Saints Row Patch Notes

Developer Volition has posted a frankly gigantic list of changes coming to Saints Row next week. The patch will drop on the 9th May alongside the game's first story DLC, The Heist and the Hazardous, and makes some fundamental changes to how the sandbox title operates.

We've known about the main features of this update for a while, but the patch notes go into a lot more detail. Just to recap, we're looking at a significant combat overhaul — generally making enemies less of an annoyance — and a bunch of new features, including a photo mode, quality of life improvements, and even a entirely new city district.

Anyway, prepare yourself for a long read, because as mentioned, these patch notes are huge.

Saints Row Sunshine Springs Update Patch Notes

NEW DISTRICT – SUNSHINE SPRINGS

In our first map expansion we have officially added the brand new district of Sunshine Springs. A sprawling resort area, an oasis in the dry landscape of the Rojas Desert along Route 22 in the south-west of Santo Ileso. This district comes with new activities and stores to explore, and it’s all yours to conquer.

GENERAL COMBAT CHANGES:

Significant changes have been made to combat. We heard a lot of feedback about the amount of damage needed to down enemies, and we agreed. Combatant health has been dramatically reduced. This change, combined with several aim and engagement improvements, increases the pace of combat and reduces the ammo starvation. We also made several changes to enemy dodges, since those would sometimes feel unfair. The last major change is regarding the time players had to interrupt call-ins for reinforcements. It was too short, so we adjusted them to be longer on all difficulty levels. Numerous additional changes and bug fixes (detailed below) are included in this update. Overall, combat feels much more satisfying and we can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it.

  • Drastically reduced the hit point values of all enemies.
  • Reduced the frequency of enemy dodges in melee combat to near 0.
  • Reduced the frequency of enemies avoiding player kicks to 0.
  • Increased the amount of time it takes for enemies to call for reinforcements.
  • Enemies arriving to combat situations will now arrive in slightly different locations to more frequently avoid collisions.
  • Enemies will no longer wait to engage the player 1 at a time in combat.
  • Enemy hit chance is now temporarily reduced when the player crouches.
  • Changed the crossbow weapon to use hit scan logic instead of behaving like a projectile weapon.
    Slightly improved the sounds indicating “low ammo.”
  • Improved impact reactions associated with weapons typically viewed as “heavy.”
  • Added a visual element to the reticle on the HUD to indicate when a player successfully hits an enemy.
  • Removed “stand in place and panic” order from Panteros enemies who are on fire. – This better aligns them with the logic of using fire in their attacks.
  • Buffed low-level explosive skills to be more useful and fun throughout the game.
  • Removed damage immunity on enemy combatants when dodging.
  • Added fire damage resistance to all Panteros.
  • Added better logic to enemies attempting to make a call in for reinforcements to better keep them in the view of the player – and thus able to be interrupted. This should keep enemies from calling too often from cover.
  • Added logic to better clean up vehicles abandoned by fleeing pedestrians.
  • Weapon Signature Abilities will now automatically be applied when they are unlocked instead of requiring the player to go to Friendly Fire locations.
  • Reduced spread on player weapons and replaced it with more realistic recoil. This should better reward skill in compensation with reducing recoil.
  • Updated Thump Gun charge time and reload times to be more in line with other weapons of the same tier.

HUD/UI COMBAT CHANGES:

  • Added visual elements to the HUD and the weapon wheel to indicate the current level of upgrade on a given weapon.
  • Added text below the weapon wheel to indicate the requirements to complete the equipped weapon challenge.
  • Added a full-screen tutorial to encourage players to utilize the upgrade system.
  • Added “Friendly Fire” weapon store functionality to the weapon stashes in the HQ and apartment.
  • Recaptured tutorial video for “Proximity Mines”
  • Re-enabled Depth of Field blur in fine aim.

@TCHA COMBAT CHANGES (NOTE, THESE WILL IMPROVE AREAS OUTSIDE OF @TCHA ADDITIONALLY):

  • Added avoidance logic to enemy vehicles arriving at @tcha combat encounters.
  • Added scaling deceleration to enemy vehicles arriving at @tcha combat encounters to keep vehicles from careening out of control.
  • Resized @tcha locations combat areas to keep arriving enemies closer to the player’s location.

**NEW** FEATURE: EMOTE WHEEL:

  • Added customizable “wheel” to offer up to 8 emote choices on the fly.
  • Added “quick bind” feature to left and right d-pad to quickly access any two emotes from the wheel.
  • Added emote interface to the player customization screens.
  • Added new ability to “steer” certain emotes while slowly moving (some can even be mixed with others!).
  • Added new “type” descriptions to each type of emote while customizing. This will help players better understand the abilities and limitations of each type.
  • Added 6 new emotes to try out with the new emote wheel.

**NEW** FEATURE: SELFIE MODE:

A new “selfie” mode can be found within the camera app. Players can move the camera in a small 3d space, change the orientation, change and modify focal distances, toggle different facial expressions, and even pause mid emote! They can then hide all of the HUD elements to capture an image using the share feature of their respective platforms.

PLAYLIST FEATURE ENHANCEMENT:

  • Removed several unnecessary “Play” buttons throughout the interface.
  • Moved the “Custom Playlist” within the menu to be in a more convenient location.
  • Added “Shuffle” buttons to radio stations within the playlist app, as well as the custom station.
  • Added functionality to the radio station selection wheel to quickly add a radio song to the custom playlist.
  • Added ability to move tracks within the custom playlist.
  • Added the “Custom” station to the radio wheel.
  • Fixed several small UI inconsistencies with visual formatting.

MISSIONS APP ENHANCEMENT:

  • Added an icon to Identify next mission in story.
  • Added an icon to identify DLC missions.
  • Added “Completed” tab to condense completed missions and challenges.
  • Reorganized mission order within the app to keep the story and dlc missions at the top.
  • Added description and xp/cash reward information to the mission highlight information.
  • Added several pieces of information to the challenge sub menu on item highlight. This includes: The name of the next perk to unlock, the number of challenges needed to unlock next perk, the icon of the next perk, and a short description of the next perk to unlock.
  • Added visual progress indicator for each challenge’s progress via a purple bar behind the challenge name.
  • Cleaned up several minor inconsistencies regarding the scroll bar functionality and the menu option highlight formatting.

AUDIO:

  • Rebalanced several instances of player and npc voice over.
  • Tweaked ambient sound levels.
  • Bumped footstep foley levels.
  • Rebalanced default audio mix configurations and reset the default audio slider positions to reflect the changes.
  • Edged down the jump air rush sound effect.
  • Increased the voice line volume of the HQ Porta Potty collectible.

GENERAL:

  • Added extensive tech to automatically condense icons on the map when zooming out. This should increase stability in later levels of progression as well as make the information easier to see.
  • Added hide player health ui option.
  • Added hide vehicle health ui option.
  • Reorganized and unified the pause and main menu to help players better find the options they are looking for.
  • Added ability to custom nickname vehicles in the garage.
  • Added new “Overcast” and “Cloudy” states to the Weather System.
  • Fixed a few outstanding weather-related bugs.
  • Saints will now gather in small groups in completed districts, ready to help out the player.
  • Added new “distant” vehicle camera via “up” on the d-pad while driving.
  • Added DLC menu to help identify what content is available and what content is already owned.
  • Added UI indicators for all free and premium DLC content throughout the game (weapons, missions, customization items, etc). All owned free DLC content will have a plain purple background in menus. All owned premium DLC content will have a purple background and small fleur icon.
  • Altered several items of speech in “First F@#$ing Day,” “Morning Commute,” “Making Rent,” “The Great Train Robbery,” “Going Overboard,” “Severance Package.”

ANIMATION

  • Fixed an issue of arm clipping through middle of the body for player and NPC animations.
  • Fixed an issue with enemies becoming stuck in reloading animation.
  • Fixed an issue with heavy deaths not acting properly with difficulty modifiers.
  • Fixed an issue with players arm sticking through their head when using the VA Fa Napoli emote.
  • Fixed an issue with finisher animation not being synced with the enemy it is being performed on.
  • Fixed an issue with animations clipping out of car when entering Supercar.
  • Fixed an issue with player holding an invisible weapon when entering a vehicle while holding a weapon in combat stance.
  • Fixed an issue with enemies being invulnerable while animating their dodge or staggered.
  • Fixed an issue with players not becoming staggered by enemies’ hits.
  • Fixed an issue with player going into an A-Pose when rag dolling from colliding with the ground from wingsuit.
  • Fixed an issue with the player clipping through the roof while riding on the roof and using a moving emote.
  • Fixed an issue with homies standing on the back of a bike if the player switches seats while doing a wheelie.
  • Fixed an issue with the player not being in a combat ready stance when changing weapons.

CAMERA

  • Fixed issues with camera movement being inconsistent on controllers.
  • Fixed an issue with camera moving when player enters camera mode.
  • Fixed an issue with camera not acting properly while in a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue with camera's vertical axis can become unable to register low-intensity downwards movement while using mouse and keyboard.
  • Fixed an issue with camera sensitivity sliders not affecting vehicle camera sensitivity.
  • Fixed an issue with chase came options missing from camera options menu.
  • ·Fixed an issue with players camera panning vertically when player tries to compensate for recoil on a weapon.
  • Fixed an issue with the camera being placed under the ground when placing a Criminal Venture.
  • Fixed an issue with the camera while entering the Dock with a High Speed boat.
  • Fixed an issue with camera not acting correct when aborting a mission while in a vehicle.
  • Fixed an issue with camera clipping through all surfaces when opening the Saints Crew at the Church.
  • Fixed an issue Camera app is still open upon restarting from checkpoints.
  • Fixed an issue with the switch camera button not functioning while in vehicles.
  • Fixed an issue with the camera stuttering when using the Super Air Control.

And believe it or not, that's far from all of the patch notes. There's much more to read over on the official website, but it's mostly individual bug fixes for general gameplay, specific activities, and missions. If you fancy scrolling through even more text, be sure to check them out.

Support for Saints Row is still going strong, then, but will this patch convince you to return to the game? Relaunch your criminal empire in the comments section below.

[source saintsrow.com]