Skip to main content

Obsidian fixes Outer Worlds bug that killed people climbing ladders to nowhere

In space, no one can hear you scream — but apparently the developers back here on Earth are listening. And earlier this week, Obsidian Entertainment programmers answered some gamers prayers, revealing how they found and fixed a bizarre bug in the space odyssey The Outer Worlds that was killing off in-game companions.

The glitch was fixed in Patch 1.2 for The Outer Worlds, a popular space-based romance that drops players headfirst into a journey to awaken their fellow colonists from cryo-sleep when their ship is abandoned at the edge of space. But the game isn’t all laughs and romance. Apparently, non-player characters were climbing “beyond the end of a ladder” on The Unreliable, the player’s ship and base of operations in the game, and subsequently dying if the player started a conversation while they were climbing.

Recommended Videos

It took a good amount of effort to find out that this was what was happening, though, as detailed in a series of tweets by Obsidian Entertainment QA Lead Taylor Swope. The patch was one of the items in a long list of updates and changes to the space adventure.

Swope said that Obsidian knew about the bug from a few cases before The Outer Worlds launched, but nobody in the QA team was able to reproduce the glitch. One of the reasons this was so hard to solve is that it was difficult to figure out exactly when the companion was killed; the investigation involved determining all the possible scripts and lines of code that could have made the game think that a companion was dead.

The only place in the game when a companion is present but *not* in the active party is when the player is on their ship
The problem is, when companions are on the ship, they are undamageable (8/18)

— Taylor Swope (@_taylorswope) December 12, 2019

Swope’s team eventually figured out that “undamageable” does not necessarily mean that the companions were “invulnerable.” They may still be hurt by falling a great distance, for example. But there were no spots in The Unreliable that were high enough to cause lethal damage from falling, so it looked like another dead end.

Eventually, an offhand comment in one user's review mentioned seeing a weird bug where a companion was "climbing nothing", and this comment led me to figuring the whole thing out (14/18)

— Taylor Swope (@_taylorswope) December 12, 2019

Swope eventually figured out that the glitch had something to do with the code that disabled companions from starting new interactions with objects in the environment if players were in conversations.

So, if someone started climbing a ladder and the player entered a conversation before they stopped, they wouldn't be able to exit the ladder, and, well…. (18/18) pic.twitter.com/xcduTy4d12

— Taylor Swope (@_taylorswope) December 12, 2019

Through the massive effort of Swope, the bug is now fixed. In addition, players who already previously experienced the glitch will have their save files repaired so that they will be able to finish the related quests.

For players who are just starting out with The Outer Worlds, here are some tips and tricks for staying alive in deep space. With no need to worry about suddenly dead companions, players can focus on their own survival.

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 4060 is under $1,000 with this deal
The black version of the HP Victus 15L gaming PC.

Replacing your aging gaming desktop doesn't have to leave a huge dent in your wallet, as there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L. The price for this configuration with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card is even lower right now, following a $350 discount from HP. Instead of $1,200, you'll only have to pay $850, but only if you hurry because this offer may not last much longer. A lot of gamers are looking for a budget-friendly upgrade from gaming PC deals, so secure your purchase as soon as possible before stocks run out.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop

Read more
3 new PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (April 18-20)
Screenshot from Hogwarts Legacy.

April has been a bit of a slow month for new and upcoming PS5 games. Next month has tons of great offerings, from the creepy The Midnight Walk to the adrenaline-pumping Doom: The Dark Ages, but it is in periods like this where PlayStation Plus comes in to help you fill in the gaps. The second half of the month saw a somewhat smaller number of games coming to the Extra and Premium tiers than usual, but the quality and variety more than make up for it. As always, we like to give you a nice variety of options for what to check out this weekend and are confident that this group of 3 new PlayStation Plus games has something you will love.

Hogwarts Legacy

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (April 18-20)
Patrick using an umbrella to parachute.

Last week was a major one in terms of big day one Game Pass games, and next week is arguably even bigger with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 joining the service. But there are way more titles joining the catalog besides that one upcoming Xbox Series X game, and this is the perfect time to give some smaller, lesser-known games a chance. We're not going to burden you with a massive RPG that you won't be able to finish before Expedition, but a smattering of smaller titles that are the perfect size to give you a weekend of fun before wrapping up. Why not try something a little out of the ordinary this weekend with one of these games?

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game

Read more