Super strange behavior of the PS3 game Railfan (aka Chicago Transit Authority) here... Scenario: a PAL PS3 w/ 12GB internal memory storage (Super Slim) Problem: Game starts with intro, menu selection is possible (new game/load game). However, when I select to drive the train, view the station info, or view collectibles, the game freezes! Depending on the option I chose, I'm either stuck with the "now loading" screen or with a black screen and continuous music of the main menu. Only twice I managed to proceed to either the game or the other menus but usually the above mentioned problem prevails. Naturally, I've restored the PS3 system and even tried a blank hard disc with a newly setup system - no luck. Needless to say, all other games work fine. The disc has a few minor scuff marks... almost not noticeable. I've really seen (and played) far worse discs. Since I have no clue about PS3 blu ray game disc longevity or the "usual hassles" associated with disc playback, your help is greatly appreciated.
@Fuel: Thanks mate... unfortunately no updates (and the game cannot be installed to the hard disc unfortunately). @Jackhead: Yeah, starting to think the same... I thought bd are quite durable, bought a lot of second-hand movies in worse shape. I guess PS3 games are a different story then.
My first suggestion is to try running the game on another PS3 to see if the problem continues. Blu-rays are very resistant to scratches, due to it's protective coating. If the problem persists on another console,. maybe the small scratches affected a important area of the disc. Also, does this game have any sort of online component / check? If yes, you should check if there's blocked ports on your router.
You could also try cleaning the laser... it can't hurt and it's super easy on those Super Slims unlike the fats and other Slims where the console has to be taken apart to do so. I use cotton swab + alcohol.
Thanks to everyone for the advice! I probably wouldn't mind if that had happened to any run-of-the-mill game but since the Railfan series, especially the Japanese version, is getting hard to find and expensive, your help is greatly appreciated! While troubleshooting I can confirm the system is up to date and I doubt the laser has any issues since the unit is fresh out of the box (mainly got it for the Railfan series - any Tetsuo here?) and it works flawlessly with other games including lengthy installs (10-20 mins.). Regarding disc based gaming, I fortunately never had disc reading issues beyond a faulty Dreamcast laser unit. Even my old MegaCD is still working with all those ¥100 second-hand games, hence my initial confusion... Solution: After rinsing the bd disc with warm water and carefully drying it with a towel I indeed have discovered two long surface scratches but also got the disc to run past the menus - for now. Well, the laser unit is zigzagging like crazy (spin-read-stop-spin...) while loading the train simulator (actual play mode) and the "now loading" screen still freezes for the blink of an eye. But at least it seem to work for now although, as Johnny suggested, some area of the disc "responsible" for loading stuff beyond the intro movie and main menu, is probably affected.
hi pinepot , when a laser mech is " zigzagging like crazy (spin-read-stop-spin...) " it means its having trouble reading the media. The mech will try to read the disc then retry a number of times , sometimes the laser mech is at fault or the disc it sounds in this case its the disc. i remember when i used to use a rubbish burner to burn Dreamcast games the mech was noisy trying to read the disc and long load times. But i learned the art of burning and the Dreamcast is like tight zip zip zips and game loaded.
You should try bringing the disc to a shop where they professionally (not with one of those stupid plastic restore machine) restore discs... if the damage is only on the outer surface it should solve the problem.
@s8n: Yeah, lots of troubleshooting can be found regarding the DC and discs. I was able to fix mine back then since it wasn't the laser unit. @Ichisuke: Thanks for the advice. Over here in my area of PAL-land, shops like that never existed and dedicated (second-hand) video game shops cease to exist.
What about dvd-bluray rental shops? They should have professional equipment to restore the dvd/bluray(if you have those where you live)
@Ichisuke: Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I haven't seen rental shops in like a decade. And even back then, staff didn't know anything about tech/hardware not to mention *professional* disc repair, which I never saw advertised anywhere (shops, magazines...). Well, at the moment that game disc is surprisingly (still) working so I won't have to put my faith in one of the few online sites advertising some sort of "disc repair" (yet). As some have added here and in other threads, there's a chance I just end up with a guy applying some crappy b2c hardware method to the disc...
I've had a brand new Wii U game with the same problem, as in no scratches but kept getting disc read error messages and couldn't play the game
I once had a 1st genPS3 console (CECHE01, with PS2 backwards compatibility) which would ALWAYS freeze with the game Heavenly Sword at the screen you are supposed to use the six axis to control a cannon ball. It was the console, not the disc. I guess it was some sort of odd RAM issue in the console. I tried several different copies of Heavenly Sword and all of them did exactly the same thing.
