GTA-IV Update breaks game?...

[xSOSxHawkens]

OK guys,

 

I like playing GTA-IV on the PC and have many hours of gameplay without any real issues. I have played it on PC since shortly after release, and have never had any issues with performance on my main rig (I have the benchmark files to show).

 

I have always ran it maxxed out or close to that using the nomemrestrict comand line modifier, normaly @ 1080P.

 

I recently decided to start playing again and powered up the game to find out there was an update. I let the game update and found that the menus were all diferent and such.

 

Now for the real problem.

 

Since the update my in game performance has been cut almost in half. I used to get an average of 50-60FPS in the benchamrk, 45-60FPs on foot, and 30-35 FPS in cars, with the game on max settings @1080P.

 

Now I get 40-50FPS in the benchmark, and in game performance is even worse, averaging 25-45FPS foot and 10-25FPS in vehicles. The biggest kicker, I'm no longer playing at 1920*1080, im using 1280*720.

 

So, im playing on the same rig, at only 40% the resolution, and still im getting half the performance I used to get.

 

There is absolutly no reason why my rig cant run GTA-IV maxxed @720P, especialy when you consider that it did just fine max @1080P before the most resent patch.

 

I was wondering if any of you have had the same or similar issues, and if any of you have found a way to fix them.

 

My Rig:

 

Core2Quad Q6700 @3.6Ghz (1800Mhz FSB)

4GB DDR3 @1200Mhz 5-5-5-15 Timings

Radeon HD4890 @ 915Core 1040Mhz Mem

Creative X-Fi XtremeGammer

Win7 Ultimate X64

 

(GTA-IV, Direct X, GFWL, ATi Drivers, Creative drivers and Win7 are all up to date, I do not own any DLC, only the regualr game).

[OverTheBelow]

For me it increased the performance.

 

Have you tried reinstalling and going to the patch you were on previously to check if you still get the framerates you supposedly did?

[xSOSxHawkens]

 

For me it increased the performance.

 

Have you tried reinstalling and going to the patch you were on previously to check if you still get the framerates you supposedly did?

I have never used any patch other than the most reacent, as I actualy like to have access to GFWL.

 

As for the reinstall, that actualy what I have done. I just rebuilt my system and installed the game fresh on a new OS install, then it updated, etc. I transfered my save game files and started playing and found that the newest update had cut my performance nearly in half. The hardware hasnt changed, the only diferance is that I used to run the Win7 Ultimate-RC and now im running Win7 Ultimate Relase version. That should not affect my game performance this much.

 

I understand that this game is demanding and poorly coded, however there is no reason why it is running bad now, especaily considering that I had over 40+Hrs of gameplay before the updates that ran fine.

[Lodis]

The very latest patch can reduce performance by a very big margin. You are likely to find much better performance on patch 1.0.04 or patch 1.040.

[xSOSxHawkens]

 

The very latest patch can reduce performance by a very big margin. You are likely to find much better performance on patch 1.0.04 or patch 1.040.

Ok. But like I said, i like to use GFWL. I also own and xbox so I ahve an XBL account, and I like getting the achievements and being able to msg and talk with XBL friends while on the PC.

 

So is there a way for me to get the performance I used to get and still use the GFWL system?

[Spider-Vice]

If I downgrade to 1.0.0.4 or .4.0 I can play it maxed out (except resolution and reflections) at almost 50 fps but I can't turn the character. It freezes.

[kingddd]

The newest updates completely changed the Shadow System to make it look better after how much people demanded it from the PC community.

 

The sacrifice from this is that this causes more people to lose performance because of the system uses more hardware performance but less memory.

 

If you're running shadows on very high, expect it to be pretty choppy. Try running it on high or turn off night shadow and you'll be fine.

[Spider-Vice]

The problem with this patch is popup, not performance overall.

[Jimbatron]

The problem with this patch is popup, not performance overall.

Yes, same here, I get this particularly when flying a helicopter. With Patch 5 and before, objects in the distance used to blur into motion. Now they jump into view.

 

However, looking back at some of my videos, I think helicopter flight is a lot smoother now (the motion of the vehicle itself, not overall FPS). Maybe they achieved this by telling the game not to render objects far away as quickly?

[xSOSxHawkens]

 

The newest updates completely changed the Shadow System to make it look better after how much people demanded it from the PC community. 

 

The sacrifice from this is that this causes more people to lose performance because of the system uses more hardware performance but less memory.

 

If you're running shadows on very high, expect it to be pretty choppy. Try running it on high or turn off night shadow and you'll be fine.

I had read about the shadows issues after update and have tried running the game with shadows off/low/medium/high and very high.

 

The overall diferance between completly off and both shadows maxed is only about 10FPS on my system.

 

So, for me at least, the shadows dont seem to be that big of an issue...

 

Overall I'm thinking about going to the BBB over this issue.

 

The game has run fine maxed out @1080P on this system for a long time now. There is NO REASON that I canot play it maxed out @720P now. Its not my fault that they chose to update the game and literaly remove all of the game's functionality (for me at least).

 

This is further compunded by the fact that I own 2 coppies (one for me and one for my fiance). She has her own computer, one that untill the patch was still able to play GTA-4 on low-med settings, but now since the update it can barely run the game at all.

 

That effectivly leaves me with one completly useless copy and one that can kinda run on my most powerfull system.

 

My main system is WELL above the required or recomended specs, and my secondary rig is above min, closer to recomended specs (2.8Ghz Dual core, 2GB Ram, HD3850-512MB). There is no reason why I canot get stable and smoth gameplay with one of these systems.

 

Anyone else have any sugestions.

 

(Also, I am not having popup issues, just framerate)

Edited October 3, 2010 by xSOSxHawkens

[mkey82]

10FPS is a pretty bid deal, if you ask me. And I wouldn't get that rattled up about it, a future update that will fix this mess is not that likely, even a proper sequel isn't that likely. There is not much you can do past using two installs, one for online, the other one for performance. But even then you'll need to swap the configuration files.

 

Try not forcing any settings and lower the shadows definitively. Otherwise, I'd say you were pretty lucky to run GTAIV maxed out on that resolution and on that system while doing those frames.