How to fix “Cannot Save while in Combat” bug in Star Wars Outlaws

It never feels good to lose progress to a mistimed jump or wrong decision. It’s even worse when it’s not your fault. With this in mind, here’s how to fix the Star Wars Outlaws “Cannot Save while in Combat” bug, which can bring a great session to a miserable end.

What is the “Cannot Save while in Combat” bug in Star Wars Outlaws?

The “Cannot Save During Combat” bug is when Outlaws registers players as “in combat,” even when they aren’t. This is a big issue as it prevents you from manually saving the game.

To make matters worse, this bug also disables Auto Saving, as the game will never create a save state during battle. This save bug coincides with the cloud save bug.

At the time of writing, I’m unable to pinpoint the cause of the issue, but it seems to be related to minimizing the gameplay window with Alt+Tab. This can also happen on console, though, so be warned. It seems like a general bug that Massive Entertainment needs to iron out.

How to fix the “Cannot Save during Combat “error

I’ve found a couple of ways to fix the issue, and while they are inconvenient, it’s better than losing your progress.

The most consistent fix is to simply off yourself in the open world by falling off a cliff or ledge. In my testing, falling into the void doesn’t work, as it doesn’t reset your status.

You must jump from a significant height and splat on the ground. This reliably fixes the bug, and you’ll spawn near where you died without repercussions. You can also pull out a grenade and throw it at your feet.

If you can’t fast-travel for some reason, you can try purposely dying in combat. Based on my testing, just entering combat and running away doesn’t fix the problem.

How do I know if Star Wars Outlaws is bugged?

The easiest way to check is via the pause menu. The Save feature will be greyed out, and the message “Cannot save while in combat” will be displayed in red (pictured above).

You can also see how long it’s been since your last Auto Save. Star Wars Outlaws frequently updates your progress. If this timer reaches something like 15 minutes without you being in combat, it may be time to fast-travel to a safe location and see if that changes anything.

This is an annoying bug, but it’s not game-breaking. If you keep track of your data and try to save often, you’ll quickly notice any issues.

While struggling with a bugged save is one thing in Star Wars Outlaws, another is whether or not you can remove the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.