GTA: IV Game Freezes and Rockstar doesn't know why.

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http://kotaku.com/385183/rockstar-support-no-gta-freeze-fix-in-sight
Earlier today we broke the news that some Grand Theft Auto IV gamers were having problems with the game on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

For them, the game was freezing up during the introductory cut-scene, something that neither I nor Mike experienced during our time with the game on both systems. To be clear, we have no idea how widespread the problem is, but it's certainly on Rockstar's radar and making the rounds both in our tips line and on forums.

Rockstar declined to comment on the issue officially, so I went to the phone and called up Rockstar Support to see what they had to say about the problem.

A very friendly, and obviously unhappy, fellow answered the phone who, after thanking me for not yelling at him and apologizing profusely for the problem, spilled quite a bit of beans on the issue:


The man told me that the problem is apparently only effecting the 60 GB version of the Playstation 3, but that it didn't matter than my particular console was a launch console (Yes, I told a little white lie and said my copy was locking up.) He said the problem is not across the board for the 60GB PS3s but rather only impacts some, so their tech folks are working around the clock to try and figure out what is causing the issue.

He did ask me to make sure that my harddrive wasn't full and that I had the latest firmware update, but confessed that that really isn't what's causing most of the problem. He also said that the Xbox 360 is having the "exact same problem," which has further stumped their tech folks.

I asked him if wiping the harddrive and reinstalling the PS3 version would help, as seen on the PS forums, he said I could try but that he hadn't heard of it helping a single person.

He ended the call by saying that they really have no idea when a fix will be coming because they can't figure out what is exactly causing the problem and then once more apologized.

"I feel terrible about this."

If only more support folks were as empathetic and genuinely concerned about the problems their customers are going through.
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What can I say. Seems I'm one of the lucky ones to have a new game that won't play. I can get 10 seconds into the intro before it freezes. If I skip the intro, I can make it to the apartment, but it freezes as soon as I get outside.

I have tried all the chicken soup remedies with no luck. I have a 60gb launch PS3.

Anyone else with issues?

:grumpy:
 
so is this mainly just on the 60gb version ? i'm picking up my copy of the game today, hopefully i dont get any problems.
 
Rock* said that delete and reinstall the game data will solve the problem. However, Neogaf members have confirmed that this method will NOT put the freezing away. So, anyone with this problem should wait for the official solution from R*, which I think will come very soon.

ALso, someone at Neogaf has GTA 4 working after he disable the internet connection on his PS3, and someone has his 360 GTA4 version working after clearing the cache on his 360 (360 users are also experiencing this problem)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288359&page=15
 
I played it for 5 hours straight today and it never froze... weird. Two of my best friends also bought it and it hasn't frozen for them. We're all playing it on the Xbox 360 though.
 
Mine froze a couple times after playing for several hours, because of the auto save. Cleared up quickly though.
 
Pretty much made it an unplayable mess if you were unlucky enough to be caught with the problem. Crashes, freezing, audio glitches, animation bugs, control problems, the works. And when Rockstar released the patch, it didn't really do anything. I hope they don't try to pull the same BS with GTA4, cause it looks like it is off to the same great start that Bully had.
 
That's odd, I must say. Obviously, Rockstar Games haven't done hardware problems from their games until now. Let's see if my PS3 would be okay for a rental. If it locks up, I'll try one of your solutions.
 
i hope it won't be as bad as need for speed pro street after EA released their first patch for the game. they released two more i think and neither of them did anything. i haven't touched my gta4 yet, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong.
 
I had one freeze for a few seconds and one complete lockup on my PS3 version. Those probably after about 10% completion of the game.
 
I've had two freezes on my 360. Both during gameplay, not cut scenes. I think that may be down to my 360 though at not the game.
 
No problems here yet with the 360 version. Played a 6 hour session when I bought it and it didn't crash at all.

I remember the PS2 GTA games were prone to freezing from time to time, but rarely enough that it was much of an issue.
 
i should have mentioned that the 360 was on for 12 hours in one sitting and three hours on another. It crashed about 5 hours into the 12 hour session and about another three hours later. I haven't had any problems since then.
 
Found this:
www.gamegrep.com
You've heard of Grand Theft Auto IV locking up, but what are the reasons for this. Well, at first, it was believed only to happen on the 60GB Playstation 3, but now the Xbox 360 has the same problem. So as you know, Rockstar designed the game so that there are no load times whilst playing. However, a problem has occurred while doing so. By making there no load times, they have overloaded the cache, causing the game to freeze. So instead of providing a smooth ride while player, the game will freeze while attempting to gather information from the cache.
The solution: Rockstar needs to release a patch that limits the strain on the RAM right out of the gate. Can they even do this? Who knows? They haven’t managed to make a game that doesn’t freeze in two years. Unless you count the mega epic “Table Tennis”.
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Can't verify the validity of the source, but it makes sense, although....you would have thought that Rock Star would have picked up on this problem long before release.
 
Pako
Can't verify the validity of the source, but it makes sense, although....you would have thought that Rock Star would have picked up on this problem long before release.
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You would have thought so. Do they play test these games on regular 360's or do they use some super 360. I find it hard to believe that Rockstar never came across this when testing.
 
GTA SA even broke my fat PS2 after 1,5 hours of play, so after hearing this i'm being a bit reluctant on buying the game after all.
 
I would agree. Like I said in the other thread, if it were for PC I would expect different issues given the multitude of different hardware combinations, but with these consoles, I would think hardware variables are limited and predictable. I guess I should be happy most people are enjoying the game without problems, but what about the 600K or so 60gb PS3 owners that might pickup GTA:IV? Ouch.
 
Do the 60 gigs have slower memory?

Pako
Found this:

Can't verify the validity of the source, but it makes sense, although....you would have thought that Rock Star would have picked up on this problem long before release.
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It would explain why the PS3 version is 640p and 360 is 720p...I think.
 
By making there no load times, they have overloaded the cache, causing the game to freeze. So instead of providing a smooth ride while player, the game will freeze while attempting to gather information from the cache.
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Surely the Cache is indentical across all versions of PS3.
 
I tried turning off the auto-save and was able to steel a car, run over some peeps, and get chased by the cops for about 5 minutes before it locked it.

I really want to play this game....

:mad:
 
Well, my initial experiences with the game are not half as bad as yours, Pako... but there have been a few moments that have caused some concern. In the very start, during the intro sequence, the animation froze briefly for a second or two a couple of times, and then during the game I have experienced a few brief freezes... Unfortunately, the game did completely freeze on me once last night (and I only played it single-player for about 2 hours) and I had to switch off the console. I also had another, longer but temporary freeze, which lasted about 10 seconds, but to my surprise it kicked back into life... however, I can see this being an issue that might rear its ugly head quite alot. It's not much of a problem at the start of the game as the missions are so easy, but I would imagine a freeze during a harder mission would be very annoying indeed!

edit: I just read on a GTA:IV forum that it might help if you disable your wireless or internet connection before trying to play... worth a try... (just noticed that KENJIusa already mentioned this...)
 

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