PS2 ISO certian FMW shuts down PS3 with red blinking light

[finalantun2020]

I apologize in advance if its a long read but i wanted to make sure i give as much details about the issue to hopefully find a solution for this extremly wierd issue

So i've been playing Project Zero 2 on my PS3 Slim CECH-2004B (rebug 4.87) recently using webman (i do have the proper CONFIG file for the game) and i can play for HOURS without any issues and temps usually stay around 65-70 on CELL (when first starting game temps climb to about 74 then after maybe 15-20 minutes fan ramps up and keeps it around 65-70 max) but on the ending cutscene FMV video credits my ps3 either glitches out or completley crashes

First time i reached games credits at one point during credits my TV suddenly showed no signal (just in case it matters, im playing on my old 29inch philips cineos HD CRT that i use for retro gaming trough composite) and fans slowed down but my ps3 didnt turn off, it just stayed on until i pressed power button then it just normally exited to XMB (it did not restart, just exited the ps2 emulator)

Second time i replayed the ending and during credits it didnt crash, but it just showed artifacts like when you have corrupted MP4 for a few seconds (not like GPU artifacts but literally corrupted video) at the exact moment in FMV when it crashed last time and it passed trough entier end cutscene and credits without crash this time

Out of curiosity i decided to play the ending cutscene again and this time when it reached point where it crashed first time it just skipped the FMV right to the epilogue, now i was thinking it was just a corrupted ISO

I transfer the iso from PS3 to my PC using FTP and check MD5 and compare it against md5 from redump website and it matches perfectly so it is not a corrupted ISO

Now i started to think it was overheating so i replayed the ending+credits FMV video again and checked temperature every few seconds to make sure it wasnt overheating and it was not, trough the whole cutscene it was at about 65 on CELL and 45 on RSX but this time cutscene just skipped itself at completley different point (sometimes instade of crashing the credits automatically at the exact point where it usually crashes just skip to the next epiloge cutscene)

Now i restarted my PS3 and tried again, this time temps were also at about 65 cell and 43-45 RSX but this time at EXACT point where cutscene usually either skips (literally skips whole cutscene like if i pressed X button on my controller except i didnt) or freezes with just tv displaying no signal this time my ps3 actually showed yellow light for two seconds, turned off and kept blinking red until i pressed power button

Its totally inconsistent, sometimes it turns off with blinking red light, sometimes it just stops giving any video signal to TV but stays on, sometime cutscene just skips and sometimes it play fine (rarley plays fine)

Is this a hardware problem or software problem, its 100% not overheating and iso is 100% fine as i checked multiple times MD5 and compared it to redump and it matches

Im afraid its a hardware issue like a dying CELL or RSX but then again i can play the whole games for 10 hours in one go without issue but just this ONE FMV cutscene is causing issues.....

I kept retrying and would get different results everytime but most common is that it either just skips whole FMV automatically or shuts down with blinking red LED

 

[sandungas]

Im wondering if is a common problem that nobody reported before... mostly because only happens at the end of the game, and as you mentioned it can be bypassed just by trying again
I dont think is a problem of your console or the firmware, most probably is the game

Maybe is posible to fix it by using a CONFIG, i suggest to report it here https://www.psx-place.com/threads/compatibility-list-ps2-on-ps3.1306/page-155
And provide a save close to the point where the problem happens, this way other people can try to replicate it

I could move your post to that thread but better dont because im not completly sure if is a problem of the game... we will see

 

[finalantun2020]

Im wondering if is a common problem that nobody reported before... mostly because only happens at the end of the game, and as you mentioned it can be bypassed just by trying again
I dont think is a problem of your console or the firmware, most probably is the game

Maybe is posible to fix it by using a CONFIG, i suggest to report it here https://www.psx-place.com/threads/compatibility-list-ps2-on-ps3.1306/page-155
And provide a save close to the point where the problem happens, this way other people can try to replicate it

I could move your post to that thread but better dont because im not completly sure if is a problem of the game... we will see

Thanks, i will post my .PSV save file tomorrow there and here in this thread just in case

Since i finished the game i have the whole ending unlocked in the FMV gallery so anyone who test doesnt even have to do any gameplay as FMV is accesible directly from the main menu gallery option.

I was afraid it was hardware issue cause it wasnt just blinkig red LED, it shows yellow for second or two then turns off and blinks red so i tought my ps3 will be another victim of damn YLOD but the fact that i can play the game for hours and that sometimes instade of crashing game just skips the cutscene automatically gives me hope that its just a game issue or just maybe my hard drive having bad sectors (since my iso MD5 matches redump site MD5)

 

[sandungas]

I played it years ago but i dont remember how many "videos" have the game, by reading your post im guessing there is a video at the ending, and this is where it crashes randomly

And i just imagined another video that probably exists (most games have it, usually is codenamed "attract")
Try to start the game, and dont do anything with the controller, just stay inactive for some minutes (more than 2 minutes but less than 5 minutes) in the "PRESS START" screen
By doing that the game should play a video... if the problem is related with a video codec it should crash the console randomly too

Actually, you can drop the controller and the game is going to play the video several times consecutivelly
2 minutes inactive in PRESS START ---> autoplay video ---> 2 minutes inactive in PRESS START ---> autoplay video... and so on in a infinite loop

 

[finalantun2020]

I played it years ago but i dont remember how many "videos" have the game, by reading your post im guessing there is a video at the ending, and this is where it crashes randomly

And i just imagined another video that probably exists (most games have it, usually is codenamed "attract")
Try to start the game, and dont do anything with the controller, just stay inactive for some minutes (more than 2 minutes but less than 5 minutes) in the "PRESS START" screen
By doing that the game should play a video... if the problem is related with a video codec it should crash the console randomly too

Actually, you can drop the controller and the game is going to play the video several times consecutivelly
2 minutes inactive in PRESS START ---> autoplay video ---> 2 minutes inactive in PRESS START ---> autoplay video... and so on in a infinite loop

Most of cutscenes are realtime but there are quite a few videos including the intro to the game, you can recognize if its a video or realtime as video is almost always blurier and compression artifacts are visible (at least on my 29 HD CRT, i have not tested on my 4k 50inch tv as i perfer to play old games on CRT but i belive compression artifacts would be visible on modern tv too unless it uses some sort of AI to celan up image)

One more way to see if cutscene is realtime or video is to watch HDD LED, during realtime cutscenes it blinks from time to time as its probably reading audio assets but during videos it blinks very dim but super fast as its streaming video file

All other videos during the game worked fine and leaving the game on start screen just loops whole intro video that is played when you start new game, i just left it looping for 15 minutes and absolutley no issue, i also downloaded 100% complete save file from some website that has both endings unlocked (game has two endings and so far i only unlocked one) and i tired playing other ending and that video works just fine too, its only that one video thats causing issues

Perhaps its due to lenght, i think that video that is crashing for me is the longes prerendered cutscene in the game as the ending cutscene AND the credits are in same video file and epiloge after credits is sepreate video file

Since game sometimes skips ending/credits video right to the epiloge (the game skips it by itself, not the emulator i think) maybe that means that game has an error in that file and that error is maybe on all discs so that maybe why redump MD5 matches my iso but is sitll causing problems, after all during one test run i did get those corrupted video artifacts instade of crash at exact point where it crashes most of the time...