(PS3) Possible ARC size issue. Any ideas how to solve it?

[Impaler]

Hello guys,

I was going weeks now importing new attires to existing PS3 WWE 2K14 chracters by taking their updated models from 2K15-16-17 and importing them back to 2K14.

All was going fine and well but after a couple of weeks of this joy I believe I came to this problem known as ARC size limit. Game freezes once you launch it with WWE logo spinning indefinitely.

For example I was able to import new characters without a hitch until my ARC size became this:

regular - 184,444 bytes
4x3 - 184,428 bytes

I fortunately made backups every now and then and I decided not to import a couple of characters which made arc size below what I've written. Game works. I know that I made no mistakes when preparing a pac file. I add one more - and its back to freezing.

But things is that I've read that arc size limit is like 186 KB! Any my computer when I view properties says my regular arc is:

Size: 180 KB (184,444 bytes)

Size on disk: 184 KB (188,416 bytes)

so how is it exactly? am I going over the limit here?

I tried looking up the @Red Rooster tutorial about removing Create a belt feature. I'm fine with getting rid of it.

But once I load up my PS3 arc in hex editor his tutorial becomes off because the ending part where cutting happens is not found in the PS3 arc file. Though I tried looking for the familiar patterns all over this and I did cut it like this:

but it still did not work

any ideas guys @stlpowercat, @Red Rooster, @UndertakerWLF, @Andy, @kim666, @LordBarker, @Mathayus?

 

[Red Rooster]

Im not sure what you mean by "his tutorial becomes off because the ending part where cutting happens" Your arc looks the same as the one in my example, you need to cut everything from CABT until just before CART then remove the entries from the def.

Your arc doesnt have the H before CART because obviously the PS3 has a different amount of arc entries, in my example CART had a hex ID of 48 which a on the text side looks like an H, your CART has an ID of 78 which looks like an x, no big deal. My CABT has an ID of 3B  and yours has an ID of 6B so it makes sense that the end is different.

 

The problem is you are just trying to follow my tutorial without an understanding of what you are actually doing, the arc on Xbox and the arc on PS3 are obviously slightly different but the principal remains the same.

The arc contains information about the PACH files that are in the game, the def contains information about the PAC files in the game, you need to remove both otherwise the game will crash.

The point of this exercise is to prevent the game from looking for the files in the CAB folder, CART is the first pach file in the CAR folder thats why we stop just before that.

Once you remove all those arc entries and the corresponding def entries, start up the game and test that it works, in theory it should work fine, if the def entries arent there then the game wont look for the arc entries.

 

 

[Impaler]

Perhaps I did not express myself properly there. I have meant no disrespect whatsoever @Red Rooster Just pointed out that it is simply different from what PS3's arcs look like.

And believe it or not I got the idea behind this edit and what it should do.

However I have tried this method the way I have shown in the screenshots and the game does not load, so in short it does not work, might be a matter on a single character somewhere. And as of writing this post here I had an idea what to try out next. Will report back in 4 hours.

There's a saying in my country "The morning is smarter/wiser than the evening". Will see if its true in this case.

[Red Rooster]

I didnt mean to come across like I was disrespected, all I was saying is that in order to do what it is you are trying to do, you need an understanding of what you are trying to do.

Sometimes from your questions I get the feeling that you are just blindly following the guides rather than using the type of lateral thinking that is required to make some of this stuff work. If I got the wrong end of the stick then I apologize.

Did you edit the def? You havent mentioned it but Im assuming you have. Try just editing the def and seeing if you can get the game to load. I should still load with the CAB def stuff removed. If you can get that to work then you know the problem is arc related. 

It definitely wont work the other way around, if the def entries are there then the arc entries have to be there otherwise you will get a crash 

 

 

[Impaler]

Its all okay @Red Rooster  we're all good.

yes, I edited arc/def even in both game and games folders.

Where I think I went wrong I did not delete the extra 00 6B before the CABT in the first screenshot. This should realy work now.

Also do you know any more methods how to reduce ARC even more. I've read on forums about removal of WrestleMania mode which I could also say goodbye to easily. Create a finisher and Create an arena should have to stay. Even story designer could go away I think.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Impaler

[Red Rooster]

Removing 30yoWM will give you a little bit more arc, also removing Create an Arena. 

I have also removed the female parts from CAW mode for a little bit more but thats about it.

[Impaler]

OOooohhh YYeeeeeeah (in Macho's voice)!

The fix worked! I'm back in the game!

I had to cut at the beginning 00 6B. Which was exactly written like that in your tut from the beginning.

This is the revised version:

The non-stop modding for 8 hours straight yesterday from early morning until I ran into this issue caused some lack of focus apparently later on when I was reading the tut trying to solve this. Also what threw me of that you did not highlight these first 4 characters in your screenshot.

However all is well that ends well! Back to adding attires!

Edited June 4, 2018 by Impaler

[Red Rooster]

I didnt highlight anything but CABT in the screenshot, reading for the win.