[edit] A USER ON THE OFFICIAL FORUMS IS NOW CLAIMING THAT THIS IS A VIRAL INFECTION. Read more here:

http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=180735

[original post] Some VERY bad news. The most recent Borderlands 2 compatibly update (the one released for the Mechromancer) apparently contains some glitched code* or something that does just about the worst possible thing a game like this can do. It can permanently corrupt your save file, essentially deleting your character.

It happens like this: You get shot into a downed state, you die, instead of respawning either the camera endlessly floats around the landscape, or you're either booted out to the main menu. Either way, at this point you're most likely completely screwed. This can apparently happen even if you never download the new campaign DLC, but it's supposedly much more likely to occur if you are fighting either of that add-on's two new optional raid bosses.

Because of this, it is HIGHLY recommended that you backup all of your save games onto a USB device.

Here's a thread on the official forums dealing with this subject:

http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=176600

The good news is that the developers are aware of the issue, and are currently working on a fix. As said in another thread:

We are investigating this issue and hope to have this resolved as soon as we can.

In the meanwhile, backup your save games. It won't protect you from the badass rank glitch, but it could still save you from losing days and days worth of progress.

* Note that this was an assumption due to the glitch not appearing until after the update was released. It's now thought that another possible cause could be a result of modding. Read the forum topic for more info.

That's rough

Oh crap! I was just trying the new DLC a few hours ago. Glad I saw this.

@SpaceInsomniac: I assume you are talking about the Xbox?

@Dagbiker said:

@SpaceInsomniac: I assume you are talking about the Xbox?

Only with the line "It won't protect you from the badass rank glitch" when it comes to backing up your save game. On the PC and PS3, you can also backup your profile which should protect you from the badass rank glitch. No such luck for 360 users.

Concerning the character deletion glitch, I believe that's something that is affecting all platforms.

Keep in mind, this is just a "better safe than sorry" type of thing. Lots of people are playing the DLC and main game without running into this issue. Just be aware that it CAN happen.

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Dagbiker said:

@SpaceInsomniac: I assume you are talking about the Xbox?

Only with the line "It won't protect you from the badass rank glitch" when it comes to backing up your save game. On the PC and PS3, you can also backup your profile which should protect you from the badass rank glitch. No such luck for 360 users.

Concerning the character deletion glitch, I believe that's something that is affecting all platforms.

Keep in mind, this is just a "better safe than sorry" type of thing. Lots of people are playing the DLC and main game without running into this issue. Just be aware that it CAN happen.

Ok, I figured that was the case.

Good thing you posted this. I'll make sure to back up my save later.

Just played the rest of the main campaign and finished the DLC. Didn't happen to me. Now if you excuse me, I must furiously knock every wooden surface until my knuckles bleed.

I wonder how many more ways this game can fuck its players over.

Wow, that is messed up.

Thank you for posting, I finally took a few moments to clear off a small USB stick and just backed up my saves. I have 100+ hours in this game now and would be crushed to lose anything.

Thanks for the heads up!

@dudeglove said:

What platform does this apply to?

For now, it's sounding like only the 360. An official statement has now been made: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?p=3056075#post3056075

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. Fortunately it’s easy to avoid this scenario.
While we work to resolve this as quickly as possible with our partners, 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.
We also advise that before ceasing play, users always select "Save and Quit" from within the pause menu while their character is alive. If after the death of their character players find themselves at the main menu of Borderlands 2 instead of respawning in-game, be sure to immediately select "Continue" to resume playing as that character.
We ask that players report any suspicious behavior in Borderlands 2 to spotted@gearboxsoftware.com and provide as much details and documentation of their disrupted experience as possible to assist us in our investigation.

I'd especially like to call attention this this part: "We also advise that before ceasing play, users always select "Save and Quit" from within the pause menu while their character is alive. If after the death of their character players find themselves at the main menu of Borderlands 2 instead of respawning in-game, be sure to immediately select "Continue" to resume playing as that character."

To be clear, if you don't do this and instead just turn your power off or exit to the dashboard, your character is probably gone forever.

Since the first Borderlands, I've always started to be in a habit of save & quitting to avoid losing my loot/progress. I did start a new character a few days ago and on the very first mission someone who was likely modded joined the game (Gunzerker that was level '500' and had all kind of crazy shit shooting off of him and his guns). I backed out shortly after though to avoid any complications; plus it being boring with someone one-shotting everything before you can even get a kill in or pick up any loot. Hopefully though saving & quitting is all we need to worry about to avoid having characters deleted or corrupted. Definitely keeping that email on hand in case I start seeing more modded bs.

Anyone know if they patched up this corrupted business issue? I received another update yesterday.

@Rotnac said:

Anyone know if they patched up this corrupted business issue? I received another update yesterday.

No, sadly neither a BA rank glitch fix or a character erase glitch fix was a part of the most recent patch. Here are the patch notes:

Update Fixed player first-person arms appearing too far up or down the screen when in horizontal/vertical split mode.

Fixed players losing ammo when reloading a savegame with max ammo and a stockpile relic equipped.

Fixed the vendor UI sometimes showing a count of 1 less item in the player's backpack than is actually there.

Fixed fast travel stations from downloadable content sometimes disappearing when loading a saved game.

Fixed players getting stuck in a white box when two people try to travel at once and one is in a vehicle.

Allowed players to trade with each other when at maximum backpack capacity if they're trading the same number of items with each other.

Fixed clients sometimes losing access to fast travel stations unlocked during co-op progression.

Fixed the favorite/trash icons on inventory items sometimes disappearing when scrolling the inventory list.

Added safeguards against the game getting stuck on a 'Saving...' prompt when a client with a splitscreen player saves and quits the game under specific rare circumstances.

Fixed the "has abandoned your struggle!" message sometimes appearing with no player name.

Fixed mini-map fog-of-war sometimes not uncovering correctly when first loading a saved game as a client. Fixed co-op players sometimes spawning at different places after a level transition.

Fixed an error that could sometimes occur when trying to join a game where the host had recently returned from a downloadable content area.

Fixed an error where clients would sometimes see certain weapons firing in incorrect directions.

Fixed a blocker in the "Do No Harm" mission and repaired users already affected by the bug.

Fixed an issue with savegames sometimes causing the game to stutter / freeze and repaired saves already affected by the bug.

Made the user's inventory not jump to the top of the list when using a customization item.

Fixed a bug with shields that reduce the player's maximum health not displaying the amount of health reduced on the item card.

Fixed a bug where some challenges would sometimes re-complete levels 1 through 5 over and over again, granting the user additional ranks and tokens.

Enemies affected by a Siren's Thoughtlock ability may now be damaged by other players.

Fixed an issue where players could sometimes lose their third and fourth weapon slots. Characters who have already lost these slots will be repaired the next time they are loaded.

Fixed an issue where players were sometimes unable to pick items up after another player had bulk-picked-up a nearby item.

Fixed an issue where players could occasionally be unable to connect to one another if one of them had recently been in DLC that the other doesn't have.