## What Changed
### Balance
- **Character movement** — Speed reduced when holding weapons, grenades, artifacts, or tools; strafing and backward movement are now slower; consecutive jumps/bunnyhopping incur a movement penalty
- **Orbital Strike** — No longer able to shoot at great distances; binoculars and orbital strike now display distance
### Bug Fixes
- **Hitreg** — Fixed melee and close-distance shooting issues
- **Graphics** — Improved performance of small scatter; fixed flashlight artifacts at night; fixed Crystal with Handles VFX; corrected Revolver muzzle flash position; fixed Wok Bomb brightness; fixed Repair Kit VFX positioning from third-person view; fixed smoke visual artifacts from metal patches, turrets, and door boxes; fixed baked shadows in compartments
- **Terrain** — Fixed tesselation issues on Schwalbenberg
- **Gameplay** — Fixed character customization loss on lobby disconnect; fixed players stuck in air at expedition start (regional Windows settings); fixed lootbox looting multiple times; fixed character stuck on ladder; fixed softlock on Connecting screen
- **Technical** — Re-enabled DLSS for NVIDIA GPUs; fixed Tech Tree scrolling; fixed character spawn issues with certain regional settings
### Visual Improvements
- **Terrain Detail settings** — Added Low/Med/High graphics option controlling grass and bush range/density
- **Environmental details** — Grass and pebbles now appear gradually with distance instead of popping in; added wind effects to fabric material props
- **Failure points** — Module and trampler points now emit particles once after full repair
### New Content
- **Island** — Halbmond
- **Compartment** — Crow's Nest
## Overall
SAND: Raiders of
Hitreg fix - Fixed issues and made improvements to melee and shooting at close distances
Character movement changes: Movement speed is lower when characters have items in their hands (weapons, grenades, artifacts, tools
Strafing and moving backward are now slower
Added movement penalty for consecutive jumps/bunnyhop
Graphical improvements and VFX fixes Improved performance of the small scatter
Terrain Detail graphics settings — Low / Med / High. Controls the range and density of grass and bushes
Small pebbles and grass appear gradually with distance — without suddenly “popping in”
Added wind effect to props with fabric material
Fixed that Light from the flashlight would be displayed with artifacts when casting in motion at a surface at nighttime
Fixed incorrect VFX for the Crystal with Handles
Fixed incorrectly baked shadows in some of the compartments
Fixed that Revolver muzzle flash was positioned incorrectly
Fixed that the bottom of the Wok Bomb emitted light too brightly while moving it above certain light source objects
Fixed repair Kit VFX being displayed in the wrong position from 3rd POV
New Island: Halbmond
New compartment: Crow’s Nest
Improvements to the failure points Failure and trampler module points will now emit particles once, after being fully repaired
Fixed visual artifacts on the smoke from smoking metal patches, turret slot, and door circuit boxes
Improvements for the orbital strike and binoculars Shows the distance now
You’re no longer able to shoot at great distances with orbital strike Previously, you would waste the Orbital Strike
Fixed the issue where disconnection from the lobby would cause certain characters to lose their customizations
Fixed an issue where, on some regional settings in Windows, players would get stuck in the air/sky at the start of the expedition Thanks to @D0n15 for helping us with finding the cause of this issue
Fixed the issue that DLSS was unavailable for players with NVIDIA GPUs (forgot to mention it in the last patch)
Fixed an issue that unlockable items in the Tech Tree couldn’t be scrolled
Fixed an issue where lootboxes could be looted more than once
Fixed an issue where the character could get stuck on top of the ladder
Fixed an issue with parts of terrain on Schwalbenberg that caused issues with tesselation
Fixed softlock on the Connecting screen when trying to connect to the unavailable server You’ll be redirected to the server selection screen with a disconnect message
## What changed
**Anti-cheat** — Improved **BattlEye** behavior to decrease false-positive bans
**Performance** — Occlusion changes and hit registration improvements for minor positive effects on game performance
**Trampler mechanics** — Improved collisions and stability; fixed issues where characters would fly or shake excessively after collisions; fixed invisible trampler parts; improved compartment occlusion
**Character movement** — Additional improvements to overall movement, parkour, and terrain collision; fixed getting stuck on difficult terrain and ladder tops
**Upiors** — Now have collision with players, improved responsive behavior, less twitchy movement, can use cannons (except shotguns) and will leave when players approach
**UI/UX** — Improved pop-up design; fixed flickering names on landing cutscene; turret loading renamed to "Transfer Content" for clarity
**Inventory/Economy** — Fixed item duplication exploits; **Canned Sea Deer XL** sell price increased (100 → 500); **MedKit** sell price decreased (50 → 20); **Small/Regular Valuables** sell price increased (3 → 4, 6 → 7); slightly less pneumatic parts from loot containers
**Weapons Balance**:
- **80mm Cannons** — Increased recoil; T3 reload time increased (2.5 → 3 sec)
- **40mm ammo** — Base and low recoil variants have better range (150/100 m/s → 200/150 m/s)
- **70mm ammo (regular)** — 20% more projectiles (42 → 52); siege damage decreased 20% (30 → 25 per pellet); damage decay starts
Improved BattlEye behavior to decrease false-positive bans
Occlusion changes that will have a minor positive effect on game performance
Improvements to the trampler collisions
Possibly fixes issue when character would fly in the air after the collision between tramplers
Fixed oversaturated boxes and props in the lobby
Fixed that trampler stability didn't affect speed
Fixed energy rod selling price on the contract platforms from 450 to 50Fixed the issue where a character's body may remain in the air after death
Fixed the issue that you could make additional shots from autocannon by pressing the right mouse button
Fixed several issues with parkour
Improvements to the hit registration
Grenade pin no longer gets pulled automatically in Outlaw controls
Improved upiors' behavior Now has collision with player
Their movement is now less twitchy
The overall behavior is more responsive and more natural
Upiors can now use cannons (except shotguns)
They will leave the cannon when the player gets close to them
Added a gas giant next to the Sophie
Improved design for some of the pop-ups
Fixed exploits where items could be duplicated
Fixed the issue where players could get into the compartments by sliding on the entrance group ladder
Fixed the issues where Toggle and Combine Sprint settings didn't work as intended
Fixed the issue where matchmaking preferences were not saved between Expeditions
Fixed the issue where incorrect crew sizes were shown during loading
Increased Recoil for 80mm Cannons
Increased T3 80mm cannon reload time from 2.5 to 3 sec
Base and low recoil 40mm ammo now have slightly better range (150m/s -> 200m/s and 100m/s -> 150m/s)
Added 20% more projectiles for regular 70mm Ammo (42 -> 52)
Decreased siege damage of regular 70mm Ammo by 20% (30 per pellet -> 25 per pellet)
Added 5 more meters before the damage starts decaying for regular 70mm Ammo (35m -> 40m)
Decreased fire rate of Triple Barrel shotgun by 30%
Projectile amplifier radius decreased from 15m to 5m
Loot containers will spawn slightly less pneumatic parts
Increased Canned Sea Deer XL sell price from 100 to 500
Decreased MedKit sell price from 50 to 20
Increased Sell price of Small Valuables and Valuables by 1 crown (3 -> 4, 6 -> 7)
Ironclad Crate slot changes (12M -> 1L and 11M)
High-tier resources orbital stack size increase (50 -> 75)
Additional improvements to the character movement
Decreased the number of shakes and glitches during the collision between tramplers
Possibly fixed the issue that trampler parts would be invisible but you would still be able to interact with them Let us know if you will still encounter this issue after the patch
Fixed issue with flickering names on the landing cutscene
Improved occlusion for the compartments on the trampler There are still some cases where compartments might occlude, and we'll fix them in the upcoming updates
Fixed the issue where, visually, the door is displayed as broken after being fixed with a repair kit
Manually loading turret from the container now transfers shells from the container into the turret's inventory instead of actually loading it (thank you for the tip Peanut) This is now called "Transfer Content" instead of "Load Turret" to avoid confusion
Character can get stuck at the top of the ladder
Character may become transparent in Spectator mode in some cases
Character cannot crouch while carrying the Repair Kit
The Character cannot enter the Expedition if the Invite has been accepted at the Tutorial pop-up background
Character may become invulnerable to melee damage while interacting with turrets or the steering wheel
Fixed an issue that caused servers to become unavailable, and players were stuck on the "Connecting" screen Because of thіs issue, we reverted yesterday's update
Another round of improvements to the character controller. Including but not limited to: Fixed issue with getting stuck on difficult terrain
Fixed different issues with movement
Fixed issue for some of the crew compartments where character would respawn outside of the compartment
Fixed the issue when some doors may be restored improperly after fixing the Compartment with a Repair kit
Fixed the issue where the expedition will end for the player even though their teammates are still alive. This would also cause issues with receiving the loot after the expedition
## What changed
**Bug Fixes**
- **Duplication bug** — fixed
- **Server stability** — improved
- **Movement and terrain** — fixed issues with getting stuck on ladders and rocks
- **Invisible doors and railings** — fixed visibility after repair
**Balance**
- **Balance changes and fixes** — applied across the game
**New Features**
- **Skill-based matchmaking system** — implemented to match newer players with suitable opponents while providing veterans with appropriate challenges
- **UI quality of life improvements** — added
## Overall
SAND: Raiders of Sophie received critical bug fixes, balance adjustments, and a new skill-based matchmaking system designed to improve experiences for both new and veteran players without restricting access to the general player pool.
Duplication bug fix
Server stability improvements
Movement/terrain fixes (being stuck on ladders, rocks, etc...)
Fix for invisible doors\\railings after repair
Balance changes and fixes
UI QoL improvements
The system is designed to give newbies some breathing room while learning the game and to provide veterans with a better challenge.
The system is not permanent or invasive. It will not lock you out of the general player pool if you reach a certain threshold. It will simply try to provide more suitable opponents first without making you wait several minutes.
It will be difficult to game the system since we won't expose any information about it on the frontend.
Most importantly, it will still preserve those exciting moments of progression and lucky runs, since the vast majority of the community will still end up playing in the same matchmaking pool.
## What changed
### Balance
- **Shooting on and from moving tramplers** — improved accuracy and mechanics
- **Onboarding notifications** — added guidance notifications during expeditions to help players and teams learn the basics
### Bug Fixes
- **Character controller** — reduced chances of getting stuck on colliders
- **Lighting and shadows** — improved realism and visual terrain distinction, fixed overly dark shadows
- **Large item pickup animation** — fixed incorrect display in third-person view
- **Trampler invisible railings/colliders** — fixed appearance during poor connection/packet loss
- **Metal vestibule installation** — fixed inability to install on tramplers
- **Menu graphics** — anti-aliasing and upscalers now properly applied
- **Character T-Pose** — fixed characters appearing in T-Pose after death
- **Explosive barrel and Wok Bomb visibility** — fixed becoming hidden when players climb ladders, restoring visual detonation timer for all players
- **Terrain collision after death** — fixed players falling under terrain after being killed or respawning
- **Respawn unavailable message** — fixed incorrect display at expedition start
- **Workbench soft-lock** — fixed character partial soft-lock when interacting with occupied Workbench
- **Object unloading** — partially resolved; some environment occlusion issues remain under investigation
### Known Issues
- Camera jitter while crouch-walking over environment props
- Avatar stuck between seams of complex colliders
- Melee invulnerability while interacting with turrets or steering wheels
- Character teleportation while climbing ladders
- Character stuck at top of ladders
- High-latency players display incorrectly; Tramplers show erratic movement and incorrect rotation
- Weapons and
Improvements to the character controller Decreases the chances of getting stuck on different colliders
Improved shooting on and from moving tramplers
Improved lighting to make it more realistic and improve the visual distinction of the terrain Fixed the issue where shadows might have been darker than needed
Added onboarding notifications in the gameplay These notifications will guide players/teams through the basics at the start of the expedition.
Fixed the issue when the animation for picking up large items was displayed incorrectly from the 3rd person view
Fixed the issue when invisible railings/colliders would appear on the trampler when having a bad connection/packet drops
Fixed the issue where the metal vestibule cannot be installed on the trampler
Fixed the issue where anti-aliasing and upscalers weren't applied in the menu
Fixed the issue where a character would be in a T-Pose after being killed
Fixed the issue where the explosive barrel and Wok Bomb become hidden when a player climbs a ladder, removing the visual detonation timer for other players
Fixed the issue where the player may fall under the terrain after being killed or after pressing the respawn button
Fixed the issue that the "Respawn unavailable" message was displayed at the start of the expedition
Fixed the issue where the character would partially soft-locked while interacting with the Workbench when it is occupied
The player's camera may jitter while crouch-walking over environment props such as stairs, boxes, and other objects.
The player avatar may get stuck between the seams of certain complex colliders.
Avatar's may become invulnerable to melee damage while interacting with turrets or steering wheel
Player characters may teleport while climbing ladders.
Player characters may become stuck at the top of a ladder.
Issues causing incorrect object unloading have been partially resolved. However, some environment occlusion issues still remain and are under investigation.
Characters controlled by players with high latency or an unstable network connection may be displayed incorrectly to other players. The same issue affects Tramplers, resulting in erratic movement and incorrect rotation.
Weapons and other player-held items may occasionally remain floating in the air.
Players may be launched off the Trampler when Tramplers collide
Unfortunately, the issue where solo players can still be matched into larger crews has not been fixed yet. We are actively working on a solution.
## What changed
**DDOS Protection** — Implemented additional protections ahead of more permanent solutions
**Matchmaking** — Fixed issues when solo players were placed against teams
**Waiting for Rival Expeditions** — Fixed a bug where players were stuck on this screen due to improper server closure
**Server-Side Changes** — Numerous under-the-hood improvements including disconnect/loot loss on extract, visual issues and DLSS menu support, wider server stability, optimization, performance, and crash report systems
## Overall
The patch addresses critical server stability, matchmaking fairness, and various technical issues to improve the overall player experience.
Implemented additional DDOS protections ahead of more permanent solutions
Fixed matchmaking issues when solo players were placed against teams
Fixed an issue when players were stuck on "Waiting for rival expeditions" This issue occurred when the servers didn't close properly