Square Enix is 'confident' the latest Outriders patch will fix the inventory wipe bug

(Image credit: People Can Fly)

Square Enix says it is "confident" that a new Outriders patch that rolled out today will finally fix the nasty, persistent bug that’s been wiping out player inventories. There's still work to be done, however, and the announcement warned that players could encounter some odd post-patch behavior.

After the patch is installed you might still run into "multiplayer connectivity issues," after which items in your inventory might appear to be gone. Luckily, they're just "momentarily invisible," although you'll have to restart your game (possibly after waiting a few minutes) to make them visible again. Square Enix said developers aim to clear up those remaining "edge cases" in a future update.

Square Enix emphasized that this patch is intended to prevent future inventory wipes, and is unrelated to the promised restoration of inventories that have already disappeared. Bringing them back "is still our highest priority," but it wants to ensure that all its ducks are lined up before it moves on to the next step.

"While we are confident that the patch will prevent inventory wipes in future, we do want to use the weekend to continue monitoring the situation and ensure that no more players are encountering any related issues before we move onto the restoration process," it said. "As soon as we are satisfied by the patch’s effectiveness, we will share extra details including timelines of our upcoming Inventory Restoration process."

Despite that confidence, the Outriders developers are maintaining an "edge case sub-thread" where players can report incidents of inventory wipes that take place after the patch is installed, that are not resolved by restarting the game. So far it seems to be going well: There are a few reports about missing post-patch inventories but most of them seem to actually be pre-patch problems, and the rest of it is mainly people screaming at each other to read the OP.

Square Enix also said that characters running into a "couldn't connect to server" error will have their inventories returned and will be fully playable again after the restoration process has run.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.