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Outward 2 Beta: Critical Bugs, The 'Bird Friend' Stable Issue, and DLSS Crashes

Outward 2 Beta: Critical Bugs, The 'Bird Friend' Stable Issue, and DLSS Crashes

Outward 2 is currently in its closed beta testing phase. While reports indicate that the upcoming sequel will boast incredibly low system requirements on PC, the current build is quite rough around the edges.

If you were lucky enough to secure a beta key, you might be running into several technical hiccups and game-breaking glitches. From a devastating bug involving the new pack animal system to frustrating co-op mechanics, here is a breakdown of the known issues in the Outward 2 beta and what you need to avoid.

PSA: Do NOT Put Your "Bird Friend" in the Stable

One of the most exciting new features in Outward 2 is the introduction of pack animals to help ease the burden of the game's notoriously brutal inventory management. Players can purchase a "Bird Friend" (acting as a mule) for around 400-500 silver. You can load this companion up with your hard-earned silver and heavy valuables.

However, do not check your bird into a stable in the current beta build.

Multiple players are reporting a critical bug where, once the bird is checked into the stable, the option to retrieve it becomes completely unresponsive. You will not be able to get your companion back, and you cannot access its inventory—meaning all the gear and silver you stored on it will be permanently lost. Until Nine Dots Studio deploys a hotfix, keep your pack animal by your side at all times.

Co-op Bugs: Broken Encumbrance and Monster Aggro

Co-op has always been a staple of the Outward experience, but the beta currently features a few quirky desync and logic bugs that can make adventuring with a friend difficult.

  • Shared Encumbrance Glitch: A bizarre bug is currently causing players' inventory weights to cross over. You might find your character's encumbrance level suddenly skyrocketing because it is being impacted by your co-op partner's equipped gear.
  • Host-Biased Aggro: Monsters in the beta are showing an extreme preference for the host player. Guests are often completely ignored during combat, with enemies willing to chase the host player for miles across the map rather than attacking the guest standing right next to them. If you are playing as the host, be prepared to do a lot of dodging.

Tech Issues: DLSS Crashes on Non-RTX Graphics Cards

While Outward 2 is highly optimized for low-end systems, players utilizing older GPUs that do not support Nvidia's DLSS technology (such as the GTX 1660 Super) are experiencing instant crashes upon startup.

It appears the game may be attempting to initialize DLSS settings by default, which causes an unhandled error on unsupported hardware. Some players have managed to play in short bursts by ignoring or bypassing the error message, but the client remains highly unstable.

Potential Workaround: If you are experiencing this crash, check the game's configuration files (usually located in your AppData or Documents folder, depending on the beta build) to manually set DLSS or upscaling options to false or 0 before launching the game. We expect the developers to patch this initialization error very soon.

Are you participating in the Outward 2 beta? Let us know what other mechanics or bugs you've discovered in the comments below!