The support page currently offers information on several known issues and other relevant advice. For instance, are you getting the "Application Failed to Launch" error? Well, the solution is simple! "Make sure you can run GTA IV."
[Via Big Download]
Rockstar aware of 'small number of fans' having GTA IV PC issues
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
on Dec 4th 2008 3:55PM
43
The support page currently offers information on several known issues and other relevant advice. For instance, are you getting the "Application Failed to Launch" error? Well, the solution is simple! "Make sure you can run GTA IV."
[Via Big Download]
Reader Comments (43)
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 7:27PM TheDarkWayne said
damn you obie, you made the joke i always wanted to!
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:51PM Ethan said
Yeah, it's fault that matters, not size. I'd be far more receptive to an honest company than one doing damage control.
But there's always going to be issues, and if forum posts informed the world people might not buy it. At least that's where I think companies come from when they respond to complaints like this.
Reply
But there's always going to be issues, and if forum posts informed the world people might not buy it. At least that's where I think companies come from when they respond to complaints like this.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 11:07PM Premature ejaculation man said
Don't forget Castle Crashers only affects people in very specific environments (most)!
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:04PM RKN said
From reports I've hearing, this game is the new "Crysis", very hardware demanding but with its high system requirements, the visuals aren't as good as Crysis, at least with Crysis, your rewarded with excellent visuals for powerful hardware but it seems the PC version is terribly unoptimized.
I hear the game doesn't even support SLI and will need a patch to support it.
Reply
I hear the game doesn't even support SLI and will need a patch to support it.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:30PM (Unverified) said
I am preemptively blaming "Games for Windows - Live" because it is currently causing me grief in Fallout 3.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 5:17PM Ordeith said
There is the new ad.. ah yes.. that was it.
My list of things I will never even think of buying because of Joystiq just got one item longer.
Never, ever going to get a Pulse Smartpen now.
I think I will leave negative feedback on an Amazon page about it now, just to feel better about having the ad interrupt the site like that.
Reply
My list of things I will never even think of buying because of Joystiq just got one item longer.
Never, ever going to get a Pulse Smartpen now.
I think I will leave negative feedback on an Amazon page about it now, just to feel better about having the ad interrupt the site like that.
Posted: Dec 5th 2008 10:23AM (Unverified) said
SecuROM has a big part in these issues.
* The crash-to-desktop bug is rampant, a "fatal zlib20 error". No known solution yet.
* Securom must be running at all times while the game is running. Closing it results in the game closing too.
* SecuROM will often crash, resulting in your game not starting at all.
* The reason the menu screen was black for me for so long is because it must download a file every time you start the game, since the menu background is actually an online updating news page.
* The newest Geforce Drivers: version 180.48, are not compatible with GTA IV.
* The Windows Live update supports Vista 32bit only. If you have Windows Vista 64bit, you can not play.
* The game does not support, nor recognise, SLI card set ups of any of the Geforce 8600 or 8800 card series.
Found these on some forums.
Reply
* The crash-to-desktop bug is rampant, a "fatal zlib20 error". No known solution yet.
* Securom must be running at all times while the game is running. Closing it results in the game closing too.
* SecuROM will often crash, resulting in your game not starting at all.
* The reason the menu screen was black for me for so long is because it must download a file every time you start the game, since the menu background is actually an online updating news page.
* The newest Geforce Drivers: version 180.48, are not compatible with GTA IV.
* The Windows Live update supports Vista 32bit only. If you have Windows Vista 64bit, you can not play.
* The game does not support, nor recognise, SLI card set ups of any of the Geforce 8600 or 8800 card series.
Found these on some forums.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:23PM (Unverified) said
I remember when GTA III launched on the PC. People who pirated the game had no probs, while people who paid were suffering from crashes, the solution was a patch in the form of the no-cd crack that the pirates had been using.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:35PM In A World said
The moral of the story (and I'm sure Niko would agree) is that crime really DOES pay!
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:44PM (Unverified) said
What I don't understand, is how Rockstar could work so hard on adding new content to the PC version but completely skimp out on optimizing the graphics.
I mean, lets face it, GTA4 isn't the best looking game out there and the fact that Rockstar claims that this decent looking game can only be run on "future" hardware just points to the fact that they were completely lazy on trying to optimize it for current hardware.
I had been planning on selling my 360 version and picking up the PC version just for the mods, but I can tell you that I won't now. I won't support a company that can't put together a decent port.
Reply
I mean, lets face it, GTA4 isn't the best looking game out there and the fact that Rockstar claims that this decent looking game can only be run on "future" hardware just points to the fact that they were completely lazy on trying to optimize it for current hardware.
I had been planning on selling my 360 version and picking up the PC version just for the mods, but I can tell you that I won't now. I won't support a company that can't put together a decent port.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 5:02PM rbtroj said
I was a bit surprised at the graphic quality on PC as well. I have a pretty high-end system with an 768meg 8800gtx and I was limited to "Medium" texture quality. Seems to be governed by the amount of RAM you have available on your vidcard (my totally inexpert guess).
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 9:06PM puerrican85 said
Your 100% correct, this looks really horrible on Rockstar's reputation. I mean the game was done already and they have plenty of experience with porting past projects. What the hell happened here? Twice I tried starting to play only to get errors and when I did get on it was reaaallly slow and choppy.
Either this is a really craptimized or somehow GTAIV became the new "Crysis" benchmarker for supposedly "future" hardware.
My specs are decent: C2D 3.8 OC, 4 gig ram, with GTX 280 1gig vram and still crawling..
Reply
Either this is a really craptimized or somehow GTAIV became the new "Crysis" benchmarker for supposedly "future" hardware.
My specs are decent: C2D 3.8 OC, 4 gig ram, with GTX 280 1gig vram and still crawling..
Posted: Dec 23rd 2008 5:54AM (Unverified) said
Or me and my 8600 GT. 256 MB??? I feel like the guy in the shower room with the smallest instrument.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:49PM Misfit Toy said
I actually find it MORE funny that this is a reused picture.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 4:59PM (Unverified) said
I don't know....sadly, you kind of get used to bugs being rampant in PC games, it's unfortunate but something you have to live through until patches arrive.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 5:07PM AirIntake said
This is just yet another example of why I left PC gaming. I spent 80% of my time configuring and only 20% of my time doing the actual playing. Now at least I can spend 99% of my time playing the game, and 1% of my time waiting for my 360 to be replaced by Microsoft (again).
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Posted: Dec 4th 2008 5:28PM Zertoss said
I, for one, enjoy the configuring and tweaking. Spending so much time poking around my computer finding ways to make games run better gave me the knowledge I needed to blow through college and land the awesome job I have today that lets me sit around and post on Joystiq all day.
Reply
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 7:29PM AirIntake said
@Zertoss
Exactly, I landed one of those awesome jobs too, but that now means I don't have the time any more to mess around when I want to be gaming. Also, screens aren't CRTs anymore, so I can no longer punch them like I used to when things weren't working.
Reply
Exactly, I landed one of those awesome jobs too, but that now means I don't have the time any more to mess around when I want to be gaming. Also, screens aren't CRTs anymore, so I can no longer punch them like I used to when things weren't working.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 5:33PM (Unverified) said
Still haven't managed to download it on Steam. It's at 75% and keeps pausing the download for no apparent reason. :/
I, too, blame secuROM for this issue.
Reply
I, too, blame secuROM for this issue.
Posted: Dec 4th 2008 6:50PM mundox said
Oh yeah I see another spore in the way, but not because of securom xD
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B001BNFQKO/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I was so happy when I heard GTA IV was coming to pc but damn R* really f* it up this time around, well at least I saved my $50 since I can't even buy the damn thing in steam because rockcrap has their country restrictions up.
Reply
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B001BNFQKO/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I was so happy when I heard GTA IV was coming to pc but damn R* really f* it up this time around, well at least I saved my $50 since I can't even buy the damn thing in steam because rockcrap has their country restrictions up.
Posted: Dec 5th 2008 2:12AM jackal said
By a "small number of fans" they mean everyone (both legitimate buyers and pirates) who has the unfortunately luck of putting GTAIV on his/her machine. The performance of Rockstar's "port" (I use that term very loosely) is absolutely atrocious.
GTA IV can't hold a candle to the visuals offered by Crysis or Far Cry 2 (both of which are sandbox games), but there's absolutely no reason it should run much, much worse than either title (which are much more demanding visually).
People on here say it's the next Crysis. I disagree wholeheartedly. Crysis, despite its horrendous initial optimization, at least delivered fantastic visuals that somewhat justified the stupendously high requirements. GTAIV is, instead, the new Lost Planet PC. It runs like shit on every hardware configuration for no reason outside of being a horrible port.
On a side note, how much is someone willing to bet that when this game financially pulls a Gigli that it'll be blamed on piracy? Because...well, when has any developer actually admitted they've shoved a buggy, half-assed port out the door before it was ready?
Reply
GTA IV can't hold a candle to the visuals offered by Crysis or Far Cry 2 (both of which are sandbox games), but there's absolutely no reason it should run much, much worse than either title (which are much more demanding visually).
People on here say it's the next Crysis. I disagree wholeheartedly. Crysis, despite its horrendous initial optimization, at least delivered fantastic visuals that somewhat justified the stupendously high requirements. GTAIV is, instead, the new Lost Planet PC. It runs like shit on every hardware configuration for no reason outside of being a horrible port.
On a side note, how much is someone willing to bet that when this game financially pulls a Gigli that it'll be blamed on piracy? Because...well, when has any developer actually admitted they've shoved a buggy, half-assed port out the door before it was ready?
Posted: Dec 5th 2008 4:15AM (Unverified) said
It's remarkable how everybody seems to be taking it out on Rockstar on this one. I can only say: brilliant strategy. They want people to buy more console versions (easier to develop, maintain) so they screw up the windows version and pack it in barbed wire on purpose so they can then bask in the negative reviews and wait for the next PS360 sales spike.
Hats off Rock* you sure are big business players now.
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Hats off Rock* you sure are big business players now.
Posted: Dec 5th 2008 5:55PM iHavePants said
Yeh, why is that not a reason to be pissed off at them if you're a PC gamer who has bought their game?
If anything it makes you more pissed.
Reply
If anything it makes you more pissed.
Posted: Dec 5th 2008 12:07PM (Unverified) said
I love those GTA games (some of my favorites) but we should all know that one can't be released unless it has some big bugs in it.
I bet you even Chinatown Wars will have some Cherry Popper bug that'll end the game for you.
Reply
I bet you even Chinatown Wars will have some Cherry Popper bug that'll end the game for you.
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