Saints Row patched

THQ and Volition have released a patch for Xbox 360's Saints Row, aiming to sort out a bunch of multiplayer problems as well as some general glitches. The "auto-update" should download whenever you next fire up the game.

According to the developer, lag ought to be reduced now, while it's also sorted out a range of issues including some exploits - like the "clothes stealing" exploit. We would've left that in, it sounds great.

Naturally, the update is required to play Saints Row online. Here's a full list of what's fixed:

• General
• Enabled 4xAA (anti-aliasing) for 480i standard-def and 480p resolutions (was 2xAA).
• Enabled 4x anti-aliasing during initial player creation screen.
• Added player options to enable v-sync during cut-scenes and/or gameplay, with warning that it will affect framerate.
• Fixed widescreen formatting issues in certain resolutions.
• Fixed issue where button icons would sometimes not appear during tagging activity.
• Fixed problem where camera could rapidly rotate around player when exiting vehicle.
• Added dialog reminding player to save before final mission in the game.
• Fixed rare crash bugs due to variants and fast shader constants.
• DLC - Car dealership now skips paint selection for car if the car has no color data.
• Fixed issue when signing out of a gamer profile on The Wheel Woman unlock screen.
• Added missing audio tracks to music stores, including “Pickin’ Boogers.”
• Added long sideburns and four other missing hairstyles to Shear Intensity salons.

• Multiplayer
• Improvements to the way the game handles packet loss and bandwidth management between players. This addresses issues commonly cited as “lag”, and general synchronization problems between the players’ clients (vehicles/players warping around, etc).
• Various bandwidth optimizations.
• Fixed connection issues with gang servers (done server-side, update not required).
• The system for rating a player’s quality-of-service has been improved, and made less conservative. This means you’ll see many more matches with 10-12 player limits.
• Fixed “clothes stealing” exploit. Stolen clothes will be deleted, legit clothes will be unharmed.
• Various changes to Matchmaking phase, to get players in the game faster.
• Team-based, non-Gang games are now required to have even teams. Gang matches still allowed to be off-by-one to allow easier matchmaking, since single people cannot be matched-in.
• Fixed issue that could cause the Blinged Out Ride vehicle to get stuck inside the garage when the driver disconnects.
• Fixed crash that could happen during server migration.
• Fixed rank reporting errors in Leaderboards for Team Gang Brawl and Team Big Ass Chains.
• Fixed problem where end of games stats display could be improperly sorted.
• Fixed issue in server migration where statistics would not be properly updated for the newly selected server.
• Fixed issue where incorrect server was elected for game size.
• Fixed issue where car could get stuck in a chop shop or get pushed out of the level and destroyed. Added caching to pimp hat and multiplayer chains to reduce delay when they are loaded.
• Fixed problem where PC could become bald after importing from single-player savegame.
• Fixed problem where multiplayer garages had problems with client vehicles colliding at the entrance with an invisible mesh mover.
• Item sync improvements.
• Fixed problem that could prevent twelve people from getting into a match due to not having enough security associations.
• Points stored in Big Ass Chains are now being reset between games.
• Fixed issue where gang stats retrieval could fail and not be retried.
• Addressed “standby” hack where a player would temporarily disconnect their network connection to move around without others seeing them.
• The proper number of custom vehicle choices now appears for the Hustlin multiplayer level.
• Gang sizes limited to 100 members.
• Fixed cases where gangs match but not all players get into the game.
• Only servers with sufficient bandwidth are selected to host a match.
• Fixed bug where multiplayer garages had problems with client vehicles colliding against unseen geometry.
• Big Ass Chains points scored stats are now reset between games.
• Fixed bug where player would have pipebombs in inventory but would not be able to throw them.
• Fixed problem in Protect Tha Pimp where a player would respawn at the beginning of a round in observer mode.
• DLC - Always display name of level server has selected, even if client does not have that level downloaded.