How to use -memrestrict to fix stuttering

[ElectricLadyland]

wait, how exactly does this work?

[mkey82]

More details here.

 

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

[ElectricLadyland]

More details here.

 

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

thanks

[Brenasarous]

Hi GTAF, I just recently purchased a new computer in the beginning of August with the intentions of playing games on it. It's an Asus brand N61JQ-A1, it has an i7 processor running on Windows 7, 4gb DDR3 ram, and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 with 1g of dedicated memory. I got GTA IV for it, installed it and the first time I played it I decided not to sign up a live profile so I could play the game right away. I was disappointed however when there were lags every now and again that paused the game for about a half second. I found out the cause of these lags was from hitting keys, I did a little research and was able to fix it. From that point on, it ran smoother than silk, there were no issues with it whatsoever. My graphics card is not powerful enough to play it on max settings, but it ran pretty decently with everything on medium. But a week or so ago I decided to set up a live account, it said in order to do that I needed to install an update through GFWL for the game, which I did. I installed it, restarted the computer and again was disappointed to find that now it lags again, except this time it is more of a skipping/stuttering type of an issue. It usually occurs when you are running or driving. I have searched tirelessly to find a solution to this problem. I have updated the drivers on my graphics card, I have set all my settings to low, I have used the memrestrict command lines supplied in this thread. Nothing works. All I have come up with is people saying if none of these thing work, then my PC can't handle it. I know this is 100% false, as I stated before, it ran the game flawlessly once before.

 

Please help. I don't know a whole lot about computers. I have searched and searched and searched some more and have come up with absolutely nothing that works. Any help would be very greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

Brennan.

[mkey82]

Try removing GFWL and use xliveless.

[Brenasarous]

I know beggars can't be choosy, but is there any other solutions to getting around that? I'd like to keep it with gfwl if at all possible.

 

Was the update I installed through gfwl the 1.0.7.0 patch, or do I need do install that separately?

 

Am I putting the commandlines in the correct folder? I went to OS C:, Program files(on mine theres two folders, one is titled just program files, the other has x86, which is how many files are in it, next to it, which is the one rockstar games is in) rockstar games, GTA IV and then I post it in that field. I got it there by creating a notepad file on my desktop named "commandline" and then dragging it into there the only command line in it is "-memrestrict 262144000".

 

I noticed that on my OS C: it says there's around 12gb free out of 116, which is odd because I haven't really have much installed on the computer. Could this be the cause of the stutters?

 

I have disabled Vsync and heard that if clip capture is disabled it should help, but it hasn't.

 

Also, It's hard to describe what is really happening when it stutters, but basically when your driving and running, it kind of slows down for a split second and then returns to normal, and it will do it over and over again. I'm not sure if it's a framerate skip or not. It also happens during benchmark tests.

[mkey82]

What hardware are we talking about here?

[Brenasarous]

What hardware are we talking about here?

On my computer?

 

Asus N61JQ-A1 notebook

 

Intel core i7 processor

ATi Mobility Radeon HD 5730 w/ 1g VRAM

4gb DDR3 RAM

Windows 7 Home Premium

[mkey82]

Try using a larger number, like 786432000.

[Brenasarous]

Try using a larger number, like 786432000.

That didn't work.

[Brenasarous]

Try using a larger number, like 786432000.

Hold the phone, I re-enabled Vsync and in addition with the command line, it seems to be running fairly stable (knock on wood). I'll have to play it more to see if it's going to work. Thanks for the help.

[mkey82]

Well, better not to mess with anything, but at first I though the commandline is not effective at all.

[Brenasarous]

Well, better not to mess with anything, but at first I though the commandline is not effective at all.

I guess I spoke too soon, the stutters are still present, although it seems that with the higher the number I use the less it seems to occur. Any suggestions?

[Brenasarous]

Well, better not to mess with anything, but at first I though the commandline is not effective at all.

 

This is more or less what's happening to me. This guy has the same laptop as I do and from what I understand he had patch 1.0.6.0 installed at the time of the video. I sent him a message asking him if he fixed it and what he did, but haven't gotten an answer back yet.

[mkey82]

Usually, the number will be

 

<VRAM amount in MB>*1024*1024 as the upper limit, but you will want to use a smaller value. Larger values cause stutter while lower values cause pop-up.

[Brenasarous]

Usually, the number will be

 

<VRAM amount in MB>*1024*1024 as the upper limit, but you will want to use a smaller value. Larger values cause stutter while lower values cause pop-up.

I don't believe as I'm getting any improvements at all from the commandlines. I've tried all of them, and I'm not getting any visible changes in the stuttering. Is there something wrong I'm doing with the placement of them? I go to my computer, OS (C:), Program Files, Rockstar Games, GTA IV and they are placed in there. I created it by saving a notepad file on my desktop and then dragging it into the GTA IV file. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[mkey82]

As it seems to me, you are doing everything correctly.

 

Try using only "-benchmark". This switch should start the benchmark directly once you start the game.

[Brenasarous]

As it seems to me, you are doing everything correctly.

 

Try using only "-benchmark". This switch should start the benchmark directly once you start the game.

Yup that worked, loaded it up direct from the main menu then exited the game.

[mkey82]

OK, try using

 

 

-nomemrestrict -norestrictions

 

 

but do NOT jack up the settings, leave them as they are and apply these switches.

[Brenasarous]

OK, try using

 

 

-nomemrestrict -norestrictions

 

 

but do NOT jack up the settings, leave them as they are and apply these switches.

They seem to help, but it still doesn't solve the issue 100%. I have all my settings on medium, all the sliders are set to 20, vsync is on, and night shadows are off. Are the settings too high? It's currently using 305mb of 1010.

[mkey82]

Your settings should be fine.

[Brenasarous]

Your settings should be fine.

Not sure if this helps or complicates things, but I got EFLC to see if that stutters too and it does, although they are not as frequent or as bad as on GTA IV.

[mkey82]

Try using these in sequence

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 1048576000

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 838860800

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 629145600

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 419430400

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 314572800

 

 

[Brenasarous]

Try using these in sequence

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 1048576000

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 838860800

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 629145600

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 419430400

 

 

 

-reservedApp 0 -memrestrict 314572800

 

I hate to say it, but no none of those helped much sorry. I even reloaded the game each time to make sure they went into effect. Anything else might work? I sent an email to R* tech support so hopefully i'll get a response back.

[mkey82]

It's ok, memrestitrict doesn't work for everyone. And you're supposed to start the game again after every commandline change.

[Brenasarous]

It's ok, memrestitrict doesn't work for everyone. And you're supposed to start the game again after every commandline change.

Hey man, I've got some good news. The guy from the link in the YouTube video replied to my message and sent me a command line that gets rid of the stutters, at least I played it for half an hour and didn't notice much any issues with it. It was a combination of these two: -refreshrate 31 -frameLimit 1. I never did get a response back from R* tech support, I wasn't counting on getting one but I never did. I'll have to see if this works on EFLC as well. I'll have to play it some more to find out if this is a valid solution, but either way I'll let you know in a couple days.

[mkey82]

Well, basically with this you are limiting your FPS hence limiting FPS fluctuation. Try setting the refresh rate of your screen instead of 31.

[Brenasarous]

Well, basically with this you are limiting your FPS hence limiting FPS fluctuation. Try setting the refresh rate of your screen instead of 31.

How do I do that?

[mkey82]

Find out your screen refresh rate in display properties > settings > advanced > monitor not sure for Vista/7 but look around in control panel. It's probably 60 Hz.

 

This refreshrate switch is very strange as using it improperly could cause damage to your screen. Using it as you stated above means you are forcing the screen to use a refresh rate that isn't supported which could have unwanted results. By definition it shouldn't be used as most people use it, but obviously it does something other then what is described in the readme.

[Brenasarous]

Find out your screen refresh rate in display properties > settings > advanced > monitor not sure for Vista/7 but look around in control panel. It's probably 60 Hz.

 

This refreshrate switch is very strange as using it improperly could cause damage to your screen. Using it as you stated above means you are forcing the screen to use a refresh rate that isn't supported which could have unwanted results. By definition it shouldn't be used as most people use it, but obviously it does something other then what is described in the readme.

I checked, it says that is is indeed refreshing at 60hz. Are you saying to switch the number in the commandline from 31 to 60?