==> GTA3 Slowdown part 2

Zero

a lot of you seemed to have the same problem as me while others had the game flying along on lower spec machines. I have attached the bullshit document that Rockstar games put out asking everyone to make sure they had drivers and defragmented disks etc etc, but like somebody said below, there seems to be two important things to change. One is the audio settings and the other is to turn off anti-aliasing on the graphics card. I know the anti-aliasing thing is general knowledge with a lot of games, but I had just lobbed in the new graphics card so hadnt turned it off.
Either way, I changed the audio driver it was using in the game, and turned off anti-aliasing and it goes like a hot snot now. Just maybe some of you can try it, I dont think it really matters about HDD/CDROM access because I'm running the audio CD off a really crap replacement CDROM atm and its fine.
hope this helps.

Zero

.

Canaboid

I had signifigant slowdown on an Athlon 1.4 with Geforce2 on Win2k SP2. An upgrade to the latest Dets (28.32) sorted it.

suppafly

sorry for my ignorance, but whats anti-aliasing, whats does it do, and how does it slow down the game?

Stephen

Anti-aliasing smooths the edges of graphics on screen, which looks nice but will really cripple your framerate.

Matt Simis

There are funny things going on with GTA3. It was unplayable on a P4 2.2GHz with a Radeon 8500 and SB Audigy. Tried all audio settings already and changing resolution made little difference.

I then swapped the Radeon out for a GF4 4200 (64MB) and the game is perfectly smooth. A Radeon 8500 should be about 10% slower, yet playing this game would make you think it more like 100% (it was literally about 5FPS). Looks like its designed for nVidia cards generally...




Matt

suppafly

so installed that patch for the direct x on XP but the game is still slowing down alot and sometimes it freezes for a few seconds. What else can i do to match it go properly? i heard something about the audio, which is the best one to set it to? and other helpful idea greatly accepted

po0k

P3 800 Cu 100Mhz FSB Slot1
640mb PC100
GF2Pro 64meg DDR on AGP2x
Dets 28.32
Win2k SP2 Version 5.00.2195
SBLive that doesn't work quite well. Long standing problem, havenm't been able to sort if for a year and a half.
Anyone have any SBLive drivers on their own?
Fekin creative bloatware 'auto-cock-up' drivers....

I've not had any real slowdown, cept wjhen running in 32-bit (which happens on OPFlashpoint too for some reason when looking through sniper scope at trees)
640x48016, grand, draw distance to full (newspapers on ground still drawn at your nose )
This looks more and more like shoddy port thrown together.

Might ahve something to do with the polar difference between PS2 and PC architecture regarding internal bandwidth and caches, but that's just a theory.

/me prays for a patch.

Mossin

Can somebody PLZ post a link to the latest GF2 drivers?

I just bought GTA3 and the slowdown is killing me...it's like my old P200...geezz...:(

I have the XP patch which sorted the menu problem but canent sort out the slowdown.

I've got shítty onboard sound and have arsed round with settings to no avail and a GF2MX on Windows XP.

Kenshin

Ok, here are some tips for improving performance:
1. Download the newest drivers if you havent done so already... I downloaded the newest drivers from VIA and nVidia...

2. Now this is a really good tip:
Download 3D-Analyze from http://www.tommti-systems.de/main-Dateien/files.html
(I'm using version 1.3)
Install it and run it
Click on "Select EXE" or something similar
Select gta3.exe from where you installed it
And then:
Enable the option titled "Force SW TnL"
and press Run

This improved my performance alot, and got rid of any stuttering...
Other people have said that it also helped them, so you should give it a try. I think it didnt help that much for some people, I guess it depends on your specs...

suppafly

what does that program actually do?

Another thing recently i have started to get gaps in the graphics while playing. Like there would be all weird colourd and stuff where the road should be in some areas. Is this just shoddy programing or what?

po0k

I'd imagine it FORCES SOFTWARE TnL on teh graphics, but that's just a guess.


Why should we shell out for class graphics cards and then have to play the game in Software TnL mode just cos they were too lazy/pushed by publishers/'encouraged' by Sony to rush it???

Travesty.

Kix

Damn, it's a shame so many people are having so much trouble with it because it's a damn fine game. It normally tips along quite happily for me at 800x600 (gf2,k7-600).

I have had a few small problems, textures get corrupted from time to time and when that happens I usually need to restart before the game gets real slow. But mostly it's grand.

Might be stating the obvious, but make sure "Trails" are switched off in the graphical options unless you're running very low res on a very high spec machine.

K

Kairo

Yes, Turning off that GOD AWFUL bluring effect (trails) added heaps to my fps. The effect was ****e on the PS2, and its even worse on the pc...you can do without it :P

suppafly

Why do they even have that effect. It looks really crappy and just makes it look like there is something wrong with the game rather than a cool effect!

kaimera

Turned off trails and it's flying along.
P4 1.9
GF2MX
256RaM

Get the odd bit o slow down now and again but with the frame limiter turned off it's flying.

btw...keyboard is the ONLY way to drive and is much much easier than PS2 controller.

Firefox

I turned off the Anti-aliasing and put on the frame limiter option and it seems to have done the trick. Seems to be running fine now. At last I can get down to playing this great game! Thanks Lads,:)

Biffa Bacon

Sorry for dragging this up again but I just got GTA3 meself and its running slow for me too.

Can anyone tell me how to defragment my PC? I haven't a clue. What does it involve?

How do I turn off anti-aliasing?

How do I change the audio driver it uses in the game?

My specs:
P4 1.3
128MB RAM
GF2
Creative Sound Blaster 64V
Windows ME

The_Bullman

defragment
start>programs>accessories>system tools>disk defragmentor

turn on the frame limiter in the gta settings. this had the most effect on me playing the game

Lenny

For disk defrag..
start->programs->accessories->system tools

It'll take a few hours to do it, make sure you leave the computer alone, and take it out of 'auto standby'

About your AA, right click your desktop, go to properties, then settings, you should see the advanced button at the bottom of that tab.. AA should be in there..
not too sure about your card though..

About the audio drivers.. go to the ingame options and you should be able to select another one.

Blitzkrieger

I just got GTA3 and the slowdown is really spoiling it I hate it when my PC exceeds the recommended requirements and still struggles, but I suppose I should get used to it - it is almost 3 years old now.

I've tried everything except turning off the Anti Aliasing, because I can't find it! It doesn't seem to be in the avanced settings in display. Anybody else still running a TnT2 in 98SE? (I really gotta upgrade)


I've been working on this for days :

turning off trails - big help

changing sound driver - small help

turing off the radio while driving - small help

defrag HD - no difference

update gfx drivers - seems to have made things worse

I've done everything that rockstar say except turn off AA and replace the USB mouse with a PS2.

Kenshin

Your problem is your TNT2, and possibly your processor speed...
The TNT2 is like 5 generations of gfx cards behind, so you really should upgrade...

Blitzkrieger

.......more like 2.5 generations behind. Like I said, my PC exceeds the recommended spec, and should run it fine (if at a low gfx setting).

DiscoStu

gta3 is very gfx card dependent. a tnt2 just will not cut it. a geforce2 is minimum. also newer nvidia drivers are not very good in d3d will earlier generation cards including tnt2s. your best bet would be either the 27.xx or 28.xx series drivers. they had the best d3d performance for your card. also the tnt2 does not support AA so how are you turning it on?

Winters

Its really the game. When i got about 3 stars after me, my pc slows down a LOT! i mean its really annoying. I have a AthlonXP 1600+, Geforce4, 256Ram, SB Audigy and Win2k.

Its the game not anything else.

DiscoStu

thats really odd because i could play it almost perfectly on a 500mhz p3, gf2mx and 640mb ram(wait that might be it:)) i only got bad slowdown when a couple of tanks etc. were after me.

Dawg

Spent ages tryin to get gta3 working on my machine. did my head in. Un-installed game, took out the cd and threw out the window.... havn't had any probs since..fantastic

damn expensive frisbee tho


Shame, they destroyed a gr8 game..

Blitzkrieger

All righty then - thanks for the replys. It does actually run fine, untill I do something silly like drive to an area where there's more than 3 cars/peds.

Blitzkrieger

The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off that a supported gfx card with twice the recommended memory struggles to run the game.

It produces the occaisional error too. I was driving along at a fair speed and suddendly a pedestrian appears right in front of me. The sound he made as he rocketed skyward was kinda funny though