It's one thing for a game to launch with a few graphical issues here and there, but it's another thing entirely when the visuals are affected by a post-launch update or patch. The word 'ironic' comes to mind when things like this happen, because patches are meant to fix the existing problems not create new ones. Games are never 100% perfect, of course, and it's the developers that continue to update and fix their games post-launch that separate themselves from the rest; this includes how long it takes for the improvements to arrive.

Rockstar Games is one such developer right now that continually supports its games for as long as they can. Look no further than Grand Theft Auto 5, a game that currently exists on multiple consoles across two different generations. Ever since the release of the long-awaited GTA online Heists, GTA V players have been running into issues, be they server related or otherwise, with the most recent situation dealing with the game's graphics in the single-player.

The latter's issues have seemingly been dealt with thanks to a couple of new updates released today; Grand Theft Auto 5 Title Update 1.23 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and GTA V Title Update 1.09 for the Xbox One and PS4.

As explained on the Rockstar Games Support page, the pair of updates address not just the graphical stability of the game, but numerous other bugs, exploits, and issues that players were experiencing. There are also a few new features added to the Heists that make matchmaking easier, because matchmaking isn't easy these days.

Changes have been made to the matchmaking options and UI. This affects:

Heist Planning Board - A new option has been added to the Heist Planning Board that will allow you to press Left on the D-pad to quickly join a Heist as a crew member. You must have an active Heist in order to access this feature.

Heist Lobby - A “Matchmaking” option has been added to Heist lobbies that allows the Host to quickly change whether matchmaking is open or closed. When set to “Closed”, only invited players can connect with the Heist lobby. This option is “Closed” by default, which means only players you invite can join the session.

There are a decent amount of fixes that range from the minor to the rare occurrences that can ruin a players day. Fortunately, there were only three of the rare kind. Today will be a good days for people out there that either: got stuck in a cutscene after "launching a certain Heist while in Ron’s Survival introduction;" got stuck looking at a black screen when trying to start GTA Online; or lost player control after accepting cross-session invite. Never heard of any of those issues before? Great, because after today, you'll probably never have to worry about them.

Title updates 1.23 and 1.09 are available now, so it's best to grab them sooner before coming into contact with any of the problems being fixed. Or maybe you liked the exploits and found them fun to use, in which case, proceed playing at your own risk, though we suspect the updates aren't of the optional variety.

PC players will most likely not have to worry about these problems when the GTA V finally comes to PC on April 14, 2015, and if the recent screenshots are anything to go by, it'll look just fine.

If you're still playing through all the Heists, be sure to check out our guides, of which we have several. And who knows, maybe someone else out there can earn $12 million from a single Heist.

Source: Rockstar Games