New PUBG Xbox One Test Server Update; Here Are The Patch Notes

The PlayerUnknown's Battleground Test Server (PTS) for Xbox One is once again live with a new update. Update 18 makes several gameplay changes to the battle royale game, including dynamic weather effects and bullet limb penetration. The update will remain on the PTS for playtesting before being applied to the main PUBG servers at a later date.

So far, the Xbox One version of PUBG only includes the Erangel and Miramar map. PUBG Corp. hasn't announced whether weather effects will launch on Sanhok or the new snow map once both come to the console version of the game. Erangel is getting the Overcast weather condition, while Miramar is being updated with both Overcast and Sunset.

When dropping into Erangel or Miramar, you'll have to look to the sky to see what type of weather you're dealing with. If things are sunny, they'll remain that way for the rest of the match. The same is true for Sunset, which only lowers the sun's position to provide a slight glare when looking through a scope. Overcast is the game changer. Matches start out with clouds overhead, but can quickly transition into rain, fog, or both in the middle of the battle royale. While foggy, line of sight is limited. When it's raining, it's more difficult to hear player's moving--even when they're running--and a downpour can completely mask the soft noise coming from a suppressed firearm.

The PTS applies bullet penetration effects to all firearms, making it impossible to shield a teammate with your body. Bullets will now follow their flight path until they hit the ground, and travel with the same force and velocity regardless of how many bodies they pass through. So if you shoot someone in the arm and the bullet passes through to hit someone behind them in the head, the first person takes damage like they've been shot in the body and the second person takes more damage from a perfect headshot.

Update 18 also adds a few more houses, trees, and roads to Erangel and Miramar. Also, on Erangel, there are now more trees and small hills along the river to provide additional cover, and on Miramar, some of the higher slopes have been lowered to make vehicle travel easier.

The new update also makes changes to the sound, performance, spectate mode, and UI/UX, as well as fixes a few bugs. The full patch notes are on PUBG's forums, but we've outlined the highlights below.

PUBG is available on Xbox One and PC.

PUBG Update 18 Patch Notes

Spectate Mode

• When spectating a player, their aiming movement is now more in sync with the spectator view.

Performance

• Smoke and flames from vehicles have been optimized to improve frame rate.
• Server performance has been improved by adjusting the replication rate.
  • Previously, replication for all visible characters in sight was refreshed every frame. Now, replication rate differs according to distance from the player.
  • We expect approximately 15% increase in server performance.
• Network code has been adjusted to slightly increase server performance.
• Optimized CPU performance by improving the graphic rendering function.
• Optimized GPU resources to lower GPU burden and improve performance.
• Optimized attachment related rendering resources to improve performance.
• Optimized fog to increase performance.
• Optimized grass assets to reduce memory resources used and improve performance.
• Optimized the physics calculation of moving boats and moving vehicles on the beach.

Sound

• Decreased the volume of vehicle sounds for players inside vehicles in FPP mode

Bug Fixes

• Settings will now be stored in online storage - Your settings will be saved even if there's a new patch.
• Fixed an issue where destroying doors with frag grenades or molotovs did not display debris.
• Fixed an issue where a frying pan and a weapon could be held at the same time.
• Fixed an issue where spectating in FPP showed inaccurate character locations.
• Fixed an issue where leaning was possible while in an emote animation.
• Fixed an issue where two players moving in a small space could sometimes get stuck.
• Fixed an issue where the player character would perform jump motion for a short time when crouch key is rapidly pressed multiple times.
• Fixed an issue where reticle settings would be reset when the weapon was dropped and picked up again.
• Fixed an issue where the spectating camera would look through a character when the game finished.
• Reduced the chance of players encountering situations where opponent's weapon floats in the air.
• Fixed an issue where throwables could pass through character models.
• Fixed an issue where voice chat UI would always be displayed when using killer spectating function under certain conditions.
• Fixed an issue which prevented players from changing the red dot reticle when using an SMG.
• Fixed an issue where the stun effect from the stun grenade was weaker than before.
• Fixed an issue where the camera angle rotates up to 180 degrees up/down in FPP and TPP mode when freefalling.
• Fixed an issue where the character would stand up and lie down repeatedly when moving uphill while lying down.
• Fixed an issue where some weapons could be seen through when a character is moving right while in ADS position and lying down.
• Fixed an issue where there was replay related text shown in the report pop-up window after dying.
• Fixed an issue where sprinting would stop when moving at a certain angle with the L-Stick