~! Ultimate GTAIV Performance Fix !~

[paijokece]

This game will only use 3 cores maximum.

 

 

Your graphics card is probably being bottlenecked by your CPU, so overclocking will help.

i've overclocked my x6 1055t into 3.2 ghz and it's awesome i gained 10-15 fps so it's around 30-60 now

 

you are da man dude

 

OOT : why did i get a strange glitch after installing icehancer.. i got strange red-sky glitch. the sky became red sometimes.

 

and one more question i'm getting X6 1100t next month, is it worth buying?

 

thanks in advance

[heat84]

 

This game will only use 3 cores maximum.

 

 

Your graphics card is probably being bottlenecked by your CPU, so overclocking will help.

i've overclocked my x6 1055t into 3.2 ghz and it's awesome i gained 10-15 fps so it's around 30-60 now

 

you are da man dude

 

OOT : why did i get a strange glitch after installing icehancer.. i got strange red-sky glitch. the sky became red sometimes.

 

and one more question i'm getting X6 1100t next month, is it worth buying?

 

thanks in advance

No, its not worth buying. The one you have now was a waste of money for you to buy(if your previous CPU was a quad core) unless you do some really major computing that can actually utilize 6 cores. Do you CAD, fold, video edit, etc? What's wrong with the 1055 that you wanna upgrade? You shouldn't buy something just because its newer.

[paijokece]

No, its not worth buying. The one you have now was a waste of money for you to buy(if your previous CPU was a quad core) unless you do some really major computing that can actually utilize 6 cores. Do you CAD, fold, video edit, etc? What's wrong with the 1055 that you wanna upgrade? You shouldn't buy something just because its newer.

yeah, i do video editing, some VFX, and photoshop. no i bought 1055T because i was building a brand new PC, what i had before was a pentium 4 lol

okay, maybe i would wait for x8 or x10 instead

thanks for your advice

[MrXleader]

are all the findings in the first post?

[MrXleader]

Yes that would help a lot... I noticed too late my comment was two years later, and actually I haven't found how to do it in the latest patch... Well anyways thanks and my game is running better now after trying some other tweaks.

can you tell me which tweaks?

[Rasta216]

Thanks MonkeyMhz, your fix worked perfectly !! Gta 4 does not lag at all now, not even once ! I feel like I'm playing San Andreas or Vice city, Gta 4 is that much smooth now !

[ankitr96]

Guys i have the Texture Problem But i m n00b to use this Solution Plz Anyone Provide Me Ready Commandline For My PC

 

My Config:

 

Intel Core i3 3.1 ghz

Intel HD 2000 Graphics 1555mb

4gb RAM

500Gb HDD

 

 

 

Anyone Help.....

[Exxon]

Guys i have the Texture Problem But i m n00b to use this Solution Plz Anyone Provide Me Ready Commandline For My PC

 

My Config:

 

Intel Core i3 3.1 ghz

Intel HD 2000 Graphics 1555mb

4gb RAM

500Gb HDD

 

 

 

Anyone Help.....

Your pc does not meet the minimum requirements as IV does not support Intel GPU's.

And no - there is no tweak that will help you.

[nimaabse]

The Idea:

 

You've heard this rant a million times, GTAIV was future proofed all reflections and shadows are scaled with the resolution. A stupid yet seemingly unfix-able problem that makes the game a mess. Playing a game in 1024x768 or lower is not acceptable. If I wanted to do that I would pull out my P2/P3 with its 32/64mb graphic card. From looking at GTAIV, it has a lot of new technology but nothing that should struggle to run on 8800's or even 8600's. Its that resolution scaling, im sure of it!.

 

The Plan:

 

There must be a way to correct this mess. Lets look at our checklist.

 

- Configs/Settings Profiles in game directory? /fail.

- Will R*'s patch will add more options in? /fail.

 

Not long ago I figured out you can run in windowed mode in 800x600 and then stretch the window larger and it gets around R*'s quality scaling that would increase the reflection maps.etc that would lag the game and make objects/textures disappear and horrid pop-ins. It made the game look good because you weren't dealing with such a low resolution and the game played extremely well.

 

I wanted to look into this and see if you can achieve the same thing without stretched the window manually every time.

 

The Support:

 

After browsing the net, I noticed others used commandline.txt to set the size of their window, and some people have achieved resolutions over their memory limit without using -norestrictions and only using the resolution from the command lines. This instantly helped me find the answer I wanted.

 

How To Do It:

 

Theory:

Now my theory was that, if you have a memory limit on, and you enter a resolution in the command line that is unable to be achieved with that memory limit, it will still put you in that resolution, but the quality scaling will not be implemented. Therefore no disappearing objects/textures, no long or noticeable pop-in's, and less/no lag.

 

The trick is implementing the higher resolutions with you preferred graphic settings, by limiting your memory to just barely include the options you want, and then you force the resolution.

 

Steps:

 

1. Get rid of -nomemrestrict or any current commandlines you have. Run the game and let it die. When you run the game, go to the graphic options, turn your resolution to 800x600 or 1024x768 or whatever you want the reflection maps/resolution based quality to be at, I did 800x600 mainly because it looks simular to the rest and will give you the most performance. Use the rest of your memory budget in draw distance.etc.

 

2. If you cannot acheive the graphical settings you want with your currently memory budget do this next step. If you can, then you can skip this step.

 

make commandline.txt or append -availablevidmem (multiplier):

This command works like this, say I have 256mb vram. -availablevidmem 2.0 would make it say I have 512mb vram, its a multiplier.

 

So for getting our settings as we want it lets make a budget of 512mb vram, so -availablevidmem 2.0.

 

Open GTAIV, set resolution in the ingame settings to 800x600, set rest of the options to whatever you want (be reasonable).

 

Now continue to the next step.

 

3. Now you have your game set as you want it, but in a f-ugly resoltion, but we will fix that. Next step is to trick GTAIV, even people with 512mb graphic cards or even 1gb, this is even useful for them.

 

One of my buddies with a 8800GTX loves this tweak because it allows him to get much higher frames with very little to no graphical loss.

 

So now lets say all our desired settings ingame @ 800x600, use 650Mb. Ok. But say were now using a 1GB card so it says 650/1024Mb. This is a problem now because if we force -height 1080 -width 1920. We will end up with our ingame options changing to 1920x1080 giving us way more slowdowns because R* starts using that dam scaling reflection maps.etc with resolution.

 

So what we need to do now is limit the memory GTAIV sees to exactly the amount to run our game in 800x600 (or whatever quality refection maps.etc you want) with our desired settings.

 

So lets go back to our dilemma, we have a 1GB graphic card and the game only takes up 650mb with the settings we want in 800x600.

 

We can figure this out by doing some simple math.

1GB Card (650mb desired settings): 650/1024 = 0.635 (its 0.634 but give a tiny bit extra, just like a couple megabytes).

 

So you would use -availablevidmem 0.635 that would make the game detect you only have 650mb ram which barely fits the features you want in 800x600.

 

So now once we have figured that out your commandline.txt or your shortcut appending should look like this (depending on what resolution you want/your vidmem.etc):

 

-height 1080 -width 1920 -availablevidmem 0.65

 

and maybe you add stuff like (-framelimit, or -noblank or whatever).

*BUT DO NOT USE ANY UN-RESTRICTION (this includes the nomemrestrict and norestrictions or anything like that)!

 

4. Now when we start up our game. We will be in our desired resolution, and when we look in the game options it will say 800x600, even though we are in a way higher resolution and all your settings will be how you want them and your memory budget will be exactly the right amount or similar like 650/650 or 742/746.etc

 

Funny thing here you wont be able to go back cuz it will detect your memory budget is to low and the game is forcing a higher res, so you might not be able to leave the options screen now, so alt tab, and close the game. If all your settings looked right and it said 800x600 but was clearly in a higher res. Then you did everything right, if not, go retry.

 

5. Now restart the game and play. Yay, good fps, cheated GTAIV to not up the reflection quality with the resolution.

Additional Speed: If you happen to be running Vista x86/x64 and you have a directx10 capable graphic card. Do what elecg2 figured out. I tried creating empty/easy HLSL shaders and putting them in GTAIV to get rid of shadows and stuff but that didn't work.

 

However by doing what elecg2 tried, I got a huge performance increase,

 

Go to GTAIV folder, go into common, then shaders.

 

Backup everything in there <- !!!

 

Then copy the contents of win32_30_atidx10, and paste them into win32_30_nv8. Or just rename the folders, whatever makes you happy.

 

That gave me a significant performance boost and I have no graphical problems or abnormalities. Try it, if it causes you problems or decreased performance then just put it back to normal. With these steps you can get your game running beautifully in no time, or at least better than before.

 

Enjoy.

*Ill be adding screen shots tonight.

 

Please Sticky This, I'm tired of people complaining when the answer is right under their nose.

 

To do a test to actually see if you get any gain from this start your game with 800x600, rest settings how you want them, but start the game in windowed mode. Manually drag the window to your screen size. See if you have a performance increase there, if so. Then doing this big mess of text will help you achieve what you achieved there without having to start the game in windowed mode and manually resize it, thats all this thing does. If you don't get a gain from it then clearly this is no use to you. But it is use to a lot of people.

 

 

Now wheres my proof?

*Oh nice monkey, you showed us some screens but you have no proof!.

*Oh yes i do!.

 

Here the game is 800x600 in game options but tweaked to play at 1680x1050 (look at the highlights/sun reflection on the water):

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/2272/shad...0stretchye9.jpg

 

Here is the game at 1680x1050 in game, no tweak (notice the waters highlights/sun reflection is not as stretched, higher res, because in the first screen we are cheating the reflections to not up with the res, also notice in the distance everything disappears):

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1943/sh...1050normjv4.jpg

 

And to keep things fair, in those water screens, the game was maxed, high textures, high render, full distance, full detail, hence the FPS remained 10 in both!.

 

I rather play the game in a higher res with no disappearing objects and no pop-ins with lower reflection maps, than the game in a high res with better reflection maps but everything disappears.

 

This tweak shmozzle does something!, so its not a placebo. I'm happily running the game 1280x800 with medium tex, hi rend, always in the 20s. So I honestly can care less if you believe me, the evidence is here that it will help someone and if you don't believe me then don't. Ill go enjoy my game while you can sit there and sob.

 

 

If your settings constantly reset, please use what ircmaster wrote:

 

If your graphics settings reset every time you start it up again just follow this quick fix:

 

(Note this is the Vista way, I'm not sure how to do it in XP)

 

1. Go into your C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\Settings folder

2. Delete everything that's in there

3. Start the game with your desired settings and settings shouldn't reset anymore

 

And I'm not lying or trying to ruin your game or anything. I got this off of the official GTA IV support website.

 

Btw, you know what pisses me off, R* could have added a single checkbox that says "Quality Resolution" and then you check it or uncheck it, checked it would up the reflections with the resolution unchecked it would just do what were doing by doing this whole frag feast of text. Lazy R* (do you wanna sell more games?). And a single check box would not make the options complicated!.

hi I just wonder how to do the comandline.txd and where I shuld create it. then how to do inside it. I am sorry for my bad english.

[rsslcs]

I followed this to the letter but I have a problem. Once I have applied my desired settings and then changed the res and mem limit in commandline.txt, the game automatically detects that I am in a higher resolution (1366x768) than what I set it to. (800x480) I get the warning that I exceeded the memory limit but I can leave the menu untouched and carry on playing, albeit with no visible changes or performance increase.

 

Ofc, I have no other commands than height, width and availablevidmem set to 1.265, as I have 500mb gfx memory. I have the steam version, so it is patched to 1.0.7.0.

 

Running on a HP dv6 with 4gb ram and an AMD Athlon P340 at 2.2 ghz, so I really need this to work. Any other performance tips appreciated.

 

Oh and I am running win7 64bit. ^^

Edited December 12, 2011 by rsslcs

[twattyballs]

 

Guys i have the Texture Problem But i m n00b to use this Solution Plz Anyone Provide Me Ready Commandline For My PC

 

My Config:

 

Intel Core i3 3.1 ghz

Intel HD 2000 Graphics 1555mb

4gb RAM

500Gb HDD

 

 

 

Anyone Help..... 

Your pc does not meet the minimum requirements as IV does not support Intel GPU's.

And no - there is no tweak that will help you.

http://files.gtainside.com/downloads/ftpf/...nd%20Sample.rar

 

 

this is my own personal commandline.txt and a list of all the currently known commands we can use... hope this helps :-)

 

SIMPLY DRAG AND DROP MY ''Commandline.txt'' TO YOUR GAME DIRECTORY AND PLAY

[Exxon]

Can't you just write it down here?

It redirects me to the Homepage of GTAInside

[jerenjls_mom]

Why cant you realize that your PC cant handle the game?

 

[Exxon]

 

Why cant you realize that your PC cant handle the game?

That my pc can't run it?

 

I find that it can run it decently, it's very playable now I'm used to it

You'll probably mean the guy with the Intel GPU, no? Indeed, he just can't play it.

[twattyballs]

 

Why cant you realize that your PC cant handle the game?

That my pc can't run it?

 

I find that it can run it decently, it's very playable now I'm used to it

You'll probably mean the guy with the Intel GPU, no? Indeed, he just can't play it.

 

 

MY PERSONAL COMMANDLINE....

 

 

-width 640

-height 480

-refreshrate? 75

-novblank

-texturequality 1

-renderquality 0

-viewdistance 0

-detailquality 0

-shadowdensity 0

-nomemrestrict

-availablevidmem 4.5

-norestrictions

-percentvidmem 100

-noprecache

-safemode

-fullscreen

-framelimit 100

-Noswapdelay

-Managed

-Usedirectinput

-Waterquality 0

-Waterreflectionquality 0

-Reserve 0.3

-ReservedApp 0.5

-Forcer2vb

-DX10 / High

-Minspecaudio

-Shadowresolution 640

-Reflectionresolution 640

-No_3GB

 

 

 

the -no_3GB makes GTAIV believe its running on 64bit windows 7. only use this 1 if you are ACTUALLY running windows 7....

my game has always run sweet, i used a few texture mods before which seems to affect FPS, so i used the commandline.txt and exceeded its own limits... i now run GTAIV with, photorealistic 5, visualIV v1.7 Desings GTAIV Performance accelerator, IcEnhancer and a few other mods and tweaks aswell as the obvious vehilce mods... search MRTONEBEE on youtube and you will find a couple of my videos... the only lag i find now is when using FRAPS.. :-/

 

anybody know a way around the lag it causes?? i cant make videos with traffic in because of Fraps...

 

MY SPECS:

 

Pentium D (3.40Ghz x2)

NVidia 8800gts 640Mb @ DDR3

4Ghz Ram @ DDR2

Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard

32bit Windows 7 ultimate

 

also find a download for SMARTALEC'S GAME ACCELERATOR... gives anything upto 10 FPS improvement on all games :-)

Edited December 15, 2011 by twattyballs

[twattyballs]

Why cant you realize that your PC cant handle the game?

That my pc can't run it?

 

I find that it can run it decently, it's very playable now I'm used to it

You'll probably mean the guy with the Intel GPU, no? Indeed, he just can't play it.

also, set your shadow quality to medium or lowq as it uses up more GPU power than the textures do, GTAIV has a tendancy to upscale shadow resolution when you higher game resolution anyway... i run at 1280x1024 for best results with textures set to high along with reflection resolution and water resolution.... but seriously lower your shadows, you will see a noticable difference

[twattyballs]

A collection of all the Commandline.txt commands i have found and that have helped me, i hope this is useful :-)

 

 

[AUDIO]

-Fullspecaudio - high-quality sounds, but the load aj ¹ ¹ ??¿ce more processor

-Minspecaudio - sounds low quality (no digital processing), cut the aj ¹ ¹ ??¿ce processor

 

 

 

[GLOBAL]

-Adapter - use the screen Specified adapter number (zero-based)

-Benchmark - the game immediately in the connector and the benchmark results of the connector you're

-Disableimposters - O connector low quality models of cars as seen from afar

-Help - displays a list of commandline options

-NoBlockOnLostFocus - do not block the window update When It Loses focus

-Safemode - sets the low end graphic quality Sheva

-Uninstallcontent - removes zawartoϾ GFWL in GTA

 

 

[GRAPHIC]

-DX9 / high - in Connection with the support playing DirectX 9 and a high priority

-DX10 / High - in Connection with the support playing DirectX 10 and high priority

-Forcehighqualitymirrors - the connector reflections better on 64 bit systems

-Forcer2vb - improves the activity ³ ANIE dents car body on a clean game without patch

-FrameLimit - limits the number of frames to ...

-Framelockinwindow - ¿odœwie YOUR game 'window' ³ activities and preferably at 60Hz

-Fullscreen - pe ³ ny screen

-Gpucount - lets you manually set the GPU count if the query fails

-Height - Altitude set the [minimum 480]

-Managed - use d3d runtime managed resources

-Nominimize - disables the ability to restore the game and changing forms minimize Resolutions - Reduces the system memory footprint

-Norestrictions - any change in graphics options

-Noswapdelay - loads all facilities instantly

-Novblank - O connector to wait for vblank

-Refreshrate - Set the frequency in odœwie ¿ania

-Stereo - set a game to guide of your two processors ¹ render smokers

-Unmanaged - application directs resources

-Width - Set width of the window [minimum 640]

-Windowed - the game "in the window"

 

 

[iNPUT]

-Usedirectinput - allow the device action ANIE ¹ ³ DirectInput devices

 

 

[MEMORY]

-Availablevidmem - the percentage of available memory on the graphics card [0.0-4.0]

-Memrestrict - set the restriction of the amount of available memory for Manages resources

-Memrestrict 188743680 - Low resolution textures [graphics card 256mb]

-Memrestrict 209715200

-Memrestrict 230686720

-Memrestrict 262144000 - average resolution textures [graphics card 512mb]

-Memrestrict 293601280

-Memrestrict 314572800

-Memrestrict 629145600 - high resolution textures [for the video card 1gb +]

-Memrestrict 650117120

-Memrestrict 681574400

-No_3GB - disable 32bit OS with / 3GB

-Nomemrestrict - O connector memory limit

-Noprecache - O connector ¹ handheld memory resources

-Percentvidmem - the percentage of available memory, graphics card for GTA [0.0-1.0]

-Reserve - reserve amount that needed ¹ memory for other applications [0.0-1.0]

-ReservedApp - amount of memory to leave space available within application

[sET QUALITY]

-Autoconfig - automatically adjust the quality setting MAINTAIN Description box frame rate [15-120]

-Detailquality - Set drawing distance of oœæ detail [œmietników, p ³ Otowa, etc.] [0-99]

-ReflectionQuality - reflection quality textures [0-4]

-Reflectionresolution - Horizontal Resolution of reflection textures

-Renderquality - Set anisotropic filtering [0-4]

-Shadowdensity - Set the number of independent nych the source ¿³ a world of shadows and dynamic [0-16]

-ShadowQuality - jakoϾ shadows [0-4]

-Shadowresolution - Horizontal Resolution of shadows

-Texturequality - Set resolution of main game textures [0-2]

-Viewdistance - oϾ draw distance of LOD objects [0-99]

-Waterquality - water resolution [0-4]

-Waterreflectionquality - reflection resolution on the water [0-4]

 

 

[TIME]

-Notimefix - O connector fix time [?]

 

 

 

[twattyballs]

GTAIV & EFLC Performance accelerator.... http://www.mediafire.com/?y9ufy66zclryu4l

 

i dont remember where i actually downloaded it from so i re-uploaded for you. this accelerator WILL work with and recognize i3, i5 AND i7 Processors :-)

[twattyballs]

in the commandline.txt the screen resolution set so low is to confuse GTAIV as there is a glitch on the screen display screen where you set resolution etc.... leave commandline.txt as it was, but change settings in game, and only go HALF WAY, you should be fine, and yes TURN VSYNC OFF!! hehe sorry about this, was in a rush earlier :-)

[oc student]

Does this actually work?

 

I have a C2d 2.66 GHZ and 6870, 4 GBs of RAM and yet EFLC maxes out at like 25 fps.

[twattyballs]

it does yes. i rely on it. im usinga Pentium D 3.40Ghz x2. 4Gb RAM and NVidia 8800gts 640mb @ DDR3 on windows 7 32bit, watch this video and see for yourself :-) >>>>>>>>

 

use the commandline i have provided and the gta accelerator and you should be fine

dont forget to make backup of game directory first though. im not responsible for the effect this may have on your system, also be very careful editing any .ini files, as your GPU CAN overheat

Edited December 19, 2011 by twattyballs

[PacketOverload_x64bit]

All the other settings for my systems configurations only caused problems. These commandline.txt parameters are the only combination that worked for me (with ENB configurations):

 

 

-novblank

-nomemrestrict

-norestrictions

-ReflectionQuality 4

-fullscreen

-width 1440

-height 900

-memrestrict 629145600

-availablevidmem 3.3

 

 

System:

Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz @ 3.0Ghz

4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Kingston Value RAM

ASUS P5G41

eVGA 450GTS 1GB Superclocked [882 Core / 1764 Shader / 1900 Memory]

Resolution: Running at 1440x900 with FXAA Anistropic Filtering + Normal Game Anistropic Filtering 16

 

 

---------------------

 

The commandline.txt is an integral part in the process. With the above commandline.txt and IceNhancer or ENB packages, you can create a game that looks like this:

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...179003933_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...703601981_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...586604190_n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...669194893_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...057563435_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-..._86169959_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...166447012_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...061308720_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-...338010936_n.jpg

 

-----------------------

 

It's not exactly easy, but for AA or AF, ENB and ICENHANCER is where it's at. If you're ready to take it to the next level of AWSUM, check the ENB Screenshot thread for downloads, tutorials, examples and help. By the way, the -No_3GB option does not work on Windows7 x64 Ultimate. The GTA processes are still running under 32Bit on Patch 1030/1040/1004

Edited December 22, 2011 by PacketOVerload_x64Bit

[anus]

Dude you're a f*cking genius.

 

I can now run EFLC with higher settings AND get more FPS. I can actually turn the shadows and reflections on now!

 

Awesome find.

 

I did the shader tweak too btw.

[badass biker]

doesent work, the resolution stays the same as the one in-game ?

[anus]

You mean the resolution hasn't changed in the options menu but it doesn't look like a higher res either?

 

Then try increasing your availablevidmem bit by bit till you get the higher res (not in options of course).

 

If it looks to be of a higher res and the game still shows something like 800x600, the tweak is working!

[[email protected]]

I am getting horrible FPS and stuttering/stopping with my hd6970

 

My 460 ran it better, i am on stock 1070 patch and 1920x1200 ultra

 

Even LA Noire runs better

[GHDuong]

Hey, I've tried adjusting the height and width in my commandline, but it seems any height and width values not included in my normal GTA setting options, such as 800x480, 800x600, and so on all the way up to 1366x768, will not work when I apply it to the commandline. Say I put an unrealistic value to GTA IV such as 800x700 in the commandline. It doesn't work. any help?

 

Also when I used this tweak to get rid of the resolution. My frames were still slow, and my settings were 800x600 with 202/202. I had 10 fps, instead of the normal 15 fps.

Edited January 1, 2012 by GHDuong

[Darthdude]

Not long ago I figured out you can run in windowed mode in 800x600 and then stretch the window larger and it gets around R*'s quality scaling that would increase the reflection maps.etc that would lag the game and make objects/textures disappear and horrid pop-ins. It made the game look good because you weren't dealing with such a low resolution and the game played extremely well.

 

I wanted to look into this and see if you can achieve the same thing without stretched the window manually every time.

 

The Support:

 

After browsing the net, I noticed others used commandline.txt to set the size of their window, and some people have achieved resolutions over their memory limit without using -norestrictions and only using the resolution from the command lines. This instantly helped me find the answer I wanted.

 

How To Do It:

 

Theory:

Now my theory was that, if you have a memory limit on, and you enter a resolution in the command line that is unable to be achieved with that memory limit, it will still put you in that resolution, but the quality scaling will not be implemented. Therefore no disappearing objects/textures, no long or noticeable pop-in's, and less/no lag.

 

The trick is implementing the higher resolutions with you preferred graphic settings, by limiting your memory to just barely include the options you want, and then you force the resolution.

 

Steps:

 

1. Get rid of -nomemrestrict or any current commandlines you have. Run the game and let it die. When you run the game, go to the graphic options, turn your resolution to 800x600 or 1024x768 or whatever you want the reflection maps/resolution based quality to be at, I did 800x600 mainly because it looks simular to the rest and will give you the most performance. Use the rest of your memory budget in draw distance.etc.

 

2. If you cannot acheive the graphical settings you want with your currently memory budget do this next step. If you can, then you can skip this step.

 

make commandline.txt or append -availablevidmem (multiplier):

This command works like this, say I have 256mb vram. -availablevidmem 2.0 would make it say I have 512mb vram, its a multiplier.

 

So for getting our settings as we want it lets make a budget of 512mb vram, so -availablevidmem 2.0.

 

Open GTAIV, set resolution in the ingame settings to 800x600, set rest of the options to whatever you want (be reasonable).

 

Now continue to the next step.

 

3. Now you have your game set as you want it, but in a f-ugly resoltion, but we will fix that. Next step is to trick GTAIV, even people with 512mb graphic cards or even 1gb, this is even useful for them.

 

One of my buddies with a 8800GTX loves this tweak because it allows him to get much higher frames with very little to no graphical loss.

 

So now lets say all our desired settings ingame @ 800x600, use 650Mb. Ok. But say were now using a 1GB card so it says 650/1024Mb. This is a problem now because if we force -height 1080 -width 1920. We will end up with our ingame options changing to 1920x1080 giving us way more slowdowns because R* starts using that dam scaling reflection maps.etc with resolution.

 

So what we need to do now is limit the memory GTAIV sees to exactly the amount to run our game in 800x600 (or whatever quality refection maps.etc you want) with our desired settings.

 

So lets go back to our dilemma, we have a 1GB graphic card and the game only takes up 650mb with the settings we want in 800x600.

 

We can figure this out by doing some simple math.

1GB Card (650mb desired settings): 650/1024 = 0.635 (its 0.634 but give a tiny bit extra, just like a couple megabytes).

 

So you would use -availablevidmem 0.635 that would make the game detect you only have 650mb ram which barely fits the features you want in 800x600.

 

So now once we have figured that out your commandline.txt or your shortcut appending should look like this (depending on what resolution you want/your vidmem.etc):

 

-height 1080 -width 1920 -availablevidmem 0.65

 

and maybe you add stuff like (-framelimit, or -noblank or whatever).

*BUT DO NOT USE ANY UN-RESTRICTION (this includes the nomemrestrict and norestrictions or anything like that)!

 

4. Now when we start up our game. We will be in our desired resolution, and when we look in the game options it will say 800x600, even though we are in a way higher resolution and all your settings will be how you want them and your memory budget will be exactly the right amount or similar like 650/650 or 742/746.etc

 

Funny thing here you wont be able to go back cuz it will detect your memory budget is to low and the game is forcing a higher res, so you might not be able to leave the options screen now, so alt tab, and close the game. If all your settings looked right and it said 800x600 but was clearly in a higher res. Then you did everything right, if not, go retry.

hi there man, this is my first post so feel a bit cheeky for asking but would you mind awfully creating one of those performance tweaks for me, im too dumb to figure the calculations out,

my specs are as follows.

AMD athlon IIx4 635 @2.9ghz, (mild clock to 3ghz)

3 gig ddr2 (800mhz i think)

nvidia gtx 460 768mb

 

i have quite a few mods installed (dtk70 hd road textures, ultimate txtrs 2 and a mix of photorealistic 6 with ChinaGreenElvisENB-2.02,

 

for such a gutless pc the game looks wonderfull but have fps drops and lag spikes now and again as it maxes out my card, i followed your tip for dropping atidx10 into 8nv and got quite a boost, but like i said im just not smart enough to go any further.

 

again, apologies if my asking is deemed a bit rude but am at a loss, any help you could give would be awesome and greatly appreciated

 

thank you

 

Darthude

 

[nahumk22]

Hmm I gave this a try but it don't seem to work

I set it as -height 1366 -width 786

I opened the game and looked at the settings and it said the options I inputted (-height 1366 -width 786 ) not the 800x600 I wanted.

[phoenix1313g]

i have some problems with loading the game. the game's graphics setting in not allowing me to make any changes. the resolution is fixed on 800x the graphics setting is showing resource usage 210/59. and in my game all the city is disappearing. i can't see anything but Niko.....and the beginning video also does not loads completely... i didn't understood what you said above. please help me......