GTA IV PS3 patch due today

By Tom Bramwell Published 7 May, 2008

Fixing multiplayer and "hopefully" crashes.

Rockstar and Sony plans to patch the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV today to improve the multiplayer experience.

Speaking to Eurogamer, a Sony source explained that the patch would help by "reducing the loads on the servers at GameSpy and hopefully the completely random hangs that some users have seen".

PS3 owners who bought GTA IV last week have had to endure problems connecting to the multiplayer service almost from day one.

What's more, some reported random crashes, for which Rockstar suggested that erasing game data and reinstalling as a possible solution.

This week, UK chart monitor Chart-Track reported that 926,000 copies of GTA IV were sold during its first week on sale here - with 413,000 of going to PS3 owners.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • el_pollo_diablo #1 4 years ago

    The words "completely random hangs" suggest that they've not identified the cause.

  • Pedrolot #2 4 years ago

    But if they have not identified the cause, how can they hope to repair the issue?

  • Dizzy #3 4 years ago

    "reducing the load"

    That means they took some stuff out. Stats?

  • keyboardmonkey #4 4 years ago

    Hard Drive installs ftw!

  • steoc4 #5 4 years ago

    Haven't the hangs been identified as rockstar social club stuff? I'm sure I read that somewhere but could have been rumour.

    I was getting them at one point, I disconnected from PSN, and it was all good. I then reconnected and never had the issue again.

    Not a single problem with multiplayer either once I opened the relevant ports on my router (which was info I had to get from an internet forum so I can see why a lot of people would still be having problems)

  • reality_cheque #6 4 years ago

    Played a little MP last night with my friend to test our connection settings out, and I think the fact that I left dinner cooking for 20 minutes longer than I should and had the missus shouting at me speaks volumes about how much fun I was having.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 11:01

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #7 4 years ago

    @Dizzy:

    Not necessarily. Chances are they've optimised the code and are therefore not running unnecessary code which may have been running previously.

    Or, they could be packing the data into larger packets to send to GameSpy rather than sending constant streams of smaller packets.

    Obviously I'm just speculating but both of those are alternatives to chopping stuff out ;)

  • Fodder #8 4 years ago

    What about the problem where the game won't load unless you're signed out of PSN? Will it fix that too?

  • dragz #9 4 years ago

    How is this patch being delivered? I hope Sony/whoever are aware that a number of users can't even load the game if we are connected to the internet in any way.

  • Beano #10 4 years ago

    Maybe I've just been very lucky, but haven't had any lockup and have played GTA4 on PS3 for 40+ hours while connected to PSN :)

    Multiplayer have also been up for the last 3-4 days for me.

    But RockStar Social Club is not updated with stats (the site still claims I haven't finisted the story) ... maybe that's what they are talking about?
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 11:07

  • X201 #11 4 years ago

    @dragz
    The standard update routine works at game boot level, long before any code or save data has been loaded.

  • JHuxley #12 4 years ago

    Maybe I've just been very lucky, but haven't had any lockup and have played GTA4 on PS3 for 40+ hours while connected to PSN :)

    Multiplayer have also been up for the last 3-4 days for me.


    Likewise, Beano.

    Well, at least Rockstar have been relatively quick to issue a patch for those effected. A game of this size & scope you'd expect a few issues here and there...it's how quickly they're dealt with that matters.

  • hobo57 #13 4 years ago

    think i'll ignore installing this patch until its been out a week or so - as I've had no hangs or crashes during single player.

  • yegon #14 4 years ago

    No problems here and I've been really hammering the single player. US launch PS3 with UK GTA.

  • TagemandBagem #15 4 years ago

    I haven't had the freeze issue since launch day. I just hope they fixed MP so when you disconnect you aren't thrown back into single player. That, for me, is it's biggest error.

  • Psychotext #16 4 years ago

    @swam: £50 now? Keeps going up.

  • zedzee #17 4 years ago

    @ reality_cheque:

    What did you cook?

  • chrisjm #18 4 years ago

    £50, you was robbed.
    £30 easy, £25 if your lucky.

    everyone knows free broadband isnt as good as good paid for broadband. online gaming isnt any different.

  • Dizzy #19 4 years ago

    Sometimes I wanne un-ignore swam :)

    Must resist!

  • JHuxley #20 4 years ago

    @chrisjm

    Mmm? Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of PC gamers playing Team Fortress 2. For free.

  • jlaakso #21 4 years ago

    The "game won't boot with an internet connection on" thing is the kind of crap I really don't want to deal with on a console. I spent several hours looking for a solution on launch day.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #22 4 years ago

    @swam:

    Jesus Christ. Can't we go a single fucking thread without some fanboy flame baiting?
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 11:54

  • kopykatt #23 4 years ago

    Mmmm...must use my amazing brain powers to deciphere this problem...Rockstar not checking everything thouroughly...trying to get game out to shelves...stop ea takeover...too may users on first few days.
    Seriously though, how often is this happening with new games now? Online was apparantly invented for patches.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 11:55

  • Artemus #24 4 years ago

    Only way I can play online at the mo is to host the games. Anything else and I get disconnected shortly after joining.

  • Schiraman #25 4 years ago

    I suffered badly from the freezing bug a few days ago - there was no apparent reason for its onset, it just started locking up every few minutes no matter what was happening on-screen. Deleting and reinstalling the install data seemed like the natural solution TBH, and since then things have been fine (touch wood).

  • Widge #26 4 years ago

    i just premptively disabled net connection, no problems at all for me

  • yupyup #27 4 years ago

    This is lolling.

  • Schiraman #28 4 years ago

    @Widge

    I'm not convinced the freezing has anything to do with net connections, I think you've just been lucky - I've not played any multiplayer at all, and I suffered from the freezing bug. The fact that uninstalling and reinstalling the game fixes the problem suggests to me that it's something to do with the way the install data is used.

  • Widge #29 4 years ago

    I dunno, mine wouldn't load once... after disconnecting, loaded fine and absolutely no issues inbetween... so have just done that from now on. Been playing MGO for online kicks in the meantime.

  • betahoven #30 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • chudders #31 4 years ago

    Heh. It's obviously something to do with the PS3s vastly inferior online service and the difficulty developers have with coding for the machine.

  • Ste105 #32 4 years ago

    yeah i had to delete my saves and install data for the game on PS3 , after it crashed trying to connect to a multiplayer game.

    I'll wait for the patch before i try again

  • Ste105 #33 4 years ago

    How do you update a game on the PS3?.....sorry i just got one on the for this game

  • Beano #34 4 years ago

    Usually you just start the game and it prompts you to download a update. Some games do have in-game patch download when you go online.

  • X201 #35 4 years ago

    @ste
    Just start the game, PS3 detects that there is a patch available and stops loading the game and ask you to download it

  • Ste105 #36 4 years ago

    nice one X201 / Beano .... thanks
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 13:46

  • symmetry #37 4 years ago

    I'm not having any problems with the game at all, and I'm always connected.

    But then I did buy it for 360 :)

    /runs

  • miiiguel #38 4 years ago

    There's another thing regarding "free lunch" that annoys me. Take this example, in my work we have the possibility of having an almost free meal, as the board gives some money to the catering company, but the food actually sucks. We complain, and for an answer we get "oh, ok..., it's not that good, we admit, but it's very cheap, so you shouldn't complain!". What the heck! I want it to be good, and if that means that I haev to pay more so I can "complain/have a proper meal", please do charge me!
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 13:08

  • el_pollo_diablo #39 4 years ago

    Of course, a million people all trying to download the same patch at the same time will cause a totally new problem, but I'll keep schtum about that for the time being...

  • Beano #40 4 years ago

    "There's another thing regarding "free lunch" that annoys me. "

    But in this case, the free lunch is just as good as the expensive lunch.

    Only downside, the free lunch arrived a few days late for some guests.

  • sonmi451 #41 4 years ago

    never had a problem with FREZZING

  • JediMasterMalik #42 4 years ago

    Thank god

  • kopykatt #43 4 years ago

    Oh my god, do fanboys live in goldfish bowls or what. GTA 4 has caused plenty of problems on the 360 as well, including everything from freezing the console to an increased risk of the red ring of death. Yes I own both consoles,I just dont understand fanboyism.

  • BadBoyBonner #44 4 years ago

    Never mind - which system has such and such little glitch - can't they patch BOTH the Multiplayer interfaces - even when it is working 100% it really is quite poor - and sort out the ability to join your mates on-line - which has been a feature since day one in any game - and stop dropping back into single player - so annoying - actually made me go back and play COD 4 for a bit.
    Edited by 2 at 07/05/08 @ 15:11

  • JDub #45 4 years ago

    /ignores mem

  • ElNino9 #46 4 years ago

    fanboislol

  • Psychotext #47 4 years ago

    @kopykatt: Playing the thing increases the chance of RRoD... you don't need GTA for that.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/08 @ 15:58

  • Widge #48 4 years ago

    THIS IS A COMMENT WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN CAPS

  • Cyclone #49 4 years ago

    It'd be nice to see a patch that gives the option of free aim with the classic controls in addition to auto aim. I know you can turn off auto aim, or aim will firing but it's not quite the same. They could map it to L1; there's no real need to have two buttons that perform the exact same function.

  • gizmo #50 4 years ago

    ps3lol

  • Psiloc #51 4 years ago

    The game interrupted me in the middle of a single player mission and said I had to install the patch with no option to do it later. Completely lost my place.

  • Widge #52 4 years ago

    patch in, tried out multiplayer... no problems

  • WinterSnowblind #53 4 years ago

    I actually had my 360 version freeze on me twice. However, both times were when my computer was restarted and I was disconnected from Xbox Live, it didn't seem to like that very much.

    Any word on when they're going to fix the social club though? So far it appears to be a complete waste of time. It doesn't track very much, you can't compare stats and at the moment it doesn't even work.

  • Grayvern #54 4 years ago

    Why does it seem as if the PS3 version has a lot more aliasing after the patch, maybe im just in a more critical mood.
    Edited by 1 at 11/05/08 @ 19:33