Grand Theft Auto IV discussion

[Resinence]

x86 codes? Does he mean x86 OPCODES, THE 360 IS X86 HARDWARE. What the hell does he mean by a dual core "detector", I'm inclined to say this guy is just talking out of his ass and hoping no one will pick up on it. Infact plugging "dual core detector" into google I get just that page and no other relevant results

[Sarevok]

First patch has been released and it...does nothing. (Nothing of any note anyway)

Also quote I pulled from another forum:

...they just didn't recode the engine to a full PC x86 codes, and even some codes are missing. Like, a good dual core detector which will let you play it with Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz instead of the hyperthreaded quad i7. And what's more, they still left the Xbox 360 core detector which will only let you play smoothly on tri-core or more.

Is that really as bad as I think it is?

Umm your other forum guy sounds like nerd gamer spouting terms he has no idea about.

What the fuck is a core detector and whats "full PC x86 codes" ?

Multi threading does not work like that !

[Ace Pace]

THE 360 IS X86 HARDWARE.

No it's not.

[Resinence]

You're right I confused the Xenon with the Xeon. Apologies.

[Executor32]

It still doesn't detract from the fact that the guy 598 quoted is talking out of his ass. I skimmed through that thread, and I think 90% of the performance problems people are having stem from running the game on a PC that doesn't meet the minimum requirements.

[Enigma]

It still doesn't detract from the fact that the guy 598 quoted is talking out of his ass. I skimmed through that thread, and I think 90% of the performance problems people are having stem from running the game on a PC that doesn't meet the minimum requirements.

My computer meets the minimum specs required to play the game yet it barely works. It moves agonizingly slow.

[Alyeska]

Well the game has been running like a dream for me. Distance set at 60% along with detail. Traffic at about 45%. Game runs very smoothly with very few issues. Game play has been quite fun, fairly well into the main story.

Roman is less annoying later in the game. Packie and Jacob are very cool characters. Michelle was a very easy lay, and now I know why. Kate is extremely uptight. Does she require a mission to go by before she puts out?

The choices behind some of the missions are nice. X and Dwayne. Francis and Derrick. Course the game really doesn't branch with these choices, but still fun.

[Executor32]

Kate never puts out.

[Commander 598]

It still doesn't detract from the fact that the guy 598 quoted is talking out of his ass. I skimmed through that thread, and I think 90% of the performance problems people are having stem from running the game on a PC that doesn't meet the minimum requirements.

My computer meets the minimum specs required to play the game yet it barely works. It moves agonizingly slow.

To add:

Minimum Specs (Literally printed on the box):
1.5GB of RAM (Vista)
Geforce 7900/ATI X1900
Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz/Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz

My specs:
2GB of RAM
Geforce 8600 GTS
Athlon X2 64 5000+ (2.6Ghz)

How does it run? Sits on the line between unplayable and barely playable if you can stand borderline slideshows, on low everything. It is my personal opinion that having all the graphics options that were taken out of the options menu because (literal quote) "it would confuse us" would likely help in this area.

[Executor32]

I have a Core 2 Duo 3 GHz, 2 GB RAM and a 512MB 8800GT, and I get ~30 FPS on average, at 1280x1024 with Medium textures, High render quality, 30 View and 100 Detail distance, 26 Vehicle Density and 3 Shadow Density.

[Enigma]

It still doesn't detract from the fact that the guy 598 quoted is talking out of his ass. I skimmed through that thread, and I think 90% of the performance problems people are having stem from running the game on a PC that doesn't meet the minimum requirements.

My computer meets the minimum specs required to play the game yet it barely works. It moves agonizingly slow.

To add:

Minimum Specs (Literally printed on the box):
1.5GB of RAM (Vista)
Geforce 7900/ATI X1900
Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz/Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
<snip>
How does it run? Sits on the line between unplayable and barely playable if you can stand borderline slideshows, on low everything. It is my personal opinion that having all the graphics options that were taken out of the options menu because (literal quote) "it would confuse us" would likely help in this area.

I've got
2GB RAM
XP PRO
Geforce 8500GT 512MB
Athlon X2 64 2.41GHz

The opening cutscene is choppy and a bit too fast but once it reaches the part where they lower the car from the ship then the game slows to a crawl. When the game lets me play I can barely even move the car. It would move after holding the key down for about ten seconds but the car is barely controllable. At this point I stopped playing.

I've lowered all of the settings but it made little difference.

[Alyeska]

They messed up game optimization somewhere.

I am running a Core 2 Duo 3.0 Ghz, 4 gigs of ram, and GeForce 8800 GTS 640.

I have resolution set on 1680x1050, high render quality, draw distance and detail distance set at 60, vehicle density at 45, and the game runs incredibly smoothly.

A friend has a Quad core 2.6 with 4 gigs of ram and the GeForce 260 with 1 gig of ram on the card. All his in game settings are at least 20% lower then mine and gets slightly inferior performance.

[Ypoknons]

What the chances patches will improve the situation? Seems like my 8600M GT Macbook Pro will die on this and the new 9x00-series won't do that much better if desktop 8800s aren't doing that well, though I won't do anything close to crazy 1600x1050 resolutions either.

[Ace Pace]

What the chances patches will improve the situation? Seems like my 8600M GT Macbook Pro will die on this and the new 9x00-series won't do that much better if desktop 8800s aren't doing that well, though I won't do anything close to crazy 1600x1050 resolutions either.

Patches better improve the situation. Smells like horrible memory usage if it slows to a crawl rather than right off the bat.

[Commander 598]

This is fucking hilarious. Somehow, my CPU was only running off of one core for like...months. msconfig was only picking up one core and running one core. Upon fixing this the game now runs perfectly fine. Since so many people seem to have similar performance and Rockstar is basically clueless as to WTF, do you think it may be related to something unknowingly done in a Windows update?

[Alyeska]

Possible. Another thing I did to enhance performance of my own computer is kill the page file. I have enough RAM that I can afford to do without it. General boost in performance. If you are somewhat marginal on RAM, don't bother. But if you have at least 4 gigs in the 1066/1333 FSB range, you can kill the page file and get a bump in your system. Load times for some things improve and what not.

[Enigma]

How do I know if windows is using one or both cores? I've tried looking through msconfig but couldn't find it.

[Alyeska]

How do I know if windows is using one or both cores? I've tried looking through msconfig but couldn't find it.

There are utilities you can download. With Vista and a 2nd monitor I have a couple gadgets installed in the gadget bar that watch my CPU and Memory usage levels. Its funny playing games like Half-Life 2 watching my cores get used equally. Then I go back and play Doom 3 and it spikes a single core to 100% while the other core just idles around 5-15%.

[Alyeska]

Microsoft is a bunch of fucking idiots.

I have Gears of War. Something went wrong where the game is stuck where it is constantly stuck in a left turn. There is nothing I can do to stop this. Well after the mandatory Live update for GTA4, this game has the same fraking problem.

What the fuck is wrong with you Microsoft?

[Stark]

LOL you use pretend insults

Is tihs a common problem? I've played Gears on PC and had no such problem and I've never heard of it before; maybe your setup is just borked. Since Live games try to pick up 360 controllers etc, maybe a connected joystick axis is being confused?

It's pretty poor these games don't have PC-standard configuration, but blaming all your problems on MS is just high-larious.

[Alyeska]

Is tihs a common problem? I've played Gears on PC and had no such problem and I've never heard of it before; maybe your setup is just borked. Since Live games try to pick up 360 controllers etc, maybe a connected joystick axis is being confused?

Nope. I have found that a few people have reported this identical problem with Gears on the PC.

It's pretty poor these games don't have PC-standard configuration, but blaming all your problems on MS is just high-larious.

The symptoms are identical. The only common connection is Games for Windows Live. GTA4 stopped working the instant I updated the game.

Its a little more then just having the game stuck in a constant left turn. All the common buttons between PC and Console version default to their X-Box 360 version. Instead of saying Enter or Esc it now displays X-Box controller buttons. This happens with both Gears and GTA4. The problem isn't just similar, its identical.

And no, it has nothing to do with a joystick. I do not use controllers, my joystick is undisturbed, and other games work perfectly (shooter, strategy, or space sim with joystick).

The only common point of connection is Games for Windows Live and the problem goes so far as to changing the menu commands into their X360 counterparts.

[Stark]

Is GTA4 the only Live game you've used for a while? I know about the time F3 came out they overhauled the Windows Live interface (changed from the grey to the white UI) and maybe this pushed the interface changes you mentioned (although some Live games always showed the 360 buttons instead of the PC keys). Since there's millions of people using the Windows Live framework right now to play shit like F3 and Gears without a problem, there's clearly something a tiny bit more complex than 'Live dunnit' going on.

I dimly remember having a 'sticky' left turn in Space Siege, but I never got that on Live 'properly' or updated it, so I'm not sure if it was related.

[Alyeska]

Is GTA4 the only Live game you've used for a while? I know about the time F3 came out they overhauled the Windows Live interface (changed from the grey to the white UI) and maybe this pushed the interface changes you mentioned (although some Live games always showed the 360 buttons instead of the PC keys). Since there's millions of people using the Windows Live framework right now to play shit like F3 and Gears without a problem, there's clearly something a tiny bit more complex than 'Live dunnit' going on.

I dimly remember having a 'sticky' left turn in Space Siege, but I never got that on Live 'properly' or updated it, so I'm not sure if it was related.

I was playing Fallout 3 non stop until GTA4 came out. I have the new Live Interface as a result of Fallout 3. The Gears of War problem predates the Live update. GTA4 only stopped working after the patch.

It really doesn't make any sense. A reinstall is probably going to solve the problem. Except its happened twice in two games, so its probably going to happen again. A reinstall also takes time. Then again none of the companies have even bothered to acknowledge this problem exists when gamers reported it. So waiting for the company won't do anything, and even if they could fix it it would still take days if your having fanastic luck with their support.

All in all, I could be fucked right now.

[Stark]

Wow, a reinstall solves it, but it recurs at random? That -is- fucking wierd, particularly since it seems once it happens it's constant. The Space Siege issue went away if you restarted the game.

[Alyeska]

Wow, a reinstall solves it, but it recurs at random? That -is- fucking wierd, particularly since it seems once it happens it's constant. The Space Siege issue went away if you restarted the game.

I think a reinstall will solve it. But given that the problem has duplicated itself on a 2nd game, that means I have no promise it won't reoccur.