GoWR Doesn't start after installing PlayStation SDK 3.0+

[Tchelo]

Upon inspecting the installation files

installscript.vdf

and

install_pspc_sdk_runtime.bat

, I noticed an explicit call for version 2.50. The game likely fails because it cannot locate the correct SDK version or there is a version conflict., It’s unclear if GOWR is fully compatible with SDK version 3.0+. If you’ve tried and it worked, please share your results!

Additional Findings:

To troubleshoot, I deleted the SDK folders located at:

C:\ProgramData\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22

which contained different SDK versions, including:

C:\ProgramData\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22\2.50.00.10

After deleting these folders, I launched God of War Ragnarok, and it worked as expected. The game automatically reinstalled SDK 2.50, and everything ran fine.
However, after launching the game, I noticed that the SDK automatically updated itself and created a new directory:

C:\ProgramData\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22\3.50.00.11

This new version (SDK 3.50) is not referenced in

installscript.vdf

or

install_pspc_sdk_runtime.bat

, which suggests it might be overriding the manually installed version.

Once this update occurred, closing and reopening the game no longer worked. Upon checking the Task Manager, I noticed that the game was now attempting to use SDK 3.50 instead of SDK 2.50, which prevents it from launching.

---

Has anyone else experienced this issue or found a workaround for preventing the SDK from auto-updating and breaking compatibility? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Tchelo]

Temporary Workaround: Disabling SDK Auto-Update

I found a temporary fix that prevents the PlayStation SDK from updating and breaking the game.

Here’s what I did:

• Delete all SDK versions except for version 2.50 , which is referenced in the game’s installation scripts.
  
• Go to the SDK 2.50 folder:
  

  C:\ProgramData\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22\2.50.00.10

  
  
• Rename the file

  PsPcSdkUpdateChecker.exe

  to something else (e.g.,

  PsPcSdkUpdateChecker.exe.bak

  ) to disable automatic updates.

After doing this, I tested the game for a few minutes, and it launched without issues or crashes.

Important Note:
- I am not logged into PlayStation Network , so I don’t know if this affects users who require PSN login.
- This is just a temporary workaround, and long-term stability is unknown.

---

If anyone else tries this method, please share your results!

[tessaro]

Didnt work for me. :(

[Tchelo]

Originally posted by tessaro:

Didnt work for me. :(

I’ve noticed that there are multiple issues causing God of War Ragnarok to fail at launch. The workaround I described seems to specifically help users experiencing the following problem:

✔️ *Game does not open at all when launched from Steam.

---

✔️ *Steam shows the game as "Playing" indefinitely, but no window appears.*

---

✔️ *The only way to stop the game is by force-closing it through Task Manager or Steam.

---

If you are facing this exact issue, the problem might be related to an incompatible version of the PlayStation PC SDK. The game could be trying to use a version it wasn’t designed for, preventing it from launching.

[Karst]

sadly this didn't work for me either.

[Saiyan Dogwater]

Didn't work for me either unfortunately. Been looking forward to getting back into the game and finally finishing it, but guess Sony had different plans the last few weeks.

[Sir Danglefrögge]

My game's performance has been gradually tanking since Patch 8 Hotfix 1. Made a few posts about it here.

And now I'm thinking PSN SDK, even though I'm not logged in, is the culprit.

[laughing]

Okay, so I figured out a way to get this working after struggling for the past couple of days. I had a feeling that it was using the Windows SDK based on the dll files, so I installed it first.

1. Download the Windows SDK [developer.microsoft.com]
   
2. Install the SDK.

Now for the PSPC sdk, every time the game has an update I have had to this in the past:

1. In file explorer, go to: %PROGRAMDATA% (you can just copy and paste that into the address bar)
   
2. Delete the "Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc" folder
   
3. Navigate to the game directory and run "install_pspc_sdk_runtime.bat"
   
4. Then launch the game.

Every time you run the game, the latest PSPC SDK downloads in the background, which just doesn't seem to work with game. Right now this seems to be version 3.52.00.01. You have to delete this from the "%PROGRAMDATA%\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22" directory before you start the game each time. It seems that "installscript.vdf" currently outlines the use of "PlayStation SDK 2.50". Not really sure if that's the culprit and not sure if we can change that line due to the key signature in the same file. I don't really want to dig into it further.

Installing the Windows SDK worked for me on the latest update. This really needs to be fixed. Let me know if that helps, I'm sure there are more potential problems waiting to be discovered with the PlayStation SDK. It's constantly punishing me for paying for the game.

[Quandale Dinglenut]

Originally posted by laughing:

Okay, so I figured out a way to get this working after struggling for the past couple of days. I had a feeling that it was using the Windows SDK based on the dll files, so I installed it first.

1. Download the Windows SDK [developer.microsoft.com]
   
2. Install the SDK.

Now for the PSPC sdk, every time the game has an update I have had to this in the past:

1. In file explorer, go to: %PROGRAMDATA% (you can just copy and paste that into the address bar)
   
2. Delete the "Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc" folder
   
3. Navigate to the game directory and run "install_pspc_sdk_runtime.bat"
   
4. Then launch the game.

Every time you run the game, the latest PSPC SDK downloads in the background, which just doesn't seem to work with game. Right now this seems to be version 3.52.00.01. You have to delete this from the "%PROGRAMDATA%\Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc\PSPC_SDK\S22" directory before you start the game each time. It seems that "installscript.vdf" currently outlines the use of "PlayStation SDK 2.50". Not really sure if that's the culprit and not sure if we can change that line due to the key signature in the same file. I don't really want to dig into it further.

Installing the Windows SDK worked for me on the latest update. This really needs to be fixed. Let me know if that helps, I'm sure there are more potential problems waiting to be discovered with the PlayStation SDK. It's constantly punishing me for paying for the game.

This worked for me, thank you for posting!