How to fix Suspend/Resume w/ GTA V (PS4+XB1)

[X S]

The Issue:

 

Let me start off by saying, this problem does not affect everyone. This is simply a solution for those of you who may have been experiencing empty lobbies, time-outs and network errors.

 

Ever since the release of GTA V on Xbox One, connecting to GTA online has been less than optimal. Many players have been experiencing time-outs, network errors, and empty lobbies. However, after a few months of trial and error, and searching the depths of Google for answers, I've finally been able to isolate the culprit. At first, it seemed as if this problem only occurred on Xbox One, but that was until PS4 recently implemented a suspend/resume feature as of last March. (I own both consoles w/ both versions of GTA V)

 

I assume that many of you have already heard of port forwarding before. But for those of you who haven't, this is the process of opening ports via your router's firmware. The goal of this process is to open your NAT, which stands for 'network address translation'. To further illustrate, let's imagine, for a second, a hallway of doors. Each doorway is locked, and the only way to gain access is to politely knock on each door and request entry, and for those of you who have UPnP enabled on your router, this is essentially what it does. UPnP will automatically request entry to, say for example, port 80 for access. It goes something like this: Knock Knock, “Hey, it’s Mr. Xbox. I need access to port 80, can you please open it?” From here, your router will begin open the necessary ports, thus allowing you to connect to the game servers specified by your console. So what exactly is the problem?

 

Well, the problem is two-fold, at least for GTA V. It has to do with your Suspend/Resume feature being enabled and the failure of your router, coupled with GTA V's programing, in maintaining open ports for proper connections. After a port has been opened, the router will eventually expire the terms of access to these ports; this is simply a security measure. No big deal, right? UPnP will just re-request that port be re-opened upon resuming your game. Yes and no, at least for a handful of games. And herein lies the issue: Only by disabling UPnP, will you have an opportunity to fix this problem. I will explain the solution in further detail below.

 

Placing GTA V in suspend/resume does not work as intended. If you haven’t already noticed, when you play GTA Online, your most recent connection and character-condition are cached, and the only way to wipe this memory is by performing a full console reset. If you do attempt to place GTA V in suspend, however, and then resume the game hours later, the game thinks it’s still connected to the servers/ports. Therefore, when you attempt to enter GTA Online, it fails to reestablish the port connections, and this is why you’re experiencing empty lobbies, time-outs and network errors.

 

Other games, however, will actually disconnect themselves from their own servers. For example, if you place Call of Duty in suspend, you’ll notice that on resume, the game disconnected itself prior to resuming. Upon resuming, it re-requests the ports be opened once again. This process is essentially telling UPnP, “Hey, I know we got disconnected earlier, so I need you to re-open that port.” GTA V is not doing this. GTA V thinks the ports are already open. This is why a cache reset is required to fix the problem.

 

So what’s the long-term solution? Well, until either Rockstar, Microsoft or Sony assumes some responsibility for the problem, chances are it will continue linger. And considering there’s hundreds upon hundreds of different router models, it’s not likely that either company will devote the resources necessary to fixing this issue any time soon. Unfortunately, not all routers are created equal.

 

Therefore, I will provide a few solutions to this problem. One is a fix, and the others are work-arounds.

 

Let’s start with the work-arounds:

 

Hard Resetting

 

Xbox One
Option 1. Hold down the power button for about 10 seconds until the console fully powers down. Then power it back up.
Option 2. Go to Settings > Power & Startup > Restart Now > Yes

 

If you performed it correctly, you should noticed the green boot-up screen.

 

 

PS4
Option 1. Hold down the PS button on your controller. A menu should appear. Choose Power Options > Restart PS4
Option 2. Go to your XMB menu, scroll to the right and select Power > Power Options >Restart PS4
Option 3. Hold down the power button on your console for about 10 seconds until it beeps twice. Then power it back up.

 

 

This will reset your game cache. However, it defeats the purpose of suspend/resume, and therefore you should just turn it off completely. Note: Disabling Suspend/Resume is only available on PS4 at the moment. The option to disable this feature on Xbox One was removed a few months prior. However, you do have the option of turning "Instant-on" mode off, which will completely power down your console every time.

 

Turn off Suspend/Resume (PS4 Only)

1. Go to your XMB menu, select Settings > Power Save Settings > Set Functions Available in Rest Mode > Keep Application Suspended, and uncheck that option.

 

The Solution:

The main culprit here is UPnP, and it’s not that your router might be defective; it's just that GTA V is bugged w/ UPnP enabled. Personally, I have a “smart” router fully capable of handling multiple devices requesting ports simultaneously, and still experience these issues. So like most of you, I’m sure you’ve already gone forward and attempted to forward your ports and continued to experience problems.

 

With that said, all routers are not created equal, so this process will be slightly different for everyone. However, the basic premise of this process remains the same.

 

Establishing a Static IP

 

Xbox One

1. Go to Settings > Network > Advanced Settings
2. Choose an IP address for your Xbox One. This will remain the same at all times. For example, I chose 192.168.1.130.
3. Enter your Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS’s. All of this information can be extracted from your router’s setup page.
4. Now return to the Network settings and select “Test Multiplayer Connection”.
5. Once that’s finished, you’ll receive a message that your connection is good, but don’t back out just yet.
6. Hold down LT, RT, LB and RB on this screen.
7. Another screen should now appear displaying detailed NAT info
8. If you are behind a “cone NAT”, you’re in good hands, but if it says otherwise, don’t worry. We will address the NAT issue later.

 

PS4

1. Go to XMB menu, Settings > Network > Set Up Internet Connection > Use WiFi/LAN > Custom > Manual
2. Choose an IP address for your PS4. This will remain the same at all times. For example, I chose 192.168.1.131.
3. Enter your Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS’s. All of this information can be extracted from your router’s setup page.
4. Set MTU to Automatic
5. Do Not Use a Proxy Server
6. Test Internet Connection
7. Just make sure you can connect to PSN at this point. We will address the NAT types later.

 

Configuring your Router

1. Enter your router number into your browser’s address box. This is usually “192.169.1.1”.
2. Consult with your router’s manual, and determine how to add your console’s new IP to the DHCP reservation table. In order to do this, you may need to have your console’s MAC address handy.
3. Once you’ve established your console’s IP in the router’s DHCP reservations, look for your UPnP settings. If your router supports it, turn it off.
4. Now you need to forward the ports necessary on your console. Below is a list of the standard 1^st party ports used, as well as one or two other ports being used by Rockstar. I usually set these ports in both directions, UDP & TCP.

Xbox One

80, 53, 88, 3074, 500, 3544, 4500

PS4

80, 443, 465, 983, 3478-3480, 3658, 5223, 6000-7000, 9293, 10070-10080, 9306-9308, 1935

If you own more than one console, you will need to port trigger the shared ports, ie. Xbox One and PS4’s port 80.

 

Placing your console under a DMZ

 

The final option is to place your console under a DMZ. This is an easier way of forwarding ports on your console without the need of manually inputting each port. This is probably more useful to those of you with more than one console. Here, one of the consoles can be placed within a DMZ and the other manually port forwarded.

 

When this process is complete, you need to confirm your NAT type by performing another network test.

 

Final Network Test

 

Xbox One

1. Go to Settings > Network > Test Multiplayer Connection
2. Upon completion, hold down LB, RB, LT and RT
3. You should receive an Open NAT labeled “cone NAT”

 

PS4

1. Go to XMB menu, select Settings > Network > Test Internet Connection
2. You should receive a NAT Type 2

 

NAT Specifics

 

Xbox One

Your NAT should be behind a “cone NAT”. If you’re still receiving a status such as port-symmetrical, address-restricted or port-restricted, you may be doing something incorrectly, as these are Moderate NAT types.

 

PS4

Your NAT should be behind either a Type 2 or Type 1 NAT. PlayStation is very opaque about their NAT types, so determining the level of restrictions on your current NAT can be a bit tricky. Although a Type 2 NAT is considered “moderate”, this could simply mean your console is behind a router. Therefore, you really need to play some trial and error with your game connections to really get an idea of how well your NAT is working. The only way to achieve a Type 1 NAT is by plugging your console directly into your modem, and also, as some others have claimed, by placing it under a DMZ.

 

When all is complete, and your NAT is open, your Suspend/Resume feature should now work as intended. Again, I wrote up this guide for people who are experiencing these problems, so for those of you who feel the need to tell us your copy of GTA V is working fine, spare us please.

 

 

 

 

But to all the rest….. Enjoy!

Edited April 17, 2015 by X S

[SRTTURBO4]

This should be stickied.

[krouzer]

Thank you intrsting information but I have ps 3 and xbox 360 will it work the same settings as ps4 and xbox one

[Ai®a©ob®a]

i already posted this a few days ago but this gives a lot more info.

[X S]

Oh, sorry. I didn't see that Troubadour. It just so happened that I had to help someone else through this issue a few days ago, and I wanted to put together in the Help Section to end this issue once and for all.

 

 

Thank you intrsting information but I have ps 3 and xbox 360 will it work the same settings as ps4 and xbox one

 

UPnP should work fine with Xbox 360 and PS3 because there's no suspend/resume features on there. Enable it, if you want, and that should open your NAT. If it still doesn't work, then yes, you can still go about opening your ports manually. Just do a quick Google search on the ports needed for those consoles.

Edited April 14, 2015 by X S

[Hellsscope]

This does not help disconnection issues on PC.

 

I have all ports forwarded and upnp disabled. Still get disconnected from online every few minutes.

[DBrasco]

Coincidentally I seem to have fixed my recent connection issues by actually turning UPnp on. It was turned off by default on my router but I hadn't experienced connection issues until the latest patch. Even with those issues I still had NAT type 2. At first I tried port forwarding manually, but making a static ip somehow gave me NAT type 3 and it didn't solve it. Then I put my PS4 in DMZ, which did solve the issue even though I still had NAT type 3. Obviously this wasn't an ideal solution so then I tried only turning on UPnp after reading that it was basically automatic port forwarding.

Edited April 16, 2015 by DBrasco

[X S]

This does not help disconnection issues on PC.

 

I have all ports forwarded and upnp disabled. Still get disconnected from online every few minutes.

 

This tutorial is not for PC. In fact, you shouldn't need to forward anything on PC these days. As long as you have access to a standard port 80 HTTP protocol on your PC, there should be no reason why you cannot connect.

 

 

Coincidentally I seem to have fixed my recent connection issues by actually turning UPnp on. It was turned off by default on my router but I hadn't experienced connection issues until the latest patch. Even with those issues I still had NAT type 2. At first I tried port forwarding manually, but making a static ip somehow gave me NAT type 3 and it didn't solve it. Then I put my PS4 in DMZ, which did solve the issue even though I still had NAT type 3. Obviously this wasn't an ideal solution so then I tried only turning on UPnp after reading that it was basically automatic port forwarding.

 

Interesting. From experience, I have noticed that sometimes it comes down to the router. For example, I once had an old Linksys router prior to my newer Netgear 6200, and I had all of the ports set up correctly. Even when I placed my console under a DMZ, I was still receiving a moderate NAT. Then I purchased the Netgear, and voila, the NAT was suddenly open. So a lot of these issues do come about because of the router.

 

But good to hear you found a solution though.

Edited April 16, 2015 by X S

[poppafewpills]

Nicely compiled post, thanks !!!

[Hellsscope]

 

This does not help disconnection issues on PC.

 

I have all ports forwarded and upnp disabled. Still get disconnected from online every few minutes.

 

This tutorial is not for PC. In fact, you shouldn't need to forward anything on PC these days. As long as you have access to a standard port 80 HTTP protocol on your PC, there should be no reason why you cannot connect.

 

Yet thousands of players can't connect to online for PC, or like me can connect but get disconnected within minutes.

[X S]

Yet thousands of players can't connect to online for PC, or like me can connect but get disconnected within minutes.

 

Then it sounds like PC is experiencing overloaded server issues. Console players are quite familiar with this, and there's really nothing you can do about it until the traffic subsides. I believe there's what? Over 50,000 players trying to log on to GTA Online for PC right now, or maybe even more? Gonna need to ride this one out unfortunately.

 

Similar reports:

https://downdetector.com/status/gta5

[SRTTURBO4]

Looks like the PC Master Race is having console issues too! LMFAO!

 

Oh the irony......

 

R* is world famous for having the most unstable and easily overloaded servers ever.lol

 

Did Apple make these servers? iCrash.

Edited April 16, 2015 by SRTTURBO4

[j0nt45]

How do you fix it on PC? Ive done everything i can... see video

[X S]

How do you fix it on PC? Ive done everything i can... see video

 

The reason why I said earlier that port forwarding should not be necessary is because most PC games have dedicated servers, and I'm pretty sure GTA V has them. With that, you should only need a standard internet connection to port 80 to connect. Whereas, P2P connections on consoles require specific ports to be open in order to connect to other players.

[krouzer]

Hi X S

I did all the instructions that you recommended but to foreword the ps3 ports it's a bit confusing I found lots of typs of ports numbers I keep trying them out but I'm not sure witch the real ones I experiencing less players leaving times but I get empty setion I play a mission or tow when I comeback players are ther and I get time outs allot I end up rebooting every thing works for some times after waisting half a hour to 45 mn I have not have this problems befor but would you please give me the right ports for ps3 TCP / UDP witch ones witch and the right an idiot wolk throw to klear the cach of the PS 3 I'm experimenting triel and error until li I get it working the ironic thing that I did not have this confusion and stress befor the new update

[X S]

Hi X S

I did all the instructions that you recommended but to foreword the ps3 ports it's a bit confusing I found lots of typs of ports numbers I keep trying them out but I'm not sure witch the real ones I experiencing less players leaving times but I get empty setion I play a mission or tow when I comeback players are ther and I get time outs allot I end up rebooting every thing works for some times after waisting half a hour to 45 mn I have not have this problems befor but would you please give me the right ports for ps3 TCP / UDP witch ones witch and the right an idiot wolk throw to klear the cach of the PS 3 I'm experimenting triel and error until li I get it working the ironic thing that I did not have this confusion and stress befor the new update

 

What I've come to realize is that you're either setting up the port forwarding incorrectly, or that you have set it up correctly but didn't turn off UPnP. This guide is for people experiencing issues with Suspend/Resume on Xbox One and PS4, but since the same rules for port forwarding also apply to Xbox 360 and PS3, I'll try and guide you through this one.

 

You're going to want to set up a Static IP on your PS3 first. Use this walkthrough: http://portforward.com/networking/staticip-ps3-playstation-3.htm

 

When that's complete, you're going to want to forward the following ports in both directions (UDP & TCP): 5223, 3478, 3479, 3658

 

Remember to turn off UPnP on your router. NAT types will be similar to PS4, so you're going to want to achieve a Type 2 NAT. If you want to clear the cache on PS3, I don't recommend doing this more than once. To do so, XMB > Game > Game Data Utility > GTA V > Delete the Update info file (the smaller file). From here, the game will re-install it upon re-opening the game.

Edited April 17, 2015 by X S

[krouzer]

I already set up a statc ip and I kept playing with UPnp on and of and I did the hold the pour button for tha three bibs take me to a menu with the restart system but for som rison I'm not convinced that the cach wase cleared from the system maybe I wase dowing some thing wrong and I have NAT type 2 MDZ is active I thing the tric is on the right ports I even tryed the ports on R* support site that they recommended

Ps: thank you for your pation and your help it's very interesting stuff and challenging

[krouzer]

Other thing what do I use for DNS prim / scon I have Seen som wher can be set up Prim: 8888 and Secon: 8844 or do I keep it to automatic

[X S]

You can set it to Automatic if you'd like, but if all else fails, it could be your router. I had similar problems and ended up having to upgrade my router.

[ericNascimento]

Really helpful article, thanks.