PUBG - PC Patch Notes - Update 15.1

Posted: 23 Nov 2021 11:07 PM PST

Updates for Live Server

To be updated after the Live server maintenance.

15.1 Highlights

Starting from this update, our Patch Reports will now be released with the Live server update instead of the Test server update.

When shooting our amazing Patch Report videos a stable game build is required - however, the build we need becomes complete around the time when the Live server gets updated.
Due to this hectic process, our creators inevitably undergo crunch mode. Therefore, we decided it would be best for both ourselves and our players to extend our working days and provide a better Patch Report by releasing it on a later date. We appreciate your understanding.

※ Please keep in mind that the features and updates we provide below may be modified or even possibly removed due to reasons such as bugs, in-game issues, and/or community feedback. We will update our players if such changes occur.

Map Service Update

We announced the long-term Map Service Plan[global.battlegrounds.pubg.com] to our players not so long ago, but after reviewing our players' feedback, we realized our plan was not something our players looked forward to. Therefore, after thorough internal debates based on our community's feedback, we have decided it would be best to change the map rotation service for Season 15 to the following:

Normal Match
- Erangel / Miramar / Sanhok / Taego / Vikendi
Ranked
- Erangel / Miramar / Taego

Taego will remain in the map rotation for Season 15 due to two reasons: first, our players' feedback, and second, our data showing us that Taego maintains its status as a very popular map. With these being the case, including Haven to the rotation would eventually cause stability issues as we'd have to adapt the map selection UI for regions with map selection without thorough testing. As for regions without map selection, players could feel frustrated having to play several matches before reaching the map they'd like.

Please note that our map service plan for Season 16 and later are still being discussed, but a separate announcement will be made to our players once decisions are made.

New Vehicle: Mountain Bike

Attention all triathletes! The Mountain Bike, a fan-requested vehicle is coming to the Battlegrounds. Unlike our other vehicles, the Mountain Bike can be found as a lootable item in its folded state. It can be located most often on the outskirts of the map, helping you have additional transportation methods.

Due to the lack of an engine, it hardly makes any noise, allowing for stealthy movement. Combined with Driver shooting, this can lead to some great surprises for your enemies.

Specifications

Maps: All maps in normal matches
Spawned in a folded form.
Unfold it into a rideable vehicle or store them in inventory.
Folds back into an item when stored back into the inventory.
Due to the absence of a speedometer, the current traveling speed is not displayed.
Does not spawn in Esports Mode.
Maximum number of passengers: One
Maximum speed:
- Max speed without sprinting (85% Throttle): 50 km/h
- Riding with 40% or more Boost (90% Throttle): 54 km/h
- Riding with sprint tapping (100% Throttle): 62 km/h
HP: Cannot be destroyed, including the wheels
Item weight: 70
Fuel consumption: None

Sprinting
Like in real life, you can sprint on the Mountain Bike by putting in some physical effort to mash the "Move Forward" key repeatedly to cycle faster. Being boosted makes it easier to reach max sprint speed. Higher tapping speeds increase sprint speed.

Jumping
Additionally, you can put your BMX skills to the test by jumping with the Mountain Bike. Holding the "jump" key longer (up to half a second) will increase jump height. High speed and being boosted also increases the jump height.

Wheelies
We hipsters don't ride on two wheels. We don't find the need to use all wheels because it just ain't cool! One, that's right, one wheel is all we need. Try to find the perfect balance by holding the "sprint" key and tapping "jump" in rhythm to find the hipster inside you.

Weapon Balance Update

Weapon Balance
As a battle royale game where every match presents different situations, we believe each weapon category should have its purpose in certain types of encounters. Based on our data findings and community feedback we have made weapon balance changes.

P90

The P90 is making the most kills of any Crate weapon and is performing better on ranges where we want Crate ARs to dominate. So we decided to increase the recoil difficulty while supplying less ammo.
- Increased horizontal and vertical recoil
- Increased ADS deviation during full-auto burst
- Lowered Care package ammo from 250 -> 200 bullets

Shotguns

The Shotguns in Battlegrounds continue to have a very limited role as seen in our data, to improve their usability we are increasing the effective range.
- Increased damage drop-off range to improve effective range by several meters per shotgun
- Increased hit probability on short range
- Increased Sawed-Off damage by 1
- Decreased Sawed-Off pellet spread

LMGs

LMGs in general are not considered useful enough based on our data, so we are slightly increasing their damage potential to improve the weapon's role. For MG3 we saw very little usage in our data compared to the other crate weapons so we are making it more powerful.
- Reduced recoil when shooting in crouch and stand
- Increased Body Damage multiplier from 1.0 to 1.05
- Increased M249 damage by 1
- Increased MG3 damage by 2
- Decreased MG3 horizontal recoil

SMGs

While some players feel that SMGs have a strong position due to their relatively low recoil, we still see in data that their role in weapon balance is very limited. To incentivize more accurate firing we are increasing the Head Damage multiplier.
- Increased Head Damage multiplier from 1.8 to 2.1
- Increased PP-19 Bizon weapon accuracy during ADS full auto firing
- Decreased UMP45 Damage at longer ranges
- Decreased UMP45 weapon accuracy during ADS full auto firing

AUG

The AUG seems to be overtaken by the P90 and even by the user's ability to control the Beryl, thus we are making it slightly more powerful to improve its Crate weapon status.
- Increased damage by 1
- Increased damage drop-off range to improve effective range

Magazine Balance
Based on our data over the years, we see that magazines in PUBG have not been very equally balanced. The Extended QuickDraw magazine offers an obvious upgrade over the Extended and QuickDraw magazines. The QuickDraw magazine is often left aside with players not even bothering to pick them up despite their advantage over having no magazine attachment at all.

We have tweaked our magazine attachments to add tactical decision-making and to improve the usefulness of the QuickDraw Magazine and Extended Magazine. Now every magazine attachment will be useful and offer its own play-style.

If you want to have up to 60% faster reloads, take a QuickDraw Magazine. If you want to have the highest magazine capacity, take an Extended Magazine. If you want to have a bit of both, take an Extended QuickDraw Magazine.

Example when applied to M416:

Default Magazine: 30 bullets
QuickDraw Magazine: 30 bullets and 60% faster reload
Extended Magazine: 42 bullets
Extended QuickDraw Magazine: 40 bullets and 15% faster reload

Additionally, we have added the QuickDraw Magazine Attachment to the Skorpion.

World Updates

Sanhok Update

Bootcamp

As being one of the most hottest drop zones in Sanhok, Bootcamp should be able to provide dynamic gameplay experiences. But we've been hearing that our players were not enjoying the reworked Bootcamp as the structure felt too crowded and complex for desirable tactical plays. Therefore, we decided to make Bootcamp undergo another big change and the best way to go at it was to shift the whole structure. Here are some of the main changes:
- To reduce the complexity and bunched-up feeling of Bootcamp, the central tower has been repositioned from the center to the right. We have then considered different angles and distances and adjusted the layout of the other buildings around the center area to provide an open space for better shooting.
- Players seemed to have too much of an advantage behind the parapet walls on the third floor of the central tower so we got rid of them and instead placed boxes made of stone on the rooftops.
  - We also narrowed the space between the second and third floor to reduce the advantage players had on the third floor.
- We realized that the large windows on the second floor of the central tower were allowing a wide view of players' surroundings which resulted in frequent camping. Thus, we have shrunk the size of the windows.
- Training areas have been added and scattered around the center as well to provide more cover and looting spots.
- We moved the watchtowers to place one each in the north and south to prevent players from hoarding them.
- Players didn't seem to have the best opportunities when they land a little late on Bootcamp. Therefore, we removed the 4 warehouses within Bootcamp and added 3 to the North (outside of Bootcamp) so even players who start late could earn a better chance at arming and hiding.

Shoreline

Players seemed to be feeling vulnerable around the shoreline areas so more rocks and trees have been added.
Weather
- The lighting and weather effects in Sanhok seemed to be hindering our players' in-game sight, so we:
  - Increased brightness by 25% for Clouds and Sunset weather.
  - Decreased darkness from 66% → 33% when it turns Foggy/Rain during Overcast weather.

Vikendi Update

KAKAO FRIENDS

PUBG's new collaboration is with KAKAO FRIENDS! More information on this collaboration will be updated in a separate announcement on the day the Live Server gets updated.
Dinoland has transformed into KAKAO FRIENDS LAND.
- KAKAO FRIENDS statues have been positioned here and there in KAKAO FRIENDS LAND.
- Billboards for KAKAO FRIENDS have been added.
- Buildings have been decorated with KAKAO FRIENDS ornaments.
Christmas

Christmas theme has been applied to Dinoland, Castle, and Winery.
Christmas weather has been added.
- Players can use this weather setting in Custom Matches for Vikendi.

Ranked Season 15

Season 14 Ranked Mode Rewards

Tier

Reward List

Bronze

Bronze PUBG ID Emblem

Silver

Silver PUBG ID Emblem

Gold

Gold PUBG ID Emblem

Ranked Parachute Skin

Platinum

Animated Platinum PUBG ID Emblem

Ranked Parachute Skin

Diamond

Animated Diamond PUBG ID Emblem

Ranked Parachute Skin

Master

Animated Master PUBG ID Emblem

Animated Master Nameplate

Ranked Parachute Skin

Top 500

Bonus rewards for Top 500 players:

Animated Top 500 PUBG ID Emblem
Animated Top 500 Nameplate

Unlocked Rewards

The Parachute Skin is a permanent reward players keep forever and can equip as they please.
The rest of the earnable rewards are only 'Unlocked' for the duration of a single Ranked Season.
Only the unlocked rewards from a player's highest rank will be granted.
Unlocked Rewards can be found in the inventory at the start of the new Season.
Once the Ranked Season is over and the server maintenance begins, Unlocked Rewards will be collected from the inventory.

Training Mode Update

Every vehicle but the Scooter has been removed from Training Mode to prevent various sound and crash issues and to prevent players from getting bothered by other players' vehicles during shooting practice.
After we observe the change in memory usage issues, we will discuss about the feature of allowing players to choose a vehicle of their choice in Training Mode.

Action Wheel Update

An additional Action Wheel with 8 more slots has been added as we noticed that players did not seem to have enough space to fit and use all their spray and emote items.
Players will be able to find their additional Action Wheel in the Customize tab.
In the lobby or in a match, players can use their mouse wheel to switch between the first and second action wheel.
If players select spray items from their Action Wheel in the lobby, a message will pop up saying that sprays are unable to use.

Performance Update

There has been performance updates with the Hideout tab.
- The loading speed when first accessing the page has been improved.
- A feature that could help prevent accidental weapon upgrades has been added.
  - A message showing the current level has been added to the Upgrade button.
  - Once a player clicks the Upgrade button, an additional confirmation message will pop up.
Memory usage has been improved by removing unused and duplicate data files within the game.

Smoke Grenade Sound Update

The deploy sound stops ten seconds before the smoke cover fully disappears.
Smoke cover fadeout starts when sound effect is stopped, so player can start being visible from five seconds while inside smoke.

Known Issues

New Vehicle: Mountain Bike's tool tip is displayed only in English in all languages.

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

Fixed the issue of the Cancel Interaction key being bound to the F key even though the Interaction key was set to another.
Fixed the issue of the PGC 2021 Contingent Chaos - Beryl M762's rail blocking players' sight in ADS mode.
Fixed the issue of a player unable to join the Comeback BR after getting killed while disconnected from the game.
Fixed the issue of custom game sessions getting deleted due to unknown reasons.
Fixed the issue of a dirt bike with blown-out tires moving slowly by itself on the ground.
Fixed the smoke effect visual issues when using DX11 Enhanced.
Fixed the issue of a black line being shown on characters when players set their effect settings to low.
Fixed the issue of an empty screen being shown to players when a custom game session is deleted.
Fixed the issue of characters being shown in a consistent pose after pausing during replay.
Fixed the issue of creatures not being killed when shot
Fixed the issue of the SORT BY feature not working in the inventory.
Fixed the issue of the crosshair of a weapon with a scope equipped in ADS mode shaking severely when used in the backseat of a vehicle.

Fixed the issue of the parachute reward from Ranked Season 13 being shown as two items in the inventory.
Fixed the issue of the kill message on the upper right screen not disappearing in matches.
Fixed the issue of the character glitching when changing items in the set item preview screen.
Fixed the issue of an empty space being shown on the lower left of the in-game chat box.
Fixed the issue of the awkward P90 magazine appearance in the inventory.
Fixed the issue of the killfeed text being cut off due to specific killfeed limit settings.
Fixed the issue of the Porter's inventory text looking awkward in a specific resolution.
Fixed the issue of the text being cut off after a teammate dies in Ranked when player sets game language to English.

Items & Skins

Fixed the clipping issue when a male character equips Shadowstar's Top with Moon Rabbit Jacket.
Fixed the issue of the Bunny Aeronautics - M416 and Bunny Aeronautics - Mini-14 looking severely dark indoors.
Fixed the issue of the Night Hunter Costume's bullet loops looking awkward in-game.
Fixed the clipping issue when the PUBG Varsity Jacket is equipped with most glove items.
Fixed the clipping issue of a female character's top and bottom when equipping specific jacket items.