New Elden Ring PC exploit allows hackers to corrupt save files
You may want to stay offline for awhile.
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What you need to know
Elden Ring is a phenomenal game, and in the weeks following its Feb. 25 launch, over12 million copies of the game have been sold. The game has completely taken the gaming community by storm, with players around the world falling in love with its open world PvE gameplay as well as its PvP invasion systems. Unfortunately, though, a handful of bad apples playing on the PC version of the game have created or discovered a hack that allows them to corrupt the save files of the players they invade.
Based on what we’ve seen of the exploit in action, it appears that invaders can use a glitch that involves a specific spell or weapon art that causes the host’s game to crash. Then, after the host player that got invaded rebootsElden Ringand loads their save, their character will be stuck in an infinite loop of death, constantly falling through the map over and over again.
⚠️Elden Ring PSA for PC players⚠️There’s an exploit going around on PC where hackers will corrupt your save file while you’re invaded.First they will crash your game, and when you open it back up, your character will be constantly falling to their death…pic.twitter.com/8et3bl8T1I⚠️Elden Ring PSA for PC players⚠️There’s an exploit going around on PC where hackers will corrupt your save file while you’re invaded.First they will crash your game, and when you open it back up, your character will be constantly falling to their death…pic.twitter.com/8et3bl8T1I— Mordecai (@EldenRingUpdate)March 18, 2022March 18, 2022
Itispossible to break out of this loop and restore the integrity of your save file by spamming the map key and then quickly teleporting to a Site of Grace you’ve rested at before you die, but it’s still frustrating that PC players are being forced to deal with this right now. Note that Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have yet to officially confirm that they’re aware of and investigating the issue, but once they do, hopefully this exploit will be patched quickly.
Unless you have a strong desire toplay Elden Ring co-op with your friendsor use one of the game’s other multiplayer features, it may be best to play the PC version of Elden Ring offline until this problem is resolved. If youdochoose to play online, we recommend making backups of your save file each time you log out of the game (it’s the ER0000.sl2 file found in C:\Users[your username]\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing[folder with random numbers]). This way, you can replace your corrupted save with your backed up one if you run into one of the players using this exploit.
Elden Ring is finally here, and it’s available for $60 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. It’s one of thebest Xbox gamesyou can play right now if you’re a fan of challenging RPGs, and we strongly recommend it.
Elden Ring … oh, Elden Ring!
Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s latest fantasy epic, featuring a focus on open-ended design in a universe created by both FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
