PS3 external hard drive problem - GTA 4 does not start

F

free1616

Member
Hello Community,
I recently acquired the "GTA 4 Complete Edition" for PS3 and I'm encountering an issue preventing me from launching the game. Here are the details of my setup:
  • PS3 Model: Slim 2504
  • CFW (Custom Firmware): 4.90 Evilnat CEX (OC)
  • Game Installation: On an external hard drive (WD black P10)
Upon starting the game and choosing a game version (I selected the normal GTA 4 version), the screen goes black, and nothing happens. Even after 20 minutes, there is no change, and I have to power off the console.
Additional Information:
  • WebMAN Options: I've checked and ensured that the WebMAN MOD version 1.47.45 settings are correctly configured.
  • Multiman and Managunz Configuration: I've also checked and confirmed that the settings in Multiman and Managunz are correctly configured.
  • Game Launch Attempts: I attempted to start the game using both Multiman and Managunz, but unfortunately, without success.
  • prepISO Version: I'm using prepISO (NTFS/exFAT) version 1.31 for managing ISOs on my external hard drive.
  • Previous Issue: I encountered a previous issue regarding "Issue with 4 TB External Hard Drive Recognition on PS3 Slim," which was successfully resolved with the help of this community.
Despite searching the forum extensively, I have not been able to find a solution to this specific issue. I would greatly appreciate any insights or troubleshooting tips from the community. Has anyone experienced a similar issue with WebMAN MOD version 1.47.45 and prepISO version 1.31, or does anyone have suggestions on how to resolve this problem with my specific setup?

Thank you in advance for your assistance!
 
I suspect the issue might be related to the 4.90 Evilnat CEX (OC).
I will downgrade to CFW Evilnat 4.89.3 CEX (OC).
 
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Let's start discarding the usual suspects. First, try installing the game on the internal HDD first, just to check if there are any issues with all the external stuff.

If you still have trouble, then try to launch the game from the BD drive. If it loads correctly, then your ISO is not properly ripped.
 
GuilloteTesla said:
Let's start discarding the usual suspects. First, try installing the game on the internal HDD first, just to check if there are any issues with all the external stuff.

If you still have trouble, then try to launch the game from the BD drive. If it loads correctly, then your ISO is not properly ripped.
Click to expand...

I will give that a try and get back to you. Thank you for the suggestion!
 
install normal evilnat 4.90 cex. OC may be causing problems. it seems to cause problems with red dead redemption and that use similar game engine.
 
Coro said:
install normal evilnat 4.90 cex. OC may be causing problems. it seems to cause problems with red dead redemption and that use similar game engine.
Click to expand...

+I completely formatted the hard drive and reinstalled Evilnat 4.90 CEX. Unfortunately, the issue persists.

-I will now reformat the hard drive and reinstall Evilnat 4.90 CEX again, but this time without WebMan, etc.

+OK - that didn't work either. I will now try loading the game onto the internal hard drive and attempt again!

-I can't believe this. The game works on the internal drive! But I really want it to work on the external hard drive :)
What can be done in this case?

+I'll, just for fun, downgrade the firmware to Evilnat 4.89.3 CEX and give it a shot with the external hard drive. However, if that doesn't work, I'll accept that GTA IV only runs on the internal drive, and the remaining games, including GTA V, will start from the external hard drive. If that doesn't work, I'll reinstall 4.90 CEX and keep only GTA IV internally while playing the rest of the games externally.

-Well, on the Evilnat 4.89.3 CEX firmware, GTA IV still doesn't work from the external hard drive. The 4TB external hard drive is formatted as MBR - NTFS - 4069 bytes. As a direct comparison, I have tested the game on another external hard drive (1TB - MBR - exFAT) just to see. It's really strange. The game also starts on the exFAT external hard drive but not on NTFS external hard drive.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
free1616 said:
+I completely formatted the hard drive and reinstalled Evilnat 4.90 CEX. Unfortunately, the issue persists.

-I will now reformat the hard drive and reinstall Evilnat 4.90 CEX again, but this time without WebMan, etc.

+OK - that didn't work either. I will now try loading the game onto the internal hard drive and attempt again!

-I can't believe this. The game works on the internal drive! But I really want it to work on the external hard drive :)
What can be done in this case?

+I'll, just for fun, downgrade the firmware to Evilnat 4.89.3 CEX and give it a shot with the external hard drive. However, if that doesn't work, I'll accept that GTA IV only runs on the internal drive, and the remaining 169 games, including GTA V, will start from the external hard drive. If that doesn't work, I'll reinstall 4.90 CEX and keep only GTA IV internally while playing the rest of the games externally.

-Well, on the Evilnat 4.89.3 CEX firmware, GTA IV still doesn't work from the external hard drive. The 4TB external hard drive is formatted as MBR - NTFS - 4069 bytes. As a direct comparison, I have tested the game on another external hard drive (1TB - MBR - exFAT) just to see. It's really strange. The game also starts on the exFAT external hard drive but not on NTFS external hard drive.
Click to expand...

I have updated my PS3 back to Evilnat 4.90 CEX [OC], because I was satisfied with the performance of OC and had no issues with it before.
As mentioned earlier, the issue was simply that my external hard drive was formatted as NTFS and not exFAT.
Therefore, my recommendation is to use external hard drives formatted as MBR - exFAT.
The problem is now resolved for me, I thank everyone!
 
Unfortunately, my issue is not resolved, and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.
I initially tested the game on a 1TB MBR-exFAT external drive with an allocation unit size of 256 bytes, and it worked.
I assumed the problem was specific to the 4TB external drive.

Today, I tried launching the game again from the 4TB external drive, and the black screen issue persisted.
Could the allocation cluster size be a factor? The 1TB drive has a size of 256 bytes, and the 4TB has 1024 bytes.
Is it possible that the PS3 is having trouble with this?

Any insights or advice on this would be highly appreciated. I'm wondering if the cluster size could be affecting the PS3's ability to read games from the 4TB drive.
Thank you in advance for any assistance or suggestions you can provide.

ps. for example RDR or GTA V are working perectly
 
free1616 said:
Unfortunately, my issue is not resolved, and I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.
I initially tested the game on a 1TB MBR-exFAT external drive with an allocation unit size of 256 bytes, and it worked.
I assumed the problem was specific to the 4TB external drive.

Today, I tried launching the game again from the 4TB external drive, and the black screen issue persisted.
Could the allocation cluster size be a factor? The 1TB drive has a size of 256 bytes, and the 4TB has 1024 bytes.
Is it possible that the PS3 is having trouble with this?

Any insights or advice on this would be highly appreciated. I'm wondering if the cluster size could be affecting the PS3's ability to read games from the 4TB drive.
Thank you in advance for any assistance or suggestions you can provide.

ps. for example RDR or GTA V are working perectly
Click to expand...

You can try loading the game from a remote PC/NAS server using ps3netsrv. In this case the disk size is not an issue.

Also you can try changing the cluster size of the HDD disk to 4kb or larger if possible.
 
aldostools said:
You can try loading the game from a remote PC/NAS server using ps3netsrv. In this case the disk size is not an issue.

Also you can try changing the cluster size of the HDD disk to 4kb or larger if possible.
Click to expand...

Hello aldostools,

I implemented the suggestion you provided in the forum, trying to change the cluster size to both 32KB and 8KB. However, I still faced the black screen issue with different cluster sizes.
I was wondering if you could offer guidance on the specific steps you take to format the HDD and change the cluster size.

I've exhausted various options regarding the external hard drive. I've formatted it as both NTFS and exFAT and tested it extensively. Additionally, I partitioned the drive into 2 GB, formatted it as exFAT, and set it as primary and active. Unfortunately, even with these attempts, the issue persists.

If anyone has further insights or suggestions, your input would be highly appreciated.

ps.What can be the problem of my WD Black P10 4TB?

Best regards
 
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sad UPDATE :(


Hello PSX-place community,

I've been exploring various options and experimenting extensively to get GTA IV running from my external HDD with a fixed sector size of 4096 bytes. Unfortunately, it seems that the sector size is fixed and not alterable, while only the cluster size can be changed through formatting. e.g. 4096 bytes / 32 kbytes
After numerous attempts and considering the limitations, I've decided to make a compromise. I'll be installing GTA IV on the internal HDD where it works smoothly, and the rest of my games will be played from the external HDD.
It's a compromise, but considering it's just GTA IV, it's not the end of the world.

I acknowledge the incredible community we have here with talented developers who make almost anything possible.
While my hope isn't entirely extinguished, for now, I'll settle with this compromise.

Big thanks to everyone who tried to assist. It's a bit disappointing that my "experiment" didn't work out as intended, given the extensive testing and tinkering. Sometimes, even with the best efforts, certain constraints remain.
Appreciate all the help, and it's a bit of a letdown that my experimentation didn't go as planned.
Still, onwards and upwards!

Best regards
free1616
 
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