GTA4 on PC!

Azza

As a person who owns the game, I'm not happy about the bugs in it either.

The 64bit multiplayer issues and the texture pop up (its not draw distant related) and the shadowing dithering are annoying and hard to miss and the 2nd two occure with moderate frequency. I'm confident the first two will be resloved in the patch but 'm not sure if the can fix shadow dithering (it was on the console version) the shadows in most peoples opinions look way too shimmery if thats the right term.

Still I don't think bugs this obvious should get through QA testing in any form but thats seems par for the course these days.

I know the prevailing attitude around here and on the internet in general is that the game is a horrible unoptimized port but if the games get patched out I reckon I can play at settings I will be happy at (1680x1050) and it well have a moderate edge over the console in graphics terms at those settings. I liked the gameplay when I played it on the console so if the bugs are fixed I will enjoy this game too. Of course your welcome not to share my opinion on the matter.

Cunny-Funt

I'm gonna hold out till I hear more about any patchs and stuff.

PogMoThoin

I just stole a copy, took all night to dl, just for the sake of being able to actually comment on how badly it runs. I'll let ye know.

Stephen

Bought it yesterday myself. It seems to run fine in 1680x1050 on medium settings for me at least. There is an occasional noticeable drop in frame rate but nothing major. I am disappointed in how demanding it is though.

My rig is as follows (nothing overclocked):
Intel E8400 (3ghz)
4GB DDR2 (PC6400)
nVidia 8800GT/512mb

Does anyone find driving the cars via the keyboard feels really weird compared to previous GTAs? I have had to resort to using my 360 pad to drive, then switch over to keyboard and mouse for the on-foot parts.

I never tried Crysis back when it came out because of all the stories about how it was such a hardware-rapist. Might give it a go now since everyone says GTA runs even slower :pac:

PogMoThoin

Ok, heres my analysis on my pc. I've not really played much as I've not got the time, but I did wander around for a while. This game really is a bitch to run but it seems to run okish on a quad, i'll try my kids pc later (XP, 2.4Ghz C2D, 2GB ram, 512MB 8800GT). At 1680x1050 it really looks animated and very badly needs antialiasing. Framerates are poor, can't really see whats using so much cpu power, is the game rendeering the whole city at once? Here's my benchmark results:

Statistics
Average FPS: 39.04
Duration: 37.73 sec
CPU Usage: 72%
System memory usage: 61%
Video memory usage: 76%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1680 x 1050 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 37
Detail Distance: 80

I prob will play it as I'm not a console gamer and I've not played it yet (besides 20 mins at a friends house on ps3), but I'm waiting for patches before I start. Multiplayer doesn't interest me as I still refuse to give any money to Rockstar for it and I detest SuckuROM.

DarkJager

And to think, if you had a console you'd be playing it the second you put the disc in... Reading this thread just reminds me why I gave up on PC gaming

PogMoThoin

Here's my benchmark results at 1920x1200, it won't let me set view distance above 4 but it makes it looks alot better and there's less need for antialiasing

Statistics
Average FPS: 35.88
Duration: 37.62 sec
CPU Usage: 61%
System memory usage: 62%
Video memory usage: 100%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1920 x 1200 (59 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 4
Detail Distance: 29

PogMoThoin

DarkJager wrote: »

And to think, if you had a console you'd be playing it the second you put the disc in... Reading this thread just reminds me why I gave up on PC gaming

And then I'd have to buy my games

Azza

I agree at the lower resolutions I'm running at the game could do with anti-aliasing. It is quite noticable. I think the console version supported anti-aliasing but I'm sure weather they just threw buckets of blur at the game.
Perhaps the engine does not support anti-aliasing at all or maybe the developers figured that it would be tough to run given the high hardware requirements. I doubt anyone could enable AA on the game currently.
I'm pretty sure the game is rendering the whole place at once.

If you play through the game and enjoy it Pog you should buy it. If the performance of the game bothers you so much when your playing it for you to label the game a crap port and its distracting from your enjoyment of the game then don't play it. I'm not against piracy as a demo to see if you like a game before buying. As for secure-rom I don't see what the problem is. I can understand people being annoyed at activation limits but this game does not have any. You need to do a one time activation when you install the game and thats it (unless you re-install) even people without an internet connection have options with this game. Secure-rom has been proven not to be a root-kit or malware. It does not run in the background (older version did but not now) when a protected game is not running, it does not have any general performance impact on your computer. Yes it leaves files behind after un-installation but they are merely registry keys holding licensing information and it does not obtain any personal infromation from your PC. I have zero issue with this type of secure-rom. If you go to www.tweakguides.com and look up games like Crysis Warhead and Mass Effect with the annoying activation limit of secure-rom you will see this is the case. Again GTA IV PC does not have install or activation limits. DRM systems change so they can improve or get worse with each version so you really have to look at it by a game by game basis.

Darkjager.
Yeah PC gaming is a duel edged sword. It does require more maintaince than a console and hardware updates every 18-24 months by my reckoning. But in my opinion you do get a better gaming experience on the PC.

But if your looking for quick and easy than consoles are fine.

Lockstep

Just bought it, it seems I'd have been better off buying an Xbox 360 for a couple of hundred and then this.

Would also allow better multiplayer.

TPD

Got the camera shake sorted :P.

I still dont see what the problem here is, I'm playing it fine without any bugs so far, and my PC is hardly top of the range any more.

Hasn't crashed once, handles alt+tab a lot better than many games, loads pretty quickly, and only a very occasional very minor drop in fps when there is a lot going on. I ramped up my draw distance to about 60, didnt notice much drop in framerate.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

Lockstep

I've a dual core 2.8ghz processor, 4 gigs of Ram, completely updated and Nnvidia 8600 GT 250MB graphics card.


Game on runs on the very lowest possible settings.
I'm absolutely shocked.

steamjetjoe

Not liking the reviews so far. I bought a new pc ( Intel Core 2 Quad 4x 2.4GHz
Q6600, ATI Radeon HD4870, 4GB RAM DDR2 800MHz Kingston, Vista 64bit )
Just for this game. I expect the pc to arrive in about 2 weeks from now. Hope they have patches out by then.:(

dazberry

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I've a dual core 2.8ghz processor, 4 gigs of Ram, completely updated and Nnvidia 8600 GT 250MB graphics card.


Game on runs on the very lowest possible settings.
I'm absolutely shocked.

I've an ATI 1950pro with 256MB video RAM, and I've the same problem, by default everything set on LOW with a crazy resolution of something like 800x460ish :eek:. Primary issue appears to be the amount of video RAM. I know the 1950 is a few generations back, but it still handles Crysis and Far Cry 2 pretty well - monitor is 1280x1024 native - so I never go above that anyway. I can get it to 1024x768 with one setting LOW and one MEDIUM, but its a bit disappointing - still felt there was some life in the 1950.

D.

Lockstep

Yeah I'm the same.
It's pretty sad as the game seems amazing, just a shame about the crappy graphics ports.

Cunny-Funt

Rockstar have seriously ****ed up here

Azza

Nvidia have released new drivers specifically for Grand Theft Auto 4 and are for the Geforce 6,7,8,9 and 200 series cards.

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_gtaiv_downloads.html

ATI Catalyst drivers 8.12 are due out on December 10th and according to Rockstar we can expect a significant performance increase for ATI users.

They are also release a patch for the game next week and you find out what it fixes here.

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?act=ST&f=240&t=380088

PogMoThoin

Ok, I take back some of the things I've said.........I can play this at 1920x1200 with the following settings:

Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 6
Detail Distance: 30
Vehicle Density: 30
Shadow Density: 8

I found this is more enjoyable than 1680x1050 with higher settings as the antialiasing just drove me nuts on my 24' monitor. I've also found that there is a great benefit to having a quad, the other house pc is struggling (XP, 2.4Ghz C2D, 2GB ram, 512MB 8800GT) with 1280x1024 (its only got a 19' monitor so can't go higher) with the following settings:

Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 25
Vehicle Density: 25
Shadow Density: 5

Here's some screenies (resized)

Slutmonkey57b

Hey guys,

We've been reading the forums and understand that several of you are experiencing difficulties with Grand Theft Auto IV PC,
<No f***ing **** mate>

Driver News
We’re pleased to announce that in co-operation with Nvidia a new driver has been released that improves performance and fixes a major issue with 7900 series cards. If you haven’t gotten the driver yet download it here: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_gtaiv_downloads.html

You should have done this before the game released. Nvidia throw millions into TWIMTBP to *avoid* this bull in the first place. They'll even test and code it for you. No excuse.

ATI has also agreed to officially release Catalyst 8.12 which will release on Dec 10th from http://game.amd.com. Expect significant performance improvements when using this new driver.

You should have done this before the game released. Couldn't have begged ATI to bump up the driver release 7 days to coincide with the street date?
Bulllll
Sheeet.

Patch Is On The Way
We are working on making a patch available in the next few days. Since Grand Theft Auto IV is a Games For Windows – Live game the patch must be certified by Microsoft before release. The patch is already at Microsoft and we expect a speedy approval.
The patch contains a variety of fixes including:

Things you should have checked before you released the game?

-Numerous improvements to the video editor: Smarter naming of videos, improved rendering quality, better fx during replays

Fixed already? Then an obvious example of.... something you didn't bother checking before release.

-Support for DirectInput controllers. Note: The current hack way of supporting these controllers may not work with the improved functionality. So we recommend you remove the hack before upgrading to the patch.

What? WHAt? WhAAAATT? The port of a 360 game doesn't have support for DX input. Microsoft spend *years* doing all the work for you by creating Direct Input/Sound/3d/2d, then they spend more years porting it to a console they lose billions selling, and you're too f***ing lazy to use it?

And some people think this isn't a botched lazy rushed console port fobbed off on the "eh release it and patch it later" pc crowd?
Then they wonder why PC gamers resort to robbing their games....

PogMoThoin

This game really needs a Core i7, see below:





This game is very limited by cpu, you can use a HD4870X2 or Tri-Sli, but fps will be the same like with single card. For higher performance of GFX you will need 4GHz Quad, better still is 4GHz Core i7. This game was built for the multi core PowerPC of the Xbox 360 and not x86.

Azza

Yeah I heard the I7 series did well with this game. Overall I heard the I7 is about 17% faster on average clock for clock over the previous generation quad cores. Testing at first seemed to indicate otherwise but newer drivers and bios updates seemed to give the I7 a significant boast.

Nick_oliveri

Bull**** tbh, the point remains that a 360 can handle it. And to PogMoThoin who posted the pics above, wtf happens when things explode? Major FPS loss or does it stay around 35-45?

i7 for GTAV? Ya wha? The ****ing ****ty thing is, that some people will buy these new processors just to play this game and end up with an inevitible anti-climax. Save your money, if youv'e bought the game already melt the box/booklet and disc into an anal dildo, you get ****ed less.

cherryghost

already had a quad core ordered when i got the game, hopefully it'll do the trick.

still though, its unacceptble.

PogMoThoin

Pressing the "p" key ingame applies a blur which reduces the need for antialiasing, but its not nice, its what the consoles used.

@ Nick_oliveri, dunno yet, I'm not that far in2 the game. The game is very playable at this tho, but it appears to have a memory leek, the longer you play the lower fps you get. When I first load it runs well but it drops afetr 20-30mins. This wouldn't be too bad with a quicksave, but having to travel to save is a bitch.

I'm enjoying the game, but not the way it handles. I did have my pc @ 3.0Ghz yesterday, I'm now back upto 3.2Ghz and noticed a good difference.

Pyr0

I'm thinking of buying this today, would ye recommend it at this point ?

PogMoThoin

Pyr0 wrote: »

I'm thinking of buying this today, would ye recommend it at this point ?

Only if you got the pc to run it, My quad is OKish but my 2nd pc with XP, 2.4Ghz C2D, 2GB ram, 512MB 8800GT is struggling with medium settings @ 1280x1024.

PogMoThoin

Here's a pic of task manager from some1 with an i7



Seems this game only runs on 3 cores on an i7, they never optimised this game for 4 cores at all. The x360 has 3 cores and each of these cores can execute 2 threads, i guess that's the reason for i7s advantage over C2Q.

Stephen

Those new nvidia beta drivers seem to have helped things somewhat here in 8800GT land.

http://nzone.com/object/nzone_gtaiv_downloads.html

Azza

I tested the explosions and there impact on performanc and it edepends how many they. The frame rate was fine in regular gameplay but I did jack up traffic density to 100% and cause a big pile up of cars at an intersection then blew one up and watched the damino effect. It did effect the frame rate but only for a few seconds.

As for the I7 performance yeah its better buts its not that much better looking at the numbers Pog posted. You don't need an I7 for this but I think a quad core is looking pretty likely at his stage. After all it is on the recommended requirements for the game. Also Hyperthreading on the I7 should only offer any performance increase if any applications takes advantage or between 5-8 cores otherwise it actually causes a performance degradation under normal circumstances and I think its switched off by default. But what Pog says makes sense, but do you know if that guy for certain had hyperthreading on?. I say the reason they recommended quad core is that even if it only uses 3 cores tir-core processors are rare and I think only AMD have them but Intels Quad Core processors would offer higher performance over AMD's current chips. As for not optimizing for Quad Cores they only game's I know of that really take advantage are Crysis and Supreme Commander (which by the developers own admission was un-optimized when released). So in fairness very few games even dedicated PC games take advantage of Quad Core.

I also hard similar things to what PogMoThoin is saying about a memory leak but I have not experienced it myself. But alot of people are pretty sure there is a memory leak issue.

As for buying it Pyr0 I'd wait to see the vedict after the latest drivers and patch is out mid next week.

kaimera

This sucks.

I've bought every release of GTA since GTA3, one of the very few that I actually buy for pc.

I think it'll be a case of 'trying before buying' this time

My pc should be ok, I'll wait for the new ati drivers and throw up some results.