GTA:IV - PC Questions

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Mindsurge

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Originally played GTA:IV on X360 due to the PC problems is was having in the beginning, so I just had a few questions:

- With the Steam version (or any version) is there any invasive/problematic DRM method used?
I've also heard something about a "game check" for multiplayer...?

- With the Steam version, do graphical mods work?

- Are the "very high" settings still blocked-out? If so, is there a way to unblock them?
Also, any current way to enable to AA/AF at all?

- How does the "vanilla" game look (i.e. no graphical mods)?

- General performance to be expected on the set-up in my sig?

Both my wife and I are hardcore gamers, and she never got a chance to play on X360 but watched all the time, and would like to play it on PC as well, though her system isn't quite as powerful as mine.

Thanks in advance for any info!

Edit: I've also heard that the Steam version still uses/installs GFWL. Is this true? Can it be removed without causing the game to not launch?
Supposedly there's a method to do so, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle.
 
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I've heard with any version of GTAIV, you get 15 install tokens which must be revoked between installs to be used again. Of course this mean it has online product activation. The game should run great on your system, I have no problems with it on mine.
 
They removed a lot of the login junk on a recent patch. It's straightforward now. No DRM that I can see.

All mods work (as long as they compatible with the latest official patches) including ones that make the game look and play many times better than it could ever look on console. Why would very high settings be locked out?

Your rig should be able to handle it fine @ 1920x1200 at max settings. YMMV depending on what mods you choose as the main limitation in your rig is actually the GTX 580 only having 1.5GB of videoram and GTA IV loves videoram. At higher resolutions and with texture packs and AA enabled through something like ENBseries, 2GB of vram is useful. Also comes in handy if you want to do multi-monitor surround which works with this game.

The problem with the steam version of GTA IV if you want to use ENBseries (which is the one mod that does the best thing for GTA IV in terms of overall graphics including shader modification and importantly AA support through massive supersampling) is that the Russian coder for it doesn't want to port it over to the latest patch - and that's what you'll get on the steam version.

Personally, an ideal rig for playing GTA IV with beautiful AA without supersampling would be to use an AMD card with morphological anti-aliasing.

Sadly, as you have the Steam version and a GTX 580, none of the AA options with this game (and they help a lot) are available to you. ENBseries actually works by rendering your game at twice it's actual resolution and then rasterizing it to your real resolution.

ENBSeries GTAIV gallery: http://enbdev.com/ss_gta4_01_en.htm
some more shots here
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1035899025&postcount=2
Video of ENBseries in HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK9nI2kiYmU&feature=related

I'd also recommend the first person mod:
http://www.gtagaming.com/downloads/gta-iv/script-mods/2635

Video of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GviSjAcsIrM (look on youtube for more)
 
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I've been playing it recently on high settings on my laptop with no problems while I am deployed (Steam Version). I'm playing vanilla till I beat the game then I will try some mods. I do miss playing it on my Eyefinity PC though. Eyefinity makes it easier to see where you are going when driving araound corners and it looks great too. Transfering saves between PC's can be annoying due to Games For Windows but it is feasible if you Google how to do it or I can post the info if someone needs it.
 
@ space : I thought you can't use ENB series mod anymore, did they update it ?

edit : nevermind i didn't read your whole post.


Vanilla looks fine aside from some low resolution lightmap and an INSANE amount of jaggies, i really envy 69xx users and their MLAA right now ......

I remember performance was pretty much ok on a 3.3ghz E6600 and a slightly overclocked gtx260 in XP after some fiddling, but from what i've heard it went downhill after 1.0.4.0 patch.
 
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Spare-Flair said:
They removed a lot of the login junk on a recent patch. It's straightforward now. No DRM that I can see.
Click to expand...

As I already mentioned in this thread, GTAIV has at least 2 forms of DRM.
#1 Online Product Activation
#1 Steam online check/DVD check
 
So is it a general consensus that most of the good mods, aside from ENBseries, work on the most recent patch? I have the Steam version and I'd be interested in playing through again with the first person mod...although I do have the disc version as well, which I plan on using with ENBseries at some point.
 
imyourzero said:
So is it a general consensus that most of the good mods, aside from ENBseries, work on the most recent patch? I have the Steam version and I'd be interested in playing through again with the first person mod...although I do have the disc version as well, which I plan on using with ENBseries at some point.
Click to expand...

If your so concerned about performance then I wouldn't bother using mods.
 
ZodaEX said:
If your so concerned about performance then I wouldn't bother using mods.
Click to expand...

With his rig, he should be fine with almost any mod. He could use slightly more VRAM but it's no big deal. I wouldn't play the game without AA though (either ENBseries or MLAA). Thank god for MLAA.
 
It seems lots of mods haven't been updated to work with recent patches though I haven't checked recently (as in the past month or so). I know ENB Series and a lot of programs used to install other mods like car models and such haven't been updated with the latest versions. I for one have been dying to use the ENB Series mod, but the guy just hasn't updated it. Visual IV and others work great and enhance the game a bit, but GTA IV is just downright ugly without any mods, even with most settings nearly maxed out. Game runs great on my rig so if yours is similar or better than you should be fine.
 
I bought GTA IV retail and on Steam ($7 on sale, couldn't pass it up.)

Use the STEAM version for MP and the retail version for mods
 
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