Got to level 27!!
Boom! level up... YAY.... up date my speech, weapons and such! next onto the perks!!! Oh wait, I cant select a PERK... and I cant carry on!!!!!!! restared, cleared cache!!! What the hell is going on! I now cant progress!!!!!!!!!! its driving me made! welcome to level 28 choose 1 perk"!!! I CANT F&^*ING CHOOSE ONE PERK, YOU WONT LET ME!!!

HELP SOMEONE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was just coming in to report this as well. Same thing happened with a character last night. Got to level 16, went to select a perk, clicked back to check something on the Skills screen, then bam: unable to select a Perk in the menu (Done is greyed out). I tried a bunch of other things including earlier saves, then much earlier saves. Thought it be something weird with having obtained the Boss (level 30) achievement the night before.

Once I ruled out a few things, I figured that either the Boss achievement does something wonky to the level cap or that my character (not my save, because I tried several for that character and they were all broken at the Perk menu) had become corrupted. I threw in the towel on that character, started a new one and then went to bed. However the same thing just occurred with the new character at level 4 (there goes my level cap hypothesis).

The good news is that I think I know what caused it. I selected a perk, then clicked Back to check my skills, then Continue and noticed the same thing. I'm almost certain that clicking Back once you're on the Perk menu will corrupt the character (again, I just tested by rolling back to a level 3 save and advancing the level 4 again).

To summarize: it appears that clicking Back from the Perk menu corrupts the character file and makes it impossible progress the game.

I'll see if I can test further. Hopefully the folks that were perusing these forums before the previous two patches are still doing so.


EDIT: Ok, went into the XBOX memory and removed all the save files. Recreated a new character with the same name as the aforementioned level 4 character. Cleared level 2 okay but had the same problem again at level 4. Exited the game, cleared the cache (LB+RB+X, right?), and tried again. Same thing at level 4.

Going to repeat the steps above with a different character name and see what happens. My guess is that the character file is stored via name somewhere that isn't visible (like the save files) and that the game is registering a new character with an "existing" name as a continuation.

Obviously feedback from someone at Bethesda would helpful while I beat my head against the wall trying to figure this out. I'll throw in root cause anolysis charts if it would help

Update: Started a new character using a name that I've never used before.

Encountered the bug upon reaching level 2. It would appear that my "clicking Back from the Perks menu" hypothesis is also out. So far as I can tell, I'm back to "random"

Again, I will state that I spent nearly 90 hours on the last character that I took to completion (first full game post-patch) and never had this problem. I did pick up the Boss achievement as the end-game was rolling (hit level 30 via the 4000 xp I earned for completing Eureka!). I don't know enough about the game's inner workings to speculate as to whether or not earning an achievement can break the leveling script.

Sadly, it doesn't make much sense to continue playing this game until this issue is resolved.

Thank god I'm not the only one!!!!!

Yet, this needs sorting!!!! I'm going out of my mind!!!! I can not bare to start the game agian, think I'm on about 60 hours!!!!!!!!! How can you go from the epic fallout to this balls up!!! Problems yes, but nothing like this should be happing in this day an age!!!! Fix it or I want my money back Bethesda you have 48 hours

This is software; bugs happen. Not sure that empty, veiled threats do much to help anything.

I opened a ticket with Bethesda support. The gentleman that I've been working with suggested that I clear the xbox cache (not the game cache), re-install the patch, and try again.

I will try this, but I figured that if this is the direction that we're going that I would try a few other things as well.

1) Started a new character with a previously unused name. Turned off auto-save and used a previously unused storage device. Same issue at level 2. Result: the root cause is not corruption on the storage device.

2) Cleared the xbox cache and started a new character with a previously unused name (auto-save still off and still on a separate storage device). Same issue at level 2. Result: the root cause is not the patch.

3) Removed the game from the HDD, cleared the xbox cache again, and started a new character with a previously unused name (auto-save still off and still on a separate storage device). Same issue at level 2. Result: the root cause is not running the game from the HDD.

4) Created a brand new profile (named TEST). Ran the game, still from the disc and not the HDD, with a new character with a previously unused name (auto-save still off and still on a separate storage device). Same issue at level 2. Result: the root cause is not the profile and/or associated achievements.

At this point, it seems the only thing left is the xbox itself. My office has a game room with a 360, so I think I'll pop in tomorrow and see if I can replicate the issue on a separate device. If I can't it would seem to indicate that this is a hardware problem. Have I missed anything? Can anyone think of something I haven't tried yet?

You're still going back to the abilities page from the perks page as you did the first time? If so... well, stop do that: clearly is that action which causes the glitch.

I refer you back to post #3.