VATS is broken for me since the Next Gen update

[Kaorimoch]

I have tried everything to fix my problem as it is ruining my fun, but VATS is screwed up for me. The problems -

1 If a target is behind any cover, firing at any part of the body doesn't hit. For example, if I have a raider poking their head out and the head has a 95% chance to hit, I can fire at them but none of the bullets hit. Hiding behind a thin tree makes them invulnerable to damage. In order to do any damage, I need to move so they are out of cover for my shots, wait until they exit it, or ignore VATS altogether.
2 Some of the shots seem to 'hit' the target, but no damage is reported. I know I 'hit' the target because my crit meter goes up. Occasionally, some of the shots do some damage the target the closer I am. If I had a target about 5 2x2 floors away with a 95% chance to hit, I will damage them 30% of the time. Shotguns at close range always do damage.
3. Damage reported by the estimate by VATS is far lower than what the target is eventually damaged by. A one-hit kill estimate becomes three shots overall.

I've used a variety of rifles to test this but the problem persists. I created a new character in the event the last one was bug-ridden but nothing changed. I miss the VATS I was using a month ago.

Weird Observations
With Overseers's Guardian (with its two shot mod), when I fire it shows two bullets going off in 30 degree angles to the line of fire, away from the target to go ... somewhere. Lowering the spread on the gun doesn't make a change.
Having Penetrator as a perk made no changes to this behaviour.

I have seen other posts while researching showing that VATS was not operating for some folks after the update but their problem seems different from what I have been experiencing.

Anyone know what I can do?

[The Inept European]

This is a known Next Gen bug with the Penetrator perk

[NightCabbage]

I don't have the Penetrator perk and I had the same sort of thing happen. I was shooting someone, VATS, target their head, 95% chance to hit. All 6 shots hit the piece of wood beside them. Common occurrence :(

0.0000015625% chance of this happening. So yeah, it's a bug.

[wtiger27]

I rarely use Vats for range shots. Mainly on the flying bugs. It works fine on them. Just as well as before the Update. Don't use the Penetrator Perk. But maybe it works well for the bugs, because they are clearly out in the open? Just a guess.

For melee, also no difference after the Update.

[id795078477]

Just wait till fanboys pile up saying how "it works for them", how "unmodded vanilla NG is just fine" and how "even if something is wrong, it's modder's duty to fix it, why should the devs bother, it's a minor issue".

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by NightCabbage:

I don't have the Penetrator perk and I had the same sort of thing happen. I was shooting someone, VATS, target their head, 95% chance to hit. All 6 shots hit the piece of wood beside them. Common occurrence :(

0.0000015625% chance of this happening. So yeah, it's a bug.

This is not new. It has happened since day 1. VATS does not know where the actual collision boxes are any more than your eyes do. What you are describing here is trivial to replicate. It has happened since 2015. (Your statistical argument is irrelevant because the effect is deterministic not random.)

[dachacha27]

i havent had this bug yet

[Kaorimoch]

When I started the second playthrough, I did not take the Penetrator Perk. I am currently level 29 and the same situation is occurring.

[sunsmythe]

Originally posted by Kaorimoch:

Anyone know what I can do?

Wait for the next patch from Bethesda? This is absolutely due to the next-gen update and a common problem - at least on console.

[Lip_Gloss]

tl:dr "It just works"

[mcinarizona]

Yeah same here, I was like five feet from the guy and hit VATs three times right in the torso and they all missed. Been happening a lot since the update.