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EA patches ATI problems in The Saboteur

Published on 21st December 2009 by Joe Martin

Electronic Arts has released a beta patch for the PC version of The Saboteur, which should solve some ATI problems.

Electronic Arts has released a new patch for Pandemic Studio's latest and last game, The Saboteur. The patch, which is still labelled as a beta, is said to finally make the game playable for ATI card owners.

The Saboteur is a third-person World War II game set in Paris, which we reviewed earlier this month and quite liked. It was also the last game to be developed by Pandemic before EA merged the studio with EALA, effectively closing the team.

Unfortunately, the PC version of the game has suffered from huge incompatibility problems with ATI hardware and is unplayable for ATI 3000, 4000 or 5000 GPU owners running Windows Vista or Windows 7 in either 32-bit or 64-bit configs.

The new patch is said to solve most of the stability problems with the game, but is apparently still a bit flaky with quad-core CPUs. EA advises that quad-core users disable some processes in order to avoid "streaming glitches" and has issued instructions alongside the patch.

You can pick up the patch from the official Pandemic site for the moment, with a full and final release said to be on the way soon.

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

13 Comments

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Edge102030 21st December 2009, 11:14

From a big name publisher this isn't acceptable, should never have been released with these issues. Complete a game before you release it or people won't buy from you again.

Ph4ZeD 21st December 2009, 11:32

Absolute joke. No wonder EA are loosing money hand over fist.

cjoyce1980 21st December 2009, 11:34

imagine if it actually didnt work on the 360 or PS3, EA would of had that patch out in 4 hours. nice to know PC users are getting left behind as usual

technogiant 21st December 2009, 11:36

Yeah...so as the product isn't fit for purpose then you should be able to return it to the retailer.....yeah sure just try it....spend £30 on **** that doesn't work and have no right of refund......any wonder people pirate.

NuTech 21st December 2009, 11:49

Remember guys, EA gutted Pandemic studios around the time the game was released. Most of the engineers who worked on The Saboteur were either gone or looking for another job. They probably had to make that patch with a skeleton crew of programmers (or most likely asked another studio to go through Pandemic code to find the problem).

So yeah, EA really screwed the pooch with this one.

Skiddywinks 21st December 2009, 11:50

What a ****ing joke. I can not believe that such incompetent mistakes could be made. It is actually shocking that this game got released in the state it is in. It boggles the mind.

EA Game Testing
Tester 1: What?! The game doesn't even work! How am I meant to play this! This can't be released!
EA: But look, boobies when it does work...
Tester 1,2 and 3: Mmmm... boobies...
EA: QUICK! RELEASE IT!

javaman 21st December 2009, 12:09

So it was EA's fault........I'm not surprised tbh.

technogiant 21st December 2009, 12:15

What kind of QA allows for the release of a product that doesn't even work on 30 - 40% of customers hardware....the answer is none....anywonder PC gaming is going down the pan if this is the standard of one of the industries largest producers. COMPLETELY UNBELIEVABLE.

V3ctor 21st December 2009, 12:15

and they want ME to buy their games... lol... Testing EA... TESTING!! BF2142 is still with bugs...

knutjb 21st December 2009, 19:49

It could be the best storyline and plot ever but if it doesn't play right on all designated platforms don't waste my time.

Star*Dagger 21st December 2009, 20:08

Maybe all the out of work Republicans ended up on the QA team. Testing this game with nVidia and ATI cards seems like a simple idea to me, I have both cards in my BEDROOM, a multinational craporation doesnt?!?!

johnnyboy700 21st December 2009, 20:43

GAME wouldn't take this one back if you found it couldn't run on your ATI powered rig, they basically say its buyer beware with PC games. You could try to argue that you couldn't possibly know the game wouldn't run on your hardware but I suppose it would depand on how much you are willing to argue the point.

Here's a thought, I don't have a copy of the game but if anyone does what do the basic system requirements on the case say with regards to minimum and recommended hardware? Does it mention nVidia only or does it have ATI cards listed? Is this an unofficial test by NVidia that can be passed off as a goof and we are we perhaps begining to see games that are hardware manufactuer specific?

LordPyrinc 22nd December 2009, 00:29

So the game didnt work with ATI cards, had problems running on Vista and Windows 7 OS's, and doesn't play well with quad core processors?

EA released a worthless piece of s**t when they let this game get out the door. Serves EA right for its destruction of Pandemic.