How to use -memrestrict to fix stuttering

[TheCoperz 0]

GTA IV

OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz

Memory: 2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista)

18 GB Free Hard Drive Space

Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

 

Funny you mention system requirements, because i blow way past the recommended.

I even tried the game in compatibility with xp sp3 and vista, the only way it ever remotely smooths out is if i set rez to 800x600 something like that.

 

I dont want to sound like an a** but dont tell me to lower my settings and then tell me to consider system requirements before i buy a game.

[mkey82 13]

You do blow, but not way past. Good luck in getting it to run very high on that resolution on that system.

 

Also, the official recommended specs are not even enough to run the game decently on minimum.

Edited March 14, 2012 by mkey82

[Rob.Zombie 4]

Anyone here knows how to eliminate texture disappearing bug?

 

I tried every single commandline that there is, but I always keep getting it.

 

I do have quite a lot of mods running in the game, but not anything that should drastically change the game.

Mods I have installed:

- common/data mods (handling, carcols, timecyc, weaponsinfo... you name it)

- simple native trainer (had it for quite a while now, this shouldn't cause texture bug)

- about 7 car mods (all of them having lower .wtd size then 2 MB (I noticed how if you use insane huge .wtds like over 5 MB, you either won't be able to spawn the car / gun / ped, or you get serious texture bug))

- quite a few weapon mods (all of them insanely low poly compared to cars and with even smaller wtds)

 

My current commandline.txt file has:

-availablevidmem "2.0"

-percentvidmem "100"

-norestrictions

-novblank

-noprecache

-minspecaudio

-nomemrestrict

 

I also tried running without commandline.txt or using only the memrestrict with lots of numbers (starting from 1024 to 9999999999 (or whatever that long number was)), and they all failed.

 

Right now my settings are at:

1600x1200, medium textures, very high reflections, medium shadows, view and detail distance at 1

I also tried on all high settings (constant 30 fps no matter what, but I get the texture bug a bit faster)

 

This texture bug happened to me on different configs, right now I have a gtx 560 ti (1 gb vram), 4gb ram, i3 cpu, and vista 32 bit (texture bug appears on win 7 64 bit as well)

 

Please if you have any idea, even if I heard it before, write it down.

 

ps.: sorry for long story

[james0013 0]

what's the procedure to do that.

may explain in brief

[mkey82 13]

Here it's explained in more detail.

 

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=458859

[Mahkizmo 0]

My game is stuttering extremely and has a bungy effect, from some angles it feels like 200FPS+ and from a different angle 20FPS, i got a high end machine, latest patch, everything original,

latest drivers for sound, graphics etc etc and changing resolution/settings dont do the trick.

 

I know this game is badly ported.

 

Anyone that might have done some magic with the coding in the gameengine that might help improve the game????

 

 

Was looking forward to play this again since i finished all the other games but wont play a game if its now working properly, any advice is appreciated

 

/Mahkizmo

[mkey82 13]

Well, have you tried any memrestrict values? Also, disable SLI, GTAIV doesn't support it that well.

[westsidebud 0]

It was a massive and expensive project aimed at three completely different platforms. The simple truth is - the game is graphically unimpressive and it's runs like crap on all platforms. Had they ported to PC the stripped down console version of the game, it would have probably ran better on more gamer PCs, but it would look like crap. You win some, you lose some.

yup

 

and combined with people having a combo of too high expectations

for their hardware and mixing that with people toying with graphic settings they no

nothing about makes for a lot of complaining.

rather obvious when people say what they are running and what settings they are using.

some people should just stay on consoles... leave the pc gaming to the computer nerds etc

 

im not saying they could not have done better but with san andreas all you would hear

is people complaining about the graphics and how they were not up to par with all the other games..

So what happens ? lol

 

These guys have a budget and a time line and its rtm / gold disc time

and the same for patchs.. your lucky to get what ya get

seems to me rockstar put a LOT of patches out so. i can't complain there

 

People expect way too much and its not fair to crank every single option to extreme high

on your midrange machine that was new a while ago and expect 600 fps's

because you get that on Skyrim or CSS

Why because there is NO other Grand Theft Auto to compare it to period

 

I hope they are adding back some of the features they stripped out of GTA for part 5

part 4 seemed boring compared to SA, and i am still shocked at how much was ripped out for part 4 !

Playability first then graphics please thanks

If i want a gorgeous looking game thats boring i'll go to

EB games or whatever and grab one from the shelf (with a blind fold on)

 

Oh and screw multiplayer ! don't waste money coding that crap just leave a framework for moidders

and focus on single player Rockstar.. I bought this right after it came out and to this day I've

never once played online, nor will I either.

And lastly Rockstar guys if you see my comments do me a favor and put some love out there for the modders

You can see how much the world loves mod'ing your GTA games.. so why not support that as much as you can ?

 

end /rant

[mkey82 13]

$50 for an 8 months old console port? You should get a game that runs OK out of the box. Not something that crashes like a crack whore.

 

Also, the fact they went with "better" graphics this time around can be attributed to the general direction of gaming today, where much more attention is payed to the looks then the actual game mechanics.

In other words, the only reason SA looked like it did was because of a) ancient game engine b) ancient lead platform. Stating that R* wanted better graphics this time around only because people bitched about SA sh*tty graphics is shortsighted as that game sold incredibly well. Graphics or no graphics, it pushed tens of millions copies.

 

Their move from a great game with sh*tty graphics to an average looking game with messed up gameplay style was not induced by gamers.

 

It's also possible they pulled a Microsoft on GTA, deliberately publishing a cut down game so they can revamp it at the next iteration. It's a lot easier to outdo yourself after a mediocre title then a great one.

Edited June 6, 2012 by mkey82

[westsidebud 0]

i wonder if you could do any better lol

 

life is pretty damn easy when your a professional arm chair quarter back

 

anyway, i came back here to this topic do double check what the param was.

 

 

-memrestrict 188743680 LOW TEXTURES (256M Video Cards)

-memrestrict 209715200

-memrestrict 230686720

-memrestrict 262144000 MED TEXTURES (512M Video Cards)

-memrestrict 293601280

-memrestrict 314572800

-memrestrict 629145600 HIGH TEXTURES (1Gig+ Video Cards)

-memrestrict 650117120

-memrestrict 681574400

 

 

[Value] x 1021 x 1024 = final number

or

[Value] x 1024 x 1024 = final number

 

I'm wondering because i have seen both posted across the net..

And i guess it would still have a similar result and not make too much difference

 

For example:

600mb x 1024 x 1024 = 629145600

that calculation seems logical to me

 

so "Rockstar" posted "681574400" as the highest value for a 1gb+ card

which i'm guessing that would be 650mb.

so.. why ?

why not advise people to go higher ?

a lot of people have 2gb+ cards

 

Also the faq people are always directed to here does not mention this command line

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtop...entry1058959070

Maybe it should ?

[mkey82 13]

i wonder if you could do any better lol

 

life is pretty damn easy when your a professional arm chair quarter back

Once you get of your mother's tit, life's nothing but a bitch. But you'll learn that in a few years.

[westsidebud 0]

 

i wonder if you could do any better lol

 

life is pretty damn easy when your a professional arm chair quarter back

Once you get of your mother's tit, life's nothing but a bitch. But you'll learn that in a few years.

buddy I'm 40 in 3 years.

 

2nd, You seem too have a pretty snotty attitude around here.

 

You act like you have a chip on your shoulder..

Almost every popular topic i see you posting "matter of fact" comments

"telling" people how it is. And your last reply was pretty immature by the way lol

how old are you ?

 

Thanks for your valuable contribution to this Rockstar employee's topic.

 

edit:

Also i re read your reply and it doesn't seem you have the faintest clue

what i said means.. i would suggest finding somebody who understands

American idioms to explain it to you.

Edited June 26, 2012 by westsidebud

[mkey82 13]

1. You made a childish remark about how I should redo a game better, a game that was initially made by a few hundred people backed by a $100M budged. I obviously can not do that. I can and may, however, post my opinions about said product on a open public forum. If you have any objection about any comments I make, I'd urge you to use the report feature and allow for an intervention from people who actually do count on this board.

2. You made a comment about "easiness of my life", a second childish remark. From there onward I assumed you're either a child or just plain stupid; thank you for removing the shadow of doubt on this one.

3. My birth date is in my profile, feel free to check it out. I do not feel, however, it relates directly to quality nor general tone of any of my posts.

 

I'd also like to urge you to check the profile of the above mentioned R* employee http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showuser=352152

From this you can see that in a way, as far as posting and supporting GTAF members who are trying (and often failing) to play GTAIV, I am doing better then the person R* has dedicated to this task. Especially considering R* doesn't even have an official nor semi official support forum.

[westsidebud 0]

sure I'm the one being childish lol

 

"Once you get of your mother's tit, life's nothing but a bitch. But you'll learn that in a few years. "

 

you got some nerve buddy.

Who the hell do you think your talking to ?

My "Mothers Tit" are f**cking kidding me ???

what the hell is wrong with you ?

Do you talk to people like that in person and do you get punched in mouth a lot ?

 

yeah in a few years i will learn some big lesson eh ?

gimme a break lol

 

Hey condescending jerk, guess what ?

I'm not a 9yr old brat thats gonna put up with your cocky mouth..

You clearly have a chip on your shoulder and i couldn't care less.

 

Act your age .

[mkey82 13]

Yes, making threats over internet is a sign of maturity. I'm sure you have a lot of facebook friends, go entertain them and stop wasting my time. And other poor sap who has to read your incoherent nonsense.

 

Like I already said, I'll speak my mind on an open forum and say whatever damn I please. If you find anything that's over the line, there's the report link. Have a nice day.

[Girish 3,801]

Can you two cut out this childish behaviour and get back on topic? If you must, then kindly take your squabble to PMs.

[scard 0]

Hi

I am experiencing some fluctuations in frame rate....40fps when standing...dropping to 25 when driving...AND texture popups

 

I dont know why as i have 3gb vram - here are my specs

 

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz

Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB

Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series (7950) 3gb

windows 7 64bit

Screen resolution - 1920x1200 @60hz

 

My CCC settings

 

http://i47.tinypic.com/x7og0.png

http://i48.tinypic.com/okwutu.png

 

 

My command line only has "-norestrictions" currently....I tried the -memrestrict command for my 3gb card - it resulted in a lot of missing/popping textures..

 

thanks

Edited August 1, 2012 by scard

[mkey82 13]

Read about better commandline usage here http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=458859

[varshi93 0]

I'm experiencing complete lag or stuttering when I start the game. I can't even move the player around. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it again. Still it is the same. Somebody please help me out !

 

I downloaded the .dmg file twice(13.5 GB). Still it is stuttering

 

This began only since I moved to Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion). I can't play my Grand Thef Auto IV

I had my GTA IV working properly when I had Lion on my mac. Please help me. What should I do?

 

These are my specs:

MacBook Pro

15-inch, Late 2011

Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory on 2.4GHz configuration

Software OS X 10.8 (12A269)

 

[mkey82 13]

I doubt that's a game related problem.

[sebkulu 5]

Hi,

 

And what about if you have a 2GB videocard (670 GTX in SLi setup, WITH PROPER SLi Bits 0x42500045), and you still get Textures pop'up?

Moreover, can't be hardware related, 'cause game runs on a hyper-threaded quad core (so 8 "logical" cores) with affinity set to use only physical cores, dropping the logical ones... and on the memory side, 12GB are present... even the drive can't be suspected of slowliness, 'cause it's a SandForce controller based SSD.

 

Ok, my GTA IV is modded like hell with HD Textures for almost entire city (pc/data/maps weights 6.92GB out), carpack which replaces almost all cars (but a lightweight one with models going from 1MB to 2MB max), and Maxed out ENB Settings with SSAA (doubled resolution at 3840x2160 inside rendering buffer, scaled down to 1920x1080 inside output buffer, reduces aliasing A LOT if your hardware is capable of rendering game fast enough with that resolution)

 

I also have some sounds replaced, but not too much, like storm, guns, subway, and truck horn, and some scripts; but that's not what consumes the most memory...

 

Let's get straight down to the point, which is that I can't play more than 30min without having textures begginning to pop all over the place, finishing by crashing my game when entering a cutscene... or going out of it...

I tried, I think, every (commonsense and fitting to my setup) commandline out there, without any success, 'cause texture pop'up WILL happen, that's just a matter of time...

 

So, would anyone of you have the slightest idea of how to make the damn game stop to popping textures like hell, and to stabilize it (not crashing when loading cutscenes)?

 

With -nomemrestrict commandline, time to get pop'ups is shorter

Without commandline.txt, game is quite stable, without texture pop'up, for about 30min, then apocalypse begins... ^^

With -memrestrict xxxxxxxxx commandline (based on my setup, tried from 600000000 up to 1500000000, 'cause my ingame memory usage is 1405MB), I do have textures pop'up right from begginning, but that doesn't help for game stability since it crashes the same manner as it would do without any commandline, approximately after 30min of playing, when entering or going out from a cutscene...

 

Are we condemned not to use any modified car in vehciles.img? (please note that even with the original vehicles.img file, I still get textures pop'up... but less than with my carpack, and game gets a little more stable for a longer time)

I also have read that some ENB makers (GioNight, DP3seant, and Legacyy) don't have this problem with a GTA IV that has been modded like hell (like mine), and with 400MB+ carpack... is that even possible???

If so, how the hell do they acgieve this?

 

Thank you for having read my looooooong post

[Prometheus 290]

Simply, the texture pop is caused from the vehicle pack. Just make a new .txt file on the game directory, named commandline, then copy/paste the following into it:

 

 

-availablevidmem 2.0-percentvidmem "100"-novblank-norestrictions-noprecache

 

[sebkulu 5]

Hi, and thanks for the quick reply and trying to help me.

 

But have you read my post entirely bro'? :-)

 

What you posted here won't solve my problem at all :-)

And believe me, I know how to make a commandline, I even explained the differences between switches I tried (I did not mention ALL tests I've done though...)

As for the carpack, I know it's diffucult for the 3D Engine, which hasn't been designed that way, to forceload bigger textures/models than initially planned, but I'm telling to myself that if others REALLY can play flawlessly with a 400MB+ carpack, I should been able to do the same...

But I'm really begginning to think it's not even possible to come close to something that would work without any glitches with all that modding... already without modding, the game has never been shining for its examplary behaviour, so... :-p

 

I was just hoping someone had been in the exact same situation, and did find a way to get rid of that damn popping problem.

 

And by the way, you should not advise other people to use the switches you mentionned in their commandline, not knowing precisely their hardware setup, especially these ones:

-noprecache: my own experience tells me it worsens textures pop A LOT

-norestrictions: completely useless for people having videocards with 1GB+ VRAM

-availablevidmem x: same as above, useless if VRAM >= 1GB

-percentvidmem x: same as above (switch initially planned to restrict VRAM usage or force complete usage of it)

[mkey82 13]

You're off in many regards:-

1. the game can not use CF/SLI setups effectively; don't know about your bits, but nobody posting here in 4 years has made effective usage of multicard setups with this game. Maybe you're the first one, in that case congratulations are in order

2. CPU performance is determined by more then the number of cores, especially with a game that uses only three of them; in other words, a heavily overclocked dual core is going to run the game a lot better then any mediocre quad core

3. you should never assume that this game should run as well or better then on someone else's similar setup (more so since most youtube performance vids are nothing but daydreaming,)

especially not in cases where the game is changed heavily, it's unstable enough out of the box

4. from my experience noprecache does essentially nothing, I consider it to be one of those placebo command line switches, so I'll take your sentiment about it with a bit of salt; maybe more testing is in order

5. norestriction can be useful on any setup, especially when the game does not detect the GPU properly on sandybridge/optimus setups

 

Now, onto your problem. From what I can see, you have used memrestrict correctly, however you should not mix that switch with others, like the norestrict ones; it's usually best used on its own.

Your first obvious step is to revert back to the vanilla game and see if that leads to stability. Install patch 7, that one should reduce memory related problems.

After that, add mods in small amounts at the time and test after each step to see where major instability is introduced.

Edited September 19, 2012 by mkey82

[Prometheus 290]

I had been in the same exact situation. Well I did have IV with vehicle pack mods + icenhancer + various mods installed before, and the texture problem occurring to me. After narrowing it down, I found that it's the vehicle pack that's causing the pop-ins. So I searched for a solution, and apparently that commandline actually fixed the problem. Vanilla only though, didn't work with EFLC.

 

Did you try that commandline setup? it's not completely necessary to know the hardware setup in such situation, it's not like it's going to blow up your PC or anything.

[sebkulu 5]

Hi there guys, nice to see GTA forums are still that much active even 5 years after game has been released!!!

And BIG thanks for trying to help me out here

 

@mkey82:

1. Sorry but you're wrong pal, LordNeophyte, the famous HD Textures modder, talked about discovery for the rights SLi bits on 3D Forums.

What you gotta do is not so difficult though, just export your SLi driver profiles with NVidia GeForce SLi profile Tool (find it here: GeForce SLi profile Tool), then export your profile to a location you can find, open it, search for "LaunchGTAIV", then search for the value Setting ID_0x1095def8 and replace 0x03400405 with 0x42500045, then save the file as a new one, import it with SLi profile Tool... and voilà! Done, enjoy 95% more FPS.

Don't know if this could be applied to CF though...

Thread where I did find the info: 3D Forums

So, congrats are in order, but not for me, more for the one called "boxleitnerb"

 

2. I agree, that's why my i7 950 is clocked up to 4.0GHz

 

3. I also agree, just wish to know if someone has REALLY been able to get rid of that problem, being able to maintain that level of eyecandyness given by real cars, HD Textures, Maxed out ENB's, various scripts... and if so, how he did it...

 

4. You're probably right, that was my impression when I tried to use this switch, but I never tried it alone, that's why I specified this was from MY experience

 

5. GTA IV detects my GPU correctly, and reports the right amount of VRAM, whether I use the -norestriction switch or not, alone or not, it doesn't help :'(

 

 

So, I already tried using memrestrict alone, doesn't help either, it could also be with another switch, no changes.

Reverting to Vanilla back WILL give me some stability back, but hey, that's not what I'm looking for.

What I'm looking for, is to try gaining stability WITH a full-modded game, 'cause that's why I bought GTA IV for some monthes ago during Steam sales, and that's also why I downgraded game to 1.0.4.0 and why I won't upgrade it to 1.0.7.0 back

 

Get me right here, I'm NOT looking for 24/7 stability, I know I won't have it... :'( even if I would love to, and that, secretely, I'm still hoping it will happen ^^

But at least for an one hour game session, being able to enter/get out from cutscenes, and without having textures disappearing all over the place.

I know you're right, and that the only way to get real stability is to revert to Vanilla back, but that's simply not what I bought GTA IV for, and not my goal also

 

 

@PometheusX: Yup I did my friend (try using your commandline, that I, by the way, already tried before even posting here )

And that doesn't help neither

Have you REALLY got rid of the Texture pop problem by maintaining ENB, HD Textures, Carpack, and others eyecandy things? Really? With version 1.0.7.0 or 1.0.4.0? (when you say Vanilla, you mean IV, correct? Not the Vanilla 1.0.0.0 version?)

If so, can you please tell me the following:

-Size of your vehicles.img file, with how many modded cars, and max modded-model size

-Size of your entire pc/data/maps folder

-ENB Settings, mainly:

#native resolution

#SSAA or not

#SSAO or not

#SSAO quality sampling and filtering

#Skylighting or not

#Skylighting quality sampling

#Shadow quality filtering

-Ingame graphical settings:

#Textures quality

#Water quality

#Reflexions quality

#View distance

#Details distance

#Traffic level

-And, finally, the settings of your TrafficLoad.ini

 

THANKS A LOT IF YOU DO dude

 

 

@Everyone: If you're interested in seeing my ingame videos taken with FRAPS, I can upload them somewhere. Beware though, as those are uncompressed 1080p vid's, weithing about 1GB for 2minutes... to keep the good visual quality as seen on my screen. And if I do, that will take some time ^^

And if you like what you see, I would gladely share my personnal ENBsettings.ini used with Gionight's Best ENB.

 

Here's a little preview screenshot:

 

 

PS: Sorry for the looooooong reply, did have to compile a bunch of information in a one-shot post

[sebkulu 5]

PrometheusX: I'm giving another shot to the commandline you mentionned above, just to test it... wanna see how much time it gives me before Tex'pops

Perhaps will it give me a little more time

[mkey82 13]

95% more FPS? Have you actually tried running two comparison benchmarks with SLI on/off?

[sebkulu 5]

It's 95% more than one single vCard, not than a not properly set SLi with 0x42500045 SLi bits, which would more likely be around a 70% improvement.

Sorry, I have not been clear enough.

 

As for me, currently running between 35 and 50 FPS, previously about 20-35, outside, daytime, in TimeSquare.

Same ratio in front of Bohan safehouse.

 

I'm about to run a timed test with above mentionned commandline. Hope to see some improvements

[sebkulu 5]

About same as before, maybe a little improvement over no commandline, or memrestrict only.

At least, I don't have textures popping right away as I do when using memrestrict switch, which gives me generally little longer gameplay though.

 

So, after 30min + 2 cutscenes, tex begin to pop, 3rd cutscene begins to be hard to get loaded, but did. Then went through it, out of it, textures gone, and reappearing slowly as I drive around, but now always with a noticable delay.

Finally, after 45 minutes, entering 4th cutscene was almost a no-go, and getting out of it left me dead with a black screen

 

So I killed process from task manager.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I get the same behaviour with 2 versions of drivers, latest ones (306.23) and previous WHQL ones.