Out of the blue my MH4U has stopped working when trying to load the game. The ROM format has remained .cci. My Azahar build is 2124.3-vanilla, I have been using this build specifically for 4U. I’ve done various troubleshooting to try and narrow the issue down. Other 3DS Roms run fine. I moved my save data out of the data folder in case it was corrupted but still had the same issue. Disabling texture pack and changing renderer did nothing. Restarting the Thor had no effect. No system updates done since I last played. Might try another vanilla build but worried I will lose my data for Pretendo.
#MH4U stuck on black screen after loading. Was running just fine a few weeks ago. (Ayn Thor)
sharp tide
livid viper
Out of the blue my MH4U has stopped working when trying to load the game. The RO...
Make a second directory, then copy your data over from the azahar user folder and you shouldn't lose anything. I recommend trying the latest build vanilla version.
dim blaze
disable any cheats if you have them enabled. I have seen many people with this exact issue with MH4U because they were using a 60 fps cheat or some other cheat.
livid viper
Sometimes it was the cheat being mismatched with a version. Keep in mind that the cheat is version specific. Also, any dumps from your 3DS do not come with the update pre-applied even if you updated it. You have to dump the update separately and then apply as a CIA install
fossil plinth
I wouldn’t immediately assume this is just a generic “cheat issue”, especially for MH4U.
MH4U already runs at ~60 FPS in many scenarios, and the common tweaks are usually more about stabilizing timing rather than causing hard failures like a black screen on load.
What stands out more here is that it was working before on the same Azahar build. That makes it very unlikely to be a simple “wrong cheat from the start” situation.
A black screen right after loading is typically a renderer initialization problem — something fails when the first frame is set up. From experience, this is often related to:
- rendering state / shader cache
- GPU/driver behavior (especially on Android devices like the Ayn Thor)
- or cheats that modify rendering (e.g. widescreen), which can break depending on context even if they worked before
I’ve run into very similar issues myself, where things suddenly stopped working without changing the emulator version, and it turned out to be rendering-related rather than the game or save.
I’d suggest checking:
- disable all widescreen cheats completely (especially FOV)
- clear shader cache
- switch renderer (OpenGL ↔ Vulkan)
Even without obvious updates, system or driver changes can affect rendering behavior, so that’s also something to keep in mind.
Also, if you’re using custom GPU drivers (e.g. Mesa or similar on Android), it’s worth checking if anything changed there recently — that can directly impact rendering stability.
This kind of issue is usually not the Dump or save, but something in the rendering pipeline failing during initialization.
livid viper
I wouldn’t immediately assume this is just a generic “cheat issue”, especially f...
To be clear, this was said because it happened three times in a row that someone was having issues with this particular game fairly recently.
From what I gather, someone released a guide on how to modernize it or the algorithm made it pop off.
But those are all very good points 🙂↕️
fossil plinth
Yeah that makes sense — if multiple people ran into it recently, I can see why cheats would be the first suspect.
From what I’ve seen though, MH titles tend to expose rendering/state issues pretty quickly, especially with things like widescreen or driver differences. So it’s often a bit more layered than it first looks.
Also, from past experience, when cheats actually are the issue, the behavior usually looks very different. For example, I’ve seen cases where version-mismatched cheats (especially things like no dithering with wrong offsets) ended up corrupting save data — in those situations, the save itself breaks (missing/zeroed data, no proper name/playtime, etc.).
Here it sounds like the game was working fine before and now suddenly fails on load, which points much more towards a rendering/init issue rather than classic cheat corruption.
So while cheats can definitely cause problems, this specific symptom doesn’t really match the typical “wrong cheat” case.
sharp tide
I wouldn’t immediately assume this is just a generic “cheat issue”, especially f...
Thank you for this input, I will try what you suggested before new build and provide any updates on the matter. Is there a shader cache clear option in settings or is it something to dig for in files and delete?
livid viper
Thank you for this input, I will try what you suggested before new build and pro...
Open your file manager app.
Navigate to your ahazar folder. (same folder you put custom textures or etc)
Locate the shader folder.
Delete the vulkan or opengl folder inside to clear the cache.
Restart the emulator and the game.
that should be it
sharp tide
Yeah that makes sense — if multiple people ran into it recently, I can see why c...
Update: deleted shader cache, no luck. Switched from Vulkan to OpenGL no luck. Switched from Turnip driver T24 to System GPU driver and no luck. All cheats disabled, HD textures off and still getting the same issue. Not sure if there's anything else to try except for a more recent vanilla build?
fossil plinth
At this point, the only thing that will help is a log.
sharp tide
it seems that the log does shed some light on MH4U but I'm not sure I understand what's missing/causing the errors.