Soo.. it WORKED ... but it STOPPED doing it.

Sir, you're mistaken.

The game worked on your device as it was advertised, to you and probably that bunch of people... but then, something happened that prevents the game to work... and that is happening on your devices, not as a generic issue on your phone/tablet model. And this should also mean it's not a hw related issue, but most probably a software one.

But of course... that the game stopped working on your device and not on the rest of the people having the same iPhone model and a working game is clearly Beth's fault, because they hate you specifically.

Have you not paid any attention to all the bug reports? The problem occurs whenever the game gets interrupted, be it by receiving a phone call or the battery dying. Afterwards, the Vault will no longer load. It's not platform specific either. It is Bethesda's fault, they made a broken game as usual. Also, to the moron who thinks "hacking" causes this bug, it doesn't. That causes the time glitch, which can also occur without tampering. You are blindly defending Bethesda when you don't look at the facts. I'm a Fallout really devoted fan too, but this coupled with total silence is inexcusable.

Nope, I don't defend Beth... but that issue looks like some data corruption on the save file (don't know if it's exactly the same issue, but Android users also have the 0 byte save issue) when the game crashes.

But your saves usually work, don't they? You play normally until something causes the issue, like when your battery dies (seems battery dying is clearly Beth's fault, official Bethestda's tech support is required to plug dying phones to charger stations).

True, it might be considered poor save coding.. or simply how does FOshelter save the game. Maybe the game keeps a handle open to the save file and when the game crashes or goes to background mode the file gets corrupted; maybe something there it's unloaded from memory when the game goes to background mode... but still, game doesn't ask to go to background mode, it's another "app" that requires foreground status (ex. phone call), and the underlying OS accepts it's demand.

It's Beth's fault the way the OS works? No.

Can they fix the way the OS works? No

Can they provide a workaround when a third party app requires to move foreground or requires extra memory so the OS unloads something it shouldn't? Maybe, if the issue can be replicated and the workaround itself doesn't collide with how the OS works.

Like many games with autosave functions... "don't close the game or turn off your computer when the game is saving".

You are clearly defending them. I have not experienced this problem with any other game, it is a huge oversight on their part. They should know the OS if they are going to design a game for it. But it seems in this day and age no matter how broken the product is you will still have idiots supporting it. But why are we arguing over it? Where is Bethesda comments? You can't really believe they don't know about this, or they are to busy to spare a few minutes. Apparently customer concerns are not a priority with them. As long as they have blind defenders nothing will change.

Excuse me? Why are you here when you clearly hate the game? Please do us and yourself a favour and delete the game and leave us "idiots" who enjoy it. Idiot.

Well, I may be an "idiot" that has a working game on several devices. I also may be an "idiot" that understands much better than you how app development works, mainly because, while I'm not a dev myself, I work with them on a daily basis; sometimes thay have to fix something on their code, and sometimes I have to change/add something on the servers for an app to work.

Product is broken? Not for me and for all the players that playing normally without issues. I'd say they're majority and if I recall correctly... I'm using the same product as you. Call me an idiot, but I'm NOT suporting a broken product... I'm an "idiot" suporting a perfectly working product.

So... maybe only "idiots" have a working product, and "normal" people end up with a broken one? Bethesda's devs were able to create the first "normal-proof" app ever... how cool is that?

Wow, yes I totally was trying to claim that they personally have a vendetta against me. That's exactly what this is. *rolls eyes* Look, I'm not at all saying that Bethesda is some horrible villain or that they are intentionally doing this. I never said anything like that. My point was that there is clearly something wrong with the game due to how many people are having issues with it and that it would be nice if once in a while Bethesda actually addressed issues and even acknowledged the issue.

A legitimate issue is being brought up and you're trying to ridicule it by making it sound like people are having ridiculous expectations. No, no one expects Bethesda to charge their phones for them. They do however have a reasonable expectation that a game on a platform that allows switching between apps, won't crash upon doing so. Or I don't know, a game on a phone won't crash if someone gets a phone call. On their PHONE.

Yeah exactly, there is a coding issue that has created a bug. When games are programed, they are programed for systems. Which means that if the game doesn't work well enough on the system then it wasn't coded properly for the system. You're making it sound like they make a game and then afterwords decide what systems it will work on. Most games with autosave functions have some sort of icon that shows up when the game is autosaving so you know to be careful during that time. How am I supposed to know when it's a problem to switch tasks? The game is supposed to be able to run in the background because that is how the OS works. Changing between two different apps should not make the game suddenly unplayable. They were building it for a system that allows that kind of thing, so yes this is a bug on their part.

That's a big assumption there. Just because someone is pissed off about a game not working doesn't mean they hate it. I for instance really enjoyed the game. I'm fairly irritated that I can't play it because I'd like to. I can be irritated about a bug in a game and how the company is handling it without hating the game or the company.

I have reported it, got refunded on my in-app purchases.


I took the save file for my vault and put it into bluestacks android emulator, tried it on my sister's galaxy s2, emailed it to a friend who has a note tablet, it all crashes.


Thing is, I really did enjoy the game and I'm sad I can't play it anymore. I could make a new vault, but what's the point?


This has soured my experiences with bedestha. I was going to pre-order fallout 4 like I did with 3 and new vegas but now I won't bother. I'll wait for it to get the patches and go down in price. Sorry guys, but this whole experience has got me bummed out. I don't want it taken off the market, I want it patched. Would love it if I could load up my vault again but i've since then deleted the app and made a backup of it on my email, hoping one day the vault can be opened. All those guys in it will probably be dead though.

Ask yourself how many people has issues, and how many are playing the game normally.

The ones playing normally are the ones not complaining, and the ones complaining are re asking for it to be removed from the stores, so nobody can access it.

I play this game on a phone, on a tablet, and on a PC emu.

I use ES File Explorer to access the game files and make backups of my save files, with the game open. And it doesn't crash.

I get phone calls and Whatsapp messages while in game while playing on my phone. And it doesn't crash.

I place the game on background on my tablet, and even connect to it by using Airdroid. And it doesn't crash.

I have tampered with the game a lot, and haven't had a single vault corruption or crash issue. So maybe yes... there's an issue... on YOUR PHONE, and the game crashing is either device or OS exclusive... or even the combination of both

While you can code a game with a specific system in mind, it's usually NOT done that way. Instead, you code the game under a specific language, then that app is compiled to work under any system that understands that language (quick example: Java). You run the source code under a compliler, under that OS, and then the compiler translates the code to data understandable by the OS.

Be either Android or iOS, most developers use similar tools. And, on Apple's case (https://developer.apple.com/xcode/)... a fee must be paid, an iTunes account has to be made... and the App must be approved by Apple (it usually takes them about a week to do it once an app is submitted for validation).So Bethesda doesn't have the last word. The "Works as intended" seal of approval comes from Apple.

Last year, one dev working with me created a personal app released on iTunes Store. And when the latest iOS version came (in this case it wasn't a patch, but a new iOS release)... the app stopped working. Yup, iOS release changed something the app didn't like... and a perfectly working app wouldn't work anymore. And guess what? the "system" (iPhone) whas the same. Clearly developer's fault.

Sometimes the issue is NOT a developer's fault, they cannot FIX it, but maybe provide a workaround... if they can find what has changed.

I play quite a lot of mobile games, partly due to my job. But among major popular casual games that played by many people, this FOS game seems paticularily problematic and is drawing many complaint for its size and complexity. It is not matter of target platform or diversity. It lacks QA level and polish that decent commercial game from professional developer should have.


FOS is not that large complex game, it is relatively simple and casual one. But it has many critical game breaking bug like crash on loading. Its software quality is subpar, even by relaxed free-to-play mobile gaming norm. Its software quality left many things to be desired. It should not have released as it is now.


FOS deserves some complaint and punishment on that regard. Reporting may be one way of such.

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Im not defending anyone and just throwing a little Imput here but have any of u tried to program a game? The code it takes just to make something show up on screen is a lot in several different places put in exact order to make it show up.....u start throwing in movement and collision properties and your asking for a whole book of code.....I inderstand people want problems fixed but it takes a [censored] ton of time and effort to isolate examine and fix a bug lost in the thousands and thousands of lines of code.....so weather they are working on anything or not it takes a long ass time and a lot of effort to find and fix a bug......it would help a lot if people would act as alpha and beta testers and instead of crying like children about it locate the bug.....possibilities as to why it's happening and ways to fix it....but no people are so concerned with getting instant action and results they only cry and make threats and demand answers.....be patient or don't play it because like a lot of smart people know....it's free and nobody is forcing u to buy things.....if u read people are having problems buying [censored] and u still go buy it and it demands up who's fault is that......thats like watching someone walk on thin ice and fall through then u go ahead and do the same damn thing fall then get mad Mother Nature for putting a lake there and freezing it......use your brain people.....I know common sense isn't common anymore but still I didn't know it was replaced with stupidity.....this officially marks the point where you are a [censored] if u know about the problems and bugs yet u play or buy something then get pissed at Bethesda....if you are one of these people then blame is soely on you and nobody else.....YOU read up on the bugs and problems YOU decided to not care YOU decided to spend money and whoop the game said screw u and broke.....YOUR fault stop crying look in the mirror and realize nobody made u spend money on a game u knew had a large potential to screw u.....grow up and become responsible for YOUR actions that YOU did.....and for new players that can't read this well my heart goes out to u but people who can read this and still spend money knowing the risk that's your fault

It is unity3d based (not assembler any more). But yes, sometimes it takes a huge amount of time to isolate bugs ...

Double post due to lag. Deleted.

Double post due to lag. Deleted.

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Even after considering FOS is free-to-play game, it lacks polish that it deserved as product from notable decent sized professional developer. Its software quality is felt like cheap run-of-mill amateurish me-too games from unknown independent small developer. It is shame for famous developer like Bethesda.


Most of free-to-play games on popular app list of app store has better software quality than FOS. FOS is mobile game with the worst stability and quality in recent memory of mine. Being a free-to-play game should not be a excuse for poorer quality than most games of similar comparable size, complexity, popularity and revenue.

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I couldn't agree more! But I didn't get your point.

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So in other words, it works for you so it can't be the game? Yeah that's untrue and if people aren't complaining, how do you even know they are playing "normally" and what does that even mean in this context? I wasn't doing anything odd with my phone, didn't download anything new or change the OS in any way. Didn't even mess with my phone settings and suddenly the game stopped working. So tell me how exactly I wasn't playing normally? And honestly, I don't even want to get it removed. I want them to fix it which from the looks of things, they aren't going to do if they don't have to.

The game also has to be able to work with the systems that it says it works on. If multitasking is causing a big bug for a lot of people, then no it doesn't work well enough with the system. For the record, no I would not say that it was the developers fault that the game no longer worked with the new iOS. The OS was what changed. As I said though, nothing changed on my phone. It just stopped working. If nothing changed on my phone, then how exactly is it my phone's fault? Especially when so many others are experiencing the exact same issue.

Actually, if you look in the support section, a lot of us have been trying to provide information and figure out as much as we can to share details. Bethesda tells people to report issues on the forum and that they will post information. There has been nothing from Bethesda despite them being given details and information. I get that bugs take a while to fix. There has been nothing from Bethesda about things even acknowledging the issue. And who said anyone read about the issues and then downloaded the game? I know I didn't so that's kind of a big assumption. I found out about the issues when my game stopped being playable and I went to the forums and found out that a lot of other people were having the same problem. I really don't know why you're jumping to that idea that all these people already knew the game had issues and then downloaded it anyway. I haven't heard of people spending money on the game after it broke. I couldn't spend money even if I wanted to on account of the game won't even open. By your logic, people have no right to complain about a game because clearly it's broken. I'm pretty sure people still have every right to complain for the simple fact that it isn't working. The complaints have not been solely about people spending money. It's been about a game that doesn't work with no word from Bethesda about even planning on trying to fix it at any point. If they would even say they were planning on eventually trying to fix it, I'd be fine patiently waiting.

No, in other words, it works for me... and probably 99+% of the players; players that mybe haven't even checked these forums because they don't have the need to request assistance. Review the OP post... because thats what's all about. He's asking to force a GAME REMOVAL from the stores. Like those old cold war space denial politics... "If I cannot play, I'll try to force that nobody can".

I don't know whet device are you playing in, but as long as it's somewhat "common", there will be probably hundreds, if not thousands of people playing in that same device. And the vast mayority of those players aren't complaining... they don't have the need, they just play the game.

So, the players complaining are the ones that have issues... and those might be, let's say, 1% of all the players with your same device.

What's the most probable thing...?

- ... that there's an application issue common to your device model (something that "should" affect ALL terminals of your model, meaning that, sooner or later, when another player receives a phone call while playing the game, he should end up with a crashed vault)?

- ... or that there's something specific on the 1% of the devices that make the vault crash when a phone call is received, something that doesn't happen to the other 99%?

As you said, you want them to "fix"... but, to fix what?, when maybe they're testing "your problem" in one (or even several... "Hey Johnny, you have an iPhone 5? dl FoS an try this, please, seems there's a crash here but doesn't happen to us") of those 99% devices that don't crash the vault when a phone call is received or the game goes to background.

To know what to fix, you must be able to reproduce the same issue in your testing environment. You cannot fix what is not broken.

As I said before... that "lot of people" of yours may be just 1% of ALL people with your same device. But the other 99% is nowhere to be seen... because they don't have the reason to complain. Maybe you're absolutely right and nothing changed on your device... maybe it's something you had BEFORE you installed the game.

Systems test 101: you install a clean system. You install an app. You test it. It works. Release.

And the important word here is clean. You cannot control the myriad apps/UIs/frontends/facelifts that can be installed in a specific device, and the millions of interactions that those third party apps can make. Something as stupid as an antivirus/antimalware app can mess with your savefile, locking it for a scan when FoS shelter was tying to save.

Testing your game in ideal, clean environment only and releasing it to public consumer is things that professional developer should NOT do. It is sure recipes of software quality disaster.


Professionsl developer and QA should test their game in varied, dirty, both typical and non-typical environments and make sure that their game work in reasonable degree on such wide variety of environments. That is what the QA is for.

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Yeah... but... what's your typical "dirty" environment? The one Shangri-Laschild has? The one you have? the one I have?... Base testing is always on clean environments; and from "clean onwards", they'll never be able to reproduce all existent "dirty environments" out there, because every user will have a different one.

True, they may have some "dirty environments" themselves, with apps they expect to be found on most devices (let's say whatsapp, maybe an antivirus/antimalware app, maybe an additional browser...) but that's it, you cannot expect developers to test if their game works will all antivirus apps available on the market, and all versions of them. Must they install Burger King app because some guys have it? or four different browsers? or a specific keyboard app - or several of them?.

Nope, my clean testing environments (development, certification) are simple: OS patched to latest level, antivirus software, inventory software and done. Everything else is on demand, or whatever is required by the app to work (database client, maybe an extra OS role or feature...), and nothing more.

But fact is... on Apple devices, applications are validated by Apple before release. Of course, bugs can be found later, but those are bugs that initially didn't prevent the app to behave as expected, or actually specific interations between several apps, devices or OS versions/patches on one of those "dirty environments".

And as for Android devices... well, Welcome to the Jungle, baby: hundreds of thousands of APPS,frontends, custom roms, launchers, chinese phones, tablets... For andrid you'll perform basic checks on stock android, and maybe the most common custom roms (let's say Samsung's facelift ,MIUI, and Cyanogen) and done.

I don't honestly figure the game will get pulled. I do however think that if there is enough fuss like this, they will have to address the issue which is what I want. Because of that, I don't have a problem with this. And if it really does work for 99+% of people then it's not going to get pulled and nothing is going to happen so it's not really that big of a deal for you either way.

I'm playing on an iphone 5, all my apps come through apple. I live with someone who does QA for a living, I've heard plenty of stories about bugs that didn't happen every single time despite being attempted in the exact same environment and trying to figure out what was going on. Just because the bug doesn't happen every time doesn't mean it doesn't exist. This bug has been happening on iphone and android and I have never had a game do this before ever so by your logic, what's more likely? That I'm doing something weird with my phone and it's effecting one single app but never ever has caused problems with any other app or that there is something wrong with this app? Have you looked in both of the support forums? They are full of people who are having this exact same problem. And in order for apps to work properly, they need to be able to work outside of "clean" empty devices.

Okay, so yah, there is a problem. There is no way for us to know whether they are working on it or not, if they are even aware, and if so, whether they have chosen to look into it or not. Honestly, after seeing how the game has been hacked to pieces so soon after launch, I'd personally hesitate in investing another second of development. There isn't a single information source you can search for that isn't bombarded by spammed hack links (many earning profit to the spammers), thus pratically ruining any future financial gain for the developer. That means the team assigned to this project would be essentially working for free, and I, as a lead developer would recommend to the team to maybe check a few things and poke around to make an attempt to fix it, but not really care much beyond that and move on to another project.

What is the incentive for Bethseda to really develop this app further? I'd rather focus on rewriting the whole thing to make it more hack proof, but in the end, probably 50% of users already have 4,000 lunchboxes. The young and mobile-centric target audience is quite inventive and well informed. That same target is also immensely impatient and seeks a continual stream of instant gratification with little to no personal investment of time, thought and attention. Just look at many of the "suggestions" for improved gameplay. I call that whole mentality the "I WIN" button. Just change the whole game to a button that when clicked will provide a random firework display, triumphant music and a parade proclaiming how awesome you are and that you won against incredible odds. Yes, I am a jaded gamer.

So, I would say that putting a week into recoding to eliminate current hacks and deter future ones, something that 100% of the user base can be affected by, would be time better spent than chasing down a bug that affects maybe 5%. That's just my personal order of importance and the course of action I would take. I do think that the issue should be examined and rectified to maintain some name credibity in the unforgiving mobile market if they plan to release future apps, but overall I think the release has been a success until the hacks came.

I am going to agree with an earlier post on here and say there are some problems with the game, and I think there is an expectation of quality especially in regards to Bethesda games that is "Falling short" on Fallout Shelter. Pun intended I like the game and if they were to fix the problems I would probably love it.

I also agree that to get them to fix it folks need to speak up, leave bad feed back on apple/android play stores ratings, and also stop buying in game purchases (I have bought 3 handys and regret it now).

Current problem of FOS is not matter of widely varied environments. FOS has crash problem even in very typical environment that most user uses: like iphone 6 with latest IOS, Sansung Galaxy 5 with latest Android, etc..


We resonably expect that FOS on such typical environment should not experience major problem or if did, it should be very rare and limited to minor problem. But in reality, Too many players of FOS on such typical environment are experiencing major game breaking problem like crash on loading vault and loss of purchased lunchbox.


It is not problem of varied platform or environment. The poor software quality of FOS itself is eye of this whole fiascos. That is Why I think that it deserves to be reported.


Especially lack of protection on purchased lunchbox is very bad practice that deserves more serious charge like financial fraud accusation.

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