My screens & settings & performance

[pinky]

Hey GTAMonkey2012

 

Nice review, but can u do me a favour? Try to disable "video editor recording" function. The readme.txt clearly said: Note that if you have a

slower machine, you also have the option to turn off this feature altogether.

 

 

I have a feeling this function is a nasty resources hoag.  

Did that mate before I even started the game all this is with that off ... I did mention previously.

Have you tried turning the replay functionality on and seeing how it affects performance?

 

Good idea to start from a clean slate, but might be useful to test with it on as well so that you've got a baseline defined.

It stores the info in the background constantly anyway, whether you use it or not. Same as SA.

This is probably a contributing factor to some of the slowdown but not much.

[Zorgus]

 

GTX260 and not everything maxed out? Weird.

No not weird, the term 'pathetic' comes to mind. - how lazy have these coders been when porting this game.... no effort.

 

maybe instead of a brand new video editor, maybe work on making the game work!?!?

 

heh PC version boasts, Stunningly detailed High resolution graphics

(if you've got an alienware) and even then, no aa... ppffff

Edited December 2, 2008 by Zorgus

[GTAMonkey2012]

Little update after turing down draw distance to "6" and shadow density to 2 and then realising (my very early mistake and many screenshots have this as high) to flick render qualioy to "very high" strangly it looks totaly f'in superb once switched on as screenshots do in reviews, but with some jaggyz, render quality very high will get you what you see in screenies from reviews, im still getting some fps hit, but it was far worse on "high" render quality and the setting I posted initialy.

 

So those who have a rig like me flick all things down but shove render quality = very high and texture "high" will make your card run it better its that wierd issue of playing lower res and card works harder .. I had this with ARMA, you get much better stability slightly less jaggiez (but could be better) and much more playable and lush looking. You do have to be touchy on draw disance with dual core but to be honest I looked over the water again at settings to "6" and I didnt even blink. You can have your screen up while changing when i moved to max I saw a few things come up clearer in the distance, pretty much nothing id care about so far away when action is near field.

 

Im now getting realy lush graphics and fps thats 30-25 .. and then dipping it seems when theres lots of rail stations and buidling edges when driving but thats only in certain places. I still havent progressed anywhere in the game and still tweaking, but bear this in mind.

 

(oh and ran my fan at 85 percent manualy with rivatuner).

 

Been driving first person and the closest 3rd person view, thats when things look very nice indeed.

 

EDIT: I will make some grabs and post ... be right back.

 

Edited December 2, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[GTAMonkey2012]

MY SETTING NOW: (its 16:9 but quick fraps capture has squashed to standard so aspect ratio is out .. so excuse that not enough time to fix)

 

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6370/gt...19243504lv8.jpg

 

The screens, shadows are better too :

 

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3294/gt...19193659qu3.jpg

 

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7028/gt...19204305xz5.jpg

 

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/7200/gt...19215296ei1.jpg

 

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/3780/gt...19234871tq8.jpg

 

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6336/gt...19242234fi6.jpg

 

PS new to this thread, my specs are in the first post ... also note that fps when wlaking is smooth and steady now, drops only driving when buffering (usual gta) and also in more area with industrial items but nothing to kill it, as you see this is at this draw distance and detail distance I dont even blink personaly ... to upgrade more kit and sli just to see things that far away isnt worth it for me.

 

As I said before low setting in this game isnt low like a game a year ago, no way. Everyone sees "running low" this is sh*t, but ehen you have it and run it ans see you can tell its above the standard bar on low - in my case draw distance which will be CPU reasons.

Edited December 2, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[Frostshocker]

 

MY SETTING NOW: (its 16:9 but quick fraps capture has squashed to standard so aspect ratio is out .. so excuse that not enough time to fix)

 

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6370/gt...19243504lv8.jpg

 

The screens, shadows are better too :

 

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3294/gt...19193659qu3.jpg

 

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7028/gt...19204305xz5.jpg

 

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/7200/gt...19215296ei1.jpg

 

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/3780/gt...19234871tq8.jpg

 

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6336/gt...19242234fi6.jpg

 

PS new to this thread, my specs are in the first post ... also note that fps when wlaking is smooth and steady now, drops only driving when buffering (usual gta) and also in more area with industrial items but nothing to kill it, as you see this is at this draw distance and detail distance I dont even blink personaly ... to upgrade more kit and sli just to see things that far away isnt worth it for me.

 

As I said before low setting in this game isnt low like a game a year ago, no way.

nice the shadows seem to look a little better now i still see the MS spray paint effect a little but nice to know it can be changed so its less noticable

when moving i bets its alot better

[GTAMonkey2012]

Yes mate, render value is the one for the shadows to look better, mind you tree cast shadows and shadows cast with night time headlines seem to have this flickery fuzz mesh look to them which is a bit odd, shadow density maked things more "shadowed" LOL especialy at night with car lights, but to me it dont look that great so I lower it to make it look better and obviously fps frees up .. strange.

 

Not sure what they use for the shadow render on casting shadows but it look "meshy" in areas as its fading out from the dark shadow.

 

Actualy the first pick in the day under the tunnel, load it up and zoom right in and look at the lighter grey fade out parts of the shadows cast by bridge onto the road, sort of tv fuzz pixel looking, when moving thats a bit fuzzy flickery at close viewing (wont kill your eyes though nothing that bad).

 

Still think thats something R* could fix or graphics driver personaly.

Edited December 2, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[Frostshocker]

 

Yes mate, render value is the one for the shadows to look better, mind you tree cast shadows and shadows cast with night time headlines seem to have this flickery fuzz mesh look to them which is a bit odd, shadow density maked things more "shadowed" LOL especialy at night with car lights, but to me it dont look that great so I lower it to make it look better and obviously fps frees up .. strange.

 

Not sure what they use for the shadow render on casting shadows but it look "meshy" in areas as its fading out from the dark shadow.

 

Actualy the first pick in the day under the tunnel, load it up and zoom right in and look at the lighter grey fade out parts of the shadows cast by bridge onto the road, sort of tv fuzz pixel looking, when moving thats a bit fuzzy flickery at close viewing (wont kill your eyes though nothing that bad).

 

Still think thats something R* could fix or graphics driver personaly.

i noticed the Fuzz inbetween the shadows its very weird i think

i think R* will release a patch in about a week or 2 to be honest

[LkS]

Thankyou for posting some coherent information on how it runs instead of all this "OMG f**k u R* it run lyk cr** with everything at 100%" Obviously this game is future proofed and will scale with future hardware. A bit like the 10x draw distance mod for San Andreas built in if you will.

 

I've got to say though I'm feeling a bit of deja vu from when GTA3 came out on PC. Remember how bad that ran on most ppls PCs

[spaceeinstein]

I totally agree with this topic. Minimum settings doesn't equal to weak graphics. The graphics are superior even with low settings by the looks of those screenshots.

[Moustacheo]

Thanks very much for taking the time to make and post in this thread, if I had my copy installed and playable I sure wouldn't be on the forums! This makes me feel much better for when I get the game this Saturday, until now on here it's all been doom and gloom.

 

What you say supports what was said in the Eurogamer review: "I had to knock down the default graphic options quite a bit on my PC ... That said, it's worth noting that even turned down, Liberty City remains one of the most visually stunning places yet seen in videogames. And, in terms of future-proofing, there's a lot of sliders that can be turned wayyyy up." My only concerns are the lack of AA as you mentioned, and the fact that you do have a beast of a card. I do have a Q6600 backing up my 8800GT though, so hopefully I'll be able to get some graphics that aren't too bad once I've turned the shadows down.

[SlingShotUK]

Still really enjoying this thread Monkey - keep up the good work.

 

Your latest settings look fantastic in screenshots. Definetly better than how they looked on my PS3 - which still blows me away when I play it... The only thing is potentially the lack of AA which kind of takes away the immersion factor slightly (I actually like the trails in GTA 3 on the PS2 as I thought they added abit more realism). I bet when running it looks incredible though.

 

+1 on the last post as well about future proof.. This game will keep on improving as time goes by and hardware improves.. Especially with modding, this will last for many years..

 

Looking forward to more configuration options and screens Monkey.. Cheers.

[GTAMonkey2012]

Now ive had a play on different day cycles I cannot for the life of me get a good non stuttering buffer balance when in car driveing pretty fast, at the moment this is the biggest bitch for me and is the slight show stopper ... but will keep on testing. im thinking although graphics are good you start flying around the city bam = buffering bottleneck, I may have to resort to medium textures to fix this which will then be not so great.

 

Right now after a few hours all I can say is I realy want to get immersed into this game its pretty damn sweet, both in feel, look and story / cut scenes are great and gameplay .. sound is awsome ... but ... I cant get passed this balance with buffering (sata2 baracuda drive 2 mb cache) which is the larger textures being displayed ... if I bring all to zero and try theres no escape so to get the best its eems sacrificing textures and in any game I realy dont like doing that.

 

So for now at least I can play but im not super joyed ... just going to sit it out and see what more tweaks and ideas float in the coming week or so.

 

I would say if you already have this on console, hold off buying if for maybe a month to see how the land lies.

 

Its deffo the biggest f*ker of a game ive ever installed to hit a sweet spot thats for damn sure, but again, im happy to wait on through and keep tweaking. And I do understand its justified to complain about it for the impressions given about performance and how it is out the box right now, unless you have an uber rig and a slight bit of luck with combinations. I dread to think what setting it will need for lower specs, and that part of it for minimum requirements is and can be taken as a bit of a joke if im truly honest ( but I wont speak of it again).

 

Anyway ... back to a positive ... I havent touched the readme settings or the stream.ini file yet ... oh and i realised I was talking crap you can play this SP and save without being online logged into social club or even in GFWL, I tried today with no modem plugged in and started a new game and all was ok.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[GTAMonkey2012]

Ok, after messing around more, I deffinately have to have textures running "medium" but render quality can be high 1280x1024 ... ive pretty much got it say 10 percent higher than console with no aa (console uses x2 aa) so my rig (see first post) can beat console by 20 percent but visualy having textures as console = medium its not a crisp as it could realy be which is a shame and no aa is the only real thing that disapoints me now.

 

I have 896 MB card and with all my setting are using about 300MB, yet anything much higher and it s stagger buffer fest (that realy will be textures streaming not so much my CPU and frame rates).

 

So for those similar when you get it, get your textures to medium before driving around the map like a madman. I cant say it looks awfull but now I ve found a happy medium just pushing it into a tiny fps hit to better console I thought I could at least have high textures ... and if anything I love high textures.

 

All in all, it still looks great compared to old GTA's but could be better considering with textures and only using 300 mb of mem than the 800 before issues (and no AA). So its a slight blow, but lets see what else can be done, if I can get textures to high and have 2xaa I wouldnt even be slightly complaining realy I would be a 100 percent happy camper ... im about 80 percent happy currently.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[zepman79]

no console is using AA on GTA IV.

 

most consoles don't use AA on any games actually, very few and if they are using AA it isn't going to be 1080.

[GTAMonkey2012]

Ok back with more tweaks reports ...

 

After looking into shorcut flags etc I tried a few things, first off I managed to get textures back to high an nealy eliminate all stuttering and stream buffering issued (not FPS related) driving around to the point that now I can control FPS by draw distance and the usual FPS/CPU values, before I got that sorted but still got major stutter, so its getting better and more controllable now.

 

Here what to try (if you have vista 32) ...

 

1.Create a shortcut from the rockstars main folder of the exe called "LaunchGTAIV.exe"

 

2. Open with "properties" on desktop of that shorcut and in the target add the following additions:

 

"E:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -norestrictions -DX9 /high

 

-norestrictions = lets the game not restrict your settings, this wont do anything for FPS or performance as-is and is just helpfull when testing, some say it doesnt work for them (they still get restrictions) but again this is all about my own experience with my rig and it does work for me.

 

-DX9 - Runs the game in Driect X 9 mode under vista, I do know that this actualy may help things as I have tried this with Crysis Warhead and it was more stable, so those saying "Install XP vista is crap" .. if you have vista and want to try it under DX9 this is it.

 

/high - Runs the game under vista at highest priority, gives mem and cpu access to this over all other processes.

 

-DX9 & /high have made it so I dont get stutters it runs, before I had same fps without these flags but having to set textures to medium (yuck) ... so I know for a fact this has helped and made a difference. For those with xp still try "/high" even if your in DX9 by default and give it a go.

 

Now im at a stage where these are my setting and I can play no stutter but fps is about 20 steady .. yes not great fps but now I know what to do to bring fps back to 30 to fit my CPU.

 

1280x1024 75hz 16:10

Textures - High

Render Detail - Highest

View Distance - 21

Detail distance - 21

Traffic - 100 (yes this will deffo be CPU / FPS issue with my 30 fps count lowering to 30 is getting back to 30 FPS steady)

Shadow Density - 16 (again drop this to about 4 and still looks good and wont kill CPU which it will do)

 

Using 745MB of 800 that I have.

 

Now before I had shadow = 0 ... render high, textures medium using about 3-400 MB of 800 and getting same fps, but ... before these tweaks I then i set textures to high it would realy splutter (not FPS but streaming) when driving ... so with these extra flags on start up you can see the changes and in my mind = progress.

 

For those reading this new, yet again follow the thread since I got the game (on my tweak journey) and my specs are in the first post.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[camdean]

Great post, very imformative and helpfull

 

 

 

Can someone tell me where the screenshots save to ?

[GTAMonkey2012]

I wish moderatores would gather up these bits and stick them in a tweaks sticky .... MODERATORS start gathering goodies, this forum is already getting fragmented with same quesions ... get some stickies up!

[camdean]

I wish moderatores would gather up these bits and stick them in a tweaks sticky .... MODERATORS start gathering goodies, this forum is already getting fragmented with same quesions ... get some stickies up!

So, where do I find my screenshots ?

[GTAMonkey2012]

This thread is about my experience tweaking for performance not a help guide to screengrab features, ask in a new thread or check the manual. I havent even bothered with that yet I use fraps to grab pics. Please dont ask off topic questions here if you can help it mate, unless you report any help or followed similar tweaks.

 

EDIT ... forgot to say that my screen visuals are pretty much back to the same as the first post ones now.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[camdean]

yeah well thanks for the help lol

 

 

Screenshot button worked, pasted into paint..

 

 

[GTAMonkey2012]

 

yeah well thanks for the help lol

 

 

Screenshot button worked, pasted into paint..

.. I kind of helped ... I did say I used fraps. Im so caught up in tweaking and messing with settings that some mundane things I havent even tried yet

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[GTAMonkey2012]

I also frogot to also state that :

 

 

Turn of Vsync OFF in settings and the rest to "app control", use rivatuner and set your fan to 85 percent manualy while playing. Nvidia of course here.

 

Just more things I got running while doing all of this, kill background tasks not needed also and any heavy anti virus like norton and things lice scanning drives.

 

Also installed to a separate drive and my swapfile is on a different drive to system also.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[GTAMonkey2012]

A thread talking about defraging after install that helped them prompted me to post the following so I will stick it in this thread too:

 

Heres a MS dos based tool that will defrag ONLY the files or folders you want and need rather than an entire drive.

 

Its called "contig.exe" I was advised to use it via games programmer for Bohemia Interactive who make Armed Assault who rated it well as ARMA has alot of draw distance and buffering and it did help so its not a crappy tool my any means.

 

So ...

 

1. Download and check the details HERE (download link is a the base of the page).

2. Copy "contig.exe" to the following location:

 

 

 

(*Drive Letter*):\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV

 

 

Drop it into the root here along side the game exe's.

 

3. Right click over the copied contig.exe and "create shorcut to desktop".

4. Right click and select properties on the new created shortcut and in the target add these addition flags at the end:

 

 

 

"E:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\Contig.exe" -s *.* -v

 

 

So after the tagets last > " < add a space, then -s, then a space, then *.* then a space. then -v

 

Then ok it. BTW my drive letter happens to be "E" where I installed, dont read into that yours will be wherever you installed.

 

5. Double click and it will do its thing.

 

NOTE: In Vista it wont run you have to right click over the shortcut and then select "run as administrator" .

 

It will open a black DOS window, contig will then start to check every folder and file under its location where its ran from (thats why you stick it in the root of the game folder) ... you will see on screen each file it finds, how fragmented and whats its doing. Once its complete the dos window will simply close and all complete. It will show if nothing needs to be done.

 

This is a big game and yes it may take time so run it and make lots of cups of tea biggrin.gif , but the best part is it is ONLY defragging the game folder or what you tell it too than say defragging an entire drive for the sake of just 18gig install, it does work and does help. This will only defrag what it finds anything else gets skipped. You can use the exact procedure on anything not just games. so any game just do the same procedure but for that game folder.

[Bluesman]

Ok back with more tweaks reports ...

 

After looking into shorcut flags etc I tried a few things, first off I managed to get textures back to high an nealy eliminate all stuttering and stream buffering issued (not FPS related) driving around to the point that now I can control FPS by draw distance and the usual FPS/CPU values, before I got that sorted but still got major stutter, so its getting better and more controllable now.

 

Here what to try (if you have vista 32) ...

 

1.Create a shortcut from the rockstars main folder of the exe called "LaunchGTAIV.exe"

 

2. Open with "properties" on desktop of that shorcut and in the target add the following additions:

 

"E:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -norestrictions -DX9 /high

 

-norestrictions = lets the game not restrict your settings, this wont do anything for FPS or performance as-is and is just helpfull when testing, some say it doesnt work for them (they still get restrictions) but again this is all about my own experience with my rig and it does work for me.

 

-DX9 - Runs the game in Driect X 9 mode under vista, I do know that this actualy may help things as I have tried this with Crysis Warhead and it was more stable, so those saying "Install XP vista is crap" .. if you have vista and want to try it under DX9 this is it.

 

/high - Runs the game under vista at highest priority, gives mem and cpu access to this over all other processes.

 

-DX9 & /high have made it so I dont get stutters it runs, before I had same fps without these flags but having to set textures to medium (yuck) ... so I know for a fact this has helped and made a difference. For those with xp still try "/high" even if your in DX9 by default and give it a go.

 

Now im at a stage where these are my setting and I can play no stutter but fps is about 20 steady .. yes not great fps but now I know what to do to bring fps back to 30 to fit my CPU.

 

1280x1024 75hz 16:10

Textures - High

Render Detail - Highest

View Distance - 21

Detail distance - 21

Traffic - 100 (yes this will deffo be CPU / FPS issue with my 30 fps count lowering to 30 is getting back to 30 FPS steady)

Shadow Density - 16 (again drop this to about 4 and still looks good and wont kill CPU which it will do)

 

Using 745MB of 800 that I have.

 

Now before I had shadow = 0 ... render high, textures medium using about 3-400 MB of 800 and getting same fps, but ... before these tweaks I then i set textures to high it would realy splutter (not FPS but streaming) when driving ... so with these extra flags on start up you can see the changes and in my mind = progress.

 

For those reading this new, yet again follow the thread since I got the game (on my tweak journey) and my specs are in the first post.

Do you notice a visual difference between dx10 and 9?

[13th_Disciple]

Thank you for this post, i got mine this morning and have been testing it on my 8800GTX @ 1680x1050 (AMD x2 6000) Vista 32

It can look very nice but FPS is a tad low... around 20-25, it looks nice, no AA although i have set to 4x via NV control-panel, reasonable frame rate, i just need a better system to enjoy the best eye candy, but fun, enjoyable... going to try some optimizations.

 

[evilrex]

Told you guys the Nvidia control panel anti-aliasing works..

Looks great!

[GTAMonkey2012]

 

no AA although i have set to 4x via NV control-panel

 

This is what he posted. No overide works so far mate, those screens are scaled so that makes it look smoother.

 

Mind you if it could look that smooth at those settings and running 30FPS I thin everyone would kiss rockstar ... shame its not the case.

[Scoobe]

Hi all, i got that game today i have been playing for abit, first i left it on auto graphics..

 

well spec on my pc... similar to 13TH maybe?????????>>>>>>.

 

AMD6400+ @ 3.21

4gbmem

8800ultra about 650mhz ;/

asus m3nsn or something sry ;/

1440x900 vista 64x

 

Well i tryed a few settings .. i am able to put it on highest but yes the fps are like 20's in bench,,,

so i put texture quaiilty medium

render highest

 

view distance is 80, also detail distance 80

 

, traffic about 40 which is plenty enough, shadows 0 for now,

 

with this it runs fairly well actually n dont get really any lags and is VERY playable and looks :"ok/good" <<<<<<<

 

yes on highest it looks real good but the fps is not ok, non playable/

 

 

i had it all at highest and was laggy in some places ;/ but maybe i can get high texture and render highest with some more tests and get a playable 35 fps ?;/

i will try like 13TH DISCIPLE to put texture quality to high instaed of medium but it looks like i have to lower view distance abit and test it ;/

 

i need siesta i been drinkin beer n playing ciao ;D

[GTAMonkey2012]

 

Do you notice a visual difference between dx10 and 9?

 

No its not a case of instant difference more a case that stability with stuttering when driving fast and using textures HIGH = -dx9 flag seemed to iron that out alot more than before when it was 1-2sec pauses and stuttering just looking around with mouse stood still.

 

Its more a case of try and you find that things arent as jerky and you can bring settings up more, clearly medium setting will "look" worse than hign texture settings, so -dx9 = no obvious stupid amounts of jerks with driving then DX9 in Vista in my case means i can have nicer texture levels and it then clearly "looks better"

 

this isnt refering to FPS and CPU draw distance thats its own bubble to test, dx9 flag and high priority for me helped the stuttering and thus being able to have textures high as I wanted them to be.

 

Bottom line I HAD to force textures to medium to be able to drive fast and not get pissed off, these extra flags on start up means I dont get it 99 percent of the time AND I can have textures back HIGH again. No excuse that R* needs to optimise and it still looks jaggy even after all this tweaking which annoys me, but still its better than it was for me.

Edited December 3, 2008 by GTAMonkey2012

[GTAMonkey2012]

Hi folks,

 

Seeing as ive been tweaking and taking notes on other things, ive just updated the entire first post of this thread with my finding with my rig and all things "tweak".

 

** Goto the first post in this thread which has as it all added with videos to compare etc **

 

 

Links to this are always in my profile details, plus video editor things too BTW.