Open letter to Rockstar

[MaxAwesome]

Dear Rockstar,

 

I would like to start by expressing my appreciation to Rockstar for bringing us such a great series as the GTA games, they have always been one of my favourites.

 

But now, I can't help but feel dissapointed in this latest game game. And I'll tell you why.

 

Back in 1999, I bought GTA 2, the first GTA i've ever played... at the time I had a Pentium II 300mhz 64mb RAM and a RIVA TNT... the game ran beautifully.

 

Back in 2001, I bought GTA3... my mind was blown away by that game! The 3D graphics, the freedom of gameplay was just something I drooled over many times. At the time I had already upgraded to the then-awesome new Pentium 4 @ 1.3ghz, 256RAM and a geforce 2 MX400 64MB... the game ran quite well. No wonder, my PC was just under 1-year-old and quite up-to-date by then. Still, I remember I had a neighbour that still played it on his Pentium 3 500mhz with a GPU just like mine (I actually recommended him the card) and the game ran absolutely fine!

 

Come 2003, GTA Vice City comes along. I still had the exact same setup I had back in 2001, and to my surprise, that game had BETTER graphics and ran even BETTER than GTA 3 did, so I was in a state of pure bliss! And believe it if want to, but It played just as well in my neighbour's Pentium 3 500! I was totally shocked! and my neighbour was just drooling over it. (He would borrow my games after I'd finished them).

 

The year is now 2005 and GTA: San Andreas had just hit the shelves! My computer was still the same, except I now had a craptastic Geforce FX 5500 128MB (just a crappy FX 5200 with higher clocks). And yeah, you got that right: tha game still ran perfectly on my almost 5-year-old Pentium 4 with 256 RAM and a crappy GPU! I though: "Man! Rockstar Games rules!" I no longer had my neighbour as I had moved, so I don't know how it ran on his Pentium 3 500mhz

 

And now, we find ourselves in December 2008. The wait is over, GTA 4 is finally on the PC!

Right now, I have a brand new PC (just over a month old) and my specs are as follows:

 

Intel E8400

ASUS P5Q Pro

4GB RAM 800mhz

Geforce 8600GTS (my GTX260 should be here tomorrow).

 

And what do I find when I come online to find out how the game runs on everyone's PC? The game runs like crap! On quite up-to-date hardware! And this is where my frustration comes from...

 

And don't even tell me that an E8400 isn't a powerful CPU, because it is. It just spanks everything you throw at it.

 

An then Rockstar goes to shove this in everyone's faces:

 

"THE GRAPHIC SETTINGS OF GRAND THEFT AUTO IV PC

 

Most users using current PC hardware as of December 2008 are advised to use medium graphics settings. Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."

 

 

I'm sorry Rockstar, but to me this is just pure bullsh*t. No more, no less. Why release a game whose higher setting are meant for "future hardware generations"? Wow, rockstar! Well done!

Because I'm pretty sure no one will want to run this game at high settings, especially when their hardware should be ABLE to do it!

 

You could now argue that Crysis did the same thing. Well, to me it isn't the same thing. While Crysis attempted to be a graphical masterpiece, it still took a beating from even low-end CPUs, and believe me, Crysis has some pretty intense physics going on, and still, even a modest E2200 @ 2.ghz could spank it in the butt and still laugh in the game's face.

 

From what I've read, this game is quite CPU intensive. Why? Because it has traffic? Pedestrians? All the other GTA games had them as well and the previous games wo8uld run quite decently on old hardware. And I mean

old hardware.

 

So, I refuse to accept that a computer I bought just a month ago, with an impressive CPU such as the E8400 (that isn't even 1-year-old!!! it launched in January of this year) simply isn't enough to run this game.

 

I have Far Cry 2, and as far as I know, that game is multi-threaded and takes advantage of multiple cores, but guess what? My CPU kicks in the nuts and laughs! Fallout 3? No problem! Mass Effect? Runs like silk! Dead Space? didn't even blink! Assassin's Creed? Didn't even break a sweat! (and there's a lot of pedestrians going on in that game! a LOT!) Left 4 Dead? It laughs at that game! Call of Duty 5? Runs PERFECT!

 

And I'm not only speaking for myself. There a lot of people out there with aging CPUs (much older than mine) that are still enough to kick some gaming ass. And GTA IV just let them down.

 

So what's the problem, GTA IV? What's wrong with you?

 

I'm sorry Rockstar, but from what I see, I will not buy GTA IV. I feel like I've been let down by a company that I always loved and trusted. All your previous games ran perfectly on older hardware, and now I find that a brand new PC just isn't enough for a brand new game? No Rockstar, you won't fool me again.

 

So if this game is meant for future hardware generations, maybe I will buy GTA IV in a couple of years, when it will be lost in the bargain bin for just under 10 bucks... or even less.

 

Goodbye Rockstar.

 

P.S: To anyone reading this, this is just my opinion. You are absolutely free to disagree with me. This is just me venting my frustration with this game. If you can't relate to this post, at least be respectful.

[Officer_Dufus]

I wish everyone would calm down, RockStar knows of the issue and although not admitting that it is "wide-scale," apparently they ARE working on solutions for it!

[fate_sealer]

I agree entirely. My biggest annoyance is that a game that runs great on the 360 and ps3 won't run half as good (visually or performance wise) on a $1600 PC I built myself that can play every other high end game at maximum settings. I mean just being on par with the 360 and ps3 visual/performance would be nice.

[mouldy_punk]

All I read there was "waa waa waa"

 

Which is all R* will read into it before they ignore it.

 

 

They're getting swamped with support emails, any sign of immature bitching is going straight to their deleted items box.

 

 

I understand you want to vent frustration, and I understand wanting to vent it in R*'s direction; but when you write an email/letter that is full of inaccuracies and awful points, it puts you in a rather negative light.

[free_to_view]

The Only thing that is pissing me off is I have a high spec computer - QUAD CORE Q6600 2.4, 3gb ram and DUAL 9800GT 512MB. I still get that out of memory sh*t - RESC10 Out of video memory - Please re-boot your system

 

ROCKSTAR RELEASE THE PATCH ASAP. And I can't connect online either, something about check your network...

[mouldy_punk]

Do you want them to rush the patch and give out crap that doesn't work (think GTA IV PC v1 release) or do you want them to actually make a good job with the patch?

 

Yes, they should have got it right first time - then they wouldn't have needed to make a patch. Tough tits, shoulda, woulda, coulda. Get over it. What's done is done. The game's broken. Rockstar are working on a patch.

 

Just wait it out and find something else to do with your time while you wait.

[MaxAwesome]

All I read there was "waa waa waa"

 

Which is all R* will read into it before they ignore it.

 

 

They're getting swamped with support emails, any sign of immature bitching is going straight to their deleted items box.

 

 

I understand you want to vent frustration, and I understand wanting to vent it in R*'s direction; but when you write an email/letter that is full of inaccuracies and awful points, it puts you in a rather negative light.

I really don't care about my "innacurate" or "not-so-valid" points, I have told my past experience with GTA games, and how I had learned to trust Rockstar games to deliver an enjoyable game that could in turn be enjoyed by essentially everyone, running a wide variety of old and new hardware. That simply isn't the case with GTA IV.

 

Aside from that, I've also told my recent experience with also recent PC games and how beautifully they run on my machine. So I don't know where you got those "innacuracies" from, since I'm describing personal gaming experiences you are not related to whatsoever.

[nitro_hedgehog]

hopefully there will be a decent boost in fps from the patch. it runs OK but not great at the moment. but we gotta wait even more......

[DeeperRed]

People who say "stop whinning there working on it"

4 words for ya.

 

SHUT.THE.f*ck.UP

 

Why should we pay good money for a game then not have it work ? Patches are a poor excuse. Maybe, just maybe rockstar should of patched the game BEFORE they released it. They've taken are money and are now just counting it up, reading through these forums and just going .

 

There proabaly working on a patch but there still a bunch of basturds, a game should come working. You don't buy a car broken and wait for someone to fix it!

 

In a nutshell. I am going to pirate the next GTA to see if it works and if does Ill go and buy it and well if it doesn't I'll contine to use the pirate edition until they do make it work.

Edited December 4, 2008 by DeeperRed

[Kurgen]

So I don't know where you got those "innacuracies" from, since I'm describing personal gaming experiences you are not related to whatsoever.

 

 

 

Yes, I'm also intrigued as to what "inaccuracies" he posted, mouldy_punk. If you consider that he just voiced an opinion shared by a huge number of people who've followed this series of games since "back in the day", I'd like to know what he said that was so wrong?

 

[exile550]

And people thought STALKER Clear sky and SoC were buggy when they came out. LOL.

[TheJabMan]

Patch in 3 months adding nothing but AA, lol.

[Death_Blade]

I agree as well. How dare Rockstar blatantly insult the PC community by saying our hardware is inferior, despite the fact that we can run games like Crysis, which isnt even able to run on a console. They're simply looking for an excuse rather than taking the blame for their miserable failure. I understand I guess, since no company wants to admit they failed, but this is down right pathetic. I really hope making games that dont run on the current hardware isnt become the new trend in the gaming industry.

 

I also find it pathetic that SLi isnt currently supported, despite the fact that NVIDIA IS ONE OF THEIR SPONSORS. Crossfire works, why cant they take the time to make SLi work, especially when they're in a partnership with nvidia. If they game was going to turn out this bad, they should have simply delayed it again. Rockstar had to know this game wasnt working right, and theres never a good excuse to release a broken game.

[GamerJerome]

how more people complain how faster the patch is comming i hope

[MaHayJay]

argh, stop flameing R* christ, they couldent test gta 4 on every pc to make sure the work on every rig.

 

if your gunna blame anyone, blame your computer manufacturer, or the people who made your grfx card

 

at least there gunna FIX! the problems, BE patient

 

[DeeperRed]

 

I agree as well.  How dare Rockstar blatantly insult the PC community by saying our hardware is inferior, despite the fact that we can run games like Crysis, which isnt even able to run on a console.  They're simply looking for an excuse rather than taking the blame for their miserable failure.  I understand I guess, since no company wants to admit they failed, but this is down right pathetic.  I really hope making games that dont run on the current hardware isnt become the new trend in the gaming industry. 

 

I also find it pathetic that SLi isnt currently supported, despite the fact that NVIDIA IS ONE OF THEIR SPONSORS.  Crossfire works, why cant they take the time to make SLi work, especially when they're in a partnership with nvidia.  If they game was going to turn out this bad, they should have simply delayed it again.  Rockstar had to know this game wasnt working right, and theres never a good excuse to release a broken game.

This.

 

Rockstar suck at doing PC games. First BULLY then this.

I bet the pc department at rockstar is just a bunch of lazy assholes and douchebags... who play consoles

 

MaHayJay

"At least there gunna FIX! the problems, BE patient"

 

Why the f*ck should we, They sold a broken piece of crap

Edited December 4, 2008 by DeeperRed

[Rim]

In conclusion:

 

Forget about playing GTA IV on your pc and get xbox360 or ps3. Consoles can be cheaper than new computer parts.

And I think the patch is not coming soon... You'll probably have to wait about 6 or even more months for it.

 

P.S. Well, actually I don't like playing GTA games on consoles but I'll have to make an exception for GTA IV

[MaHayJay]

In conclusion:

 

Forget about playing GTA IV on your pc and get xbox360 or ps3. Consoles can be cheaper than new computer parts.

And I think the patch is not coming soon... You'll probably have to wait about 6 or even more months for it.

 

P.S. Well, actually I don't like playing GTA games on consoles but I'll have to make an exception for GTA IV

HA six months, PC fanboys would burn down R* HQ if it took that long

[GamerJerome]

i will be verry happy if the patch comes soon becuse its a beautifull game but the bugs and glitches are ruining it

[ZaCkOX]

Ya look at when I try to use crossfireX, and even the latest graphic driver is installed.

 

2 Radeon HD 3870s

 

http://site.staffordsfamouschocolates.com/...gExperience.JPG

 

I really don't care for consoles but the sad fact is, GTA 4 for xbox or ps 3 is way better than the crap we have to put up with just to install, join social club, and sometimes can't even get the graphics to work. Sad, take it back!

[Rim]

 

HA six months, PC fanboys would burn down R* HQ if it took that long

 

Agreed

 

I also can't wait that f*cking long

 

EDIT: OMFG, ZaCkOX, the game looks horrible!

[Kurgen]

In conclusion:

 

Forget about playing GTA IV on your pc and get xbox360 or ps3. Consoles can be cheaper than new computer parts.

And I think the patch is not coming soon... You'll probably have to wait about 6 or even more months for it.

 

P.S. Well, actually I don't like playing GTA games on consoles but I'll have to make an exception for GTA IV

HA six months, PC fanboys would burn down R* HQ if it took that long

Yeah? Fanboys? What about the rest of us, who've been around long enough to know that this game in its current state simply should not have been released? Y'know, people who own and respect their PCs? You defend R* by saying they couldn't test it on every PC... no-one in their right mind would disagree with that. Trouble is, it doesn't run anywhere near as good as it should on almost every PC out there!

 

 

[MaxAwesome]

Although i'm looking forward to see what the patch brings to the table, I believe the patch isn't going to solve anything.

 

It is not going to miracoulasly make the game run great on everyone's PC.

 

It's just ridiculous how people with very capable and RECENT hardware are getting CRAPPY performance on MEDIUM settings. It's just not acceptable.

 

Rockstar Games should just admit that they released a crap ported game.

 

And like someone said, how dare they say our hardware is not enough?!

 

Consoles are supremely inferior to our current hardware, and they managed to make the game look adn run good on them!

 

Poeple with powerfull Quads and Duos aren't even able to get decent FPS with medium settings, which by the way, still look and run like sh*t!

 

This is Unacceptable.

[ZaCkOX]

HA six months, PC fanboys would burn down R* HQ if it took that long

 

Agreed

 

I also can't wait that f*cking long

 

EDIT: OMFG, ZaCkOX, the game looks horrible!

 

 

Ya I downloaded for 2-3 hours then I had 3 errors, had to install windows live for windows, framework 3.5 and sp3, all manually! Then to top it off, I just keep getting social club errors, can't login, and my graphics look like that even after updating. None of my other games ever had bullsh*t like this written on it. I played the xbox version for months, it was definitely a good game, but they screwed this up big time. I always wait and check reviews, but this game had me and boy did it surprise me!

[MaHayJay]

In conclusion:

 

Forget about playing GTA IV on your pc and get xbox360 or ps3. Consoles can be cheaper than new computer parts.

And I think the patch is not coming soon... You'll probably have to wait about 6 or even more months for it.

 

P.S. Well, actually I don't like playing GTA games on consoles but I'll have to make an exception for GTA IV

HA six months, PC fanboys would burn down R* HQ if it took that long

Yeah? Fanboys? What about the rest of us, who've been around long enough to know that this game in its current state simply should not have been released? Y'know, people who own and respect their PCs? You defend R* by saying they couldn't test it on every PC... no-one in their right mind would disagree with that. Trouble is, it doesn't run anywhere near as good as it should on almost every PC out there!

maby they released it to early, but if they delayed it, PC fan boys would have burnt down R* HQ

[waldoribeiro]

Actually, I disagree with this letter. Yes, R* have made a mistake but are you perfect? I'm sure if your life had to apply patches it would be 1TB patches at a time, so give them space. They are at least rectifying it. They have a responsibility to help us but they are not forced. It is one of those things. What has happened, has happened so complaining makes it worse. In fact, if I was in their position, and I read this, I would wipe my ass on the patch. Now don't flame me, because you said we can disagree.

[GamerJerome]

lets all send rockstar message about complains how more complains how faster they make a patch and how faster we can play it normal (i hope)

[Rim]

PC fan boys are now much angry! I can't even dream playing GTA IV on my computer

[Gielster]

Deffinitly agree with the thread's opening post.

I have been waiting since 2005 for this, and this summer i upgraded my pc for GTA IV. Costed me ass much money ass a new 360 would. And now i was very happy when the doorbell rung yesterday, till the game was installed. I'm still happy, but that is because i can actualy play it. It looks like crap, flickers like crap and i can't even finish the bowling mission because the game is not optimized to work with mouse and keyboard. I think having a money-back action would be more placed here then a party.

But i guess my whining will be over with a patch, only if that is before Mafia 2 or Saints row 2 arrives for pc. Next GTA is not going to be on my order list untill R* is able to be sure the game runs on normal pcs.

 

Would also like to add that this total joke costed me arround 250 euros, but luckily i can play DECENT games on the highest settings.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Gielster

[FunGt]

Rockstar, this time, made a real sh*t game. No excuse.