Halo 3: ODST disc-read errors reported

By Tom Bramwell Published 25 September, 2009

Bungie looking into it.

A number of users on the Bungie forums are reporting disc-read errors with their spangly new copies of Halo 3: ODST.

Bungie is looking into it (thanks Joystiq) and advising people experiencing problems to send private forum messages to a specific address with details.

Players are also advised to try removing the hard disk and playing through the game sections that are failing to see if that makes a difference, and to dig out Halo 3 and play a few campaign missions in that to see if the issue is isolated to ODST.

Any of you lot having trouble?

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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 (57) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Haloboy #1 2 years ago

    No trouble here. I didn't buy it.

  • Negotiator #2 2 years ago

    Not me, great game though.

  • penhalion #3 2 years ago

    So they advise people to remove their hard disk. Sorry but, if I get read errors and I don't see anyone mentioning an imminent patch, the disk goes back to the shop and I change the game for something that works!

  • muscleblade #4 2 years ago

    I tried to play through the whole game last night as i have problems with getting to one of the last missions. The game just start me over and over with the uplift reserve misson even when i play throuh the whole thing in one session. Weird and not very fun.

    edit: This is not really a disc read problem but a bug that keeps me from getting further on in the campaign. I did loose Live connection when playing the game solo ( my gf accidently turned off the router) but when i logged online again the game restarted me at a much earlier point in the campaign.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 10:34

  • JonFE #5 2 years ago

    I just collected my copy from the post office and I can tell you I'm not amused by this :-|

  • doragor #6 2 years ago

    No problems. Loving it. Most enjoyable campaign since Halo: CE for me.

  • dupplawt #7 2 years ago

    No disk read errors, but did experience some lag when playing co-operatively. Could have just been our connections though.

  • miiiguel #8 2 years ago

    @Anthony_Daniels: you shouldn't get it then. Oh wait... never mind. Is for the lulz.

    Lulz.

  • Hobo #9 2 years ago

    Do disc-read errors not just happen with EVERY game, due to it being a hardware fault more than the software? Just seems like it's blown out of proportion every time a Halo or a Gears etc comes along?

    It's not like it makes good news everytime a DOA: Extreme 2 goes faulty though i guess!

    My copy's working fine anyway.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 10:03

  • Shadders #10 2 years ago

    It's a real shame people are having trouble as this is probably the best game to come out this year.

  • jim1975 #11 2 years ago

    you sell 2 million of something a small percentage is bound to be faulty.

  • miiiguel #12 2 years ago

    @Anthony_Daniels: Hey chill buddy, it's video games, no need to be unpolite. I think.

    Halo sucks, Halo 1.5, and... stuff. Are we cool now?
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 10:15

  • patchbox360 #13 2 years ago

    disc-reads ... lag fest

  • jim1975 #14 2 years ago

    @ anthony_daniels

    are you Paul Daniels son. has he ever taught you how to do a disappearing trick. we might like that, not alot. ho ho

  • Shadders #15 2 years ago

    @jim_1975

    You do know that Anthony Daniels is a celebrated actor, right?

    He was C3P0 ffs!

  • jim1975 #16 2 years ago

    @shadders

    Paul is more famous though. he has a rolls royce with MAGIC as his private plate.

  • Kerome #17 2 years ago

    Works fine for me... quite enjoying it actually, it's a decent game.

  • afhcool #18 2 years ago

    I agree with Dorager, the best Halo game since CE

  • nikobe #19 2 years ago

    They don't say if its DVD disc of Hard drive read errors, the whole taking the hard-drive out to test it would suggest they want to isolate the errors down to one of them. If its the disc and intermittent surely installing the game (only 3.5Gb) would remove the problem.

  • Widge #20 2 years ago

    Well this just takes the biscuit... even the 360 can do PS2 emulation now.

  • TopKatt #21 2 years ago

    Paul Daniels on Halo 3: ODST

    "You'll like it. Not a lot, but you'll like it."

    I'll get my coat.

  • RoninStorm #22 2 years ago

    Campaign complete. No problems here.

  • DrDamn #23 2 years ago

    @Farticus
    I thought the intro text looking like it was skipping was actually as designed - kind of a special effect.

  • Skooch #24 2 years ago

    Ditto Dr Damn - thought it was intentional O_o

  • BadBoyBonner #25 2 years ago

    Musclebalde

    Just a thought - have you tried installing it to the HD and trying that level from there? My BurnOutP started to act up with disc errors but would install fine and run fine from HD (same with fallout 3 which would stop playing the sound files for conversations).

    Only weird problem I have experienced with ODST was with completing the game and getting no points for it. Then it stated that we had managed to miss one of the missions out (no gamer points) even though we obviously must have had as we did a complete run through in one go?

    Problem seemed to stem from one of the party disconnecting and it started us at the last check point. Had to go back and complete that mission and then it released the 330 gamer points.

  • davisorle #26 2 years ago

    Love the game, specially co-op and firefight. Mine, nor any of my friends' copies have issues so I dont know whats up with this disc-read errors that are reported. Id go nuts if I got one myself tho. Anyhow. Going out now. I'll play some more when im back home and let you know if get an error or ill be busy playing o.O. p.s. Let the tard be commenting. All they wait ever since they paid 499+ for their console is momments like this to trash yours/ours. No biggy :p

  • SlackMaster #27 2 years ago

    TBH I think the disc drives they put into some batches of 360's are quite poor. My discs are spotless and I install most things to the HDD but I still get the occasional read error just as the game starts when it check's there is a disc in the drive.

    Had the occasional 'you need to put this disc into a 360' error as well when the console thinks you've put in a movie DVD.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 11:56

  • Widge #28 2 years ago

    The tard be commenting @ post #34

  • TopKatt #29 2 years ago

    @Widge

    You saw the tard be commenting and you seized your momment didn't you? No biggy.
    Edited by 2 at 25/09/09 @ 12:08

  • muscleblade #30 2 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner

    I installed the game to the HD as soon as i got it.
    It seems like the game has a very sensitive savesystem. When i lost Live connection during my playthrough i lost progress when i logged on to live. Strange but it seems im not the only one having problems with the save system. I got the achievements for completing the game on Legendary but i didnt get other achievements i should have because i played both in coop and alone wich mess up the progress too. I need to start over playing the whole game offline inn one session and then i might get achievemnets like super sleuth and good samaritan. Its not exactly drop in/drop out coop. Thats for sure. The game is fantastic so i wish Bungie would make a better save/progress system.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 12:27

  • muscleblade #31 2 years ago

    The lack of custom playlists for Firefight is strange btw. Come on Bungie!

  • fiery_jackass #32 2 years ago

    let's get back to the main point of the thread:

    I'm backing Anthony Daniels.
    Usage of 2 years out-of-date 4chan vernacular deserves all the rudeness that a campy-voiced golden robot can muster.

  • makeamazing #33 2 years ago

    Will 2 million disks being pressed I am sure there would be a small percentage of disks that would have a problem, also theres the CDROM of the Xbox itself, if that is faulty on the users machine... this is why they are recommending trying other disks...its all pretty much common sense.

    You do know that Anthony Daniels is a celebrated actor, right?

    AD is a muppet, he stars in a couple of films in a suit and things hes an amazing actor. In programs I have seen he is extremely stuck up (the Justin Lee Collins show about Star Wars was one). If there was one actor who has milked a role to death it is this guy... anyway..sorry back on topic. :)

  • mega7ech #34 2 years ago

    " Paul Daniels on Halo 3: ODST

    "You'll like it. Not a lot, but you'll like it." "

    The one thing I could never understand was why Paul Daniels created his catchphrase based on the idea that you would'nt really like his trick all that much.

  • BillyBrush #35 2 years ago

    because he knew he was shit

    ..his greatest trick was pulling Debbie MGee

  • TruWari3r #36 2 years ago

    a) for some reason there are no quicksaves, passing past checkpoints means it'll let you respawn there if you die but will not save the progress you've made in the game. Bit odd, so yu have to use the "save and quit" option instead of turning off the 360 altogether or going to the dash etc etc.

    b) the game is installed to my hdd, I haven't had any read failures but twice the screen was blank/black for awhile after loading a new level before finally actually starting up. Like longer then it should take.

  • Dr.Frappers #37 2 years ago

    I for one am quite happy to have the Firefight mode as 'Friends only'. Seeing how many quitters, whiners and racist chavscum (or American kids with Beavis & Butthead voices over headset) play matchmaking regularly, i wouldn't want to fire up a serious game of Firefight with anyone but peeps on my list.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 13:46

  • colostomyexplosion #38 2 years ago

    Is it just me or do disc-read errors seem to be common in games which have been out for two weeks or less? I remember it well with Gears 2, Halo 3, etc. All run fine now, despite my discs being more worn...

  • GaidenZero #39 2 years ago

    @donnie

    I have a few friends with the game and will probably get some 4 player action at some point, but I've played Friefight solo and it's a suprising amount of fun - don't get me wrong, it's better with friends but it's alright solo :)

    @musclebade

    Yeah the save system has always been a touch dodgy - it was a similar story with Halo 3 I remember - I went through that campaign with my missus and she was gutted when the achievement failed to materialise at the end. Couldn't see a reason why not.

    And then last night with ODST I hit "resume solo game" and it put me at a far earlier checkpoint - I had started a particular mission, made sure I saw the "checkpoint reached" message and closed down my console - It seems this will not have saved it, you have to actually select "save and quit" - as TruWari3r mentioned

    Great game though :)

  • Obit #40 2 years ago

    Yeah, the save system is horrible. Played through the first 3 missions straight, then I quit, assuming the auto save would ...auto save. But no, had to start at the beginning :/

  • GaidenZero #41 2 years ago

    @obit - you could have selected to start at the beginning of the last mission unlocked could you not?

  • muscleblade #42 2 years ago

    Thanks alot people and TruWari3r. Now i know what to do. I dont think you can play offline for a bit and then log on to live either. Then you will loose progress too. I guess i run through the campaign offline to be sure. Thank god the game isnt longer ;-).

  • muscleblade #43 2 years ago

    @GaidenZero

    You actually cant as you loose the hub progress and needs to find the beacons for every misson again and complete them too.

    Stupid save system. It should have been a warning for this. Play online with friends - loose progress unless your the host. Replay a level - loose progress. Quit after a checkpoint - loose progress unless you save manually. Play offline and then log on to live in the middle of campaign - loose progress. Messed up system no doubt.

    Great game but this made me go crazy a couple of times. Dont do this to me again. Please Bungie?

  • GaidenZero #44 2 years ago

    Crap - I wondered why last night a becon had appeared in the reserve again, even though I had done that mission.

  • MeBrains #45 2 years ago

    muscle: that does sound awfully strange - I would go crazy for a game to behave like that. yet apparently, the game itself is that good that you all seem to accept it... it must be something special indeed...

  • GaidenZero #46 2 years ago

    @MeBrains - yeah it is that good and to be honest I've personally never had an issue with replaying any of the Halo games. It wont be much of a chore to start over :)

  • bushwod #47 2 years ago

    I feel like the village idiot for having to ask this but what's Halo: CE?

  • PenguinJim #48 2 years ago

    Halo: CE is Halo: Combat Evolved, also known as Halo or Halo 1. Seeing Halo: CE makes me scratch my head too, sometimes, before I remember :) I'd prefer people just say Halo 1!

  • bushwod #49 2 years ago

    Thanks penguinJim, makes sense now. I always though combat evolved was just a lame marketing line.

  • BritishBlue1 #50 2 years ago

    Donnie: "Agree totally, i only have one friend on live (hes not got it)...(except im a loner)"

    Awwww :C

    /hug
    Edited by 1 at 26/09/09 @ 13:11

  • IIIvirusIII #51 2 years ago

    worst game ive bought this year. total let down

  • Bazfrag #52 2 years ago

    Why? Some reasoning to back up your statement would be nice!

  • metallicorphan #53 2 years ago

    @JSTAR

    i haven't got Halo ODST but that error message you mentioned
    'To acess the features on this DVD please insert into an xbox 360 console.' ..i got a few weeks ago when i put GTA4 into my console....it was a white screen..scared the shit outta me actually i was expecting RRoD(its just come back a month or two ago),but like you i just reset my 360 and it was fine,but it was still odd

    hopefully it doesn't mean the disc lens is on its way out or something..although never had any trouble since

  • Sunyavadin #54 2 years ago

    Been playing it since tuesday - no errors at all.

  • MrSpew #55 2 years ago

    I had a disc read error and thought my naughty 360 had a dying drive! Glad I saw this.

  • muscleblade #56 2 years ago

    @donnie080208

    You know you can turn that off. LOL.

  • jcf1ynn #57 2 years ago

    Halo ODST DRE - got this message returned the game same message again. I disconnected the hard drive and the game worked. Good fix if you ca't download ODST to your hard drive due to the DRE