New Elden Ring PC exploit allows hackers to corrupt save files

What you need to know

• Some PC Elden Ring players are using an exploit that can corrupt the save files of other players when they invade.
• The exploit crashes your game, then traps your character in an infinite death loop of falling through the map when you boot the game back up.
• You can escape the loop and fix your save by spamming the map button and teleporting to a Site of Grace as quickly as you can before your character dies.
• Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have not yet officially confirmed that they are aware of the issue or are investigating it.

Elden Ring is a phenomenal game, and in the weeks following its Feb. 25 launch, over 12 million copies of the game have been sold. The game has completely taken the gaming community by storm, with players around the world falling in love with its open world PvE gameplay as well as its PvP invasion systems. Unfortunately, though, a handful of bad apples playing on the PC version of the game have created or discovered a hack that allows them to corrupt the save files of the players they invade.

Based on what we've seen of the exploit in action, it appears that invaders can use a glitch that involves a specific spell or weapon art that causes the host's game to crash. Then, after the host player that got invaded reboots Elden Ring and loads their save, their character will be stuck in an infinite loop of death, constantly falling through the map over and over again.

It is possible to break out of this loop and restore the integrity of your save file by spamming the map key and then quickly teleporting to a Site of Grace you've rested at before you die, but it's still frustrating that PC players are being forced to deal with this right now. Note that Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have yet to officially confirm that they're aware of and investigating the issue, but once they do, hopefully this exploit will be patched quickly.

Unless you have a strong desire to play Elden Ring co-op with your friends or use one of the game's other multiplayer features, it may be best to play the PC version of Elden Ring offline until this problem is resolved. If you do choose to play online, we recommend making backups of your save file each time you log out of the game (it's the ER0000.sl2 file found in C:\Users[your username]\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing[folder with random numbers]). This way, you can replace your corrupted save with your backed up one if you run into one of the players using this exploit.

Elden Ring is finally here, and it's available for $60 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. It's one of the best Xbox games you can play right now if you're a fan of challenging RPGs, and we strongly recommend it.