Since launch, some people have been hit with performance issues and crashes in Halo Wars 2, so they’ve been eagerly awaiting a fix. Hopefully, that wait is now over, as there’s a patch out to address the most common issues.

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The patch promises tooffer increased game stability, performance, and fixes for many of the most commonly reported issues with Halo Wars 2. These fixes come at a cost, though – it’s almost a 10GB download.

Here are the patch notes in full:

Crashes, errors, and performance

Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the loading screen

Fixed an issue that caused some PC players to see a black screen on startup

Several “desync” fixes, one of which covered most of the tracked occurrences

Fixed a variety of PC crashes that were hardware-dependent

Fixed a Network Error on opening Blitz Packs

Fixed some AI issues in Skirmish that could cause performance hits

Fixed some performance hitches in Cooperative Campaign

Made performance improvements on various hardware

Overall multiplayer performance improvements

Fixed some crashes that could occur when loading a saved game

Fixed an issue that would cause a Campaign mission to get stuck after loading a save

Fixed a bug with joining a party and getting a network error

Added a driver check on PC to alert users to the presence of old drivers

Fixed an issue that caused players to disconnect from multiplayer games at the beginning of the match

Gameplay

Fixed issue with ‘Detect’ on some starting units not working properly

Fixed an issue with getting the Palmer’s Pure Gold Achievement

Fixed some bugs with Kodiaks in Campaign

Fixed a bug with garrisoned Snipers not getting additional stats

Fixed issue with squads getting stuck trying to garrison if another squad beats them to it

Gold medal can now be more easily attained in ‘Hold the Line’

Fixed a Cyclops and Reaver pathing bug where they would sometimes stop moving

Fixed an issue with units getting stuck in bases after being made

Fixed various skull functionality not working on some units or abilities

Fixed some cross-skull interactions between Annihilation and Pestilence

Fixed some Locust pathing issues in Blitz (even though they’re driven by Grunts)

Fixed an issue with units becoming unresponsive in Blitz

Fixed an issue in Blitz with units getting a x4 speed boost in a specific situation

Fixed a conflict created by swapping d-pad functionality in Blitz

Fixed an issue with the Blisterback not recovering from damage in Blitz

Fixed behavior of Marines sometimes failing to get new targets after throwing a grenade

Friendly cloaked units now appear on the minimap

Made some adjustments to Scarab creation

Tweaks to Grunt Mob, Bloodfuel Grunts, and Bloodfuel Locust

Holo Decoy can no longer be used on Pelicans or Spirits

Fixed card level of units affected by Holo Decoy not showing over clones

Glassing beam always creates vision now in Blitz

Adjusted AI to make better use of Healing and Cloaking fields

Skirmish AI now uses Extraction and Teleport

AIs have been practicing their Domination game

Metagame

Fixed a bug where parties were always assigned to Team 1

Fixed a rare issue with users not actually getting to play the leader they selected in Blitz

“Halt” cinematic should no longer be unlocked early in theater

Fixed some daily/weekly challenge issues where they were not tracked in some playlists

PC players can no longer tab target to whisper to themselves

Phoenix Log page adjustments

Pause menu adjustments

Set default difficulty of AI to normal from easy

Cosmetic

Cleaned up some language localizations

Fixed a bug with UI textures failing to load

Fixed some minimap graphical issues

Fixed a PC issue with starting army text overlapping some UI

Fixed some issues with individual card pack opening animations

Fixed an issue with a terminal for a red barrier not having a display string

Fixed a Domination icon issue, where it would rotate briefly when being recaptured

Fixed an issue with Health bars getting stuck on the screen

Fixed some issues with particles randomly shooting across the maps for various objects

Adjusted transparency on locked skulls in the side panel

Radial menu has been cleaned up a bit

Added extra visual indicator to aid players when they are selecting cards

Made some enhancements to the leader selection carousel

Audio

Fixed an issue with the announcer constantly reporting Zone B is contested when it’s not

Fixed an issue with the Condor being able to be heard through fog of war

Fixed incorrect audio playing on some units when damaged

Fixed some issues with units calling out the wrong attackers

Fixed an issue with using right trigger or mouse wheel would cause audio spam

Added audio to Plasma Mines deploy

Added a variety of sound effects, and adjusted timing on some existing ones

Ranked Multiplayer

Under-the-hood preparation for future ranked multiplayer

Known issues

In addition to these fixes, the teams are continuing to investigate and track various issues being reported by some players. A few known issues that are not fixed in this patch but are being worked on include:

We are still working on a fix for a known issue where a game can sometimes freeze or result in a very low frame rate

Investigating reports of the “Short Term Commitment” achievement not registering as intended

Investigating some reports of performance issues with cinematics

Investigating reports of the mini-map occasionally being unresponsive on PC

Occasional infinite loading screen when loading into consecutive missions in co-op

Game can sometimes hang indefinitely when restarting a mission

Unit balance feedback and assessment is ongoing by the design team

This is not a full list of in-progress fixes, the team has a number of player-reported bugs at various stages of investigation/fixing. As always we appreciate your feedback here in the Waypoint forums and we’ll provide more details and updates as we have them. Thank you!

Balance changes

The unit balance adjustments included in this patch pre-date the release of the game and as such are not in specific response to game data and player feedback since launch. For additional context, the design folks passed along these insights:

The majority of the balancing tweaks in this section were to decrease the effectiveness of the Scout rush and prepare the battlefield for upcoming buffs to the infantry counter units (Suicide Grunts, Jump Pack Brutes, Elite Rangers and Hellbringers). Scout vehicles are supposed to be a useful alternative core unit for Tech level 1, but were turning out to be better for rushing than the Anti-building “Rush” units (Jump pack Brutes and the Hellbringers).



The tech-counter for Scout units at Tech level 1, is the Grenade upgrade for UNSC and the Mine upgrade for the Banished. They needed a slight effectiveness boost to help players deal with swarms of enemy Scout vehicles.



We’ve also increased the effectiveness of the Tech level 2 core vehicles (Warthogs and Marauders), to allow players who out-tech a Scout rush, to deal more effectively with lower-tech core vehicles.



Players should still be able to pull off some sick Scout rushes, but will likely need to combine Scout vehicles with some rush units for maximum effectiveness (Jump pack Brutes and the Hellbringers).

Changes:

Scout Vehicles now take increased damage from Turrets, Leader Powers, Basic infantry weaponry, Marine grenades and Grunt squad Mines.

Scout Vehicles deal reduced damage against Non-scout vehicles.

Warthogs and Marauders increased damage versus Scout vehicles

Ramming Vehicles now take increased reflect damage.

Scout Vehicle cost changes: (100/50 = 100 Supply & 50 Power)

Banished Brute Chopper – 270/0 to 280/20

Banished Ghost – 250/0 to 265/20

UNSC Jackrabbit – 210/0 to 220/15

Scout Vehicle build time changes:

Banished Brute Chopper – 23 to 25 seconds

Banished Ghost- 23 to 25 seconds

UNSC Jackrabbit – 21 to 24 seconds

Grunt squad mines arming delay reduced from 5.0 to 3.0

Grunt squad mines damage increased by 13%

Marine grenade secondary area of effect damage increased from 30% to 50%

Grunt Mob card cost increased from 50 to 60

Bloodfuel Grunts card cost increased from 30 to 50

Bloodfuel Locust card cost increased from 60 to 80

Increased Watchtower’s line of sight from 50 to 90

Note: The 343 and CA teams are investigating post-release player feedback around balance and design and we’ll share more details as soon as we have them. The types of feedback and balance changes the teams are currently looking into includes: