As I suspect most know by now, ever since Home 1.3 there was a bug that would cause your PS3 to freeze.   If you quit Home or Home quit on its own due to an error while you were in any personal space, then when you restarted Home it would always freeze up the PS3 at the point where it tries to load up the personal space you were last in.

This is the main reason for the recent 1.32 update, although fortunately even before the update there was a relatively easy fix.  All you had to do was do a forced quit (keeping your finger on the power button until it beeped) reboot your PS3, go to the Saved Data Utility folder and delete the file for the personal space that you were last in, and which is causing your PS3 to freeze.

The only downside is by deleting that file you also delete any changes you have made to that space, which for some who spend a lot of time arranging furnishings this might be an issue, but it wasn't for me.  Besides, you can also make back-up copies of those files and restore them once you are able to log back into Home without it freezing up your system.

However, there is one exception to this bug, and it's a big one, which I am hoping some clever person here may know of or figure out a possible solution.

If instead of being in a personal space, if like me you were in a clubhouse when quitting Home or being forced to quit Home, then not only did you get the same freeze problem as experienced when loading a personal space when first starting up Home, but because there are no files in the Saved Data Utility folder for clubhouses, there is then no fix... but one.

The only way to fix it that I am aware of is to delete the "Settings" file for Home in the Saved Data Utility folder... this basically makes Home believe you are a new user and will automatically log you into the Harbor Studio space, thus fixing the freezing error... but at a high cost!   By deleting the "Settings" file, it also deletes all your avatars, which in my case, I spent a great deal of time making celebrity look-a-like avatars, and really don't want to spend the time trying to make them all over again.

I made a copy of my settings file, and tried restoring it by deleting the new Settings file and replacing it with the original one, but that only got me back to square one, as it would once again attempt to load that clubhouse space when I restarted Home... and thus would always end up freezing my system.

I had hoped the 1.32 update would fix this issue, and it partially did.  Now, instead of freezing my system, it will load up the clubhouse space without freezing either my PS3 nor Home, and I can now walk around the clubhouse space and access my Home PDA, but the moment I try and leave the clubhouse, that's when things get weird...

The moment I select a new location to go to, the screen freezes... but this time my PS3 is not frozen only Home is frozen.  I have tried selecting different locations in Home, all of which have resulted in the same Home freeze.  I also tried using the "Go To" option to leave the clubhouse to where a friend was located, but that also resulted in a Home Freeze.  I also tried having that friend sen me an invite to join him, and that also resulted in a Home freeze.  So while the 1.32 update did stop my PS3 from freezing up, and did allow me to log into Home... I am basically a prisoner inside this clubhouse space unless I am willing to delete my Settings file and thus my avatars.

So what I am wondering is, for those clever code hackers out there... is there some way of modifying my Settings file such that it thinks I am in a different location in Home other than a clubhouse?  If so, I'm sure that would fix this problem.   If no one knows a way to modify the Settings file, perhaps some of you may have other ideas for me to try and fix this problem.


BTW:  For those who might be inclined to suggest I contact Sony and the Home Management team... I have.''

I first used the official PS3 Support/Knowledge Center, and when I couldn't find any solution there I contacted PlayStation Consumer Services at playstation@mailnj.custhelp.com (Question Reference #091020-000286)

So far the response has not been terribly useful.  In fact the last email I got basically said, its a Beta program, what do you expect. :-)

In fact here is the direct quote:

We apologize for any inconvenience Home has caused you.

We do not provide support for Beta software and Home is still in the Beta stage of development. You agreed to use it knowing this is Beta software and any risks are yours in doing so.

I then contacted Sony Consumer Services Department at (800) 345-7669 and spoke with a Keke (interesting name), and her suggestion was as unique as her name.  She basically told me to create a new user on my PS3, then when singing up for a PSN account, choose the "Use Existing Account" option, and put in the email and password for my main account.   I though that seemed odd, and I also didn't even think it would be possible to have two users on the same PS3 using the exact same PSN account.  More importantly I didn't understand how this would fix this issue with Home.  After all, at the end of the day, the issue is how to keep my Settings file (not create a brand new one) but change it so that it either wont freeze when I try and leave the clubhouse, or change the Settings so that it doesn't even load the clubhouse, but puts me in a different space instead.

I also made a thread in the official PlayStation®Home Support forum.

Here is a link to that thread:   Home Freezing Part 2 (and much worse!)


So as you can see, I am really trying hard to find a reasonable solution.  Any help any of you can offer would be greatly appreciated!