Template:Infobox game/row/winporterWarnings
- For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.
Key points
- Shares many similarities with Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City in terms of its engine and performance.
- Extensive modding community, along with Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.
- Ability to import your music for your own custom radio station.
General information
- Rockstar Support
- GTA Modding - A wiki hosting mod information for the GTA series.
- GTAForums - Grand Theft Auto IV Discussion
- GTA Network - A huge network of fansites all dedicated to the Grand Theft Auto series
- Steam Community Discussions
- Steam Users' Forums for game series
Availability
- All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE and SecuROM DRM.
- Online features require Rockstar Games Social Club.
- Complete Edition includes Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Patches
- Patch 8 updates the game to the latest version (see Patch notes for changes). The Steam version is already patched. The previous version, Patch 1.0.7.0, is also available (may be required for some mods).
- Since 1.0.6.0 patch Rockstar Social Club is no longer required to run the game.[1]
Flash Player
- Flash Player is required to use the Social Club TV features. Flash Player for Internet Explorer is the version that needs to be installed.
Recoil Fix
- By default, recoil/bullet spread is only enabled when playing with a controller. This results in 100% accuracy when using a keyboard and mouse.
- Not recommended to use in Multiplayer
ColAccel
- Greatly reduces loading times
- If editing .IMG archives you need to delete
colCache.dat
and let it get re-created
Game data
In-game general settings.
Configuration file(s) location
- Configuration files are encrypted. For an alternative, see Command line parameters.
Save game data location
-
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\XLive
must also be backed up as the save data is bound to the Games for Windows - LIVE profile.
Video settings
Template:Video settings
Input settings
In-game key map settings.
In-game keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
Template:Input settings
DirectInput Controller support
PS3 Controller Buttons
If using a PS2/PS3 controller, you might want to change the Xbox 360 buttons to the PS2/PS3 buttons. In order to do so, follow the instructions below.
Audio settings
Template:Audio settings
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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Czech |
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French |
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German |
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Italian |
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Japanese |
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Polish |
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Brazilian Portuguese |
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Russian |
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Spanish |
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Ukrainian |
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Network
- Social Club website stat tracking and leaderboards have been shut down. All other online features are unaffected.[2]
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
53, 80, 3074 |
UDP |
53, 88, 3074 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
VR support
Issues fixed
- Game uses Games for Windows - LIVE. Make sure you are running latest version and refer to the concerning page if you have further problems
Low perfomance on high end PC
{{Fixbox|1=
Template:Fixbox/fix
Release Date Check Failure on Windows 10
SecuLauncher: failed to start application. [2000] error
Fatal error WTV190
Fatal error RMN20
Stuttering and other performance issues after running the game for a while
Game minimizes after clicking start
- If the game minimizes after selecting between GTA IV base and EFLC and can not be made full screen again it may be a problem with PunkBuster. It can be fixed by stopping it from running.
Game will load with minimal graphic settings and won't let you change them
- For some video cards the game will run but won't let you change the graphics settings to anything better. In order to force the game to allow the changes, load the .exe with the extra parameter:
-norestrictions
. If running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, run the game in compatibility mode for Windows Vista (SP2)[citation needed].
AMD Radeon water fix
- There is a problem where the water loses its features and details after a while.
Algonquin Bridge lag issue
Invisible fonts glitch
- An invisible fonts glitch may occur which involves game menu text disappearing.
2GB+ VRAM is wrongly recognized
This is fixed in patch 1.0.8.0 (1.1.3.0 for EFLC).
Textures/Models not loading
Multiplayer: Login to Social Club failed
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9 |
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Shader Model support |
3 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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Middleware
Downgrade to 1.0.4.0
- Some mods work only with this version. This version is also claimed to improve game performance.[3][4]
- Multiplayer won't work with older versions.
Modifications
- It is strongly recommended to make a backup of any files modifications may replace or amend in the event of corruption.
- Built-in ASI loader
- Remove Games for Windows - LIVE service.
- Savefiles directory changes to:
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\savegames\
- Disable access to the multiplayer to prevent cheating.
Custom Music
Grand Theft Auto IV allows users to play their own music on a custom radio station, Independence FM.[5]
- Simply place any audio files / folders or create shortcuts in the
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\User Music
folder, and tune into the station in-game.
- Supported formats are MP3, WMA, M4A. Other formats and extensions are not recognized.
- QuickTime or iTunes needs to be installed for M4A support.
- Use shortcuts to audio files / folders to save disk space and improve performance.
- Supports High-resolution audio files. Up to 96 kHz / 24 bit.
- Supports Surround audio files. Up to 6 channels.
- FLAC is not supported. Convert to WMA Lossless to use in-game.
- Monaural audio files not supported.
Command line parameters
- By creating a file called
commandline.txt
and saving it to your root installation folder you can alter the way your game runs. If you are using Steam; go to the game in your library, right-click and click Properties, select Set Launch Options... and enter the commands separated by spaces.
Parameter |
Description |
-help |
Lists the available commands |
-adapter |
Use the specified screen adapter |
-autoconfig |
Automatically adjust quality setting to maintain desired frame rate (15-120) |
-availablevidmem |
Set amount of physical Video Memory |
-benchmark |
Launches the game in Benchmark mode and then quits it |
-detailquality |
Set the detail quality of the game (0-99) |
-disableimposters |
Turn off imposter rendering for vehicles |
-forcehighqualitymirrors |
Enable 64 bit mirrors |
-forcer2vb |
Force Render to Vertex Buffer |
-frameLimit |
Limits your FPS to your refresh rate |
-framelockinwindow |
Force framelock to work even in a window |
-fullscreen |
Force fullscreen mode |
-fullspecaudio |
Force high-end CPU audio footprint |
-gpucount |
Lets you manually set the GPU count if query fails |
-height |
Sets the vertical resolution |
-managed |
Use D3D runtime managed resources |
-memrestrict |
Set the restriction the amount of available memory for the game |
-minspecaudio |
Force low-end CPU audio footprint |
-no_3GB |
Disable 32-bit OS with /3GB |
-noBlockOnLostFocus |
Don't block the window update when it loses focus. |
-noprecache |
Disable precache of resources |
-nomemrestrict |
Disable memory restrictions |
-nominimize |
Disables the ability to restore the game from minimize and changing resolutions (Reduces System Memory Footprint) |
-norestrictions |
Do not limit graphics settings |
-noswapdelay |
Disable sleep delay before Present (Disable fix for hard Present stalls) |
-notimefix |
Disable Time Fix |
-novblank |
Disables V-Sync |
-percentvidmem |
Percentage of Video memory to make available for the game |
-refreshrate |
Set the refresh rate (Must be supported by your monitor) |
-reserve |
Amount of memory to set aside for other applications |
-reservedApp |
Amount of memory to leave available within application space |
-renderquality |
Set the render quality of the game (0-4) |
-safemode |
Sets graphics setting to lowest setting |
-shadowdensity |
Set the number of lights that cast shadows (0-16) |
-shadowquality |
Set the shadow quality (0-4) |
-stereo |
Set game to support stereo rendering mode |
-texturequality |
Set the texture quality of the game (0-2) |
-unmanaged |
Use application managed resources |
-usedirectinput |
Allow DirectInput alongside XInput support. |
-viewdistance |
Set the view distance of the game (0-99) |
-windowed |
Force windowed mode |
-width |
Sets the horizontal resolution |
System requirements
Windows |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
XP SP3, Vista SP1 | |
Processor (CPU) |
AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz |
AMD Phenom X3 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz |
System memory (RAM) |
1.5 GB |
2.5 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
16 GB |
18 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
ATI Radeon X1900 Nvidia GeForce 7900 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
| ATI Radeon HD 3870 Nvidia GeForce 8600 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible |
Sound (audio device) |
5.1 Channel Audio Card | |
- Online play requires log-in to Games for Windows - LIVE.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References