Forums > Game Talk > GTA IV for Windows
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/6/2008 11:41 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
This has to be one of the most shameless PC game releases of all times. Let's have a look at what is required before being able to play the game:
- Install all Windows Service Packs (mandatory)
- Install Games for Windows Live client
- Update Games for Windows Live client
- Register for an account with Games for Windows Live
- Install Rockstar Social Club client
- Register for an account with Rockstar Social Club
- Connect the Windows Live and Rockstar Club accounts
- Install game (taking about 30min from 2 DVDs, and installing SecuROM malware)
- Go through an online activation procedure
- Still be forced to keep DVD in drive while playing
And the best part? If you have an ATI graphics card in your machine (which probably is the case for about 50% of all PCs,) chances are that you won't be able to play the game anyway!
So let me get the facts straight: Rockstar Games proudly announced that they paid USD 200,000$ for the SecuROM copy protection with online activation, and that it is "uncrackable". Of course, a confirmed and working crack was available Dec 5th. Once again, only shortly after the release, loyal buyers are the only ones punished by the DRM. However, they did NOT have enough money to test the game on a few machines with ATI graphics cards? What the hell is going on here?
Steam, and even some huge German shops (Media Markt) are offering refunds on the game, which they normally don't do for software under any circumstances. Meanwhile, the rating distribution at Amazon starts to look a lot like that of Spore.
This is a complete disaster and I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more about it. At least they won't be blaming the bad sales on piracy as they always do, because after all, they have an uncrackable copy protection!
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/7/2008 1:58 AM · Permalink · Report
Jeeeeeeeeeeeeez... It's a good thing I lost any interest in the series by the midpoint of Vice City then =P
â- (1623) on 12/7/2008 4:20 AM · Permalink · Report
Also, it's funny that, in order to make it look like the console versions, you need 2.5 GB of RAM on Vista, while PS3/X360 run it smoothly with 256/512 MB.... Hooray to PC gaming!
Well, it doesn't affect me, since I gave up on the series since GTA2, which saved me lots of time! 8D
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/7/2008 12:08 PM · Permalink · Report
In Slashdot there are some interesting links to check too, specifically on the technical problems.
Summarizing, some people suggest that the errors come from the very SecuROM, as software is usually tested DRM-free, and the copy protection is not added until days before the release. It has also been suggested that Christmas always force buggy releases. In addition to this, I find worth mentioning that graphically, GTA IV is prepared for PCs of the future. That is, some of the graphics options are blocked for hardware of today, just like that.
People from Rockstar also suggest that plenty of flawed copies of the game have been leaked to the P2P networks, threatening anybody daring to bypass the DRM of the game (even if they own one).
This is already too much to accept. They fill us with ads and videos about their games, even months upon months before the release, push back the release date again and again, release the game full of bugs that can even be noticed with less than an hour of playing, develop the games for ultra high end computers, enslave us with the DRM, make us pay for the ads and the anticopy measures taken and most of the times the games doesn't even worth it. I really wanted to buy this game, now I have money to pay for some games a year and I wanted to award Rockstar for all the good times playing GTA games. Everybody say this when things like this come to light, but I'm not buying this game, I'm downloading it. And I'm really going to check if any game I want to buy has DRM or not, before buying it. I don't even know if I want to play the game now considering the full graphical experience is forbidden for me until I buy a new computer.
GTA IV was a game I wanted to buy even if it didn't satisfy me, instead of playing it before buying it, but not even with GTA IV. It's a GTA, millions of people would buy it no matter what. How many people has bought the console version?, 20 million? What for does it need a copy protection at all?? Fuck Rockstar and fuck the videogame industry, I'm not going to feel guilty at all downloading games from now on!
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/7/2008 7:03 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MichaelPalin wrote--] People from Rockstar also suggest that plenty of flawed copies of the game have been leaked to the P2P networks, threatening anybody daring to bypass the DRM of the game (even if they own one). [/Q --end MichaelPalin wrote--] That's not the first time I heard that sort of thing. It looks like that's the new excuse for releasing broken games. "What it doesn't work? Then you're probably playing a pirated version lol"
St. Martyne (3648) on 12/7/2008 9:23 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MichaelPalin wrote--]That is, some of the graphics options are blocked for hardware of today, just like that. [/Q --end MichaelPalin wrote--]
I've read somewhere that you need at least 1Gb of video memory just to switch the Texture quality on high. I wonder if it looks as good as it sounds.
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/7/2008 10:06 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MichaelPalin wrote--]In addition to this, I find worth mentioning that graphically, GTA IV is prepared for PCs of the future. That is, some of the graphics options are blocked for hardware of today, just like that.[/Q --end MichaelPalin wrote--]
It's not blocked, that was a misunderstanding. Rockstar just thought that users shouldn't have to make all the decisions, so many of the graphics settings (those you seemingly cannot change) are tied to the screen resolution. Meaning "if you can't run the game on a higher resolution than that, you won't need this feature either." It's a bit weird, but I personally don't worry about it because, as they said, pretty much everything above the minimum settings is already a bonus improvement compared to the console versions.
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/8/2008 1:32 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Daniel Saner wrote--]Rockstar just thought that users shouldn't have to make all the decisions, so many of the graphics settings (those you seemingly cannot change) are tied to the screen resolution. Meaning "if you can't run the game on a higher resolution than that, you won't need this feature either." [/Q --end Daniel Saner wrote--] If what you say is right, it's about the most retarded thing I heard in my life. The great thing about pc gaming is precisely being able to fiddle with graphics settings so to get the performance-quality compromise of one's liking.
Indra was here (20756) on 12/7/2008 7:02 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Daniel Saner wrote--] This is a complete disaster and I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more about it. At least they won't be blaming the bad sales on piracy as they always do, because after all, they have an uncrackable copy protection! [/Q --end Daniel Saner wrote--]
If I suddenly review the game, then you'll all know how great the copy protection is. :p
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/7/2008 10:03 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
I've tried the crack (on my original version, I will never activate a game, and want to make sure none of my problems are DRM-related.) And I can tell you this: it takes 1 second to download and 2 seconds to apply. Someone in another forum has put it in a nice way:
27 kB > $200,000
Indra was here (20756) on 12/11/2008 5:15 PM · Permalink · Report
Update.
GTA IV found in PC gaming stores in Indonesia. Which means that the game has been officially cracked. Yay!
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/11/2008 7:29 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari wrote--]GTA IV found in PC gaming stores in Indonesia. Which means that the game has been officially cracked. Yay! [/Q --end Indra Depari of 'da Clan Depari wrote--]
Hehe, they should have done it like in India then. There, the original costs only about 10 US$, so people would by the original instead of an illegal copy. The game can then only be activated from within India though.
Indra was here (20756) on 12/11/2008 7:37 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Daniel Saner wrote--]Hehe, they should have done it like in India then. There, the original costs only about 10 US$, so people would by the original instead of an illegal copy. The game can then only be activated from within India though. [/Q --end Daniel Saner wrote--]
Now there's a country with a goddamn vision! Ten bucks sounds feasible for most pirate-invested 3rd world country (GDP depending).
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/14/2008 1:15 AM · Permalink · Report
Good news! There's a patch available!
Bad news! The patch breaks the game! XD
St. Martyne (3648) on 12/14/2008 11:35 AM · Permalink · Report
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first two hours of the game. It ran quite smoothly with practically no issues on a really high-end setup. Anyway, the game turned out to be very impressive. I just didn't expect it to be so good. It had so many great design decisions, that somewhere in the middle I just stopped counting and enjoyed the flow. Literally every gripe I had with the series is rectified in GTAiv and improved with many things that I didn't even think about.
Now it making me plan a robbery to make it playable on my home PC. ;-)
It's really a shame that the game was released in this sorry state, but it's still a game of a highest calibre and a very strong game of the year contender.
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/26/2008 3:22 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Père Mà rtyne Le Jedi wrote--]It's really a shame that the game was released in this sorry state, but it's still a game of a highest calibre and a very strong game of the year contender. [/Q --end Père Mà rtyne Le Jedi wrote--]
I totally agree with you, although it's got a bit of a bitter taste. I was upset when my game magazine of choice came to the conclusion that the game gives you a lot of technical trouble, but they could overlook most of it considering how good the game itself was. But now that I'm playing it myself I can't help but feel the same way a bit.
The real mistake they made was probably just spending $200,000 too much on DRM and $200,000 too little on QA. Management's fault.
Apart from that R* Toronto didn't do too bad of a job I think. DirectInput support should have been there from the get-go, and it should have been made more clear in-game that the idea is not to crank up all graphics settings to their max on current systems (which is fair game in my opinion, OFP did it too,) then it won't run too badly. And anyway, find another PC game that looks as good - I'm not talking about pure technical aspects of the graphics, but the big seamless game world, how much is going on in it, and how detailed it is.
I just hope R learned some lessons from all the bad publicity the release got, and doesn't blame everything on the pirates or the dying PC games market again. Yes, that wouldn't even make any sense, but I'm sure they would find a way to explain it. PC game publishers have a history of getting everything wrong. Although I must admit I always thought R were smarter.
Boo Ness on 12/20/2008 8:47 AM · Permalink · Report
Guys, don't buy the PC version.
After playing it once, it broke my NVIDIA 8800GT card - fried it completely. I had to request a video card replacement from the manufacturer. The RMA is being processed, but that left me without a desktop computer for 1 week so far.
To add insult to injury, Take Two Interactive never responded to my technical support requests, EVEN AFTER, telling them that their software broke my card. Furthermore, I can't uninstall the game, some stupid SecuROM errors.
This Take Two Interactive is a scam.
Please don't buy this software.
Anybody want to join in to file a Class Action suit against Take Two Interactive?
Slug Camargo (583) on 12/21/2008 11:24 PM · Permalink · Report
How do you know it was the game? I mean, provided you're observing certain basic safety measures, video cards -and certainly high-end ones- usually will drop down some clocks or even crash whenever they smell smoke --and a bsod is always preferable to a fried chip, certainly.
That's what my card does, at least.
Daniel Saner (3503) on 12/26/2008 3:10 PM · Permalink · Report
Yes, what Dr. Von Katze said. It's pretty likely that it was a coincidence that you were currently playing GTA IV while your card died. Every program only has certain ways of accessing the graphics hardware, like GTA IV which runs on DirectX, it can only do what DirectX allows it to do.
Modern graphics cards should not just die like that, even if they're overclocked. They should shut down automatically before it's too late. Of course there's always a small probability that such safety measures fail, which they obviously did in your case. But the only fault of GTA IV was probably to be very demanding and putting a heavy load on your graphics card, making it fail now instead of later while maybe running another game. If you could break cards with code, freakin' virus programmers would go crazy with it!
You have reasons to be angry at Rockstar, but in this particular case, I think you should direct your anger towards nVIDIA.
Jeroen Verplancke on 12/27/2008 12:06 AM · Permalink · Report
I installed this pos and deinstalled 2 hours later. Those 2 hours were all lost in trying to find out why this game looks so fubar while I have quite a respectfull pc. Maybe not top notch but its a nvid9600gt (2gb ram winxp sp3) which should be enough, it runs a lot of other games flawlessly... and its not that it looks good but stutters, it absolutely looks like garbage...
I installed the gta4 nvid patch which upped the framerate a little but it still stutters and it still looks like crap...
I loved San Andreas but I have no clue what Rockstar was thinking here...