Oblivion Remastered's newest patch aims to smooth out difficulty bumps, improve performance, and fix wonky Khajiit tails

Bethesda has rolled out a new patch for Oblivion Remastered that promises numerous bug fixes and performance improvements, and also adds a little more flexibility to combat difficulty settings.

The difficulty adjustment is neither a nerf to this nor a buff to that, but rather the addition of a new "Journeyman" setting that Bethesda hopes "will act as a better bridge" between the "Adept" and "Expert" settings.

This is a bigger deal than it might seem, as Oblivion Remastered's out-of-whack difficulty is a common complaint. As PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield noted in May, "'Adept' difficulty just feels too easy, while a single step up to 'Expert' makes fighting even a basic bandit a life or death slog." Modders were able to solve the problem, but this change will hopefully smooth things out for everyone on vanilla.

There's not a lot in the way of big headline news in the patch beyond that, although a fix to "armor items hiding Argonian and Khajiit tails" will no doubt be welcomed by many, and another ensuring that keybinds update properly for AZERTY keyboard users will certainly please, well, a few. Promised performance fixes, including fixes for frame rate drops and overall optimization, should also make for a better time in Tamriel for everyone.

The Oblivion Remastered 1.2 update is set to roll out today in Steam beta (and may already be live by the time you read this), so you'll need to be opted into that if you want to give it a rip before it's fully live. The full patch notes are below.

SETTINGS CHANGES

• We’ve added additional difficulty settings to allow players to further tune their “Player Combat Damage” & “Enemy Combat Damage”. Players can now select from “Novice”, “Apprentice”, “Adept”, “Journeyman”, “Expert”, and “Master” options in the Gameplay menu. We hope the “Journeyman” setting, specifically, will act as a better bridge between “Adept” and “Expert” for players.

UI

• Fixed map markers disappearing
• Fixed missing punctuation in Simplified Chinese text
• Fixed “Toggle All” button on Map screen to work as a 'Hold'
• Various fixes to localized text
• Fixed controller issues in Spell making menu
• Fixed menus being cropped incorrectly in 1280x1024
• Fixed the incorrect player stance in the inventory menu after fast travel
• Fixed rebinding keys for Lock Picking
• Fixed keybinds not updating in AZERTY
• Fixed soft lock with controller in Enchanting menu
• Fixed stats not updating when equipping enchanted items
• Fixed a character skin glitch when closing the inventory menu

CRASHES

• Fixed crashes that could occur while fighting Jyggalag
• Fixed crashing when killing a paralyzed NPC with an arrow
• Fixed crashing when paralyzing an already-paralyzed NPC
• Fixed crashing in Spellmaking menu when rapidly removing & implementing effects
• Fixed various GPU crashes
• Fixed crashes that could occur during auto saves

AUDIO

• Fixed underwater SFX persisting after leaving exiting water
• Fixed missing ambient SFX in Shivering Isles

QUESTS

• Fixed NPCs floating after being knocked down during Priory of the Nine quest
• Fixed crashing when entering Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest
• Fixed pathing for Shaleez in Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest
• Fixed crashing when opening Gate to The Fringe during Retaking the Fringe quest
• Fixed mages loading without clothes in Fort Ontus during The Necromancer's Amulet quest
• Fixed NPC pathing issues in Gardens of Flesh and Bone during ‘Through the Fringe of Madness’ quest
• Fixed missing VFX during the closing of the Great Gate
• Fixed Ilav Dralgoner's missing facial animation during ‘Saving Time Itself’ quest
• Fixed Sir Thredet's speech during ‘Umaril the Unfeathered’ quest
• Fixed NPC pathing issues during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest
• Fixed Obelisk Crystals spawning disconnected during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest
• Fixed crash at end of ‘Through a Nightmare, Darkly’ quest
• Fixed wall crumbling in Malada during ‘Nothing You Can Possess' quest
• Fixed misaligned food at the Castle Leyawiin County Hall dinner party during ‘Sanguine’ quest
• Fixed an issue with visibility of ghosts during ‘Ghosts of Vitharn’
• Fixed cutscene not playing during ‘Light the Dragonfires’
• Fixed missing textures in Cropsford Campsite after finishing ‘Goblin Trouble’

PERFORMANCE

• Fixed frame rate drop in Deepscorn Hollow
• Fixed frame rate drops in Black Rock Caverns
• Fixed frame rate drop between Skingrad and Skingrad Castle
• Fixed frame rate drop south of Bravil Castle courtyard
• Reduced the frequency of hitches in the open world.
• General improvements to frame time in many locations.
• Optimize updating of character attachments.
• Optimize rendering of water volumes in the open world.
• Optimize light/shadow updates in several lairs.
• Optimize waterfall particle FX and rendering.
• Optimize the weather system.
• Optimize character animation system.

GAMEPLAY

• Fixed player character height scaling
• Fixed armor items hiding Argonian and Khajiit tails
• Fixed slow camera movement when initiating NPC dialogue
• Fixed soft lock when a player with a high bounty goes to jail
• Fixed Orrery animations
• Fixed physics bug with floating necklaces
• Fixed vampire sleeping animations
• Fixed NPC beards not following facial animation.
• Fixed ghost NPCs being completely invisible
• Fixed missing animation when talking to Shamada in Leyawiin
• Fixed occasional very long load times when fast traveling
• Fixed missing facial animation for Snak gra-Bura
• Fixed falling unconscious in water preventing player from getting up
• Fixed NPCs losing collision when swimming
• Fixed NPCs stopping combat when player is blocking
• Fixed female Dremora teeth clipping
• Fixed soft lock after choosing player class
• Fixed Amber weapons clipping in first person view
• Fixed vines clipping into columns
• Fixed helmets clipping into player character's head
• Fixed missing textures on Daedric statues
• Fixed duplicated pages between Oghma Infinium and Mysterium Xarxes

SYSTEM

• Fixed flickering shadows when using XeSS Upscaling
• Fixed title properly restarting after purchasing the Deluxe Upgrade on PC
• Fixed settings properly migrating between PC and XBOX
• Fixed water disappearing after fast travel
• Fixed cursor slowdown when enabling high frame rate V-Sync
• Fixed shaders not preloading due to cloud save replication
• Fixed long blackout during loading screens
• Fixed weather VFX flashing while outside
• Fixed motion blur artifacts while in the Oblivion Plane
• Fixed NPCs not obeying the Wait action from the player