If you have a computer and plan to play Grand Theft Auto iv on pc.
People are reading forums on how to resolve issues with their game. They are gathering information from people who do not know what they are talking about. I will help you with just a couple steps. First you have to understand that the person who claimed GTAIV pc has a memory leak, has no clue what he/she is talking about and should clearly be labeled the planets biggest idiot. All planets need an idiot.
The fix, is the same fix for all games using a new architecture/engine. Here is the fix.
Go to the website for the manufacturer of your motherboard. Download all drivers for your motherboard.
Go to the website for the manufacturer of your video card.
Now before installing the new drivers, you must uninstall all the drivers you currently have installed. I usually disabled the plug and play option in Control PanelAdministrative Toolsservices. Of course I do this on Vista because it keeps trying to install some crummy drivers when I reboot after an uninstall. You really shouldn’t need that, but if you do, you know how.
Ok after the uninstall reboot your computer, and now install your drivers one by one, rebooting after each driver installed. On the final driver install, instead of rebooting, shut down your pc. When the pc is off, unplug the power to it. Clean up all the dust in all of your heatsinks (cpu,gpu,northbridge,south etc) clean your memory sticks. Remove all dust out of your pc. Make sure your air flow is heavy through your case.
The way I do that is, at the back of the pc where you see the 80 mm fans. There is like a grill around those. Since I don’t have a 2 year old kid in my house, I snip those grills out. This drops my temperature by about 2-5 degrees C . Here’s more on the subject.
And the last thing for you. DON’T OVERCLOCK YOUR MACHINE, unless you know what you are doing.
I am a regular user at the gtaforums located at gtaforums.com. 100% of the memory leak complaints there, have been resolved with driver issues,heat issues, or the moron tried to overclock and did not want to face the fact that his computer was the issue, not the game.
In the end, this help post will get you playing Grand Theft Auto IV, that simple. The game works fine. Maintain your rig or go back to the console gaming. The cause is not overclocking it’s self, but poor overclocking could be a factor. If your machine is overclocked, set your o/c items back to default and give the game a go. If you can get the game running with your parts clocked to normal, gradually work your way back up in o/c until you reach a stable setting.
How? As if you are overclocking your video card, move each slider (depending on the tool you are using) up by 5mhz, test the game, move up 5 more, test the game and so on till you get a crash. After crash, move sliders back three. When it stables out, move forward one, if it crashes move it back one. and so on. Helpful posts
Same with bios / cmos settings with memory and cpu. Except not with sliders of course. Yes it is tedious but it resolves your issue.
Here is a lesson in how to adjust your settings for smooth video play
And here is the whole help page from Rockstar.
Note: You must have Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed PRIOR to installing and running
Grand Theft Auto IV PC.
Right-click ‘My Computer –> Properties’ to see if you have the latest Service Packs installed, and if not check Windows Update and download before trying to install the game.
To help you understand that. It means that if you installed the latest service pack for your operating system AFTER you installed GTAIV. It would be wise if you uninstall the game and delete all folders now. and reinstall the game.
Somewhere there was talk of resetting your registry but I haven’t had to study that. I will look into it if needed. Yes it sounds like a hassle, but it does tell you on the box what the required service pack would be. Fyi windows xp 64 , you have to have service pack 2, or it will tell you it’s an incompatible operating system. 64 is not listed in the req area :-(
It does work though.