Need for Speed March Update Live, Patch Notes Revealed

A new Need for Speed Unbound update has been released by developer Criterion and publisher EA alongside patch notes. Because we have the patch notes for the update, we know everything that the game's second substantial update does to the game. And there's a lot. There are over 100 changes with the update, though none of these changes when isolated are that consquential. Added together they are substantial though. 

While we have the patch notes for the update we don't have information about the various file sizes. How big the file size is on PS4, PS5, Xbox consoles, or PC, we don't know. There's no new content, which usually means smaller file sizes, however, theere are so many changes that it's quite possible the file size will be at least a little bit meaty.

PATCH NOTES:

AI Rivals & Cops

Fixed a number of issues where traffic cars were spawning in unexpected places
Fixed an issue that caused AI rivals' icons to flicker on screen
Fixed an issue where AI rivals were getting busted during events and completing the race early
Fixed an issue where cops would remain idle in some areas after busting the player
Fixed an issue where Helicopters were not chasing correctly during a pursuit
Fixed an issue where the 'Old Town Road' event had B tier, rather than A tier rivals
Fixed an issue where Waru's vehicle has a default player "NFS" number plate
General fixes and balancing to AI racers
Improved cop chat trigger conditions

Balance and Meta Tweaks

Limited the ability to downgrade cars to one tier below stock
Resolved an exploit where players could access extra gears using 3rd party hardware
Fixed an issue where A$AP Rocky's custom vehicle only allowed 3 engine swaps
Fixed an issue where the track reset could give an unfair advantage on 'Rapid Transit'
Balanced Aston Martin Vulcan's top-end acceleration in S class

Challenges

Added the ability to pin a challenge directly from a locked item
Fixed a number of UI issues relating to challenges
Fixed an issue that caused the player to receive only one challenge complete pop-up notification after completing multiple challenges
Fixed an issue that caused the return to garage rewards screen to appear twice after completing challenges
Fixed an issue where certain Challenges displayed incorrect information
Improved challenge unlock criteria feedback to the player

Client & Performance

Fixed a number of HUD resolution issues on PC related to launching the game in windowed mode and resizing the window
Fixed an issue that caused certain menus and HUD elements to display incorrectly in wide aspect ratios
Fixed an issue that caused some PC players to freeze whilst launching the game for the first time
Fixed an issue that caused the screen VFX to flicker whilst in critical health state
Fixed an issue that showed DLSS as available for non-supported GPUs
Fixed an issue where Nvidia Reflex reports 0 PC latency
Fixed an issue where raindrops could flicker on-screen at high speeds
Improved performance for low-spec PCs

Customization

Added the ability to select a driving tag on a per-vehicle basis
Improved the performance customization flow to show whether performance parts will move the car below a tier
Fixed and issue where the player can't equip any character customization after rebooting the game
Fixed a number of character poses
Fixed a number of decal thumbnails that were displaying incorrectly
Fixed a number of issues where owned items were unable to be equipped
Fixed an issue that caused the "new" label to appear on Auxiliary items even after revealing them all
Fixed an issue that caused the player to not be informed how to unlock palace edition cars when previewing them
Fixed an issue that occasionally caused visual issues with equipped sunglasses
Fixed an issue where a customisation part was incorrectly labeled on the Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 Super Veloce Roadster
Fixed an issue where a customisation part was incorrectly labeled on the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster_(2019)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Chevrolet C10 Stepside Pickup (1965)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Honda Civic Type-R (2015)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Honda NSX R (1992)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Land Rover Defender 110 – Supertuner
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Nissan GT-R Premium Edition (2017)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Nissan Silvia K's (1998)
Fixed an issue where decals applied incorrectly on the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS (2018)
Fixed an issue where decals are unable to be placed on the Porsche Cayman GT4 (2015) side window
Fixed an issue where decals are unable to be placed on the Porsche Panamera Turbo (2017) front fender
Fixed an issue where decals on the Honda NSX R wouldn't apply correctly
Fixed an issue where decals weren't removed when previewing or equipping new body kits
Fixed an issue where decals would appear corrupt on the rear of the Chevrolet Stepside Pickup
Fixed an issue where driving effects didn't display correctly on Turbofan rims
Fixed an issue where players were unable to report custom wraps after highlighting the player
Fixed an issue where rain didn't appear correctly on some Turbofan rim parts
Fixed an issue where some aftermarket wheels were narrower than the stock version
Fixed an issue where the glossiness slider didn't work correctly with decals that have gradients
Fixed some issues where changes to a vehicles paint were occasionally being reverted
Improved several decals that appeared desaturated
Resolved an issue where the player receives the "wrap too complicated" message even where there is space to apply decals
Resolved some issues where community wraps cannot be edited or equipped

Map & Mini Map

Added District names to the map
Locked but purchasable safehouses can now be seen on the map
Fixed a number of issues that caused the minimap to disappear in certain areas of the game
Fixed an issue that caused an unintended chevron arc to appear on the player vehicle when arriving at a routed player
Fixed an issue that caused certain map elements to not appear whilst in 1600x1200 resolution
Fixed an issue that caused map icons to pull in the player cursor too strongly
Fixed an issue that caused meetup icons to flicker and disappear on the edge of the minimap
Fixed an issue that caused player icons to show as stacked on-top of each other in multiplayer lobbies
Fixed an issue that caused player icons to show incorrectly on the map whilst transitioning between events in a playlist
Fixed an issue that caused the player arrow icon to appear as backwards on the minimap
Fixed an issue that caused the safehouse purchase card to be present on map whilst in a race
Fixed an issue that caused two routes to be displayed at once on the minimap during certain missions
Fixed an issue that caused waypoints on the minimap to be oversized
Fixed an issue that caused Yaz's "High Heat" delivery missions on the map to have Tess' name on the mission card
Fixed an issue where routing to players in multiplayer would occasionally draw a straight line towards them
Fixed an issue where some billboards wouldn't display correctly on the minimap
Fixed an issue where the multiplayer icons in the map were updating slowly
Fixed an issue where waypointing to a player whilst in a meet-up would draw the route incorrectly
Resolved a number of issues relating to routing to POIs whilst in an active delivery mission

Multiplayer

Added the ability for players to see what other players are up to whilst on the map, meetups and the on-server list of the party menu
Fixed an issue that caused traffic cars to have delayed responses to collisions in Multiplayer
Improved the way player position is handled in multiplayer lobbies, smoothing out gameplay in playlists
Fixed a number of issues preventing players from sending multiplayer invites
Fixed a number of issues that caused the users platform icon to be displayed incorrectly
Fixed a number of issues with viewing friends in the party widget
Fixed an issue that caused menu narration to activate when accepting a multiplayer invite from a friend
Fixed an issue that caused player banners to be invisible after an idle kick from a multiplayer session
Fixed an issue that caused the party menu to function incorrectly when opened in the wrap library or singleplayer
Fixed an issue that made players unable to back out of the block player menu without selecting a block option
Fixed an issue where some decals were not appearing on other players cars over Cross-Play
Fixed an issue where the player is not informed that the server is full when trying to join a friend in a full server
Fixed an issue where the user was able to access Cross-Play servers even with Cross-Play disabled
Fixed an issue where visual damage on the users vehicle gets repaired when another player exits the garage nearby
General improvements to party information and visibility
General improvements to the multiplayer playlist invite flow
General server stability improvements
Resolved some issues where players were disconnected from a multiplayer session after matchmaking
Tweaked the amount of time the player has to hold the map button down to access the party menu

Playlist and Racing

Added the ability to swap cars out on each race in a playlist, so players can choose cars better suited to each event type
Added visual feedback in playlist UI to indicate whether the player was using a rental car.
Increased base payouts for all Multiplayer playlists, and added greater payouts scaling with higher player counts
Fixed a number graphical, camera, and vehicle issues in the playlist intro and outro flow
Fixed a number of collision and camera issues when entering multiplayer meetups
Fixed a number of issues where Event Card information was incorrect
Fixed a number of issues where events were named incorrectly in some Multiplayer Playlists
Fixed a number of issues where the player may sometimes get reset incorrectly
Fixed a number of issues with car selection in multiplayer playlists after accepting an invite from the garage
Fixed an issue that caused certain player animations to stutter during the multiplayer playlist podium sequence
Fixed an issue that caused drift and takeover event names to not appear from the "scores to beat" screen
Fixed an issue that caused each player not to appear at the top of the player list in the car select screen
Fixed an issue that caused some text to be larger than others in the playlist podium sequence
Fixed an issue that caused the detailed stats of owned cars to not appear after selecting them in multiplayer
Fixed an issue that caused the playlist invite to display "Not enough players" as soon as it is sent
Fixed an issue where parked cars were incorrectly placed in the 'Road Trippin' endurance event
Fixed an issue where rental cars would show the customised version in the podium if the player owns that car in a different tier
Fixed an issue where some Playlists weren't being marked as 'new' correctly
Fixed an issue where the Apex Predator event type was Endurance rather than Corner King
Fixed an issue where the Making Bank event could become inaccessible.
Fixed an issue where the player car appears as damaged during the retry race transition
Fixed an issue where the player character occasionally doesn't spawn during races
Fixed an issue where the player is loaded into their personal vehicle instead of the selected rental vehicle during mixed tier playlists
Fixed an issue where the player may continue to respawn after crashing in the 'This Shit is Tight' takeover event
Fixed an issue where the player occasionally isn't notified when they miss a checkpoint during certain playlists
Fixed an issue where the player was left in the car they used during a playlist after completion, rather than the previously equipped car
Fixed an issue where the player would resume from an incorrect position when finishing the 'Wild Thing' event while in a cop chase
Fixed an issue where the side bet screen sometimes doesn't show the correct AI racer
Fixed an issue where the train can block the route on the 'Rapid Transit' event
Fixed an issue where users are stuck at the start of a playlist race until one player leaves the playlist
Improved the end-of-playlist flow to spawn players next to each other
Improved the playlist car select flow to load in 3D models of each car from the selection, rather than just the thumbnail
Resolved an issue where the NOS boost can get locked during multiplayer gameplay, preventing use for the rest of the race
Resolved an issue where wrecked vehicles were returning at full speed
Show the player's car performance rating in the race summary screen at the end of each event in the playlist
Fixed an issue where the player character occasionally doesn't spawn during races

User Interface

Added option to reverse sort order of cars in the garage
Fixed a number of issues relating to the confirmation text when backing out of snapshot mode
Fixed a number of UI graphical issues
Fixed an issue that caused loading screen tips to be hard to read in relation to their background
Fixed an issue that caused some text to be hard to read during drift and takeover practice events during the day
Fixed an issue that caused stuttering when navigating through the multiplayer banner menu
Fixed an issue that caused the Grip/Drift sliders to not update consistently when leaving the menu and re-entering
Fixed an issue that caused the pause menu to be unavailable when the "start delivery" prompt is on screen
Fixed an issue that caused the quick route function to still be available during a playlist
Fixed an issue that caused the safehouse purchase button to occasionally disappear when approaching them
Fixed an issue that caused the text after finishing an activity to stay too long on screen
Fixed an issue that caused the vehicle performance UI panel to disappear after selling a rewarded car
Fixed an issue that caused the waypoint icon to disappear after reaching a custom waypoint for the first time in a session
Fixed an issue that caused very long player names to be cut off at the bottom of the party menu
Fixed an issue that made the player unable to return to the garage menu after selecting play and backing out
Fixed an issue where the 'Route to Safehouse' message incorrectly appeared when restarting some events
Fixed an issue where the lock animation didn't play correctly on event cards
Fixed an issue where the player was not returned to previous menu after taking a snapshot for the banner
Fixed an issue where the player was receiving an incorrect 'Wrong Way' notification
Fixed an number of issues that caused some performance upgrades to be highlighted in red even if they were an improvement
Fixed multiple UI issues with equipping car vanity items
Improved the results screen in single player takeover and drift events
Improved the visual quality of event cards
Removed unnecessary quotation marks from multiple wrap library confirmation texts
Resolved an issue where textures could flicker in Snapshot mode

Vehicle

Add a missed licence plate light on the Ferrari LaFerrari (2016)
Added a Speedhunters spoiler for the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2020
Fixed a graphical issue on the Nissan Silvia K (1998)
Fixed a number of issues that caused some character body parts to clip through the sides of certain cars
Fixed a number of issues that caused some hairstyles and hats to stick out of the roof of certain cars
Fixed an issue on the BMW M2 where there is an empty rear bumper interaction point
Fixed an issue where air suspension caused clipping on the Chevrolet Camaro SS (1967)
Fixed an issue where clipping occurred on the Chevrolet Bel Air (1955) when the vehicle stance is lowered and damaged at 50%
Fixed an issue where clipping would sometimes occur on the Land Rover Defender 110 Double Cab Pickup when the stance is lowered
Fixed an issue where decals placed on the windows of cars cannot have their material type changed to metallic
Fixed an issue where some handling menu items were missing for the Lamborghini Urus
Fixed an issue where some vehicles weren't showing the correct amount of model deformation when damaged
Fixed an issue where the colour & tint of the Mercedes AMG GTR (2017) lights weren't able to be changed
Fixed an issue where the exhaust camera was incorrectly placed on the Subaru Impreza WRX STi (2006)
Fixed an issue where the Ford Mustang Foxbody (1990) air suspension didn't work correctly
Fixed an issue where the headlights on the Aston Martin DB5 (1964) would light up incorrectly
Fixed an issue where the Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder had an incorrect interaction point
Fixed an issue where the licence plate on A$AP Rocky's Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 (1988) didn't edit correctly
Fixed an issue where the lighting was incorrect on the Nissan 370Z (2019) tail light
Fixed an issue where the Mazda MX 5 (1996) displayed options incorrectly for the diffuser
Fixed an issue where the Nissan Skyline GT-R KPGC10 had empty or unselectable interaction points
Fixed an issue where the Rally Lamp Pods on the Subaru Impreza WRX STI (2006) worked incorrectly
Fixed an issue where the ride height adjustment would work incorrectly on the BMW M3 Evolution II E30 when the LTO body kit was equipped
Fixed an issue where the slide windows and wing mirrors on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 were positioned incorrectly
Fixed an issue where the spoiler on the Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 (2021) didn't animate while driving
Fixed an issue where the SUBARU BRZ Premium (2014) had an incorrect interaction point
Fixed an issue where the the ride stance worked incorrectly with certain body kits on the Mazda RX8
Fixed an issue where the wheels clipped on the Mercedes GT R (2017) if air suspension is equipped
Fixed an issue where the wrap wasn't correct on the BMW M3 E46 Razer
Fixed an issue where there is an empty trunk interaction point on the Subaru BRZ Premium (2014)
Fixed an issue where wheels clip the front fenders on the Chevrolet Camaro SS (1967) if vehicle stance or air suspension is on its lowest setting
Fixed an issue with the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti (2006) where the vehicle canards were restricted when font bumpers were removed
Improved the readability of the Ferrari 458 Italia licence plate at night
Improved the readability of the Ferrari 458 Spider licence plate at night
Improved the readability of the Lamborghini Diablo SV (1995) licence plate at night
Improved the readability of the Subaru Impreza WRX STI (2006) licence plate at night
Upped the volume of the Subaru Impreza WRX STI when using near and far cameras

World

Fixed a number of graphical and collision issues within the world of Lakeshore
Fixed a number of lighting issues within the world of Lakeshore
Fixed an issue that caused water puddle surfaces to appear as blocky when placed over dirt terrain
Fixed an issue where the player is unable to collect billboard rewards in some areas
Resolved an issue where the camera can be pushed through the environment on a number of vehicles
Resolved an issue where the player could collect certain billboards at the ground level

General Fixes and Improvements

Added an option to reset the camera in Snapshot mode
Added idle camera to garage
Added the ability to skip music tracks in races
Resolved some inconsistencies in the way race routes are displayed in the map, meetup, and in-game
Fixed an issue that caused driving tags to occasionally appear incorrectly on other players or AI rivals
Fixed a number of audio issues
Fixed a number of camera issues
Fixed a number of graphical issues
Fixed a number of issues relating to missing vehicle reward names after earning them in the campaign
Fixed a number of issues that caused items to be sorted incorrectly in the garage
Fixed a number of issues where the player is not being given the correct rewards in singleplayer
Fixed a number of VO sync issues
Fixed an issue that caused campaign car delivery events to not display consistently
Fixed an issue that caused some vehicles to enter the "tumble" state unrealistically
Fixed an issue that caused the "auto sign in" off preference to not be saved after rebooting
Fixed an issue that caused visual animation issues whilst pausing during a collision
Fixed an issue where game difficulty didn't save correctly between reboots
Fixed an issue where the player is able to buy safehouse access multiple times
Improved audio feedback for losing Signature boost
Improved quality of certain cut scenes
Improved the flow between the front-end garage and multiplayer lobby
Improved the way collisions are handled, reducing the number of unreasonably violent collisions
Improvements to visual feedback on the way heat is carried over the campaign
Resolved an issue where the text to speech function wasn't converting text exceeding 100 characters
Resolved multiple issues where the players save file would get corrupted or save incorrectly

Localization

Fixed a number of issues that caused certain text elements to appear incorrectly in non-English languages
Fixed an issue that caused the EA Sign in page to appear in English even when non-English languages are set
Fixed an issue that caused VOIP TTS options to show as being available for non-English languages

Need for Speed Unbound is available to purchase via PC, PS5, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. For more coverage on the 2022 and latest Need for Speed game and all things gaming across the board, click here.