Crimson Desert: Patch 1.03 Makes Life in the Open World a Lot Easier

Crimson Desert is getting more user-friendly. The new update to version 1.03 enables fast travel while climbing and boosts your companions. We have the German patch notes.

Nearly four million units sold,strong player numbers on Steamand now very positive Steam reviews speak for themselves:Crimson Deserthas, despite a bumpy start, become one of thecurrent favorite games of many open-world fans

Since launch, Pearl Abyss has been remarkably responsive, delivering updates at a pace that would make many other studios green with envy. With the latest Patch 1.03, the developers are now focusing heavily on smoothing out the rough edges of Pywel’s vast game world as part of their roadmap through June. The primary focus is on gameplay flow and flexibility, which make survival and exploration significantly more enjoyable.

Boundless Mobility Through In-Flight Teleportation

The most notable change concerns a system that has already caused many Crimson Desert players to grit their teeth: fast travel. Since Patch 1.03, your character no longer has to stand still before you can select a teleportation point on the world map.

This now works even while you’re riding a mount, climbing a steep cliff, or even while you’re in free fall. Even in water, you no longer have to reach the safety of shore first to shorten your journey.

New Power for Your Companions

One point of criticism from many players has been the limited usefulness of the secondary characters Damiane and Oongka. While the main story remains firmly tied to Cliff, excursions with his companions in the open world often felt like a step backward.

Pearl Abyss has now given both characters new abilities that put them on par with the protagonist. With access to the Power of the Axiom and the Veil of the Wind, they become fully-fledged alternatives for exploration.

The fact that Damiane’s Shield Throw and Oongka’s Scatter Shot now have the same effect as Kliff’s Power Fist finally makes switching between characters meaningful in gameplay. Kliff himself isn’t left empty-handed, however, and gains a new mobility option for aerial combat with the Crow’s Sky Kick.

Better overview on the world map

In addition to the gameplay adjustments, the interface has also been streamlined and enriched with helpful information. Who hasn’t faced the problem of standing in front of a cave in a vast open world and wondering if you’ve already cleared everything there?

Patch 1.03 introduces different icons in Crimson Desert for caves you’ve already visited and treasure chests you’ve opened. You’ll also immediately see whether Abyss Nexus challenges have been reset.

By the way: Anyone who previously had to sit out Crimson Desert due to their Intel Arc graphics card can finally breathe a sigh of relief thanks to official support and the integration of Intel XeSS 3.0, including Frame Generation.

All Crimson Desert Update 1.03 patch notes in detail:

What’s new in Patch 1.03 for Crimson Desert? The overview primarily highlights convenience improvements and quality-of-life updates.

Crimson Desert has received a major update to version 1.03. Here are all the patch notes in German.

Key Update Content

This patch adds new options for weapon display and minimum font size. Additionally, every character receives new abilities. Furthermore, controls and the UI have been optimized: Teleportation is now possible even while riding, falling, swimming, or climbing walls.

Content

• The Greymane Camp has been improved.

  • (To avoid spoilers, you can find the changes to this content in the dropdown menu below.)

• Issues that occurred when certain quests were completed while a bounty was active have been fixed.

  • (To avoid spoilers, you can find the changes to this content in the dropdown menu below.)

• The fast-forward feature has been improved so that it is now also available for normal dialogues that do not take place in letterbox format.

  • You can adjust the fast-forward speed using the new “Fast-Forward Speed” option under “Miscellaneous Language and Game”.

• Abyss Nexuses are now easier to find.
• The usability of some Abyss puzzles has been improved.

  • It is now clearer that certain tricks can be activated with the Power Fist.
  • The Lantern and the “Reflect Light” ability have been improved to provide more clues.
  • Access to the top of the Ascent has been improved.
  • The terrain of some Abysses has been improved.

• You can now use the bank while a bounty is active, though gold bars cannot be deposited and investment amounts cannot be updated.
• Fixed an issue where quests could not be completed at certain stages if totems were destroyed after completing Chapter 9 (Sanctuary of Chastisement).
• Fixed an issue where certain quests could not be completed if the associated quest item was obtained before the quest was activated.
• Fixed an issue where, after certain quests, the NPCs Gunter (Equipment), Harry (Smithy), Bronton (Stable), and Lola (Clothing) in Pailune City were replaced by other NPCs.
• With Patch 1.01.00, three new tracks were added to the default battle music on the continent of Pywel (excluding the Red Desert and some regions).
• With this patch, another music track was added for the loading screen.

Controls and Combat

• You can now teleport via the world map even while mounting a mount, falling, swimming, or wall-climbing.
• Targeting in boss battles has been improved.

  • For bosses, hard targeting has been improved so that it remains active even at greater distances.
  • For certain large bosses, the “Target” function has been disabled.

• Cliff now has the new ability “Crow’s Sky Kick”.

  • Prerequisite Skills: “Focus” Lv. 3, ‘Flight’ Lv. 2, “Crow’s Charge”.
  • You can activate the skill by pressing the dodge button while in flight after using “Focus”.

• Damiane and Oongka have been equipped with additional useful abilities for the open world.

  • “Power of the Axiom,” “Veil of the Wind,” and related abilities have been added for Damiane and Oongka.
  • Damiane’s “Shield Throw” and Oongka’s “Scatter Shot” have been improved to achieve the same effect as Kliff’s “Power Fist.”
  • The controls for Damiane’s “Sky Step” and Oongka’s “Vertical Flight” have been changed.

• Fixed an issue where the character could occasionally move abnormally fast with certain ability combinations.
• Fixed an issue where the “Reflect Light” ability was not maintained while riding a mount.
• Interaction with objects such as walls, switches, and cranks has been improved so that a dedicated animation now plays when they cannot be moved or activated further.
• [Keyboard/Mouse] The controls for the Power of the Axiom have been improved.
• [Controller] Fixed an issue where the “Veil of Wind” ability was triggered simply by moving the R-stick in any direction while using a Focus ability.

UI adjustments and improvements

• The color of the faction quest icon has been changed.
• When using the Visions, the display has been optimized so that only the list of memory fragments already obtained is shown.
• When grouping or viewing items individually in the inventory, a feature has been added that allows all items in the list to be processed simultaneously.
• Items can now also be examined while they are in storage.
• An improvement has been made to the “Manage Greymane” list so that the selected Greymane is now marked with a checkmark icon.
• A bug has been fixed where the Attack and Critical Hit Chance values for some equipment items (e.g., necklaces or cloaks) were incorrectly displayed as doubled when you accessed the character information via the “Examine” function in the inventory or in the Quick Access menu.
• Treasure chests that have already been opened are now marked with unique icons on the world map and mini-map to make them easier to distinguish.
• Caves that have already been visited are now marked with unique icons on the world map to make them easier to distinguish from unvisited caves.
• Restored Abysses are now marked with unique icons on the world map to make them easier to distinguish from un-restored Abysses.
• Fixed an issue where markers placed on the world map were not retained upon first re-login.

Graphics and Settings

• [PC] Support for Intel Arc GPUs has been added. Compatibility and performance on various Intel GPUs will continue to be optimized gradually.
• [PC] The “Intel XeSS 3.0” option has been added under “Settings > Video > Upscaling Mode”.

• [PC] The “Intel XeSS Frame Generation” option has been added under “Settings > Video”.

  • Display issues may occur on Intel Arc A-series GPUs when using “Intel XeSS 3.0” or “Intel XeSS Frame Generation”.

• [PC] The “AMD Radeon™ Anti-Lag 2” option has been added under “Settings > Video”.
• [PC] The “Displacement Strength” option has been added under “Settings > Graphics”.
• [PC] The “Detailed Decoration Meshes” option has been added under “Settings > Graphics”.
• [PC] Fixed an issue where image noise could occur in combination with screen distortion effects when using DLSS-RR.
• [General] Indoor lighting quality has been improved.
• [General] The rendering of reflections on the water surface has been improved.
• [General] Fixed an issue where rain appeared excessively bright from certain viewing angles.
• The option to display weapon appearances has been added under “Miscellaneous > Language and Game”.

  • Melee weapon display

    • All
    • Selected weapons only

  • Show Ranged Weapons

    • Always
    • Only When in Use

• The option for minimum font size has been added under “Miscellaneous > Accessibility”.

  • This option takes effect after restarting the game.

• The option to set the fast-forward speed has been added under “Miscellaneous > Language and Game”.

  • The fast-forward speed can be set to a maximum of 4x.

• The following options have been added under “Miscellaneous > Accessibility”.

  • Camera View Distance
  • Vertical Camera Position
  • Horizontal Camera Position
  • Automatically rotate camera in direction of movement
  • Adjust camera to direction of movement

Performance, Stability, and Launch

• General stability improvements have been implemented on PC, Mac, and consoles, and several crash issues have been resolved.

Localization

• Localization errors in all languages have been fixed, and the overall quality of localization has been improved.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where the game would crash when using the Helm of Knowledge with Damiane/Oongka.
• Fixed an issue where certain shops had no sales quantity limit for corn.
• In addition, various other bugs in the game have been fixed.