Batman: Arkham City game "freezing"

[Aergan]

Hi,

 

I have a PS3 60GB PAL (Upgraded to 640GB Seagate) that I'm having trouble with one game that I purchased in the sale on Sunday; "Batman: Arkham City" which is the digital version + DLC from the PlayStation store.

 

After a random amount of time the game will freeze but the game music will continue - the PS3 will not respond to input controls but will shutdown normally via the console I/O button. It can freeze 10secs after loading or 30 minutes later but always occurs when triggering a random event in the free play city area e.g. level up XP, TYGER radio updates, new Riddler challenge completed. It does not freeze in the closed areas even if the game is left running for hours.

 

I run at 1080p via HDMI and Digital Optical for 5.1 sound. Believing this to be a potential over-heating issue, I have recently opened and stripped down the console (first time it had ever been opened / warranty sticker was intact), cleaned and re-applied thermal grease (AC-2, similar to AS5 etc). Condition inside console is immaculate despite the age and although the original play-dough paste was very dry, no evidence that it has ever overheated and moderate amounts of dust around the outer shell only.

 

I have no issues at all with other demanding games inc. Batman: Arkham Asylum (digital), Little Big Planet 2 (digital), Uncharted 3 (digital). Little Big Planet Karting (digital), Metal Gear Solid 4 (disc), Metal Gear Rising (disc) & Black Ops (disc).

 

I have tried the following:

• Restart console
• Delete game save and restart game
• Delete all content, re-download all content, fresh save
• Delete all content, Safe mode, restore file system, re-download all content, fresh save
• Delete all content, Safe mode, restore file system, Safe mode, rebuild database, re-download all content, fresh save
• Copy save to USB, delete local save, restore from USB (http://www.theparanoidgamer.com/batman-arkham-city-easy-save-data-corruption-fix/) which worked once to get past Two-Face but now no longer works post Two-Face.
• Loading a 3rd party game save for the same game version much later in the game (Post-Solomon Grundy defeated) but same situation after being in the City area for a random amount of time / event.

 

Anyone have this game working on a PAL 60GB or know how to resolve this issue please?

 

I'm about to try contacting Sony about this but I don't think they're going to be forth-coming.

 

[Aergan]

Battlefield 3 from PSN also having the same issue except it's usually 20-30 secs after getting to the menu screen.

 

Contacted Sony who were not aware of any issue but suspected the unit would need to be replaced.

 

Contacted EA technical support who said to contact Sony and thanks for giving them wads of cash.

 

Performed the following myself:

• Reflowed the board
• Replaced the stock thermal pads with a higher rated version
• Replaced craptastic 15 blade Nidec fan with a 19 blade NMB version (Heck of a lot quieter and not getting cold air thrown out the back anymore)
• Changed the PSU to an APS-227 (which appeared to be a lot of the issues)
• Bent the retention plates slightly
• MX-2'ed the RSX and CBE chips

All appears to be well now. BF3 has locked up once at the menu but not during gameplay - I have been informed that this is normal for a lot of people on the latest patch.

[soniqstylz]

Not of any help, but I have a 320GB Slim, played Arkham City on it via disk and had not one problem.  Have BF3 downloaded (PS+ release), but haven't fired it up yet.

[Aergan]

I've replaced the HDD this morning from a Samsung (Seagate replacement) 640GB 5400RPM with a Seagate 500GB 7200RPM which is certified to run "in demanding environments". Waiting on 140GB+ of downloads now.

[D. S. Veteran]

I've replaced the HDD this morning from a Samsung (Seagate replacement) 640GB 5400RPM with a Seagate 500GB 7200RPM which is certified to run "in demanding environments". Waiting on 140GB+ of downloads now.

 

If you had problems with overheating, replacing it with a 7200rpm drive isn't going to help. And you won't notice the difference since the PS3 is SATA I. The glitches you described don't look like the overheating sort, because that should cause it to lock up regardless of in-game location. Probably some weird Arkham City glitch (maybe some DLC, IDK).

[Aergan]

If you had problems with overheating, replacing it with a 7200rpm drive isn't going to help. And you won't notice the difference since the PS3 is SATA I. The glitches you described don't look like the overheating sort, because that should cause it to lock up regardless of in-game location. Probably some weird Arkham City glitch (maybe some DLC, IDK).

 

It's a faster drive just because that's what I have available but it has a lower operating temperature under load according to it's SMART report / manufacturer's specifications & manufactured Dec 2012 compared to Jan 2010 on the Samsung/Seagate.

 

A 7200RPM drive has faster seek times for data which does make quite a lot of difference on digital games, especially in games that load lower quality textures then stream in higher resolution versions like Arkham series / Unreal Engine. Installing BF3 PSN+ version took 30-35 mins on the last few installs via 5400RPM, but this time it's taken 22mins on the 7200RPM drive. Seems to make quite a big difference if you are reading/writing to the same drive as you would expect it to.

 

Arkham Asylum has DLC issues to do with save corruption from RTM saves but I wasn't experiencing that problem unfortunately.