ID:51369
 
Stupid postal system. I knew I should have got it off of Steam.
Postal system is smart, giving time for people to crack GTA IV so you don't accidently install it without the crack!
I'm ridiculously tempted to buy it from Steam and just sell on the physical copy when it arrives.
Too bad you're missing out on one of the best games of all time. :D
Too bad it's apparently one of the worse PC ports ever as well.
Maggeh wrote:
Too bad it's apparently one of the worse PC ports ever as well.

Nah, it's actually just very demanding, and people with low end system are crying about it.
Low end? This game needs more demanding hardware to play than Crisis. In fact, it's not even suggested that you play this game with anything lower than a 2.4 GHz quad-core. Those who meet recommended specs run the game at the absolute lowest settings (800x600 res) at 20 FPS.

A $5,000 rig built today wouldn't be able to run this game on high. Low-end isn't the word here, it's people without futuristic hardware that are complaining. Which is 100% of R*'s customers. GTA IV failed in epic proportions. SecuROM, extremely fail port (yeah, port), intense hardware requirements, extremely poor visual quality (even with the best hardware and highest settings), the game doesn't work on 40% of systems it says it works on (you're really taking a gamble if you buy this game), and the game runs like a one-legged dog.
The minimum requirements allow you to play at just that, the minimum settings. So ya, people who make the minimums do get to play on low. And no, it's not at 20 fps. With the minimum hardware, you will be able to enjoy this game.

Further, the game looks amazing even on low.
Maggeh wrote:
Too bad it's apparently one of the worse PC ports ever as well.

I hear the PC version is popular with UPS though.
JOKE'S ON YOU I'M A BRIT. ROYAL MAIL FTW.
@Jerico2day

I don't think you understood. It has been reported, by many many many many gamers, that those who meet and exceed the RECOMMENDED system requirements are having to play GTA IV on the *absolute* lowest settings and getting a max of 30 FPS. It's a massive issue GTA IV has, check google, read the 5,000 forums withs the 100 players complaining.

I meet the minimum hardware, and I am enjoying this game. At a whoppin 20 FPS too (see that, minimum hardware and recommended hardware both getting same framerate)

The game looks disgusting on low, medium, high, regardless of your hardware. Are you a 1 in a million chance that you're running GTA IV somehow miraculously better than *everyone* else who has it? Or are you just fucking retarded?

Game needs serious patching. Once again, one of the biggest flops in PC game history.
I'm still waiting on some hardware to come in. Right now I'm on a P4 at 3.4ghz and it runs at about 10-20 fps. Enough to be fun while driving around, but not really all that playable.

That said, there's all kinds of reports on it being playable with moderate hardware.

I wouldn't call the below stats a high end system, and I wouldn't call that being on low. You just need to stop any excessive background services, and find a good resolution. (It's been reported that some cards run faster at higher resolutions, due to hardware/driver optimizations.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be faster. And it likely will speed up quite a bit on the next few game and driver updates.

I'll report back here when I've got my new processor/mobo.

Check it out:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/ showthread.php?t=761450

Quote::

CPU - e8500
GPU - 8800gt Factory OC'd
RAM - 4gb DDR2 1066mhz
OS - Vista 64 SP1

Just updating GFWL. Will post when I find the sweet spot.

Update -

Statistics
Average FPS: 40.41
Duration: 37.17 sec
CPU Usage: 89%
System memory usage: 79%
Video memory usage: 92%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1680 x 1050 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 37
It arrived this morning and I've played it a bit. The settings it gave me ran like ass for a while and then crashed, so I updated my video drivers. This made a big difference - I was running Forceware 175 before and even when I lowered the settings it was pretty poor, with random pauses etc. Once I updated, it was far, far smoother. There are still pauses when loading large areas (e.g., walking out of your house causes a very short delay) but it's still very playable.
My hardware:
AMD Phenom 9950
2GB CL5 RAM 800MHz
2x 9600GT
XPSP3

I haven't tried turning it up that much since I updated graphics drivers, but it's at something like:

ResolutionL 1680x1050
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Medium
View Distance: 20
Detail Distance: 15

I'll run the benchmark at some point and report back the results, and try turning up the view distances (and shadow depth, which I have at 0 :-/).