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ATI has released Catalyst 8.12. It might slightly improve GTA IV PC performance and fix texture problems on some ATI cards. Please post results in the comments.

TIME Magazine gave GTA IV the number one position on their 2008, Game of the Year, top 10 list.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360, PC)
2. Braid (360)
3. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
4. Rock Band 2 (360, PS3)
5. Gears of War 2 (360)
6. Dead Space (360, PS3, PC)
7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3, DS, PSP)
8. Hunted Forever (free Flash)
9. Fieldrunners (iPhone)
10. Spore (PC)

NVIDIA recommends that you update your system with the GeForce v180.84 driver for the best experience on Grand Theft Auto IV.

ATI plans to release Catalyst 8.12 on December 10th.

Rockstar Toronto posted on GTAForums.com about the patch:

Patch Is On The Way
We are working on making a patch available in the next few days. Since Grand Theft Auto IV is a Games For Windows – Live game the patch must be certified by Microsoft before release. The patch is already at Microsoft and we expect a speedy approval. The patch contains a variety of fixes including:

A fix to the crash after legal screen that some German customers were reporting.

Numerous improvements to the video editor: Smarter naming of videos, improved rendering quality, better fx during replays

Fix to bowling while using certain sensitive mice

Fix for ATI 1900 shadows

Overall savings to memory

Graphic improvements to particle systems and mirrors

Multiplayer character settings are preserved

Support for DirectInput controllers. Note: The current hack way of supporting these controllers may not work with the improved functionality. So we recommend you remove the hack before upgrading to the patch.

You should read the Rockstar’s GTA IV PC support site, if you are having problems or want to try to improve the games performance.

If you are wondering why you can’t set the game to high detail, want to know what the graphics settings were on the consoles or want to know just what to expect from the graphics auto detection then read the GTA IV graphics settings document.

Read this document for a description of the GTA IV error codes.

Press release:

Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC is now available for purchase at retail outlets and for digital download on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com ).

“We are very proud to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We have taken our time to ensure this version of the game is not just a quick port, but a perfectly tailored experience for the PC. We hope the PC gaming community appreciates all of the innovative features in the game. Grand Theft Auto began on the PC and we have tried very hard to ensure this version was worthy of that heritage.”

Developed by Rockstar Toronto in conjunction with series creator Rockstar North, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV offers a wealth of new features, including 32-player multiplayer modes – expanded from 16 on the console versions of the game; a deep, sophisticated and easy-to-use video editor tool to capture and edit in-game footage; stunning, high-resolution graphics; and the all-new Independence FM radio station that allows players to add their own songs for a truly personalized and unique in-game music experience.

Eurogamer calls Grand Theft Auto IV on PC a “genuinely ground-breaking blockbuster in video game history.”  According to popular gaming site, 1UP.com, “the upgraded visuals and improved multiplayer for what’s already been hailed as the year’s most significant game make this a PC version worth getting excited about — really excited about.”

The game has been sold early in various stores and it will officially be released on the 3rd of December in most countries. I’ve been reading various gaming forums and there have been many reports of performance issues.

The game has some hefty minimum requirements and even with the recommended requirements some systems aren’t running the game at more than 25 FPS on low detail.  There are of course people who can run the game fine but they are less likely to post on forums. There’s still a lot more testing to be done and there will be various driver updates and game patches to look forward to. Welcome to the world of PC gaming and compatibility/configuration issues!

It’s still early days, I’m sure Rockstar will comment on the issues and try their best to solve them.

Grand Theft Auto IV PC has been rated MA15+ strong violence, sex scenes, coarse language, and drug references by the Australian Classification Office. The PC game is unedited in any way and identical in content to the international version,” a local Rockstar rep said.

This is not a double standard, Rockstar edited the Australian console versions of GTA IV before making their submission to the Australian Classification board.  It is likely they just didn’t want to take any chances (they weren’t sure if it would have been refused). The changes they made were based on Rockstar’s own interpretation of the guidelines and they were stricter than they needed to be.

This time around, Rockstar must have been feeling more confident since they submitted the unedited version and luckily it received an MA15+ rating. The cuts Rockstar made to the Australian version of GTA IV on consoles may not have been necessary (it’s impossible to know for sure since the decisions made by the board are often inconsistent and the members of the board may have changed). Hopefully the 360 and PS3 uncut versions will now be legal to sell.

Source: au.gamespot.com