Clearing the cache

[VIRII]

I've read several threadsw here about clearing the cache once oblivion eats up all your hard drive space.
It does not seem to work for me. The first time the game froze up (about 8 hours of play) I tried the cache thiong but no joy, so I deleted a lot of demos, trailers and so on and the game was much better. However it seems to be back as it was now, current save game won't load at all >10 minutes.

The cache clearing "seems" to be :

Turn the Xbox off.
Restart it with a controller.
Hold down the A button as soon as you turn the xbox back on with the controller.
Don't release the A button until the "start" bit come up on the game.

It definitely is not working for me, am I doing it wrong?

 

[VIRII]

nah m8, wait for the black screen and hit x, you'll see that the bethsoft logo is delayed when it turns up release.

Doesn't seem to work either.
I take it that when it is loading that if the music stops then it has crashed?

This is seriously spoiling my 360 experience

 

[VIRII]

i heard about this, your original method should work VIRII

wondered why you were offline and online so much

nicked this from google

If you experience freezing screens, delayed sounds (sword clanks 5 seconds after it hits something), long pauses while searching a person or object, or anything similar then you must clear your hard drive's cache.




1) Reset the Xbox 360 with Elder Scrolls still in the DVD drive. (Use the power button to do this)



2) Press and Hold the A button until you see the Bethesda Software logo appear on screen.



btw i take it yr not intrested in tomb raider

I have not decided yet, because I couldn't get kong or TR at a price I was happy with I bought Oblivion instead. If this game won't run then it's going back and I'll be back after kong and TR.

I have been trying for the last couple of hours to get this game to load and it is beginning to do my head in. Up until this morning the 360 was the best ganing experience I have ever had and the last 7-8 hours of oblivion were superb.
Right now I am thinking about putting my steelies on and playing a little 5 a side with my console. GRRRRRRRR.

As a last ditch attempt I will try swapping it for a different disc and if that doesn't work I don't know what to do but clearing the cache is not happening for me at all.

 

[VIRII]

I'm getting similar problems with slow loads and loads of random crashes like

How many hours into the game are you? I simply cannot get any game save to load now at all.

 

[VIRII]

I have never had a problem with any other game just this one.
Pretty disappointed really.
I might "rent" a copy just to make sure it is a game rather than disc issue, might even try a memory card.
Not in the best of moods and this is definitely not helping.

 

[VIRII]

play some geometry wars, or burnout.

get the anger out of your system

Hmm no I think I'll head to Hemel and find some chav to mutilate.

 

[VIRII]

hmmm odd one m8, its nothing like that bad on mine, Somehow the issues seem to be random depending on the console, really odd for what should be a full standard bit of kit, cant see it being the disc as obviously they all come from one master, praps everyone with problems should post their 360 creation date, core/premium, collectors or normal oblivion copy. TV connection. DVD drive etc and look for common denominators?

Weird thing is my cache refuses to clear, no-one else seems to have the same issue as me.

 

[VIRII]

which is were the problem arises, you couldnt use your immense knowledge of the trade descriptions act and blag a replacement from game or something?

No need for that I can just return the disc but I don't know if the disc is the issue.
I have now cleared off all remaining demos, music, trailers from my hard drive and will try reclearing the cache, if that still fails then it could well be the disc.
Grrr not improved at all. I have deleted 1gb of demos etc and this time the game did load up the save game however 5 minutes later it's frozen again as I try to go to a new area.

 

[VIRII]

I bought a second copy of the game incase that was the problem but it has made no difference.
I have now moved all my saved games to a memory card and have gone through the "initial setup" process for the 360 including recovering my gamertag so we'll see what that does when it is finished.
I don't hold out much hope, if the problem continues then I think I'll contact MS and see what they say.

Currently running the game from the memory card and it seems much better now, much faster load times etc.

Scratch that it has just frozen up again. :sad:

 

[VIRII]

does it give you a message if the cache is cleared succesfully? i might try it for the hell of it.

Nope no message re cache clearance. I've taken everything off my HDD and it is still doing it, I have unplugged my HDD and run it from the memory card and it still crashes. That is with both copies of the game. Both were brand new and sealed.

I think my 360 might be going back to Game for replacement.

 

[VIRII]

Gave up on oblivion, thought I would play a bit of Full Auto. It just locked up midgame, I have a nasty feeling that Oblivion has fubar'd my 360.

Rebooted and it has locked up again

 

[VIRII]

I am personally convinced that it is a caching issue whereby the game just writes to the disc until it runs out of room.
The first time it went funny I deleted 1gb or more of demos and got a bit more play out of it, then I deleted the remainder and got some more play.
Then I took the hdd out and played it from the memory card until that spammed up.
Cache clearing simply doesn't work on my machine.
It is unlikely that 2 brand new discs are faulty.
My 360 is a release day unit.

So here is my cunning plan........

I am ripping lots of CDs to the HDD in a hope that they will overwrite the cached data.

Then I am going to delete all the music and try some full auto. If it works and doesn't crash out on me then I think my theory is correct.

Either way some poor unfortunate in Game is going to have to give me a new 360 tomorrow and if the poor misguided fool tells me to send it back to MS.....

 

[VIRII]

I had exactly the same problem around about the same time, started to happen when i found my first gate at Kvatch. I just had a break from it overnight and came back to it and it was fine-ish.

Oddly enough that is pretty much when my troubles began.
I played 7-8 hours of it solidly in a dungeon yesterday, did some exploring and then decided to head on with the main quest to find brother martin.
It started to go bad when I arrived at the encampment of kvatch refugees and tried to practice my buttering up skills on the orc female.
I think my first freeze happened there and then after the deletions of demos etc I got to the oblivion gate (eventually) but it kept freezing and eventually refused to load at all.

 

[VIRII]

31 seconds into full auto and it froze up.
Giving up on it for tonight the xbox is going back in morning.

 

[VIRII]

This happened to my last xbox as well... i took it back to game- only to be told that they had to see the fault, so after half an hour- i told them just to take it back, they caved and returned it!

It hasn't crashed so for- though does seem to get a bit slower after the first gate???

The store mamager of the Hemel branch flat out refused a refund or exchange and told me that I HAD to deal with MS.
Then he folded his arms and said he was not talking to me anymore.
When security arrived he told them that I had "threatened him".
He could not explain exactly how but apparently my close proximity to him was making him nervous (hence the physical shaking).
4 security guards decided to take his side and came to the conclusion that if the manager was going to refuse to refund me then I would have to leave the shop.
Leaving the shop was insufficient when I waited outside so they called the police.
The police were not exactly interested.
So I went to the other Game store and exchanged it there and then (asked for a refund and said I would settle for exchange).
Shortly after that I was just having a general chat with the Manager there about the Sale of Goods Act (he doesn't seem to fully understand it) when the police arrived.
They asked me to be nicer to shop staff so I simply explained that I speak as spoken to and am not going to be pleasant to someone who refuses me a refund to which I am legally entitled, folds their arms and says "I am not going to talk to you anymore".

What a palava

I forgot to take oblivion back with me - so I am heading back there now with a couple of copies of the DTI helpsheet.

 

[VIRII]

Erf, what a farce.

The first manager sounds like a proper jobsworth. Nice that you stuck to your guns though.

Before I had even finished saying to the assistant that I wanted an exchange he was butting in and talking over me, then he got the hump because I said "I don't care about Microsofts exchange service, under the sale of goods act my contract is with this company and I want an exchange".
He did not like the fact that I refused to take his word for it that Microsofts policy over-ruled my statutory rights, or that I understood consumer law better than he does, or that the "this does not affect your statutory rights" on the back of the receipt might just be a hint that MS policy is really none of my concern as I have "statutory rights" which he is oblivious to - pun on oblivion

 

[VIRII]

Were you tempted to tell the manager 'I'll see you in court then'. I'm sure once you won, you could have put the legal fees on him as well?

No I was tempted to say "I'll see you after work so you can inspect the steel toecaps of my docs" but I refrained.
I was not however "willing" to leave the shop and the security guards weren't exactly "willing" to try and make me physically.

I have now spoken to their head office customer service monkey who accepts that the store manager was wrong to refuse me a refund but insists that I was "threatening" the store manager.
Again he can't tell me "how" I threatened him only that the manager felt threatened.

I was not happy to be lied to and denied a refund, I was not impressed when he folded his arms stared at me and walked off.
I wonder though, who is going to be happy to be lied to, to have security called because you refuse to leave the shop until you get your refund and then to have the police called after that?
Is it a crime to be annoyed and displeased about shoddy service?
My wife thinks that due to my size and face/appearance (seen too many pub fights I guess) people smaller than me tend to feel a little frightened when I express displeasure at their actions- how can I help that?

 

[VIRII]

another victory for VIRII

if you dont mind mate could you point me in the direction of a handy sheet of stuff that i could print off to show the shop owner should this problem arise for me

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm

 

[VIRII]

LOL get a new face perhaps??


Seriously though Virii that is shocking behaviour from a store manager...when i was working in retail many moons ago and also as store manager. I made damn well sure that me and my staff knew about the sale of goods act so that we couldnt and wouldnt be caught out etc.

I think I am reasonably good looking though

The thing is I had my daughter with me and my threatening behaviour amounted to no more than standing my ground and refusing to accept his BS.

I know I "can" be a scary chap when I really want to be but I am not going to do anything like that infront of my daughter. I simply refused to leave, I did not threaten him and I did not shout although my voice might have been a little more assertive than normal

It gets worse though. I decided to return Oblivion (as I have two copies).
I had already spoken to custonmer services and they told me that I should not try to return it in that particular store if at all possible.

So being a decent and reasonable chap I printed off the linked factsheet and my wife, daughter and I all went to Hemel together.
My wife took the game back with the receipt (I always pay cash for these things) and got the refund. I was outside and they had no idea we were together.
After getting the refund she said to the shop assistant "I think you might find this useful in the future" and handed him the factsheet.
Meanwhile I walked past the store, caught the managers eye and he said to his staff (and my wife who was in earshot) "Oh it's that prat again blah blah blah".
My wife waited for him to finish and said "You might find reading this useful as well. By the way, if you want to insult my Husband I suggest that you do not do it when his wife in standing next to you".

He went rather quiet and disappeared. What a star lol.

Back on the phone to customer services and at my insistence they spoke to one of the staff members who confirmed that the manager had said certain things and that he was out of order doing it.

I have to put it all in writing to them now

Mr + Mrs Virii 1, Game store manager numbnuts 0.

 

[VIRII]

i really have a lot more rights than i thought i did

You have the right to remain silent too.....

However from this experience and other experiences I would suggest that anyone who wishes to use the sale of goods act will find that the shop staff and managers are completely clueless and really don't know about it.
Therefore arm yourself with the fact sheet printed out and the head office customer service number BEFORE you go in there.
I knew I was likely to get some twerp trying it on and I should have simply said, "please phone your head office and let me speak to them". If they refuse phone from instore and get them to tell the manager to buck up.

Assume that you are the only one in possession of the facts and that any retail worker that you deal with won't know the law and will therefore fob you off. If they refuse don't get into an argument just get on the blower to head office. In the case of GAME the relevent phone number is on the back of the receipt.