GTA 4 Minimum Requirements

[eggyuk]

I think its my processor thats the bottleneck. My graphics card isnt the best but should be more than capable of handling the game. I think my new Core i7 system in January should be able to handle it better.

Do you guys use anything to record FPS or just bring it up on the console and keep track of it?

 

[Everlong]

I use xfire in game. Pressing scroll lock+x brings up the xfire ingame overlay and it has an FPS counter with it.

 

[Majkel]

I use FRAPS, it constantly shows you how much fps you're currently running, and it also counts avarages frame rate through logging the results for a few minutes... and much more

 

[SgtBaxter]

The problem is the game is too CPU dependant.

I think the problem is the port is a poorly coded piece of dung.

 

[smarteyeball]

I think the problem is the port is a poorly coded piece of dung.

Yep, no excuses really for it either. How long have they been working on it? It's not as if R* is a struggling company. How about hiring a few more people?

After spending a bit more time playing and fiddling, the graphical glitches are horrendous. I don't think the 8.12 catalyst drivers helped in that regard either.

 

[marshtric]

yes, most powerful games require
good video card at high speeds

 

[smarteyeball]

yes, most powerful games require
good video card at high speeds

Really? I thought a good video card was only for watching high speed TV

 

[Majkel]

why are everybody complaining so much ? "the shadows are awful", "there's so many bugs"... as for the shadows, they have their own "beauty" they're not perfect, but... have you seen ideal shadows in real world ? you are all completely missing the point - R* managed to create a vast, incredibly rich in details, full of life, and a living on it's own, city ! the feeling as you drive through it is incredible many things needs improvement, that's true, but the game is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING !

 

[smarteyeball]

I'm not complaining about the shadows.

I'm talking about LOD errors, where cars are floating in the air, overhead train tracks without columns, textureless façades, glitchy pop up within the set visual distance settings, large FPS spikes and drops etc

I also seem to recall mentioning that the catalyst drivers had a part in it too....

I've put in over 300+hours on the 360 version so I know and appreciate the sheer effort that has gone into creating the Liberty City world. So to go from one version to another, one is bound to notice a few of these things

Seriously though, would a few extra members of staff dedicated to a particular aspect of code / gameplay polish really hurt R* bottom line?

 

[Majkel]

well, Smart, to be honest I'm not experiencing those glitches and LOD errors you're talking about, and I surely watch closely for any improper things... the only thing I noticed is that sometimes when you "terminate" someone the blood stain this character leaves seems to be "above" it, not under, and it changes with movement of mouse (means if I move it a little this stain goes under, when I go back with perspective the way it was before this stain goes over the character again). but this is the only thing I noticed, and as I said I'm looking around very carefully - I just don't want to miss any detail

I'm running the game with -norestrictions flag now, on High texture setting, and Highest rendering. I suppose those glithes and LOD errors you're experiencing maybe somehow connected to the video driver.

 

[smarteyeball]

well majke I am using an ATI card and your using Nvidia. That's one pronounced difference right there And yes, the 8.12 drivers had a more negative impact on LOD, than the 8.11 drivers seemed to.

However, there are a lot of digruntled nvidia users who are experincing graphic glitches too. It's good that's it's running well for you though.

What settings are you using BTW?

 

[Everlong]

I've just got the impression you wish to ignore these glitches Majke, which is fine. I wish I could, but turning around to see buildings loading and everything, then 2 seconds later look at them again to see them re-loading isn't nice to look at. It's just too hard to be immersed in the game when it's in this state.

I have the same processor as you, and an 8800GTS 512 graphic card, so I can bet you get a lot of the same things I do.

 

[smarteyeball]

Well after more tweaking, I've managed to drastically reduce the graphic glitches. Switching from high textures, back to medium helps as obviously there is less pagefile access and therefore less delay in texture loading.

So a bit IQ sacrifice seems to be the way to go.

 

[Hume de Bruyn]

GTA4 depends solely on CPU power, however there's a patch coming out pretty soon which would even things out a bit between system usage concerning how the game runs. I however play it nicely, when it's not a hot day that is! Because CPU like overkill on very hot days while playing the game, then the game starts to lag a bit. But I'm dead on looking out for that patch they promised! Then CPU could ease out a bit on the game!

 

[Majkel]

I've just got the impression you wish to ignore these glitches Majke, which is fine. I wish I could, but turning around to see buildings loading and everything, then 2 seconds later look at them again to see them re-loading isn't nice to look at. It's just too hard to be immersed in the game when it's in this state.

I have the same processor as you, and an 8800GTS 512 graphic card, so I can bet you get a lot of the same things I do.

we may have the same CPU, we both overclocked it, but mine's running at significantly faster speed. I also got faster RAM than you do. And yes, the game loads up buildings that I turn to, but it's a matter of miliseconds, barely noticable. Would you want the game to hold up every building that you're not currently looking at in the memory ? what performance you think the game would run then ? I'm not speaking that the game is perfect, mate...

Well after more tweaking, I've managed to drastically reduce the graphic glitches. Switching from high textures, back to medium helps as obviously there is less pagefile access and therefore less delay in texture loading.

So a bit IQ sacrifice seems to be the way to go.

yes, I noticed that to, the game runs a little faster when on medium texture settings.

What settings are you using BTW?

currently high texture setting, highest rendering, lowered view distance to 30, detail @ 45, vehicle density @ 30, shadows @ 5

 

[Everlong]

Patch has been released. It will download automatically when you log in to Windows Live in game.

Haven't tested it yet, gonna have a play on it now,

 

[Majkel]

On my system this patch tries to install every time the game starts... I can see that it is downloading when I go back to desktop and check network activity... In the game itself I see a progress bar in LIVE service, it goes to the end and game lets me to play, but when I relaunch the game it pops up with the notification that there is a patch for it, again. What the hell ? Are you guys experiencing the same thing on your systems ?

____
EDIT: OK, I managed to apply the patch, but not through GFW Live. I found a link to an archive with the patch on GTA Forums. Here it is:

1st link : http://msxb-d1.vo.llnw.net:3074/content/5454083b/5454083B1000008310000183.cab

2nd link: http://download.gta-expert.com/index.php?act=download&id=1810

and link to the post in GTA Forums itself: http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=383138&st=0

So if anyone here has the same issue as I had, that GFW Live consistently tried to apply the patch (and didn't want to log on online again after that) this should patch the game also :] For me the first link worked fine

After the patch I noticed that when flying around the city in helicopter, when on high altitude, the shore's and beaches flicker like mad. Didn't experienced that before the patch... but this is the only glitch I found, so far The performance is still at the level it was before, though.

 

[smarteyeball]

I only have an offline account, so I din't see the patch being offered. I just downloaded the patch the old fashioned way. I can't see any initial differences...

 

[Jekyll and Hyde]

I know I said I was not going to buy this game but that option was taken out of my hands and Hyde bought it, oh well, he wasted my money again poor performance even with the patch, still I did'nt read anything in it about it fixing performance other than something about memory, but for me its made little to no difference

Jekyll and Hyde

 

[norcaldavid]

I know this is stretching the min requirments, i wonder how mine setup will run GTA 4.

2.67 gigahertz Intel Pentium D
1 gig ram
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256 mb

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