Grand Theft Auto IV PC Bugs: Rockstar Suggests Solutions

233w ago - Rockstar compiled a list of possible solutions to user-reported Grand Theft Auto IV PC bugs:

Installation

You must have Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed PRIOR to installing and running Grand Theft Auto IV PC.

Right-click 'My Computer -> Properties' to see if you have the latest Service Packs installed, and if not check Windows Update and download before trying to install the game.

Installing on a non-English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, or Russian Operating System

There is a known issue with non-English, French, Italian, German, Spanish or Russian operating systems, where unsupported characters will appear on the initial installation screen (this screen then remains present in the background throughout the installation process).

To bypass this issue and install the game:

- Select the larger button at the bottom left of the initial installation screen and you will be moved on to a language select screen.
- Select either English, French, Italian, German or Spanish and the rest of the installation will continue in that language.
- At the end of the installation, the screen containing unsupported characters will appear again. Please select the button at the bottom left of this screen to progress to the Rockstar Games Social Club application.

The game can now be launched normally from the Rockstar Games Social Club application.

Grand Theft Auto IV Error Codes

For further information on error codes encountered during installation or gameplay, please view the GTA IV Error Codes story.

Understanding Grand Theft Auto IV Graphic Settings

The PC version of the game has brand new graphics options not seen on the console. Click here for info on how to tune the graphics to the proper level for your PC.

Drivers

For optimum performance, please ensure the latest drivers are installed for your Video Card.

As of December 3, 2008:

- Nvidia - 180.48
- ATI - 8.11

Look for new drivers to be released soon.

- Owners of Nvidia 7900 Series Cards - There is a bug in the current Nvidia Forceware drivers for 7900 series cards that keeps the game from rendering beyond the far plane as show in the image below. NVidia is working on releasing a new driver as soon as possible.
- Users Running 3rd Party Graphics Performance Tuners - There has been a reported issue of textures not loading in. If you are experiencing visuals with missing textures it may be associated with third party graphical performance tuners:

We recommend that users follow the steps below to resolve this:

Step 1) Go to "Add and Remove Programs" within the Control Panel. Scroll through the list of installed programs and look for any third-party driver performance tuners that may have been installed previously.

Step 1a) If you find any of these performance tuners open the application and reset driver values back to default. This is very important! Do not uninstall this program before you revert the changed values.

Step 1b) Now close the program and uninstall it.

Step 2) Go to "Add and Remove Programs" within the Control Panel. Scroll down the list of programs and remove any program with NVIDIA or ATI in the name.

Step 3) Reboot your machine.

Step 4) Download and install the latest drivers for your graphics card.

Step 5) Run GTA IV

If your textures are still not loading in then you may have residual files from uninstalled drivers left on your machine. In order to fix the former, we recommend that you take the following steps:

Step 1) Find a reputable tool that is known to clean files leftover from driver tuners. You can search for these on the Internet.

Step 2) Uninstall your display drivers again.

Step 3) Reboot your machine. While booting up, hold F8 until prompted with Windows Advanced Options menu. Choose to enter Safe Mode. (Newer computers may require you to press F8 multiple times before being prompted).

Step 4) Once in Safe Mode, setup the program found in Step 1 to search for display drivers. Run the appropriate cleaning option. Reopen the tool and make sure that no other display driver files are found.

Step 5) Install the latest drivers that you downloaded earlier.

Step 6) Reboot your machine and load Windows up normally.

Step 7) Play Grand Theft Auto IV.

- Owners of ATI Series Cards - If you are experiencing blacked-out textures please ensure your "MipMap Detail Level" is slider is set fully to "Quality" in Catalyst Control Center
- Owners of ATI 1900 Series - At present the shadows may flicker and form large triangles in some instances. A patch will be released soon to correct this issue.

SecuROM

For information regarding game activation, revoking a previous activation, and further details and support regarding game components and functionality, please visit the official activation support site.

Games for Windows - LIVE Sign Up

If you don't have a Games for Windows - LIVE account you will want to sign up for one in order to play multiplayer and unlock achievements in the single player game. Sign up for an account here.

For information on how to sign up for Games for Windows - LIVE on a computer which has access to the internet, please view the Walkthrough for Games for Windows LIVE Sign Up.

For information on how to sign up for Games for Windows - LIVE on a computer which does not have access to the internet, please view the Offline Profile Sign-In Walkthrough.

Signing into Games for Windows - LIVE from inside Grand Theft Auto IV - Once you have your account the following guide will walk you through the process of signing in. To view it click here. Games for Windows LIVE support site - For any questions regarding Games for Windows - LIVE, please visit their support site.

Firewall

If you are experiencing firewall issues when connecting to LIVE be sure to have the following ports available:

- UDP 88
- UDP 3074
- TCP 3074

Rockstar Games Social Club Errors

Issue - You see the following message when trying to play GTA IV. Application Failed to Launch. The application you are attempting to launch failed to start. GTA IV may be blocked by Windows Parental Controls/Family Safety. Please make sure you have access to the application before trying to launch it, or contact Rockstar support.

Solution - Make sure you can run GTA IV

1. Double click the Grand Theft Auto IV shortcut

- If you see a SecuROM error please visit our SecuROM support page for more info.
- If you are running Vista and see an error about Parental Controls make sure Parental Controls are set appropriately.

Copy Protection Q&A

For in depth information about the copy protection used by Grand Theft Auto IV, please view the DRM and Copy protection for Grand Theft Auto IV PC FAQ.