Assassin's Creed 3 launches in North America today and in Europe at midnight, and with that Ubisoft has prepared a day one title update to clear out some bugs that made it into the final version.
According to the patch notes found on the official Ubisoft forums (be aware of possible SPOILERS!), the patch is "highly recommended" for anyone with an internet connection. Tough luck for people without one, I suppose.
Get the entire list of bug fixes below – spoilers are placed at the bottom, so don't scroll all the way down if you want to remain unspoiled. Or just don't read anything.
Bug Fix
– Animus Synching tutorial, fixed an issue where the player could think he's stuck in an infinite loading when getting to Boston after the end credits
– Fixed a bug where counter-killing with the bow does not always work
– NPCs spawned too far away could end up being of the wrong type
– Camera could remain stuck after the player being respawned
– Player could remain stuck after diving from a waterfall
– Player could remain stuck if he exits a slopped hay stack at a certain angle
– player would always get immediately detected when performing an unarmed stealth assassination in another guard's back
– Under rare circumstances, the crowd would stop spawning
– Fixed an animation glitch when interrupting the reception from high profile jump
– Fixed various occurrences of missing sounds
– In some cases, the Animus Database sound ambiance was not stopped when exiting
– Various stats and leaderboards were not showing up properly
– Online shop could sometimes appear empty if fetching the data from Xbox Live is taking too long
– Mission "RETURN TO ABSTERGO" – fixed a bug where the player would lose control over Desmond during a fight if he lures and kills some guards in the wrong area
– Mission "A DEADLY PERFORMANCE" – Mission would not continue if the player decides to climb the wall instead of using the ladder
– Mission "JOHNSON'S ERRAND" – fixed a bug where the game would remain stuck if the player runs during the black screen that occurs after exiting the tavern
– Mission "THE SURGEON" – Charles Lee could fall in the water and die while following the player, causing the mission to fail, if the player decides to take a certain path that involves jumping over the water
– Mission "THE SURGEON" – fixed a bug where we would show the desync effect if the player throws one of the target in the water, even though the mission is not really failed
– Mission "WELCOME TO BOSTON" – The courier side-quest next to the general store would not start properly
– Mission "EXECUTION IS EVERYTHING", fixed a bug where the mission would not continue if the NPCs you are eavesdropping react to a dead body
– Mission "THE BRADDOCK EXPEDITION" – Mission would not continue if the player kills all enemies in the camp, killing the required target last, without triggering open conflict
– Mission "FEATHERS AND TREES" – NPC's would not detect beams properly, preventing them from performing the trunk around move
– Mission "FEATHERS AND TREES" – Mission would not continue if the player doesn't follow the expected path
– Mission "HUNTING LESSONS" – Mission giver could not be there if the player goes away and comes back
– Mission "SOMETHING TO REMEMBER", fixed a bug where the screen could become all white or black for the remainder of the mission if the player set his brightness option to anything else than the default value
– Mission "ON JOHNSON'S TRAIL", fixed a bug that could cause the optional objective "Use powder kegs to destroy smuggled cargo" to not be saved properly if the player reloads during the mission
– Mission "THE TEA PARTY'' – Optional objective "Dump crates of tea in the water" could not be completed if the player threw all crates before having killed all guards
– Mission "THE MIDNIGHT RIDE" – Mission could not be completed if the player interacts with the delivery quest giver along the way
– Mission "BRIDEWELL PRISON", Player could remain stuck prison cells
– Mission "PUBLIC EXECUTION" – Crowd NPCs could be spawned in or walk through a cart during a cinematic
– Mission "SOMETHING ON THE SIDE" – Optional objective "Perform a successful static eavesdrop" could not be completed.
– Mission "MISSING SUPPLIES" – Optional objective "Do not hide in the hay cart while following the convoy" not being saved properly if the game is reloaded during second part of the mission
Crash Fix
– Possible crash that could happen if the player blends in a crowd group where some NPCs haven't spawned yet, and while blended performs a kill.
– Possible crash that could happen if the player triggered a loading while being in a covert escort formation with his brotherhood trainees
– Possble crash that could happen when calling a brotherhood trainee with the snipe ability
Naval Mission
– "OAK ISLAND" – Player could pass through the ground when diving into the cave
– "OAK ISLAND" – Wolves could stop attacking the player and remain stuck
– Possible crash if the player spams the swivel guns with the semi-automatic cheat enabled
Homestead
– Mission "HAPPY EXPECTATIONS" – Game could remain stuck on a white screen when starting the mission
– On the Homestead, fixed a bug where the player could remain stuck if he performs a corner pose on the left side of Norris' cave's entrance
Side Quest
– Brawler Challenges 3 – Task "Own every weapon available in the stores" would not complete when the player expects it to.
– Fort Monmouth and Fort Division – Quest objectives would fail too early without the fort resetting properly
– New York delivery mission – Game asked for a different item (deer heart) than what was showed to the player (venison)
– New York Liberation Missions – Possible that the game would wrongly display that 2 of the districts were completely liberated when it's not the case yet
