Probably Stolen Troubleshooting Guide
The Probably Stolen bugs players actually hit — ultrawide and fullscreen, garbled text, softlocks, performance — matched to the exact official patch that fixed them, plus what the Demo released on September 14 changes.
Most of the bugs people search for in Probably Stolen — non-16:9 fullscreen, garbled German, Russian and Chinese text, getting stuck on the security inspector, and a handful of softlocks — are already fixed in the Playtest, as of Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07). A few need a new save to take effect. This is a fast-moving pre-release: the Demo released on 2026-09-14 changes much of what is below, and the full game launches on October 28, 2026.
Evidence level: Official patch notes Announced for Demo Every fix on this page is quoted from the developer's own Steam patch notes and announcements, cited by patch number and date. Items marked Announced for Demo come from the 2026-08-28 announcement and were promised for the Demo in advance; the UPDATE 049 notes released with the Demo on 2026-09-14 do not list them. This page reflects the build up to Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07), the 2026-08-28 announcement and the headline items of UPDATE 049 (2026-09-14); it does not yet go through every UPDATE 049 fix. Sources last checked September 18, 2026.
The Demo is out — will my save survive?
The single most common question is not really a bug: it is what happens to your playtest run now that the Demo exists. On 2026-08-28, alongside a 100,000 wishlists milestone — and 100,000 players who had tried the playtest — the developer announced a Demo for 2026-09-14, a Demo, not another playtest. It was released on that date, in the same UPDATE 049 post that announced the October 28, 2026 release date.
Two things matter for anyone mid-run:
- Playtest saves can be migrated to the Demo. Announced 2026-08-28 You should not lose your progress simply because the Demo arrived. The UPDATE 049 notes do not repeat this.
- What the Demo contains. Demo Steam page The Demo's Steam page lists 3 starting scenarios plus hardcore mode, with the water testing and purification kit available from the start in the Water Merchant scenario. UPDATE 049, 2026-09-14 The UPDATE 049 notes add one new early-game machine and item, two starting perks designed for challenge runs, an Equip mode and a Toolbox whose tools are bound to keys 1 to 9, Bottle Printer and Vacuum Robot upgrades, multi-item selection and inventory sorting, plus a long list of balance changes and bug fixes.
UPDATE 049 extends the non-16:9 display fixes below; this page has not matched its other bug fixes to the symptoms here, so re-check against the UPDATE 049 notes if you are playing the Demo. Some of the Demo changes were already previewable on the Beta Branch before release.
Monitor, ultrawide and fullscreen problems
Probably Stolen is a pixel-art game with a native 16:9 aspect ratio, so anything wider — 21:9 ultrawide, 32:9 super-ultrawide — has been the source of most display complaints. The playtest has closed the main gaps:
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Could not use fullscreen on a non-16:9 monitor | Fixed in Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06): non-16:9 monitors can now run fullscreen, displayed with black bars. Fixed |
| "i" hover tooltip unusable in non-16:9 fullscreen | Fixed in Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07): the "i" hover info works in non-16:9 fullscreen. Fixed |
| Scratcher tickets could not be scratched in non-16:9 fullscreen | Fixed in Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07): Scratcher tickets can be scratched in non-16:9 fullscreen. Fixed |
The Demo, released on 2026-09-14, goes further. Its UPDATE 049 notes let players on non-16:9 monitors in Full Screen dock UI elements onto the black bars, and fix the Bargain UI, tooltips on certain UI elements, the calendar and nightly report panels, and calendar perk tooltips on non-16:9 monitors. UPDATE 049
Language and garbled text
If your German, Russian or Chinese text looks scrambled, or a translation is missing entirely, that is a known and largely resolved area:
- Scrambled German, Russian and Chinese characters. Fixed 48.3.10 Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) fixed German, Russian and Chinese text strings that were out of place.
- Localisation broken by your OS language. Fixed 48.3.10 The same patch fixed a localisation problem caused by the operating system language — but affected players need a new save for the fix to take effect.
- Missing translations. Announced for Demo The 2026-08-28 announcement said the Demo would fix the missing Chinese, German, Japanese and Russian translations. The UPDATE 049 notes released with the Demo do not mention translations, so this is not confirmed as shipped.
The practical order of operations: update to Patch 48.3.10 or later, and if text is still wrong, start a new save before assuming it is a live bug.
Stuck, softlocks and orders that never arrive
Several ways a run could freeze or quietly break have been patched. If you hit one of these on an up-to-date build, it is a new report, not the one already fixed:
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| Stuck on the security inspector | Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) fixed getting stuck on the security inspector. Fixed |
| Inventory becomes uninteractable after certain UI actions | Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) fixed a state where some UI interactions left you unable to interact with your inventory. Fixed |
| Phone orders never arrive | Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) fixed ordering by phone hanging up too early, which caused goods not to arrive. Fixed |
| Softlock when shooting someone who is leaving | Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07) fixed a possible softlock from shooting a person while they were in the middle of leaving. Fixed |
| Barter customers give nothing in return | Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) fixed certain barter customers not giving anything back. Fixed |
Performance and frame rate
If the game was pushing your hardware harder than a pixel-art shop sim should, Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) added a 60 FPS cap to reduce the load on high-performance hardware. Fixed 48.3.10 On very capable machines the uncapped frame rate had been doing unnecessary work; the cap is the intended behaviour, not a limitation to work around.
Looks like a bug, but is intended
Not everything unexpected is broken. These are confirmed design choices, so reporting them as bugs will not get them "fixed":
- The display case does not work on the first day of the tutorial. Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) intentionally disabled it on day one while the tutorial is enabled, so it does not disrupt the tutorial. By design
- The vacuum robot only runs at night. The same patch made the vacuum robot show more clearly that it operates only at night and has a manual function. It working "only" at night is expected. By design
- Essential loop customers cannot be shot. Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) marked key recurring customers as non-shootable. If a customer will not take a bullet, that is deliberate. By design
- "nutrichips" is a bug item. Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07) fixed the game occasionally handing out a bug item called "nutrichips". If you still have one, it is a leftover of that bug, not a real item. Removed 48.3.12
- An "Augmented" ending only fails in Hard Mode. Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) set the Augmented ending to only fail from letting too many augs through while in Hard Mode. On other difficulties, that is not a loss condition. By design
How to report a bug or get the Demo
The most useful channel is the official Steam Discussions, where the developer reads reports and where many of the issues above were first raised. When you post, name your monitor aspect ratio, your OS language, the patch number you are on and whether the problem survives a new save — every one of those details maps to a fix category above.
The free Demo, out since 2026-09-14, is available from the Steam store page, and the 2026-08-28 announcement said playtest saves can be migrated to it.
What is not confirmed yet, and how current this is
This page stops at the official record. A few limits to be honest about:
| Question | Current evidence |
|---|---|
| Are these fixes still holding in the very latest build? Unknown | This page reflects Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07), the 2026-08-28 announcement and the headline items of UPDATE 049 (2026-09-14). A fast-moving pre-release can regress or change without a new note. |
| Is every UPDATE 049 Demo fix covered here? Not yet | UPDATE 049 (2026-09-14) is a full itemised patch list. This page covers its non-16:9 changes and headline content; the rest of its bug fixes are not yet matched to the symptoms above. |
| Are Mac, Linux or Steam Deck issues covered? Unknown | The patch notes reviewed here do not address non-Windows platforms. The store listing is Windows-only; see the system requirements page. |
| Do older bug items or broken saves clean up automatically? Unknown | Some fixes (OS-language localisation) explicitly require a new save. Whether other fixes retroactively repair an existing save is not stated. |
Each row gets a firmer answer as new official notes are published.
Probably Stolen troubleshooting FAQ
Why is the text garbled in Probably Stolen?
Two separate causes were fixed in Playtest Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06). German, Russian and Chinese text could show scrambled or misplaced characters, and your operating system language could trigger a localisation problem — the fix for that one only takes effect on a new save. If you still see garbled text, start a new save and confirm the Playtest has updated to 48.3.10 or later. The 2026-08-28 announcement also said the Demo would fix the missing Chinese, German, Japanese and Russian translations; the UPDATE 049 notes released with the Demo on 2026-09-14 do not mention translations.
Does Probably Stolen support ultrawide or non-16:9 monitors?
It is a pixel-art game with a native 16:9 aspect ratio. Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) added fullscreen on non-16:9 monitors with black bars, and Patch 48.3.12 (2026-08-07) fixed the "i" hover tooltip and the Scratcher tickets so both work in non-16:9 fullscreen. The Demo, released on 2026-09-14, goes further: its UPDATE 049 notes let you dock UI elements onto the black bars in Full Screen and fix several non-16:9 display bugs.
When did the Probably Stolen Demo come out?
On 2026-09-14. The developer released it alongside the UPDATE 049 patch notes, the same post that announced the October 28, 2026 release date. It is a Demo, not another playtest, and its Steam page lists 3 starting scenarios plus hardcore mode, including the Water Merchant scenario.
Will my Probably Stolen playtest save carry over to the Demo?
Yes, according to the 2026-08-28 announcement, which states that playtest saves can be migrated to the Demo. The UPDATE 049 notes released with the Demo do not repeat that statement. Because the game is a fast-moving pre-release, some mechanics may still shift around your save.
Is being stuck on the security inspector a bug in Probably Stolen?
It was. Patch 48.3.10 (2026-08-06) lists a fix for getting stuck on the security inspector. If you are on that patch or later and still get stuck, it is worth reporting in the Steam Discussions as a fresh issue rather than the one already fixed.
Related pages
- System requirements & Steam Deck — the native 16:9 aspect ratio and where non-Windows platforms stand.
- Release date & the free Demo — the October 28, 2026 launch date and how to download the Demo.
- All starting scenarios compared — including the ones these patches unhid.
- All published guides — the current index.
Sources
- Probably Stolen news — UPDATE 049 Patch note - Release Date + New Demo, 2026-09-14 — official announcement and patch notes — the source for the Demo release, the October 28th release date, the Demo content and the non-16:9 changes it shipped
- Probably Stolen on Steam — the Demo download and the Demo content list: 3 starting scenarios plus hardcore mode
- Probably Stolen news — 100,000 Wishlists announcement, 2026-08-28 — official announcement — the source for the Demo being scheduled for 2026-09-14, the migratable playtest saves, the new Water Merchant starting scenario, the promised non-16:9 and translation fixes and the 100,000 wishlists / 100,000 playtesters milestone
- Probably Stolen news — Playtest Patch 48.3.12, 2026-08-07 — official patch notes — the source for the non-16:9 tooltip and Scratcher fixes, the leaving-customer softlock fix and the "nutrichips" bug item removal
- Probably Stolen news — Playtest Patch 48.3.10, 2026-08-06 — official patch notes — the source for non-16:9 fullscreen, the German/Russian/Chinese and OS-language text fixes, the security-inspector, inventory and phone-order fixes, the 60 FPS cap and the by-design display case, vacuum robot and non-shootable customer changes
- Probably Stolen Steam Discussions — where the developer reads bug reports and where these issues were surfaced