The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda has released patch 1.6 for the Xbox 360 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This update finally brings mounted combat to the game, alongside a number of bug fixes and general gameplay improvements.

The team has a habit of botching releases and then slowly recovering before adding new content to the game – Skyrim is no different. Several bug-fixing patches later, the new features are now rolling out.

If the team had released a game that wasn’t bug-ridden at launch then these new features could have come a lot sooner. The full patch notes for 1.6 are below:

New Features

• Mounted Combat – Skyrim now allows you to do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse

Bug Fixes

• General stability and memory optimizations
• General AI pathfinding optimizations and bug fixes
• Optimizations and crash fixes for data leaks
• Fixed rare crash with lighting
• Fixed crashes related to loading and saving games
• Fixed crash with summoned creatures/NPCs
• Fixed rare issue where saves would be corrupted
• Improved logic for when ranged kill cams are played
• Fixed issue with ranged kill cams while killing a dragon
• Fixed rare issue with certain ranged kill cams not playing properly
• Fixed issue with nirnroot lighting not properly cleaning up
• Fixed issue where bow damage was being calculated incorrectly
• Fixed rare problem with werewolf kill moves would not finish animating properly
• In “The Break of Dawn” fixed rare issue where Meridia’s Beacon would disappear from player’s inventory
• Fixed occasional issue where followers would disappear after player pays off a bounty after committing a crime
• Fixed issue where certain creatures and NPCs would fail to respawn properly
• Fixed rare issue with dialogue subtitles not displaying properly
• Fixed issue with water appearing blurry when loading a saved game after creating a save underwater
• Fixed issue where map cursor would occasionally disappear after closing a message box with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
• Fixed rare issue with shouts only performing the first level and not other unlocked levels with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
• Fixed issue where the shout buttons would stop working properly if users mashed LB and RB during cooldown with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)