GTA 4 Loading problem

[lorrebreaker]

Might be of help to someone so thought i'd post my experience.

Got GTA 4 for the ps3 and it was taking ages to install (in fact i left it on for a good 60 minutes while watching the united match).
Tried 2 or 3 times and it would hang at the "starting new game" screen.Was considering sending the game back as i tested other games (cod4,Drake.rainbow 6) and they were all working fine.

Did a bit of digging (google) and noticed a post about network connections, so disabled my internet connection and the game now runs fine Will need to try it with my network connection running again as multi player is a major attraction point of the game.

Just thought i'd pass it on.

[Jaffa]

Nice one Lee. My lad has freezing issues on his original 360 disc aswell but its during gameplay. I looked at Rockstar site and found they do have reports of this in both ps3 and 360.

Earlier today we broke the news that some Grand Theft Auto IV gamers were having problems with the game on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
For them, the game was freezing up during the introductory cut-scene, something that neither I nor Mike experienced during our time with the game on both systems. To be clear, we have no idea how widespread the problem is, but it's certainly on Rockstar's radar and making the rounds both in our tips line and on forums.
Rockstar declined to comment on the issue officially, so I went to the phone and called up Rockstar Support to see what they had to say about the problem.
A very friendly, and obviously unhappy, fellow answered the phone who, after thanking me for not yelling at him and apologizing profusely for the problem, spilled quite a bit of beans on the issue:

The man told me that the problem is apparently only effecting the 60 GB version of the Playstation 3, but that it didn't matter than my particular console was a launch console (Yes, I told a little white lie and said my copy was locking up.) He said the problem is not across the board for the 60GB PS3s but rather only impacts some, so their tech folks are working around the clock to try and figure out what is causing the issue.
He did ask me to make sure that my harddrive wasn't full and that I had the latest firmware update, but confessed that that really isn't what's causing most of the problem. He also said that the Xbox 360 is having the "exact same problem," which has further stumped their tech folks.
I asked him if wiping the harddrive and reinstalling the PS3 version would help, as seen on the PS forums, he said I could try but that he hadn't heard of it helping a single person.
He ended the call by saying that they really have no idea when a fix will be coming because they can't figure out what is exactly causing the problem and then once more apologized.
"I feel terrible about this."
If only more support folks were as empathetic and genuinely concerned about the problems their customers are going through.

Source

[lorrebreaker]

Confirmed m8, Johnnycool as had freezing issues on both his copies (360 & PS3).

Just enabled network on the ps3 and again the game refuses to load, so for now its single player only for me.

[Jaffa]

What pisses me off is that my lad took his back to Game and told them it was randomly freezing and they tried it for 2 mins and said it was o.k.....helllllllooooooooo, it was randomly feezing you asswipes, not just after 2 mins play. Maybe if enough people complain to Rockstar they will get off their arse and issue some sort of official statement so these games can be replaced.

[lorrebreaker]

I certainly hope they do because as of today i don't know of anyone (friends or relatives) that isn't having problems.

[johnnycool]

Confirmed m8, Johnnycool as had freezing issues on both his copies (360 & PS3).

Just enabled network on the ps3 and again the game refuses to load, so for now its single player only for me.

Your 100% spot on m8 my ps3 refuses to play the game for any more than 5mins or so at a time them i freezes and i have to reboot the machine.

I spoke to Rockstar customer Services who said they where trying to find out what the problem was, but that was it for now (tossers).

My sons xbox 360 also froze a few times, this could be a coincidence but one of the times it froze when he rebooted it he got the 3 red lights of death . Lucky enough it was still under warranty and i took it back to HMV who replaced it straight away with a brand new machine.

Looks like i'll be on the phone to Rockstar again, surely they can't get away with palming us of like they have been doing.

If i've anymore updates i'll post back here.

[Jaffa]

Cheers JC, I emailed Rockstar but they never even responded...some service from the best selling game ever.

Going to get my son to try it with auto save off....as lorrebreaker suggested and see if its any better. If not its back to Game to see what the hell they are going to do about it, maybe they can get Rockstar off their jacksy.