Take on the role of Niko Bellic, a Serbian immigrant who comes to the US at his cousin Roman's request, to find a better life, search for "that special someone" and participate in lawless activities in an upgraded generation of Liberty City.
I would give anything to see her one more time, especially at 1680x1050.Grand Theft Auto IV hit the PC last week with a bang--but it probably wasn't the big explosive event that everyone was hoping for. The release has been plagued by bugs that leave some players completely unable to play, while others are scraping by on machines that aren't showing all of the level geometry, or shadows, or, in the "luckiest" cases, just an erratic and annoying frame rate.
I'm in the frame rate boat, as the game seems to run OK after I downloaded it off of Steam last week. I mean, the menu displays, I can launch the game, and sort of play it. But the minute I get into a car, the frame rate goes all poopy. This is on my 2.4Ghz quad core machine with 2GB of RAM and an 8800 Ultra in it, mind you. It's not the fastest machine in the world, but it ran things like Crysis just fine. You would think it would be able to hang with a higher-res, better-textured version of an Xbox 360 game.
The forum devoted to the GTA series on Steam has been on fire for the last week as players attempt to get the game working and generally bitch about its performance. For its part, Rockstar seems to be at work on the issues, as it's issued a statement about some of the system requirement stuff and they passed along some beta drivers for Nvidia users to try.
In the midst of all this, Voodoo Extreme posted a report they received from someone who managed to get his money back after purchasing the game on Steam. That's not exactly common, as I understand it, and makes it sound like the company is trying to salvage a bad situation. But really, the folks at Steam shouldn't have to suffer through this sort of customer support nightmare when it's clearly Rockstar's fault. Here's the bulk of what the VE reader sent to Valve...
I would like to get a refund of my GTA 4 copy bought from steam. Due to technical errors I am unable to play the game. I meet the recommended PC specifications/requirements but I cannot login to Rockstar Social Club , I cannot start the game, it keeps crashing to the desktop giving no error message what so ever (even after all the activation processes). Rockstar does not have a forum, I can't fix the game with driver updates, I have all the latest drivers and programs.
Therefore due to no fault on my part I request a refund, I was given a faulty product.
Incidentally, "I have all the latest drivers and programs" is a terrific pickup line for all you gents out there trying to make some nice lady friends. Here's what he got back...
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
As requested, we have processed a refund to your account.
Your bank or credit card issuer will return the funds to your account - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to be posted.
Please note in the future that Steam purchases, per the Steam Subscriber Agreement, are not refundable - this refund was issued as a one-time customer service gesture.
If you require any further assistance, please let us know.
In the meantime, I got in and played a mission or two, got the cell phone, and tried the multiplayer a bit. With the frame rate being kind of jacked, it just sort of made me long for the console version. I'll probably wait for a patch before I go back in and get some of those PC achievement points, but I think the safest thing to do is to just avoid picking the game up until a few patches are released. It'll probably be right eventually, but right now it's nothing but a mess of frustration for a segment of the PC gaming crowd.
I would give anything to see her one more time, especially at 1680x1050.Grand Theft Auto IV hit the PC last week with a bang--but it probably wasn't the big explosive event that everyone was hoping for. The release has been plagued by bugs that leave some players completely unable to play, while others are scraping by on machines that aren't showing all of the level geometry, or shadows, or, in the "luckiest" cases, just an erratic and annoying frame rate.
I'm in the frame rate boat, as the game seems to run OK after I downloaded it off of Steam last week. I mean, the menu displays, I can launch the game, and sort of play it. But the minute I get into a car, the frame rate goes all poopy. This is on my 2.4Ghz quad core machine with 2GB of RAM and an 8800 Ultra in it, mind you. It's not the fastest machine in the world, but it ran things like Crysis just fine. You would think it would be able to hang with a higher-res, better-textured version of an Xbox 360 game.
The forum devoted to the GTA series on Steam has been on fire for the last week as players attempt to get the game working and generally bitch about its performance. For its part, Rockstar seems to be at work on the issues, as it's issued a statement about some of the system requirement stuff and they passed along some beta drivers for Nvidia users to try.
In the midst of all this, Voodoo Extreme posted a report they received from someone who managed to get his money back after purchasing the game on Steam. That's not exactly common, as I understand it, and makes it sound like the company is trying to salvage a bad situation. But really, the folks at Steam shouldn't have to suffer through this sort of customer support nightmare when it's clearly Rockstar's fault. Here's the bulk of what the VE reader sent to Valve...
I would like to get a refund of my GTA 4 copy bought from steam. Due to technical errors I am unable to play the game. I meet the recommended PC specifications/requirements but I cannot login to Rockstar Social Club , I cannot start the game, it keeps crashing to the desktop giving no error message what so ever (even after all the activation processes). Rockstar does not have a forum, I can't fix the game with driver updates, I have all the latest drivers and programs.
Therefore due to no fault on my part I request a refund, I was given a faulty product.
Incidentally, "I have all the latest drivers and programs" is a terrific pickup line for all you gents out there trying to make some nice lady friends. Here's what he got back...
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
As requested, we have processed a refund to your account.
Your bank or credit card issuer will return the funds to your account - please allow 3-5 business days for the funds to be posted.
Please note in the future that Steam purchases, per the Steam Subscriber Agreement, are not refundable - this refund was issued as a one-time customer service gesture.
If you require any further assistance, please let us know.
In the meantime, I got in and played a mission or two, got the cell phone, and tried the multiplayer a bit. With the frame rate being kind of jacked, it just sort of made me long for the console version. I'll probably wait for a patch before I go back in and get some of those PC achievement points, but I think the safest thing to do is to just avoid picking the game up until a few patches are released. It'll probably be right eventually, but right now it's nothing but a mess of frustration for a segment of the PC gaming crowd.
I saw minimum requirements and i think i will install GTA: San Andreas again and enjoy some bear-like hands, buildings in which you can't enter( unless you are on burglary mission ) and lights of San Fierro. I don't need anything else...
You would think that Rockstar, having released all GTA games on the pc platform before, would have learned a lesson or two. Apparently not. Looks like they're quality control was either sleeping at the wheel, rushed the port to coincide with the holiday season, or perhaps the scariest reason: they don't give a damn about PC users anymore.
Problem is, Rockstar and patching don't usually go together too well. The PC port of Bully has been out for at least a week now and I've heard from a friend who bought it that the game can basically crash to the desktop after the first cutscene unless you use the right graphics settings. There's more bugs, but Rockstar hasn't mentioned anything on a patch. As I recall, the PC port of San Andreas was pretty jacked too - poor performance (a PS2 game shouldn't require a system that beefy), sound problems (particularly with EAX), graphics problems, you name it. Rockstar only ended up patching San Andreas when they were forced to remove Hot Coffee, and the Hot Coffee Patch didn't do very much to address the problems people had with the PC version.
If Rockstar follows through with more than one GTA4 patch I'll be surprised.
The GTA series started on the PC. It's sad to see that it is being handled so poorly now. I'm a PC user (I own no consoles), so I'm particularly saddened by this kind of thing. Still, I know Rockstar will eventually fix the problem, but it should have never happened in the first place.
"
Really I thought the orginal came out on the ps1 first. 1997 both came out but the ps1 was atleast a month before.
Seemed alright to me the first time I launched it. No problems. No crashes etc. But then the textures and shadows started popping up and acting weird. Even after updating to the latest "GTA IV" beta drivers from nvidia, its still the same crap. Seems unplayable right now. I sure hope they fix it. It seems like fun and I don't want to chuck aside in the corner. Anyway, waiting for a patch gives me time to finish other games.
Wow, Games for Windows LIve fails again, I thought that this game was being released kinda soon but always assumed that they had been working on it while still working on the console versions.
Aparently the moral of this story is; Use Steam. They give an awesome service and it looks like their willing to make up for any problems they encounter. Lets hope Rockstar get off their asses and fix this.
Money back... wow... from Steam, that's a new one on me. I'm very careful about what I buy on Steam or even a boxed version of a game on my pc. Once you buy it, it's yours, hardly any resale value and through Steam, no resale value.
Played it on the 360... never had any problems with previous PC versions. This one seems to follow the trend of devs not caring that much about PC users imo...
I unfortunately fall into the category of someone who bought the game early (partly because of the achievements, partly because I loved GTA IV on the 360 and partly because it was 3 am and I was bored) but haven't been able to play it. Of course, I'm sure a resolution will present itself eventually (though my email to Rockstar tech support hasn't been answered yet despite it being sent four days ago).
I heard bad things about GTAIV on the PC but something must be seriously wrong with it if Valve and Steam are giving refunds to users. I've seen people scream and shout and complain till their blue in the face at Steam for a refund and they've blankly just said "No" so for them to be handing a few out here and there something serious must be up. This just is such a disappointment really that once again the PC gets a high profile title released on it which turns out to be a horridly poor quality of port, much like Gears of War was. Very disappointing and it begs the question "why was the game released like this if it had so many technical issues?" seriously i just do not understand why developers continue to do this.
Regardless i won't be picking it up, i think Rockstar has dropped the ball and lost the race with this one.
PC GTAs have always had some bugs, remember that stupid sound glitch in San Andreas? They never released a petch for it, hated that. It was if a chopper were right in my face, and sometimes, the sound would just go off.
Rockstar sucks balls at PC porting and they dont give a rat's ass about QA of their PC products.
Not so long ago released Bully PC has the very same issues (crappy framerate, texture/geometry popups, crashes, lock-ups & etc) and there is still no patch in sight...
i have OCed Q9550@3.6 4GB RAM GF 8800Ultra and both games run like crap.
Bully PC has fps lock @30 and stil, the framerate manages to fall @17fps in some areas! In GTA4 i have 60+ fps indoors, outdoors somewhere 17-40 (mostly in 20+ area)...
Also both games have a badly programmed mouse filter: if you move your mouse slowly, the game wont register any input :/
Fuck R*, i want my money back and yes, im very angly atm. :/
"You would think developers from now on would take the Crysis Warhead route and opt to develop up to a certain spec."
Quite a few games actually are done like that, Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 come to mind. Most games on PC are ports of 360 developed products with high resolutions, some higher textures and maybe a few extra effects for good meassure. The core of the game does not usually go beyond its initial design and should have no issue running properly at 360 levels on 360-comparable hardware. For one reason or another, instead of properly optimizing a game many studios rely on the idea that "hardcore" PC gamers will just buy new hardware to fill in the gap left by lazy, cheap and/or unexperienced developers.
That sucks that the game released with so many bugs and glitched. I wasn't going to get myself since I already have the Xbox 360 version, but it sucks for those who waited for it to release on the PC to finally play this amazing game.
The GTA series started on the PC. It's sad to see that it is being handled so poorly now. I'm a PC user (I own no consoles), so I'm particularly saddened by this kind of thing. Still, I know Rockstar will eventually fix the problem, but it should have never happened in the first place.
"
Really I thought the orginal came out on the ps1 first. 1997 both came out but the ps1 was atleast a month before."
The PC version was first, the PS1 version was released later in 1998. (US release dates)
The $200k they put into stopping people from pirating might have been better placed in quality control and some extra polish. This comes off as a port pushed out the door right before Xmas to cash in on suckers. It'll sell poorly, and Rockstar will blame piracy anyway, not the fact that everyone and their mom has played it on a 360 or PS3 already and that it's a buggy pile of shit.
Tip to Rockstar: PC gamers love your games too, if you want to sell us games, maybe you should 1.) Release the PC version at the same time as the console version, 2.) Actually spend some time optimizing the game for that PC gamers at large can actually run it, and 3.) F off, because, jesus christ, PC gamers are better than this flaky crap you're pushing on us, and you can take your future games and shove them up your ass, there's plenty of devs who care about PC gaming and take the time to do it right.
and this is why i dont buy PC games, too many requirements and sometimes the game may not even work..........unless the game is star craft then maybe ill buy it
"Incidentally, 'I have all the latest drivers and programs' is a terrific pickup line for all you gents out there trying to make some nice lady friends."
I laughed out loud. I'LL USE IT!
Waiting is a good idea on almost any game, especially this one. Let a couple of patches come out for it first. Plus, the game will probably go on sale somewhere like Circuit City, Amazon, or Newegg so you'll be able to save some money.
Posted this in my blog, news-post style. I think it's awesome that Valve have recognized the problem and are doing right by offering refunds (something I didn't even realize was possible on Steam). I also think it's sad that a company like Rockstar thought they could release a game in such a messy state and expect people to just sit back and accept it, even f they *are* the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series. For a series that began and thrived on the PC all these years, I would have thought Rockstar would do their best to make sure the PC version got the attention it deserved.
I was seriously considering buying this in the next few days, but i'll hold off now to see if a patch comes out to fix it. I'm not going through that whole GoW pc shit again. When there are so many great games on the pc i still havent played, this will eventually get bought sometime next year for about £10-15.
I'm glad to hear a follow up to this issue to justify my frustration at paying full price right on day one ever so slightly, though I have taken a similar c'est la vie tude for now (missing textures & can't get gamepad to work, after fixing RSC & other missing textures trouble.) keep up the QQ for us Jeff, it's appreciated.
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