GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Battlegrounds' Next Big Update Detailed; Adds Suppressed Sniper Rifle

Here are the patch notes for the next monthly update to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

3 Comments

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is getting its second major update this week, and today developer Bluehole revealed what players can expect. It was already announced that an irritating targeting bug will be fixed, and now we know that several other significant improvements are coming.

This patch focuses on client performance, so headlining it are a number of tweaks that are designed to increase efficiency and quality of the game's processes. For example, the patch will improve the rendering performance of fences, grass, and weapons, the performance of character animations, and visual effect performance.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
00:00:00
Sorry, but you can't access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Now Playing: GS News Update: Battlegrounds' Next Big Update Detailed

The patch also adds a new weapon, the VSS, a suppressed sniper rifle. It has a permanent 4x-magnitude scope and uses 9mm ammo. Considering the usefulness of both sniper rifles and silenced attacks, the VSS will likely be a particularly powerful weapon. As such, it's extremely rare: It can be found in care packages and as a very infrequent loot spawn.

There are a number of UI tweaks and quality-of-life improvements, as well. You'll now be able to press the Delete key to remove a waypoint marker, and a dotted line on the mini-map will now show the way to the next playable zone.

You can check out all the main changes and additions below, and you can see a full list of bug fixes at the game's Steam page. The developer will push the update to the game's servers on Thursday, May 25, at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET/9 AM BST, and the patch is expected to go live for everyone an hour after that.

Battlegrounds has found a great deal of success since its release earlier this year; as of early March, it had sold 2 million copies, according to the developer. Steamspy.com now shows that 2.5 million people have played the game. It's currently only available on PC, but PS4 and Xbox One versions are in the works.

Early Access Month 2 Update additions and changes:

Client Performance

  • Improved CPU usage for world level streaming
  • Improved rendering performance of fences
  • Improved rendering performance of grass
  • Improved rendering performance for weapons and attachments seen at distance
  • Improved rendering performance by modifying certain weapon and vehicle effects that were unnecessarily rendered at distance
  • Improved character animation performance
  • Improved effect performance
  • Improved the performance of teammate name plate, map and mini-map in teamplay

Content

  • Added VSS. A suppressed sniper rifle with permanent 4X scope & chambered for 9mm ammo. This new weapon can be found in care packages and as a very rare loot spawn
  • Added Motorbike

Gameplay

  • Reduced the moving speed of the two final play zones for better engagement during the endgame
  • Made a balance pass on certain weapons:
  • Vector
    • Reduced bullet damage slightly
    • Increased deviation gain per shot
  • Winchester/S686/S12K
    • Reduced pellet damage slightly
  • AKM
    • Increased bullet damage slightly
  • Fixed an issue where the players alive count would reduce when a player disconnected. Now the count will only go down upon the players death.

Action and Gunplay

  • Now players can put stock attachments on following weapons:
    • SKS : Sniper rifle cheek pad
    • Vector : Tactical stock (for M416)
  • Adjusted the color of the aiming point for the basic crossbow scope.
  • Added new scope rendering method (parallax free) allowing for greater aiming precision
  • Improved ADS view
  • Modified recoil for following weapons: AKM, SCAR, M16, M416
  • Fixed an issue allowing a player to zoom in with right click when waiting before throwing a grenade
  • Decreased the time to ADS when using the 2X scope

Vehicle

  • Added punctured wheel effect and sound
  • Added burnt markings to vehicles after being destroyed
  • Added the motorbike number plate image
  • When a vehicle explodes, the fences near the vehicle will now also be destroyed

World

  • Added new vegetation to the lobby

UI

  • Players can press "Delete" to remove their marker placed on the world map
  • Adjusted the transparency of mini-map grid and coordinates text to make the map more visible
  • Added a dotted line towards the next play zone on the mini-map
  • Modified the icon design of the First Aid Kit
  • Added Thai language in language options
  • Added new key bindings for hold breath, motorbike air control and switch to previous weapon

Sound

  • Improved the sound of Motorbike
  • Added sound for door destruction effect

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 3 comments about this story