Centrum of Troubles Redakce | translated by: Matt & Alix | 09.02.2009
GTA IV, as you surely know, doesn’t run well for everyone. It isn’t because the game is bad (hopefully we eventually get a patch), but the game is simply made for a new generation of computers, where XP Service Pack 3, the newest Net Framework, or special drivers are the norm. Due to the many difficulties related to GTA IV, this little site exists, where we will try to help you.
Without 1 GB of memory on your graphics card, you will not be able to move on HIGH settings, but R* says that even on medium the game looks nice and doesn’t take away from the experience. Therefore, whoever possesses 512MB on the graphics card will play well on medium, and whoever has 256MB can only play on low (you can work around it).
When setting the “Shadow Density”, be careful—set it on medium. The game will then run more smoothly.
Set everything carefully and by your hardware capabilities.
Special drivers for GTA IV have been released by Nvidia, and here are the suggested drivers for ATI.
Now I will lead you through the entire installation of GTA IV and try to describe where you may have problems.
What Do I Need?
- Operation system Windows Vista (plus Service Pack 1) or Windows XP (plus Service Pack 3)
- DirectX 9
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
- Minimum/Recommended Hardware
- Adobe Flash
- Internet
Graphics
Without 1 GB of memory on your graphics card, you will not be able to move on HIGH settings, but R* says that even on medium the game looks nice and doesn’t take away from the experience. Therefore, whoever possesses 512MB on the graphics card will play well on medium, and whoever has 256MB can only play on low (you can work around it).
When setting the “Shadow Density”, be careful—set it on medium. The game will then run more smoothly.
Set everything carefully and by your hardware capabilities.
Special drivers for GTA IV have been released by Nvidia, and here are the suggested drivers for ATI.
Installation
Now I will lead you through the entire installation of GTA IV and try to describe where you may have problems.
- Insert the original DVD 1 into the drive
- Probably a “strange” dialog box will pop up. Click on the left-hand button and start the install. Strange symbols appear in the box because you aren’t using an English operating system. (No one would expect that in the Czech Republic, huh?)
- After you install the “Rockstar Games Social Club” application and then GTA IV itself—around the middle of the installation process—the second DVD needs to be inserted.
- After the installations, I suggest that you make an account on Social Club and on Games For Windows (for proper functionality, open these ports through Windows Firewall: UDP 88, UDP 3074, TCP 3074)
- GFW must be updated
- Then, both accounts must be “connected”.
- If you cannot log into Social Club, check your parental control settings.
- While starting up or installing, you may encounter problems, and those are described here.
- That’s probably about it.
Patch
What some of you feared has become realized. The patch from R*, which was controlled by Microsoft, created another bug for players. It is mainly a problem with the camera, but there may be other issues with keys. R* already apologized officially and put out a manual about how to fix this bug.
A1) Disconnect controllers (keyboard, mouse, joystick, etc.)
A2) Restart the computer
A3) Connect the controllers and start GTA IV
If the problem continues, here is another way:
B1) Exit the game
B2) My Computer->Properties->Hardware tab->Device Manager->Human Interface Devices
B3) Find drivers
B4) Delete drivers
B5) Start the game
Changes in Settings
Do you want to adjust graphics and textures to the you way you want?
Go to the GTA IV folder (default location: C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV). With Notepad, create a file named “commandline.txt” that includes these lines:
-norestrictions
-nomemrestrict
-nomemrestrict
And that’s that :-)
Gloves
- Make a backup texture by exporting hand_000_r.wdr and hand_diff_000_a_whi.wt
- Export hand_001_r.wdr and hand_diff_001_a_whi.wtd and change their names from 001 to 000
- Import into the game 00, and you’re done. Don’t forget to save.
