48 replies to this topic

[HeXeD]

Does anyone else have this behaviour so far? I have looked through almost every windows-7 thread here and I have seen one person who has the same problem but no mention of anyone else or any troubleshooting. Hopefully this thread can help out those people cause so far I have only had ONE problem with Windows-7... this one. If I can't get my GTA IV fix in within the next week I think I'm gonna have to go back to Vista...ugggg. So here is the info:

Specs:
Intel Q6600 @3.2GHz
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard
4G Patriot PC6400
ATI Radeon HD 4850
320G Seagate 7200.10 SATA
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatality edition
Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard
Microsoft Habu Gaming Mouse
24" Samsung 2493BW (1920x1200) & 42" 1080p Westinghouse (1920x1080)

Problem:
Everytime I press a key on the keyboard, the game freezes very quickly. We are talking about a ~250ms pause (1/4 a second). Just say I am in a car. If I use my mouse to scroll around the car, absolutely NO brief pauses or framerate issues. Once I press forward (W) to go, I will get a very brief pause but as long as I hold that button down, the care will keep going faster and faster with absolutely NO skipping/pausing/FPS issues. The second I press left (A) or right (D) I will get another breif skip. When you are hauling ass in a car, once that 1/4 of a second video pause catches up to where you are, you are most likely going to crash. I cannot play the game in this fashion. If you press a button once, and hold it, you can continue to hold buttons without the pause, but the second you press another button you will get the brief pause or studder. When you hit several buttons the pause/studder lasts much longer. If you are trying to bob and weave from the cops, while pressing different buttons (Up, left, right, run, jump) you might as well forget it because it chokes the video up very badly.

What I have tried to resolve the issue:
1. Reinstall
2. New drivers (went from the 8.12 Vista drivers from ATI to their Beta Windows 7 driver) was a huge PITA to uninstall the Vista drivers from Windows 7, specifically the Catalyst control center.
3. New drivers for my chipset
4. Uninstalled Sound Card and ran without sound. Still studder
5. Tried to mess with the Affinity of the GTAIV executable while it was running. Turned it to only using 1 core.. game ran like complete crap..and it STILL had the keyboard pausing. Tried 2 cores, same thing. When I did this the sounds was completely messed up.
6. Tried to mess with the priority of GTAIV.exe, set it to high and it did nothing.
7. Tried running the EXE in Win XP and Vista compatability mode, and not one of them even allowed me to launch the game. From what I have seen from people that are not having a problem is this should not be necessary at all.


The only thing I have no tried is a regular USB keyboard. Only thing I can think of is it is some sort of problem with the bluetooth or the way Windows 7 handles the drivers for my logitech, but I am only using what is automatically installed.


Of course everyone knows that Windows 7 is beta, and that it is not supported by Rockstar. But I think this could be an issue we find a resolution for if we put our heads together. The only thing I am worried about is not many people have reported having this issue.

Would be a shame to have to ditch Windows 7 for Vista just because of GTA, but I will definitely do it. GTA IV seems to run VERY smooth on Windows 7...provided I hold down the up arrow and drive in a straight line.

[creat3d22]

For nVidia cards you can adjust how many frames ahead are rendered...
I don't know if you can adjust this with ATI cards, look for something like "maximum pre-rendered frames"...

It can help with keyboard/mouse lag, though you said it doesn't affect the mouse so I don't know what could be causing it but it's worth a shot.

[HeXeD]

hmmmm.. I'll give it a try. From what I can tell is it is not video card related only because I can get out of the car and run forwards for blocks with absolutely no fps issues, and no studder. In fact, as I said before, it "feels" smoother. I can't tell you the fps cause I have no fraps installed and have nothing to base it on comparing my last Vista install. It is only when I actually press a button. I could be running forward, and if I let go of the forward button and then press it again, I get 1 breif pause. I really hope this is more of a keyboard issue but it would be nice if some people experiencing the same issue could chime in on what specific hardware they have.

[creat3d22]

Right, if the whole game pauses/skips instead of just the player movement being delayed I guess it's something else.
I don't keep up to date on Win7 but do you know when the next beta version is coming out? Maybe it's an OS issue since it's still just a beta...

Did you have that problem in Vista? Does the problem occur with other games in Win7?

[Neon25]

I'm on Win7 right now and I don't experience the problem...

[HeXeD]

QUOTE (creat3d22 @ Jan 14 2009, 22:19)

Right, if the whole game pauses/skips instead of just the player movement being delayed I guess it's something else. I don't keep up to date on Win7 but do you know when the next beta version is coming out? Maybe it's an OS issue since it's still just a beta... Did you have that problem in Vista? Does the problem occur with other games in Win7?

Yeah.. it's pretty much the ENTIRE game pauses for a breif second, but the sound is still in sync.

The video frame when you press the button is displayed (frozen) but only for VERY small time and then it skips to the frame it is supposed to be on half a second later or so. Hopefully I can get a fraps video of the issue, but it ONLY happens when I press a key on the keyboard.

I could even press a key not mapped to movement (ex. Horn) and it will give me a brief freeze. However, if I get on a LONG straight road, I can hold down "UP" and drive in the middle of the road crushing cars and killing pedestrians with absolutely NO frame skips, freezes, studders, etc..etc. It's like the game works perfectly until I actually try to control it with the keyboard.

I have no clue when the next beta comes out, but I will certainly be checking it out as soon as I can because I have a feeling it is OS related too... most definitely. It does not happen in Vista, and it does not occur with other games in Windows 7... such as COD4 and Fallout 3 (which both run like a dream).

the only reason I am not back on Vista is MANY people are playing this game with no problems in Windows 7 which leads me to believe it is more of a hardware configuration/incompatability that is causing this freak "bug" I am seeing. If I can find people who have the same issue, maybe we can find out what the similarities are so we can squash this and I can contiinue using Windows 7.

[Duelist]

QUOTE (creat3d22 @ Jan 14 2009, 21:44)

For nVidia cards you can adjust how many frames ahead are rendered... I don't know if you can adjust this with ATI cards, look for something like "maximum pre-rendered frames"... It can help with keyboard/mouse lag, though you said it doesn't affect the mouse so I don't know what could be causing it but it's worth a shot.

For Ati Tray Tools - Direct3D -> Flip Queue Size, from what my friend said, there's no such option i CCC panel.

[mazucaaa]

QUOTE (HeXeD @ Jan 14 2009, 22:58)

QUOTE (creat3d22 @ Jan 14 2009, 22:19) Right, if the whole game pauses/skips instead of just the player movement being delayed I guess it's something else. I don't keep up to date on Win7 but do you know when the next beta version is coming out? Maybe it's an OS issue since it's still just a beta... Did you have that problem in Vista? Does the problem occur with other games in Win7? Yeah.. it's pretty much the ENTIRE game pauses for a breif second, but the sound is still in sync. The video frame when you press the button is displayed (frozen) but only for VERY small time and then it skips to the frame it is supposed to be on half a second later or so. Hopefully I can get a fraps video of the issue, but it ONLY happens when I press a key on the keyboard. I could even press a key not mapped to movement (ex. Horn) and it will give me a brief freeze. However, if I get on a LONG straight road, I can hold down "UP" and drive in the middle of the road crushing cars and killing pedestrians with absolutely NO frame skips, freezes, studders, etc..etc. It's like the game works perfectly until I actually try to control it with the keyboard. I have no clue when the next beta comes out, but I will certainly be checking it out as soon as I can because I have a feeling it is OS related too... most definitely. It does not happen in Vista, and it does not occur with other games in Windows 7... such as COD4 and Fallout 3 (which both run like a dream). the only reason I am not back on Vista is MANY people are playing this game with no problems in Windows 7 which leads me to believe it is more of a hardware configuration/incompatability that is causing this freak "bug" I am seeing. If I can find people who have the same issue, maybe we can find out what the similarities are so we can squash this and I can contiinue using Windows 7.

dude, im having the exactly same problem here.... its frustrating because when im not touching the keyboard i can see that the game is running much smoother than it was in vista.... but as soon i touch the keyboard the freezing starts....

one thing i noticed...that doesnt happen when i use the controller..... ( but now the game crashes when a try to use a gun )

[HeXeD]

QUOTE (mazucaaa @ Jan 14 2009, 23:41)

QUOTE (HeXeD @ Jan 14 2009, 22:58) QUOTE (creat3d22 @ Jan 14 2009, 22:19) Right, if the whole game pauses/skips instead of just the player movement being delayed I guess it's something else. I don't keep up to date on Win7 but do you know when the next beta version is coming out? Maybe it's an OS issue since it's still just a beta... Did you have that problem in Vista? Does the problem occur with other games in Win7? Yeah.. it's pretty much the ENTIRE game pauses for a breif second, but the sound is still in sync. The video frame when you press the button is displayed (frozen) but only for VERY small time and then it skips to the frame it is supposed to be on half a second later or so. Hopefully I can get a fraps video of the issue, but it ONLY happens when I press a key on the keyboard. I could even press a key not mapped to movement (ex. Horn) and it will give me a brief freeze. However, if I get on a LONG straight road, I can hold down "UP" and drive in the middle of the road crushing cars and killing pedestrians with absolutely NO frame skips, freezes, studders, etc..etc. It's like the game works perfectly until I actually try to control it with the keyboard. I have no clue when the next beta comes out, but I will certainly be checking it out as soon as I can because I have a feeling it is OS related too... most definitely. It does not happen in Vista, and it does not occur with other games in Windows 7... such as COD4 and Fallout 3 (which both run like a dream). the only reason I am not back on Vista is MANY people are playing this game with no problems in Windows 7 which leads me to believe it is more of a hardware configuration/incompatability that is causing this freak "bug" I am seeing. If I can find people who have the same issue, maybe we can find out what the similarities are so we can squash this and I can contiinue using Windows 7. dude, im having the exactly same problem here.... its frustrating because when im not touching the keyboard i can see that the game is running much smoother than it was in vista.... but as soon i touch the keyboard the freezing starts.... one thing i noticed...that doesnt happen when i use the controller..... ( but now the game crashes when a try to use a gun )

Well.. thats 1 person having the issue..

What are your specs? Whats drivers are you using? What have you tried to resolve the issue? What build of the beta? I'm on 7000. Is this a cleaan install? 64-bit version? Mine is 64-bit.

Here is what I have tried tonight....

I have tried to set the compatability mode to windows 2000 on the "launchgta.exe and gtaIV.exe".
I have tried a simple Dell wires USB keyboard

I have not tried to just play with my xbox 360 controller, but to be honest.. I can't STAND using the controller. That is the primary reason I wait till the PC version comes out.


And for those of you who ARE NOT having this issue, what are your specs? What build of windows 7 are you on and is it 64-bit? Any information would be good, and the more information the more we can put our heads together and fix this issue.

[HeXeD]

Another bit of info:

I noticed the pausing happens when I hit ANY key on the keyboard. That includes buttons that are not mapped and do not call for any action in the game. WTH?

[HeXeD]

bump

[aasmaukr]

Same thing here. I found one solution to the problem, not a good one though.

Press the windows button + R, type msconfig and press enter. Then choose diagnostic startup, go to the services tab and enable:
Windows Audio, Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and Multimedia Class Scheduler.
Apply and reboot.

This made GTA IV run without the stuttering here, but not much else works.
There's probably just one service making it bug, but I have no idea which one so I disabled all of them.

Edit: I use a wired USB keyboard and I also had the same problem with Vista.

[HeXeD]

WOW.. an actual fix? that is awesome!

I will have to try this out when I get home, but I think you are definitely on to something. Of course I could get home and this might not work but it is certainly the first time I have heard of anyone having this problem and getting past it.

Just to make sure.. You were having studder ONLY when pressing the keyboard right? As long as it was only when you were pressing a key on the keyboard and not an all around studder I think we can work on this to find a more specific resolution. But I would be MORE than happy to apply this "ghetto" fix while we await more Windows 7 compatible software.

[Slunken]

Hoi, it took some time to find out : the only service you have to disable is Windows event log, and this strange lag is gone.
So, use windows key + R, type msconfig, go to services, disable Windows event log, apply, ok, restart computer.

Have fun.

Slunken.

[HeXeD]

QUOTE (Slunken @ Jan 16 2009, 01:13)

Hoi, it took some time to find out : the only service you have to disable is Windows event log, and this strange lag is gone. So, use windows key + R, type msconfig, go to services, disable Windows event log, apply, ok, restart computer. Have fun. Slunken.

DING DING DING! We have a winner. Concider this problem solved... unless you really need your event log for some reason. I stopped the service from launching at startup as instructed.. and BAM.. no more studdering. The game runs VERY well and I couldn't be happier. Now I don't have to go back to Vista. Not that I hate Vista or anything but right now I am only using 800M of ram as I type this.. Not to mention Windows 7 Media Center which is a godsend.

So I hope as people try to figure out this issue they will stumble along to this forum, and find their answer easier than it took us. Thanks to everyone for giving their 2 cents.

[Slunken]

Good.

[LukeDuke3]

I have same problem in w7 so ill try to idsable this... lets see what we got ....

[john88z]

Not related to this thread but its a fix to a minor problem while playing GTA on Win7.
If you every alt+tab out of the game to check temp/email or whatever, you should have noticed that trying to reopen GTAIV.exe will get you an error and GTA will stop responding. A fix I found was enabling vsync in the menu. I can check speedfan/email all with GTA running in the backround and when I'm done I can reopen the GTA window and keep on playing.

[emcax24]

try turning off ati hotkey poller.

[DeVries]

I have recently upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 first leaked release of the OS, and I have noticed issues such as this with numourous games!
I have been trying many games to determine what is working and what is not, and so far this is my discovery...
I know not all of this is related to the thread but it may help those who are having issues not only with this game but with others, and if the admins dont mind I believe this may shed some light on why Windows 7 doesnt perform well with this game, and hope they will allow it.
So anyhow I have determined thus far that the following games dont seem to function atal:
Any Battlefield game prior to Battlefield: Heroes
I have tried BF 1942, BF 2, BF 2142, etc. And for some reason all of them either crash trying to load the game or crash within minutes of the game loading.
I have spoken to EA in reguards to this and they have stated that Windows 7 has not been compatability tested with any of their games thus far so they expect little to no functionality with the games.
So I went on to some newer games... This brought me to testing Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, and Godfather 2...
Well this was the outcome....
First off Fallout 3... as many have heard from forums and even the official foruims almost everone using Win7 have had issues running Fallout 3... if they are even able to load the game, which since I upgraded my OS from Win Vista to Win7 and had it installed I 'AM' able to load... but the game runs for maybe 5-10 mins if that, before using up all my system mem and gets a Windows error which once Ctrl+Alt+Del and closing the app the mem goes back to norm with no issues. There have also been reports of complete lockups with no recovery other then a manuall reboot.... thus showing that it is most likely a mem handling issue. Which is comparitively a similar issue for GTA.
Then comes CoD: WaW with the random closing to desktop and the ever annoying studdering but it only seems to be a issue with Win7 in online play. No singleplayer responses that I can see to date. Thus showing that it also has a mem issue when using both Punkbuster and running the game, so far there has been no resolution for this game as well.
Then lastly there is Godfather 2... which doesnt seem to crash or have startup issues... just major framerate and lag issues.... Wait... is that the exat issue that GTA is having... well yes but for me only more extreme.... With my Godfather 2 it is basically playable, lag when driving in a vehicle through alot of other cars and areas where there are many people, but unfortunately with this game it seems to be multiple OS's that have the issue.... but that doesnt mean it wont help us decipher what the issue with this game is!

So after all this testing I have come to a ultimate conclusion that Windows 7 being in developmental phase and the SP1 version obciously not being either what its stated to be, or still not been fully tested for functionality, has lead me to the conclusion that the OS's memory usage options are not 100% functional... I have tried everything from disabling my HD pagefile usage to giving it full usage.... tried using 1 of 4 cores on my CPU, tried 2 of 4 cores, etc.... Tried softbooting my sustem with nothing loaded except the game itself and it still seems to present the issue... When in the game it will not let me turn certain options up due to the lack of physical memory available, I freed that up and tried altering the settings and still have the same issue....
Although on my Windows XP Black Edition 2009 system I am able to play all the above games flawlessly, and on my system that is running Vista 03/2009 edition most run except for GTA and Godfather 2....
So I believe it is a major memory usage issue with the OS's, we all know that Windows Vista had alot of memory issues and mine even used to show 2 of 4Gb RAM usage on idle, with my Windows 7 it doesnt show quite as much but I have recoreded that when going into a game such as Fallout 3 it goes from 1.2Gb usage to 4Gb usage and then within 5 mins it locks up and I have to goto desktop to close it...
When recording the Physical mem, CPU, and RAM usage in all the other games some have shot up and almost doubled from idle, and certain ones such as GTA and Godfather 2 seem to spike... as if each time it spikes the game runs smoothe, then when it goes down it lags, or vice versa...
So I am working endlessly to try and find ways to alter the new OS's memory usages to function games appropriately... but thus far all I have been able to officially determine that with most games it is difinitively a memory issue!
Unfortunately for now I believe that Windows 7 does not have the functionality required for some of these newer games, its very unfortunate since the OS itself runs quite flawlessly.... but when it comes to gaming... there are difinitive issues!

I will post if I find fixes for any of the entailed games, and as stated above I only detail these games to try and show how the OS functions with different gaming programs.... but ultimately I believe it sheds alot of light on how the OS is compatible with many games.... So if anyone has found a resolution to any of the games stated, it may well be a resolution for GTA!

Thanks!

[Gottn]

I got the same problem as you

[vahnx]

I am unable to stop/disable the Windows Event Log service in services.msc because it is dependent on Task Scheduler which is impossible to stop on Windows 7.

[Seanzzxx]

Ugh....

I tried disabling Windows Event log, it didn't work. Then I disabled everything, no difference whatsoever...
Someone please help me, I just can't play GTA IV anymore, and I don't want to install another OS.
I'm trying to reinstall it in compatability modus (windows 2000), let's see if that works.

UPDATE: okay, that didn't do the trick...

[majorrhymes]

I believe I know why Battlefield 1942 crashes on windows 7; I think it matters how you install punkbuster and either you do it automatically (If it comes with the software) as opposed to a manual download (from the internet), or the other way around. I believe a manual internet installation of punkbuster is the key. (Do not install the punkbuster that came with the software.)

I have yet to find out exactly how I fixed it... I just reinstalled windows 7.

Incredibly annoying when they release an operating system that isn't ready!

[viometrix]

QUOTE (majorrhymes @ Jan 17 2010, 20:34)

I believe I know why Battlefield 1942 crashes on windows 7; I think it matters how you install punkbuster and either you do it automatically (If it comes with the software) as opposed to a manual download (from the internet), or the other way around. I believe a manual internet installation of punkbuster is the key. (Do not install the punkbuster that came with the software.) I have yet to find out exactly how I fixed it... I just reinstalled windows 7. Incredibly annoying when they release an operating system that isn't ready!

we dont give a flying monkey sh*t about old antiqueted battlefeild 1942. that is so far off topic and has nothing to do with this game. as for you saying they shouldnt release an o/s before it is ready? yeah keep f*cking trolling, this os is the most polished windows and one of the most polished ever for any platform.

so next time you want to compare games, dont list fred flinstones favorite classic and problems with windows 7.

[mike752]

Talk about repeatedly bumping a thread.

For all of those still having this problem, be sure to update your game to the newest patch (1.0.0.4). When I bought the game, I had this same problem, but after it was updated, it worked fine.

[Frankenfruity]

Thank you so much!
I can't try the Windows Event Monitor-fix yet but since it worked for a couple of you I'm assuming it will.
So, thank you . It really bugged me to not be able to play without the constant freeze-ups.

[jonog]

Serious mission to sign up just to post, as is a norm these days - but this string helped me so I felt compelled.

Exact same problem as HeXed - game stutters and skips whenever I press a key. Kit spec below...

Intel Extreme MoBo
Intel Quad Core Proc
Gigabyte GTS 250 1GB card
4GB DDR3 1333 RAM (transcend cheap cr@p)


Disabling Event log service resolved issue, but this is far from ideal as I need my event log.

Applied 1.03 patch, game runs like a dream.

Thanks guys, especially HeXed for the fix elimination, was starting to give up and realise what a ballache that was.

[bhsieh]

sorry for digging up a year-old thread but WOW, when i ran into this obscure lag problem i thought i would never be able to solve it! what's more is that i played through half the game already with no keypress-associated lag whatsoever, so when this popped up, i was extremely frustrated.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped research this solution (disabling Windows Event Log <-- what does this do anyway?), now i can finally go back to playing smooth GTA IV!

[DjMiikkii]

Damn it, thread revival...