Gta4

[Velociraptor82]

I just picked up GTA4 on PC yesturday and found it is a real bugger to install.

install this, install that, update this, update that, register here & register there. and after all that i find i need an update for microsoft games live. Going to the microsoft website and finding the link to download the patch, I find the link dosn't work.

And I was SOOOOO looking forward to it. Has anyone else experienced these problems?

[Riksta]

I bought it from Steam, as did a mate of mine.

Since his net connection was faster and he started yesterday morning, I grabbed all the files from him, came home and put them on, got the 100% downloaded and thought YES, now for some fun!

The fun included signing up for both the Rockstar Games Social Club (which as of about midnight I could STILL not log into), a Games For Windows account, and then an error message which I soon discovered was because I was only running SP2 and not SP3.

I then went to install SP3 which luckily wasn't all that big in the end, and worked all OK.

I FINALLY got into the game (in offline mode because the damn Social Club thing just fails to connect every time I go to log in), and go to adjust the settings, only to find it babysits you based on your resources - it won't let you go too high if it doesn't think your PC can handle it.

Lets couple all this with various reports on the net that there is NO anti-aliasing, or v-sync available within the game, and forcing it via various drivers and stuff has no effect at all.

Oh and when I went to benchmark there were some lovely black polygons all over the screen making me wonder what was happening where when I was trying to watch the benchmark. Hopefully the game doesn't have these all through it, or I am going to hit the roof.

Also, even the Steam version has the good ol' SecuROM DRM with it.

Its a very poor effort by Rockstar, the Vice City & San Andreas ports were half decent when they got to PC. In the words of my mate last night, "Its like they're trying to force us to go console". I want to buy a game, install it, load it and play it. This one forces you to sign up to two things, and then doesn't let you log in, wtf???

As my mate said, its worse than trying to get into a nightclub when you're ****ed.

Here's some light reading - http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/...-IV-on-Your-PC

[ch33z1l]

Is there a GTA4 forum u can try for information or similar problem?

[Riksta]

Since I bought mine from Steam, I was sussing out the Steam forums where a lot of people weren't too happy. I think they're over on www.steampowered.com from memory (at work atm).

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Originally Posted by Riksta

Its a very poor effort by Rockstar, the Vice City & San Andreas ports were half decent when they got to PC. In the words of my mate last night, "Its like they're trying to force us to go console". I want to buy a game, install it, load it and play it. This one forces you to sign up to two things, and then doesn't let you log in, wtf???

As my mate said, its worse than trying to get into a nightclub when you're ****ed.

Spot On ! :

[Daymoe]

There are heaps of problems, theres about 30 pages of complaints on whirlpool about GTA IV for PC, some have insanely good PCs and its only giving 20FPS on all low detail, jack it up all high, same thing.

Lots of people are VERY angry.

[Velociraptor82]

I purchased mine from eb.. but sounds like the installation is the same as with steam.

[Daymoe]

Take advantage of the 7 day return policy then pick it up again when they've fixed it up.

[Dezza]

Sounds like they stuffed it up. What also gets to me is that it requires Service Pack 3. Since automatic updates installed Service pack 3, it made most games run worse on my computer. This combined with conflicts with my virus scanner, which caused it to pop up error messages everytime I started windows made me revert it back to Service Pack 2. I've done all the updates besides that, but if I get this game, I don't want to go back to Service Pack 3. My computer probably won't play it anyway. It's a decent but not outstanding machine. So far it plays pretty much everything but this might be the game that ends that.

[LTDHO]

try http://www.gtaforums.com/

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by Dezza!

This combined with conflicts with my virus scanner, which caused it to pop up error messages everytime I started windows made me revert it back to Service Pack 2.

Are you running Avast? I found that after the one reboot I did after the SP3 install I got a virus message, just ignored it as I assumed it was probably some crap in SP3 giving false alarms!

[ZA-289]

They probably are forcing you to switch to a console, (which they should ) But even GTA IV on ps3 needs monthly updates!

[Rodp]

I'm glad I didn't wait and got the console version.

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by Rodp

I'm glad I didn't wait and got the console version.

I didn't have the spare $$$ to buy the console to go with it, hence I waited for PC and am very, very disappointed

[Fairlane]

Im very angry. Waited for PC as i dont have a PS3.

I have pruchased every GTA made and well this is bad.

Absolutely lousy performance, I had to drop it down to 1024*768, even then its slow, and i cant even play single player properly because I cant login in the nazis at Microsoft live and the Social club, and save the game. I preordered this expecting it to blow my mind like Vice City and San Andreas, but well its garbage.

Anyone else have FPS problems?, because it cant be just me with a Athlon 5200 X2, Geforce 9600GT and 2gb of ram which can run everything else just fine with full AA at 1280*1024.

[Daymoe]

Originally Posted by Fairlane

Im very angry. Waited for PC as i dont have a PS3.

I have pruchased every GTA made and well this is bad.

Absolutely lousy performance, I had to drop it down to 1024*768, even then its slow, and i cant even play single player probably because i cant login in the nazis at Microsoft live and the Social club, and save the game. I preordered this expecting it to blow my mind like Vice City and San Andreas, but well its garbage.

Anyone else have FPS problems, because it cant be just me with a Athlon 5200 X2, Geforce 9600GT and 2gb of ram which can run everything else just fine with full AA at 1280*1024.

From about page 25 onwards in the GTA IV thread on whirlpool, there are about another 20 pages of all low FPS complaints, people with Radeon 4870s and the like.

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by Riksta

Are you running Avast? I found that after the one reboot I did after the SP3 install I got a virus message, just ignored it as I assumed it was probably some crap in SP3 giving false alarms!

I'm running AVG. After recently formatting the computer and starting from scratch with it, the last thing I wanted was error messages. I want it to be perfect, hence why I mostly use Linux these days.

[Fairlane]

Yeah ill check out some of the GTA forums for some tweaks, if there is any.

Otherwise I might have to shelve it until it gets patched or Nvidia releases some new drivers.

[Daymoe]

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...t=1028654&p=25

Read that thread from there onwards.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by ZA-289

They probably are forcing you to switch to a console, (which they should ) But even GTA IV on ps3 needs monthly updates!

Why?....

[Daymoe]

Personally, I think PC gaming has been going down the gurgler for a little while now.

[uranium_death]

PC Gaming has been going down the gurgler because I do not believe games are made for the right reason anymore.

Games are seemingly churned out nowadays, and the emphasis on what makes a good game is in the wrong places.
People say to me, "Fallout III is crap, it's graphics are not as good as Crysis".

News people; graphics do not make a good game....only a good looking game.

Too many 15 year olds have grown up with Nintendo DSs and N64s and don't appreciate (or even know of) EGA games (or monochrome-CGA).

Fallout III is a good game in its own right, but it doesn't compare to the original two in my book.
The story is terrible, and the ending does not represent anything of what you did during the game.

The original two were not mass-marketed as III has been, and were made by a smaller company.

My favourite game ever was made by "Toys for Bob', which is a comparatively miniscule gaming company which made Star Control II.
Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III worked for 6 months without pay to make their game better. Had Accolaide had their way, the game would have been released ASAP, and SEVERELY underdeveloped.

Despite a crap budget and time constaints, it was very much a labour of love for them and although the game still did not represent their entire vision 100% upon release, fighting for what they believed in resulted in a product that was a lot better than what would have otherwise been the case.

The motivation behind making a great game should be to make a great game, and not to make a great profit.

[Dezza]

Totally agreed Uranium Death. One of my favourite games of all time is Carmageddon. I don't care about the rather crappy graphics, or sounds, but just love it because it's great fun.

[Daymoe]

Well I'm there with the graphics doesn't make a good game, otherwise I wouldn't be playing Red Alert 12 years after its release.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Daymoe

Well I'm there with the graphics doesn't make a good game, otherwise I wouldn't be playing Red Alert 12 years after its release.

Another of my favourites is Dune II.
Probably the most significant title in the genre, although not the first.
For 1992, the graphics were great, and with speech and cool music, how could one not love it?

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

News people; graphics do not make a good game....only a good looking game.

Amen. The hours I spend to this day playing games like Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry etc totally outnumbers that of the newer, "prettier" games.

As for GTA4, I've finally been playing it for a while. After numerous trying out of various crap to get the graphics playable (artefacts everywhere, and missing textures) I finally got it running to a point I can play it. Have to leave the textures on low, or they go missing :(

I doubt I'll jump at buying another game on release day again. Unless its a follow up to Portal, or unless LucasArts build & release Monkey Island 5! :P

[XR6-VCT-2000]

As mentioned , gfx aren't everything !. 'Elite' and the original 'Star Wars' games on the C-64 were classics as far as playability imo, and only had chunky wireframe 3d gfx ! - but the games worked and didn't crash.

I can't even remember the last PC game I bought that I didn't have to download a patch for to fix game crashes !. It's like the game companys these days think "Hey everyne has the net , so if it doesn't work it doesn't matter, they can download patches" - NOT GOOD ENOUGH IMO .

And from what I have read so far , it sounds like this is labeled under the "Games For Windows" series , these game suck imo for the following reason...

Wheather you want to use a gamepad or not, you should be able to use your gamepad if gamepads are supported , but noooooooooooooooo - Microsoft want you to buy a X-box controller to use gamepads with these "Games for Windows" Games.
Buttons can't be remapped in these games for the gamepad from my past experience, no matter what gamepad you have it wont work unless it is a X-box controller.
Most games you can't even remap gamepad button (of non x-box controllers) using 3rd party software such as key2joy or xmapper etc etc. I have had my fare share of crap from these "Games For Windows" and gave up on them a while ago .

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Riksta

Amen. The hours I spend to this day playing games like Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry etc totally outnumbers that of the newer, "prettier" games.

As for GTA4, I've finally been playing it for a while. After numerous trying out of various crap to get the graphics playable (artefacts everywhere, and missing textures) I finally got it running to a point I can play it. Have to leave the textures on low, or they go missing :(

I doubt I'll jump at buying another game on release day again. Unless its a follow up to Portal, or unless LucasArts build & release Monkey Island 5! :P

Played them all, and all classics. The true text/point and click adventure genre is DEAD, replaced by brainless first person shooter games.
Adventure games had neat puzzles.
There was also Day of the Tentacle, Beneath a Steel Sky, Sam and Max, Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender...great games, but forgotten by too many.

I was VERY close to buying a copy of GTAIV yesterday, but decided that 85-100 is too much to purchase on a game, given my low income, and the fact that I only bought Fallout III a month ago, plus three sports games for 60 bucks only a week ago (FYI, they all suck too - Ricky Ponting 2007, Fifa 2006 (absolutely terrible) and Tiger Woods 06.

I believe that EA make terrible games. Mass-produced and mass-marketed, but terrible in-game mechanics. FIFA2000 on PSX was far better than 2006 on PC.

I do like The Sims, but that's more Maxis, which made SimCity and SC2000, along with SimAnt, SimEarth, SimLife etc.

I hope EA die a terrible death. They're doing damage to gaming.

[Daymoe]

You're right on the EA Games statement, all they do is produce crappy games, but at least the ports of their crappy games actually run decently, not like GTA IV . EA won't die, there are too many simple minded NFS fans around which they make a new and crappy one every year. EA Sports creates a new sports game every year, thats just like the last just with different names lol.

They also bought out some other developers and completely destroyed the series, example Command and Conquer by Westwood Studios.

[wulos]

This would easily rate as THE WORST ever install setup for a pc I have ever encountered (and I spent a few years as a tester as well).
Absolutely pathetic. I fail to understand where they get off on insisting that you are not only signed up to the Rockstar social club, as well as windows live (both online gaming setups) when all I want to do is play the game single player here in the comfort of my own home. I have no desire / intention of playing this as an online multiplayer, yet it is impossible to install / run without it - isnt this the same anti trust BS that M$ was taken to the cleaners over not so long back?
In regards to the graphics setup - that too is rather poor. I run a reasonably high spec system, in order to process large volumes of photos. As a result I set my graphics setup to suit manually. For some reason GTA4 has a heart attack about this, limiting my viewing experience to 800 x 480. For someone used to playing with digital still images of up to 250mb odd in size, this is bordering on ridiculous. Looks like I have 2 very expensive drink coasters - time to go back to vice city for another runthru.