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Fallout 76 Update 19 patch notes bring ally customization & new events

It's time for your NPC companions to get their post-apocalyptic swag on if they're going to roll with you. Ally customization has arrived in Fallout 76 Update 19.

TJ Denzer

May 19, 2020 2:11 PM

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Fallout 76 has taken on quite a new life since the launch of the Wastelanders update which brought NPCs and questlines to the game. There’s arguably more than ever before going on the West Virginia nuclear wilderness, and Bethesda is bringing more to the table with each update. Fallout 76 Update 19 just launched with ally customization to deck your companions out in new duds. We’ve got these and other details from the patch notes just below.

Fallout 76 Update 19 patch notes

The Fallout 76 Update 19 patch notes dropped on the Fallout end of the Bethesda website on May 19, 2020. Bethesda actually has a lot of content lined up by season, as laid out in their recent Fallout 76 2020 roadmap, but this one is outside of what we saw there. Ally customization is the top line of this update, allowing players to redress their NPC companions as they see fit. Whether you’re looking to spruce them up or make everything look uniform between you and your pals, the option is now there. New events have also come to the game, alongside some returning and extended ones. Check it out.

Update 19 Highlights

• Ally Customization: Give your Allies stylish new looks by sharing your wardrobe with them using the new option to customize their outfits.
• Hunt for the Treasure Hunter: Mole Miners have discovered treasure in the Ash Heap! Starting May 21, hunt them down to claim their loot for yourself during a new limited-time event.
• Fasnacht Parade: By popular demand, this Seasonal Event is returning for a full week starting May 25, and there are plenty of new Fasnacht Masks up for grabs.
• Item Naming Updates: We’ve made improvements to the way your weapons and armors are automatically named when you apply new mods and skins.
• Backpack Updates: Changing your Backpack’s appearance is now as simple as applying a skin, and you can now apply them to Small Backpacks, too!
• (NW) Limited Time Challenges: Unlock new cosmetic rewards by completing limited-time Challenges in Nuclear Winter, from May 19 – June 11.

Update Version 19

• Download size for today’s update will be around 10.7 GB for Xbox and 8.6 GB for PS4. For PC, the download size will be approximately 4.1 GB through the Bethesda.net launcher, and around 5.9 GB via Steam.

Customize Your Allies

• Starting today, you can now share your wardrobe with your Allies and swap their outfits to your heart’s content with Ally Customization.
• When interacting with an Ally in your C.A.M.P., a new “customize” option will now appear that you can use to change their clothing.
• Outfits, Headwear, Costumes, Armor—If you can wear it, then so can your Ally! The only current exceptions are Power Armor and Weapons.
• Anything you dress your Ally in is purely cosmetic. They will not receive any buffs or bonuses from the apparel they wear.
• Additionally, when viewing another player’s Ally, its name will be adjusted to include the name of the C.A.M.P. owner, e.g.: ’s Ally.
• Please note that scrapping an Ally Station will revert that Ally to their default outfit. Allies will also appear to be in their default outfit if they are in an instance with you.

Hunt for the Treasure Hunter

• Mole Miners are searching for riches around Appalachia, and you can hunt them down to claim their loot for yourself in a new series of limited-time “Hunt for the Treasure Hunter” events we’re introducing with Update 19.

Treasure Hunter Mole Miners

• Use your keen tracking senses to hunt down Treasure Hunter Mole Miners to collect their Mole Miner Pails, which contain all of the loot they’ve been hoarding.
• Treasure Hunter Mole Miners are legendary creatures, and you will hear them when they’re nearby.
• Treasure Hunter Mole Miners can drop rewards from one of three different tiers: Dusty Mole Miner Pails (low), Mole Miner Pails (medium), and Ornate Mole Miner Pails (high).
• The higher quality the Pail, the better chances for rare loot, including Outfits, Mounted Head Plans, a new Backpack Plan, and the Marine Armor Helmet Plan.
• Pails can be traded and sold to other players, but cannot be sold to NPC vendors.

Craft Your Own Mole Miner Pails

• While a Treasure Hunter event is live, Vendors around Appalachia will sell Empty Mole Miner Pails in exchange for Caps.
• Use Empty Pails, along with a few additional materials, to craft full Mole Miner Pails of low, medium, or high-quality.
• You can give or sell crafted Pails to other players, or keep them for yourself.
• Head to the Ash Heap on May 21!
• The first Hunt for the Treasure Hunter event will take place from May 21 – 25 in the Ash Heap region of Appalachia.
• Future Hunt for the Treasure Hunter events will each occur in a different region.

Fasnacht Parade Marches Back to Helvetia

• Starting next week, you can travel to Helvetia to take part in the Fasnacht Seasonal Event by helping the local Protectrons prepare for the town's annual celebration and parade.
• Help the bots by hanging decorations, gathering ingredients for a feast, or playing musical instruments, among other activities, before the timer expires.
• If you and your event mates complete the preparations in time, the bots will line up at the center of town to begin the parade.
• Successfully guide the marchers to the end of their parade route, and you will be rewarded with loot!
• The more marchers who survive, the higher your chances at rare loot, which may include Fasnacht-themed C.A.M.P. plans and a chance to earn a fancy Fasnacht mask.
• We’ve added a number of festive new masks this year, and adjusted their drop rates following community feedback. While some are still less common than others, they should drop more often this time.
• You can also trade your Fasnacht Masks to other players, if you wish.
• Fasnacht Parade will begin every hour at the top of the hour starting on May 25. The event will last for a full week, so you'll have plenty of chances join in the celebration!

Design Updates

Automatic Item Name Improvements

• With this update, we’ve improved how the game automatically names your weapons and armors based on their mods, legendary attributes, and Atomic Shop paints.
• Going forward, automatically generated names will appear in a much more consistent order, and they will reliably include an item’s main attributes.
• Additionally, Atomic Shop paint and skin names no longer overwrite the item’s primary legendary effect name.
• Items should now generally follow this naming convention: Primary Legendary Attribute Name + Atomic Shop Cosmetic Name + Mod Name + Weapon Name
• If you have a legendary Gatling Gun with the Black Knight paint and a Prime Receiver, for example, its automatically generated name should now be: Anti-Armor Black Knight Prime Gatling Gun
• Keep in mind that you can still give your items custom names, which will override their automatically generated names.
• Please note: Given the many combinations that are possible through all the different mods, legendary effects, Atomic Shop paints, and item types, there may cases where new item names appear incorrect.
• For example, certain elements may appear out of order, or might be missing from the name.
• These are visual issues, and all your mods should still function correctly. Please let us know if you spot any naming bugs on your gear after today, and we will squash them.

Backpack Appearance Updates

• We’ve improved Backpack customization so that you can now apply different appearances to your Backpacks as skins—no more crafting required!
• Head to an Armor Workbench and use the modify menu to swap the appearance of your existing Backpack with any skins you’ve unlocked through quests, events, or the Atomic Shop.
• Skins can now be applied to Small Backpacks, as well for those who have not yet unlocked the normal Backpack Plan by completing the “Order of the Tadpole” quest.
• You can apply skins to your existing Backpacks, as well as any new ones you craft.

Art and Animation

• BBQ Grills: Get hungry! When using a BBQ Grill, your character will now appear to flip and grill some tasty steaks.
• Grognak’s Throne: We’ve added a new animation that will play when sitting in Grognak’s Throne so that you can survey your land with the royal confidence.

Items

• Liberty Prime Power Armor: If you’re a strong silent type, you may be pleased to know that we’ve added an alternate version of the Liberty Prime Power Armor helmet that will not play voice lines while you’re wearing it.
• Players who own the Liberty Prime Power Armor can now craft the silent version of the helmet at a Power Armor Station.

Nuclear Winter

Limited Time “Survivors” Challenges – Unlock Themed Cosmetics!

• We’ve added 8 Nuclear Winter Challenges that you can complete to earn new “Survivors” themed cosmetic rewards starting today, and lasting until 7:00 p.m. ET on June 11.
• One new challenge will appear in the Character Challenge menu each day until all 8 are available, and they will remain available until the end of the event.
• You can earn the first reward with 150 Overseer XP, and the last with 2,500 Overseer XP. All others will each require 2,000 Overseer XP.
• Overseer XP you earn will roll over from one Challenge to the next, but they must be completed one at a time and in order.
• As you complete each Challenge, you’ll be able to claim new themed rewards, like new furniture for your C.A.M.P., “Survivor’s Denim” and Ghillie Suit outfits, as well as skins for Nuclear Winter’s newest weapons: The Bow, Cattle Prod, and Gauss Shotgun.
• You can learn more about this event directly from ZAX and preview the rewards by reading our latest ZAX Transmission article on Fallout.com.

New Items

• New Weapons: The Bow, Cattle Prod, and Gauss Shotgun have been added and tuned for combat in Nuclear Winter matches. Find them in Supply Crates as you scavenge for gear.

Bug Fixes

Art and Animation

• Animations: Dying while playing an instrument no longer causes the instrument to become invisible after respawning.
• Animations: Fixed an issue that could cause the Overseer to slide out of her chair before standing.
• Animations: Fixed a rare issue that could cause the player to fall through the world during character creation.
• Lighting: Optimized the lighting inside the Overseer’s house and The Wayward to address performance issues.
• Textures: The Clandestine Gauss Pistol skin now appears correct when applied to the Drum Magazine mod.

C.A.M.P. and Workshops

• Allies: No longer sometimes attack the player’s other C.A.M.P. objects and Turrets.
• Build: Moving C.A.M.P. locations now correctly closes the Build Menu for teammates who had it open while in the original build area.
• Collectron Station: The Communist Collectron will now find Propaganda Flyers less often while scavenging.
• Display Cases: Assigning an item to a Display Case no longer sometimes prevents the player from crafting other items of that same type.
• Exploit: Addressed a duplication exploit related to C.A.M.P. objects.
• Exploit: Addressed an C.A.M.P. budget exploit.
• Lights: Bulb Lights no longer consume more C.A.M.P. budget than intended.
• Lights: The Klaxon Wall Light can no longer be turned on if it is not connected to a power source.
• Locks: Locked objects in players’ C.A.M.P.s now better indicate to players who do not own them that they will become Wanted if they pick the lock.
• Trees: Can now be placed on a wider variety of terrain types.
• Turrets: Addressed an issue that could cause C.A.M.P. Turrets to attack each other.
• Workbenches: Players can now correctly use Workbenches immediately after an NPC has used them.
• Workbenches: Exiting a Power Armor Station no longer sometimes causes the controls to temporarily lock up.

Combat

• Stealth: Receiving Stealth from multiple sources at once, like the Escape Artist Perk Card, Stealth Boys, Chameleon Armor, etc. no longer causes enemies to instantly detect the player.
• VATS: Changing the body part selection in VATS while using charging weapons, like a Bow or Gauss Weapon, no longer causes the next shot to hit the previously selected body part.

Enemies

• Blood Eagles: No longer sometimes drop weapons that have Nuclear Winter mods as loot.
• Scorched: Fixed an issue causing more boss Scorched to spawn on top of Thunder Mountain Power Plant than intended.
• Wendigo Colossus: Fixed an issue that could cause the Wendigo Colossus to suddenly stop taking damage.

Challenges

• Daily: Lou’s Mine, Foundation, and Crater now have locations that are considered sub-terranean for Challenges like “Level Up in Caves and Mines.”
• Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to complete certain Tadpole and Possum Challenges repeatedly for rewards.
• Social: The “Claim Different Workshops” Challenge no longer requires the Spruce Knob Workshop, and the number of Workshops needed to complete the Challenge has been reduced from 20 to 18.
• World: The "Complete Different Daily Quests" now correctly appears in the World category after completing the “Complete an Event While in a Group” Challenge.

Items

• Armor: Secret Service Chest Armor can now be repaired beyond 100% condition using Perk Cards like Fix It Good.
• Exploit: Addressed an Ammo exploit for weapons that use Fusion Cores as ammo.
• Fusion Cores: Fixed several issues that could prevent weapons that use Fusion Cores as ammo, like the Gatling Laser, from firing correctly.
• Gas Masks: Raider Skull Gas Masks now correctly remove other headwear when equipped.
• Headwear: Fixed an issue that could prevent a character’s body from rendering when wearing the Communist Militant Hat.
• Headwear: The Free Radicals Mask is no longer a legendary item, which is now consistent with all other headwear.
• Jet Packs: Fixed an issue allowing Jet Pack Power Armor mods can now only be applied to the torso.
• Outfits: Backpacks now correctly appear while wearing the Mountain Scout Outfit.
• Power Armor: The Settler Vigilante paint no longer removes Rad Resistance from T-51 Power Armor.
• Power Armor: Removed references to Vault 94 when crafting Strangler Heart Power Armor.
• Power Armor: Fixed an issue that could cause another player to appear to be idle inside their Power Armor while they were actively using a Power Armor Station.
• Underarmor: Corrected the name of the Plan to craft Secret Service Underarmor, and moved Secret Service Underarmor to the Underarmor category in the Armor Workbench.
• Weapons: Gauss Shotgun mods now correctly require the Science Master I Perk in order to craft them.
• Weapons: Commander Daguerre’s final quest now correctly awards a level 50 VATS Unknown Alien Blaster to characters over level 50.
• Weapons: Gatling Guns now correctly display a fire rate of 20 in the Pip-Boy.

NPCs

• Allies: Speaking with Commander Daguerre immediately after Fast Traveling during her questline no longer sometimes prevents Emerson from visiting.
• Dialogue: Exiting and quickly re-entering dialogue with an NPC should no longer result in a notification stating “This individual is busy.”
• Frida Madani: No longer sometimes walks away during a conversation with a player.
• Jide: No longer clips into the stairs in front of The Wayward.
• Purveyor Murmrgh: Fixed an issue that could prevent players from interacting with the Purveyor in first-person view.
• Random Encounters: The Settler that shoots at Opossums during a random encounter no longer always spawns at level 1.
• Smiley: If a player has purchased all of Smiley’s Gold Bullion for the week, he will no longer continue to ask if they’re interested in buying more.

Performance and Stability

• Server Stability: Fixed a number of issues that could result in a server crash during normal gameplay.
• Server Stability: Fixed a stability issue caused by large stacks of inventory items.
• Server Stability: Addressed a server crash that could occur when updating players’ quest targets.
• Server Stability: Fixed a server crash that could occur while playing in a Private World.
• Server Stability: Fixed an issue that could cause a server crash in Nuclear Winter.
• Client Stability: Addressed an issue that could result in a client crash during normal gameplay.
• Client Stability: Fixed a rare issue that could result in an infinite loading screen and a crash when loading into a world from the main menu.
• Client Stability: Fixed a crash that could occur when opening a Perk Card Pack.
• Client Stability: Fixed a crash that could occur on Xbox One when building in a C.A.M.P.

Quests and Events

• All That Glitters: Fixed an issue that prevented the “Clear out the Security Forces” objective from completing correctly.
• Ally Quests: Quest markers no longer fail to reappear after logging out and back in while in the middle of an Ally quest.
• Ally Quests: Fixed an issue that could result in duplicate Ally quest items remaining in the world without quest markers after the player logged off.
• Ally: Thicker Than Water: Fixed an issue that could prevent the player from receiving the Thicker Than Water quest after completing An Eagle Flies Free.
• Ally: Narrow Escape: Beckett no longer appears in Rollins Labor Camp when the quest is not running.
• Ally: Thicker Than Water: Animations: Beckett now correctly faces the player when speaking to them during scenes with The Claw.
• Ally: Thicker than Water: Fixed an issue that could allow a player to enter Watoga Civic Center through a locked door.
• Ally: Thicker than Water: Addressed an instancing issue that could occur when progressing this quest while on a team.
• Ally: The Universe Conspires: Fixed an issue that could prevent Emerson from visiting and block progression when attempting to turn in the quest to Commander Daguerre.
• An Ounce of Prevention: Moved the T-Type Fuse from Greg’s Mine Supply to the Charleston Trainyard so that it is easier to find.
• Back on the Beat: Addressed an issue that could prevent this Public Event from starting.
• Buried Treasure: Fixed an issue that could block progression after interacting with the intercom as the raiding party enters the security room.
• Exploit: Addressed a reputation exploit affecting a conversation with Meg.
• Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to complete the Vital Equipment daily quest multiple times per day.
• From Russia With Lev: Fixed multiple discrepancies between Lev's subtitles and dialogue.
• Fun and Games: Backing out of a conversation after asking Ra-Ra to enter the Power Armor room no longer causes her to become unresponsive.
• Fun and Games: Ra-Ra no longer becomes unresponsive after destroying the Protectrons she spawns.
• Fun and Games: The Sentry Bot in Grafton Steel Underground can no longer be damaged while it is still in the Fabricator, and will no longer exit the Fabricator early.
• Fun and Games: Ra-Ra will no longer path to nearby Protectron corpses instead of entering the first vent.
• Fun and Games: The “Follow Ra-Ra” objective no longer persists after finding and collecting Bunnabun.
• Fun and Games: A terminal in Grafton Steel Underground that was previously unhackable can now be hacked correctly.
• Heart of the Enemy: The lockpicking skill requirement for door between the Automated Research Program and the Reactor has been reduced from 1 to 0, so that the quest is easier to complete for players who are missing Lockpicking Perk Cards.
• Overseer, Overseen: The Overseer will now exit combat and move toward the player when she is too far away.
• Project Paradise: Fixed an issue that could sometimes prevent Project Paradise from completing after killing the Alpha Predator.
• Random Encounters: Fixed an issue that prevented players from receiving loot during a random encounter with a Settler Apprentice after selecting Raider-themed dialogue options.
• Safe for Work: Players are no longer required to pick the lock on the Medical Center crate to obtain Patrol Tape 04.
• Secrets Revealed: Duchess no longer speaks her post-Vault 79 raid dialogue before the player has completed Secrets Revealed.
• Secrets Revealed: After progressing the “Resolve the Situation with Johnny” objective, the player’s conversation with him will now end correctly.
• Secrets Revealed: The Vault 79 elevator code objective now reappears correctly when returning to the elevator.
• Secrets Revealed: Fixed an issue that could cause team members to be moved outside to Appalachia when the Team Leader entered the elevator to the Gold Operations Center.
• Siding with Crater: Meg no longer forces the player into conversation if they back out before deciding whether to side with the Raiders.
• Strange Bedfellows: Acquiring the Photo of Rosalynn’s Memorial prematurely no longer blocks progression during Strange Bedfellows.
• Strange Bedfellows: Quest items obtained during Strange Bedfellows are now correctly removed after completing the quest.
• Strange Bedfellows: Added a new objective directing players to complete the prerequisite quest Signal Strength before progressing to Strange Bedfellows.
• Strength in Numbers: Polly’s head now correctly deals damage in VATS, and deals increased damage based on how many times it has been charged.
• The Elusive Crane: Mort no longer appears to be standing idle during a scene with Roper in The Wayward.
• The Elusive Crane: Fixed an issue that could cause the “Find Crane’s Treasure” objective to persist in the Pip-Boy’s quest description.
• The Ol' Weston Shuffle: The Dud Explosive Collar is now correctly removed from character models after completing the quest.
• The New Arrivals: The quest tracker no longer displays two “Talk to the Overseer” objectives under certain conditions.

Sound

• Sound Effects: The Stanley skin for Grognak’s Axe no longer plays its sound effects twice when equipped or when switching between first and third-person view.
• Sound Effects: Repeatedly entering and exiting a Gold Press Machine no longer causes it to play multiple overlapping sound effects.

User Interface

• Controls: Opening the Pip-Boy while attempting to Fast Travel during combat no longer sometimes causes the controls to become unresponsive.
• Crosshairs: Now correctly change to an open square when passing over placed items that the player can interact with or pick up.
• Fanfare: Treasury Notes no longer play legendary item fanfare when removing them from the Stash.
• Login: The password field is now cleared correctly after entering an incorrect password while attempting to link a Bethesda.net account to Fallout 76.
• Menus: Fixed several issues that could cause the Favorites menu to suddenly appear while Emotes menu was open.
• Notifications: Equipping headwear by holding the action button no longer generates an error message stating “Unable to equip item.”
• Pip-Boy: The item stats card no longer persists when switching to an empty tab in the Pip-Boy.
• Press and Hold: Holding the action button to equip, learn, or consume an item in the world now works more consistently.
• Quests: Daily quests the player has rejected in the Pip-Boy no longer automatically reappear after logging out and back in.
• Quests: Fixed an issue causing placeholder text to appear when viewing Miscellaneous quests on the Map.
• Quests: Reclamation Day no longer disappears from the completed section in the Pip-Boy’s Main Quests tab.
• Sorting: The Spoil sorting option now correctly organizes Aid items by their remaining condition.
• Tag for Search: The magnifying glass icon now appears correctly on Junk items in the world that contain components the player has tagged for search.
• Trade: Players can now inspect items when trading with other players.
• Vending Machines: Stacks of U.S. Government Supply Requisition Holotapes or Technical Data no longer sometimes disappear after being assigned to a Vending Machine.
• Workbenches: Radio Vacuum Tube preview images no longer extend beyond the edge of screen in the Tinker's Workbench.
• World
• Cranberry Bog: The Wendigo Colossus no longer gets stuck in the trenches in Cranberry Bog.
• Forest: The Wendigo Colossus no longer gets stuck on the guardrails in the road near Slocum’s Joe.
• Forest: Fixed a terrain issue that could cause players to appear to float in front of Lacey and Isela outside Vault 76.
• Savage Divide: The basement door in the Mountainside Bed & Breakfast no longer locks itself if the player leaves the area and returns.
• Settlements: Yao Guai and Scorched no longer spawn in NPC settlements, like Crater, Foundation, or Big Bend Tunnel East.
• Toxic Valley: Removed a non-functional hatch door from the Clarksburg Pharmacy.
• NPCs: Corrected pathing issues for several NPCs that can be found in the world.
• Nuclear Winter Bug Fixes
• C.A.M.P.: Updated the lists of buildable and non-buildable Atomic Shop objects in Nuclear Winter.
• C.A.M.P.: Removed a non-functional activator from the Scrapbox when it is built in Nuclear Winter.
• Localization: Restored missing characters on the Nuclear Winter Map Voting screen in the Japanese version of the game.
• Perk Packs: Removed Nuclear Winter Perk Card Packs from Adventure Mode quests that were awarding them as currency.

What do you think of the latest update to Fallout 76? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comment section below.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.