How to avoid the worst bugs in Star Citizen (as of v4.1.0)
Mostly the same as 4.0.1 with a few new ones (game crashing/ATLS crimestat issue).
The first trick you'll need to learn is how to Server/Region Hop. Some of the worst bugs require just leaving the current server and going to a different one.
To force a server change you'll need to exit back to menu and change your region to something else.
Note: If you attempt to start the game in the same region, the game leans toward placing you in the server where you've been most recently.
Elevators
- Bed log as often as you can to avoid current hangar instance issues and set your spawn at a less popular station. Most hangar instance issues have been fixed by now, but they occassionally pop back up in busier stations (such as Checkmate) on certain servers.
- If the elevator to your hangar isn't working, try all the other elevators. If none of the elevators work, you'll either need to go to a "Pad" and hitch a ride with someone, or server hop to find a working server.
if you're encountering frequent game crashes...
Check the information in this post here:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/51473/thread/crash-due-to-old-string-data
The game.log file can be found at the default install location:
C:\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\Star Citizen\LIVE\Game.log
Open it up, then scroll all the way to the bottom, then scan through from bottom to top looking for any crash info.
If you're seeing out of memory errors and you only have 16GB of RAM, you'll want to increase your page file or upgrade your hardware so you have more RAM: https://support.robertsspaceindustries.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000083387-Out-of-memory-errors-set-your-pagefile
To avoid losing cargo, always store your ship (completely) before leaving your hangar.
There's a nasty bug where leaving your hangar by elevator doesn't properly store your ship, so it often will lose cargo, or else it will need to be reclaimed before you can retrieve it.
Wait for the elevator to completely store your ship (either the ship icon dissappears or the hangar lights turn back on) before leaving.
To avoid losing refinery jobs, retrieve your ship first, then store it before collecting any cargo from the refinery.
Refineries are still using old tech, so you can't send the cargo directly to the station inventory. You need to make sure that your hangar has been instanced first by spawning (and then storing) a ship.
If you collect a refinery job and the cargo doesn't appear on the ship, store and then re-retrieve the ship to get the cargo to appear.
I have had to do this a few times in a row to get the cargo to finally appear (well I haven't had to do it more than 2 times in a row... Yet).
If you happen to be using a Hull-A for this, I would recommend extending the spindle first before storing the ship.
Whenever warping around a planet ALWAYS be ready to cancel the warp by switching from NAV to SCM.
There is a rare bug where the warp path will take you through the planet. You will (almost always) die a fiery death from this.
Switching nav modes will immediately cancel the warp. You can also power off your ship with "U".
Note: While turning off your engines with "i" works when warping between planets... It does not work when warping to a ground location on a planet.
Don't shoot/destroy any ATLS when in Stanton and near an active Comm Array or you will get crimestat.
See additional details in the Issue Council here:
https://issue-council.robertsspaceindustries.com/projects/STAR-CITIZEN/issues/STARC-161841
If you come across an invincible player, use a takedown move, then again while they're on the ground.
Some players may accidentally get bugged, other players have figured out how to consistently recreate the invincibility bug.
It's common to encounter them at executive hangars. The best way to handle them is to use take-down moves on them and then finish them off with another takedown move while they're unconscious.
if you come across invincible/desynced NPCs, use a takedown move or...
use a weapons with a wide area of effect (grenades, grenade launcher, etc.), or use a vehicle to ram them.
Knocking them down usually re-synchs their location with the server allowing them to be killed normally.
If using a vehicle with an interior, they can glitch inside, so hit them with your wheels.
These NPCs often can be identified by how much they glitch and teleport compared to other NPCs in the area. Their hit box is typically offset from their location onscreen so hits on the body appear to do nothing.
Always turn off engines when landing anywhere with gravity.
Ships have a bad habit of becoming airborne, if it does become air-borne, try to climb a nearby structure and jump to your ship... If it's barely off the ground you can remove certain armor components and stack them as boxes to try to get a little higher.
Note: The only exception to this is if you're bed logging while landed on a planet. In that case, the next time you load in, there's a chance that your ship spawns in before the ground does, and you will fall under the planet's surface. So leave your engines on if you plan to bed log while landed (or in atmosphere in general).
Always leave engines on when exiting your ship anywhere without gravity.
As long as your engines are on in space (and you're in the default coupled mode) your ship will slow to a stop even if something crashes into it.
The exception to this would be gravlev vehicles, if you'll be out for a while, since they burn through fuel quickly.
Don't Alt+F4 in hangars ever.
Particularly in hangars, if your game crashes, or you Alt-F4, this will cause your hangar to become "unstowed"
https://issue-council.robertsspaceindustries.com/projects/STAR-CITIZEN/issues/STARC-159288
Do not enter an elevator immediately, always wait for the doors to open and verify that the elevator is actually there.
There was only ever one exception to this at a particular Lagrange point station where an elevator would always open up to a black void, but crossing the wall of black would reveal that the elevator was actually there. 99% of the time this is not the case. If you're truly curious, just try to put half of your body over the line, if your body dips down a foot or two, there is no elevator.
Don't sprint into an elevator full of other players.
Particularly in some of the executive hangar locations, at worst you risk glitching your buddy into the station interior. At best, nothing happens or you only slightly injure someone else in the elevator.
Do not land on asteroids (particularly the ones outside of the Pyro asteroid bases).
This has a decent chance of causing a "purple glow" to highlight your ship just as the server decides that something is wrong and it needs to clean up your ship. After this, your ship will be considered lost or destroyed.
How to not die when using the ATLS.
Stand in front of the ATLS, wait a few seconds for the game to register your current location properly, then enter the ATLS and don't move anything while the animation for getting in the ATLS plays out.
The ATLS currently has a bad habit of glitch teleporting into walls/vehicles/containers if you're moving around too much as you get in.
~~Jump when exiting a structure at any Pyro outpost.~~ Marked as fixed now.
There is an occassional issue where you will fall through the map where the edge of a structure's base meets the ground. It doesn't happen very often... But it is incredibly frustrating when it does.
Update: marked as fixed... But still be cautious: https://issue-council.robertsspaceindustries.com/projects/STAR-CITIZEN/issues/STARC-88025
If you're unable to jump through a wormhole...
There's a ~~bug~~ feature where the jump drive gets removed from the quantum drive if you ever swap it out. You can buy another jump drive at the station on either end of the wormhole.
Store and then retrieve your ship after refueling to avoid being stranded without fuel mid-jump.
There's a bug where your ship "appears" to be refueled, but when you quantum travel to a distant planet as soon as you cross the barrier over into a different server the fuel level in your ship will revert to pre-refueling levels and you will run out of quantum mid-transit. Storing your ship forces the fuel level to be applied/updated across all servers in the shard.
If you get stuck in a wall/rock...
Take off your arm armor first and place it at your feet. Sometimes this is enough to push you out.
If that's not enough, attempt to use a multi-tool tractor beam to pick up the armor box and then pull it in close to your character's body. If you have a friend nearby they can also attempt to throw boxes at you (if some portion of you is sticking out) or they can incapacitate you, then drag your body out with a tractor beam, then revive you.
Don't send/receive party invites while the sender/recipient are in an instanced location (any elevator or hangar) or else you will not see their marker.
Something about how you are in a different dimension messes around with the party markers and then you'll need to kick/reinvite the player to have their marker show up again.
Don't stand up immediately from your seat the second you enter quantum.
This is a quick way to get thrown from your ship and be stranded in space. Give your ship a few seconds to completely enter quantum before getting up.
Don't suicide immediately after setting your spawn to a different hospital/location.
This is a particularly account breaking bug where, if you do this, there's a chance that you brick your character. What will happen is that you will always die immediately after you try to get up from the hospital bed. Checking your game log will show that you are constantly committing suicide the second you get up. This issue will persist across all servers, and probably only goes away with requesting some sort of account reset, or waiting until the next patch is delivered.
If you can't put a fuse into a fuse door...
Try using a tractor beam instead and manually pushing it into the fuse slot.
Refueling/repairing "landing" screen issues
Sometimes repair/refuel options appear for a second before dissappearing and being replaced with the generic window for when you're not landed at a pad with vehicle services.
Workaround: Go to a different tab (like "Wallet") then return to the "Landing" tab and quickly click on the services you need.
Sometimes landing services don't appear at all. You can try to take off and land again (not likely to fix it anymore) but most likely you will need to try a different landing pad or store/retrieve if you are in your hangar. Sometimes you just need to wait an extra minute before landing services will appear if the servers are overloaded.
If you're at an outpost in Pyro that claims to have vehicle services, make sure you're landed at the pad that's completely surrounded by a structure and dips into the ground a bit.
If you use Nvidia DLSS, hold off on updating to Nvidia app version 11.3.01.218 since this will break DLSS in Star Citizen, stick with version 11.2.01.337 for now.
Issue that one of my org mates pointed out.
This will most likely be fixed in a later version.
For other known issues, check the information here:
https://support.robertsspaceindustries.com/hc/en-us/articles/360056254754-Star-Citizen-Alpha-4-1-Known-Issues
Or search through the issue council and look for workarounds on the ticket or in the comments.
Tap for edits
Edit: Crossing off jumping around Pyro outposts rule.
Edit 2: Added caveat to engine on rule for gravlevs.
Edit 3: Added invincible NPC and invincible player workarounds.
Edit 4: Added warping around planet rule.
To be honest, I was being a bit hyperbolic about the "few seconds" thing. It doesn't drain down that quickly, but it does drain noticeably even when not moving. The problem is, as your list suggests, a planned eva of only a few minutes can turn into an extended ordeal if you run into bugs or other problems and depending on the distance you have to travel that little bit of fuel saved by shutting off the engines could make the difference when you finally make it back into the pilot seat.
The fuel issue was there in 4.0, but if you were using the gravlev bikes sparingly then it wasn't that noticeable. I only first noticed it when I needed to travel a good distance (>30km) over rough terrain on Bloom to reach a hostile settlement that was surrounded by an extensive array of defensive gun and missile turrets. Halfway there I realized it was going to be a one way trip due to my vehicles quickly dwindling fuel reserves.
Sounds like we need to request a refuel mechanic for gravlev bikes if this is going to be a new "feature".
It would be great if I could carry some extra fuel in the bike's storage compartment.