Gearbox releases patch to fix Borderlands 2 Xbox 360 exploit

Last week, Gearbox had warned gamers about an exploit on the Xbox 360 version of Borderlands 2 caused game save files to get erased. According to Eurogamer, the company has released a new patch that stops the ‘virus’ from working. According to the Gearbox support page: “Added security to prevent data loss tied to malicious violations of the Xbox Live Code of Conduct through an unsupported third-party program.”

The exploit, known as the ‘Graveyard’ exploit, originated from some users who hacked the game’s save files to access a hardcore game mode, much like that in the Diablo and Torchlight series, that the developers had not included in the final game, but had kept the code in for. In hardcore mode, once a character dies, that character is permanently dead and players have to start the game from scratch with a new character. Those playing with players who are using the hardcore mode have discovered that their save files have been deleted when their character died.

The exploit has been fixed

“Recently a few users have begun violating the Xbox Live Code of Conduct by using an external application to maliciously disrupt the experience and sabotage characters of legitimate Borderlands 2 players on Xbox 360,” Gearbox community manager Chris Faylor wrote on the game’s official forum when the company warned again the exploit. “Fortunately it’s easy to avoid this scenario.”

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

“After extensive internal testing, an update to prevent this disruption has been submitted to Microsoft and will be released as soon as possible. Until then, concerned Xbox 360 players of Borderlands 2 should consider playing online with trusted individuals in non-public sessions. This does not affect players on PC or PlayStation 3.”

Gearbox had recently released a downloadable content for the game, titled Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty. Gearbox had confirmed the Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty DLC back in October. “You can sense the pirate theme across the landscape, even though there’s no water,” said Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford. “It’s all dried up. It feels more like Tatooine than an ocean. These bandits have really embraced the pirate lifestyle, and there’s the legend of a treasure. That kicks off this whole adventure that the players can go on.”

Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty is the first major DLC released for Borderlands 2 and will be included in the Season Pass. The DLC by itself is costs $9.99 (around Rs 524), but players can also buy the Season Pass for the game, which includes all four planned major DLCs and costs $29.99 (Rs 1,574 approx).

Borderlands 2 is available in retail stores for Rs 999 for the PC version, and Rs 2,499 for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 versions. The PC version of the game is also available on Steam for $59.99 (around Rs 3,100).