After a historically bad launch, Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection's first patch has fans cautiously optimistic: 'Faith is being restored'

An X-wing escapes an explosion in Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection.

(Image credit: Aspyr)

The Battlefront Classic Collection released last week to some absolutely withering reviews, quickly spiralling all the way down to the bottom of the Steam user rating barrel: an ominously red "Overwhelmingly Negative" grading. But maybe there's light at the end of the Death Star trench run?

Aspyr released the first patch for the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection earlier today, bringing a suite of changes, tweaks and fixes to the collection. That's only to be expected—both games in the package were massively underbaked—but more surprising is that the community seems to have greeted the patch with something approaching cautious optimism.

Over on the Battlefront subreddit, fans have been pleasantly surprised by the scope of the patch's fixes: "Bodes well for the future," reads a much-upvoted post by user CarterDavison, "1-3 more of these and I think it's in a solid place."

"Rise of the Empire cutscenes fixed?" That's awesome news. That combined with the invert fix and invisible walls were major fixes I need," reads a reply from GeneralChaz9, "Faith is being restored."

Other responses strike the same pleasantly surprised tone, with players particularly pleased by fixes for the collection's oft-lamented texture glitches, missing Y-axis inversion option, crashes, and audio bugs.

"This is exactly what we needed! Just wish they would have told us sooner. Literally fixes all the bigger issues," writes a Reddit user named jayL21.

Let's be clear, players aren't all ready to sweep Aspyr's sins with the Battlefront Classic Collection under the rug. A post on the game's Steam forums titled "We owe Aspyr an apology" attracted numerous replies from players that all basically amount to "No we don't."

To be honest—and this may be the only time in my life I say this—I'm with Steam forums users on this one. If Aspyr can get Battlefront back on track that's fantastic, but there's not really an excuse for the shoddy state it launched in.

Also, no one has told me why on Earth the game needs 62.87GB of my SSD. Actually, in the wake of this patch, that seems to have increased to 62.88GB.

Aspyr also hasn't rectified issues with the game's aim acceleration yet, or addressed the issue of a modder's work making its way into the game after the company specifically said it wouldn't.

Maybe it's saving that for the next patch, which it says it's currently "planning" for. Plus, the studio says it's "continuing to make server-side adjustments to improve the online multiplayer experience," which should hopefully continue alleviating some of the many multiplayer gripes people had.

Here are the patch notes in full:

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection Update 1 Patch Notes

Multiplayer

[BF2] Fixed a crash related to client message sends.
[BF2] Fixed the launch prompt to be present after timing out or selecting cancel while joining a server.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed password-locked games to no longer appear via the Quick Match option.

Control Schemes

[BF1] Fixed a crash when entering the split screen menu in BF1 where Player 1 would incorrectly be assigned to Player 2.
[BF2] Fixed a crash that would occur when attempting to build fleets while using Mouse and Keyboard in Galactic Conquest on BF2.
[BF2] Fixed bonuses to be able to be highlighted in the Bonus Selection screen in Galactic Conquest.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed Invert Y-Axis option to be visible.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed the options for Flip X-Axis and Swap LS and RS to be unhidden
[BF1][BF2] Fixed split screen games to be able to be started when only one controller is connected.

Visuals

[BF1] Fixed an issue where the 'L' button prompt would overlap the top arrow on the Instant Action menu.
[BF1] Fixed an issue in multiplayer mode where AI units would slide when not in direct sight of a human player.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where the zoom-in scope crosshair image would not appropriately fit widescreen displays.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where hit VFX and hit character animations could not be seen by clients in Hero Assault mode. (long range).
[BF2] Fixed textures on Utapau map.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Kamino map in BF2 where the lights and bloom VFX within were not displaying properly.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Endor: Bunker map in BF2 where a tree was clipping up through the middle of a walkway.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where a seam in the skybox was visible on some maps in Battlefront 2.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Naboo map in BF2 where the railing texture was missing.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on Space maps in BF2 where a small white cube was present at the base of all openable doors on Republic, CIS, and Rebel capital ships.
[BF2] Fixed an issue on the Galactic Conquest screen in BF2 where a player’s name and their credit count would be overlapped by bonus boxes on the Bonus tab.
[BF2] Fixed an issue where the ESC menu would stay on the screen if it was opened at the end of a match.
[BF2] Fixed an issue in Galactic Conquest where the hilt from the lightsaber icon would not show the Leader bonus.
[BF2] Fixed units sliding after respawn on XL maps.
[BF2] Fixed the jetpack gauge to correctly align.
[BF2][Split screen] Fixed the ammo counter reticle to fit inside the aiming reticle.
[BF1][BF2] The colorblind mode selection screen no longer overlaps with the text at the bottom of the screen.
Fixed the Quit and Register Your Game buttons to align correctly.

Hero Assault

Re-Balanced Asajj Ventress' abilities
Fixed Kit Fisto lightsaber to animate.
Fixed Kit Fisto's Force power to no longer remain stuck to the client in multiplayer.

Audio

[BF1][Audio] Fixed the Battlefront 1 loading screen sounds.
[BF2] Fixed a crash that occurred when an audio output device was disconnected.
[BF2] Fixed the music to play on several maps in the Hero Assault mode.
[BF2] Fixed blaster SFX for certain Hero characters' weapons to play at the correct volume.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed an issue where the audio outputs would reverse.

Other Notable Bug Fixes

[BF1] Fixed the soft locks upon finishing the game at the Victory screen.
[BF1] Fixed a bridge in Bespin: Cloud City to allow a Droideka to roll on it.
[BF2] Fixed Naboo Area 3’s respawn blocker.
[BF2] Fixed collision issues affecting multiple maps.
[BF2] Fixed the Assault gamemode to be present in the Mode section of the Pick Search Options menu.
[BF2] Fixed the reinforcements to correctly deduct 1 reinforcement when the Republic or Rebels die on Death Star.
[BF2] Fixed the Map and Mode settings reset button.
[BF1][BF2] Fixed the "Load Fail" error that occurred when loading a profile.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.