SlingShotUK Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hi guys, Just wondering if any of you can give me any tips on command line params etc to improve my game performance. I recently upgraded to Vista x64 and then added patch 1.0.4 (was on 1.0.3 on 32bit). However, while I have gained 4-5 fps in the benchmark (highest benchmark I've ever had) the game feels more juddery now, even with clip capture off. The game certainly felt smoother when on my old install (Vista 32bit). The thing is, I'm only running in medium texture quality and keep seeing posts about people running with high textures on lower spec machines than I run GTA on. Anyway, here is a benchmark I ran recently: Statistics Average FPS: 44.97 Duration: 37.12 sec CPU Usage: 90% System memory usage: 66% Video memory usage: 77% Graphics Settings Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 (60 Hz) Texture Quality: Medium Texture Filter Quality: High View Distance: 40 Detail Distance: 37 Hardware Microsoft® Windows Vista" Ultimate Service Pack 1 Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Video Driver version: 186.18 Audio Adapter: SPDIF Interface (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio) AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core Processor I subsequently changed view and detail distance to lower values (around 20) and while it helped the judder is still there. I'm not running Fraps at the moment so can't give any idea on actual in game FPS performance. I think the FPS is generally ok, it's just the judder which is an issue. I'm running an Nvidia 8800 GTX with 730MB ram, 4GB system ram on a AMD Phenom 9950. Is there anything I can tweak to be able to play without judder and maybe with 'high' textures? I do realise that Nvidia graphic driver version could be an issue and it might be worth downgrading to v181 or v180 but before I do that I'd love to hear what other people are doing to get their game running well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extortionate Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Give the 181.22 driver a try. This driver for me wipes the floor with all others, 10fps more and hardly any stuttering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David. Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Give the 181.22 driver a try. This driver for me wipes the floor with all others, 10fps more and hardly any stuttering. I recommend 181.22 as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girish Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Also, try a lower resolution and the -memrestrict command as suggested in this topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlingShotUK Posted September 29, 2009 Author Share Posted September 29, 2009 Thanks guys - appreciate the advice. I'll throw on 181 later today and check it out. I do remember the game being smoother even when it was benching lower all those months ago on the first couple of patches. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the graphics driver. Girishb: Thanks for that. Hopefully I can keep it at 1920x1080 (just because it's the tv's native res) but will look at the latest advice on the command line params. I used to use memrestrict and a few others but wasn't sure if it was beneficial anymore. Would love to see if I can get the game into 'high' textures without major slow down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoOopiD Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Research the "TLB FIX" your cpu may apply. also try looking in your bios for "CPU TWEAK" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkey82 Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Do you have much programs installed? Running in the background? Try defragging as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermortalhuman Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Well, with vista especially, you can try GameBooster by iobit, it works for all windows PCs by shutting off all the bloat unneeded for directx or opengl applications. With vista, this is said to make a world of difference. I don't notice much change, but I'm on XP and have hardware that is really awesome for xp (maybe not so much so for vista, so I haven't tried), but there is change, and even in IV. http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html really easy one=button operation, give it a try - if your problems go away, you know it was some unneeded service or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnisme Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Research the "TLB FIX" your cpu may apply. also try looking in your bios for "CPU TWEAK" Tlb fix doesnt apply to the 9950 phenom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlingShotUK Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 Thanks for the latest suggestions guys. I downgraded my Nvidia driver to 181.22 last night and the difference was amazing! Even though it still benched at 44fps you can see that it's super smooth with no judder at all. It's how I remember the game used to be but with even more smoothness and frame speed. So it all boils down to the latest Nvidia drivers just not being any good with GTA 4. If you have any probs and have an Nvidia card I recommend you downgrade. @supermortalhuman, I'll check this out - could be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lodis Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Sometimes downgrading will cause problems with other games though so you have to decide what is more important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extortionate Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Sometimes downgrading will cause problems with other games though so you have to decide what is more important. FarCry 2, Batman all work perfectly well with this 181.22 driver for me. The only issue i've seen is with UT3 and the latest patch. You need the 182.x driver to stop it from crashing but it screws GTA IV's performance like later drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigglyass Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Update to the latest driver as latest drivers always feature previous drivers fixes. People just do all these mental acrobatics to believe that that older driver is better than the new one. Don't fall for it as ive tested this theory myself and seen no absolute benefit from an older driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extortionate Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Update to the latest driver as latest drivers always feature previous drivers fixes. People just do all these mental acrobatics to believe that that older driver is better than the new one. Don't fall for it as ive tested this theory myself and seen no absolute benefit from an older driver. Well, the 181.22 driver is the best for me. People have reported regression with new drivers in performance and stability. Fallout 3 stuttered badly with the 190.x series and the old driver again ran better. It's all out using what's best for you. The latest drivers don't mean the greatest, since they can introduce regression in older series cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigglyass Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Update to the latest driver as latest drivers always feature previous drivers fixes. People just do all these mental acrobatics to believe that that older driver is better than the new one. Don't fall for it as ive tested this theory myself and seen no absolute benefit from an older driver. Well, the 181.22 driver is the best for me. People have reported regression with new drivers in performance and stability. Fallout 3 stuttered badly with the 190.x series and the old driver again ran better. It's all out using what's best for you. The latest drivers don't mean the greatest, since they can introduce regression in older series cards. Well if you have a 7xxx series card maybe the old driver is best for you. Never drivers yet stand to prove themselves bad for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlingShotUK Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 Update to the latest driver as latest drivers always feature previous drivers fixes. People just do all these mental acrobatics to believe that that older driver is better than the new one. Don't fall for it as ive tested this theory myself and seen no absolute benefit from an older driver. I have to agree with those who favour these drivers though as before downgrading last night GTA 4 was visibly juddery. As soon as I ran with 181.22 the judder went completely. The game now feels like it used to. So it's far from just being something in my mind. The improvement was immediate. So with this game I'd say 181.22 is the best one to use by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girish Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Update to the latest driver as latest drivers always feature previous drivers fixes. People just do all these mental acrobatics to believe that that older driver is better than the new one. Don't fall for it as ive tested this theory myself and seen no absolute benefit from an older driver. Well, the 181.22 driver is the best for me. People have reported regression with new drivers in performance and stability. Fallout 3 stuttered badly with the 190.x series and the old driver again ran better. It's all out using what's best for you. The latest drivers don't mean the greatest, since they can introduce regression in older series cards. Well if you have a 7xxx series card maybe the old driver is best for you. Never drivers yet stand to prove themselves bad for me. You have to understand that drivers that worked for you might not necessarily work the same for someone else. For example, the latest Catalyst 9.9 drivers that worked for almost everyone do not work for me. They crash my game straight away. 9.7 and 9.8 introduce heavy texture pop-up issues in both GTA IV and San Andreas. So, I have gone back to 9.6 which has absolutely no issues although it gives me a slightly lesser fps than 9.7 and 9.8. However, this does not mean that the 9.6 drivers are the best. They're just best for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider-Vice Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 I just found a fact: Game speed depends on windows installations for me Last time I had Vista x64 it was at like 28FPS now, I got XP and Vista 32, now reinstalled 64 and the game runs at like 42FPS (Seriously with a nVidia 8500GT 512MB overclocked to its feet lol) but it stutters a lot Try other drivers btw. GTANet | Red Dead Network | black lives matter | stop Asian hate | trans lives = human lives the beginning is moments ago, the end is moments away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlingShotUK Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Hi again guys, Just wanted to say that last night I used the -norestrictions command line param and was able to put the game in 'high' textures mode. What was weird was when I first started the game it juddered when I moved the view around Niko and at other points. However, within about 10 minutes I noticed it was silky smooth. It was like it took some time to 'bed' in as the game was played. I had to tweak the view distance to lower the memory requirements (so it matches my graphics card memory) but everything is looking absolutely amazing now. High textures really are incredible. I also did another benchmark when I first put the game into high textures and weirdly I got more FPS: Statistics Average FPS: 47.00 Duration: 37.17 sec CPU Usage: 78% System memory usage: 65% Video memory usage: 98% Graphics Settings Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 (60 Hz) Texture Quality: High Texture Filter Quality: High View Distance: 20 Detail Distance: 37 Hardware Microsoft® Windows Vista" Ultimate Service Pack 1 Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Video Driver version: 181.22 Audio Adapter: Digital Output Device (SPDIF) (High Definition Audio Device) AMD Phenom 9950 Quad-Core Processor I lowered view distance a little after this to bring my memory requirements down into the green. Suffice to say I am absolutely ecstatic now as this is something I've wanted to be able to do since I got the game any my new Phenom. Installing 181.22 and the latest 1.0.4 patch has been the key it seems. I'm going to try the ultimate graphics tweak later and will install the environmental mod to makes things look even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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