Update: Bethedsa has followed up with an apology to PC users , and has extended the time for Thursday's B.E.T.A., which now runs from 2PM EST to 11PM EST. You can see all the upcoming B.E.T.A. times on our Wiki Guide . Original story follows...

The Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. starts tonight for PC users, though a bizarre bug in Bethesda’s launching client is causing players to inadvertently redownload all of the data by simply clicking a button.



We are actively investigating an issue causing PC players to redownload the #Fallout76 B.E.T.A. If you see a progress bar, please allow the download to complete. Thank you for your continued patience while we work to resolve this issue. — Fallout (@Fallout) October 30, 2018



#Fallout76 B.E.T.A players: We’re currently experiencing issues with our community forums. So that we can view all of your B.E.T.A. feedback, we encourage you to visit the game’s @ reddit channel https://t.co/j58pZomwLL — Bethesda Support (@BethesdaSupport) October 30, 2018

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As reported by Kotaku , the Fallout 76 and Bethesda Support Twitter accounts have been working overtime today addressing the issue, imploring users not to click any buttons until the progress bar for the B.E.T.A. download is complete. If a button is clicked on the launch client, it can accidentally force players to restart the nearly 50GB download.Earlier in the day, the Bethesda Support account ominously suggested that users not click any buttons , and now we know exactly what can happen if players either get too antsy, or just, you know: click a button by accident.Unfortunately, to make matters worse, the BethesdaNet forums are down , and the company is suggesting that players experiencing this problem use Fallout 76’s Reddit channel to relay their issues and any other B.E.T.A. feedback.Bethesda knew there would be bugs in the B.E.T.A., and even asked players to help them resolve these bugs , but it’s doubtful Bethesda saw this particular irradiated pest coming.The Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. (a fitting acronym for Break-it Early Test Application) begins tonight on PC and PS4 , and began last week for Xbox One players who pre-ordered the game. As of now, the PC version is only available through Bethesda.net, and cannot be downloaded through third-party clients like Steam.

Colin Stevens is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter