GTA 4 (PC version)

Sigh…
Ive been waiting for this game for over a year now, finally got it today. Its not for sale until tomorrow here in Australia, but the guys in the shop i went to said they had it in stock, so i managed to get it a day before the release date. :cool: So far so good… But wait…

It took me nearly 3 painstaking hours to install. I found a nice explanation of what its like to install the game. This is EXACTLY what its been like for me, and thousands of others.

Step 1: “Tut” loudly as you are forced to agree to be part of the Rockstar Social Club; a Gamespy type program that must be installed before you can install the game.

Step 2. Install the game. It comes on 2 DVDs, taking up 16GB’s of space.

Step 3: Growl loudly when asked to make a Microsoft Live account. If you haven’t done so, be prepared for an arduous task in itself. Begin to cry.

Step 4: Wipe tears of frustration from eyes. Unclench jaw. Finish installing the game.

Step 5: Start crying again when you realise you must now make a Rockstar Social Club account. Do so while chanting a mantra of harsh words (language choice is optional).

Step 6: Go to email account to find validation code. See no email. Break something within arms reach.

Step 7: Ask website to resubmit code. Eventually find it in the junk folder. Consider offering Satan your soul to end the pain. Click validation link.

Step 8: Choose whether to assign your Xbox, Play Station or PC Microsoft Live account to the Rockstar Social Club. Plot assassination of Microsoft Live creator. Choose account.

Step 9: Attempt to sign into account as requested. Check watch: it’s dinner time… but didn’t you just eat breakfast?

Step 10: Finally finish creating Rockstar Social Club account. Sigh with wary relief. Start Social Club program.

Step 11: Speak in tongues as the program updates. Make a pot plant spontaneously combust.

Step 12: Rejoice as a big splash page with the word “Play!” appears. Click it with tired optimism.

Step 13: Bash head against keyboard repeatedly after seeing message stating “Please install the new Windows Live Update”. Feel the beginnings of an ulcer forming.

Step 14: 22MB later, install update. Rock back in forth in your chair while attempting the “Play” button again.

Step 15: It works! Hooray! …right? WRONG. Activate the game again by entering the code on your manual. Wait for it to su****iously validate you. Feel slightly violated when it finally gives you the OK and starts the game.

Step 16: Begin to worry when black screen lasts 5 minutes. Alt + tab a few times. Remove fingernails from fingers due to over ambitious biting.

Step 17: Menu words! At last! Proceed to graphics options.

Step 18: Consider hiring Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick Rockstar when they tell you “You can not set the graphics higher as your system lacks resources” when you not only have enough resources, the benchmark test runs crystal smooth.

Step 19: Sigh, write it off as a bug. Begin game. Hooray! GTA IV at last!

Step 20: Game crashes to desktop.

This is all due mostly to the anti-piracy crap layered into the game, and the terrible engineering and cross platforming on Rockstars side.

The game crashing to the desktop is the biggest issue, because of the infamous Fatal error MMA10 error, which crashes the game whenever your logged into windows live or the social club (both are required to play the game btw, especially multiplayer)

Sooooo… this is fixed by not logging into windows live or the social club. So yay! The game works! But again, wait… You need to be logged into windows live and connected to the internet to be able to actually save the game. takes a deep breath

Now aside from that, the game runs very very poorly (graphics-wise). Keep in mind my laptop is brand new, and can play crysis on mid-high graphics. GTA4 automatically runs on the lowest settings. So i figured id crank the graphics up a little, to see how much i can get out of it, and guess what? The graphics settings are restricted by the performance of your computer. You actually cannot change the graphics settings up higher, at all.

Gah… So im a little frustrated at the moment, it is a very nice game once you get into it, thats for sure. But it needs a lot of work… Im waiting for patches fingers crossed

Kinda feel sorry for the developers, they put all this hard work into a game, and then when its released like this it just takes it all away from them. There getting a lot of crap atm on the GTA forums… A lot of very unhappy people…

So has anyone else gone out and got their PC version of GTA…? :confused:

I entertained the idea for a few minutes, but I’ve heard the horror stories of people who are extremely frustrated by the install and the fact that the game - even when you CAN play it - is almost unplayable due to frequent pauses in the game - like lag or loading times or something I guess? - and the aforementioned lack of video options.

It bothers me that they’ve apparently removed any and all options from the game as far as setting things up the way you want. Modern games really need to have all of their settings and options opened up so people can get the performance / quality balance they like. I doubt this game would even run on this PC now, tho, after hearing that people with PC’s that are easily twice as powerful as mine are getting crap framerates and ugly graphics.

The irony here is that if they would just open up ONE of the GTA games to mod developers it would become the most popular game of all time. Imagine what people could do with those engines if they would just open them up a little bit and let people hack around a bit. The mod community for San Andreas even now is turning out some really awesome mods. Too bad Rockstar can’t seem to figure out exactly what it is that PC gamers actually like about gaming on a PC.

Yeh exactly… They should do some research, i find that most of the fun with these games is playing around with all the different mods after finishing the main storyline. Moders are a huge part of any game community, they keep the games alive in many ways.

Ive managed to get the graphics to a level that I’m happy with, it took an hour or so, battling with the restricted graphics settings, but ive got there now… Although theres nothing that can be done about the in game shadows, which make me want to throw up to be honest. The edges are all broken and flicker like mad, looks terrible during the day, the game looks amazing at night (especially when its raining), but there the glitchyest shadows ive ever seen. BGE shadows are 1 million times better, let me put it that way.

And ive found a work around to be able to save it, but logging on to windows live and not the social club. This means no multiplayer etc, but at least you still get to play (as long as you have the internet)

Amazingly, its still a very enjoyable game.

Seems like more torturing of the fair consumer. Companies should know by now that complex installation is not a deterrent of piracy, it just screws over the forthright guys. Too bad. Hope they do something to make the game install smoother. My free let me his Xbox version for a bit (not illegal hopefully, lol, not really funny though cuz that shit is stupid), and GTA4 insanely fun.

From the GTA4 README.TXT:

  1. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
    -shadowdensity: Set the shadow density of the game. (0-16)
    -norestrictions: Do not limit graphics settings
    -nomemrestrict: Disable memory restrictions

With those you can set the graphics as you wish.
And “-shadowdensity 0” might turn them off

hth

Thanks for the warning!

I also had some issues from buying early on the PS3, the game FROZE because
it was waiting forever to connect to some network - even though I just wanted
to play it locally…they fixed that a week later though…

…So they have even worse issues on the PC, huh? Oh well…again…thanks
for the warning.

I’ll wait until people actually start to have fun with it and it works before
I buy my PC copy.

Wow… I can’t even run Crysis on my machine.

GTA 4 will run like a breeze on my pc :cool:

Interesting, thanks for that. The norestrictions part sounds like what im looking for. Ill give it a go later.

Lol are you being serious? If you cant run Crysis, you might be able to run GTA4 on the lowest graphics settings.

Heres what it looks like for me with medium-low graphics settings:

Mmmmm… Saber Turbo. :slight_smile:

I quote: Sarcasm doesn’t go well with text.

Graphics are pretty good for a medium-low graphics setting :eek:

Looks like help might be around the corner. fingers crossed

To true!

Anyone who want to make a GTA 4 in Blender :eyebrowlift2:
Btw I’m getting this game, but omg if that is the installation process. I hate installing games and register accounts.

Is it worth buying?:eek:

I’m sure videos of the crappy PC port in action are almost as entertaining as seeing people trying to play Big Rigs Over the Road Racing.

It’s the new trend, always assume the PC user will pirate the game and treat him like a criminal.

Not that I care because it’s a crime, massacre, and even terrorism simulator if you get the tank.:eyebrowlift:

Just get a 360…

I’d agree with that if the police didn’t seem like an overwhelming all powerful force in GTA. I just steal cars in dark alleys when I play and look for secrets because I don’t want to deal with them. So if anything, the game teaches you that crime doesn’t pay. Unless you stick the minor stuff, that is:cool:.

thanks for the information!!!