t have to do it again unless you make a significant hardware change or update your video drivers. We’re looking into ways to further optimize this process.

Known Issues

Anisotropic Filtering settings are not working. This is a high priority issue for us to resolve.

Some systems may experience a brief stutter during general world traversal, UI updates, quest updates, or camera swaps in cutscenes. This is a high priority issue for us to investigate.

Some animations are designed to only refresh at 30fps even if the game is running at a much higher frame rate. We are exploring how we can improve this with a future update.

Shader Compilation process does not properly verify remaining storage space on user PC and can result in crashes if the user’s storage drive is low on space (compilation process requires additional ~2GB storage space).

PATCH NOTES

Please note: These notes may contain spoilers!

Crash/Hang Fixes

Fixed an issue where the game would crash in the control mapping menu screen when moving the game window to a second screen using the Win Key + Arrow Key combination.

Fixed several other crashes

Performance Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where the framerate would behave incorrectly in Ultimate Quality with a 3840x2160 display resolution.

Fixed an issue where the game would have performance issues when running in High End 4K display resolution.

Fixed an issue in the main quest “The Point of the Spear” where the game would have performance issues during the fight with the Sawtooth.

Fixed an issue in the side quest “Fatal Inheritance” where the game would have performance issues when entering the house.

Fixed an issue in the DLC expansion quest “Firebreak” where the frame rate would drop in certain places.

Fixed an issue where the framerate would drop on a path to in-game location Pitchcliff.

Fixed an issue where the game would encounter streaming issues on buildings when the player was near Mother’s Cradle.

Graphics Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where the game would have graphics issues when approaching the Battery Facility and Firebreak.

Fixed an issue in side quest "Sunstone Rock" where there was a graphics issue behind Janeva near Sunstone Rock.

Fixed an issue where a flicker would occur when changing the Render Scale.

Fixed an issue where the Crafting sub-menu image would show a compressed image in different aspect ratios.

Fixed an issue with overlapping UI in Quest menus when using Mouse and Keyboard.

Fixed an issue where the extended blurred side bars for cutscenes and conversations did not display when in Borderless Mode.

Streaming Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where the game would encounter streaming issues when using specific Adaptive Performance FPS settings.

Functionality Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where a notification after a crash disappears before the user can accept the request.

Fixed an issue where an option in the Audio Output Device list did not register as a valid option.

Fixed an issue where the Audio Output Device can not be changed via the Settings > Audio page.

Fixed an issue in the Benchmark Tool where music would no longer play on subsequent runs of the Benchmark Tool after running and cancelling the tool early.

Fixed an issue in the Japanese SKU where the cross button is functioned as confirmation button when selecting choices during conversation and cutscenes instead of circle button.

Localization Issue Fixes

Fixed an issue where the first-time loading screen would show placeholder text in every language except English.

Other Fixes

Fixed an issue where a user was not able to boot the game after closing it.

Fixed an issue where the game would display debug names in some instances.

Fixed an issue where several fonts were present in the Install folder of the game.

Fixed an issue where the Horizon Zero Dawn logo would not be displayed correctly.