Assassin's Creed Valhalla gives all next-gen consoles performance and quality modes

Ubisoft’s cross-gen open world Viking adventure, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, will be updated to give Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 two modes to choose between. 

Coming at 4am PT, 7am ET, 12pm UK today, the shortly upcoming 1.04 patch will give next-gen consoles the ability to switch between two performance profiles to tailor the game’s experience to you.

On release, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X ran the game at a dynamic resolution targeting 60fps, a mode where the Series X version experienced large drops and exhibited screen tearing. The Xbox Series S version ran at 30fps with a dynamic resolution.

With the arrival of the new 1.04 patch, all next-gen machines will see a 60fps performance mode and a 30fps quality mode, a mode that targets 4K on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Screen tearing and performance have been improved on all consoles as well.

Here’s the full patch notes:

Content

Graphics/Performance modes

• Added an option to the game that allows players to choose between Performance or Visual quality. Available for Xbox Series X|S & PlayStation 5.
• Choosing Performance allows the game to adapt the resolution and graphic settings to maintain 60 FPS.
• Choosing Quality enables the game to run maximum resolution and graphic settings while maintaining 30 FPS.

Balancing

• Updated gear quality and gear to their correct values.
• Added Assassination damage stats on the character stats page.
• Removed duplicate gear from inventory.
• Heavy and light attack stats will now adjust correctly based on acquired skill nodes.
• Heavy attack modifiers will no longer be applied to range attacks.

Miscellaneous

• Added a new background image to the title screen.
• Added various VFX to enhance visuals.
• Added an option that will automatically assign all nodes on the path when acquiring a central skill.
• Added rune categories to the rune menu. All runes are now categorized in Weapon & Armor runes.
• Added a warning when switching from a language that supports TTS to one that doesn’t.
• Sliders can now be moved with left/right arrows on M&K and controllers.
• Increased fabric limit to 82.
• Added fabric to traders once the settlement has reached Level 6.
• Added offering altar requirements to the world map.

Game improvements

Performance and stability

• Improved stability and performance.
• (Xbox Series) Improved experience on Xbox Series S | X consoles including screen tearing
• (PC) Addressed a VRAM/RAM leakage issue when alt tabbing to desktop.

Save games

• Corrected some instances where Load Game would not display save games correctly.
• Renamed Cloud saves to make them more distinguishable from regular saves. Previously the cloud save was only highlighted with a Cloud icon. Now they’ll be called, for example, “Manual Save Cloud”
• Removed Cloud saves from the Save menu. This will ensure that it cannot be overwritten unintentionally.
• Added a notification when a cloud save retrieval has failed.

Graphics, audio, animation

• Addressed various graphical issues across the board.
• Addressed various FX issues.
• Addressed various instances of clipping issues.
• Addressed various visual issues with Eivor’s cloak.
• Addressed various instances of player or NPC animation issues.
• Addressed various audio issues.
• Addressed various lighting issues.
• Shadow resolution on High will now use correct values.

World

• Addressed various texture or object placement issues.
• Addressed some instances where the player could become stuck in specific locations.
• Fish in Norway will now spawn in bad weather. Yeah, we had to read this one twice too.
• Crows will no longer randomly fall from the sky in Asgard.

Gameplay, combat, AI

• Addressed various bow-aiming issues.
• Improved NPC and Boss behavior across the board.
• NPCs will now react to the player stealing…so think twice before stealing!
• Addressed an issue where dogs would start levitating when Eivor starts to pet them.
• Blocking Springald projectiles will now consume stamina, as intended.
• Zealots that were hit with a sleep dart can now be stun attacked. Sleep tight.
• Zealots will no longer heal themselves while in player vicinity.
• Guards who clearly saw Eivor shoot their ally will now turn hostile.
• Guards will now hear the impact of dead bodies dropping to the ground.
• Improved guard reactions to whistling.
• Improved disguise behavior in distrust zones.
• Shooting bows from the Longship now consumes arrows.
• Players will now be able to air-assassinate sleeping NPCs.
• Improved fish-reeling behavior.
• Addressed an issue where the horse wouldn’t use the gallop animation in combat.
• The crowd will now cheer during drinking games.
• Reworked sliding mechanic.

Quests, world events, side activities

• Addressed an issue where the assassination sequence wouldn’t play for some targets.
• Addressed various texture issues during cutscenes.
• Addressed various issues with quests or world events that prevented players from completing them.
• Players can no longer use the fishing tool or the horn during the drunk walk with Tewdr –
• Sub quests will now display the correct “Part of” parent quest.
• The memory stream can now be chosen when starting a New Game if Hold Alternative option is set to ON.
• Increased frequency of experienced travelers.

User interface / HUD

• Addressed various issues with the User Interface/HUD.
• Addressed various localization issues.
• Addressed various Mouse- and Keyboard-related input issues
• Secrets will now be discovered when synchronizing a Viewpoint. (This does not apply to Pathfinder difficulty)
• Experienced travelers are now highlighted on the world map and on the compass when in proximity.
• Addressed an issue where the map wouldn’t update once players got intel from an experienced traveller.
• Increased Odin’s Sight radius and enemies will now be highlighted for longer.
• Improved radius in which Synin reveals keys.
• Reduced Synin’s view distance of materials.
• Improved the objective beam behavior.
• Settlement building beams can now be seen using Odin’s Sight.
• Improved enemy target-lock mechanic.
• “Sell all trinkets” will now be greyed out after all trinkets were sold.
• Bosses’ power levels will now be displayed on their health gauge. This does not apply to regular enemies.
• Regular brightness settings will no longer apply to HDR exposure settings.
• The Codex will no longer foreshadow or spoil some events.
• (A11y) Desktop entries and content on Layla’s laptop are now narrated when Menu Narration is ON.
• (A11y) Colorblind filters are now applied correctly to mini-quest log and raid tutorial.

Abilities and Skills

• Addressed an issue where players couldn’t use any abilities anymore when the Dive of the Valkyries ability was interrupted.
• Ally NPCs or horses can no longer trigger body traps.
• Addressed a display issue where the poisonous powder trap could become invisible after using Synin.
• Adjusted chain-assassination behavior. Players will no longer be able to assassinate a target who was tackled to the ground.
• The Secondary hand slot will no longer be available when a two-handed weapon is equipped (pre-heavy dual-wield skill).
• Flaming powder traps will now explode when walking over the arrow.

Raids

• “Force Open” will now be displayed correctly even if nearby allies are in combat.
• Addressed an issue where allies would not help Eivor to open a door during Raids.
• Allies will now return to the longship once a raid is complete.
• Added a timer until players can restart a raid that was just completed.

Photo mode

• Effect values can now be adjusted with arrow keys or WASD.
• The no-filter option will now work correctly.
• The Territory panel is no longer displayed in Photo Mode.
• Changing filters will now work as intended.
• Addressed an issue where an Online Service Error could occur temporarily when looking at photos on the world map.
• Snow FX will now center to the camera instead of the player in Photo Mode.

System

• (PC) Updated readme files to show correct PC specifications.
• Added additional checkpoints to some boss fights.
• Addressed an issue that led controllers to vibrate constantly.
• Addressed an issue where players could become stuck in a black screen after closing the menu with start.
• (PC) Updated the autodetect config for Nvidia Geforce 1650 S.

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