Trouble Shooting FAQ.

[Umma6umma]

If you have a joypad attached to your computer with a throttle, you'll have to adjust it to stop the spinning.  Once you get the spinning stopped, the feature is actually pretty handy as you can use the throttle to spin the camera around in either direction as you play, gives you a quick check of your surroundings.

[toadster123]

i dont have a joypad or joystick, all i have is a wireless mouse and keyboard that i use......

 

and there isnt a throttle on the mouse so i dont get why it does this...

 

please someone help , i want to be able to actually play this game...

[Vedder09]

The weird thing with this game is that I have barely above minimum specs and I can run the game smoothly but for only about 25-30 minutes.  Then it freezes up with sound.  The feedback that i have gotten on this indicate an overheating problem.  However, i had a tech look at my setup and he said my fan was actually in an ideal location and was plenty powerful.  So i can basically play 1-2 missions and then save and restart my pc to keep playing.  My point is in some cases it's almost impossible to predict whether or not the game will work on any given system.  I don't understand how this could get by even the loosest testing methods.  Now like many of you I am debating whether to wait for a patch or to go ahead and upgrade video and sound cards.

[toadster123]

please some one help...... ahahahhaahahahah

 

   

[Pumpkin_Masher]

I've read through all the posts and it looks like all the poeple with SiS chipsets have the same problem.... The game plays perfectly, and then... it all fogs out, you can see a few shapes, sometimes, and nothing else, then suddenly it's back to normal, and you play for a minute and it's fogged out again, and the cycle repeats the entire time.

 

i have the SiS 315 128MB card and i am looking all over the net for a way to fix this problem... it sounds alot like the nVidia Fog Table Emulation problem but SiS doesn't give you the option to change these settings...

 

does anyone know of a way to change the Direct 3D settings with a SiS chipset?

[fuckfuck]

if any1 can help me heres my prob

i run the game everything is ok i press new game the game loads fine then the movie comes i skip it and i see another loading screen (i think) when u see ppl on a black background and the the game get stuck

i got ati or some intel card and pentuim 3 800mhz and 128 ram

[xel]

I think you should add to the faq that 'unofficially' gta3 works under Linux using the program WineX(Win32/DirectX emulator) at Transgaming.  Windows users are funny.

 

 

[ihaterockstar]

toadster, your problem lies within the mouse, i had the exact same problem until I plugged in my old non optical,cord mouse, then the spinning stopped.

[BoddahXXX]

Yeah... It works on YOUR 'puter with Linux.

 

- BoddahXXX

[MeRCeNaRy]

alright ive tryed playing the game and as far as i can get is the first video where his viper goes up the curb    i have a voodoo 3 so im probably screwed huh? ive tryed installing the game on an even worse computer and it freezes in the first video where the police van gets to the light

[MetaKnight]

I have a pent 4 2.o with 256 ddr ram. Ok when I play gta it loads fine but whe the menu comes up to select game play I just get boxes and there blank so I don't know what im choosing. Then when I get into the game anything that comes up in a letter box is blank... I have a nvidia 2 64mb.. Please help

are you using windows XP? cos i had that problem (with XP pro), all i did was install the XP patch (see the first post in this topic) and it seems to work fine

[Jmac]

those of you saying you HAVE to play in 32bit color,

 

You are telling me (and everyone else here) that you can notice the differentce between 16 MILLION and 32 MILLION colours??... I find this very funny, and i reckon you would have great difficulty in distinguishing ONE SHADE difference on the 16bit color spectrum, let alone 32bit spectrum... in my experience, 16bit is as good as 32bit and does take a load off system resources (it requires 1/2 the bandwidth on your graphics cards for starters) If you think your screen looks washed out in 16bit color mode try upping the GAMMA or SATURATION on your monitor or in your video cards settings.

You obviously haven't taken any computer classes, have you ?

 

4-bit colour has 2 to the 4th degree (or 16) shades.

8-bit colour has 2 to the 8th degree (or 256) shades.

16-bit colour has 2 to the 16th degree (or 65,536) shades.

24-bit colour has 2 to the 24th degree (or 16,777,216) shades.

32-bit colour has 2 to the 32nd degree (or 4,294,967,296) shades.

48-bit colour has 2 to the 48th degree (or 281 trillion) shades.

 

So, as you can see, there is a huge difference in the amount of shades between the two.  I think many people know there is a great difference between sixty-five thousand and four billion.

 

 

[The Patrix]

Help! d3d8.dll & ddraw.dll !

 

I have the nvidia/win XP problem but I have the french version of XP & the microsoft patch doesn't want to install! Where could I find the correct files I need to run properly the game?

Please

Thx

[disorder303]

i am a graphic artist (and a programmer) and there is no difference between 16bit and 32bit shades, apart from:

 

in 16bit mode, only a small amount of your cards processor/memory is used, which means it runs faster.

 

however, you can notice that the picture is not the best, and includes dots at regular intervals, a bit like jpeg or mpeg compression. ie, we have 5 subtle shades of red, we take 1 in every 5 out and replace it with a single red that can be used the next time we have 5 in a row.

 

in 32bit, (which is actually the best performance) as much of your processor/memory as the game needs is used.  the pallette is smoother and because most modern cards and CPU's are 32bit anyway, the instructions that are sent are read, processed and writen in 32bits (which is half as fast as doing it twice for each 16bits)

 

only use 16bit if you feel it is faster, or if your card is older and doesnt support 32bit instructions (i found the voodoo banshee was 16bit only)

 

 

 

 

aaaaannnyway, i have a problem, much like many others here..

 

my PoS:

AMD duron 800

256mb ram

61gig ATA66 (actually a 100 but my board needs upgrading)

S3 savage 4 - 16mb

latest directx 8.1

latest S3 drivers

 

hereafter known as 'my computer' is having problems while playing GTA3.  basically, there are no 'overlay' textures, such as car shadows, people shadows, blood, newspapers/littler/leaves etc, car fires (i have to LISTEN for it ) explosions/smoke. there are no lights on the floor or coming from cars, no helicopter search lights, etc etc.  

 

i think this is really annoying and i am already assuming its the graphics card and lack of graphics memory, but i am asking if anyone else has had the same problem and/or found a solution.

 

my email is [email protected]

 

if anyone can help me then they will get a full version of one of my apps for free.

 

thanks everyone

[CyReQ]

Yes... many ppl are experiencing the same problems with low end graphic cardz. My guess is just not enough memory provided by the cards to deliver all the texturez of GTA:3 so fast. That is all the advice i can give ya man... radeon 8500 ownz! ([email protected] if you really feel the need to give me your cool apps (mee wants!, but i doubt u will get any other responses except for someone who shares a low end card like that and has found a fix...

 

CyReQ

[Monkeywrench]

Lets face it, this game has serious issues.  Im not going to list my system

 

specs, because that would be way too emabarassing for ROCKSTAR.  They

 

obviously dont give a sh*t, hell it took them a month to release the same

 

patch that someone did in a day or two for GAMECOPY.

 

There are plenty of retards saying "quit bitching, play it in OVERHEAD view,

 

or GEE it runs fine if you play it in software mode". Lol what the hell is

 

wrong with you retards, if I sold you a car that "works fine as long as you

 

dont go over 40 MPH" you would probably put pictures of me up on your bedroom

 

wall and pull your puds nightly to my image.

 

So what can WE as consumers do?

 

Take it back?  Well most of us are game junkies, we just want to play what is

 

in terms of content an excellent game.  This game in its current form is like

 

owning a "kit car", it may look great standing still, but the damn engine and

 

suspension is a VW bug (no pun intended).

 

So taking it back wont mean crap, but there are lots of things you can do to

 

"express yourselves".

 

Ill start a little list, please add to it if you feel compelled:

 

1.  Call Rockstar offices, a lot, often, make their phone ring off the hook,

 

make the receptionist life a living hell.

 

2. Email them , a lot, sign them up for every porn site you come across

 

(again, no pun intended).

 

3. Fill their voice mailboxes up with clutter.

 

4. Spam every email you can get a hold of, any employee at rockstar, or all of

 

em.

 

5. Call "fax toner" suppliers and submit address and email of rockstar.

 

6.  Order pizzas and call taxis to rockstar, do this a lot eventually they

 

will get a bad rap and stop responding, or at least take their time.  

 

7. Go to Barnes an Noble, grab subscription cards to every magazine on the

 

rack, get high and fill them out with freinds.  Just grab the manual, sign em

 

up.  Its a hassle to cancel these things.  You figure 5 to 10 mins on the

 

phone per subscription.

 

8.  Call local services, cleaning, babysitting, plumbers, electricians etc etc

 

and request repairs.  Done professionally they will pop out there monday

 

morning.

 

9. Request limo services to the airport, eventually they will get a bad rap

 

and the service will try to call them to confirm, when they get voice mail

 

they will not respond.  Eventually they will really want the service and it

 

will be a no show.

 

10. Any sight you go to pump in RS emial addresses, 50 people punching in 10 a

 

day will be a nightmare for them.

 

The list goes on, be creative, just create a notepad page with RS emails,

 

addresses and phone numbers and cut and paste while you surf the net, make

 

phone calls etc.

 

Be creative!

 

 

 

 

#2

 

Boycott?

 

Well that is a valid idea, but lets face it were all junkies.  We love games,

 

we just want them to work.

 

If I take it back, a month from now a patch may come out that fixes the game.  

 

I prefer to wait, I give everyone a chance.  There are many examples of games

 

that come out with bugs, the difference is the level of commitment from the

 

developer.  These clowns pumped out a game and went on vacation.  Shipping a

 

game, especially a PC game means you are 85 % complete, it doesnt mean its

 

time to circle jerk.

 

These clowns put more time and effort into their merchandising and interviews

 

than they do into product support.

 

So whats the answer, Ill wait, but for every minute of frustration they have

 

caused me I will create 15 for them.

 

 

I didnt purchase the game and blow up, I waited, and waited.  Then they had

 

the nerve to put out the same patch that was on GAMECOPY.  And that took them

 

a month.

 

 

Now there are some here proclaiming how sweet this game runs on their system,

 

instead of you bashing those who for some reason lack the elite skills you

 

seem to posess, how about you post your configs *use  cpuid*, along with your

 

configs for the game *resolution, distance, vsync yeah or neh, GTU tweak

 

settings if applicable, same goes for riva tuner, your video card driver

 

version, sound card and driver version,  etc.

 

Tell us "bitchers" HOW you did it!!!!

 

Posting it runs sweet on your system means nothing, especially considering my

 

system specs and the three other machines I isntalled it on at work in a major

 

publishers QA department.

 

 

Were all gamers, dont be upset with me just because I dont intend on getting a

 

peice of software rammed up my azz.

 

 

Belive me if RS was being proactive on these issues I would be the first one

 

telling people to calm down because I understand the issue associated with a

 

million plus possible configs.  But this is blantant greed.

 

Therefore, I will do what I can to waste their time.  Its real easy.  And

 

trust me do not let the fact that you can not witness the havoc in person,

 

there will be havoc.  If your creative.

 

 

#3

 

Quote (GTA3Joe @ Jun. 30 2002,01:25)

I dont have a great computer and it runs great.. (unless i have some other

 

things opened like icq)

 

Please post your cpu specs using WCPUID, its easy it will save a bitmap.

 

Please post your resolution, and video settings.  Post your direct x settings

 

ex. Sound- Full hardware, or one to two notches less.

 

Then run the game using FRAPS, you can save a log that will list your FPS

 

while playing.

 

 

I dont buy it, I have installed this game on several machines that were

 

designed to test games.  Several configs were tried, patch , no patch, no cd

 

hack, cd hack.

 

If you go through the files installed on your pc you will find PS2 files.

 

Look at the available options for the game, thats right there are none. No

 

option to limit peds, vehicle traffic, hell Driver had these options.  Look at

 

the manual it explains NOTHING. (I dont need it, but many others do).

 

Whats with the replay, I can play TRIBES 2, with recording on at max settings

 

on a 52k modem and get better frame rates.

 

Why is there no way to disable replay mode?

 

Its real simple, they got greedy.

 

All you Homedogs, and Teflons are part of the reason the PC industry has the

 

problems it does.  Your low self-esteem deludes you into feeling that YOU

 

should be grateful for a product.  Sorry chumps, THEY should be thankful that

 

the BBB has not gotten involved on these issues yet.

 

 

Like I said before I understand the config issues confronting developers, I

 

also understand blatant greed.

 

 

I cant believe a couple of you posted that you would wait till gta4 to decide.

 

Name another product you would be so forgiving of.

 

Here are some starting points:  Remember to look at the back of the manual,

 

there are endless names in there to contact, dont stop at T2 or Rockstar,

 

expand it to motion capture studio, marketing etc. Hell go to rockslobs site

 

and get their list of FREINDS in the links section.  IMPORTANT: make sure you

 

notify the reciepient of your wrath the REASON they are now recieving email

 

from LOLITA LOVES YOUR MOM  website.

 

Corporate Office

Address Phone

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. 575 Broadway, New York, NY 10012  (212)

 

334-6633  

 

International Headquarters

Address Phone

Take Two UK Saxon House 4 Victoria Street, Windsor, Bershire SL4 1EN  01753

 

496 600  

 

Primary Subsidiaries

Address

GodGames, Inc. 575 Broadway, New York, NY 10012  

Rockstar Games, Inc. 575 Broadway, New York, NY 10012  

Talonsoft, Inc. 9900 Franklin Square Drive, Suite A Baltimore, MD 21236  

 

Sales Department - 212-334-6633

 

 

Public Relations

 

Dawn Berrie (Investor Relations/Corporate Media) - 212-334-6633 x270

Jeff Castaneda (Product Media) - 212-334-6633 x217

 

Technical Support - (410) 933-9191

 

[email protected]

http://www.talonsoft.com/techsupport

 

http://www.vis-plc.com/

 

http://www.angelstudios.com/

 

http://www.neo.at/neo/index.php?L=EN

 

http://www.n-space.com/

 

http://www.dma.co.uk/

http://www.oyster.com/

http://www.trackpros.com/

http://www.kinkbmx.com/

 

Edited by Monkeywrench on Jun. 30 2002,02:07

[Guardsman00395]

I realize someone already responded to this problem, but for those of us who have, uh, 'lost' the manual, it's of no help.

 

Computer is an athlon 1.2 with 256mb DDR, NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440. When the game starts, all the text is orange blocks and there's a black box around my mouse cursor. Could someone please tell me how to fix this?

 

Thanks, I really appreciate this.

[Jmac]

You have to download a patch.  You should have probably checked the GTA3.com troubleshooting section or Take2Games technical support first.

 

Windows XP Patch to fix letters and graphics in GTA3

[enkephalin]

Voodoo 4/5 users (sorry, can't speak for V3; it was a fine card, and I'm sorry you missed the chance to upgrade to V5, an even better card:)

 

I managed to get smooth, contiguous, uninterrupted gameplay. Sure, I had to f*ck with my system and go to great and f*cking unreasonable lengths just to get this f*cker to operate as intended and as it should have when it released, and after months of these flaccid cocksuckers making excuses for sloppy code and pumping their asses up with assumptions that this game was REALLY such brilliantly hot sheeit that you MUST have disputedly "high-end machines" to run it...</bitter scathing editorial>

 

With a combination of the new GTA3 v1.1 patch and the latest third party Voodoo 4/5 drivers (thanks to Stretchnutter for the heads-up,) I got better performance, but the crashes were just as constant until I used the 3DAnalyze fix. If you're using a VIA chipset, you also want latest VIA 4 in 1 drivers. There, that's all the crucial links in one posting, on the first page of the forum, (not counting the XP patch, which is in the post just before this one anyway, or the SBLive! drivers, which isn't strictly Voodoo-related.)

 

So far I've played the first island, every variety of mission and job and general tossing off, straight through for 3 hours without a single crash. (There might be problems on later islands, but I'm taking my time and enjoying the gameplay and EVERY feature in Portland.) With DX anti-aliasing on 2x-4x, the visuals are sweet and the frames choppy as hell, from 4-150 fps, averaging at about 12. With anti-aliasing at fastest performance, the edges are a little jagged but the fps goes 40-90, averaging at 60ish.

 

Give these fixes a try. I'm going to experiment with changing video settings and rebuilding the texture files to see if you can optimize those visuals and fps. Please post responses in THIS thread to cut spam here, unless you have a definite and confirmed fix.

[muchas_gracias]

ok i finally got gta3 running smooth -- 20-30fps most of the time -- after getting that new audio patch (sure, theres no newspapers or rain, but im just glad i can play it)

 

problem is, now i cant move my guy backwards. and when i dont push any buttons, he just walks forward. if i push the back button he'll stop, but he just wont move backwards.

this happened once before, but it went back to normal when i got out of a car one time

 

any suggestions??

[NumeralXVII]

my specs

 

voodoo3 2000 PCI

1000 P3

128 ram

win 98

 

i can run the game...it just looks horrible, and i bet it would crash...take a look

 

 

it works fine on my friends e-machine...so the game is fine, how can i fix it so it works on mine?

[Jmac]

Oh man, that's f*cking ugly !!  I have never seen anything like that !  Something is seriously f*cked up there !

[NumeralXVII]

well...i manage to lose my cd's, and i have 1.1...i need someone to send me a 1.0 exe of the game so i can make it work w/o a cd...(NOT hacking, i did buy the game) [email protected] someone please send it...

[frank3bee]

ok i got sum pretty confusing problem...i dont have in game sound. I have some in the intro, but once the game menu loads, there is no sound. I went into the audio option to configure it, and it said that i dont have a audio system when i do, and i heard sound at the intro! I know it sounds confusing but pelase help.! thanks

[yosho]

hey, i got a prob with my GTA i havent heard mentioned yet, it works fine for me except when i try to save, every time i walk into the door, nothing happens, the time keeps ticking like im just standing there instead of waiting for the save screen to boot up, its really annoying cause i can never save    i did buy the game, not hack it, any1 have any suggestions? i got a PIII 600, 128mbRAM, 32MB TNT2 video card by NVIDIA, thanks

[Jon Jewell]

my specs

 

voodoo3 2000 PCI

1000 P3

128 ram

win 98

 

i can run the game...it just looks horrible, and i bet it would crash...take a look

 

 

it works fine on my friends e-machine...so the game is fine, how can i fix it so it works on mine?

The Voodoo three is the problem.  Go to www.voodoofiles.com (I think) and download the unoffical update.  It'll still crash though.

[pops capo]

i got this unhandled exception crap in a dll file on the audio cd (the play cd that comes with the two disc set for GTA3 on pc)

it says this exact text everytime i load it:

unhandled exception: c0000005

at address: beb30aa1

after this message which i have no damn clue of what it means, i get an illegal operation in a dll file that has to do with sound on the play cd.

any clues or fixes for this?

[ChrisFrye11]

i've got a S3 Savage4 16mb card and apart from the game running slow (you can guess that) it doesn't render things properly.

 

eg. I can't see fire: flamethrower, molotov, CAR fire

    I can't see smoke: from the car

    I can't see any car lights or skid marks

    I can't see the blue target arrows or rings

    The glow from street lights appears but on the very edge of the level background

    I can't see car shadows

    I can't see bullet trails

    There are screwed up bits on cars with big black triangles on the panels which means you can see through the car there

 

However the game does appear to be 'FIXING' itself. I know, it hell weird but the more i play it the more those things get rendered.

 

Does anyone know how to fix this????? Bloody Savages!!!!

I have pretty much the same problem. I have a S3 Graphics ProSavage Compaq (64MB; 30MB Video; 32MB AGP) and all those symptoms apply to me. It runs fine otherwise, but it is pretty fu*king annoying!

[blachawk]

I'm a new member in this forum... And I was wondering, which of the cracks do I choose in gamecopyworld? There are so many cracks, how do i know which one is for me? For GTA3 I mean... Thanx,

[frank3bee]

you should atcually get the "sorry no warez or crack are allowed to be mentioned in this forum even if you bought it".exe.