How to use -memrestrict to fix stuttering

[Girish]

Guys I still can't figure out where to write this command in. Help please

Open up Notepad. Type one of the commands mentioned in the first post of this topic (the one that corresponds to the texture quality setting that you have set in-game).

For example, if your texture quality setting is Low, then you need to type this:

 

-memrestrict 188743680

 

 

Then, save the text file on your desktop and then copy it to your GTA IV folder. Now run the game.

[Dag123]

Thank you girishb. I tried this thing, the stuttering is much less, but it is still there on every command I tried. I'll probably look around for help a little more.

[Skoinks]

If you are experiencing frame speed fluctuations, please update to the latest video drivers, then use the -memrestrict commandline. Please do not use any other commandlines as they may override the effects of this one. Start at the lowest number based on your texture setting (ie. try them one at a time) You can try to increase the number until you notice stuttering again.

 

-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

 

If you still notice stuttering with the lowest number, there may be a seperate issue with your system configuration.

Just one thing for you, IF you actually bothered to make the game good in the first place, it wouldn't need US to do something to fix it!

[banana.beach]

I'm having a freezing problem when running this game on the following system:

 

intel core 2 duo e6750 (2.66GHz)

2GB ddr II

asus eah3850 - ati radeon hd 3850 (512MB)

realtek high definition audio (onboard, 5.1)

directx 9.0c

windows xp professional sp3

gta iv update v1.0.4.0

 

The freezing accours after 2-4 minutes of playing, using auto configured settings (to high or medium), and 1024*768 / 60Hz.

With the -memrestrict for "MED TEXTURES" I was able to play 6-8 minutes.

With the -memrestrict for "LOW TEXTURES" I was able to play 16-18 minutes.

 

The freezing occours in one of the following symptoms:

* The picture suddenly freezes. The sound is corrupted.

* I'm suddenly getting a blank screen. The sound goes on regullary.

* When a mission is loading it keeps loading. The loading texture is not freezed, but the game is. (There is no sound in the loading procedure.)

 

In all of the following symptoms I can exit using Ctrl+Alt+Delete or sometimes Ctrl+Alt+Esc (the task manager), but not in another way.

When I'm trying to exit the frozen game the screen usually flickers. Sometimes I should reset the screen resolution.

 

Any suggestions?

[T.A.Z]

i have build myself a new rig (not only for gta iv ) and i finaly can play gta 4 properly.i get 45 fps in the benchmark test with everything maxed out and everything seems fine, but i still cant understand why my "old" rig couldn`t handle gta 4, rockstar if you don`t want to loose your fans, do some better coding next time.i, and alot of other people, had lots of problems in getting gta 4 working without stuttering etc, but i am sure you already know that, i really hope that gta 5 will be better.

[sasukeuchiha892]

what commandline is good for me?

 

AMD TURION X2 2.4 Ghz

ATI RADEON X1900(HD3200)249 MB

4GB RAM

WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM

[Girish]

 

what commandline is good for me?

 

AMD TURION X2 2.4 Ghz

ATI RADEON X1900(HD3200)249 MB

4GB RAM

WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM

   

The appropriate memrestrict command depends on your texture quality setting which in turn depends on your system specifications. Your graphic card is too damn weak. I doubt if any command is going to help you run the game better.

Still, assuming that your texture quality is set to low, use this command:

 

-memrestrict 188743680

 

[sasukeuchiha892]

my settings are all low i use your command and is still lagging

[banana.beach]

I'm having a freezing problem when running this game on the following system:

 

intel core 2 duo e6750 (2.66GHz)

2GB ddr II

asus eah3850 - ati radeon hd 3850 (512MB)

realtek high definition audio (onboard, 5.1)

directx 9.0c

windows xp professional sp3

gta iv update v1.0.4.0

 

The freezing accours after 2-4 minutes of playing, using auto configured settings (to high or medium), and 1024*768 / 60Hz.

With the -memrestrict for "MED TEXTURES" I was able to play 6-8 minutes.

With the -memrestrict for "LOW TEXTURES" I was able to play 16-18 minutes.

 

The freezing occours in one of the following symptoms:

* The picture suddenly freezes. The sound is corrupted.

* I'm suddenly getting a blank screen. The sound goes on regullary.

* When a mission is loading it keeps loading. The loading texture is not freezed, but the game is. (There is no sound in the loading procedure.)

 

In all of the following symptoms I can exit using Ctrl+Alt+Delete or sometimes Ctrl+Alt+Esc (the task manager), but not in another way.

When I'm trying to exit the frozen game the screen usually flickers. Sometimes I should reset the screen resolution.

 

Any suggestions?

Apparently I'm playing the longest with the -memrestrict for "LOW TEXTURES" (188743680). I've tried to set everything to low and I turned off shadows, and still the game was less stable.

I'm really out of solutions.

[Girish]

my settings are all low i use your command and is still lagging

I really can't help you with the lag; no one can. Your GPU is just too weak for the game.

@banana.beach: Have you tried the latest Catalyst 9.6 drivers?

And turn off VSync from the Graphics options and also turn off Clip Capture from the Game options.

[ravenzor]

I've tried that - doesn't work even with the lowest number. To be 100% clear - the stuttering has appeared a little bit later than usual but still ended up freezing my system and hard reboot. With the 1020 patch everything went smooth.

 

I've tried to reinstall Windows, updated all the drivers, I've even flashed my MB BIOS to the latest version. Nothing helped.

I don't know what else I could do to be able to play this game properly.. Any other ideas?

 

My PC specs: C2D E8400, ATi HD4850 512MB DDR3, 2GB DDR2 RAM 1066MHZ, WinXP SP3

 

Thanks in advance!

If your system completely freezes it might be voltage related. Try setting the right ram voltage and ram speeds from BIOS (if you know your RAM's brand and model number -which is written on em- you should check it's website for more info). Same thing was happening to me with Corsair DDR3 modules, when I edit those settings manually, problem solved.

[Mcgwirejh]

well show i meet recomend requiremtnes but the game still runs carpy no matter where i put the setting in the graphics while im play its like im running in slow mtion liek the frame rate is droping will one of the coomand lines work if so which is right for me here is my setup

 

intel q6600 quad-core 2.4ghz

ati 1gb hd 4650 video card its ddr2

4 gb of ram

windows vista

[Girish]

The correct -memrestrict command depends on what your texture quality setting is.

For low texture quality, use this:

 

-memrestrict 188743680

 

For medium texture quality, use this:

 

-memrestrict 262144000

 

For high texture quality, use this:

 

-memrestrict 629145600

 

[Mcgwirejh]

im running medium so how you does this command line and how u know if its worknig or not

[Girish]

Open up Notepad, type in command for medium texture quality (i.e. -memrestrict 262144000) and save the file as 'commandline.txt'. Copy this file to your GTA IV folder. Now run the game. If the command has worked, you won't experience frame rate drops anymore.

[Rolf Harris]

Why, I take my hat off to the creator of this thread - as will many people.

[Extortionate]

I've just upgraded from a 7800GTX(256mb) to a 9600GT(512mb) and it's stuttering like hell, even more so.

 

This game is thrashing my HDD like crazy when I play. I've never seen a game stutter so much, it's like a have 256Mb of system memory or something(I have 4Gb of ram)

 

Benchmark say 35fps on High, 1400x900. Something is wrong with this game for sure, even Crysis runs smoother than this on Very High.

 

Intel Core2Duo 2.66Ghz/1333 FSB

4Gb ram(667)

NVIDIA 9600GT (latest drivers)

nForce 680i Motherboard

Edited August 12, 2009 by Extortionate

[Extortionate]

It's seems the 181.22 NVIDIA driver does stop the stuttering and works really well. It's sad though that we've got to use an old driver to get no stuttering in GTA IV. Unfortunately being a old driver(new for Windows7) it has problems, a nice driver failed message twice. Best ever resuits with this driver.

 

 

Before

 

Statistics

Average FPS: 29.46

Duration: 37.13 sec

CPU Usage: 97%

System memory usage: 52%

Video memory usage: 90%

 

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1440 x 900 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Texture Filter Quality: Highest

View Distance: 31

Detail Distance: 25

 

Hardware

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT

Video Driver version: 190.38

Audio Adapter: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)

Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz

 

 

 

After

 

Statistics

Average FPS: 39.65

Duration: 37.22 sec

CPU Usage: 97%

System memory usage: 56%

Video memory usage: 97%

 

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1440 x 900 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: High

Texture Filter Quality: High

View Distance: 22

Detail Distance: 40

 

Hardware

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT

Video Driver version: 181.22

Audio Adapter: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)

Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz

Edited August 14, 2009 by Extortionate

[Yidakee]

 

Does NOT work for me.

 

Full description here

 

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=422446

 

 

Please R*...

[Ancalagon312]

id stil stuttering with me my ratio is never higher then 15 on alle graphics eaven if i use higher graphics its go better then lower

i use newest driver auto update in nividia web page

[dukee152]

what about for 890 gb cards like gtx 260

[Girish]

what about for 890 gb cards like gtx 260

The appropriate -memrestrict command should be decided by your texture quality settings, not by your graphic card or amount of VRAM. Depending on whether you've set the texture quality to low, medium or high, you use the respective -memrestrict command.

[[VcG]Adam]

Rockstar ,Will you ever make a fix so that the video memory has room to store new texture maps etc..

like the game will run smooth but then become choppy after a minute ,the memory for video needs to be cleared ever so often so it can work propperly.

Anyway ,If the next patch fixes this, great game!

 

[Hunter9210]

 

I'm having a freezing problem when running this game on the following system:

 

intel core 2 duo e6750 (2.66GHz)

2GB ddr II

asus eah3850 - ati radeon hd 3850 (512MB)

realtek high definition audio (onboard, 5.1)

directx 9.0c

windows xp professional sp3

gta iv update v1.0.4.0

 

The freezing accours after 2-4 minutes of playing, using auto configured settings (to high or medium), and 1024*768 / 60Hz.

With the -memrestrict for "MED TEXTURES" I was able to play 6-8 minutes.

With the -memrestrict for "LOW TEXTURES" I was able to play 16-18 minutes.

 

The freezing occours in one of the following symptoms:

* The picture suddenly freezes. The sound is corrupted.

* I'm suddenly getting a blank screen. The sound goes on regullary.

* When a mission is loading it keeps loading. The loading texture is not freezed, but the game is. (There is no sound in the loading procedure.)

 

In all of the following symptoms I can exit using Ctrl+Alt+Delete or sometimes Ctrl+Alt+Esc (the task manager), but not in another way.

When I'm trying to exit the frozen game the screen usually flickers. Sometimes I should reset the screen resolution.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

i have the same problem,tried everything,memrestrict command,new drivers(catalyst 9.8),net.framework...etc.and didnt solve me anything,the patches DOESNT WORK FOR ME

[Girish]

It could be an overheating issue. Have you checked all temperatures? Do you face any issues with any other games?

 

If the problem persists, start a new topic and someone will try to help you out.

[Hunter9210]

this is the single game that gives me problems

[Sle]

Using 180.84 drivers made stuttering utterly disappear for me - 9600gt. The latest driver releases from Nvidia don't work properly with this card/game, it seems.

[rinuextreme]

@ Rockstar Toronto

 

Since the third patch that my game has been lagging and crashing countless times. I've completely uninstalled and reinstalled my game 18 times and everytime I upgrade it to 1.0.3.0 or 1.0.4.0 the game lags/crashes too often. I had no lagging problem with patch 1.0.2.0 but with it I have a really frustrating problem which consists in taking too long rendering roads and buildings, crash the car into an invisible object which I find out 10 seconds later that was a bench and sometimes the floor gets covered with a "cement block" which is very annoying. I do the benchmark at Graphics Menu and it tells me I run the game at 16FPS.

 

I bought the original game, I spent 300 euros upgrading my PC, and I've been trying to play the game online with good graphics and smoothness for 8 months. I spend 80% of my time (time I spend on the front of the PC, not day time) trying to find out a solution to this problem. There is absolutely no way I can play the game with High Textures without lagging. I never trespass the green text to yellow or red, though.

 

I used to play with 1.0.2.0 at Medium Settings and the rest at Maximum with no lagging (+ those problems).

Now, I don't have them, it's very rare, but I use only 400MB of 1GB of resource usage, Medium Textures, View Distance at 5, so as Detail Distance and Vehicle Density. Shadow Density at 2, Water Quality, Shadow Quality and Reflections Quality at High and Rendering at Highest and the game lags. No VSYNC and I only use DOF sometimes. Unbelievable.

 

I do the benchmark test and I run at 16FPS?! I didn't pay 300 for that, guaranteed. My PC specs are:

 

Windows XP SP3

Powercolor HD 4670 1GB

3.3GB RAM

Intel Core2Duo 2.3Ghz

 

I have the latest ATI Drivers installed and so as DirectX 9.0.

 

I just wanted to play at 45FPS with Medium Textures and the rest maxed out. Is it so hard? Do I need to spend more money?

 

I do use Graphics Enhancment mods like RealizmIV and Environment mod. Does that decreases the quality and smoothness of gameplay?

Also, I use Ultimate Textures 2.0 mod. Does that decreases anything?

Do car mods have the same effects?

I do love MP and Video Editor but I want to record HD Films and to play comfortably with good graphics. Any chance with my hardware?

 

Thank you very much, awaiting response from you or anyone,

 

Respectfully,

Ricardo Estevez

Edited September 11, 2009 by rinuextreme

[Girish]

45fps with medium textures and the rest maxed out is not possible on your system. Run the game on low-medium settings. Turn off Shadows.

Even then, you probably won't get a good performance because of the mods that you've installed. All those graphic enhancement mods are taking a toll on your in-game performance. If you want performance, get rid of those mods. You've to make a choice between graphics and performance. It's difficult to have both on a mediocre system like the one you have.

[rinuextreme]

45fps with medium textures and the rest maxed out is not possible on your system. Run the game on low-medium settings. Turn off Shadows.

Even then, you probably won't get a good performance because of the mods that you've installed. All those graphic enhancement mods are taking a toll on your in-game performance. If you want performance, get rid of those mods. You've to make a choice between graphics and performance. It's difficult to have both on a mediocre system like the one you have.

Mediocre? :x

 

Is my pc that bad?