The Fallout 76 beta starts on PC tonight, but an 11th hour bug in Bethesda’s launcher has had unusually severe repercussions for some affected users.
Earlier this evening, Bethesda tweeted:
PC #Fallout76 B.E.T.A. players: We are aware of an issue with the client and are investigating. Do not click any buttons on the client for the time being.
— Bethesda Support (@BethesdaSupport) October 30, 2018
Don’t click any buttons? Weird. Turns out the “issue” wasn’t your average freeze. It was a bug where clicking any button on the launch client would delete the entire beta and force users to download the just-under-50GB thing all over again.
Anyone seeing this Tweet in time would have been fine, but loads of people of course wouldn’t have.
We won’t ever know how just how many ended up clicking a button, but when you’re at the point where Bethesda’s support forums are blowing up, things are bad.
⚠ We’re currently investigating issues with the BethesdaNet forums. Thank you for your patience. StatusPage: https://t.co/caEfnzzFE3
— Bethesda Support (@BethesdaSupport) October 30, 2018
A later tweet from Fallout’s account gave some specific advice for those affected.
We are actively investigating an issue causing PC players to redownload the #Fallout76 B.E.T.A. If you see a progress bar, please allow the download to complete. Thank you for your continued patience while we work to resolve this issue.
— Fallout (@Fallout) October 30, 2018
To recap: if you clicked a button, wait. If you didn’t click a button, don’t click a button.