i hereby declare the commandline system...

[slowrider]

i've tried pretty much everything i know here to correct a problem where my graphical settings keep resetting. i created this in the shortcut's target box to try to combat it, but failed:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -noprecache -novblank -norestriction -nomemrestrict -nointro -renderquality 1 -shadowdensity 0 -texturequality 1 -detailquality 30 -width 1280 -height 768 -percentvidmem 100

 

as i say, a little overkill goes a long way. until now. it was annoying to the point that i wanted to see what commands are actually accepted, so i made this one...:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -help

 

...in an attempt to see what's going on. but the window refuses to stay open no matter what. the text is there for about one frame, and it's gone.

 

at the very least, can someone help me with keeping the help screen open for more than a split-second?

[trip]

 

i've tried pretty much everything i know here to correct a problem where my graphical settings keep resetting. i created this in the shortcut's target box to try to combat it, but failed:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -noprecache -novblank -norestriction -nomemrestrict -nointro -renderquality 1 -shadowdensity 0 -texturequality 1  -detailquality 30 -width 1280 -height 768 -percentvidmem 100

 

as i say, a little overkill goes a long way. until now. it was annoying to the point that i wanted to see what commands are actually accepted, so i made this one...:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -help

 

...in an attempt to see what's going on. but the window refuses to stay open no matter what. the text is there for about one frame, and it's gone.

 

at the very least, can someone help me with keeping the help screen open for more than a split-second?

C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe -help > filename.txt

 

that will save a txt version of the screen

 

edit:

forgot to mention it saves the file in the directory you are running the command from...so if you run the command from the good old c propmt it will be in the root of c

 

also - have you tried just 'cmd' in the run box. that should keep your dos screen up when you run the command switches.

Edited December 4, 2008 by tripmills

[slowrider]

epic failure. i'm struggling here, typed it into command prompt in two variations. one created a blank text file, the other made securom angry and caused an error message. can someone else try this and put the end result on the thread? it would help, i don't know how much though.

[trip]

i will when i get home. good idea on grabbing any help they might have for the switches

[mr_zen256]

What video drivers are you using slowrider? I had the problem with graphic settings not saving while using the 180.60 betas.. 180.48 fixed it for me

[slowrider]

 

What video drivers are you using slowrider? I had the problem with graphic settings not saving while using the 180.60 betas.. 180.48 fixed it for me

i think i'm running the 180.70 beta drivers. for the uninitiated, i'll lay my rig's specs on the thread.

 

Asus M2N-VM DVI Motherboard

AMD Athlon X2 64 Dual Core 5200+ (2x2.7GHz)

2GB RAM

Palit Nvidia Geforce 9500GT w/ 1GB VRAM (or whatever it's called)

Windows XP SP3.

 

as said, i have the 180.70 kit. updating the drivers has definitely done something to it. before i had the 180.48 kit, i could toggle the fan speeds in vtune, now it's greyed out.

[MaddmattH]

Make sure to start up the Social Club program before running the shortcut with the commands. I found that to help.

 

My old Geforce 7800GT seems unable to run the game properly. Strangely, performance is ok. It's the graphics glitches that ruin it.

Yea I need a new PC

[trip]

here is the results of the -help switch used on the .exe

 

Usage: gtaiv.exe [options]

Where [options] are one or more of:

 

==== [AUDIO] ====

-fullspecaudio: Force high-end CPU audio footprint

-minspecaudio: Force low-end CPU audio footprint

 

==== [GLOBAL] ====

-benchmark: Determines if we run the benchmark immediately

-safemode: Sets graphics setting to lowest setting

 

==== [GRAPHICS] ====

-forcer2vb: force r2vb

-frameLimit: number of frames to limit game to

-framelockinwindow: Force framelock to work even in a window (works best with

60Hz monitor refresh)

-fullscreen: Force fullscreen mode

-height: Set height of main render window (default is 480)

-norestrictions: Do not limit graphics settings

-novblank: Disable wait for vblank

-refreshrate: Set refresh rate of main render window

-width: Set width of main render window (default is 640)

-windowed: Force windowed mode

 

==== [MEMORY] ====

-availablevidmem: Percentage of available video memory

-memrestrict: Set the restriction the amount of available memory for managed

resources

-nomemrestrict: Do not restrict the amount of available memory for managed

resources

-noprecache: Do not precache resources

-percentvidmem: Percentage of video memory to make available to GTA

 

==== [QUALITY SETTINGS] ====

-detailquality: Set detail distance (0-99)

-renderquality: Set anisotropic filtering (0-4)

-shadowdensity: Set the number of lights that cast shadows

-texturequality: Set texture quality (0-2)

-viewdistance: Set LOD view distance (0-99)

 

[slowrider]

great find. for the options that require numbers as well, what would be the proper formatting for them? ( -width 1280 )

[trip]

great find. for the options that require numbers as well, what would be the proper formatting for them? ( -width 1280 )

exactly

-option # -option # -option #

 

i was just happy they took the time to include the help screen

[slowrider]

i don't know if i was glad to hear that, because that's how i formatted my link back on post one, and it doesn't do anything.

[MaddmattH]

-forcer2vb: force r2vb

What does this do? It's not mentioned in the readme.

[smokeythedemon]

i've tried pretty much everything i know here to correct a problem where my graphical settings keep resetting. i created this in the shortcut's target box to try to combat it, but failed:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -noprecache -novblank -norestriction -nomemrestrict -nointro -renderquality 1 -shadowdensity 0 -texturequality 1 -detailquality 30 -width 1280 -height 768 -percentvidmem 100

 

as i say, a little overkill goes a long way. until now. it was annoying to the point that i wanted to see what commands are actually accepted, so i made this one...:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -help

 

...in an attempt to see what's going on. but the window refuses to stay open no matter what. the text is there for about one frame, and it's gone.

 

at the very least, can someone help me with keeping the help screen open for more than a split-second?

Instead of the LaunchGTAIV.exe, aren't you supposed to put all those on the GTAIV.exe itself?

[slowrider]

 

-forcer2vb: force r2vb

What does this do? It's not mentioned in the readme.

i never noticed that. i'd try to figure it out if only i could get the command to work in the first place.

 

edit: oh, and smokes, i tried that. it failed.

[degoe]

 

i've tried pretty much everything i know here to correct a problem where my graphical settings keep resetting. i created this in the shortcut's target box to try to combat it, but failed:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -noprecache -novblank -norestriction -nomemrestrict -nointro -renderquality 1 -shadowdensity 0 -texturequality 1  -detailquality 30 -width 1280 -height 768 -percentvidmem 100

 

as i say, a little overkill goes a long way. until now. it was annoying to the point that i wanted to see what commands are actually accepted, so i made this one...:

 

"C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -help

 

...in an attempt to see what's going on. but the window refuses to stay open no matter what. the text is there for about one frame, and it's gone.

 

at the very least, can someone help me with keeping the help screen open for more than a split-second?

Hey,

your shortcut is good altough it has a lot of options.

After some testing and thinking I found out the rockstar social club is the problem, this application captures the commandline options and doesnt forward them.

It does this so that it can popup to tell you you have to log in.

 

 

The sollution:

-Start the shortcut once, when Rockstar Social Club pops up login but dont click "play".

-Click the shortcut again!

-Now your game launches with the options since RGSC doesnt need to popup anymore.

 

My result:

After doing this myself the dissapointment came soon because I found the Rockstar limits actually do make sense and I noticed that adjusting graphics above the vid-ram limits resulted in missing textures/buildings etc.. all over the place (probably because they didnt fit into my vid-ram :s). Btw, with all the settings turned up the game still looked crappy..

 

Conclusion:

Bad port, the graphics dont get much better with higher settings.

To set stuff high buy a videocard with alot of ram (>1000mb), to set stuff max get a card with >1,7gb ram LOL.

[NecroViolator]

First in your GTA IV dir (with EXE files) create a file called "commandline.txt"

In this file paste ALL the commands you want then save file and it will be used every time you start the game...

[degoe]

First in your GTA IV dir (with EXE files) create a file called "commandline.txt"

In this file paste ALL the commands you want then save file and it will be used every time you start the game...

That works even better, thanks.

Where'd you get that information from btw?

[Zubi]

First in your GTA IV dir (with EXE files) create a file called "commandline.txt"

In this file paste ALL the commands you want then save file and it will be used every time you start the game...

hello,

what should i type in this file to make all the graphic setings to highest?...

can u plz type it here that i can copy and paste it into the file?...thank u.

 

[Snypr18]

@ Slowrider

 

You need to go here and delete "Settings.txt".

 

For XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\Settings\SETTINGS.CFG

 

For Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\Settings

 

Note- To see the folder "AppData" in Vista you have to show hidden files and folders. To do this go to control panel > folder options > view > show hidden files and folders.

 

Then delete the file called Settings.txt.

 

Boot the game to the initial loading screen, where you arent actually IN the game quite yet.

 

Go to options > graphics > set your graphics > apply.

 

QUIT.

 

Restart the game. Your settings should be saved as it makes a new Settings.txt with your preferences.

 

Please note that this will also delete your keybinds, audio settings, radio settings, etc.

 

It should work though.