FALLOUT 76

[LadyTevar]

I am "preloading" the B.E.T.A for PC right now <3

[Mr Bean]

I am "preloading" the B.E.T.A for PC right now <3

Yep we get a shot at it October 30th, really looking forward to it, Bethesda still gets my money sight unseen and they are basically the last Dev who can claim that.

[LadyTevar]

I am "preloading" the B.E.T.A for PC right now <3

Yep we get a shot at it October 30th, really looking forward to it, Bethesda still gets my money sight unseen and they are basically the last Dev who can claim that.

Preloading 900MB @ 636KB/sec.
I think this will take a while.... like... 21hrs.

[Mr Bean]

I am "preloading" the B.E.T.A for PC right now <3

Yep we get a shot at it October 30th, really looking forward to it, Bethesda still gets my money sight unseen and they are basically the last Dev who can claim that.

Preloading 900MB @ 636KB/sec.
I think this will take a while.... like... 21hrs.

Thank you preload time because it lets everyone avoid this issues hopefully no day one patch that's 2 gigs

FYI official play times for the Beta per Wcftech linking to a Bethesda twitter here


Tuesday, October 30 from 7 to 11pm ET
Thursday, November 1 from 2 to 7pm ET
Saturday, November 3 from 5 to 9pm ET
Sunday, November 4 from 2 to 9 p.m. ET

So twenty total hours to play around.

[LadyTevar]

I'm hoping to Co-Op with the OtherBrother and his Wife one of those days
We're gonna experiment with setting up a joint C.A.M.P., see how far apart they have to be while still connected. With three CAMPs, we can each build a necessary item and share.
That's the idea, anyway. Might have to cart my laptop down to their place because they have the better internet.

[bilateralrope]

Yep we get a shot at it October 30th, really looking forward to it, Bethesda still gets my money sight unseen and they are basically the last Dev who can claim that.

Even when they are already warning of "all new spectacular issues none of us have encountered" ?

Bethesda softens ground for “spectacular issues” with Fallout 76 launch

Bethesda Softworks has a bit of a reputation for epic-scale worlds that are chock full of spectacular glitches—we noted that Fallout: New Vegas was "buggy as hell" way back in 2010, for instance. With the impending launch of the online-only Fallout 76, including a private beta test starting today, Bethesda seems to be leaning into this image a bit.
In a Twitter post yesterday evening, Bethesda seemed to be explicitly lowering expectations with a warning that "all new spectacular issues" will surely pop up come opening day:

We all know with the scale of our games, and the systems we let you use, that unforeseen bugs and issues always come up. Given what we're doing with 76, we know we're opening everyone up to all new spectacular issues none of us have encountered. Some we're aware of, such as areas where performance needs to improve with lots of players. Others, we surely don't. We need your help finding them, and advice on what's important to fix. We'll address all of it, now and after launch.

Unexpected issues surrounding a game's launch are not a problem exclusive to Bethesda, of course; see last week's Black Ops 4 remote peeking issue for just one prominent example. If anything, buggy game launches have become more common as publishers at large move toward the idea of launching "minimum viable products," with the expectation that they'll continue patching things up well after the initial launch.

What's interesting about Fallout 76 is how upfront the studio is being about these issues, practically apologizing for launch-day problems before they're even found. That can be seen as a sign of extreme transparency and awareness, as well as an intention to fix any issues that spring up. It could also be seen as a ground-softening tactic masking low confidence in a buggy product just weeks away from a November 14 release.

During a three-hour preview event for Fallout 76 just a few weeks ago, we did notice relatively frequent and significant performance problems on the Xbox One X version of the game, including frame rate dips and screen tearing. Our session of the game also crashed during loading at one point during the demo, requiring a hard reset for the group leader.
At the time, we didn't want to focus too much on those kinds of issues, which are often present in pre-release code and fixed in the final push to polish up a game. But Bethesda's latest statement has us considering our preview experience in a different light. This week's beta test should certainly be interesting.

[Mr Bean]

A Bethesda game with possible show stopping bugs?
Shocked, I am shocked, I don't know how my poor constitution will handle it.

Further bilateralrope, it's a beta bugs are to be expected best to report them.

[LadyTevar]

Yep, that's why you HAVE a BETA, to find the bugs and fix them

[bilateralrope]

True. This is just the first time I've seen a warning of spectacular problems. Especially this close to release.

Spectacular problems sound like something that should delay the release until they are fixed.

[Marko Dash]

looks like i'll be at work during all the beta periods, guess i'll make do with youtube until the full release

[Mr Bean]

True. This is just the first time I've seen a warning of spectacular problems. Especially this close to release.

Spectacular problems sound like something that should delay the release until they are fixed.

To be fair I found the letter odd as well but then what I think it is after watching some streamers it the Xbox edition still has some massive slow down issues that were present several months ago.

[Mr Bean]

So schedule against because its less than seven hours away, mostly playing this weekend but should make the Tuesday.

Tuesday, October 30 from 7 to 11pm ET
Thursday, November 1 from 2 to 7pm ET
Saturday, November 3 from 5 to 9pm ET
Sunday, November 4 from 2 to 9 p.m. ET

[Mr Bean]

Well I pre-loaded and started up my computer at 6pm it's asking for a 47 gig download
Sorry to the sub 100 meg users.

*Edit
We screwed up the encrption key so it's making you re-downloaded everything, if you did not okay yet relaunch client to fix issue if you already click download your stuck.

Well fck me for trying to be ready early.

[bilateralrope]

If that slipped through their internal testing, hearing about the bugs discovered during the beta should be fun.

[Mr Bean]

If that slipped through their internal testing, hearing about the bugs discovered during the beta should be fun.

Oh I'm looking forward to it in.... 25 minutes and 12 seconds.
My download rate went from 44mbps/sec to 2mbps

[Mr Bean]

One hour and twenty five minutes later since I went from 2mbps to 1.5mbps then download timer kept going up with the last 500mbps left.

[Mr Bean]

It just finished, it just finished and started installing two hours and twenty five minutes after the launcher made me re-download everything again at 630pm. It's currently at 2%.

[bilateralrope]

It just finished, it just finished and started installing two hours and twenty five minutes after the launcher made me re-download everything again at 630pm. It's currently at 2%.

So, 2 hours into the 4 hour beta, you're still unable to play ?

[Mr Bean]

It just finished, it just finished and started installing two hours and twenty five minutes after the launcher made me re-download everything again at 630pm. It's currently at 2%.

So, 2 hours into the 4 hour beta, you're still unable to play ?

Now now now, there's time yet for Bethesda to beat their high score I'll give you the final time once I've seen the intro movie. Start time was official 627pm EST per my router access logs when I hit go and it deleted my preloaded files and made me download them again. It's still installing at 25% now so give it time, we might make it to two hours thirty minutes.

[Mr Bean]

At 1006pm I heard War, War never changes that makes it 3 hours 38 minutes after 627pm when I started re-downloading.

[Mr Bean]

Servers went down
First thoughts, it's like some kind of odd Fallout 4 mod but there is all sorts of PC issues (Capped frame-rates being a big one) but I enjoyed what little I got to see but then my main draw in any new Fallout game is exploring the world. And I found part 1 of a radio drama which told me it was a six part series I want the rest.

Also apparently there is a brotherhood (Boo I'm told) and a Reclaimer group who have been active in Appalachia after the bombs fell. I only got forty minutes in just got my CAMP down when the servers went down but still I'm already getting the vibe this is like they made Fallout 4 but just before they released it they said "never mind kill all the talking NPC's add multiplayer and put in holo tapes to explain the story"

[bilateralrope]

So Bethesda only let you play 54 minutes of a beta they claimed would run for 4 hours ?

That's impressive. Though not "letting hackers chase people into single player" levels of impressive problems.

[Mr Bean]

So Bethesda only let you play 54 minutes of a beta they claimed would run for 4 hours ?

That's impressive. Though not "letting hackers chase people into single player" levels of impressive problems.

They have already posted due to system issues they are tacking four hours onto the Thursday day so instead of 2pm to 7pm it will be 2pm to 11pm

Not great but still it is a tiny shred of something, still a big public screw up.

[Marko Dash]

was anyone able to actully play?

i left for work today with the game preloaded knowing i'd miss 90% of it as we don't close till 10 and i don't leave til around 10:30-10:45ish and the beta period was to end at 11.

but i get home and the launcher is 75% through a patch, even now at midnight an hour after the close of the test period it still says 30min to go.

[bilateralrope]

I expect that there will be some bugfixes between now and the next beta window. I hope those fixes include whatever broke this one.