GTA4 Help Please

[shawnleecarroll]

Okay, here are my basic specs...

 

CPU: 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 Processor (Dual-Core I think)

GC: Nvidia 8400 GS 512MB VRAM/866Mhz GPU

RAM: 1GB DDR2

SC: PCI AudioBlaster

OS: Windows XP SP3

Game Version: Retail, updated to latest patch.

 

Here is my problem, so far. When I first tried to play it, it was stuttering hard, but I figured that that was due to my low memory (No upgrades until I get some more $$$). I was sorta right, as reducing everything to it's lowest level made it run smooth for the most part.

 

But it was not to last. After about 15 minutes of play, it closed out. No error message, no closeout warning, not even a error report. I reopened it, and it crashed about 5 min later. I had to turn OpenGL setting to 'Clamp' for San andreas to work, so, is it the same problem?

 

If not, any suggestions?

 

I am using the latest drivers and the lowest settings.

[Ryan]

Simply put, your PC is too sh*tty to run the game. 1GB is not enough to run the game sufficiently. The P4's are like 5 or 6 year's old, and that video card is pretty week. Bottom line is that your PC cannot handle such a game as GTA IV. There is no way to fix it until you upgrade or get a better PC. Do that and then the game will run no problem.

[shawnleecarroll]

Simply put, your PC is too sh*tty to run the game. 1GB is not enough to run the game sufficiently. The P4's are like 5 or 6 year's old, and that video card is pretty week. Bottom line is that your PC cannot handle such a game as GTA IV. There is no way to fix it until you upgrade or get a better PC. Do that and then the game will run no problem.

Woah, wait a sec. I understand my memory is low, okay. Got it. Tha game itself says , under "recommended requirements":

 

OS: "Windows Vista SP1/XP SP3"

 

Running XP SP3 - Check

 

Processor: "Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz/AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 Ghz"

 

Dual-Core Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz, .4 Ghz shy of double the Core2Duo speed...so...Check

 

Memory: "1.5GB Vista/1GB XP, 16GB hard Drive"

 

1GB DDR2, so really the only thing I'm running at bare minimum. 160GB Hard disk, so no prob.

 

Video Card: "256MB Nvidia 7900/ 256MB ATI X1900"

 

512mb Nvidia 8400 GS, much newer than the 'recommended requirements'.

 

 

So, what am I missing that is making me fail to ralize just how 's*tty' my system is?

[Ryan]

Okay, you obviously haven't really seen around these forums much then. To be honest, Rockstar's minimum system requirements really mean nothing. GTA IV needs a high-end newer system to run decently. You have neither. Yes, your PC meets the minimum requirements, but the game won't run on your PC because it's too week.

 

Upgrade the video card, get more RAM, and update the CPU to a more modern Dual Core, and you'll then be able to run the game.

[shawnleecarroll]

Okay, thank you for your help.

 

 

 

 

For others who want a way to run the game, and not just a 'ur syst3m iz teh failz', this might help. I tried, after recieving no help anywhere, to tweak my setting on my own. Here is the outcome of a half-hour worth of messing with settings. Enjoy!

 

After looking through my Nvidia settings, I found the setting that helped me get Mass Effect 2 to work without lag. It is called 'Negative LOD bias'

 

After I set it from 'Allow' to 'Clamp, I have had no more problems. It still stutters at high settings, but that IS my low RAM. It works fine on Medium-Low settings. After disabling the 'V-Sync', I was able to run it at medium settings.

 

Like me with Medieval2, if you have big lag problems in GTA4, I would suggest disabling the 'Anti-aliasing'. It makes the game a bit more jagged, but you can make up with that with filtering. All of this, for Nvidia users, is found in your Nvidia control panel under 'Manage 3d settings'. You may have to add the GTA4.exe to your list.

 

Another problem is that, by stock, your Nvidia card is set to run in 'Multiple display performance mode'. By setting this to 'single display', you save your GPU a lot of effort.

 

Finally, setting your antialiasing transparency to multisampling will help you a lot!

 

If you are still having speed issues, running at a 800x600 resolution will help you exponentially. I don't notice a draw in performance by cranking up the "Texture filtering" to high, so it makes up for the low res. Add that with max detail distance, and you have a working game with graphics that aren't too bad (Better than San Andreas that is for sure!)

 

Sorry for non-Nvidia users, I don't know how to do that on an ATX...

 

 

 

Hope this helped someone!

[Ryan]

And what are you getting? 10-20 FPS?

[mkey82]

That "fix" of yours is

 

a) very subjective

b) very systemž/Os/driver dependent.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you've found a way to make it work for you, but do understand that nobody likes to troubleshoot "issues" system that are on the borderline of minimum system requirements. As you might have guessed, we get a lot of people who own crappy machines and just can't figure out how come GTAIV runs badly on their PC. Like Unlimited said, the practical minimum GTAIV requirements would be

 

* C2D on at least 2.5 GHz

* 3GB of RAM (I don't think XP can do it on 2GB in a general case but anyone is welcome to try)

* GT9600 Nvidia, 3800 ATI with at least 512MB VRAM

[Squishybubs]

 

we get a lot of people who own crappy machines and just can't figure out how come GTAIV runs badly on their PC. Like Unlimited said, the practical minimum GTAIV requirements would be

 

* C2D on at least 2.5 GHz

* 3GB of RAM (I don't think XP can do it on 2GB in a general case but anyone is welcome to try)

* GT9600 Nvidia, 3800 ATI with at least 512MB VRAM

My brother was running on XP SP3 with only 2 gigs. The game seemed to run pretty good (9800GT/Athlon X2 245 (2.9GHz) at a solid 30FPS on medium settings (20/20/0/16). Since upgraded to 4GB and Windows 7 64-bit.

 

Anyways, the game itself takes up like 1.4GB of RAM alone. 1GB is nowhere near enough to run it decently.

[Agente Silva]

Had to add up some extra 4 GB of DDR3. Now i´m running GTA on 6GB DDR3 1333 Mhz, Core2Duo and ATI 5850 - that did the trick GTA must be a darned heavy game because I´m running Crysis Warhead on AA8x; Vsync and all graphics set to Enthusiast... eheheh!