PS3 RB3 Rock Central Server issues.

[nuttzo31]

Seems that is the only avenue we have left because we certainly haven't gotten any attention here.
I'm done with DLC for the time being until there is a response to the
RCS issues, with an explanation of what was wrong and what was done to fix it and and actual working fix in place, stable for at least 3 months.
Gonna take more than you, rb Girl and myself you need to compel your friends to follow suit, hopefully intropee will join us as well as all of the others that have posted in this thread.

I tried to play Blitz this evening and got disconnected from the RCS servers 3 times before ever even starting a song. I hope this issue starts hitting hard there too on the surface that might sound like a ****ty thing to say but if it gets the situation looked into (and they are 100% related) and brings some relief to the RB3 side then it is a win win.

I haven't seen the issue in blitz but i don't play it that much. I did see a post in the blitz forums about rbc issues which was from last month but that was covering both xbox and ps3 and probably is a different issue.

Here's the quote from this thread http://www.rockband.com/forums/showt...=232197&page=3

If any of those affected with connectivity problems would like to PM me their gamertags/PSN usernames I can have our live ops guys take a look. They see no errors in the logs or anything, so this is a bit of a brain scratcher at the moment...

It's funny how when the xbox is affected it is quickly resolved but if it's a PS3 only problem then it drags on for months with no response. I asked hmxlachesis in the main rock band forum about whether harmonix are doing anything about the rbc issues here http://www.rockband.com/forums/showt...=232474&page=2

I'm not expecting an answer but it does show that the developers read the forums often and must know about the problems but i can only put it down to the fact that the ps3 players don't generate enough money for hmx to bother fixing which is a bit of a slap in the face to those of us who have spent money and expect a little communication.

I will probably play blitz for a while and if any issues arise with it's rbc server then i will post here but apart from that there's no point in me posting anymore about this issue as all that can be said has been said and the only thing left for me to do is no longer purchase DLC.

[intropee]

It's funny how when the xbox is affected it is quickly resolved but if it's a PS3 only problem then it drags on for months with no response. I asked hmxlachesis in the main rock band forum about whether harmonix are doing anything about the rbc issues here http://www.rockband.com/forums/showt...=232474&page=2

It's been technically over a year. And in my thread that was deleted, it brought up about Harmonix catering always to the XBox and screwing the PS3/Wii users.

We are paying customers , but it didn't matter.
It's the same old story.. No updates...
Boycotting not going to work... it'll be your lost, not theirs.
Unless we get all the PS3 users to post that they are going to boycott, this will be pointless.
Just my 2 cents...

Tried to play with friend today, but we kept getting disconnected. We never really even got to finish a full setlist, and it wasn't long. GRRRRRR....so frustrating.

I'm not a gamer...I don't play many online games outside of RB, so I don't know if this is a normal problem with other games, but It seems that hmx would want to at least keep their dlc buying customers happy by fixing this server issue. It's so taking the fun out of the game. I want to be able to play RB with my online friends. This sucks! and has sucked for well over a year...and is getting worse.

It's just RB.. sad but true.. just RB

Now back to the thread:

2 XMB after 2 hours of play, alone
4 tries to connect to RBC server.

S.O.S.

[Diamaniacal]

We are paying customers , but it didn't matter.
It's the same old story.. No updates...
Boycotting not going to work... it'll be your lost, not theirs.
Unless we get all the PS3 users to post that they are going to boycott, this will be pointless.
Just my 2 cents...

It doesn't take all, it just takes enough for them to notice.
As it stands right now purchasing more DLC is not really doing anything but adding to the number of things that can frustrate me. One thing is clear continuing to reward their behavior by purchasing DLC is not doing anything to encourage them to fix the RCS issue.

[intropee]

Look what I found... from a thread by skyttskytt; 03-30-2011

PS3 - Various crashes - XMB Crash - Etc - (Continuing Post-1.03)

The issue has been acknowledged by Harmonix (see here and here). Please provide any relevant details to help narrow down the cause. Posts with the intent to just complain and moan and attack Harmonix or anyone else are not welcome. - skyttskytt

One of the current ideas we're investigating is whether it has to do with being online. Not necessarily playing online with others, but just being connected to the PSN, so please let us know if you've ever experienced a crash that drops you straight to the XMB while NOT connected to the PSN. Thanks.



I'm on the PS3 FYI.

I haven't really kept much of a detail of these as they've happened, but they've occurred at what appears to be random. I've had crashes at various points, where it doesn't freeze the console, but it just hits you with a black screen and then suddenly the game has exited and you're on the XMB.

These have included:

• Online, scrolling through the songs (I've generally been sorting by RB3-only, or everything available)
• Online, idling on song selection screen while others scroll through songs
• Online, between songs in a set
• Online, as the first song in a set is starting to load
• Online, immediately following a vocalist failing
• Not online, scrolling through Quick Play - this one I remember because it just happened - on guitar, songs sorted by RB3-only, was idling on The Con to the point of having the leaderboards pop up in the song tiering window, and scrolled up twice to Cold As Ice and immediately got kicked out of the game

All instances have happened with everyone turning off song recommendations, as that was causing problems on the 360 from what I hear. We experienced a couple crashes with it on, before I brought up the idea of turning it off to see if that would fix things.

They've also happened where not everybody in the band crashes, too. It will generally only be one or two people, and it's not always the leader that is affected.

Last edited by skyttskytt; 03-30-2011 at 12:11 PM.


My post was from 10-18-2011.. so this is evidence that this problem has been going on alot longer and HMX will not do anything about this problem.

[Diamaniacal]

The XMB issue has been happening from day 1.
The first I recall having issues with RCS was in January of 2011.
The first time that there was ever any real relief from the RCS issues was around May 2012 and had no problems with it until Black Tuesday, the day that Blitz was released.

It is interesting to note that in Jan after Xmas which without a doubt would have brought more PS3's into play and new RB3 players with them as well as RB3 games from Christmas that is the first I noticed the RCS issues, at least when they were very bad and would prevent you from connecting for hours on end if at all. Then the moment Blitz hit the shelves it returned with a vengeance.
It really isn't even speculation that this is a network capacity issue on the PS3 side. The >1000 song bug Blitz HAS (which got at best a field dressing) was because of the size of the data file, the RCS are apparently because of capacity issues.

We continue to be left in the dark. The best you get from the support portal is "We are already aware of your issue as we monitor the forums". This doesn't even imply that they are working on it, or intend to work on it, in fact it doesn't even acknowledge that it is a problem. It is a very cleverly crafted response and makes it MY issue?

[nuttzo31]

HMXHenry is back from vacation, we need you here !

[intropee]

HMXHenry is back from vacation, we need you here !

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.... Lmao
Sorry but it's true...

[hmxhenry]

We continue to be left in the dark. The best you get from the support portal is "We are already aware of your issue as we monitor the forums". This doesn't even imply that they are working on it, or intend to work on it, in fact it doesn't even acknowledge that it is a problem. It is a very cleverly crafted response and makes it MY issue?

For the record, you're not being left in the dark, you just don't like the info you've been given.

I've responded in several past threads related to this issue, I've sent you info via DM, we've responded to your support ticket, and I've replied to the account that you started on Twitter. To make sure other posters in this thread are aware, the below is what I sent to you via DM, which is essentially the same post I made in a previously closed thread on the same subject.

Rock Central server connections are something that we're monitoring very closely and we're not seeing widespread connection issues. Again, forum activity, support tickets and play traffic supports this. We'll continue to monitor server performance and optimize as necessary, but there is not enough info to support that this is tied to the XMB issue or that it affects the majority of PS3 users.

I'll continue to check in with our LiveOps teams to monitor server traffic and connection issues, but I want to stress that combining to separate issues like XMB and RCS in one thread makes it increasingly difficult to parse user reports. Additionally, posting lengthy or unnecessarily frequent activity logs only adds to the size of the thread, and spamming the same information on multiple channels (like support, Twitter or Facebook) will only detract from our ability to actually focus our attentions.

If LiveOps needs detailed user logs or requests any additional info, I will be sure to post that request here. But until then, there's not really much we can do.

[Diamaniacal]

I will confirm that HMXHenry has replied to me in every case he stated, I also want to add that what he quoted here was only a VERY brief portion of his replies in the DM's he sent me here.
I can tell by his replies that he would REALLY like to get this fixed, not so he doesn't have to hear users b*tch about it, but because he cares about the product. HMXPope has replied to me as well.

Maybe combining these 2 issues in the same thread was bad as a technical issue they may well be 2 separate things, but to the players who get XMB'd and can't reconnect the 2 are a pretty hefty dose to deal with.

I told both these guys I'm not trying to pick a fight and I'm truly not, but for ~3 weeks there was no update of any kind, and the reply I got from my support ticket no I didn't like the response because the response indicated it was my issue and they were already aware, and did not even hint that they were looking at the servers, only that they were observing this thread.

If any of those affected with connectivity problems would like to PM me their gamertags/PSN usernames I can have our live ops guys take a look. They see no errors in the logs or anything, so this is a bit of a brain scratcher at the moment...

HMXHenry you asked me not to report XMB and RCS issues repeatedly to the support portal and I haven't, and I won't and as I replied to you I won't tweet them to HMX staff. That said with the above post from HMXPope how do you guys even know how many users this is affecting and if we don't post crashes/connection issues here or report them when they happen then how are you guys going to be sure they are not happening?

Forum readers represent a small portion of your players, and posters an even smaller portion below is a list of all users who have posted in this thread, one of whom dumped RB3 for this very reason and resorts to RB2/Lego when they get the itch but the post was pretty clear that RB3 was what they would rather play (issues aside)

Alternity (says issues have improved/gone away after cleaning unit)
Cleaver1
Lawgod1521
SheSaidSheSaid (though stated one reboot fixes it unless servers are down)
bigmf (xmb crash is why he avoids playing online)
nuttzo31
grimripper82
grizzlymaze
rkbdgurl (xmb's and can not connect)
Astylis (take up to 1 hour to connect, but frquent XMB crashes have stopped)
Goddess_luna
jbstormburstADV
folkeye (dumped RB3 >1yr ago and stopped playing online long before)
Dangimarocker (XMB and RCS issues)
ADBJester
intropee
Aikixen (added by me as this is the friend that I get online to play with he had posted in the thread that was closed but not here)

I'm going to start taking the user names of the randoms that I group with and compiling a list of the ones that say they have either or both issues (as long as they don't object)

I personally think this issue is far more rampant than it is being given credit for maybe some others that are in this list can add names of band members they know have the issue as well but do not post here. I don't think your logs accurately represent or indicate when this happens based on what HMXPope said.

If there was something else I'd rather play I'd simply play that, I like your product and I know the others here do too else we simply wouldn't tolerate the aggravation. I don't think anyone here expects a daily update but until the issue is resolved a little more communication on it would probably go a long way.

I'm sorry if your workload is anything like mine when you return from vacation and all the tweets ended up tossed in your lap.

[nuttzo31]

HMXHenry is back from vacation, we need you here !

Thanks for the reply HMXhenry, as i have stated in earlier posts i don't expect the XMB issue to ever be resolved because it only seems to affect a very small percentage of users and would be difficult to reproduce . I have probably logged thousands of hours and can only think of maybe 5 times i have had an xmb boot but the issues with the rbc have been around for a while but there was a period of several months earlier in the year where it seemed like it was fixed but the last few months it has reared it's ugly head again.

My comments about not buying DLC until the issues were addressed/resolved may have appeared harsh and were bore out of frustration and the perceived lack of communication(which i see now is not the case) but it was never intended to be a personal attack on harmonix and i am man enough to apologize if that was the case.

As far as i'm concerned the rbc problems have been at least addressed and i will now be getting that judas priest album that i have been holding off getting and i will be happy to provide any information i can if needed.

p.s
The frustration about the rbc issue was not only to do with me not being able to connect at various times but also because new people playing the game or people on the fence about buying dlc may form an negative opinion early on if they run into this issue and it will reflect poorly on harmonix despite the fact that most people (myself included) respect you guys/gals and the hard work you put in to this amazing franchise, so i will once again offer my apologies and now it's time to rock once again.