The Orange Box gets mysterious 128MB patch [Update]
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 22nd 2008 at 11:00AM }
Fans of Team Fortress 2 have discovered a mysterious undocumented 128MB patch for the PS3 version of The Orange Box. Valve's compilation of Half-Life games was bashed by the gaming community for its lackluster transition onto the PS3: the port not only came weeks after the Xbox 360 and PC counterparts, but featured framerate issues that plagued an otherwise stellar experience.[Update: Fixes listed, after the cut.]
[Thanks, Jeff M.!]
- Fixed a graphical issue whereby a player would have the explosion effect left on the end of their Rocket Launcher when attempting to Rocket Jump.
- Fixed a memory leak to improve single-player stability.
- Fixed an issue whereby the players name would not appear on the Stats comparison screen.
- We have fixed an issue that would cause the vote tallies to disappear when you viewed the scoreboard between rounds.
- Fixed an online server issue.
- Fixed an issue that caused a crash when a player that wasn't in Division 1 entered your Leaderboards.
- Fixed an issue with players not always being added to the 'Players Met' menu on the XMB.
- Fixed a bug where a player viewing a friend without an EA account would have an empty entry in the friend's Leaderboard.
- Fixed an issue where it was not possible to connect to the EA servers if you had more than 30 friends.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
b2- @ Mar 20th 2008 11:10AM
what do you mean EA?
Orange box is a Valve product
Andrew Yoon @ Mar 20th 2008 12:23PM
EA is responsible for the PS3 version of the game. Valve did not code the PS3 version.
The Aggie CEO @ Mar 20th 2008 11:26AM
they prolly fixed all the glitches and exploits......
no more building sentries in the air on the dustbowl level..........lol
namtastic @ Mar 20th 2008 11:27PM
Unfortunately that was the first thing I saw in my first game after applying the patch. Still not fixed.
ThekonamiMan @ Mar 20th 2008 11:27AM
I love you guys, I would have had no idea about this if I didn't come to this site everyday and since I've been neglecting The Orange Box to play Folklore as of late it would have been forever for me to find it on my own. I think I'll wait until we know what it is though.
adolson @ Mar 20th 2008 11:46AM
Heh, downloaded this last night when I went to play Portal.. Didn't realize it was new, though. Hope the framerate issues are sorted, that'd be nice.
eric @ Mar 20th 2008 11:51AM
its to fix friends list and join problems and speed issues
Livi70590 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:52AM
How exactly do you download it?
Andrew Yoon @ Mar 20th 2008 12:23PM
Simply start the game.
Livi70590 @ Mar 20th 2008 1:39PM
Must be region locked then, because I can't seem to get it.
xFenixKnightx @ Mar 20th 2008 11:58AM
Tell them to patch Army of Two on 360 and PS3 while your at it please. Oh and fix teh damn online LAAAAAAAG!!! Please??? =(
Chowley @ Mar 20th 2008 12:17PM
Surprise surprise........ Europe does'nt get the patch!
Fraser JK @ Mar 20th 2008 1:11PM
I was so close to getting it, but after all the bad news about frame rates and all, I changed my mind.... fix it quick or it'll drop our of my buy it list forever!
OAKside @ Mar 20th 2008 3:46PM
Valve @ PC > Valve @ consoles
TinyTim121 @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:03PM
I would highly reccomend you but Orange box. I noticed only one real framerate drop at the boat part but apart from that i couldn't really find any.
It is a great game, anybody who owns the PS3 version will tell you the bad press is overblown. As in really overblown
Kohath @ Mar 20th 2008 1:29PM
The pre-patch framerate problems are minor and really only hurt gameplay in a few small areas. (Worst so far is in Episode 1 where stuff is falling down the elevator shaft.)
I hope this fixes the problems, but this game was well worth buying even if none of them are fixed.
john paul @ Mar 20th 2008 1:30PM
Why is this "mysterious"
i can tell that the patch is for the framerate/loading times
right?
or is there more than something here either than a patch????
Livi70590 @ Mar 20th 2008 1:51PM
Probably Rumble support.
ExMachina @ Mar 20th 2008 2:07PM
There was an issue preventing players from connecting to EA Online to play TF2 if their friends list had more than 31 entries... The PS3 TF2 community really got on EA's case about this "you're too popular" glitch and it's one of the things addressed in the patch.
Benjamin Gilbert @ Mar 20th 2008 3:09PM
My money's on rumble support too.
alienclays @ Mar 20th 2008 4:24PM
128 mb IS NOT for rumble alone.
try again.
Jimmijam @ Mar 20th 2008 7:12PM
Depends on EA's coding and porting skills... which doesn't seem stellar. :D
Chowley @ Mar 20th 2008 4:40PM
So have EA said anything about when europe will get this or are they just humming loudly and putting their hands over their ears ala Sony. Thats right, Europe doesnt exist.
bigd7387 @ Mar 20th 2008 5:58PM
I really want to pick this title up but the frame rate issues were kinda upsetting since I knew the PS3 could easily handle it. Can someone find-out who has the game and a DS3 if the framerate and RUMBLE has been added. I've had my DS3 for 2 months now and really would love to rumble with the Orange Box.
ArmorForVictor @ Mar 21st 2008 10:13PM
IGN has the details on the update http://ps3.ign.com/articles/861/861122p1.html
seems rumble was not added and as for framerate fixes i have played and passed portal and half-life 2. i have seen only 2 drops in the framrate in half-life 2 and they weren't that bad. also when the game loads a new section in half-life 2 and it autosaves i just stop until the autosave is done beacause if you don't it will get choppy. can't tell you about episode 2 since i'm barely going to beat episode one which i have played without seeing a single framrate drop so far.
db cooper @ Mar 21st 2008 9:50AM
Doesn't do shit for framerate anyway. Still choppy as hell. I was pretty forgiving of this until I saw how breathtakingly beautiful Call of Duty 4 is with no slowdown. Orange Box's only saving grace is that the games themselves are so much fun you can overlook the shoddy port from EA.
Tranando @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:35AM
Your either a troll, or have a faulty PS3 then, as I don't have any framerate issues in Orange Box at all.
The only annyance is the load times, which also affect the 360 version, and that's because it's an old PC game ported to consoles.
h @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:34AM
"Fixed an issue where it was not possible to connect to the EA servers if you had more than 30 friends."
I thought the servers where down!
They ned to fix those loading times.
Brodie-san @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:53AM
Let's say it does fix the apparently minor (depending on who you talk to) frame-rate issues. Are EA/Valve going to come out and say: "Yeah, we messed with the game's initial release. It's all fixed now. Sorry!"
I'm just saying. I'd be interested in hearing other people's experience with TOB post-patch. Does it actually run any smoother?
I've been hesitant to pick this up; more to do with the fact that I've a backlog of games to play at the moment. If this patch remedies some of the well publicised issues it might get added to my ever increasing queue.
Fraser JK @ Mar 22nd 2008 12:14PM
Still not buying this!
Meximan @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:25PM
And we care... why?
Eli @ Mar 23rd 2008 11:43PM
This patch does dot fix the loading, framerate issues for ep1 and 2. Also does not fix all the bugs nor adds the much needed surround sound to the game. It merely a patch for TF2. Which still has problems.
Josh @ Mar 23rd 2008 1:33AM
It seems to have improved a few things in tf2, loading does seem a bit faster, though not a lot. I'm still having framerate issues however... :(
hopefully this gets fixed before long.
JohnDoeee @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:59AM
curious anyone know what theme is in that screen shot? the blue icons look pretty 1337
Jay Hester @ Mar 24th 2008 10:56AM
I'm not the biggest FPS fan ... is this game worth it?
Kizi @ Mar 31st 2008 1:09PM
This update isn't working, I downloaded it, but still I have the TF 2 EA Connecting problem.
DarkMellie @ Apr 1st 2008 10:57AM
Still hasn't done a thing for Australian players. I can't get a server inside 1000km's or a 500 ping. Lag so bad it makes me rage.
DON'T SELL THE FRIGGING GAME IN THIS COUNTRY IF YOU CAN'T SUPPORT THE ONLINE FEATURES.
I bought Orange Box from Steam on the day of it's first release, I only got the ps3 version to play against mates. Now all of us have given up and we play CoD4 instead.
Shame... after thousands of hours on hardcore shooters, TF2 was a breath of fresh air in my life. Are EA doing this deliberately just to ruin Valve's name?