GTA IV lag when I have good FPS?

[LoreLegend]

Ok so I have EFLC and the normal GTA IV but they lag when I am playing and honestly its pretty annoying

I always think I have a bad FPS that way but I did a benchmark and it said my FPS is 51.8

 

Settings:

 

Resolution: 1920x1080 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Reflection Resolution: Medium

Water Quality: High

Shadow Quality: Medium

Night Shadows: Medium

Anisotropic x16

View Distance: 25

Detail Distance: 31

Vehicle Density: 51

 

Resource Usage: 364/995 MB

 

Specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits

AMD A6-3670 2.7 GHz QuadCore

AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB

8GB Ram

 

I only encounter this problem on GTA IV

On for example on Mafia II I put everything on high and it runs great (50-60 FPS)

Edited September 9, 2012 by LoreLegend

[Girish]

Are you sure it's lag or is it stuttering?

Are you using any commandlines?

Have you tried lowering the resolution? Does it make any difference?

[LoreLegend]

 

Are you sure it's lag or is it stuttering?

Are you using any commandlines?

Have you tried lowering the resolution? Does it make any difference?

Its kinda stuttering not lag but I just call it lag

I haven't used any commandlines

I tried lowering resolution and it doesn't make any difference well ok alright if I put it on 800x600 it makes difference but thats common sense

Edited September 9, 2012 by LoreLegend

[jpm1]

try removing night shadows and reducing traffic density a bit . disconnect auto-save and video recording . it can come from the resolution equally , but i can't tell as i don't know the GC

[Regor245]

Lowering Resolution will have bottleneck the GPU more. GTA IV is poorly optimized games and Commandlines doesn't help much. This is is CPU hog.

 

Try overclocking your CPU around 3.2Ghz, it might help a bit. Because i saw a big difference from overclocking my athlon ii x2 2.9ghz to 3.5ghz. It adds 5-8 Fps more. (In benchmark it says 38 Fps, but in actual Gameplay it goes around 28-32Fps.)

 

Also try to put Reflection Quality to High or Very High so the GPU will get more load and turn off Vsync and Clip Capture.

 

__________

 

Btw, Shadow is the one killing GTA IV's Performance, Turning it off gives a big boost.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Regor245

[LoreLegend]

 

Lowering Resolution will have bottleneck the GPU more. GTA IV is poorly optimized games and Commandlines doesn't help much. This is is CPU hog.

 

Try overclocking your CPU around 3.2Ghz, it might help a bit. Because i saw a big difference from overclocking my athlon ii x2 2.9ghz to 3.5ghz. It adds 5-8 Fps more. (In benchmark it says 38 Fps, but in actual Gameplay it goes around 28-32Fps.)

 

Also try to put Reflection Quality to High or Very High so the GPU will get more load and turn off Vsync and Clip Capture.

 

__________

 

Btw, Shadow is the one killing GTA IV's Performance, Turning it off gives a big boost.

Overclocking is not an option at all

I tried overclocking it to 3.3 GHz and it crashed when it said: Windows is starting

The same thing happened with 3.2 GHz so I tried 3.0 GHz so then my game crashed

Now I put it back to 2.7 GHz which it originally was and it works just like before

Seems like I can't overclock my CPU

As for putting Reflection quality on very high and stuff it worked a little bit but hey everything counts

So I did a benchmark after changing the settings and I am actually having 60 FPS now

 

Statistics

Average FPS: 59.93

Duration: 37.15 sec

CPU Usage: 67%

System memory usage: 36%

Video memory usage: 51%

 

Graphics Settings

Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 (60 Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Off

Reflection Resolution: Very High

Water Quality: Medium

Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x16

Night Shadows: Off

View Distance: 20

Detail Distance: 31

Edited September 9, 2012 by LoreLegend

[dansgas1000]

Remove night shadows. Radeoon 7770 should run at high but it is only a mid-range card.

[LoreLegend]

Remove night shadows. Radeoon 7770 should run at high but it is only a mid-range card.

I already turned it off

[jpm1]

does that stuterring appears randomly or at particular occasions only (weather , traffic ..) . whatever your hardware or your tweaks you'll always have few small lags sometimes

[LoreLegend]

does that stuterring appears randomly or at particular occasions only (weather , traffic ..) . whatever your hardware or your tweaks you'll always have few small lags sometimes

It just stutters everytime

Its not random and it doesn't matter what traffic or what weather it just stutters

[jpm1]

do you have a player or a browser opened in the background . do you have graphic drivers up to date , try reintalling direct x libraries . you may have a too ressource demanding AV too ??

[LoreLegend]

 

do you have a player or a browser opened in the background . do you have graphic drivers up to date , try reintalling direct x libraries . you may have a too ressource demanding AV too ??

First of all I would like to point out I NEVER EVER have a browser or player open in the background

My graphics driver is up to date

Re installing directx seems useless to me however because I trust you I did it and it didn't make a difference

Also I don't get what you mean with a ''too resource demanding AV'' could you please explain it

[jpm1]

 

...

Re installing directx seems useless to me however because I trust you I did it and it didn't make a difference ...

 

i'm trying to help here , i'm not forcing you

 

 

...

...

Also I don't get what you mean with a ''too resource demanding AV'' could you please explain it

 

a gas factory anti-virus ..

 

 

are you main drivers (cpu , audio ..) up to date . are all your drivers verified one

[LoreLegend]

Well when my drivers are up to date I do think their verified no?

Also I know your trying to help thats why I try every possibility you guys recommend me to do

I think I get it now

Are you saying a too RAM demanding Anti-Virus? Also I don't think its a problem my Video Card has 1GB and I have 8GB on my PC itself

If so I just have AVG 2012 Free Edition

I need to turn it off when I am downloading files most of the times because else its some ''trojan horse''

[jpm1]

when a driver isn't veriified you see a windows warning popup while installing . such drivers aren't recommended as they're known to slow down the OS . AVG is an efficient AV but i remember i removed it once cause it was too heavy , for antivir much lighter . if you installed mods try rebuilding all img files with open iv

[unc13bud]

post your power supply wattage and manufacturer - a UL number would be great also.

[LoreLegend]

My wattage is 600

Manufacturer is Gigabyte

And what do you mean with UL number?

 

@jpm1: Well ok then they are verified and like I said I never touched any IMG file in GTA IV

[HornBasher62]

Have you tried this:

 

 

Hi, it took some time to find out : the only service you have to disable is Windows event log, and this strange lag is gone.

So, use windows key + R, type msconfig, go to services, disable Windows event log, apply, ok, restart computer.

 

Have fun.

 

Slunken.

 

Here's a link to op: GTA IV + Windows 7 + Press key = mini studder?

 

 

[LoreLegend]

Have you tried this:

 

 

Hi, it took some time to find out : the only service you have to disable is Windows event log, and this strange lag is gone.

So, use windows key + R, type msconfig, go to services, disable Windows event log, apply, ok, restart computer.

 

Have fun.

 

Slunken.

 

Here's a link to op: GTA IV + Windows 7 + Press key = mini studder?

Just tried it and it didn't work

I also notice how on EFLC the stuttering is not as worse as on the normal GTA IV

[GTALegacy]

If you are using a boxed retail (disc) version of GTA IV and it is patched to 1.0.7... Uninstall it, re-install it and then patch it to 1.0.4.

 

The most recent patch (1.0.7) causes tremendous stuttering for AMD/ATI cards.

 

I have an i7 @ 3.3 GHZ and a 4870x2 with 2GB of VRAM and the game is unplayable in terms of micro-stuttering. However, I downgraded to patch 1.0.4 and it plays as smooth as silk.

 

Also, this is one of the few games you cannot max out (view distance, level of detail and traffic density) due to the poor optimization.

 

I just play with all the graphical features on "high", but use the console settings for view distance, level of detail and traffic density.

 

In fact, this is why most modern computers can't max out this game. It's not just that it is poorly coded, but that people try and push the view distance and LOD past what it was meant to handle. Sure, it would be nice to have a constant 100% LOD so everything is crisp and clear and there is no pop-in as far as textures and architecture go... But that is not possible given the shoddy port job they did. There is also no noticeable difference in the view past 30. All you are doing (50, 60, 100) is adding more CPU cycles that have to be pushed to the GPU that could be used to render more frames instead of what you CAN'T see behind a few skyscrapers, or around a curve in the street.

[luceberg]

@GTALegacy It is well known that SLI/Crossfire does not work too well with GTA4, but good it worked better with patch 1.0.4.0.

 

@LoreLegend Start by using two basic commandlines, -reservedApp0 and -memrestrict 381681660. The memrestrict number is 1024 x 1024 x 364(your resource usage), giving a number in bytes. This should go a long way towards reducing the stutters and popin. As for lag that happens occasionally, meaning when the fps slows so you can see the individual frames, that's cos the cpu is a bit weak.

[GTALegacy]

 

@GTALegacy It is well known that SLI/Crossfire does not work too well with GTA4, but good it worked better with patch 1.0.4.0.

It works, but you have to set the Cross-Fire rendering to AFR (Alternate Frame Rate), or else you get the stuttering even in patch 1.0.4.

 

What is ironic is there are tons of videos on YT with people with the same card (4870x2) experiencing stutters that make the game unplayable. They don't know you have to alter the Cross-Fire profile in the Catalyst Control Center like I did (just create a new CF profile with AFR and link it to the "GTA.exe").

 

Also, it goes without saying the vast majority of mods that are available are made for 1.0.4., too.

 

This includes ENB, IcEnhancer, the majority of card mods, etc. So, downgrading to this version is going to have to be done by the OP eventually if they want to play the game with Mods after they've played through the initial story line...

[jpm1]

@ lorelegend : that's your destiny , don't look any further

[LoreLegend]

Thanks GTALegacy it worked like a charm

I re-installed GTA IV like you said and I installed patch 1.0.4.0

I also turned Clip Capture off and I gotta tell you its way better

The only time I actually have a tiny stutter is when driving for about 30 minutes but thats it afterwards it goes really smooth

Thanks again

[jpm1]

 

The most recent patch (1.0.7) causes tremendous stuttering for AMD/ATI cards.

 

sorry but i don't agree with this . 1.0.7.0 is stable . thing is the game is very detailled maybe too much for hardware that's all . but there are lot of tips around to increase smoothness like what you said disconnecting clip capture . i made thousands of changes in my game and i still can't get it to crash or to make a mess , that's what i call a good game/patch . why i didn't thought of clip capture thing sooner , maybe cause i posted this already hundreds of times and i was a bit bored with it lol . when you install ATI drivers you should not process to catalyst control thing installation it's very ressource demanding and with generally very few improvements , and install display driver only

Edited September 13, 2012 by jpm1

[GTALegacy]

Thanks GTALegacy it worked like a charm

I re-installed GTA IV like you said and I installed patch 1.0.4.0

I also turned Clip Capture off and I gotta tell you its way better

The only time I actually have a tiny stutter is when driving for about 30 minutes but thats it afterwards it goes really smooth

Thanks again

If you really want to maximize your gaming experience...

 

Create a "Commandline.txt" and limit your frames per second to 30.

 

-framelimit 1

-refreshrate 31

 

Ideally we want 60 FPS or more on a computer monitor, but 30 is what the game was designed to run at due to consoles and their frame rate limitations for TV. It's also what the in-game physics (Euphoria) are programmed for, too. This is why a lot of people find it hard to drive in GTA IV. They are pushing the physics beyond specs and this directly effects the physics simulation in the game.

 

This will also even out the FPS fluctuations since THIS is what most people refer to as "lag". It's when the game drops from 60 FPS to 30 FPS (or below) every few seconds and then jumps back up to 60. It makes the game appear choppy which also effects your response time with the controls and in-game physics.

[LoreLegend]

 

Thanks GTALegacy it worked like a charm

I re-installed GTA IV like you said and I installed patch 1.0.4.0

I also turned Clip Capture off and I gotta tell you its way better

The only time I actually have a tiny stutter is when driving for about 30 minutes but thats it afterwards it goes really smooth

Thanks again

If you really want to maximize your gaming experience...

 

Create a "Commandline.txt" and limit your frames per second to 30.

 

-framelimit 1

-refreshrate 31

 

Ideally we want 60 FPS or more on a computer monitor, but 30 is what the game was designed to run at due to consoles and their frame rate limitations for TV. It's also what the in-game physics (Euphoria) are programmed for, too. This is why a lot of people find it hard to drive in GTA IV. They are pushing the physics beyond specs and this directly effects the physics simulation in the game.

 

This will also even out the FPS fluctuations since THIS is what most people refer to as "lag". It's when the game drops from 60 FPS to 30 FPS (or below) every few seconds and then jumps back up to 60. It makes the game appear choppy which also effects your response time with the controls and in-game physics.

Thanks for trying to help but really didn't make a difference

These are my settings:

 

Resolution: 1920x1080 (60Hz)

Texture Quality: Medium

Reflection Resolution: Medium

Water Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Off

Texture Filter Quality: Medium

 

View Distance: 21

Detail Distance: 30

Vehicle Density: 45

Shadow Density: 1

Definition: On

VSync: Off

 

Tell me if I need to change anything

 

EDIT: wtf I fixed the lag really all I did was put the settings on the highest settings possible

 

Resolution: 1920x1080 (60Hz)

Texture Quality: High

Reflection Resolution: Very High

Water Quality: Very High

Shadow Quality: Very High

Texture Filter Quality: Highest

 

View Distance: 21

Detail Distance: 30

Vehicle Density: 45

Shadow Density: 1

Definition: On

VSync: Off

Edited September 13, 2012 by LoreLegend

[GTALegacy]

^GTA IV performs differently on different hardware.

 

That's why there is no one magic cure-all settings and tweaks thread.

 

As with most un-optimized software you have to see what does and does not work on your system and then make trade offs as to what you consider acceptable.

 

Like I said, I run it in 1080p with all "high" settings using the console settings for view distance, LOD and traffic density. It runs fine and looks fine, too. I'm not a stickler for perfection and don't need everything at 100% because I know the game can't handle it because of its poor coding for PCs.

 

 

@jpm1

 

I didn't say patch 1.0.7 was not stable. I said it gives AMD cards a lot of problems patch 1.0.4 does not. This is not just my own personal experience, but many others with Nvidia cards as well. R* changed the shadow shaders in the last patch and this put a lot more undo stress on the hardware than the previous patch. Hence, the lower and sometimes problematic performance experienced by many users.

 

It's not that the game itself is complex it's the amount of polygons it has to push at any given moment: Buildings, cars, pedestrians, etc. That's why the LOD is so important and why it kills frame rates if it is set to high along with view distance.

 

The poor performance of 1.0.7 is also backed up by the fact the majority of SP mods are made for patch 1.0.4 as well because modders don't just need no sum checks for mods, but because of the increased performance compared to 1.0.7, too.

 

The irony in all of this is if you buy / download TBOGT and TLAD... Gamers have no choice but to go with the latest patch (1.2.0) that is higher than 1.0.4 and 1.0.7, obviously. I get less performance in EFLC than the main GTA IV game and there is nothing I can do about (I can't downgrade to anything below 1.0.7). It's not terrible performance, but the constant stutter is there that makes the game very inconsistent and choppy due to the FPS fluctuations.

[jpm1]

@ GTALegacy : never tried 1.0.4 . but what i know it's that with 1.0.7 and a bit of modding GTA is fantastic , and i think all the game is made around modding . i see GTA like a kind of big cake shop you see , if you eat it all at once it's not good but if you make your choice it can be really cool . GTA is an extremely detailled game with astonishing amout of features . for me it's obvious that if you want all this at once you won't ever be able to run in good conditions . i think GTA is a game largely made around modding , and it's up to you then to make your choices . but if you take 1.0.7 as is , you'll get problems / lags . i repeat it for the 100th lol but once you modded a bit , reduced the number of some of the objects you're talking about a bit GTA is A.S.T.O.N.I.S.H.I.N.G . and you just can't blame R* for anything . i was astonished by Zelda or by gran turismo when i first played them but none impressed me as GTA IV did

[GTALegacy]

@ GTALegacy : never tried 1.0.4 . but what i know it's that with 1.0.7 and a bit of modding GTA is fantastic , and i think all the game is made around modding . i see GTA like a kind of big cake shop you see , if you eat it all at once it's not good but if you make your choice it can be really cool . GTA is an extremely detailled game with astonishing amout of features . for me it's obvious that if you want all this at once you won't ever be able to run in good conditions . i think GTA is a game largely made around modding , and it's up to you then to make your choices . but if you take 1.0.7 as is , you'll get problems / lags . i repeat it for the 100th lol but once you modded a bit , reduced the number of some of the objects you're talking about a bit GTA is A.S.T.O.N.I.S.H.I.N.G . and you just can't blame R* for anything . i was astonished by Zelda or by gran turismo when i first played them but none impressed me as GTA IV did

GTA IV is not as complex as you think.

 

It can't be that complex since it had to run on current gen Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware which is equivalent to seven, or eight-year old hardware.

 

What you think in complex is simply the art direction and attention to detail versus the actual CPU routines that make Liberty City seem alive. Those are two very different things. The graphics in GTA IV are not that complex and actually have modest polygon counts (people, vehicles, buildings, streets, lamp posts, pieces of trash, pigeons, etc, etc). What makes GTA IV resource hungry is the AMOUNT of these things when running at the same time. On top of that, R* Toronto did a very bad job at porting a.k.a. optimizing the game code for PCs...

 

So, if there are thousands of polygons being rendered and numerous AI routines (traffic, pedestrians, air traffic) running at the same time that doesn't matter IF all of that code is properly optimized like it is on the consoles. It's just not for the PC. Hence, why GTA IV takes far too much resources than it should... But the game itself is NOT as complex as you think it is.