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PC : Grand Theft Auto IV, Who's playing it ? And how?

CabbageRed said:
Is everyone else having dithering issues? It is not just the shadows (which produce a crawling effect I haven't seen since the days before bilinear filtering) but also on the "fade" in effect which makes objects less than a block away appear to be made of a random dots.
Click to expand...
Yep, I get both, but I only really notice the latter when I'm tinkering with graphics options. My solution is playing from far away, which doesn't really work because I've got a really small monitor. :(
 
bengraven said:
Fucking stuck on the first Brucie race as well as that quest where you have to follow the train.
Click to expand...

Train mission is a bit tricky.

Two pieces of advice I would give are do it during the day where you can see a bit better and make sure you get an excellent car to do it.
 
ok installed and its not working!! fatel error rmn40 or some shit...maybe cause I dont have SP3?

Where the fuck is SP3 on the update website? I cant find it. running the update doesnt find any updates for my puter...WTF!
 
Durandal said:
Q9550 (Quad Extreme)
4GB DDR3 Ram
2x GTX280

With everything maxed out and forced 4XFAA + 16XAAF this still chugs.

With AA+AF turned down a bit this runs at about 50 FPS for me. Drops to 25-30 though, viewing the skyline from above. This is pretty intense considering i got a rig as good as it can get with normal money.

EDIT: On this Settings this game does look like a completely different game though (1680x1050).
Click to expand...

Any chance of some screens so we can all see what we're missing out on?
 
cameltoe said:
ok installed and its not working!! fatel error rmn40 or some shit...maybe cause I dont have SP3?

Where the fuck is SP3 on the update website? I cant find it. running the update doesnt find any updates for my puter...WTF!
Click to expand...

Directions here.

I'm on Vista so I have nothing to compare your experience to, that said, it seems odd that update is showing nothing. Hopefully SP3 will install smoothly. The directions mention needing SP1a or SP2, although I suppose it is very unlikely that you not installed SP2 by now.

Stand-alone here.
 
If you're getting fatal error: MMA10 after the copyright screens then log out of social club before starting. It's a problem with their servers. If you're getting a RESC10 error after a couple minutes of play then try lowering texture resolution.

e8400 @3.6ghz
4GB DDR2
4870x2

Running at 1080p with medium settings across the board. Framerates are alright, between 25 and 40 usually. Loooots of texture pop in though, pretty much every time you turn around.
Good times.
 
Durandal said:
EDIT: On this Settings this game does look like a completely different game though (1680x1050).
Click to expand...


I think it looks noticeably better, but a "completely different game" is pushing it.
 
So you can get AA working if you force it in the vid card control panel?


What sort of performance can I expect with Q6600@3.2/4Gb/9800GTX/Vista64 if I set to console settings with forced 4xAA anyone?

Also what control is everyone using? I hated mouse/KB with SA.
 
bengraven
Member
(Today, 04:23 PM)
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band_orc.gif


:lol Awesome :lol

Those animations were fun to do, man!

I was thinking about double-dipping on GTAIV, but sounds like I don't need to. Although I'm interested in how well my rig would run it...
 
heres what I get

these are the settings the game decided were best for my shit

Statistics
Average FPS: 42.03
Duration: 37.19 sec
CPU Usage: 67%
System memory usage: 73%
Video memory usage: 92%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1600 x 900 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 37

Hardware
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Service Pack 3
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Video Driver version: 180.48
Audio Adapter: SB Audigy Audio [E400]
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz

right after test the game crashed!!

awesome...now I get error nma10 or some shit....motherfucker!!!
 
Surfheart said:
So you can get AA working if you force it in the vid card control panel?


What sort of performance can I expect with Q6600@3.2/4Gb/9800GTX/Vista64 if I set to console settings with forced 4xAA anyone?

Also what control is everyone using? I hated mouse/KB with SA.
Click to expand...

The controls are surprisingly awkward, especially if you're coming from some of the other PC GTA's. The default camera behind the car is really floaty and I guess the idea is to use the mouse to correct the camera on the fly, but that seems really dumb. To turn you need to both press a key to turn a car and move the mouse to ensure the camera is kept behind the car - as far as I know you can't drive with the mouse, and simply turning the car will often throw the camera off.

And aside from the 4XAA, which I suspect would be a Very Bad Idea, you'll get between okay and pretty good performance on console settings with that hardware setup.

For the record:

Statistics
Average FPS: 37.28
Duration: 37.17 sec
CPU Usage: 92%
System memory usage: 64%
Video memory usage: 97%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1680 x 1050 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 37

Hardware
Microsoft® Windows Vista" Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Video Driver version: 178.24
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz

I have worse specs than you, and can run the game at console-level settings with a pretty constant 25-30 FPS. 4XAA will obviously hurt that, but I have no idea how much.
 
Campster said:
The controls are surprisingly awkward, especially if you're coming from some of the other PC GTA's. The default camera behind the car is really floaty and I guess the idea is to use the mouse to correct the camera on the fly, but that seems really dumb. To turn you need to both press a key to turn a car and move the mouse to ensure the camera is kept behind the car - as far as I know you can't drive with the mouse, and simply turning the car will often throw the camera off.
Click to expand...

That isn't different from any other GTA. When did you ever drive with the mouse? And why would you? It's always been WASD to steer, and mouse to move the camera. And that's exactly how it should be.
 
Zeliard said:
That isn't different from any other GTA. When did you ever drive with the mouse? And why would you? It's always been WASD to steer, and mouse to move the camera. And that's exactly how it should be.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'd never want to drive with the mouse. But at least a single input would make more sense. In GTA3 you could hit "E" to view to your right and "Q" to view to your left, and both at the same time to view behind you. No matter which direction you were facing - forward, backward, left, or right - you were locked in that direction relative to the car. Here the camera freely floats around the car, often leading to wacky "the car turns and the camera keeps looking down the road" scenarios unless you both move the mouse and hit the keyboard at the same time.
 
cameltoe said:
yup cannot get the fucker to run now.....damn it!!!
Click to expand...

I'm sure there's been some discussion of it earlier in the thread, but there's some advice on what the error codes mean here.

Also, the NMA10 error tends to pop up if you're logged into the social club - try logging out of that and then playing again. You won't be able to play multiplayer modes, but hey - the game should run.
 
Campster said:
I'm sure there's been some discussion of it earlier in the thread, but there's some advice on what the error codes mean here.

Also, the NMA10 error tends to pop up if you're logged into the social club - try logging out of that and then playing again. You won't be able to play multiplayer modes, but hey - the game should run.
Click to expand...

Hint: log out of social club, start game, then at the title menu alt+tab and log back in. Multiplayer is a go. :)
 
Campster said:
I have worse specs than you, and can run the game at console-level settings with a pretty constant 25-30 FPS. 4XAA will obviously hurt that, but I have no idea how much.
Click to expand...

Ugh, thanks Campster. I know it's a higher rez than the console versions, but that's pretty dissapointing when you consider the hardware power difference between a 360 and my Q6600/9800GTX. I mean my videocard alone has as much ram as the 360 has in total!

You would expect 60 fps with my rig at console settings, with maybe 2xAA as well.
 
more testing

Statistics
Average FPS: 40.72
Duration: 37.15 sec
CPU Usage: 70%
System memory usage: 74%
Video memory usage: 100%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Highest
View Distance: 1
Detail Distance: 1

Hardware
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Service Pack 3
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Video Driver version: 180.48
Audio Adapter: SB Audigy Audio [E400]
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz


Statistics
Average FPS: 34.75
Duration: 37.15 sec
CPU Usage: 67%
System memory usage: 80%
Video memory usage: 99%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1600 x 900 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Highest
View Distance: 35
Detail Distance: 100

at the console settings the game looks worse then the consoles!!
 
is there a way to take screens in game? Guess I could use xfire maybe....

I made a movie (just looking around at all the pop-in) with the ingame thingy...there are 3 settings web, 720p 1080p..I saved as web and it is uploading to you tube now..
 
I nabbed some screens, let me upload them real quick.

Edit: These are raw PNGs straight from hitting print screen, and as a result they're rather large, so 56k beware when clicking on 'em. Same settings as I posted above, with none of the fancy pants PC shadows turned on.

They're currently hosted on imageshack (unless anyone has a better hosting suggestion) so they'll probably die off pretty quick. But for the interested:

- This lampshade is an example of the dithering I don't remember being in the PS3 version. It also does this to various objects in the distance - detail objects, mostly, but for some reason this is all dithered despite being three feet from the camera.

- This is a picture of the outside of the first safehouse - I figured I'd include a few of these, since I recall these are how we got into pissing matches about the image quality of the PS3 and 360 versions.

- The same area, only during day.

- Finally, I wanted to give you guys a comparison shot of the weird blur effect that gets turned on if you hit the "P" key. It isn't AA, it's just... blurriness. I actually sort of prefer it on, it softens the image a bit.
-- With blur
-- Without blur <--You can also see dithering on a building here, straight across from Niko.

Edit found additional crappy free image hosting. Let me know if any of these go down and you're interested in seeing them.
 
Campster said:
I nabbed some screens, let me upload them real quick.

Edit: These are raw PNGs straight from hitting print screen, and as a result they're rather large, so 56k beware when clicking on 'em. Same settings as I posted above, with none of the fancy pants PC shadows turned on.

They're currently hosted on imageshack (unless anyone has a better hosting suggestion) so they'll probably die off pretty quick. But for the interested:

- This lampshade is an example of the dithering I don't remember being in the PS3 version. It also does this to various objects in the distance - detail objects, mostly, but for some reason this is all dithered despite being three feet from the camera.

- This is a picture of the outside of the first safehouse - I figured I'd include a few of these, since I recall these are how we got into pissing matches about the image quality of the PS3 and 360 versions.

- The same area, only during day.

- Finally, I wanted to give you guys a comparison shot of the weird blur effect that gets turned on if you hit the "P" key. It isn't AA, it's just... blurriness. I actually sort of prefer it on, it softens the image a bit.
-- With blur
-- Without blur <--You can also see dithering on a building here, straight across from Niko.

Edit found additional crappy free image hosting. Let me know if any of these go down and you're interested in seeing them.
Click to expand...

The night images look better than the day images at least in that intial area because of the spotting of the lighting. I guess the dithering.

The second screenshot looks very good to me for example at night but the day picture in the same area looks less good because of the shadowing effect from the overhead objects.

It might be interesting to see some day pics but away from an over-head object that is casting showing and away from that initial safehouse.

A nice screenshot from atop a building with a view would be nice also.

GTA 4 was the first game ever that actually tripped off my Acrophobia when I was on top of a building and got near the edge because it looked very real to me.
 
Stoney Mason said:
Would be nice to see a screenshot to prove this contention.
Click to expand...

Here are some screens at the max settings my system will allow:




These were all taken with FRAPS, and for some reason the FPS counter isn't showing up. I am not impressed with the visuals.
 
Surfheart said:
Ugh, thanks Campster. I know it's a higher rez than the console versions, but that's pretty dissapointing when you consider the hardware power difference between a 360 and my Q6600/9800GTX. I mean my videocard alone has as much ram as the 360 has in total!

You would expect 60 fps with my rig at console settings, with maybe 2xAA as well.
Click to expand...

Don't forget, X360 has 2xAA.
 
Pressing P isn't just blur. It adds that 'vaseline filter' over distant objects which obscures aliasing and also adds motion blur. It's essentially the same post processing that the console versions had. I prefer having it on.
 
Chiggs said:
Here are some screens at the max settings my system will allow:




These were all taken with FRAPS, and for some reason the FPS counter isn't showing up. I am not impressed with the visuals.
Click to expand...

I don't remember the draw distance being that far on the PS3 version but the jaggies are disgusting. I don't know why gamers put up with Rockstar's programming. Even the console version has a lack of technical polish. I was considering buying the PC version (after selling the PS3 version) b/c of the promise of an improved multiplayer but since they put out this optimized piece of garbage, I'm definitely passing on this one.
 
Gully State said:
I don't remember the draw distance being that far on the PS3 version but the jaggies are disgusting. I don't know why gamers put up with Rockstar's programming. Even the console version has a lack of technical polish. I was considering buying the PC version (after selling the PS3 version) b/c of the promise of an improved multiplayer but since they put out this optimized piece of garbage, I'm definitely passing on this one.
Click to expand...


To be fair, you can press "p" to turn on the post-processing.
 
It plays very good for me.......

General rule of thumb is to keep your resource meter in the green. If it goes amber you will get some swapping of textures in some areas from the ram or even worse HDD. This causes the stutters people are complaining about.

I notice NO visible difference from having my view distance set to 40 or 100.....Not sure whats actually happening visibility wise but this does kill framerate, and fills your video memory quick.

I can play all maxed with view distance 42 and 1680x1050 res, and it runs far better than the PS3 version. I love how you can turn the vaseline filter on and off. I wish I could force a bit of AA on my 4870x2, but I can't.

It regularly uses 80%+ of all four of my cores simultaneously at these settings, so the dual core guys will have to look at settings which will relieve pressure off the CPU. View, objects and shadows will have to be dropped.
 
kitch9 said:
It plays very good for me.......

General rule of thumb is to keep your resource meter in the green. If it goes amber you will get some swapping of textures in some areas from the ram of even worse HDD. This causes the stutters people are complaining about.

I notice NO visible difference from having my view distance set to 40 or 100.....Not sure whats actually happening visibility wise but this does kill framerate, and fills your video memory quick.

I can play all maxed with view distance 42 and 1680x1050 res, and it runs far better than the PS3 version. I love how you can turn the vaseline filter on and off. I wish I could force a bit of AA on my 4870x2, but I can't.

It regularly uses 80%+ of all four of my cores simultaneously at these settings, so the dual core guys will have to look at settings which will relieve pressure off the CPU. View, objects and shadows will have to be dropped.
Click to expand...

Nice, what fps are you getting? Also, what Quad Core speed do you have?
 
Dude, chiggs, those jaggies are stabbing me in the eyes.

I was really impressed with this game on consoles and I'm pretty much the exact opposite with how it looks on PC.
 
godhandiscen said:
Nice, what fps are you getting? Also, what Quad Core speed do you have?
Click to expand...

25-50 or so. Q6600 @ 3.3ghz.

I've just dropped traffic to 70 as it was driving me nuts......Cars everywhere.
 
kitch9 said:
It plays very good for me.......

General rule of thumb is to keep your resource meter in the green. If it goes amber you will get some swapping of textures in some areas from the ram of even worse HDD. This causes the stutters people are complaining about.

I notice NO visible difference from having my view distance set to 40 or 100.....Not sure whats actually happening visibility wise but this does kill framerate, and fills your video memory quick.

I can play all maxed with view distance 42 and 1680x1050 res, and it runs far better than the PS3 version. I love how you can turn the vaseline filter on and off. I wish I could force a bit of AA on my 4870x2, but I can't.

It regularly uses 80%+ of all four of my cores simultaneously at these settings, so the dual core guys will have to look at settings which will relieve pressure off the CPU. View, objects and shadows will have to be dropped.
Click to expand...

same here, defrag'd the hard disk then dropped the view distance to 43 and the traffic setting to 75 (too many cars) then turned the blur filter on, I'm not having texture pop-in or any other apparent glitches and the game very rarely dips below 30fps. 1360x768/Vista 64/quad core/9800GTX 512+
 
I guess my problems aren't as bad as everyone else.

I'm getting roughly 25-40 FPS with everything at absolute maximum. I get 35-45 when I scale things down a bit.

E8400 @ 4Ghz
8800GT @ 700/1750/1000
3.5GB RAM
Vista 32-bit
1680x1050
 
textures are not at max....it will not allow it at that res with a 512mb card

I can go 1600x900 at med with a draw dist of like 37 max with my 8800gt

also draw dist is not max either...again with only 512 mb vid card at that res you will be in the red for sure

Statistics
Average FPS: 34.75
Duration: 37.15 sec
CPU Usage: 67%
System memory usage: 80%
Video memory usage: 99%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1600 x 900 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Highest
View Distance: 35
Detail Distance: 100

Q6600 @ 2.8 8800gt 512 2GB RAM
 
cameltoe said:
textures are not at max....it will not allow it at that res with a 512mb card

I can go 1600x900 at med with a draw dist of like 37 max with my 8800gt

also draw dist is not max either...again with only 512 mb vid card at that res you will be in the red for sure
Click to expand...
I'm using norestriction.
 
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