BioWare is currently investigating complaints from a concerning number of Mass Effect 2 PS3 players reporting that their save files have become corrupt.
Skimming over various posts on the official forum, it appears the game crashes unexpected, forcing you to restart the PS3, only to find that your save file has been corrupted and you're unable to continue.
BioWare producer Jesse Houston has posted a request for help tracking down the issue. That post below:
Specifically if you can say:
1> where the crash occurred that caused the save to become corrupt (ie loading from Horrizon to the Normandy or Right after the fight with the Yahg)
2> How many levels in a row you played beforehand (Ie you played through the prologue through to Horizon in a single sitting)
3> How long you were playing concurrently beforehand (ie you had the game running for 40 hours straight without rebooting the console)
Hit the forum below to offer your input if you've had similar issues.
Comments
32 comments so far...
k-mysta on 26 Jan '11 said:
finally!nice one cvg.been waiting for news on this.i lost 40hrs of my first playthrough and was utterly devastated.its such a magnificent game but this is such a game breaking bug.hopeful for news of a patch before i even try playing again.its a shame bioware released it with such horrible bugs but once its fixed,they'll be on their way to regaining my trust.still,40 HOURS!!!
Bryanee1983 on 26 Jan '11 said:
Sorry about your save file mate, christ I'd shoot myself in the balls if I lost my Mass Effect 1 and 2 save files. That would be over a 120 hours gone right there.
KMakawa on 26 Jan '11 said:
100% what Bryanee said, sorry to hear that dude.
I have around 4 playthroughs on each Mass Effect, (4 characters and both in the 50hours + for each)
i wouldnt be a happy chap if my 360 harddrive decided to fail, or i lost them somehow -.-
Samildanach on 26 Jan '11 said:
It's crashed on me twice in the exact same position. When leaving Mirandas office, I went into the squad section of the menu, and it crashed, had to turn off the PS3, then it happened again hours later doing the exact same thing.
jimsondanet on 26 Jan '11 said:
yea, f#%k that, if you made a unique character its dead. Losing my Jane would be the worse gaming lose I could imagine (except having all my gear pinched). I feel sorry for those without internet.
i like jam donut on 26 Jan '11 said:
.
i like jam donut on 26 Jan '11 said:
Only ME2 save file is corrupted or other games too?
I'm doing backup before playing it today.
KryptoKnight on 26 Jan '11 said:
Lost all mine too,15 hours down the drain ¬___¬
Tempted to not play it now until Bioware can do something about this.
Anybody playing this should take it as a warning to make sure you back up any and all of your save-data.
wildhook2 on 26 Jan '11 said:
I always back up.
KryptoKnight on 26 Jan '11 said:
It's only ME2 save-files as far as I know,all my other save-data for other games are still intact.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow had a similar issue didn't it,where save-data was being corrupted?
Ais4Audi on 26 Jan '11 said:
ahhhaha dont have this problem on the 360 with Mass effect 2...
lol to that.... but as a PS3 owner this problem has to be a Sony one as GT5 did it and a number of other resently released games.
El Mag on 26 Jan '11 said:
Or it could be from the game freezing while it auto-saves....nah that's too obvious.
Doesn't matter what console it is, if it freezes on a auto-save or you turn it off while it's still saving there's a good chance it'll corrupt the save. I back up whatever game i'm currently playing straight after i quit
StokedUp on 26 Jan '11 said:
Thank you CVG for posting this news, I never knew about this, I'm currently 16hpurs into it and really enjoying the game I'd of been gutted if my save file became corrupt. I'll be backing up the save file when I quit from now on.
feeg86 on 26 Jan '11 said:
I remember when I first booted up after the installations, it froze on the first screen. The music was playing, the things on screen were still working but I couldn't select any of the options. After reseting the console, or just quiting the game via xmb, it was ok. It's done it once since but *touch wood* no saving issues yet.
It always creates a quick save, so as well as the manual save- would this be affected? Not quite 40 hours in but losing 16 hours would be unsettling enough.
paul on 26 Jan '11 said:
Moribundman on 26 Jan '11 said:
Paul: I'd be careful then if you value your playthrough. Maybe sit tight for a couple of days and see how this plays out before you continue with your game?
I'd pretty much consider myself an Xbox fanboy, and I'm most definitely a Mass Effect fanboy and I think most of the "LOL" type comments that have been floating around (thankfully not so much on CVG) are pretty pathetic.
As a huge fan of the series, I am keen for PS3 owners to get on board and build up the fanbase for ME3 in December. Unfortunately this bug seems to be potentially penalising the most dedicated PS3 fans, who will have gone out and bought the game on day 1.
It seems a real shame, since Bioware have gone balls deep making an excellent ground-up conversion and not a sloppy port.
El Mag on 26 Jan '11 said:
Again, the problem looks to be the age old freezing while it's auto saving and not a bug. Bioware will just end up telling people to turn off the auto save in the menu and make your own saves more often. I've always done that since getting burned by Fallout 3 on my 360, i lost so much that day it turned me into a auto save hater for life *wipes tear*
Mark240473 on 26 Jan '11 said:
That may work, but Bioware need to know what is making the game freeze, if that is the case.
Also, can you transfer your saves to a usb stick? I know some games won't allow it, but it may be worth a try, rather than waiting for a patch.
El Mag on 26 Jan '11 said:
Well there's two saves in the file, a profile save with your settings on and a separate save for where you are. You can copy the position save but not the profile, so if this did happen you wouldn't lose all those hours if you copy it to a usb.
anytime on 26 Jan '11 said:
There seems to be a pattern occuring here with regard to ME2 and a number of other recently released games. I'm starting to think the problem does't lie with the program code (although altering that in some way may be a temp fix) but with the ps3 itself. Sony should look into it and see what can be done if anything. Although i think they may have there hands full right now, one can hope though.
mfnick on 26 Jan '11 said:
Or companies could stasrt playtesting their games again instead of making paying gamers suffer this crap. I cant believe a team of testers wouldnt have found something as big as this.
El Mag on 26 Jan '11 said:
I remember reading moans about Fable 3 saves becoming corrupt when that first came out, it's nothing to do with the console it's developers putting a awful auto save system in that saves at stupid times.
pp82 on 26 Jan '11 said:
I wouldn't worry about that the same thing happens on the 360 . The problem is when you boot up the game it automatically connects to the the cerberus network and it can take a while as it's on crappy EA servers
GaryStew1980 on 26 Jan '11 said:
Ok i have never actually had this issue on PS3 on any game, but this seems to be a bit of an issue on the PS3. Wasnt there big issues with Heavy Rain as well in particular? I know there were others they just won't come to me.
While i feel sorry for everyone who has lost their game files but how long is this game out? 40 - 50 hours worth already? wow its probably for the best you need to unplug guys that isn't healthy.
anytime on 26 Jan '11 said:
This is more a problem with the ps3 than it is with the 360. If it was simply the games that where at fault then logic dictates that it would be on both console's. Although altering the games code in some way may be a temp fix as i said earlier. The problem with this type of thing is it's not until the game is released into the masses that it becomes apparent.
El Mag on 26 Jan '11 said:
Personally i've had one corrupt save on each console, Fallout 3 on the 360 and Pro Evo on the ps3. The Fallout 3 one was a freeze on the auto save and the Pro Evo was me turning off while it was still saving. The quick fix to this case of corrupting seems to be turn off auto save in the menu, along with the sign in to EA and Biowares servers.
_Marty_ on 26 Jan '11 said:
Whoa, that sucks ASS. Losing 40 hours of play is almost like losing a pet...
I have faith Bioware with get that sorted though.
k-mysta on 26 Jan '11 said:
yeh 40 hrs maybe a bit much but its that good a game.some guys on the bioware forum are on their 3rd playthrough so put that into perspective.i understand backing up but should we really be expected to back up all our saves when we play a game?surely its up to developers to ensure their game is fully functioning.
feeg86 on 26 Jan '11 said:
Gotcha. Cheers mate.
Might well back up my save files later. Rather lose an hour or two than the full 16.
ricflair on 26 Jan '11 said:
I've been lucky so far, never had a corrupt save or anything like that on any console. Although I should back them up as I've probably just talked that up nicely!
My PS3 crashes alot more than my 360 though. Twice in nearly three years on the 360 and I must be close to double figures on the PS3 in five months. As I've said before, it's easy to see which company makes hardware and which makes software!
shadyMrPatch on 26 Jan '11 said:
I can feel everyone's pain about this. I formatted my PC and only after reinstalling did I think to check where ME1 puts its saves... turns out it ignored my redirected folders and was saving to the C:\ so I lost it. Never got round to a second play through and the default Shepard at the beginning of ME2 was totally different.
The other one was getting 50% of the way through Stalker and finding a game breaking bug. I patched it and suddenly my save game was incompatible. I was gutted.
I'm always very very careful now. My ME2 character is fully backed up in multiple locations (including in one of my clients SFTP servers... just in case
)
KryptoKnight on 26 Jan '11 said: