The File Sony Forgot A few months back, you will recall that Sony moved all of our files for Home to their servers. They claimed this was to increase performance. Rumors also circulated that it would help prevent hacking. By now, we all know neither has come true. The only reason anyone came up with, that made any sense, was that they were preparing to put Home on the PS4 and stream it all from their servers. So far, we see no evidence of that either as Sony has remained completely silent on the subject. Meanwhile, we all struggle with many disconnects and errors when using Home. I have a fiber connection with lots of bandwidth and I got as many of those as anyone. Sony has been silent on this subject as well. So what to do? Then I discovered something. A file in the "Game Data Utility" folder on my PS3. A HOME file! Why was that there? Why wasn't that moved to Sony's servers too? And if it was moved, why wasn't the old one deleted instead of being left behind? Boldly, I deleted the file. Started up Home. No errors. Wow! Could this have been a mistake on Sony's part? Could it be that the file was supposed to have been removed and because it wasn't it was causing errors? I went to my LocoRoco space to see if by deleting that file it caused me to lose all my points. It didn't. I then started exploring other places in Home where I played mini-games. Again, nothing lost. Hmmmm..... I exited Home. The file had been recreated. I deleted it again. Same results. The file gets regenerated everytime you run Home. (See screen caps below). So now the big question.... WHY is it there? What is its purpose? Was the file moved to Sony's servers but they foregot to disable the code that recreates it on your PS3, thereby confusing Home? If you have any insight on this, please share here! This is where the file is This is the file File details
Look like someone go back with old code for some reason but forgot add some codes remove the copy on ps3
To be clear, deleting the file did not eliminate ALL of my errors. However, it did seem to help a lot. Of course, it can't fix lag problems Also, you might want to delete Home and re-install it at the same time you delete the file.
MusterBuster on the EU forums is the one who first explained what the Home file in "Game Data Utility" actually does. From his post here: Home Data - Where to find it and what it does Game Data Utility This is the place where external applications tell PlayStation Home to give you stuff! In short, if you earn a reward by playing a game other than Home, that game will tell Home that you've earnt a reward by writing data to the Game Data Utility. Be warned - if you've just earnt a reward in an external game and delete the Home file in the Game Data Utility before you log on to Home and claim it, you will have to earn that reward again. Once you've claimed a reward, your entitlement to it is stored on our servers - so deleting the Game Data for Home has no effects unless you are yet to claim a reward. This file is literally just a place for other applications and games to communicate with Home. In other words, if you unlock a Home reward in Batman: Arkham Asylum or Ibb & Obb or RDR or the Infamous Demo or Namco Museum Essentials, the reward information will be stored in the Game Data Utility until you next visit Home. This file can get bugged up however. In February 2012 there was an issue with the Female Hockey Helmet constantly being rewarded in NA Home when people entered Core spaces. (thread link: here) The only way to stop the reward from popping was to delete the GDU file: "If you're absolutely sure that you don't have any missing rewards that you're waiting for -- either from within Home itself or from a demo or disc-based game -- then go ahead and delete the small Playstation®Home file in the Game > "Game Data Utility" folder. Deleting this file will remove your entitlement to the Female Hockey Helmet. That will stop the constant annoying reward popups until they fix the issue, at least. Be careful about removing the file if you have more than one Home user account on your console. Deleting the file will remove all unclaimed Home rewards for all users and those reward(s) will have to be earned again to get them to unlock in Home." So with those few caveats, it should be safe to delete the GDU Home file if you think that will help with errors. Be warned though that I've had delayed rewards (from Home itself) appear months later. Deleting this file will ensure that you will never get your missing rewards, if you're in that situation!
Wow, that was one of the most informative posts I've seen in a while! Thanks for repurposing it here for us
I seemed to load spaces much much quicker after dumping that file. It put it back for me after loading home again but the new file was 10kb smaller than the old one.
Same for me. If I lost any "rewards" by deleting that file, so be it. Was worth it. I don't think I did, but as was mentioned, sometimes these rewards take ages to pop.
My wife and I definitely have reward delay at this point. We have never seemed to unlock the Nexus Poster nor the earlier version of Ratchet & Clank poster from the Hub. There's a chance that a future core update might make them suddenly appear, which is how we've received delayed rewards before. If I delete the GDU Home file now, they are gone forever. I know a couple people who never received the "PlayStation® Light Up Gloves" from the PS4 Quest of Greatness event and, unfortunately, this little app file is the only remaining place where their entitlement to the Gloves has been stored for safekeeping!
To be honest, I think Sony moved Home to a cheaper hosting plan to reduce costs. Much like how they created an ultra slim even though the previous slim was much nicer. It saves Sony money. Btw, PS Now would be great for Home if they can get it running. But have you seen the PS Vita TV? Forget the word VITA, this is nothing like a Vita. If they can hook Home up to PS Now, and Now to Vita TV, you will have one sweet little way to enjoy Home. IF they do that.... It can run vita games. which means about twice as much memory as ps3. Connects wirelessly to a ps3 or ps4 controller. And outputs to tv via HDMI port. Has usb and ethernet ports too. And a gamestick slot. If Sony can hook it up to PS Now it will be an awesome way to play ps3 games anywhere you go as long as you have tv and internet. It's suppose to run for around $100. But currently only announced for Japan. Though maybe that will change soon. Who knows....who nose....
Would not need Vita TV if Home was on PS Now, could just use a PS4 and play it on that and remote play it on Vita from anywhere in world where you got good wifi and net.
Oh, we wouldn't need it. But it opens up a nice avenue for new gamer access. I really think it would be a great gaming system for families. $100 and you get a huge library. IF it connects to Now. It's cheap and affordable. Perfect for family budgets. To be honest, I think the PS3s they sell now are so cheap looking, I wouldn't buy one unless I absolutely needed to play ps3 games. So for me, it would make a nice alternative to a superslim. Plus I don't do much online FPS, so any lag would be acceptible. I would prefer PS4 and a Vita on remote play. But since I don't have either, that's like what? $500 or $600? Where Vita TV gets someone new to gaming for $100. Or maybe a little more for the controller too. But then, all his depends on Sony releasing this in NA/EU AND it running PS Now. Two big IFs. ...
Still want to know WHY that file is being left on PS3 instead of pushed to the cloud like everything else was.
But Karen, they *can't* move that file it up into Cloud. It's an license keychain interface between external applications (like disc games) and Home. In other words, it's a temporary license (game feature entitlement) repository that holds on to a user's reward entitlements until he/she finally decides to visit Home. And trust me there are scores of PS3 players out there who do not have a fast enough Internet connection to play MMOs online, so they have never visited. Should they ever unlock a disc reward and manage to download and install Home a year later, I'm sure they will be pleasantly surprised to find a reward waiting for them on entry into Home. I hope that made sense! Ed
Kindle has the points. It made sense why they left a file in PS3. Oh well I have some friends have PS3 consoles, but they never play Home, but they did play MMO on PS3.
THANK YOU FOR THE TIME AND INFORMATION YOU HAVE PUT INTO HELPING CORRECT THIS ISSUE! EVEN IF THIS DOES NOT WORK,THE EXITEMENT OF POSSIBLY BEING ABLE TO PLAY HOME AGAIN IS GOOD ENOUGH! LOL
so my question to now KINDLE is do you believe that deleting this (home reward reminder file lol) will or have already fixed my problem? PS. my issue is that home freezes while it verifies purchased content while loading. plzz help if you can.i have not been on home since last update and im afraid im going through PSHOME WITHDRAWL
