Following the September 15th patch, I’ve encountered a persistent physics glitch regarding thralls assigned to cauldrons (specifically for the Purge).
They are currently clipping through the floor geometry and sinking deep into the foundations beneath. It is worth noting that these thralls have been stationed at those exact positions since early August—well before the September 15th update—so this appears to be a regression introduced by the recent patch rather than an issue caused by new placements.
Flat Ceiling Drops:
When thralls fall from a flat ceiling over a three-story drop, they don’t stop at the intended floor level. Instead, they penetrate the foundation blocks below, getting stuck halfway through (usually visible as a “half-torso” clipping issue).
Stacked Foundation Glitch:
Thralls positioned on top of two vertically stacked foundation blocks are also failing to register the collision mesh, resulting in them becoming fully immersed in the foundation layer. *
Inconsistent State on Re-log:
The behavior is non-deterministic. Upon logging out and back in, some thralls occasionally snap back to their correct standing position—or land partially restored—while others remain buried in the same spot. This suggests the collision state isn’t being resolved consistently during chunk loading.
Impact:
Recovering them manually is becoming tedious. You’re forced to constantly dig them out to return them to their functional stations, disrupting workflow during the Purge.
Workaround Implemented:
To mitigate this, I modified the ground floor layout by creating “open window” cutouts in the foundation. This allows the thralls to fall through to the ground level where they can be easily picked up and repositioned without needing to dig through solid blocks.
Note:
I am currently using **Black Ice** for this construction. It’s possible the material or collision properties of this specific resource are contributing to the glitch, though it seems to be a broader engine issue post-patch.
Has anyone else experienced this with the recent update?
It would be a good idea to report this to helpshift - Contact Us — Conan Exiles Help Center - that is where CEE bug reports need to go so they can be seen sooner by the devs. (But please do also continue reporting here as well so that issues can be added to the player-maintained bug lists. Updated list out tomorrow,; I’ll make sure to include this.)
Edit: Just to check - is this specific only to thralls assigned to Siege Cauldrons, or is it happening to all thralls?
Thanks for the update. It appears the issue is currently isolated to Thralls assigned to the cauldrons.
Based on the images and your notes, the affected Thralls fall into these specific categories:
Obtained via Purge: Some were obtained from the Purge Heirs_of_the_North_Chieftain7.
Captured Thralls: Others were captured as Forgotten_Tribe_Berserker or HeadHunter_Guard.
It seems this isn’t a general issue for all Thralls, but rather a specific problem affecting these types when placed in the Furnace. The attached images are helpful for identifying the specific cases. Have you noticed if the issue persists after reassigning them or does it happen immediately upon placement?
I will report this to customer support right away.
I verified that the same thralls, when positioned near (but not assigned to) a cauldron, remain perfectly stationary without moving even a millimeter.
Note: There is another potential bug upon server restart (I’m not certain of the exact trigger): archers stationed in an Archer Post (https://conanexiles.fandom.com/wiki/Archer_Post) detach from the structure, rendering its defensive bonus useless. It’s difficult to capture with WIN+G, but I will record a video as soon as it happens again.
The siege cauldron system is still broken after the Sept 15 patch. Cauldrons either don’t trigger or their NPCs get stuck / fall through foundations and floors, exactly like the thrall collision bug reported here.
And this makes the PURGE completely unplayable: without working cauldrons there is no way to start or complete a PURGE at all. So it’s not just an annoyance — an entire endgame/defense feature is dead because of these collision issues.
I also reproduced this in single player, with no mods and standard single-player settings. The only difference is that I built the base and its structures using ADMIN commands, which I then disabled by restarting the game/session. So the issue is not caused by mods or server configuration.
Please treat the cauldron/PURGE breakage as high priority and fix it together with the thralls falling through foundations, since they’re clearly the same root cause.
This has been happening on console(for Xbox can confirm) for years. I’ve even reported many times through the report but feature.
and it’s any thrall, barkeeper attached to bars, thrall just standing there and there will be times you will have to dismantle the floor to get to them. OH!!! Not to mention, they can also be following you and just …. Disappear….. at which point you will have to swap thralls and hope they return in 15mins.
