By Kieron Gillen on December 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am.
So – GTA’s out and its multi-step installation program is causing gnashing of teeth. Take this proper-AIM growl-piece, for example. As is only right, as it’s incredibly annoying. However, the main reason to justify the post was to stress… well, you only have to do the Rockstar online club thing if you want to play online games or upload stuff. After installing, you can skip a log-in to it to just play, saving a little time. Good luck. Of course, that doesn’t help my own particular problems…
And before I go into this, my problems are my problems. My PC has been loaded up with every dirty piece of Beta code the PC games industry has waved in my direction. But my GTA4 installation procedure has been a little tiresome, shall we say. Which may surprise you, as I went through the review-code procedure to review the fucker, but that could be… well, anything (the protection on the review code was tougher than the release version, though I did uninstall the thing. Another conflict? Oh, who can tell. PCs are special). Anyway – took a couple of hours to install from DVD, including times where the installer stopped to have a think before moving onto another section. I was off working in another room, so returning every half-hour or so to see what was changing was quite interesting. For me. I’d imagine if I wanted to play swiftly, it’d have been a pisser.
But I had work to do, so my problems only really kicked in when I tried to play it. As expected, my save games from the review code were lost to the abyss (review code’s saves often don’t translate to retail). As was less expected, about eighty percent of my textures or so were lost to the abyss too. Which means my game looked like the screenshot I stole from the GTA3 forums. Let’s repeat it..
Yeah, very annoying. However, the GTA forum folk have apparently found a solution to this problem, as explained in the thread. That this solution involves Safe Mode doesn’t exactly encourage me to try it rather than cracking on with some more Far Cry 2 or Fallout 3, which I’m desperately behind with. Or even some work.
Actually, one more thing about GTA4 before we go further – one interesting thing about the conversion is (as I said in the review) the PC specs are seriously beyond anything in existence. One comments thread I note claims that 10 on the draw distance (on a scale to 100) is what the console was set at. I’ve never moved it beneath 20…but still, for a relatively modern PC, it’s an odd feeling to see you that far down the scale of what the game is capable of. And it definitely seems to annoy people who play the game.
Which makes me think about the nature of PC Gamers… that the system isn’t set means that you feel as if you’re missing out if the game is claiming it can do much more than you can. It’s a failing of gamer-psychology to set it up with that big gap where The Future is meant to fit. I suspect they’d have been better with a standard graphics option menu (going up to about 25 draw distance on the current scale) and a second advanced graphics menu to access the hyper-high statistics, with more warnings there about its use. Because otherwise, I suspect it’s a bit like being introduced to a highly attractive person and told you’re not allowed to have sex with them. We don’t like that, it seems.
Anyone else playing GTA4? Enjoying it or have you tripped over any of these problems?
04/12/2008 at 00:32 Alec Meer says:
I found not signing into the Social Club thing was even worse, as it just meant it kept pestering me.
04/12/2008 at 00:34 leeder krenon says:
you can’t use a gamepad unless it is one of these:
Currently Supported Controllers
We are actively working on adding support for a larger variety of gamepads. For now here is a complete list of all controllers compatible with Grand Theft Auto IV PC:
* XBOX 360 for Windows (Controller)
* Wireless XBOX 360 Controller
* Joytech 360 pad (Controller)
* Pelican TSZ360 Pad (Controller)
* MadCatz 360 (Controller)
* MadCatz 360 Pro (Controller)
* MadCatz 360 MicroCon (Controller)
* Bigben Controller BB7201 (Controller)
* MadCatz Arcade GameStick 360
* Logitech Chillstream
rubbish.
04/12/2008 at 00:35 akbar says:
Damn game’s been downloading off steam since 8.30 this morning (like 16 hours ago!) and is only 77% done.
04/12/2008 at 00:35 eain says:
Crap like that mentioned in the first link just makes me want to pirate it. I won’t, becuase I have very little interest in GTA4 anyhow, but sheeeesh. At this point, even when I buy a game, I’ll often go and download a cracked version at the same time just so I don’t have to deal with the stupid DRM.
04/12/2008 at 00:41 leeder krenon says:
I suspect it’s a bit like being introduced to a highly attractive person and told you’re not allowed to have sex with them.
You suspect? So this has never happened to you? Life is not fair.
04/12/2008 at 00:44 Pags says:
The amount of time it takes to install the thing must surely be a bit of a piss-take considering you need the disc in at all times to play the game (or so I’ve read, correct me if I’m wrong). 16gb on your hard-drive is most certainly not to be sniffed at, if I have to have the disc in at all times then what is that space being used for? Granted it’s a big game, but it still strikes me as unnecessary.
As for the the specs thing: it’s Crysis all over again. Granted with Crysis there was a serious optimisation issue there as well, but throwing in settings that even some super-duper computers might have trouble with is a bit of a tease. What GTA4 would’ve really benefitted from is having little markers on each sliding scale saying “approximate console setting” and “too awesome even for your computer”. That way PC gamers could’ve felt superior while also having some sort of clue as to where to stop scaling up.
As for the Social Club/GFW Live thing… well, it’s just a right ol’ bastard move. Thing is, compared to Starforce (which has actually chewed up several of my disk drives) the DRM is pretty soft touch here, but they just pile on so much useless bloatware with it, it ends up clogging your system even worse. The phrase ‘jumping through hoops’ has been used a lot but in this case it’s entirely apt.
I hate bashing GTA4 because honestly it’s a fantastic game which I’ve been enjoying all year. I also don’t want to seem like a regular grumpy bastard who likes shouting at DRM and bemoaning the state of PC games these days because frankly there’s enough out there for me to still enjoy PC gaming without thinking the whole thing’s crashing around our ears. It just saddens me that some people won’t be able to enjoy this game nearly as much as I did.
04/12/2008 at 00:44 Mickiscoole says:
I’m having the texture problem, its quite fun to go driving around LC with only lamp posts to guide you.
Oh and the Rockstar Social Club was having server problems so if I was signed in, it would take 2 minutes to go through the intro (which can’t be skipped) and then would crash. The only way to fix this was to log out of RSSC, but then you get tonnes more dialog boxes etc.
04/12/2008 at 00:51 Bhazor says:
Erm, anyone here ever heard of patches? Anyone? Patches? No? Anyone? Patches?
04/12/2008 at 00:57 Saflo says:
I was really looking forward to this as a PC release, too, since 32-player GTA sounds like ridiculous fun.
04/12/2008 at 00:59 toler says:
It’s pretty funny that a Games for Windows game doesn’t work on Windows Vista 64.
04/12/2008 at 01:01 Y3k-Bug says:
@Bhazor
I don’t get what that post is supposed to be saying. We’re wrong for complaining about a game shipping nearly broken?
You’re talking about patches that are coming out later. I’m talking about the game I paid for today.
04/12/2008 at 01:01 Pags says:
@Bhazor: anyone ever heard of not having to release broken games in the first place?
04/12/2008 at 01:02 born2expire says:
mine installs fine, i get the error when connected to the social club, but the game dumps to desktop with no explianation of error once i get to the GTAIV splash screen.
I’m not a happy camper.
04/12/2008 at 01:03 born2expire says:
“It’s pretty funny that a Games for Windows game doesn’t work on Windows Vista 64.”
works just fine for me.
04/12/2008 at 01:07 Lavitz says:
There are alot of optimization issues. For cpu and gpu’s its really funny how $2000 pc (being top of line every thing maxed out ) can’t run the game. I really don’t rockstar did any optimization at all. I was going to pick it up but not after i heard my friend who can max CRYSIS WARS struggling to run the game 800 x 600 with an 9800 gtx 4gb , with a core 2 duo. So excited about the game to come to pc so many plans in my head gone to shit ! PC GAMING FTW !:( STREET FIGHTER 4 GONNA HAVE THE SAME FAITH :(
04/12/2008 at 01:14 Deadpan says:
@Born2Expire, log out of Social Club, ‘skip login’ then hit play. Worked for me. read below..
At the point I was allowed, after much trudging and updating and making two new accounts for services I would typically opt out of, updating again, manually typing in a long-ass serial with ‘-’s that weren’t specified…. I hit play, and got an MMA10 error.
This error is not very helpful, thankfulyl Google now index the internet every five seconds, and I was able to find you can play without having to log into RSC.
But I still had to sign into GetFuckedWithoutLube in order to SAVE MY PROGRESS? WHAT THE COCK… IS THAT SHIT!?!
Does this mean I’m hosed if I try to play the game from a save if my internet is down?
The refeshing news is that, thankfully, the GAME ITSELF ran like hot buttered silk on my rig, which to be honest, was build to play this and every other big name RP-FPS title coming out this season.
I both want to kiss and suckpunch Rockstar. With a knuckleduster… with spikes on it.
04/12/2008 at 01:18 born2expire says:
@Deadpan, opps meant to say i get this error when NOT connected to the Social Club.
04/12/2008 at 01:27 Deadpan says:
D’oh!
Don’t you just LOOVE launch weeks?
04/12/2008 at 01:31 RichP says:
Hopefully by the time it’s $20, Rockstar will patch it to an acceptable condition, and maybe some enterprising souls will find a way to eliminate Rockstar Social Club and GFW from the equation. Once again, the publishers encourage people to wait on buying games: pay less money for higher quality.
I’m still working on GTA: SA, which I purchased during the Steam sale a few months ago.
04/12/2008 at 01:55 Tom says:
I’m going to pirate it, I’m going to pirate it, and nobody can stop me, oh wait, my pc’s rubbish, can’t even play san andreas properly, oh bugger…
I’m still going to pirate it though, yes I really do like that word, ‘pirate’…
04/12/2008 at 01:59 James T says:
Tom’s an RPS plant!
Meanwhile…
“Please don’t buy our game.”
Okay.
“OH MY GOD, SALES SO LOW, PC IS DEAD.”
04/12/2008 at 02:14 Tim says:
I bought it on steam. When I loaded up it told me I had to install game for windows from an external download they linked to because of some problem. “sorry”. Then I had to go through this ridiculous process of signing up for games for windows /and/ rockstar social club. Then ‘link’ them… gahd.. what a waste of time.
Didn’t they do any usability tests or anything? just take one user who doesn’t have any of these accounts and tell him to install the game.. oh oops! it’s a bit crap!
Then starting the game crashes with a mystical error message. Steam forums to the rescue again. Apparently in the steam version you have to start the game /without/ logging into rockstar social club. Then it works. (At least for my issue). You can login by alt tabbing out, if you so desire. For the amount of money they spent on this game, it’s pretty pathetic just starting the game is so buggy. Lucky for me I didn’t have the texture problem.
04/12/2008 at 02:17 Shadowmancer says:
This will be a game that I’ll get on my xbox at Christmas mainly cos I dont want to download over 18GB from steam for the whole game I’ve also heard that it requires a BEAST of a computer just to run it at bare minimum levels of play.
04/12/2008 at 02:34 Eli Just says:
Waiting for the download on Steam. 51% done. I kinda feel stupid for buying it now, seeing all the problems. I even upgraded from the 8600 GT to the 8800GT just to play it. Took 15min to just download the drivers, and it looks like I might have to download MORE drivers because the new ones don’t work. I feel sorta ripped off.
04/12/2008 at 02:37 Rob Merritt says:
After the 90 minute install, and reading all the horror stories, i was prepared for the worst buty the game runs and looks good on my rig. Whew.
04/12/2008 at 02:48 DAT500 says:
I had a problem when I first played it with the missing textures and it ran like a dog, but I’ve since updated to the latest nvidia drivers for my 8800GTS and the recommended settings are fine with no texture problems.
04/12/2008 at 03:43 born2expire says:
Well, I called Rockstar’s support hotline, and after almost an hour waiting for someone I got a delightful chap named Ian. He was nice and seemed genuinely concerned, tried a few of his suggestions to no avail, I’ve emailed him my event viewer errors a my dxdiag.txt and hopefully they can help me to get things running.
04/12/2008 at 03:58 wyrmsine says:
Not much I can say about the install procedure, except that I now have a full belly, a week’s worth of pressed shirts and lunch for tomrrow. Hey, that actually qualifies as a feature! So with the Social Club installed, it was time to move onto the actual game. The installer hung at the very end, unless an hour and a half is the expected waiting time for the very final bar to finish. Now, I can try running the game (“This game needs a sound card to run”. Pardon?), or joining the Social Club for answers (“Service unavailable”), and there is absolutely no option to uninstall the game. Nor can I reinstall the game – I can deactivate my license, but that’s about it. This is insane. I’ve got no doubt it’s a great game, but I really wish I hadn’t spent money, and the last two-and-a-half hours, on it.
04/12/2008 at 04:12 DigitalSignalX says:
The difference between Crysis and GTA4 is that no matter what PC you had after the minimum spec, you could still run it at low settings and low resolution and get decent frame rate to enjoy the game. GTA forgives nothing. My medium range XP system exceeds minimum spec and is still dogging like mad at 1024x and low graphics with minimum draw range. Absolutely ridiculous.
grrr.. rockstar has made me SO MAD. Hopefully whenever a working crack comes out this will improve and I can kiss the retail install goodbye.
04/12/2008 at 04:23 Nick says:
I’m glad I can’t afford to buy it yet – now I probably won’t at all.
04/12/2008 at 04:23 rob says:
I’ve spent almost 6 hours trying to get GTA 4 running. due to all the stupid windows updates, GFW live, windows SP3? and all the fatal error. Come on.. are you serious Microsoft? LET US PLAY THE F$#KING GAME!
The Rockstar social club thing I can take it, I mean it’s their game, it’s their right to protect their own product. My main problem is with “Games for windows live”. forced you to install all these un-necessary things. ughh..
I think this might be the last time I purchase anything with “Games for windows” tag on it.
Anyway, the game ran like ass on my PC. [e8200, 8800GT OCed, 3G Ram], I have to tune it down to get stable frame rate.
04/12/2008 at 04:23 Nick says:
Woah, waitasec, it makes you install SP3 to play? WTF? =(
04/12/2008 at 04:26 Francisco says:
There is the extra fact that people that aren´t in NA or EU can´t buy the game at all. No direct2driver, no steam, not even on online stores.
And the whole piracy and pc gaming is dead talk is their fault.
04/12/2008 at 04:33 O.G.N says:
@rob, Games for windows by itself is rather harmless. Its GfW Live that’s troblesome
04/12/2008 at 05:11 Rob Zacny says:
You know, sometimes I hate the self-righteous twits who can’t wait to hear about some DRM system just so they can proclaim, “Well, So-and-So has lost my business forever! I will not pay money to be treated like a criminal.”
So imagine my frustration when I find myself saying the same thing about GTA 4 on PC. Mind you, this was a done deal. This was going to be my Christmas game. But what I object to is not just the DRM, but the sheer hassle of it all. I dislike that Rockstar feels its game is special enough that gamers should be compelled to install two other programs in addition to the game.
I think Gabe Newell hit the nail squarely on the head when he said that the problem with most DRM systems is that they reduce the product’s value for consumers. $50 for GTA 4 was a fine price, but now it’s $50 plus the money I would have paid to not have RSC and GFW Live.
04/12/2008 at 05:17 well says:
I’m having absolutely no problems with this game – after accepting that i can’t max out everything, I’m enjoying the game.
Social Club is annoying, but I don’t see what the big deal is. You don’t have to sign in, and it running in the background is stupid but whatever. And you can’t test for every possible configuration on pc for obvious reasons – you just have to hope a majority of systems run it fine, and deal with what happens after release. Though of course that now gives people looking for a piracy justification a nice self-righteous reason for pirating the game, adding to that annoying sense of entitlement even further. Ah well.
Hopefully the people who aren’t having problems aren’t posting because they’re playing the game. Either that or the internet is, as usual, creating shitstorms that feed off each other.
04/12/2008 at 05:22 dreamhunk says:
wow rockstar really droped the ball on this one they said that the game was perfect for pc gamers. DRm and and aother attack on pc gaming
04/12/2008 at 06:17 wyrmsine says:
The game runs! Holy crap, that title sequence is something else. The game’s attempt at immersiveness is over the top – I instantly despise, then grudgingly like, my liason into the world. I hope he dies by my virtual hand. A short time later, I’m informed that I have to log into Windows Live to save my game. I hope the people who made that decision get raped to death by chimpanzee hobos. Actual chimpanzee hobos. Piracy:2, Paying people for outstanding work : 0.5*
* it’s pretty outstanding – watched television in-game for five minutes, and had to pull my virtual ass off the couch.. Still, Piracy wins, so far. Game is chugging with all the useless backend going on. Nice that I can alt-tab out to look. Piracy :2, Paying devs: 0.75.
04/12/2008 at 06:23 Tim James says:
i really dont get the massive hate for games for windows. I think the publishing brand is excellent. I think it is Microsoft’s place to help advertise PC games and buy shelf space for pc games, after all Windows is there platform.
I also quite like the games for windows live client, the new version is great. I didnt have a problem with it before, as i have an xbox live account, so i was already playing, but thats not the point. Dedicated server play was always free, pc user vs pc user was always free. matchmaking cost and multi platform cost. Maybe the spit in the service was a tad arbitrary. Now that its all free it helps clear the water, but there is still incredible bile against it. Why is there so much hate in games community? fanboys all over the place declaring there system of choice is superior and all others are rubbish, the anti drm people, the anti steam people (although, its much rarer to find someone who hates steam nowerdays admitidly). it really gets me down, there dosnt seem to be alot of clear thinking in the comments section of sites i frequent (RPS seems to be alot more mature and clear thinking comments wise than most sites, recently ive really lost faith in places like kotaku, i feel that’s gone downhill with both comments and artical quality)
Anyways im not really sure where im going with this any more, and for that i apologise. a few closing points.
The bit about games for windows not running on 64bit windows is suspect, every time ive tried it (most recently with fallout) its worked flawlessly.
There seems to be some people complying about having to update windows to run the game, it seems odd to me that there windows install isnt up to date. that’s what’s windows update is there form. but it also seems strange for the game to require XP sp3. i wonder if this is true or a misunderstanding?
Lastly, the design for rockstar social club seems flawed. Alot of this grumbling comes from the multi account issue, im sure rockstar could have worked with Microsoft to use a Windows Love account as a login for the social club, i’m pretty sure Microsoft offers an API for it, and its also an openID provider. there seems to be loads of ways to tie a rockstar social club account to a games for windows account without resorting to a separate login. if this was though of right at the beginning, back when they were building it for the console release of GTA 4 (where it acted as a stats gathering site), it would have solved a few of today’s grumblings.
04/12/2008 at 07:29 Garrett says:
@leeder krenon: This is because Rockstar has apparently not implemented legacy DirectInput support; only XInput devices will work. This will only be more common in the future, however.
Ultimately, Microsoft wants XInput to replace DirectInput. XInput is a lot easier to program for and allows all current and future Xbox 360 controller designs to automatically work with all XInput-compatible games (this includes wireless controllers, for which you simply need to buy a receiver); it also allows developers to easily use Xbox 360 controller code in their Windows releases. XInput support is a requirement for Microsoft’s ever-growing Games for Windows initiative, so proper controller support will eventually become a standard feature of all PC games.
Unfortunately, XInput isn’t backwards-compatible with DirectInput-only devices, so it’s up to the developers to choose to include legacy support. Controller manufacturers can also help by updating their drivers to make their devices recognised by XInput. Eventually, all developers will shift to XInput.
04/12/2008 at 07:50 Stijn D says:
May I advice a bottle of good old fine whiskey to pass the time in a comfort way ^_^
I was thinking to buy this game, but after tis story I just going to wait, mostly because my PC is getting old. I can barely play Tomb Raider: Underworld :-p
04/12/2008 at 07:59 Tei says:
Microsoft is damaging PC gaming. All the “Games for Windows” program is to promote his XBOX 360 platform XBox Live.
Having another program on backgrounds that eat resources and required another hop to play a game is bad for gamers, for PC gamers.
GFW sould be Opt-in, and not Opt-out, or forced. And sould be really easy, not a hassle.
I am not buying console ports, for his very low quality, and forced crap. It don’t seems console game componies need my money enough to be sensitive about this facts, and feel making Microsoft or Sony happy is more important than making me happy.
04/12/2008 at 08:00 Krupo says:
Lollipop girl didn’t mention any of this garbage! Screw it, I’ll wait for it to get patched up real good. And I’ll try and finish GTA:SA while I’m at it.
If it’s any consolation to you angry PC Gamers, one of my PS3 friends was playing GTA:IV earlier this year…. AND THE PS3 VERSION HAD SIMILAR PROBLEMS.
I was baffled and amused.
And at the same time realized I wasn’t going to buy GTAIV anytime soon, knowing the sheer amount of b.s. that was likely if the PS3 version was bug ridden (if I remember the story correctly, Social Club or whatever is somehow integrated with the console game and that too had trouble at some points – unable to save, or load saves, or something like that).
04/12/2008 at 08:12 Darkelp says:
The game took roughly twenty minutes to install, five minutes to install Game’s For Windows Live, and about twenty minutes to figure out why it kept crashing to desktop.
Ahha! Trust it to be Rockstars own social club program crashing the game.
But seriously, it was pretty much a breeze for me and I have been playing it and very much enjoying it.
Waiting about fifteen minutes for it to full scan my music was all my fault, so I won’t complain.
But yeah, abit of a dodgy launch, but the game is so good that I’ll let them off.
04/12/2008 at 08:35 Nameykins says:
Well, I’m glad that I had the chance to read about this before I made a purchase. Frankly, I’m going to wait for the pirates make a working crack for the game, then buy it and run the crack on my legit copy.
Both ethical and convenient!
04/12/2008 at 08:35 Hi, I blurgh says:
The SP3 thing is my main problem as well. Yeah, okay, it says it needs SP3 in the requirements, but who the heck reads those when they’ve got a decent PC?
I blame Microsoft, though. It’s their Games for Windows crap that’s fucking everything up. I wish they’d just leave PC gaming alone.
04/12/2008 at 08:58 Dreamhacker says:
I cant even install SP2 without my computer BSOD’ing on Windows startup, much less install SP3!
I suddenly look quite a bit less forward to buying GTA4… :(
04/12/2008 at 09:03 Zoso says:
Games for Windows I’ll grudgingly accept, on the grounds I thought Steam was a waste of time when HL2 first came out and it hasn’t turned out so bad, though it would help if the website didn’t say “Hey XBoxy person with your XBox Gamertag here on XBox live, how’s your XBoxing going those XBoxen are great aren’t they?”
What the buggery sod is the point of the “Social Club”, though? More like an Antisocial Club, if you ask me (HAHAAHAHAAHAHA Antisocial, do you see what I did there?), high scores and user created videos? Restrain me, lest I start physically caressing the monitor in excitement at such features. Tsk.
AND THEN! I know my PC isn’t right on the cutting edge, but it’s not awful (Athlon 64X2 and 8800GTS and all that), I don’t want to turn every slider right up to the hypothetical “at the current rate of development you’ll be able to use this setting in the year 2038″ maximum, but I wouldn’t mind being able to move one or two settings just a touch off the rock bottom 800×600, no textures, render everyone as a stick figure options without the game screaming “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE PLAYING AT”, slapping your hand, and turning it all back down again. Tsk again.
Still, once you get past all that it’s quite a good game…
04/12/2008 at 09:09 catmorbid says:
I’ve the steam version. I first installed on vista 32bit, but i had left steam on a compatibility mode for xp since i played vice city just before (which is pretty funny because i got vice city because i bought gta iv), but when i tried the game in xp it ran flawlessly. Then I tried it on vista again, and got it to run after unchecking the compatibility mode, but had messed up textures. Updating gpu drivers did the trick, and now it works just fine, albeit a bit laggy.
04/12/2008 at 09:09 Alex McLarty says:
@ Toler: “It’s pretty funny that a Games for Windows game doesn’t work on Windows Vista 64.”
Works for me!
Loading is a painfully slow at times and yes, the install was a bit of a fanny. Working OK-ish now, apart from the odd ‘FATAL ERROR’ message.
04/12/2008 at 09:26 Tei says:
** Shakes fist **
One day I will write a virus soo powerfull, that It will wipe Games for Windows, SecuROM, and Social Club, and make so all games run just clicking on the desktop icon.
This virus will be soo powerfull, you will be able to login in your steam account, even If you forget the password and the university email you subscribed is killed.
And this virus will make so you can choose any resolution in all games, change FOV /mouse sentitivity and skip all movies with the ESC key.
04/12/2008 at 09:37 Adam Hepton says:
I feel they’ve shot themselves in the foot by making it amazing in the future, but a bit broken now. I was going to get the PC version, but I recently got a 360, so I’m going to get it on that, and then get the PC version in a few years’ time to see it in superMONSTROOOOOOOvision.
04/12/2008 at 09:40 AbyssUK says:
I wants it.. but really… i’ll wait for rockstar social club to fail horribly so its patched out… then one day I’ll find a way to remove Securom from my windows xp 64 installation… then once MS realise GfW is also crap… i might buy it.
Meanwhile my other machine a xenon with 512mb of ram and built in graphics runs it fine.
04/12/2008 at 09:41 aldo_14 says:
The main complaint I have (other than the lack of old-gamepad support and GFWL / RSC) is the huge video memory demands – apparently you need over 600MB for high textures, regardless of resolution / draw distance (maxed out needs 1.5GB or something like). I’ve not heard of that kind of demand from a game before – my 320MB card been better than fine with Far Cry 2 and Assassins Creed, which are the closest analogues I can think of. On top of that, it misdetects my card as having 256MB.
04/12/2008 at 09:43 simon says:
Bought and paid for on Tuesday from EB Games in Australia. Blah blah install wait etc. Then discovered that the game HAD BEEN CENSORED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET! C’mon, poxy god-bothering hypocritical Aus government, I’m over 21 (39 actually) and I can take a 10 minute drive into the city, buy hardcore pornography off the shelf from licensed shops, have lots of fun with the staff at legal brothels, but apparently a lap-dance from a lady that doesn’t even exist will corrupt my morals? Morons. The consequence is that I’m now downloading a naughty version from a certain website, and keeping my fingers crossed that I can transfer the save-game OK.
Also, e8400 @ 3.6, 4gb 4-4-4-12, 2 x 9800gtx in SLI and the game runs . . . well, not what I’d expect, let’s put it that way. I might go back to Fallout 3 until the first patch hits us.
04/12/2008 at 09:45 Meat Circus says:
PC game in ‘rubbish cheap port done by cunts’ shocker.
04/12/2008 at 09:45 Heliocentric says:
Hurrah for not being an early adopter! I’ll get this over steam when they discount it a year from now. I’m not buying any more multiplayer games that need the disc in the drive. And as for needing to be online to save? Fuck right off, they can patch that out before they get my money.
Later i’m gonna go buy some of my “need to play eventually” titles off gog.com. Put my money where my mouth is and all that.
04/12/2008 at 09:56 aldo_14 says:
Look on the plus side – they’ve not actually implemented SLI support yet (only crossfire), so it might get better….
04/12/2008 at 10:02 Iain says:
I love the irony about how Rockstar have listened to the complaints about ridiculous install limits on games and replaced that form of contemptible DRM with something even worse.
I don’t want all that GFW crap installed on my machine, nor SecuROM drivers that resist uninstall and can only be removed with a full hard drive wipe and a complete operating system reinstall. And I’m not likely to want to use the Rockstar Social Club stuff either, so not installing it and then being pestered about it every time I start up the game… no thanks.
Not that I was interested in playing the game anyway, but this is certainly final nail in the coffin that makes sure I’m not going to buy it.
04/12/2008 at 10:06 radioedit says:
I bought it. After a tortuous install process and some hilarious texture problems with missing heads, I eventually got it working at an acceptable framerate.
And it looks terrible. The popup is ridiculous – turning my view around means that the game takes a second or so to render everything. Shadows are MS Paint-style hatched and it’s just *not fun*. I like my games to be fun.
I’ll carry on playing WoW and Left4Dead until they come up with a patch, I think.
04/12/2008 at 10:16 Ginger Yellow says:
I think they had this debate on the PC Gamer US podcast when Crysis came out. Personally I’m the opposite – I’m always a little disappointed when I can max a game out as there’s nothing more to look forward to from tweaking or overclocking. Lingerie vs nakedness and all that. So long as the game looks damn good at the acceptable framerate, I want there to be room for it to improve. Moving from playing Company of Heroes on a laptop to playing it on my gaming rig was a joyous moment as a whole new world of graphical splendour and smooth movement was opened up to me. How cool would it be if the same thing could happen again in a couple of years when I upgrade my system?
04/12/2008 at 10:22 spd from Russia says:
played it on xbex loong time ago. and Im glad I went for the console version. PC port seems utter rubbish (gamepad support is a joke, right? why not just support direct input API for universal compatibility eh?)
04/12/2008 at 10:31 Cunningbeef says:
Took me about an hour and half to install the bugger, but after that it ran just fine on my medium-spec rig (8800GT, AMD 4000+, 2GB RAM, blah blah blah).
Of course, it won’t even let me try to set the texture quality above medium, but more’s the pity I guess.
04/12/2008 at 10:33 Cunningbeef says:
Oh, that is after I found out that the audio defaults to surround (wtf) and I needed to set it to stereo to hear what anyone was saying. I still have no idea what happened in the first few cutscenes.
04/12/2008 at 10:44 Howard says:
Well I’m sure you will all be glad to know, and doubtless Rockstar will be THRILLED to know, that the game is now fully cracked. GFWL and the idiotic Rockstar equivalent have been removed. Sure this sacrifices your online play but personally I could give a monkeys.
Leave it to crackers to fix the shoddy nonsense that dev teams release as actual code…
04/12/2008 at 10:53 Alec Meer says:
Is there some outraged Amazon campaign for this one? It seems a much bigger deal to me than the Spore thing.
04/12/2008 at 11:00 Duoae says:
Meh, i’d repeat my post from the previous thread but since i was right the first time i just feel like gloating instead ;)
Hope they sort this out soon because it’s the developers and publishers that are killing/damaging PC gaming – not pirates.
04/12/2008 at 11:09 dr_demento says:
I’m glad I played it on the 360. This kind of thing is exactly what makes me dislike PC gaming. If the PCGA want to “save” the PC (which isn’t dying in the first place) then they should concentrate on making PC games as easy to run as console games – simple fast install, no registration bollocks, no unnecessary hardware troubles…
04/12/2008 at 11:09 animal says:
I want to play it. I REALLY want to play it.
But I don’t think I’m going to bother. I don’t mind on-line activation at all if it runs smoothly, but having to create 17 different logins just to play SP is a nono, nevermind all the apparent hardware/driver/stability hassles that people are experiencing.
04/12/2008 at 11:16 Larington says:
Hmm, well the problem with the broken DRM offerings is that they can break the game (Or turn it effectively into a rented product rather than bought), both of which stop you from playing the game.
These loader things, so far as I can tell (I’ll find out sunday night), merely delay getting into the game, an annoyance to be sure, but they don’t break the game which is what DRM often does.
04/12/2008 at 11:21 x25killa says:
Played GTA 4 on tuesday (lucky me for preordering from Game), took about half an hour per disc to install, setted up an account on Windows Games for Life or some crap, then setted up ANOTHER account for Rockstar Social Club, activate the code, loaded the game, black graphics about, view distance on 40 in 1680×1050 res 60hz. with roughly 30 fps on the benchmark test.
Am I enjoying the game? Yes. Worth the hassle? Not really.
04/12/2008 at 11:21 jamsarnie says:
I’ve lovingly played every GTA on the PC (bought them all on steam again recently). I resisted the temptation of a cheap Xbox to play GTA4, knowing it would be on PC eventually.
My GF knows my antipication and was going to buy me the game as a Xmas pressie. I literally stopped her clicking the checkout button when the first bad reports came in.
I’m a bit gutted to be honest, I want to reward developers for their work, but now I’m torn…No wonder people trust the pirate version more than the retail one. What is the world coming too!!!
I don’t want to install GfW and the social club, I don’t want my GF to waste her money spent on a badly ported game with it’s ‘addons’ causing problems, then trying to explain to her why I can’t play it. I don’t want to take that chance. Shall I download and test it first?!?
Maybe one day Rockstar will release a proper version, like the pirate one, and only then I will buy it.
04/12/2008 at 11:24 cqdemal says:
My Internet connection isn’t too fast, so it took me a long time to grab the game from Steam. While waiting, I was getting a little nervous by all the complaints. When everything was done, I ran the game, tried the benchmark, BAM! It crashed right there.
Undeterred, I went back in and tried another benchmark, which ended successfully with a satisfactory frame rate. Then the game started. I drove around for a minute or so and went into the menu to change mouse sensitivity. My cursor then promptly froze, and the game crashed.
Annoyed, I boot up Perfectdisk, set it to defrag the drive the game was installed on, and went off doing something else for a while. I came back, then decided to quit both RivaTuner and ATI Tray Tools. Booted the game up again, fooled around in menu, crashed into people, punched cops, etc.
No crash. No performance problems. Voila!
Specs, just for reference:
Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 4GHz
4GB DDR2
Radeon HD 4870 512MB
Vista SP1
04/12/2008 at 11:25 jamsarnie says:
Alec : the amazon uk site have GTA4 at 2 stars, and all the comments are about the DRM. 4 stars on 360/ps3.
04/12/2008 at 11:25 Rob Zacny says:
Given that the Amazon rating for the game is at 1.5 stars, mostly due to a flood of 1-star ratings due to the DRM, it would appear there is a campaign going on. Unfortunately, a good many people are just talking about SecuROM and underplaying the nettlesome aspects of the mandatory RSC and GFW Live installations. But I suppose we all have our pet peeves, so maybe SecuROM is a bigger deal to most people than the other programs.
04/12/2008 at 11:40 Robin says:
Tim James: GFW Live is a solution looking for a problem. The only reasons for it’s existence are 1. to get your credit card details, and 2. to ultimately obstruct games from running cross platform with any other format but the 360 (i.e. PS3, Mac). It’s politically-motivated poisonous crapware. All of its ‘benefits’ are already freely provided by existing services available to PC gamers/developers.
I’m not touching GTA4 until it’s hacked out. How sad that Rockstar think that a kickback from Microsoft is more valuable to them than providing a functional product to their customers.
04/12/2008 at 11:49 roBurky says:
I’m feeling kinda glad I didn’t give in to the Steam pre-order deal for this.
04/12/2008 at 12:02 teliach says:
There is one thing I can’t understand.
How can a game that has all the install problems it has, that is bugged beyond hell, that is giving a large percentage of is buyers countless problems installing/playing, that has steam offering refunds, gets a Metacrictic score of 92
Great way to encourage the industry to release even worse bugged ports. Feed them crap and they will not only eat it, but will say its great. Time for reviewers to grow a backbone I think.
04/12/2008 at 12:07 Dinger says:
Destroy-by-Committee:
Yes, Rockstar knows that the PC platform is different from consoles. For one, multiplayer needs strong sponsorship. Oh, and people will like making movies and sharing them; and those movies will be further advertisement for the game, which will partially offset the cost of hosting them. Of course, for the movies to look really cool, we’ll need a lot of headroom in the settings so people can set up their machinama render farms for professional-quality results. Since nobody else is going to do this, we’ll have to do it, require a login, and a running application that most of the time won’t interfere with the games. It only took Steam a couple of years to sort their stuff out; our project is much smaller and everything’s much simpler now. Plus, we can stream both traditional and in-game adverts, further making money.
Yes, Microsoft knows that GTA IV is a big hit. In fact, I believe that getting to keep the GTA IV tattoo was stitched into Allard’s golden parachute. The grand vision of Allard was to turn the PC platform into just another console system, and GamesForWindows Live is their first step in this 21st-century enclosure movement, even if you write off their abortive attempt at making people pay for any services. But, since GFWL isn’t offering the users any services that can’t be had elsewhere and better, they need a title to compel folks to sign up. So, no doubt, Rockstar (err… we) gets some money to put GFWL in the critical path of GTAIV. Of course, if Rockstar wants all those cool, bandwidth-intensive features, they’ll have to do it themselves.
Still, we’d be a fool not to include some sort of intrusive copy-protection scheme. This is the PC, after all.
Of course, the PC is a configuration nightmare, but that’s not a problem, because most people won’t be like KG. They won’t have installed and uninstalled hundreds of titles. They won’t have several different types (and even different versions of the same type) of copy protection lurking on their hard drive. They won’t be subscribed to several different online services, each with their own system tray performance-leeching programs. Of course not. This is the PC, where people don’t buy so many games. That’s why GFWL was invented after all — to get people to buy and to install far more games than they already do. So it’s not our problem our DRM-laden game with twice as many critical components as need be won’t work on your DRM-multicultural machine. You shouldn’t be buying them in the first place.
In any case, who cares? It’s not like it will affect our metacritic rating.
04/12/2008 at 12:10 Monkfish says:
‘Tis such a shame to see such a widely anticipated game suffer these kind of problems and a distinct lack of the polish the game deserved.
In fact, GTAIV is so broken that (some) people who bought through Steam are being offered refunds on a case-by-case basis (there’s also a handy list of error codes to see, if you follow that link).
I think I’ll wait for the inevitable flurry of patches – Rockstar are probably going to have a busy Christmas…
04/12/2008 at 12:29 Andy says:
Regarding SP3, I can’t believe people wouldn’t have it installed already? This is the reason spambots work you know…
04/12/2008 at 12:34 Rei Onryou says:
So how long until a Rockstar developer is quoted saying “Well, you should have bought it on the console then. Praise CliffyB!”?
I’ll be getting this at XMas, so hopefully they’ll have patched it by then, but these issues really are unacceptable. Especially considering its a GFW title and they’re supposedly supposed to meet certain standards. ¬_¬
I’m more worried about how I’m going to have X-Fire, Steam, GFWL and RSSC running at the same time. Can’t these community apps just get along? Whats the point in community tools if your just going to segregate us into different communities?
Also (bear in mind I haven’t played it yet, nor seen the options screen), am I the only one that thinks the slider going to 100 is a good thing? In 3 years, the PS3 and 360 will be old tech. GTA4 on them won’t look as good as the latest console titles and the latest console titles will look like someone smeared faeces all over their TV compared to the latest PC engine. But in 3 years, people may still not have the GTA4 sliders hitting 100. A game that gets more beautiful over time as graphics tech improves? Woo! I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there that would have wanted Deus Ex or Thief to become prettier over time without modding.
04/12/2008 at 12:34 Dreamhacker says:
Andy: Hey, its not really a do or don’t choice for some. For me, its do-and-end-up-with-BSOD-on-start or don’t.
Makes for an easy choice.
04/12/2008 at 12:39 spd from Russia says:
suddenly I feel more respect to the companies like Beth, Ubi and even EA who make simaltaneous releases on pc/consoles that actually work fine on PC!
Instead of wasting half-year to make an inferior port bundled with intrusive crap ware
04/12/2008 at 12:41 SwiftRanger says:
“Time for reviewers to grow a backbone I think.”
This is probably the most worrying aspect of it all, the internet makes GTA IV PC sound like a game that didn’t went through any optimisation or multiplayer tests while reviewers can only come up with vague “you better have a good system” warnings. I don’t think we should demand the same testing methods of QA firms from reviewers but I got the impressions something is amiss here.
04/12/2008 at 12:41 Pags says:
I was talking to my friend on Skype while he was installing. I told him it probably wouldn’t work. He continued anyway, thinking he knew better. Time came for him to start up the game, and despite already having Steam, Rockstar Social Club and GFWL running he kept Skype on as well, but he’s an idiot and doesn’t know better. Anyway, he gets in-game and whaddya know, it doesn’t work.
I’m not sure what the point of this story is. But I did get to say ‘I told you so’ and I love being able to say that.
04/12/2008 at 12:49 Dinger says:
Yes, big sliders are cool, and allow you to do all sorts of sweet things. But there’s enough morons out there who think that $4000 entitles them to turn all the sliders all the way up and get 90 FPS. That’s why you cap the sliders very low, and have a big, red “Overdrive” button, that when you press it, features a soothing female voice declaring “Displaced Performance Mode Engaged. Warning: all system performance safeties have been removed.” Then the slider gets big, and the Angry Inadequate Men brag about how high their system can take it. Have a Value-Added™ service whereby players can validate their machine running at 30 FPS with the Displaced Performance sliders set halfway, and, for only $30, they can buy a pair of official Rockstar PC Nutz (you know, like these, but for your PC).
04/12/2008 at 12:59 simon says:
All problems aside, this is a heck of a game. Those who say ‘DRM, I ain’t buying it’ are either fools for depriving themselves of one of the major gaming experiences of all time, or thieving scumbags who have no intention of paying for it and need an excuse to justify their theft.
04/12/2008 at 13:03 Arnulf says:
About the (future) scalability of PC games:
Great concept. If done right, meaning there are really sensible ways to upscale a current product, I endorse this. However, there should be some freedom into the other direction, too! It’s not nice to discover that my current system is the lowest possible to play, even when the system is top-of-the-line.
I like it how Blizzard did it with WOW. It allowed reasonable playing even on slightly out-dated specs. For instance my computer at the time had still a DX8 graphics card. WOW nevertheless looked spectacular.
04/12/2008 at 13:06 Mara says:
My PC won’t even recognize the first disc, probably because of SecuROM.
04/12/2008 at 13:08 Meat Circus says:
@Simon:
Meh. It’s not a bad openworld game. It’s not as good as Vice City or Crackdown. It has it charm, but it’s really not worth this amount of hassle.
04/12/2008 at 13:13 Pags says:
I agree with the second half of what you say Meat; no game is worth this much hassle, even one I enjoyed as much as GTAIV.
04/12/2008 at 13:19 StalinsGhost says:
I just honestly cannot be bothered with GTA IV yet. I can’t honestly afford it, it doesn’t look that spectacular, and I just can’t be bothered to run the risk of having to jump through hoops just to play it – as I did with Far Cry 2, eventually having to turn to a dirty pirate .exe to just play it. I’m not having that kind of nonsense again.
04/12/2008 at 13:22 manintheshack says:
@Rei Onryou: In 3 years time, no one will care that you can slide the view distance up to 100 because GTA 5 will be out and so will the next generation of consoles and we’ll be stuck with the next crappy version of the game a year after that.
For years developers have offered games that graphically evolve over time as you upgrade your rig. I remember Messiah coming out back in the day offering this and thinking ‘cool’. But then XP came out and it didn’t run on it. And in the end it wasn’t worth playing through again anyway because newer, better games had arrived.
Crysis is the same. No one will give a damn that you can run it on on the highest settings in two years time when the next load of FPSs arrive that don’t run like shit on release.
04/12/2008 at 13:32 Hoernchen says:
What the FUCK is wrong with this rockstar social nagscreen SHIT that pops up EVERY GOD DAMN TIME ?! The next logical step would be to bundle malware with gta 5…
04/12/2008 at 13:39 manintheshack says:
Tis a strange mis-step by Rockstar considering they seemed to have come back to form with San Andreas after the awful port that was GTA3. It’s no coincidence that anything Microsoft touches turns to shit these days. Erm… except consoles…
04/12/2008 at 13:47 hydra9 says:
I think I’ll skip this and just play Bully… WHEN ROCKSTAR PATCH IT.
04/12/2008 at 13:58 Downloads_Plz says:
@Alec
http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Playstation-3/dp/B000HKP88C
Not as much as I would have suspected, but the overwhelming majority of reviews are negative because of it. As they are with every game with a stupid amount of DRM. You would think developers would start to notice this sort of thing.
The ironic thing, I think, is that I’m sure their reason for having all of these pointless services was to try and thwart the efforts of the pirates, but yet all they’ve really done is make a lot of people who would have paid $50 to enjoy their game want a pirated version even more.
I know I’m one of them.
04/12/2008 at 14:04 Binary Assassin says:
Well I was going to pick it up to play this weekend… Glad I read this. There is no way in HELL I am going to PAY MONEY to go through all that CRAP! Sorry rockstar. I won’t buy now!!
04/12/2008 at 14:07 Bobsy says:
Amazon have snipped the anti-DRM reviews again it seems. It’s amazing that this shitstorm is still being covered up rather than acknowledged.
04/12/2008 at 14:11 Funky Badger says:
Meat:
Saints Row 2 > GTAIV > Crackdown
(Crackdown wa a fantastic proof of concept)
04/12/2008 at 14:14 Sam says:
@Downloads_Plz:
I think developers have noticed – a lot of the DRM nonsense is the fault of publishers (and the economics of the games industry being such that it is hard for a developer to tell the publisher that is paying them money to tell them to stop being idiots about something – Introversion, of course, being a rare and laudable example of this actually happening effectively).
04/12/2008 at 14:18 AbyssUK says:
You know what World of Goo was so good it made me give up piracy… well you know what Rockstar just made me realise why I pirated.
04/12/2008 at 14:29 MeestaNob! says:
This is the worst high profile release in ages.
The game, for some, is entirely broken, and for the majority, is not adequately playable for a multitude of reasons.
GTA 4 was Microsoft’s poster boy release to get GFW (Live) out in to the public in a big way. This is a disaster for them (again). Surely they phones at Rockstar are running molten with irate calls from Redmond asking just what the hell is happening and what they are doing about it.
If they aren’t asking questions, you would have to wonder what their (Microsoft’s) intentions are for the PC format re gaming. We all know Microsoft would love the PC to be more like an XBox – hell, better yet, an XBox with Windows on it – but this is a catastrophe for everyone, no matter your allegiances (Steam, GFW Live, PC gaming in general, whatever).
It’s such a convoluted issue.
a) How did GTA 4 PC recieve such glowing reviews? Some of our very own esteemed RPS friends have spoken kindly (and reviewed as such) about GTA4′s many qualities, but what the hell were they (all reviewers) seeing that people plonking down hard earned AREN’T? Considering this debacle, I’d expect and demand follow up reviews in prominent locations of print magazines and websites that compare and critique the now obvious differences between the review copy and released one.
b) If it was good at review time (as a game AND as a piece of software), what changed between then and retail? Why have these poor changes been made by the developer? Was the review copy a future patched version, and if so, should all future Rockstar productions be viewed with extreme suspicion by press and punters alike?
c) How can Rockstar (and any other developer) justify a strong DRM etc defense when they are basically stealing from those who trust them? Make no mistake, there are many gamers out of pocket with a worthless box and discs tonight (day 1 of release). There will be no patch to save the day tomorrow. There wont be one next Friday either. It would be surprising if anything was adequately fixed by Christmas.
A further thought, on a tangent, regarding pointless organisations like the PCGA (PC Gaming Alliance). One of its founding members is Microsoft. Now, if they give a fuck about PC gaming they would have stepped in and taken Rockstar aside and made it clear to them (as if they didn’t already know) that GFW Live was very important to them and it was important it be attached to a quality product. The state of GTA 4 gives us a few possible scenarios: 1) MS and Rockstar didn’t speak about GTA 4 at any time after agreeing to use GFW Live and Rockstar developed their game unhindered/advised until (they believed) completion, 2) MS spoke to Rockstar but they ignored any and all negative correspondence and as PC/Windows is NOT a platform under Microsoft’s direct and final control felt they were not obligated to deliver a fully functional product within acceptable tolerances, and were happy to release it bug ridden with little or no fear of consequences, 3) Microsoft KNEW the game was fucked but made no effort to change the eventual outcome, hell bad PR is still PR – fuck it, not like we haven’t had some bad press before anyway.
Anyway, just getting some thoughts out there.
My point? We got fucked, and Rockstar knew they were doing it to us.
04/12/2008 at 14:29 Paul Moloney says:
After hearing so many times the defence that Gears of War is no fun on your own and needs to be played co-op, I played it on XBox with a friend yesterday. No, sorry, it was still teeth-grindingly dull. We gave it 20 minutes, then switched to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. I loathe golf with a passion, but the 10 minutes I spent with the character editor creating that famous golfer, the 100 year old liver-spotted Fu Manchu, was a hundred times more entertaining than shooting grey aliens behind grey rocks with a pea-shooter.
P.
04/12/2008 at 14:30 Meat Circus says:
@Funky Badger:
YOU AM WRONGS.
04/12/2008 at 14:32 manintheshack says:
I guarantee this will set a lot of people’s timbers a-shivering. When a game is this fucked, how is a little try before you buy not okay? The community’s moral views are surely shifting through botched releases like this.
04/12/2008 at 14:33 Paul Moloney says:
MeestaNob!, that’s a good comment. Honestly, PC gaming journalism should be able asking these kinds of hard questions to the right people, not HAI IZ GRAND THEFT AUDO GRATE??
P.
04/12/2008 at 14:52 manintheshack says:
@Paul Moloney: Hooray! I’m not the only one who sees that game for the giant turd it is! Another one with release problems, I couldn’t play GoW for a month after purchase because of GFWL problems. And when I did, boy was I disappointed. Completed it through sheer stubborness to quit more than anything else and, like you, was assured singleplayer was shit but co-op was grand. Well, no; turns out it’s all an awfully tedious brown-grey-fest. And that cover system is to blame for every game that has been ruined since through aping that shit mechanic. I hate it. I hate it all. So much.
04/12/2008 at 14:54 Klaus says:
I’m still waiting to see the optimal hassle, or lack thereof, the pirated version brings.
04/12/2008 at 15:02 Sweedums says:
Man, I’m so glad i decided not to buy this…. i cancelled my pre-order a day before release, lucky me!
looks like I’ll be picking this one up some time after christmas… hopefully it will work by then.
04/12/2008 at 15:03 Klaus says:
I want to see those gray aliens, hiding behind those gray rocks. So I think I might get Gears of War or maybe borrow it, I was always put off because I feared the characters and game itself had too much… testosterone for a DnD, Star Wars nerd like myself. On the other hand I like Halo, despite fratboy feeling it leaves me with.
04/12/2008 at 15:23 manintheshack says:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1914579/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Problems-with-game.html
If only PC gamers being screwed over warranted high-profile articles (no offense, RPS!).
One blogger wrote: “Although Rockstar [the game’s developer] is said to be looking into the problem, the company has remained officially tight-lipped.
“This is a potential PR disaster for Rockstar, and it looks like things will only get worse.”
Oh, if only they knew… or cared…
04/12/2008 at 15:36 jonfitt says:
Sheesh, all this fuss over a 7 month old game.
Yet another reason to not play GTA games on a PC. The last PC GTA game I played was GTA3, and while the shooting is better with a mouse and keyboard, the driving required a pad. Switching back and forth gets you into trouble in tense situations.
Although, does the PC version have quicksave? I quit GTA4 on the bank job mission having failed it 4 times in a row in the inevitable “Lose your stars and get back home” section. God I hate hard GTA missions. There’s zero excuse for it not using checkpoints or quicksaves nowadays.
Enjoy dating your cousin. Buy yourself some nice clothes and take him somewhere fancy.
04/12/2008 at 15:41 graham says:
I returned home from a long days work all excited to play GTA4. I installed the game prior to walking the dog and spent the hour I the cold dreaming of killing, driving fast and other nefarious activities.
Fired up the game at 20:45………retired to bed at 02:00hrs having cried, sworn, prayed and Googled. In a fit of frenzied anxiety I brought a new graphics card (which to be honest I have needed to do but procrastinated for a while).
My poor doting wife wondered why a game that looked just like our desktop would get me so excited/ angry/ religious.
Anyway, I love the GTA series and will not get too upset with Rockstar as they do lovingly create fantastic games. But I pray to (insert deity or celebratory) that a patch comes soon cos I’m about to get new graphics card and will struggle to justify the expense with the Mrs even if the game looks sh^t hot. I will be shot if the game still doesn’t work.
Ho Hum
04/12/2008 at 15:57 Funky Badger says:
*shakes fist in impotent rage at Meat Circus*
Get back to me after catching up with Real Badman…
04/12/2008 at 16:07 Funky Badger says:
Klaus: Gears is great, at least on the console…
04/12/2008 at 16:12 Marcos Castrillón says:
I was about to buy the game this weekend, then I read that you can’t play the game in Vista64. That, plus all the bugs and annoyances means Rockstar can say goodbye to my 60€
So coupled with Footie-to-Ball Manager 2009′s multitude of bugs and crashes, this means I haven’t ended up buying two games I was going to shell money to, and that my policy of never buy a game I haven’t played a pirated version first has been completely validated (sadly, again).
I sometimes think the Games Industry does not want my money.
04/12/2008 at 16:30 MA6200 says:
I too had a terrible time installing and running GTA4 for the first time. It’s not performing well compared to most games, either. I figured it’d be great – as all the other GTA ports ran beautifully.
Oh well. The game itself is fantastic, at least. Here’s hoping for patches and maybe some optimized drivers.
04/12/2008 at 16:35 mcw says:
I think there are two important lessons to take away from this disaster. Most developers do not care about publishing games on the PC anymore and they are unwilling to learn anything from issues that came up in connection with PC games in the past be it unrealistic requirements, DRM, etc… It seems to me that there should be more communication between developers because everyone seems to step into the same mess all over again and doesn’t learn from past mistakes.
04/12/2008 at 16:35 Gurrah says:
Never ever buy console to PC ports. It always ends in desaster. What are the developers thinking? The game is 6 months old, obviously bugged and they actually demand full retail price for it?
04/12/2008 at 16:44 El_MUERkO says:
GTAIV on the PC is indeed borked!
* It doesn’t see my crossfire setup.
* Refuses to let me change resolution or draw distance settings.
* Shadows flicker and move constantly.
* It has no options for AF, AA or Vsync.
* The collision detection seems much worse that the PS3 version.
* Performance wise it seems to jerk and spike for no apparent reason!
Who tested this thing? My guess is nobody at all!
Who thought it was a good idea to require Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club running to play online?
Who thought it was a good idea to require Rockstar Social Club running to be able to save your game!?!
Really amateurish stuff and not what I’d expect from Rockstar. I’m off on holidays for a week from tonight so hopefully when I come back it’ll be patched.
04/12/2008 at 16:44 Nimic says:
Not sure what you’re talking about Marcos Castrillón, Football Manager 2009 has almost no big bugs at all. Certainly nothing like the release of FM08. There’s been a lot of silly whining about FM09, but must people who actually give it a shot and play it think it’s an excellent game. Me included.
04/12/2008 at 16:49 manintheshack says:
‘It has no options for AF, AA or Vsync.’
Nothing makes the geek inside me angrier…
04/12/2008 at 16:50 NoNamePls says:
Wow, thank God this is not on my Christmas list. I have neither the horsepower to run it nor can I buy it locally. Most of our local retailers stock their games from Singapore. The problem is the customs have blocked it and it appears Singapore has decided to ban it.
04/12/2008 at 16:54 kororas says:
Despite all the talk about the DRM I was going to get this game anyway. After reading just the first link in this article, I am pretty gobsmacked by such a ludicrous procedure just to play this game. Consequently, I am now not going to buy it unless I hear some of these ‘features’ become optional.
If this is the way the PC games market is going then god help us.
04/12/2008 at 17:38 Marcos Castrillón says:
Nimic:
So I suppose all the graphics crashes and the sluggish perfomance only happened on my imagination?
I wonder if I too imagined the rushed patch SI had to release the next day the game hit the shops. Or the furore over several fm fansites.
Whatever. I’m not buying another game again unless I’ve previously tested it on my system, demo or otherwise.
04/12/2008 at 21:50 Darkelp says:
The problem with alot of these reports of problems is that many people have had no problems installing. Or possibly a few small problems that they managed to fix. Now these people are playing the game happily, whilst the hate bandwagon continues online.
And christ, I wish people would stop this pathetic Amazon 1 star ‘protest’ on a game they haven’t played. Let us not forget the sex scene in Mass Effect debacle! Where we gamers cried out at the people who hadn’t even seen the sex scene, but happily went on live tv to complain about it.
Hypocritical?
Yes.
04/12/2008 at 21:56 Darkelp says:
I have only just noticed my love of the word problem within the first paragraph of my previous post.
Lame.
04/12/2008 at 22:21 graham says:
mmmmm, I see your problem
05/12/2008 at 04:01 MeestaNob! says:
Problematic.
05/12/2008 at 10:49 Darkelp says:
Ha!
05/12/2008 at 13:18 solly says:
“The Windows Live update supports Vista 32bit only. If you have Windows Vista 64bit, you can not play.”
Is that true? Well then that’s then for me and playing this game! I’m not going back to 32bit for just this game haha! I dearly hope some Pirates manage to remove all this shit and everybody just end up playing cracked versions simply because it’s easier!
08/12/2008 at 21:35 Eschatos says:
Sounds good. The bugginess worries me though.
10/12/2008 at 20:00 GiGinge says:
I love the game, I cant stop playing BUT I agree about the graphics, the fundamental gameplays there and i can run it at a reasonable framerate, but it just looks fucking ugly, with missing textures, horrid pop up and occasional skipping (particularly annoying in any mission involving high speed and motorbikes). Although, I did hear that for those of us stuck with ATI video cards that they were releasing the new version of their Catalyst drivers today which Rockstar claimed in their forum would significantly fix large problems with the game. I have yet to download the latest update from them and try it, will download it now and see
12/07/2009 at 05:43 Christian says:
Downloaded GTA: Vice city from STeam. I am unable to save my game, it says “save files not present”. Any ideas as to what may be wrong?