It has been a rough start for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, but that hopefully ends with the first major patch to the game rolling out today.
After delaying Season 1 to fit this patch in first, KT Racing has a big week ahead of it. The patch rolls out today and features more than 300 bug fixes, enhanced graphics, and better wheel support among many, many others.
TDU Solar Crown Patch Notes
This update will roll out at 8am UTC on Monday September 30 across all platforms. The changelog does not detail every single bug fix, but there is plenty here for players to get excited about.
Servers/Networks
- Significant server/network improvements: fixed login errors, lobbies and races disconnections, save issues & other specific server-related problems
- Fixed issue where meeting points and POI discovery were not saved
Performances/Stability
- Stability improvements (fixed various crashes and freezes)
- Performance improvements (increased global framerate while maintaining the same graphics quality)
Graphics/Interfaces(UX/UI)
- Added Master setting in graphical options
- Fixed graphical tearing issue
- Fix some cases of bad rendering in virtual garage when accessing pause menu
- PC Only: Removed displayed menus when enabling Nvidia Ansel
- Fixed various Live Events UI issues
- Fix a few "NoLoca" issues
- Fixed wrong display of turbo on the HUD
Audio
- Improved environmental sounds
- Fixed incorrect audio in some languages
Compatibility
- Improved support for peripherals (steering wheels, shifters, etc.)
- Improved support for ultra-wide monitors
Misc
- 300+ miscellaneous minor bugfixes
- Resolved cases of hardlock after the first race of the onboarding
- Fixed ELO not decreasing when abandoning ranked races
- Fixed suspension issues on various cars
- Prevented several cases where player could drive through NPCs in free roam
- Fixed cases where AI would drive in the opposite way after finishing a race.
- Improved pathfinding of GPS
- Removed incorrect indication of a race at lvl 3 that should not exist.
- Updated the price of special edition cars
Will Players Return To TDU?
This patch will fix a number of problems players have faced with the game. TDU Solar Crown peaked at just 5,300 players on Steam when it first released. That number has dipped to around 1,500 daily players.
With this update finally rolling out, we should see players come back to Test Drive Unlimited. There is a superb game underneath all of the issues. One that encourages exploration, modification, and collaboration.
KT Racing needs good word-of-mouth to help grow the TDU audience. This patch, along with Season 1 starting this week, should begin that virtuous cycle. If not, then TDU's days will be numbered.