GTA IV and more and more

Post by **Tamlin** » 07 Dec 2008, 16:24

I never grown to like GTA for some reason. :P

Anyway, I found this on the net that might be interesting for some:

Driver News
Weâ€™re pleased to announce that in co-operation with Nvidia a new driver has been released that improves performance and fixes a major issue with 7900 series cards. If you havenâ€™t gotten the driver yet download it here: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_gtaiv_downloads.html

ATI has also agreed to officially release Catalyst 8.12 which will release on Dec 10th from http://game.amd.com. Expect significant performance improvements when using this new driver.

Patch Is On The Way

http://www.gta4.net/news/4163/patch-coming-in-the-next-few-days/

Jupix · Post by **Jupix** » 07 Dec 2008, 16:59

I've tested the new NV driver and it does make the game run a bit better.

Still, fps is nowhere near what it should be.

Soduka · Post by **Soduka** » 07 Dec 2008, 18:07

Can't wait for the new Catalyst.

Lukasz · Post by **Lukasz** » 07 Dec 2008, 18:20

I've tested the new NV driver and it does make the game run a bit better.

Still, fps is nowhere near what it should be.

Jupix, have you tested the drivers with other games (e.g. cod4, fc2, etc.) to see if everything is order there as well?

Jupix · Post by **Jupix** » 07 Dec 2008, 19:47

I'm afraid not. I've only got a visual conclusion for FC2 being basically unaffected. (Ran smoothly before and still does.)

Lukasz · Post by **Lukasz** » 07 Dec 2008, 21:46

I'm afraid not. I've only got a visual conclusion for FC2 being basically unaffected. (Ran smoothly before and still does.)

Cool, thanks! I'm gonna give em a go then.

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 07 Dec 2008, 23:46

I've tested the new NV driver and it does make the game run a bit better.

Still, fps is nowhere near what it should be.

yeah , i got boosts of like 5fps , which is kinda nice - but ultimately still leaves my game in the 20's D:

yogibbear · Post by **yogibbear** » 09 Dec 2008, 18:51

basically if you have a quad core and a half decent gpu you'll get 35+ fps, dual cores are in the 20's as far as i've seen...(unless they're clocking well over 3ghz)

Post by **Abram** » 10 Dec 2008, 02:18

Statistics
Average FPS: 46.01
Duration: 37.12 sec
CPU Usage: 91%
System memory usage: 81%
Video memory usage: 98%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1680 x 945 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Medium
View Distance: 30
Detail Distance: 50

Hardware
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Service Pack 3
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512 (OC'ed 17%)
Video Driver version: 180.84
Audio Adapter: SB X-Fi Audio [CF00]
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz (OC'ed 19%)

The benchmark has no traffic, peds, and fewer dynamic lights htat actual gameplay, so the reulsts are always falsely high... in reality i avereage abotu 30fps. Just enough. But ya, i keep my cores running about 90% the whole time.

Such a tease not being able to use high textures - it runs just fine but i get hefty texture-pop-in. This is the first game that's made me seriously think about another upgrade.

Post by **g00seberry** » 10 Dec 2008, 20:11

The new ATI drivers, 8.12, are out.
I've noticed about 5fps minimum increase, which when your fps is hovering around the 30 mark, is a big improvement.

Post by **dopefish** » 10 Dec 2008, 20:22

The bottleneck is most definitely CPU. You really can crank the graphics way up and still maintain a solid, decent framerate. It's just that if you're only a dual-core (or worse, a single-core) then you're going to feel a pretty bad hit on performance. The game definitely utilizes a lot of CPU. It makes sense, too, with all of the AI and physics going on at once.

Anyway, using medium-quality textures, I get almost zero texture pop-in. Using high-quality textures, I'll notice a bit more texture pop in (naturally, the higher resolution the texture, the larger the data that it has to stream) but it still isn't game-breaking.

The lighting in the game varies a lot. A lot of people like to point out the dark-side of the game, but it's only that way during rainy days or towards night time. During the day or in certain weather conditions, it's bright and colorful. You're also more than welcome to tweak the color settings yourself.

Post by **dopefish** » 10 Dec 2008, 20:33

Also, a lot of people don't seem to understand DRM.

I'll quote a friend of mine from another forum:
"When I was in my first training for business management, I questioned a real cheesy lock used to keep some stuff "safe". My boss said "Mark, there's 3 kinds of people. There's the ones who will never steal no matter what. Then there's the ones who will always steal no matter what. Those locks are for the 3rd group. The ones who will only steal if it's real easy."
That is the reasoning behind DRMs. Publishers know there will be theft and that's built into the price. DRMs (Be the DRMs good like Steam or miserable like EA) are a deterrent to the 3rd group. It's loss prevention, plain and simple. And if your business doesn't have a good LP department, you won't last long."

I think this is probably one of the best explanations for it. Publishers and developers know that it will be cracked. It's simply there to stop the people who aren't capable, don't know how, or won't bother if it's too difficult.

I disagree with DRM as much as the next person, but only because the experiences with DRM so far have been poor. I think GTAIV did a fine job. It's implemented, but it doesn't get in the way.

1) It had you verify the release date before you're able to play it. I have no problem with this. A lot of retail stores sell games early and they're just trying to control that since the retail stores obviously can't.
2) If you did buy retail, then it checks to make sure the disc is in the drive. This is as simple as what was said about about loss prevention and the third group of people.

I haven't had any issues with GTAIV. I haven't had any "activation" issues or other problems. With GTAIV, there's hardly any complaints at all about its DRM. Most of the complaints are about bugs, crashes, and poor performance. So I think I can safely say that they implemented it in a proper way.

As long as other publishers follow similar footsteps and include non-intrusive DRM, then I don't have a problem with it at all.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 10 Dec 2008, 20:49

I thought we were long over the DRM hump but...

DRM does not make it any harder for 99% of people to steal a game.. Any moron can fire up bittorrent and head to a torrent site which is not hard to find at all (hell one is in the top 100 most popular sites on the internet...) and download a game, following ~5 instructions on how to install it.

Post by **dopefish** » 10 Dec 2008, 20:56

I thought we were long over the DRM hump but...

DRM does not make it any harder for 99% of people to steal a game.. Any moron can fire up bittorrent and head to a torrent site which is not hard to find at all (hell one is in the top 20 most popular sites on the internet...) and download a game, following ~5 instructions on how to install it.

You have to realize that a huge majority of computer users are dumb. It does make it more difficult for a lot of people. They either don't want to risk pirating a game, or they don't have the know-how, etc. You'd be surprised at how many people have difficult renaming or moving files around on their computer. Then you bring in all of the torrent programs, tools to extract everything, mounting the images, installing it, copying over a crack, etc. There's less people out there that know how to do that than there are that do. So it still helps.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 10 Dec 2008, 21:09

[quote]I thought we were long over the DRM hump but...

DRM does not make it any harder for 99% of people to steal a game.. Any moron can fire up bittorrent and head to a torrent site which is not hard to find at all (hell one is in the top 20 most popular sites on the internet...) and download a game, following ~5 instructions on how to install it.

You have to realize that a huge majority of computer users are dumb. It does make it more difficult for a lot of people. They either don't want to risk pirating a game, or they don't have the know-how, etc. You'd be surprised at how many people have difficult renaming or moving files around on their computer. Then you bring in all of the torrent programs, tools to extract everything, mounting the images, installing it, copying over a crack, etc. There's less people out there that know how to do that than there are that do. So it still helps.

But at that point what changes from a simple CD Check compared to online activation?

I fully admit when I was a little noob way back in the day, I tried copying my friends Roller coaster tycoon game only to be stopped by what is now considered very simple copy protection.

I do have to say though I fully agree with you, they did a pretty good job implanting their DRM, It was 4 days before it was decently cracked, 6-7 days before a Good crack came out. But they did fail in my eyes on one part, the randomly placed anti piracy checks, a very small amount of people (That have bought the game, primarily (exclusively?) on steam) have triggered them for some reason. Those triggers cause corrupted saves.

The cracks physically remove those triggers so now legitimate users are stuck with something that is VERY unlikely to happen to them but still a potential issue.

Titan Quest had these same triggers and the reason it took someone so long to use such a horrible thing again... TQ's reputation got tarnished as a horribly buggy game, corrupted saves, crashes and a bunch of shit because of the anti piracy triggers within the game. People hear that its buggy and skip it.

Unfortunately for Rockstar they cannot blame their failure on piracy. Considering the only people that were able to report the status of the game for the first 4 days were early legal adopters of the game.

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 11 Dec 2008, 01:24

Anyway, using medium-quality textures, I get almost zero texture pop-in. Using high-quality textures, I'll notice a bit more texture pop in (naturally, the higher resolution the texture, the larger the data that it has to stream) but it still isn't game-breaking.

Lucky :<
i find that if i dont use low textures i get tons of missing textures , invisible walls etc.

and re: the copy protection , i really wish they wouldnt resort to forcing me to have the stupid disk in >_>" They should have just released it over steam or something if they were that bothered.

Post by **Abram** » 11 Dec 2008, 01:38

and re: the copy protection , i really wish they wouldnt resort to forcing me to have the stupid disk in >_>" They should have just released it over steam or something if they were that bothered.

too, hate having a disc in my drive. Although i crack every game i install, I can see the use of sucha thing, but not when it also uses the other protection facets. I was actually pretty surprised that i was forced to use the physical disc alongside the rest ...

Anyway. gamecopyworld has a min-image for that. The fix they have does not bypass the other protection and works fine with MP. I didn't even play until i found a way around the original-disc thing. Of course there are fixed .exes but i'm pretty sure they arent MP friendly and apperently cause other problems with achievements and such..

Yes, i mentioed the all-so-evil GAMEOPCOPYWORLD. BLUH!

Post by **dopefish** » 11 Dec 2008, 02:19

i find that if i dont use low textures i get tons of missing textures , invisible walls etc.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people complain about it. I've yet to experience it yet. Everytime I mention it's okay to me, people tell me "Play longer, you'll see it." I sat down and played it for about six hours straight the other day and still didn't see a single missing texture. I guess it just hits certain people.

and re: the copy protection , i really wish they wouldnt resort to forcing me to have the stupid disk in >_>" They should have just released it over steam or something if they were that bothered.

... They did release it on Steam.

yogibbear · Post by **yogibbear** » 11 Dec 2008, 06:35

Anyway, using medium-quality textures, I get almost zero texture pop-in. Using high-quality textures, I'll notice a bit more texture pop in (naturally, the higher resolution the texture, the larger the data that it has to stream) but it still isn't game-breaking.

That is pretty much my exact experience. I have stuck to playing on high textures (with the norestrictions thing) and minor pop-in. Mainly when i'm driving really fast, flying a helicopter really high, sniping on top of a building and then exit zoom to look at my feet. Nothing game breaking.

Only other crash i've had is the "RES10" crash. Usually after playing for ~6 hrs straight. So i'm guessing that it's the result of a memory leak as my ram is usually registering around 3.9gb/4gb used at that point. This also isn't game breaking.

Though i still hate the DRM, Windows Live and Rockstar SC. But... i haven't had any issues with any of them yet. And turning on auto sign in to crappy windows live makes it run a bit smoother for me, as i hate navigating anything in it. Disc in the drive is my biggest gripe. But then i guess multiple people could play MP at the same time?

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 12 Dec 2008, 22:02

... They did release it on Steam.

exclusively i meant

on another note. recently the stupid GFWL thing has stopped recording my achievements and stuff , which is slightly annoying...

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