The Gears of War: E-Day hotfix that The Coalition released on October 22 fixes the Horde Siege bug that kicked your whole squad off the server when one player failed to load in. It’s live now on Xbox Series X|S and PC, so if you play Horde, Versus or the campaign, let the update finish before you queue. It also cuts crashes, fixes four campaign spots where you could get stuck, and lets you sign in again if your system clock is wrong. The smoke grenade exploit in Versus isn’t fixed yet.
Everything here comes from The Coalition’s October 22 hotfix notes. Here’s what changes for you in each mode.
Horde Siege
This is the fix most squads will notice. Before the hotfix, if one player failed to load in, the server kicked everyone. Now one bad load shouldn’t send the rest of your squad back to the menu.
The other Horde fix is for the “Close E-Holes” Secondary Objective. Other squads closing E-Holes could stop you from finishing it, and that’s fixed too.
Crashes and sign-in
The Coalition says it made “numerous improvements to stability, performance and crash reduction” on PC, Xbox and handhelds. It didn’t name specific crashes, so treat this as a general cleanup rather than a fix for one known bug.
If you were stuck on the sign-in screen, check your console or PC clock. The hotfix fixes sign-in for players whose system date or time was set wrong, so setting it correctly and trying again should get you in. One smaller fix is for characters who could T-pose when you aimed down sights quickly after blind firing the Gnasher from medium cover.
Campaign spots that could stop you
Four campaign fixes are in. In Act Two, Chapter Two, walking into a corner at the construction site could detach the camera and leave it stuck. In Act Three, Chapter Three, the Visual Navigation Aid could stay pointed at the sinkhole instead of updating. In Act Four, Chapter Two, the train car could get stuck during a Secondary Objective. And in Act Four, Chapter Four, Auntie’s dialogue at the start of the mission now plays correctly.
If a checkpoint left you stuck in one of those spots, reload it after the update before you restart the whole chapter.
Versus
Ranked players get more time to reconnect. A Ranked match now waits the full 2 minutes for a disconnected player to rejoin before it dissolves, instead of ending after 1 minute. The Coalition also fixed more spots on Versus maps where a dropped Demolition bomb could end up out of reach, and the “Killjoy” ribbon no longer pops when you destroy enemy equipment.
Still broken
Players can still use an exploit to see through Smoke Grenades in Versus. The Coalition says a hotfix is in the works and that it has already taken enforcement action against players using the exploit, and against other cheaters such as aimbot users. Some players are also still freezing or crashing during long sessions, and the studio is investigating.
The Coalition is also reviewing feedback on Versus balance and working on Season 1 updates, with details “soon.” If you’re still crashing after this hotfix, report it at aka.ms/GearsSupport.
For earlier fixes, The Coalition’s October 14 patch notes cover the big mid-October update, and our October 5 patch breakdown covers the first one. If you’re still deciding whether to jump in, our Gears of War: E-Day launch guide covers platforms, editions and Game Pass.