Release Notes - 1.4.3

Ahoy pirates!

It's time for another update. This one brings your maiden Mercenary Voyage, seeking the treasure and tipple of the Rum Runner!

That's not all: there's a trove of performance improvements and bug fixes so you can enjoy some smooth sailing.

MERCENARY VOYAGE OF THE RUM RUNNER

Duke's in the tavern, offering a lucrative voyage for would-be mercenaries. Recruit some new pirates for your crew and start grabbing loot!

New Mercenary Voyage – Purchasable from Duke for the low price of five Doubloons, this voyage challenges pirates to seek out the stash of a notorious Rum Runner, collecting rewards valuable to all the Trading Companies. This voyage can be repeated to your heart's content once completed, just purchase another from Duke!

– Purchasable from Duke for the low price of five Doubloons, this voyage challenges pirates to seek out the stash of a notorious Rum Runner, collecting rewards valuable to all the Trading Companies. This voyage can be repeated to your heart's content once completed, just purchase another from Duke! Loyal to the Coin – A new 'Mercenary Voyage' section has been added to the Reputation tab along with our first Commendation: 'Loyal to the Coin'. Completing this Mercenary Voyage will unlock this Commendation, awarding 50 Doubloons.

Time-Limited Mercenary Cosmetics – Complete a Mercenary Voyage from Duke and you'll be able to obtain the Mercenary Sail, Hull and Flag for your ship. These won't be available forever, so buy them while you can!

Combat Balancing Improvements

To learn more about the vision for combat in Sea of Thieves and get further detail on these balancing improvements, check out our recent Developer Update Forum post by Design Director Mike Chapman.

Double-Gun Switching – The Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach have new wield animations and enforce a delay when equipping and switching between these weapons.

– The Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach have new wield animations and enforce a delay when equipping and switching between these weapons. Fluid Swordplay – Missing a cutlass swing no longer slows down player movement, ensuring a more fluid swordplay experience.

– Missing a cutlass swing no longer slows down player movement, ensuring a more fluid swordplay experience. Eye of Reach Hip Fire – Reduced accuracy when hip-firing the Eye of Reach. Under pressure you can still get lucky with a hip-fired Eye of Reach shot, but at mid- to long range this is significantly reduced.

– Reduced accuracy when hip-firing the Eye of Reach. Under pressure you can still get lucky with a hip-fired Eye of Reach shot, but at mid- to long range this is significantly reduced. Weapon Knockback – Pistol and Eye of Reach shots will no longer apply knockback to enemies hit. Cutlass and Blunderbuss, however, will retain their ability to knock back players. Skeletons wielding a Pistol, Blunderbuss or Eye of Reach have also had their ability to knock back players removed.

– Pistol and Eye of Reach shots will no longer apply knockback to enemies hit. Cutlass and Blunderbuss, however, will retain their ability to knock back players. Skeletons wielding a Pistol, Blunderbuss or Eye of Reach have also had their ability to knock back players removed. Weapon Reload Improvements – Following the recent change to the Eye of Reach, now the Pistol and Blunderbuss both reload the moment the hammer is pulled. This allows players to sprint sooner when reloading without restarting the animation.

– Following the recent change to the Eye of Reach, now the Pistol and Blunderbuss both reload the moment the hammer is pulled. This allows players to sprint sooner when reloading without restarting the animation. Bullet Projectile Speed – Bullets fired from a Blunderbuss or Eye of Reach now travel faster through the air, providing more predictable accuracy at range.

– Bullets fired from a Blunderbuss or Eye of Reach now travel faster through the air, providing more predictable accuracy at range. Weapon Damage Falloff – Bullet damage no longer decreases over distance.

– Bullet damage no longer decreases over distance. Eye of Reach Damage – Eye of Reach Damage reduced by a small amount to ensure this weapon's damage is balanced following the improvements to bullet speed and damage falloff.

Updates

Game Repackaging – Sea of Thieves has now been repackaged to give a smaller install size, leaving your device with some extra room! This means that you'll need to reinstall the game for this update, at the new smaller size.

– Sea of Thieves has now been repackaged to give a smaller install size, leaving your device with some extra room! This means that you'll need to reinstall the game for this update, at the new smaller size. New Player Onboarding – New pirates joining Sea of Thieves will be greeted with a new onboarding flow. This now takes players through a range of new activities before leaving the Outpost – they even get some rewards for their troubles!

– New pirates joining Sea of Thieves will be greeted with a new onboarding flow. This now takes players through a range of new activities before leaving the Outpost – they even get some rewards for their troubles! Show Nameplates Above Other Crews – New Settings option allows players to hide the nameplates of any non-crew members they meet, reducing the opportunity for stream sniping.

– New Settings option allows players to hide the nameplates of any non-crew members they meet, reducing the opportunity for stream sniping. Keybinding for 'Toggle HUD' – Players can now assign a keybind for the 'Toggle HUD' option to give you fast access to remove the UI for those beautiful screenshots. The FPS, Ping and Player Chat indicators are also correctly hidden when activated.

– Players can now assign a keybind for the 'Toggle HUD' option to give you fast access to remove the UI for those beautiful screenshots. The FPS, Ping and Player Chat indicators are also correctly hidden when activated. Ocean Crawler Cannons – Layout of the Ocean Crawler Cannons has been adjusted to improve line of sight in combat.

– Layout of the Ocean Crawler Cannons has been adjusted to improve line of sight in combat. Floating Treasure – The speed that treasure floats to the surface after being released in deep water has been significantly increased.

– The speed that treasure floats to the surface after being released in deep water has been significantly increased. What's that Whisper? – You can now hear stationary Bounty Skulls when they're close by.

– You can now hear stationary Bounty Skulls when they're close by. Calming the Kraken – The Kraken has learnt to pick on someone her own size and will now take it easier on Sloops and Brigantines. Tentacle wraps that block access to lower levels have been significantly reduced.

– The Kraken has learnt to pick on someone her own size and will now take it easier on Sloops and Brigantines. Tentacle wraps that block access to lower levels have been significantly reduced. A Ghost on the Waves – Rumours of a pale beast in the waves have been circulating heavily, with sightings becoming slightly more frequent as it's grown in infamy.

– Rumours of a pale beast in the waves have been circulating heavily, with sightings becoming slightly more frequent as it's grown in infamy. Message in a Bottle Cargo Runs – Cargo Runs can now be found inside a Message in a Bottle.

– Cargo Runs can now be found inside a Message in a Bottle. Skeleton Ship Encounter Range – Skelly Ships will wait until you're further away before they consider returning to the depths.

– Skelly Ships will wait until you're further away before they consider returning to the depths. Cannonball Impact Audio – Cannonballs hitting rock and wood now sound even better. You'll also be able to hear the difference between a cannonball hitting you above or below deck.

– Cannonballs hitting rock and wood now sound even better. You'll also be able to hear the difference between a cannonball hitting you above or below deck. Triple Buffering – On Windows 10, a new video option allows players to enable Triple Buffering, which will improve the 'VSync' option's performance.

– On Windows 10, a new video option allows players to enable Triple Buffering, which will improve the 'VSync' option's performance. Island Shadows – When set to Legendary or Mythical settings, islands now cast a shadow on the ocean.

– When set to Legendary or Mythical settings, islands now cast a shadow on the ocean. Company Reputation – Entering each of the Company Commendation screens now plays a sound effect relevant to that Company.

– Entering each of the Company Commendation screens now plays a sound effect relevant to that Company. Did You Hear That? – Barrels and Rowboats now make a noise when you hit them with your ship.

– Barrels and Rowboats now make a noise when you hit them with your ship. Kitchen Delivery – The Shipwrights have fitted new stoves and roasting pans to Sloops, Brigantines and Galleons. We weren't expecting delivery so soon, who signed for this order?

– The Shipwrights have fitted new stoves and roasting pans to Sloops, Brigantines and Galleons. We weren't expecting delivery so soon, who signed for this order? Streamlined Hulls – The Shipwrights have been busy streamlining the hulls on Sloops, Brigantines and Galleons. They all now have strange cutouts near the bow, they've said this is more streamlined – we're yet to be convinced...

– The Shipwrights have been busy streamlining the hulls on Sloops, Brigantines and Galleons. They all now have strange cutouts near the bow, they've said this is more streamlined – we're yet to be convinced... Fortress Under Construction - We've seen that the skeletons have been constructing a new Fort inside The Devil's Roar. So you can visit Molten Sands Fortress, but due to challenging conditions this Fort is still under construction and isn't active yet...

Performance and Stability Improvements

Reduced loading time for 'Enlisting Pirate' step when skipping the title screen animation.

Resolved stuttering on title screen animation.

When running a multi-monitor setup with different refresh rates, the main monitor will no longer assume the refresh rate of the lowest monitor.

Resolved potential crash when navigating the Bilge Rats Reputation pages.

Game chat has been upgraded, resolving several game chat and audio-related crash and stability issues.

We are constantly reviewing the performance and stability of each patch and providing performance optimisations and stability improvements.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Emoting while picking up a chest no longer causes the chest to disappear into the body.

After being drowned by a Kraken, players returning from the Ferry of the Damned should no longer have their camera locked in position.

Recent Players list now correctly updates when you see another player in the world.

Treasure on board a Rowboat that is subsequently destroyed while on land can still be collected by players.

Players affected by snake venom can now correctly interact with barrels.

Removed chest hiding spot on outer left-hand side of the Galleon's hull.

Players can now light the lantern in the Galleon's brig.

Rowboats can now be rowed slowly in Kraken ink.

Pigs can now be fed correctly after migrating with the Ship.

Snakes inside baskets should now correctly agitate and attack players after migrating with your ship.

Snakes now correctly take damage from being shot in the head.

Sound and Visuals

Resolved rendering issues on NVidia GPUs when High Model Quality is selected.

Voice chat no longer queues up during the load screen and playback on first entry into the game.

Resolved issue with hair clipping through the Ghost Jacket.

Adjusted Skelly Fort wave horn volume.

When a storm covers an island, bells inside buildings no longer sound like they are affected by storm conditions.

Rum Bottle Crates now play appropriate smash SFX.

Snakes placed in a basket no longer clip through the bottom of the basket.

UI

All NPCs now use the same consistent interaction button.

Using resource crates should no longer cause other game tooltips to show the incorrect button prompt.

After handing in a chest, bringing up the pirate chat radial will provide the correct phrase options.

Fixed inconsistent layouts in map radial icons.

Resolved issue navigating a two-page barrel inventory with a mouse.

Pirate chat messages should no longer appear in the incorrect order in the chat window.

Slider settings can no longer be set to an unsupported value.

French text has been corrected for Shrouded Spoils Commendations.

Russian captain names are now in Russian.

Resolved issue where the red damage vignette would persist on-screen after a player dies.

Environment

There are no longer floating rocks by Devil's Ridge.

Prevented players from getting underneath Lone Cove Island.

Removed the chance for players to get stuck inside Gold Hoarder's flagpole at Outposts.

Removed the chance for players to get stuck in the branches of the withered tree on Morrow's Peak Outpost.

Reduced chance for items dropped into moving bushes to be seen floating in the air.

Eruption VFX and/or superheated water effects no longer appear intermittently after server migrations.

Removed hole in textures on Snake Island.

Torches should no longer have missing VFX.

Known Issues

Barrel Interaction - Players are unable to interact with barrels while drowning.

- Players are unable to interact with barrels while drowning. Chest Of Sorrow - Placing a Chest of Sorrow on a Rowboat that is docked to your ship, then undocking the Rowboat, will still cause the ship to fill with water.

We are working on fixes for both of these issues for a future update.

Download size:

Xbox One: 10GB

Xbox One X: 27GB

Windows 10: 27GB

Xbox Installation Instructions can be found here.

PC Installation Instructions can be found here.

Looking For Crew?

Looking for new crewmates? We've got a bunch of places you can visit to seek out like-minded pirates, so sail on over to these official Sea of Thieves hangouts: