Rockstar has released a patch that plugs the crash-causing holes in the PS3 version of GTA IV, and has issued a statement to "apologise for the inconvenience".
The patch, now available to download directly from the internet (your PS3 will need to be connected, obviously) fixes issues related to Gamespy's servers.
According to Rockstar, it "prevents Gamespy's servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up."
So, as well as stopping the freezing, you should also actually be able to get a game online.
Rockstar says it'll be keeping a close eye on things from here. "We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary," it told CVG.
"We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended.
"We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."
bit of a s**t for the people who arent online to get the patch, but at least they've fixed it & held there hands up.
From what i can gather from the story, if you don't use your PS3 online, the problem won't occur anyway. (note, i dont necessarily mean they play multiplayer online, just that the console is connected to the internet)
MarkyUK, how was your face after i ran u over on GTA online lastnight lol althought you did get me a few times compared to my one manslaughter on u. great fun
Great news that they've fixed the problem (especially so quick), but that's not really the point. I can't help but think these issues shouldn't arise in the first place...
Great news that they've fixed the problem (especially so quick), but that's not really the point. I can't help but think these issues shouldn't arise in the first place...
Im afraid for online gaming companys cannot predict whats going to happen. But its a good thing when they sort things out this soon(Less than a week) Well done Rockstar.
bit of a s**t for the people who arent online to get the patch, but at least they've fixed it & held there hands up.
That's a daft comment considering that for the game to lock up on PS3 you do actually need to be connected to the PSN. Didn't you even bother to read the article?
Now then Rock *, how about helping those 360 owners who are suffering the same problems?
360 patch to Arcade SKU... 360 patch to memory card? Come in, over...
great! nice one rockstar, the freeze issue hasn't really bothered me though, it only happened a few times on release day and the day after, but with a week gone, nothing really happened since then.
bit of a s**t for the people who arent online to get the patch, but at least they've fixed it & held there hands up.
he cant read..he can only flame and swear..he is a little xbox kiddie who swears online to be cool
cvg Said " So, as well as stopping the freezing, you should also actually be able to get a game online. "
Rockstar Said "We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline"
& there have been plenty of reports of GTA IV freezing in the solo campaign on the PS3 & the 360.
Tw@T...
I was going to keep quiet, but its clear you don't know what you're talking about. Do you own the game?
Both PS3 and 360 versions of the game connect to PSN / XBL at start up and from there on in, continue to send game progress statistics to the servers periodically. If you're curious as to the reasoning behind that - please proceed to the Rock * social club and what they were offering the first person to complete the game.
Okay, so regardless as to whether a gamer is playing 1p or multiplayer, the problems with the game were related to the console sending info to the server and waiting for a response from the server. If the server got bogged down the console would potentially never see a server response. The game was not smart enough to time out correctly and so stalled / froze.
The patch resolves the issue by not flooding the server with stats unnecessarily and timing out if waiting too long for a response.
bit of a s**t for the people who arent online to get the patch, but at least they've fixed it & held there hands up.
he cant read..he can only flame and swear..he is a little xbox kiddie who swears online to be cool
cvg Said " So, as well as stopping the freezing, you should also actually be able to get a game online. "
Rockstar Said "We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline"
& there have been plenty of reports of GTA IV freezing in the solo campaign on the PS3 & the 360.
Tw@T...
I was going to keep quiet, but its clear you don't know what you're talking about. Do you own the game?
Both PS3 and 360 versions of the game connect to PSN / XBL at start up and from there on in, continue to send game progress statistics to the servers periodically. If you're curious as to the reasoning behind that - please proceed to the Rock * social club and what they were offering the first person to complete the game.
Okay, so regardless as to whether a gamer is playing 1p or multiplayer, the problems with the game were related to the console sending info to the server and waiting for a response from the server. If the server got bogged down the console would potentially never see a server response. The game was not smart enough to time out correctly and so stalled / froze.
The patch resolves the issue by not flooding the server with stats unnecessarily and timing out if waiting too long for a response.
ok sorry, i didn't know that was the case, i read it differently.
... and just to make the point. Yes - its the same bug on the 360.
The severity was higher on PS3 because 360 gamers had been given more server capacity and could better balance the load. As that was the case the 360 version wouldn't suffer from timeout freezes as much.
... and just to make the point. Yes - its the same bug on the 360.
The severity was higher on PS3 because 360 gamers had been given more server capacity and could better balance the load. As that was the case the 360 version wouldn't suffer from timeout freezes as much.
Rock* still needs to produce a patch for the 360.
The number of people having the problem on the 360 is considerably less than the PS3 version... I ended up ditching my PS3 copy for a 360 copy so I could play the game... not had a problem (yet).
... and just to make the point. Yes - its the same bug on the 360.
The severity was higher on PS3 because 360 gamers had been given more server capacity and could better balance the load. As that was the case the 360 version wouldn't suffer from timeout freezes as much.
Rock* still needs to produce a patch for the 360.
im not trying to start a flame war but i've played my GTA on my 360 for many hours on & offline & it has never frozen?. is this problem more wide spread with the PS3 because of the lack of servers then? & not the game?
nice one r*. I guess they couldn't really test that amount of people logging into the servers when in development stage. See I like that! Instead of the whole company gloating, patting themselves on the back, on hols in the bahamas, etc. they still beaver away and fix the probs. Respect!
Would it be fair to say that PSN is always going to be second place to XBL, because XBL is a subscription based service. Therefore XBL has more money to throw at improving the XBL infastructure.
If that was the case, being a very happy PS3 owner, I would not mind paying into a subscription based PSN IF (and its a big IF) they could guarantee a hugely improved service.
i'm surprised vercetti hasn't been on defending the "best" version of GTA4 yet. i've noticed the odd pause in the 360 version but no crashes yet. and i haven't had a problem getting online either and thats after 5 solid hours of playing. really risking the RROD with this one.
i'm surprised vercetti hasn't been on defending the "best" version of GTA4 yet. i've noticed the odd pause in the 360 version but no crashes yet. and i haven't had a problem getting online either and thats after 5 solid hours of playing. really risking the RROD with this one.
... and just to make the point. Yes - its the same bug on the 360.
The severity was higher on PS3 because 360 gamers had been given more server capacity and could better balance the load. As that was the case the 360 version wouldn't suffer from timeout freezes as much.
Rock* still needs to produce a patch for the 360.
im not trying to start a flame war but i've played my GTA on my 360 for many hours on & offline & it has never frozen?. is this problem more wide spread with the PS3 because of the lack of servers then? & not the game?
Not really a lack of servers, as it also depends on how those servers are load balanced. Most PS3 owners have also never had the game 'freeze', but without the patch, without more servers and with more people buying the game - sooner or later everyone would experience it.
I think its clear for now that the Gamespy server capacity is enough to host the current PS3 crowd. Rock* may need to increase server capacity with Gamespy and XBL going forwards, it depends on sales.
There's nothing wrong with Gamespy's service - or the number of servers deployed (it is currently enough - just not as much as deployed for XBL). Its the bug in the game that caused the issue. Anyway... All fixed now.
Rock* will probably need to fix the 360 version though, it depends on whether people continue to buy the 360 version and how XBL server capacity is increased.
I don't think anyone would be happy plugging the XBL / 360 / GTA 4 dam with a cork, but while the number of reports remains low, Rock* may not feel a need to patch the problem specifically.
i'm surprised vercetti hasn't been on defending the "best" version of GTA4 yet. i've noticed the odd pause in the 360 version but no crashes yet. and i haven't had a problem getting online either and thats after 5 solid hours of playing. really risking the RROD with this one.
Vercetti got banned...
come on now, we all know theres nothing on earth that can stop vercetti's abusive outbursts. mind you, schools not out till 3.30pm.
i'm surprised vercetti hasn't been on defending the "best" version of GTA4 yet. i've noticed the odd pause in the 360 version but no crashes yet. and i haven't had a problem getting online either and thats after 5 solid hours of playing. really risking the RROD with this one.
Vercetti got banned...
Were the posts removed - do you have a ref? Wouldn't mind going to have a read (and I expect - a bit of a chuckle)...
It was nice to see them fix the bug and release a patch so quickly and to say sorry, nice touch,companies can learn alot from rock* and im looking at you konami.(saying it was our fault for not having a hdtv)*nods head and walks away*
this all seems fine and dandy but today (since hearing the news and wondering what the patch was meant for when my PS3 prompted me to download it) i loaded up GTA IV like every day but for the first time since owning it i decided to go online, however everytime i load ANY game type it gets as far as the lobby where you click X to confirm your ready and then always ALWAYS comes up with the meassage 'one or more players has lost connection, starting back up on single player' its done this every single time i dont get it, im running a 6.5mb connection, NAT type 2 and no other computers on when i was trying to connect but no joy....can someone please help me!!!
Its good that these little probs can be fixed like this. I only had 2 freezing moments as it was, but good to know its been sorted. However, my multiplayer stats still won't save, this is really bugging me, cause not only does my star ranking reset everytime i turn my machine off (very annoying) but also clears all my lap times from the leaderboards and such like. R* please fix this soon!
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lol
