GTA IV for PC (official)

[Sethos]

There is one major reason why I don't accept that "Future PC" excuse - Why the hell does the game look better on those, let's be honest, gimped computers called Consoles? Shadows look so much better, view distance is great and it's running native 720p ( Well, on the 360 ) - Why the hell can't a computer with 4-5x the power run the same specs at a decent frame rate? It has poor optimization written all over it and Rockstar really need to pull their **** together.

[loli Pro]

i have no idea how to make the fps above 30 while i'm on a street...

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Supposedly, this is a PC screenshot of GTA IV. Why do the shadows look better? Beats me. It even looks like AA has been applied.

[Sethos]

Because it has obviously been tampered with or runs a different version, perhaps even a console shot.

Can never trust official screenshots

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Because it has obviously been tampered with or runs a different version, perhaps even a console shot.

Can never trust official screenshots

I guess we learnt that lesson the hard way. I bought GTA IV for the PC assuming it would look and run better. Boy was I wrong.

[Pupik]

Supposedly, this is a PC screenshot of GTA IV. Why do the shadows look better? Beats me. It even looks like AA has been applied.

Maybe it's karma. This guy seems to be running the game with great performance, while some people with greater rigs can't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Zdnek3UaM

[Sethos]

This is the reason why I started to back away from PC gaming, so many decent games these days suffer from porting issues and lazy developers. Granted my games does run fine, I could still be one of the unlucky ones. Last time I bought and messed around with a PC game was Crysis, we all know the story about that one.

No wonder why the PC scene isn't getting much love these days :/

[J400uk]

Mine has been working better recently - its now playable with medium graphics at 1920 x 1080. The new 8.12 ATI driver made a world of difference, only problem now is some shadows still appear a little 'meshy'. I'm hoping with the hopefully forthcomming patch, and my new Core i7 Dell XPS things should further improve.

[Richard Hammond]

Maybe it's karma. This guy seems to be running the game with great performance, while some people with greater rigs can't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Zdnek3UaM

Nah if you render a video using the video clip function it plays back really smooth, i get 20odd fps but rendered a video out to 720p wmv and it plays smooth.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Maybe it's karma. This guy seems to be running the game with great performance, while some people with greater rigs can't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Zdnek3UaM

That person is using a Q6600 OC'd to 3.9 GHz, 6GB of RAM, and an HD 4850. It isn't surprising that it can run the game decently. The question is: What settings does he/she play at to make it run reasonably well? I have an E6750, 4GB of RAM, and an HD 4870. I get about 31 fps @ 1680x1050 (medium settings).

This is the reason why I started to back away from PC gaming, so many decent games these days suffer from porting issues and lazy developers. Granted my games does run fine, I could still be one of the unlucky ones. Last time I bought and messed around with a PC game was Crysis, we all know the story about that one.

No wonder why the PC scene isn't getting much love these days :/

I think we should put away our pitchforks and fire for now, so to speak. Wait for the patch and official drivers from ATI/NVIDIA. If the performance issues and bugs are still there, then lay the game to waste.

Mine has been working better recently - its now playable with medium graphics at 1920 x 1080. The new 8.12 ATI driver made a world of difference, only problem now is some shadows still appear a little 'meshy'. I'm hoping with the hopefully forthcomming patch, and my new Core i7 Dell XPS things should further improve.

You're using the beta version of Catalyst 8.12 right? I can't find the final release on AMD's website yet. I'm tempted to use that driver but I always stay away from beta drivers. They're a disaster waiting to happen.

[J400uk]

8.12 got leaked, I too usualy stay away from beta drivers but was desperate to play gta iv.

[CY:G]

8.12 got leaked, I too usualy stay away from beta drivers but was desperate to play gta iv.

8.12 do nothing for me, i was able to get it to run at 35fps, which is ok, but then alas, i was in the middle of a mission and then i got RESC10 error, and of course i lost all my progress, im done with it for now, its just a joke that they left errors like that in the final version of the game.

[Sethos]

I think we should put away our pitchforks and fire for now, so to speak. Wait for the patch and official drivers from ATI/NVIDIA. If the performance issues and bugs are still there, then lay the game to waste.

I don't see why we can't demand a working, polished product? This was not released as a Beta test or a free trial - We should demand an optimized game that just works. Why is it PC users always needs to get treated as beta testers? We pay for our games, why do console gamers usually get a product that just works ...

This is a big thumbs down for Rockstar, yes they have time to fix it but won't change our first impression of the game.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

8.12 got leaked, I too usualy stay away from beta drivers but was desperate to play gta iv.

The official 8.12 drivers? :o

I don't see why we can't demand a working, polished product? This was not released as a Beta test or a free trial - We should demand an optimized game that just works. Why is it PC users always needs to get treated as beta testers? We pay for our games, why do console gamers usually get a product that just works ...

This is a big thumbs down for Rockstar, yes they have time to fix it but won't change our first impression of the game.

I understand your frustration, trust me. I almost felt robbed after playing the game. The unfortunate thing is we can't get a refund so why dwell on how poorly optimized the game is? It's better to hope for the best. I sincerely hope a patch + optimized drivers will deliver a better GTA IV gaming experience.

[(Spork)]

14 gig download is just ****ing nuts

the install has to be pushing close to 20 gigs i would guess

Edited December 7, 2008 by (Spork)

[betasp]

Would everyone feel better if they renamed "medium" to "high"? Heck, would you feel better if they called it ultra? What about "your graphics card makes your penis larger"? Would that make you feel better?

I want games that push systems. It is not about the settings, but how it looks. Crysis looked 50% better at medium that almost all other games on high (or ultra, or OMG your penis is so large). The same can be said about GTA.

[Elliot B.]

Would everyone feel better if they renamed "medium" to "high"? Heck, would you feel better if they called it ultra? What about "your graphics card makes your penis larger"? Would that make you feel better?

I want games that push systems. It is not about the settings, but how it looks. Crysis looked 50% better at medium that almost all other games on high (or ultra, or OMG your penis is so large). The same can be said about GTA.

Not really...

[brentaal]

The same can be said about GTA.

O'rly?

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,669264/...rements/?page=2

That's 50% better than all other games? O.o

[Elliot B.]

O'rly?

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,669264/...rements/?page=2

That is bull.

[Blackhearted]

The game runs acceptably for me and I have a Q6700 with a 4870 512 and 4GB of Ram.

This game runs better than most people say I think. Even sill, it will be much better when optimised graphic drivers are released and the game is patched up. Im not 100% happy with the way this game runs but I know that this happens and I know it can (and will) be improved. People need to stop moaning about every little thing that makes them unhappy. And why not accept the "designed for a computer that is in the future" excuse, Crysis had the same reason?

So this is something that's been bugging me with new games left and right.

Basically, Why are more and more developers relying on GPU manufacturers to do the work of optimizing their games for them? Are they that lazy(or perhaps incompetent) that they can't do it on their own anymore? A game should be able to run fine from the day it's released, not only when new drivers are made specifically for it.

[Mieky242]

So this is something that's been bugging me with new games left and right.

Basically, Why are more and more developers relying on GPU manufacturers to do the work of optimizing their games for them? Are they that lazy(or perhaps incompetent) that they can't do it on their own anymore? A game should be able to run fine from the day it's released, not only when new drivers are made specifically for it.

I doubt its laziness or incompetence, more likely pressure from publishers or internal targets. If the game works well with a new patch AND new drivers then why moan about it? I mean its not perfect for me either but I don't expect everything to be.

Also don't compare this to a console release, its a completely different scenario. Consoles have all the same hardware so developing and testing it is pretty simple. PCs on the other hand have an unlimited combination of hardware and software making testing a very difficult game indeed.

[Samn9]

I notice very little difference between different settings of texture, rendering and shadow density.

Pressing 'P' while in game will add a slight blur, removing many jaggies and making the game look much more cinematic.

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

I've been playing it today and so far I've managed to tweak it for the better. Still lacks FSAA and a desperate need to solve the texture pop in issue on HIGH settings.

Screens + more info here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthrea...=1#post13044114

[Sethos]

After I updated to the latest nVidia Beta drivers, my In-game graphic settings keep resetting each time I start the game - Anyone else had that problem?

[Elliot B.]

After I updated to the latest nVidia Beta drivers, my In-game graphic settings keep resetting each time I start the game - Anyone else had that problem?

Me (Y) Doubt it's driver related, though.