Lionhead details Fable III patch

By Fred Dutton Published 23 November, 2010

Game save and spawning glitches targeted.

A forthcoming patch for Fable III will fix corrupted game saves, spawning issues and frame-rate dips, according to an update from developer Lionhead Studios.

The studio said that it "has been hard at work addressing gameplay issues" on its critically-acclaimed but bug-heavy Xbox 360 epic.

The issues it's looking to tackle include:

  • General gameplay progression and spawning issues
  • Sanctuary map and audio functionality
  • Isolated corrupted game saves
  • General performance surrounding Orbs, audio, frame rates and other features

No date has been set for the patch yet, but Lionhead promised that it's "coming soon".

The developer also revealed it's planning a new voiceover pack for some regions.

In other Fable III news, the Understone Quest Pack DLC goes live today, adding new missions set in a mysterious town hidden beneath the streets of Bowerstone. It will set you back 400 Points.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lucky_jim #1 2 years ago

    Releasing DLC before you patch huge flaws in the game itself is a really effective way to lose my goodwill. Last time I buy a Lionhead game at launch.

  • ouchio #2 2 years ago

    Its a broken piece of badly designed dumbed down shit.
    The fact that they have had their staff working on DLC rather than prioritizing fixing their broken and not very good game shows where their priorities lie.
    Traded it in, glad to see the back of it.
    Fable can fuck off.

  • butler` #3 2 years ago

    The huge frame rate dips did do my head in, especially considering the game only runs at a paltry 20-30 (est) at best.

    Luckily i didn't have any major bugs that require you to start again. My friends did, and it ain't acceptable in this day and age imo.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #4 2 years ago

    I quite like that John Cleese isn't continually telling me there are "new things to purchase in the Sanctuary shop"... :o(

  • MrChuckles #5 2 years ago

    People that fix bugs - coders.
    People that make dlc - artists, animators, scripters.

    Of course, you could get the artists fixing code bugs but i don't think that'll help much.

  • Dave_McCoy #6 2 years ago

    Gah!! I was going to buy the DLC hoping they'd patch it at the same time. While I am glad Cleese isn't banging on about the shop, I find it weird with him silent. I'll wait a bit longer then...

  • gjgjg #7 2 years ago

    This and new vegas are waiting to be played on my shelf. I didn't intend to boot them until a couple of patches in. Been said before but it's sad times that this is the reality.

    The age of patch jobs!

  • sneetch #8 2 years ago

    Still no PC release date then? Didn't they say we'd have it "soon" after they delayed it in August? Any chance of asking them what "soon" means Eurogamer? Or has Pete taken his phone off the hook now it's released on Xbox.

    Mind you, it seems that both versions could have done with more time in the oven, Fable II was pretty glitchy too.

  • sneetch #9 2 years ago

    @gjgjg
    This and new vegas are waiting to be played on my shelf. I didn't intend to boot them until a couple of patches in. Been said before but it's sad times that this is the reality.

    The age of patch jobs!

    Yeah, woe betide those without internet connections these days. The shoddy state that software is released in these days is just not on.

  • NimbusTLD #10 2 years ago

    "The developer also revealed it's planning a new voiceover pack for some regions."

    What were the issues with voiceovers?

  • BlinkeredAxis #11 2 years ago

    I treated the John Cleese bit as a minigame - try to run to the map table before he can tell you about that stupid shop.

    I had 2 million cash before starting the endgame, and have now done far too many silly expressions to want to do it again anytime soon. I left it a year before doing Knothole Island, and might leave it a year again...

    Still is an 8/10 game though, IMO

  • darc #12 2 years ago

    If I hadn't already finished the thing, I'd be waiting on the patch that made any of my actions relevant, made any inventory management relevant (seriously, I did not buy or find a single weapon in the course of this game, and of course there is no armor - it is a l00t whore's anathema) or character advancement relevant, made guns have any use whatsoever in light of the completely over-powered magic, made enemy AI in any way interesting, and so on and so forth. I'd also hold out for the patch that didn't think playing "pat-a-cake" was the height of NPC interaction, of equal or greater value to, say, dialog options.

    Fable 3 was a fairly amusing animated film on occasion. But too long for a film and too short (and lite) for an RPG. I think Molyneuex has lost sight of his own bread crumb trail at this point.
    Edited by darc at 23/11/10 @ 18:22

  • Syrette #13 2 years ago

    Thank fuck for people like MrChuckles, who actually know what they're talking about.

    And a big yawn at those getting personal towards Molyneux. Lionhead does not equal Molyneux and Molyneux does not equal Lionhead. Blame the entire studio if you've got issues with the game, not just him.

  • evild_edd #14 2 years ago

    Timing could work well for me. I've yet to start as I've been working my way back through #2 as I had bought but not got round to the dlc. Throughly enjoying 2n play through of 2 :0)

    I'll wait for confirmation of patch for 3 before starting.

    As for incomplete releases - I really dislike this and believe it is unacceptable. This was the case with the last 2 Fable titles. I would take a stand against the series but I love it too much :S

  • antasari #15 2 years ago

    People who fix bugs or create dlc may be different people, but management at developer and publisher level still decide how much resources to put into each side.

    My Fable 2 game remains locked in a game-killing bug that was never fixed despite a long thread on Lionhead's forum by a good few other sufferers, and the company's response was, "We have no idea what you're talking about, and we're not going to devote any resources into finding out."

    Fair enough, that's a decision they have to make. Hopefully 3 will be better. But I won't be devoting any of my own resources into finding out.

  • Xardan #16 2 years ago

    Coming soon means at least a week yet. Absolutely disgraceful that they release a crappy DLC pack before fixing their game.

  • darc #17 2 years ago

    "And a big yawn at those getting personal towards Molyneux. Lionhead does not equal Molyneux and Molyneux does not equal Lionhead. Blame the entire studio if you've got issues with the game, not just him."

    Well, for my part, it's not personal at all. I don't know him personally, and as for his public face, I think he's great. I love his ideas and his enthusiasm. But as much as these games are collective works, Molyneuex is a game designer and wherever the ideas that comprise these games come from, he spearheads them, brings them into public light, defends them, and of course hypes the hell out of them. And he should be smart enough to recognize when they don't actually amount to much.

    As for artists, writers, etc, the people in his (or more accurately his studio's) employ are unquestionably very talented.

    Fable 3 is still a bore for the most part. Quite literally a game of connect-the-dots when you come right down to it.
    Edited by darc at 23/11/10 @ 19:50

  • metallicorphan #18 2 years ago

    i was gonna buy this this weekend,i think i will wait awhile and buy AC:B...especially after what happened with Fallout New Vegas

  • butler` #19 2 years ago

    @MrChuckles

    so there's no coding required to make additional content?

  • darc #20 2 years ago

    "Fable 3 wasn't really epic. It was fun but wasn't great. Too short."

    Agreed. I think part of the problem is that no effort was made to integrate the side/optional content with main storyline. Obviously side quests stand apart from the storyline by definition, but in a well-developed RPG they reward the player in some way that complements the difficulty curve, such that they aren't just lying around like detritus you might just as well ignore.

    When I finished this game I shook my head in wonder at how little had actually happened, and then I thought, maybe there are interesting vendors I never visited, treasures I never found, something interesting behind that demon door I never opened... But all told, the game had bored me, and I had finished it without breaking a sweat without making any use of those things (if those things are even there in the first place.) So going back to try to give the game some sort of benefit of the doubt just seems ludicrous. You can't write a dead-easy, dead-linear 5 hr game, and pile a bunch of random crap in the periphery and call it a day. It all has to add up to something; it has to be part of a cohesive whole.
    Edited by darc at 23/11/10 @ 21:20

  • Sevens #21 2 years ago

    Great. Release broken game. Then DLC. Pretend to fix broken game. Both the recent Fable and Fallout games are ridiculous.


    P.S.:

    Keep buying them, though. Especially right at launch! That'll show them not to release products with an extreme amount of obvious and serious technical flaws. ... oh.
    Edited by Sevens at 24/11/10 @ 00:12

  • orangpelupa #22 2 years ago

    <strong>Fable III is out now on Xbox 360, and PC. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net. </strong>

    where i can get the PC version?
    in my country noone sell the PC version :(

    ugh, Asia really always late in receiving game releases....

  • Vlash #23 2 years ago

    Was I the only one that thought that the DLC was already on the disc? It 'was' a 200mb dlc, and it took me around 1 second to download :p I found that... strange :p

  • orangpelupa #24 2 years ago

    @vlash
    200MB is a big DLC imo

    it will take me 3 hours to download

  • darc #25 2 years ago

    Interesting to me that the folks who didn't like Fable have actual things to say, while those who liked it just bash dumbly on the neg button. It's no surprise they were satisfied with the gameplay in Fable 3, then, as it is much the same.

    Seriously, if you have an argument for me, then please make it.