GTA IV for PC (official)

[Sethos]

And people really wonder why the PC scene is slowly descending into a pit of crap and moss.

[Elliot B.]

And people really wonder why the PC scene is slowly descending into a pit of crap and moss.

Exactly. We pay more for the system and get less get less quality games (in general! - some stand out as the best)

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

While I'm amazed that GTA4 runs as well as it does on my system, there's no denying it's a quick port.

Especially since it still has console orientated messages appear.

[Elliot B.]

While I'm amazed that GTA4 runs as well as it does on my system, there's no denying it's a quick port.

Especially since it still has console orientated messages appear.

What like?

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

The one thing that stands out to me is "Saving, Please don't turn off your system", that's mainly a console thing (since they're instant off), the default on every single computer I've used that's been made in the last decade is a soft off, you press the power button and the OS turns the computer off (closing down GTA4 cleanly)

The message only applies to people who have modified the default settings (ideally they'd know enough to not then turn off while writing stuff to disk) or console users.

Or not, I don't know, it's annoying me for some reason though.

Edit: And it shows so quickly in most cases that by the time you'd even reach the power button it'd be finished.

[Elliot B.]

The one thing that stands out to me is "Saving, Please don't turn off your system", that's mainly a console thing (since they're instant off), the default on every single computer I've used that's been made in the last decade is a soft off, you press the power button and the OS turns the computer off (closing down GTA4 cleanly)

The message only applies to people who have modified the default settings (ideally they'd know enough to not then turn off while writing stuff to disk) or console users.

Or not, I don't know, it's annoying me for some reason though.

Edit: And it shows so quickly in most cases that by the time you'd even reach the power button it'd be finished.

I saw that but I don't believe it's a console reference. PCs are systems are they not? Can anyone check what the console versions say? It will either be 'console' or 'system'

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

Mine is running almost perfect now, at least a constant 30fps (which is very smooth with vsync on)!

1920x1200 with these settings

Looks really good too: http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/games/gta4/solidsettings/

The shadows is what I think drops the fps the most, from 1 to 0 is 7fps difference alone and the only visual difference I notice is that you have dynamic shadows from car headlights on people and objects at night. Characters still have their own shadows during daytime etc.

I like night time dynamic shadows so chose to keep it on 1 which I found to be a good compromise between visual quality and performance.

It's probably not worth having vehicle density much higher than shown because I found traffic builds up quickly and making a swift getaway in a pinch-situation is very hard because there's so many cars hogging the lanes! (this setting has little impact on FPS I found also, dual core users may find otherwise).

I just noticed the shadow dithering, IIRC As a recent article suggested it's probably because the shadows are directly ported from the console version which was designed for 720p so upscaled on PC at much sharper detail the dithering occurs - not a problem in motion as you won't notice it :)

Another thing I really like that I noticed tonight was that each pedestrian is unique. I stole a car and drove around the corner only for someone to shout out "HEY! BOBBY'S CAR!!" :D

I ALSO noticed :

- That car interior lights go on and off when the doors are opened :D

- That when you leave the car door open at night or with lights on the drivers side goes *BONG BONG BONG!* :D

- That you can baseball bat mailboxes and letters go flying everywhere :D

- That rusty manked up cars also have alarms, these alarms sound rusty and manky too!

- That you can KILL A MAN by merely throwing Ketchup tubes at him in the cafe!

The more I play the more neat little things I discover, things that each time you discover them begin to forget that there are graphical bugs and performance issues at higher slider settings and just appreciate a super fun game world!

Now I'm happy :)

[alphaomegainfinity]

The one thing that stands out to me is "Saving, Please don't turn off your system", that's mainly a console thing (since they're instant off),

AFAIK, it was also there in Bioshock's saving system.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

mrk: I'll give those settings a try. So far I've overclocked my E6750 to 3.2 GHz and added an additional 4GB of RAM. This time around, the game better run good.

By the way, has anyone tried the game on a Core i7 system?

[Samn9]

To add motion blur, depth of field and reduce the graininess of shadows and aliasing press 'P'.

I hated it at first, couldn't imagine playing without it on now though.

[pyehac]

I ALSO noticed :

- That car interior lights go on and off when the doors are opened :D

- That when you leave the car door open at night or with lights on the drivers side goes *BONG BONG BONG!* :D

- That you can baseball bat mailboxes and letters go flying everywhere :D

- That rusty manked up cars also have alarms, these alarms sound rusty and manky too!

- That you can KILL A MAN by merely throwing Ketchup tubes at him in the cafe!

The more I play the more neat little things I discover, things that each time you discover them begin to forget that there are graphical bugs and performance issues at higher slider settings and just appreciate a super fun game world!

Now I'm happy :)

I love the details! However, its gettig too much real life - you have your own 'job', sleep, eat, even go online. I'd LMAO if niko can play a mini GTA version of the game.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

This game is a pile of **** (on the pc), ****star is the new EA, a company to be avoided :( I have been an avid fan of theirs for so long I cannot remember, but now they are just a load of crap :( Fester and die, hopefully like the other company I mentioned.

Edited January 9, 2009 by bmaher
Please don't bypass the swear filter

[Sethos]

This game is a pile of **** (on the pc), ****star is the new EA, a company to be avoided :( I have been an avid fan of theirs for so long I cannot remember, but now they are just a load of crap :( Fester and die, hopefully like the other company I mentioned.

Rockstar will never, ever be anything like EA because Rockstar continuously pump out superior or decent games. A bad port is not going to change that.

Edited January 9, 2009 by bmaher
updated quote

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

I packed up my 4870 512MB this morning (going on sale) and picked up a Zotac GTX 260 (core 216) and OMFG, the game NEVER drops below 30fps now, it's basically butter smooth and on top of that it's using these settings.

And this is how it now looks!

I now take back everything I said about the game performance wise because it no longer applies (for me anyway :D)

WOOT AND WOOTASS!

Now all I need is FSAA and BLAMMO! I'm a super happy bunny :D

On top of that the gfx card came with FarCry2 and 3DMark Vantage Advanced edition, not bad for ?228 (should be able to get ?150 at least for the 487:):)

[Unimatrix Xero]

ive found that the new version of riva tuner now supports the gta.exe and when activated ive found that it really helps smooth out GTA, im not sure if this is a mental feeling, but from what ive seen so far its smoother

[leph555]

well i decided to reformat and install a new copy of Vista last night but i did forget to back up my GTA IV save file. So I am forced to start all over again :(

[Shasoosh]

After a lot of research, tweaks and A LOT of reading on the web i've found that the best solution for us vista users is to dual boot with xp.

I've installed GTAIV on vista and on xp and wow, the difference.

On vista i got 20-24 FPS (choppy, slow, no fun)

On xp i get 35-60 fps (avg of 40, rarely under 30)

you can see my specs on my sig + my cpu is oc to 3.6.

I've uploaded my settings, maybe it will help someone with the same settings :)

[ViperAFK]

After a lot of research, tweaks and A LOT of reading on the web i've found that the best solution for us vista users is to dual boot with xp.

I've installed GTAIV on vista and on xp and wow, the difference.

On vista i got 20-24 FPS (choppy, slow, no fun)

On xp i get 35-60 fps (avg of 40, rarely under 30)

you can see my specs on my sig + my cpu is oc to 3.6.

I've uploaded my settings, maybe it will help someone with the same settings :)

I'm getting 25-45 fps after the patch in vista with my puny non oc'd x2 5600+....I did used to dual boot with xp and noticed no difference in any games so I really doubt it would help at all for me. my traffic density is only 16 though, but then again your processor at 3.6 ghz runs circles around mine.

[Max Veteran]

mrk: I'll give those settings a try. So far I've overclocked my E6750 to 3.2 GHz and added an additional 4GB of RAM. This time around, the game better run good.

By the way, has anyone tried the game on a Core i7 system?

Yes. Core i7 920 @ 3.61Ghz/ 6GB RAM/Radeon 4850 512MB/Vista x64

Game runs like a dream at about a constant 30fps with all graphics maxed except medium texture detail and view distance (1600x1200). Couple of glitches here and there, but nothing to stop or annoy gameplay whatsoever. Am on the last couple of missions now and have had no game crashes or showstoppers.

[J400uk]

Yes. Core i7 920 @ 3.61Ghz/ 6GB RAM/Radeon 4850 512MB/Vista x64

Game runs like a dream at about a constant 30fps with all graphics maxed except medium texture detail and view distance (1600x1200). Couple of glitches here and there, but nothing to stop or annoy gameplay whatsoever. Am on the last couple of missions now and have had no game crashes or showstoppers.

What graphics card do you have?

I ALSO noticed :

- That car interior lights go on and off when the doors are opene:D:D

- That when you leave the car door open at night or with lights on the drivers side goes *BONG BONG BONG!:D:D

Do you only get those two functions with a high end graphics card or something? I cannot get either to work for the life of me.

Current Specs - E6320 - 8800GT 256 - 4GB - 1024x768

[ViperAFK]

To add motion blur, depth of field and reduce the graininess of shadows and aliasing press 'P'.

I hated it at first, couldn't imagine playing without it on now though.

Same here it hurt my eyes at first, but after a couple minutes it's fine and makes the game look MUCH better imo. It makes the buildings in the background look much more realistic and amkes the game feel smoother

[Shasoosh]

^ because you gain a few FPS. i think it looks like crap, though.

[sundayx Veteran]

Yes! Managed to finish the game in 22 hours in slide show mode.

[Max Veteran]

What graphics card do you have?

Radeon 4850 512MB. Slightly overclocked.

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

What graphics card do you have?

Do you only get those two functions with a high end graphics card or something? I cannot get either to work for the life of me.

Current Specs - E6320 - 8800GT 256 - 4GB - 1024x768

No idea dude, maybe it's related to settings being used ?