Bought GTA IV over steam this week and I'm happy about the game itself, not so pleased with the technical side of it.
Started out with the install throwing multiple erros while installing .net 3.0. Fixed that by downloading .net 3.0 myself, then installing the patch rockstar mentions..but the game still refused to launch (got the intro screen and then a nice black screen)
Turned out i needed to a .NET 3.0 patch from windows update (no NOT the one rockstar talks about, and yes i had SP3 long before GTA needed it)
Then having to endure the horrendous registring procedure almost made me demand a refund (social club being down constantly, live refusing to accept my yahoo email, having to make a X-box live account in the first place..for a PC! game)
Now the only annoying bug I have is the game locking up after a while.
ctrl-alt-del is the only way out...but ending the "GTA IV" process simply disables my monitor signal and then after lot of HDD-crunching shuts down the whole pc.
Totally unacceptable and I suspect it's either due to stupid copy protection or a piece of console code still being in there.
Can't alt-tab either without getting a black screen on returning to the game.
Performance wise i can't complain at all. (
[email protected]; 4gb RAM; 8800GTS 640mb)
running at 1600x1200, medium textures (can't select lower or higher), higest rendering qual
61 viewdistance
100 detaildistance
100 cardensity (gives a more lively and metropolitan feel imo)
and 16 shadow density
Don't know the exact FPS but it plays fine, with only the rare slowdown if it's raining hard while I have tons of cops or other badguys on my tail