'Forza Horizon 3' Update Accidentally Published Unencrypted Build of the Game

An employee at Forza Horizon 3 developer Playground Games accidentally green-lighted the wrong update file for PC players, who found themselves downloading a whopping 53GB download that turned out to be an unencrypted future build (.37.2) of the entire game intended for developers. Motherboard reports: Naturally, players who'd managed to download it yesterday had a field day leaking the information within, right down to massive posts on Imgur showing all the new cars and forum threads detailing the Porsches thought to come in an future unannounced pack. Since Forza Horizon 3 requires a constant online connection and works off of a constantly refreshing save file, anyone who played the new patch on PC found themselves slapped with an error saying their Forza profiles were no longer available. Playing it with the new build would thus effectively mean starting a new game from scratch, even if they'd dumped dozens of hours into Forza Horizon 3 since its release last September. But starting over is exactly what players shouldn't have done. The best thing they could do was shut down the game, walk away, and wait for a fix. "PC players who completed the download of .37.2 and then started a new game save will have a corrupted saved game," wrote Brian Ekberg, Forza's community manager, in a forum post. "Avoid creating a new saved game on .37.2, and only play on .35.2 to avoid this issue. As long as you have an existing save and have not created a new one on .37.2, your saved game will work correctly once the update is available."

Hah! Sure, blame the players ..

[kaka.mala.vachva]

"PC players who completed the download of .37.2 and then started a new game save will have a corrupted saved game," wrote Brian Ekberg, Forza's community manager, in a forum post. "Avoid creating a new saved game on .37.2, and only play on .35.2 to avoid this issue. As long as you have an existing save and have not created a new one on .37.2, your saved game will work correctly once the update is available." Riiight - it is completely Forza's responsibility to restore saved games in this case.

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[pixel sorceress]

Is it retro-trolling week here on Slashdot? Are we going to have a lovely old fashioned flame war about whether the Amiga or the Atari are the best 16 bit micro next?

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[Sloppy]

Are we going to have a lovely old fashioned flame war about whether the Amiga or the Atari are the best 16 bit micro next?

My Amiga had a 68060. Quit calling it 16-bit as though it's anything like your sorry Atari.

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[mattyj]

I don't believe that the presence of the code in Linux has ever had anything to do with it, it's the alleged copyright that SCO wrongfully staked a claim on. Then switched to trade secrets. Then licensing fees.

They originally breached the licensing agreement with Novell and refused to defend themselves, opting instead to continue filing frivolous lawsuits against anyone using or supporting Linux, then claiming the proof was secret and they wouldn't discuss it in open court.

Their misunderstanding of what the

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[omnichad]

What's there to distinguish? The lawsuit was regarding 'Linux' and not any userspace tools that may have been running on top of it.

Blissful Ignorance?

[s.petry]

The lawsuit is done, as is SCO. The complaint from SCO boiled down to them LYING! Hence, they lost every single lawsuit and appeal. I'm not sure if you are a shill or just completely ignorant, but in the case of the latter there is a site called Groklaw which covered the cases start to finish. With I'll add, an exceptional paralegal pulling down PACER files, and numerous attorneys adding commentary and explanation to the proceedings.

As one example, SCO tried to sue for source code they claimed to own th

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[Luthair]

Yea, it doesn't seem acceptable that a corrupted save from an automatic update won't be fixed.

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[rtb61]

It's bloody M$ what the fuck do you expect but using end users as crash test dummies for compulsory upgrades, the softies just don't give a fuck. You suckers will keep buying and they will keep treating you like shit.

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[AdaStarks]

From a technical perspective, it's completely acceptable. This build was never intended to be released to the public, and so there was no expectation of backwards compatibility. It produces a new save, which the old build (by definition not patched to handle saves from the future) will then apparently choke on and mangle. Unless the mangling somehow avoids losing any information, or users' saves are backed up somewhere, I don't see what can be done in this situation.

The only thing I can think of would be to

Re:Hah! Sure, blame the players ..

[war4peace]

Horrible analogy.
In case of a bank, you know it's not yours because you shouldn't have received them anyway.
In case of this game, you already bought it so you own it.

Re:Hah! Sure, blame the players ..

[TroII]

In case of this game, you already bought it so you have a limited license to potentially use it under certain conditions as long as the studio sees fit, doesn't decide to shut off their authentication servers, and neither the publisher nor the gaming platform decide you've violated an arbitrary rule.

FTFY

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[Falos]

Lemme check if the receipt said Blockbuster on it.

Re:Hah! Sure, blame the players ..

[Luthair]

You say that but Halo Master Chief had a 20gb patch day-1, sadly patches in the gigabytes have become the norm. Plus these are often streamed in the background. Either way I wouldn't be suspicious of a 50gb update, though I'd be pissed and go complain online about having to wait for yet another update.

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[zifn4b]

You say that but Halo Master Chief had a 20gb patch day-1, sadly patches in the gigabytes have become the norm.

That's because we have idiots managing software projects with unreasonable expectations. Therefore, we compromise by releasing stuff that isn't done and patch it up until it is actually done because you know being able to say "it was released" is more important than if the software actually works or damages the reputation of the software vendor.

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[thegarbz]

That's because we have idiots managing software projects with unreasonable expectations.

Actually a day one patch sounds more like using the publishing window for development. Nothing new there.

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[zifn4b]

Actually a day one patch sounds more like using the publishing window for development. Nothing new there.

Agreed. But just because it's "nothing new" doesn't mean it's any less stupid than it always was.

MS is the worst with patches

[HalAtWork]

I got an Xbone as a gift and 3 games, Master Chief collection, Halo 5, and Forza 3. MCC has me downloading a 62GB patch, Halo 5 has a 50GB patch, and Forza 3 had a 2GB patch. The other day I went back to try and play Forza 3 but it's trying to download yet another 2GB patch and refuses to launch until I update it which means I couldn't play when I wanted, with kids I don't get much choice of when I can play. So far, (like Windows machines) I spend more time waiting for patches to download and install than I

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[Kaenneth]

Download time aside; fuck data caps.

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[Opportunist]

You assume that the player actually noticed that the update happened.

More and more games come now fall into the habit, at least if they're updated often and require large updates, to start their updater with the computer and keep it running, checking every now and then for updates and downloading and applying them in the background, without the user even noticing that an update occurred unless he just happens to want to play the game while the update is in progress.

If the game is on Steam, chances are even

Re: Hah! Sure, blame the players ..

[sound+vision]

I've seen games with 50+ GB updates before. Especially MMOs - isn't that what this game is? Or is the always-on thing only for DRM?

Accident?

[uvajed_ekil]

"Accidental leak?" That results in free advertising, see above for example.

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[Mr D from 63]

"Accidental leak?" That results in free advertising, see above for example.

Blame the Russians and you'll get even more press.

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[epyT-R]

Sometimes, video games are played precisely because they aren't the real thing.

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[dadelbunts]

You are a big racing game fan and have never heard of the Forza series? Ooooooooooooooooooook.

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[johannesg]

I imagine the average PC owner would think "XBox exclusive" if they heard that title, and not pay further attention to it. I certainly had no idea there was a PC version. Then again, if it isn't on Steam or Gog, as far as a great many PC gamers are concerned, it doesn't exist.

Data metering and caps

[techno-vampire]

There's a lot of people out there on a metered connection, or who have to pay extra if their downloads exceed a specified cap. I can't imagine a plan like that having enough bandwidth per month to cover a 53 GB download without extra cost. What I'd like to know is, who's getting stuck with the bill? Are the customers going to have to fork out or is Playground Games going to Do The Right Thing and cover the expense?

Re: Data metering and caps

[bn-7bc]

Is the meetered interner connection (appart from 3G/LTE) realy s thing outside the USA (I'm not trolling here this is an hones question), as for 3G/LTE gotas, well. Maybe thostechnologies wher never ment to replace xDSL/cable (due to limitations on pe to ce hop rf spectrum), but over eager pr people at wisp/mnos got the idea that" This if faster than xDSL (well higher bit rate at least) so we can sell our service as a replacement" I,ll admit thst in some cases, as when you are located to far from the co,

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[omnichad]

I think your keyboard is broken.

Meanhile Gog still has unencrypted games

[rsilvergun]

and it's no accident. I wouldn't care if I didn't need to spend an extra $100 on CPU that can handle the decryption to get decent framerates (here's looking at you Batman: Arkham Knight).

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[Opportunist]

The sad part is that this often means that the cracked versions of the games play better than the legally bought ones. Talk about adding insult to injury.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[scourfish]

The decryption of an executable into memory is most likely not the cause of terrible framerates in games.

Saved game corruption

[Waccoon]

Gee, maybe they should let people make backups and have real save slots... just like in the old days. It's not like saved game corruption is a problem old as dirt, right?

I'll skip griping about always-online games. These days there's plenty of indie titles available so I don't have to subject myself to the crippled AAA garbage.

And this isn't a..

[poofmeisterp]

..sales tactic? These sorts of things have been happening more and more; there is less loss due to pissed off consumers and more interest the "news" feeds the nosy hackers. Lost 100 for lost saves; gain 2000 for hacking interest AND flashy interest generated by viewers of the "news".

Hell, I would do it, and I'm not a sales-minded person. They're way ahead of me in using tactics for sales, so I state my point.