PS3 owners reporting Heavy Rain issues

By Tom Bramwell Published 26 February, 2010

Plus: SCEE apologies for SE code problem.

Update: Sony Europe has told Eurogamer: "We are aware of the reported issue and are investigating the situation." More when we hear more.

Original story: Heavy Rain is having a few teething issues on launch day by the looks of it, with Sony Europe apologising for a problem with redeemable codes and the US Sony forum awash with reports of freezing, loss of sound and other issues.

According to a 28-page thread on the official forum (thanks Kotaku), early buyers are experiencing a number of issues including corrupted auto-saves and stuttering.

Sony community dev manager "Sam_Protagonist" posted saying that the issues were "being looked into", and asked anybody experiencing problems to detail their PS3 setup and provide any other pertinent information to help the developers "establish any common factors".

"One word of advice we've had already is to avoid switching off your PlayStation while the game is in black screen as this may be affecting your save game," Sam_Protagonist wrote.

"There have been a few reports of incidents where game saves have taken longer than would normally be expected - and with a black screen present it may leave the assumption that the game has crashed. In these circumstances we recommend you wait at least five minutes before rebooting - while it's highly unlikely a save will take this long, it's better to be safe than sorry.

"While incidents of problems with the game are very low we're working to ensure that everyone gets the Heavy Rain experience they expect. As soon as there is any further information we'll update further."

Meanwhile, in Europe, product manager Alex Pavey offered apologies on the European PlayStation blog for an issue affecting buyers of the special edition version.

"I'm sorry to say that there has been a last-minute technical delay with the official soundtrack, meaning that if you redeem your voucher code before 4th March, you will be able to download Chronicle 1 and the Dynamic Theme, but not the official soundtrack," Pavey wrote.

"If you redeem your Special Edition voucher after 4th March, you will receive all three pieces of content as normal - and if you can stand to wait a week to start downloading additional content, that will be the easiest approach.

"If you have already redeemed your voucher code and have not received the official soundtrack, please contact your local customer service teams who will be able to help you."

Whoops. Heavy Rain is out today and reviewed elsewhere on the site. Our review code worked perfectly well and didn't crash at all, for the record, so something's clearly up. We've asked Sony for more information as soon as it's available.

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. Follow him on Twitter.

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

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Comments (55) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MORZTAN #1 2 years ago

    Will wait booting this up till NSMBW and Bayonetta is completet, then. Better be a patch ready by then.

    Or better yet, as chargeable DLC. Gotta love DLC.

  • homerramone #2 2 years ago

    Only problem ive had thus far is a 233 MB patch to download :(

    On the plus side I was somewhat pessimistic about this bieng anything more than a huge quicktime based cut scene, but did find myself being sucked in when I played it :)

  • reality_cheque #3 2 years ago

    Queue defensive sony boys and mocking 360 fans in 3... 2... 1...

  • Gaol #4 2 years ago

    Man, I'm looking forward to playing this tonight, it'd better not corrupt a save midgame. Might be an idea to keep multiple saves just in case.

  • OllyJ #5 2 years ago

    I thought Sony had a Requirement that Load screens should have something in motion to tell the player that the game is loading, a black screen surely isn't a good idea for a load screen....

  • OllyJ #6 2 years ago

    Morztan, please tell me when there has ever been a patch you have been charged for...I highly doubt it. And to be honest I think most people DO love DLC, we just don't like shit like Horse Armor, but thankfully DLC these days is normally something to be pleased with.

  • Powerslave #7 2 years ago

    In general, i think DLC is a waste of money. The vast majority of DLC even for great games, are either too short or just too bad to be bothered with (e.g. Assasins Creed, Dragon Age).

    The only notable exception that I can think of is the Fallout 3 DLC.

  • Xieldos #8 2 years ago

    I've had a couple of issues, got stuck in a room with no commands to do anything. Aimlessly walked around for 20mins, reloadedy save and straight away a command popped up that wasn't there before.

    I've also had npc's walking through desks and other people randomly.

  • BrokenRSA #9 2 years ago

    I hope they patch this fast. I got my copy last weekend, and I suffered the savegame not loading problem. After a couple of reboots I completely lost my savegame, and I have to replay a got 5 hours all over again.

  • captain_Carl #10 2 years ago

    Saw on GAF lots of people were having issues..

    I finished it yesterday in one 10-hour marathon and didn't have one single issue.

  • awb83 #11 2 years ago

    I've been put off slightly getting this until something is done, I don't want my PS3 getting buggered up.

  • spliffhead #12 2 years ago

    What local reps, where's my damn soundtrack!

  • Negotiator #13 2 years ago

    Got the game a day early, and downloaded the taxidermist scene, this scene is superb and well worth getting the SE for.

  • MORZTAN #14 2 years ago

    @OllyJ

    I was just joking about paying for a patch, but in regards of DLC I am not a fan of it. Unless its free, or ridicuosly low-priced like Lost in Nightmares, developers can ram it up their patute, or see to that they get every potential bit of DLC in the ACTUAL game.


  • pickles4uk #15 2 years ago

    My game works fine, no problems at all with save games or glitches.

  • Demiath #16 2 years ago

    Another reason to buy this game cheap in a couple of months time. Killer app it ain't...

  • FooAtari #17 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett

    What do you expect? All sites show mostly the same news at the end of the day. And with the different time zones between US here it's not uncommon for the US sites to have the news first.

  • MasterNameless #18 2 years ago

    I have been having the sound drop out in the first two minutes of new scenes, and some horrendously long loading screen, one of them was nearly 5 minutes - the joy of 1x bluray read speeds, yay. \o/

    As the audio sorted itself out fairly quickly, it wasn't a huge issue. I am still absolutely loving it so far, some really exciting, panic inducing action scenes and a truly wonderful atmosphere.

    The issues are a little annoying but are in no way ruining my enjoyment of the game. It most certainly is a 'killer app', for me - even though there is obviously no need correct the blatanly childish troll two posts above me!

    Edit: Damn grammar nazi in me...
    Edited by MasterNameless at 26/02/10 @ 10:50

  • MasterNameless #19 2 years ago

    Oh no FooAtari, if another site posts any gaming news, no matter how big it is, then that's it. No other website is allowed to post that news in any form.

    Is that what you meant Earl?

    :D

  • Bigglesworth #20 2 years ago

    @OllyJ
    There're no requirements for motion, but the screen shouldn't remain blank for very long.

  • patchbox360 #21 2 years ago

    had issues with the demo - if you do any unexpected actions it seems to confuse the code;in the demo i when back to the car without investigating the dead body, then when back to investigate, bent down to open tent and the game cut to a scene of me going back to the car then when straight back to the body, after the investigation it wouldn't let me get back to the car.

  • Darren #22 2 years ago

    Oh dear... glad I cancelled my pre-order now. :?

    It's bad enough when games crash on the Xbox 360 (usually because the disc cache becomes full as clearing it tends to fix the problem) without the same things happening on the PS3 too. The only time my PS3 has froze on me during a game was when my launch model died during a session of Unreal Tournament III but knowing my luck I'd have been one of those having issues with Heavy Rain.

  • Zebula77 #23 2 years ago

    Had one freeze prior to the shopping mall scene, but after that it's been smooth sailing. Oh, and loving the game so far. Very immersive.

  • byron_hinson #24 2 years ago

    Crashed twice for me so far. Never had problems with any other ps3 games

  • des #25 2 years ago

    It seems that Sony can't do anything right this gen except patch,patch,patch...patch and they are not good at that too.
    Ability to patch is good(in principle),but when games are patched on day one you know that something is wrong.
    Edited by des at 26/02/10 @ 11:36

  • potter73 #26 2 years ago

    Got this a day early....managed to cram in a couple of hours before the wife got back. Other than the 250mb patch (which only took a minute or so) no problems at all, unless of course you consider the problem I had making the Origami figure whilst it was installing (so....I have fat fingers, I blame the parents! )

    :-)

  • Murton #27 2 years ago

    Not witnessed any freezing/crashing/audio problems yet but I've only played the first chapter so it could be something that doesn't happen until later in the game. Though disappointing that this could happen in such a high profile title t is good however to see Sony taking the issue seriously unlike say, Bethesda when their Failout 3 was being affected by similar freezing and crashing on a near constant basis and they largely ignored the problem, in fact it's even worse now and they're still ignoring it.

    @Powerslave, Fallout 3 DLC was fail, short, inconsequential and as bugged as the main game, plus three failed launches out of five if I remember correctly. Borderlands is golden child of the DLC era so far, great content at great prices, especially General Knoxx at £5.49 on UK PSN.

  • makeamazing #28 2 years ago

    Loving it so far, played a few more hours last night, before collapsing asleep on the sofa.

    The origami killer is right mean isnt he... the power station level was superb, but hard (and i am playing on easy) I guess when i ramp it up i am going to lose a life there :)

  • apoc_reg #29 2 years ago

    I've not lost anything but i did have to reinstall the game when i switched to the Chronicles DLC then back to the main menu

  • Atropos #30 2 years ago

    My review code didn't have a single glitch in two playthroughs. Strangely though, when I played it on my new 120GB Slim, I got some tearing at times (the kind of stuff Digital Foundry goes apeshit at), but when I watched my girlfriend play through it on my old US-launch 60GB Phat, all the tearing was gone. Maybe Cage and the boys at Quantic are using parts of the Emotion Engine without telling anyone...?

    :-)

  • captain_Carl #31 2 years ago

    MasterNameless

    Those loading times are just a bug...Not a single one of my load times was longer than 10 seconds

  • poopmonster #32 2 years ago

    How the hell did a blank screen get through TRCs?

    Asking for trouble...

  • MasterNameless #33 2 years ago

    @captain_Carl

    That's good to know, a friend has just said that his loading screens were nowhere near that long too. The first one was so long, I actually timed the second one, and was just under 5 mins - the following loading screens took from 30 seconds to 3 minutes afterwards. I'm about 12 chapters in now after 5 hours play.

    Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with a patch then. It's no biggy for me still, I just use that time to roll and smoke. :D

  • MasterNameless #34 2 years ago

    "How the hell did a blank screen get through TRCs?

    Asking for trouble... "

    If it's the black screen I'm thinking of - I've had a few. There is still a 'tip' or something or other in text at the bottom of the screen, and a 'origami' saving icon in the bottom right for most of it too. It did strike me as odd, but I certainly didn;t think it had crashed or anything, as I would have done if was completely black.

    The long loading times I was talking about earlier probably affect this screen too, making it longer than it should, but I was mainly talking about the proper loading screens that have the CGI closeup of the next character you're going to play as.
    Edited by MasterNameless at 26/02/10 @ 14:13

  • Bigglesworth #35 2 years ago

    @Atropos: does one of your machines output to HD and the other to SD?

  • cristoflanga #36 2 years ago

    I read that the 1.01 update was causing problems so I didn't download it and finished the game without a problem.

  • 00.00.01 #37 2 years ago


    If Sam-Protagonist states '...and with a black screen present it may leave the assumption that the game has crashed....' it seems there's no FMV or motion active at all, just a static black screen (BS). We all know the SCE-TRC states that 10-15 seconds is the maximum for the static screen.
    As you said, looks like the game is 'hanging' while saving, but you can't axpect PS3-owners to just sit and wait for minutes to see if a save is being made. My LE version of UC2 does this sometimes when loading the game, it shows me the 'rotating dagger.img' but it keeps rotating for an hour if I don't interfere :)

  • Murton #38 2 years ago

    @Masternameless: did you get a load of trophies while on that loading screen? All of my load times have been pretty quick with the exception of the one for the first Private Detective scene where I got a whole mess of trophies for the prologue in one go, seems like the game might wait for the trophies to be awarded before loading the next chapter, just a theory.

  • wiggy1 #39 2 years ago

    just finished my 1st playthrough, got back screen once

  • davisorle #40 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • butler` #41 2 years ago

    had an entire scene fail to load properly, which basically all looked white/black and didn't texture

    and the sound was like 2-3 seconds out and skipping

    good times

  • MasterNameless #42 2 years ago

    @Murton

    You could be on to something there. I got the trophies at the very end of the loading screens, and as soon as I did, I went straight through to the next scene (I keep calling them scenes, seems more approriate than 'level').

    I think on one loading screen, it took about 30 seconds to load after receiving the trophy. It could very well be the trophies holding it up then, but if so why would it be worse on some people's PS3's and not others? I think it also has something to do with specific builds too.

    I have the 40GB PS3, if anyone else is having problems with the same model...

    Either way, I'm still absolutely loving the game. \o/
    Edited by MasterNameless at 28/02/10 @ 17:34

  • evilboo #43 2 years ago

    sound cuts out and game stutters reading from disc on my 60gb. immersion breaking!

  • Killerbee #44 2 years ago

    Played this a fair bit over the last couple of days and I've had one occasion where the game has actually crashed - the picture froze and I couldn't even access the XMB, and a couple of bits of video stuttering during the opening credits sequence, but that's been it. I figured they were just one of those things...

    Playing on a UK 80GB model.
    Edited by Killerbee at 27/02/10 @ 17:10

  • metallicorphan #45 2 years ago

    yup,i just tried to reload my continue(6-7 hrs in)...nothing but a black screen and needing to reboot,i tried to load the chapter before that,no go...same thing

    i tired deleting the patch,trying it again...redownloading the patch and trying again,still nothing

    i was loving the graphics and story,but not enjoying the gameplay TBH,even though i loved Fahrenheit and this is why i bought Heavy Rain day one...so i think i have had my fill of the game now...disappointing

  • Wyrm #46 2 years ago

    What do you consider to be the difference between Fahrenheits 'gameplay' and Heavy Rains then? I don't see one myself.

    I managed to play through the game without a hitch. However, on replaying some chapters to try alternative paths, the game did freeze up at one point, mid-game, forcing me to turn my PS3 off.

  • metallicorphan #47 2 years ago

    @Wyrm -'What do you consider to be the difference between Fahrenheits 'gameplay' and Heavy Rains then? I don't see one myself.'

    In the things it makes you do in Heavy Rain

    In Fahrenheit it had you doing the same kind of controls but for good reasons,like mopping the toilet floors where the blood was after you killed that guy

    in Heavy Rain,the things it makes you do are a little tedious,like shaking the PS3 controller left and right to brush your teeth,changing a baby's nappy,feeding it and then burping it,looking after your son and feeding him at a certain time,or sending him to bed,setting the table at the beginning...things like that are ..for me anyway,as i say tedious

    i know the game has its fans,and i am glad people are liking it however

  • makeamazing #48 2 years ago

    @metallicorphan, i see that in a different way to be honest. By having the mundane tasks such as feeding or not feeding your son etc, it is putting the power into your hands to make the decision (and try and extract an emotiion) to do or not do something.I tried to be a good person, to feed him, tell him to go to bed. Some of those tasks you dont need to do at all, i found that interesting.

  • Beano #49 2 years ago

    Finished it yesterday - no black screens or crashes here. But experienced slightly stuttering audio a few times and the tearing is a shame. Other than that, it's a good looking game - great atmosphere and story.

    Maybe not GOTY material, but very different to everything else available and I'm glad that some developers actually try to move the limits for drama in a game and not just make another hollow military shooter.

  • funkateer #50 2 years ago

    I've just played through it once and experienced some extreme cases of audio drop-outs at some starts of scenes (some lasting as long as 10 secs or so), severe tearing, texture pop-in, and other general glitchyness. At one point I considered stopping until the issues would be patched.
    It seems to me this game would have benefited a lot from another month of polishing and bugfixing; it's a long time since I've played something that's so rough around the edges.

    Still, I enjoyed the game immensely! Great noir atmosphere, the graphics are at least as good as UC2 (if you look past the glitches), and absolutely the best soundtrack I've heard in years.
    To be honest, I didn't expect Heavy Rain to be this good, nor did I expect the glitches to be as bad.

  • Paulie_P #51 2 years ago

    FUCK - the screen just froze on me (cut-scene not black screen), I waited a while and had no option but to unplug my ps3, now I can't even load the game nor sign into Playstation Network plus all my trophies from the game seem to be wiped.

    Checking the website, its telling me that my PS3 might need to be repaired. Fuck that. Thanks Heavy Rain, I was enjoying it too before this.
    Edited by Paulie_P at 01/03/10 @ 00:20

  • saku_luk #52 2 years ago

    My only issue with HR was when I started a new game it crashed after 3 sec and I had to soft reset ps3. After that I didn't have a single problem with the game.

  • mcbain23 #53 2 years ago

    black_screen++

    I had one just at the end of the Prologue. Sat wondering if there was something I had to do for about 5 mins then rebooted. Save loaded ok and no issues since - /crosses fingers.

  • metallicorphan #54 2 years ago

    'Paulie_P-do you have a Fat PS3?,there have been some errors with it..and it may not be so broke your machine

  • Fatallyflawed #55 2 years ago

    I'm playing on an NTSC Slim, and My Digita sound has completely gone. But the sound through the HDMI is fine. I thought I had accidently changed my setting to begin with but BluRay and other games work fine...go figure