Star Citizen Alpha 3.6.1 LIVE – Patch Notes & Updates

Star Citizen Alpha 3.6.1 is now LIVE, this is a QoL and Bug Fix Update to the 3.6 Branch of Star Citizen, let’s look at the updates and patch notes.

There has been a Database Wipe so you will have to recreate your character AND aUEC / aUEC Purchases have been reset.

And this patch does not contain Ship Rentals or the 890 Jump, though those are still planned for the 3.6 branch of the game.

General

• Updated audio for size 3 ballistic cannons and Ballista’s missiles.
• Updated FOIP camera selection with “camera mode” which includes the choice of camera, resolution, framerate, and color space. Recommended modes are marked with a “*” and modes below 320 or above 1920 are excluded.

• Added Ballista Class Missiles to Centermass store.
• Brought down the number of AI security reinforcements to avoid accumulation of AI ships.
• Increased the ship detection commodity buying radius for some stash houses.
• Updated probability volume to lower the frequency of AI service beacons.

• Disabled pitch ladder for ground vehicles.
• Added HUD warning message for security encounter.
• VOIP UI “speaking” notification now ignores players who are out of range.
• Raised the P8SC sight attachment point.

• Updated dimensions for Freelancer Max and Vanguard to better select landing pads/hangars.
• Temporarily removed the VTOL animation from the Cutlass to restore forward/reverse strafing when in hover mode.

Bug Fixes

• Players should no longer experience a dramatic framerate drop when in 1st person.
• Fixed missing orbital markers at multiple locations.
• Updated armor tagging for Star Marine so the outlaws now have a complete set.
• Fixed an issue causing tire trail VFX for the Ballista to not appear.
• All crew members of the Ballista should now have ship computer audio.
• Holding LMB should now work to quick place carried items.
• Security attacking the player should now be flagged as hostile.
• The UI should now show correct numbers for weapons when not wearing a helmet.
• The camera should no longer appear to be inside the player’s head when respawning in Star Marine.
• Players should no longer experience an infinite loading screen when logging into the PU.
• Fixed an issue causing bounty type missions to appear in the same areas around GrimHex.
• Fixed an issue where the REC total wasn’t displaying at the top of the screen on the Arena Commander menu.
• Destroying an enemy ship when in the presence of security should no longer cause a crimestat.
• Fixed an issue where mineable asteroids could be detected at much longer ranges than intended.
• Modified shield proxy for Reclaimer to fix shield holes.
• Ruto’s appointment mission should no longer be offered before the player completes the prerequisite mission.
• Fixed an issue where missiles were not inheriting velocity.
• Players should no longer get stuck on a black screen after death.
• Ships should no longer be missing components upon insurance claim return.
• There should no longer be excess AI ships around GrimHex, lowering local FPS.
• Switching genders in the character customizer should no longer cause a skin tone mismatch.
• Vehicles should no be able to be repaired and restocked at Lorville and Levski.
• Secondary quantum travel route jump points should no longer be obstructed when traveling to a planetary body.
• Mission givers should be in their correct positions and functioning.
• Emissions should now display properly on MFD and support screens.
• There should no longer be a floating boxing ring just outside of Lorville.
• Players should no long stare at a black screen when attempting to respawn.
• Fixed an issue that caused ship repairs to not work when degradation was present.
• Fixed an issue where Pro Tem bounties would spawn inside asteroids.
• Players should no longer get stuck on an infinite loading screen when entering the PU.
• Repair costs should no longer be exceedingly high when degradation is present.
• Players should no longer see pink or purple graphical issues around ArcCorp if they updated to the latest drivers.
• Players should now be able to purchase commodities at Hurston moon outposts.
• Players should now have their ships detected once landed at CRU-L5.
• The player’s ship should no longer explode when quantum traveling to a party member in atmosphere.
• Mission description and contractor are now placed in the correct fields on the mobiGlas.
• Fixed an issue causing some optics to be not sighted in correctly.
• Restock should work consistently for all ground vehicles.
• Lawful missions should no longer appear on GrimHex if the player has a crimestat.
• Fixed an issue where VOIP did not automatically connect the client back to proximity chat after disconnecting from a direct call or party chat.
• Removed emotes from falling to fix using them to avoid falling damage.
• Fixed 10 client crashes, 4 server crashes & a memory leak.

There are still some Known Issues

• Recently claimed ships may show as “locked” on the VMA. W/A: App switch or reopen to refresh.
• 600i interior elevator & Reclaimer interior doors do not open unless the ship is unlocked.
• The forward lift on the Reclaimer sometimes has collision issues causing damage to the player or the player to fall out.
• Wheel and suspension animations are not working on wheeled vehicles.
• VOIP may not be functioning at release, but we are looking into a server side hotfix.

The 3.6.1 is probably the most stable patch I’ve played, I can only talk for myself though, no crashes at all yet. This may make Cargo hauling less risky. Also Framerate are great for me, even around cities and built up areas.

The biggest potential fix here for me is getting ships spawning correctly with all their components, which again seems to work consistently for me now, hopefully it does for everyone else.

Some of the bug fixes should make the game SIGNIFICANTLY more playable for a lot of people.

Also for people that were struggling a little with Hover Mode and precision landing, press Right Shift when in hover, this will lock your ship so that only strafe inputs will move you and you don’t pitch up or down… perfect for my needs, and to be honest that’s actually kinda how I think you should fly in Hover Mode anyway… that’s just me tho!

The new options for FOIP allow you to set up your camera in a lot more detail, the additional “faceware” settings sort of indicate to me we might see the faceware camera at CitizenCon. You’ll need to play with the settings for your camera with my C922 & brio I think 720p at 60fps looked good but it requires some fiddling and I’ll get a guide up on FOIP best practices probably when VOIP is fixed!

With mining, I am having trouble finding mineables so often, it seems that rocks that should be detected, sometimes aren’t or are slow to be detected… this could be some form of server sync issue… maybe?

The Protem & Some Bounty Missions don’t seem to work/spawn properly.

Also ships canopies, still randomly open in some ships… this is one of my major bugbears. 

There are certainly still bugs and issues but significantly less now.

I am interested to know your thoughts though if you’ve played 3.6.1 LIVE, are you enjoying it? Have some of the bugs you hoped would be fixed now gone OR are they still persisting? Has the aUEC reset in this patch obliterated your wealth, one of the reasons I don’t play star citizen just all day is because of the regular resets xD whatever you think I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.