GTA 4 trainwreck

[Gypsy_Joker]

did anybody else have the worst time trying to install and play GTA 4, i have the game on disk and through steam and it was a nightmare to setup and run, now i know what was wrong but years ago when i bought the game i didn't know anything about computers so it took hours of googling and hair pulling to install. heres the pain i suffered, hopefully it will be useful for you.

installing on disk: Rockstar screwed up a bit with the disk version as the game was just a really bad optimized port of the console version, which was fixed in a later patch but my disk version had didn't have the updated patch and the installer never mentioned updates, anyway so i finally got the games installed and i launched it, to get a make a social club account, fair enough it had multiplayer features so i did that, then it told me i couldn't play without windows live, now i dont know if this program is any god now but let me say it was rubbish then, it wouldn't recognize my Hotmail, so i had to make another one then it demanded a parent email which HAD to be Microsoft so i had to make 2 bloody email addresses to for windows live so i could save my game... only to find i couldnt get more than 20 fps and it stuttered because rockstar didn't patch it properly. This all happend around 2 years ago, and i though recently i would like to play it again, only to find that the game wont support windows 8 AT ALL, so after installing the game wouldn't even open because it had compatibility issues... i even tried running it with compatibility mode and that didn't work either. so i bought it through steam cos it was dirt cheap and i was getting desperate at this point, and it still didnt work steam never mentioned that it will not work on windows 8... but i eventually found a solution, it had something to do with stupid windows live, i had to add 2 scripts into the games files named XLivless. these basically disabled windows live and let it run on windows 8. My big question to Rockstar is............ what was going through their minds when they decided to make millions of copies of the game that had a version of the game that wouldn't run on ANYBODIES computer. and why would they MAKE us create a rockstar account only to have use stupid windows live aswell!

There thats my rant for the day...

If anyone is having the same problem: Update your game
                                                             google Xliveless and place these into your game files
This will also make using a rockstar social club account optional if you only want single player.

[DaveLembke]

My big question to Rockstar is............ what was going through their minds when they decided to make millions of copies of the game that had a version of the game that wouldn't run on ANYBODIES computer. and why would they MAKE us create a rockstar account only to have use stupid windows live aswell!

Well... I dont recall "they decided to make millions of copies of the game that had a version of the game that wouldn't run on ANYBODIES computer". It ran ok on my system Windows XP Home without any issues and it was a Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz CPU and Geforce BFG 8800GT GPU and 3GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM. But in manufacturing of just about everything there is a pressure to get stuff released to start collecting money on it after all the money was spent invested into it.

I worked for a company one time that even had to make a shipment of product in order to get paid in order to be able to pay payroll and we had a shortage of 9 volt battery terminals for Caller ID systems that the company manufactured in the early 1990s. So to get paid and pay payroll. The owner of the company demanded that we box up and ship out the product. The product was junk because it would not work without the 9 volt battery terminal with a battery attached to power it. He got paid for product that he knew was not going to function and we got our paychecks. Then customers bought the Caller IDs and sent them back in and it was a simple apology... ooops sorry. And we shipped them a new one or added the 9 volt battery terminal to the Caller ID and tested it and shipped it out to them. I ended up leaving that company when paychecks started bouncing and the owner got into serious legal issues with a woman that he gave improper suggestion to.

I bought GTA4 and never had a problem with mine. I had a windows live account from having to register another video game that required it. I keep a little notebook with stuff like windows live account and alias accounts for games I registered etc.

The only GTA title I had issues with was Vice City back around 2003 when I bought a brand new HP Pavilion Pentium 4 2.00Ghz which was a $999 computer for $719 on clearance because it was a returned computer at staples. I got it home and found out that GTA Vice City would just show the loading icon pointer and then bail out back to Windows XP Home. Further inspection of system I found out that the Intel 845GL graphics with 64MB wasnt enough. So I opened up the case to install an AGP video card. GREAT!!! NO AGP SLOT!!!! Go back to store and return AGP nVidia FX5200 and find a PCI video card that would run it. All they had was the GeForce 4 MX440 64MB. This was listed as supported for Vice City. Bought video card and started game. Performance was so poor. The PCI bus was choking off the performance. Sold this computer a few months after owning it for a heavy loss at $400. Took $400 and applied it to a Compaq Presario S6030NX Athlon XP 2800+ system for $549 from Radio Shack, just buying the tower without monitor and extras, that had an AGP slot. Bought the nVidia FX5200 128MB AGP video card and was then able to finally play GTA Vice City without any problems. So only problem ever with a GTA title was that a brand new computer couldnt run it because it needed a computer with a good graphics processor and Pentium 3 800Mhz or better I think the specs were, and the Pentium 4 2000Mhz with 512MB DDR 266Mhz RAM, and integrated Intel 845GL 64MB wasnt powerful enough for it, and HP were total idiots to buy motherboards with no AGP slot yet there was a location on the motherboard to have an AGP slot but none populated there to save 50 cents on the motherboard cost or something like that. Looked as if HP stated they wanted to buy a board from a board manufacturer but we want cheaper boards for our systems so please remove the AGP slots for the batch of boards you ship to us and this way we can get the boards just a hair cheaper. HP saving maybe 50 cents cost me $319. Before I bought the Compaq Presario from Radio shack I requested to open the cover and look inside and the guy at Radio Shack said sure. I looked in and saw the AGP slot and said I'll buy it!

[BC_Programmer]

GTA IV Runs fine on Windows 8.1 for me. I don't remember any problems with Windows Live (beyond being stupid and making save files harder to move to a new PC) Or Performance issues (Ran without issue on Q8200+Geforce 9800GT and 8GB RAM)

[Gypsy_Joker]

i read lots of people having issues with it, i tried running it on a custom built core i5 4460 8 gb ram and a gtx 660 and it was unplayable until i updated it. Those troubles with Vice city would have been very annoying, gta 3 and vice city were a bit before my time, my first GTA games was vice city stories on the PSP i didnt start playing games on a computer until 2012, and i started with San Andreas, but i have had no other issues with any other gta game only gta 4. I still dont know why they even used windows live, since they were already using their social club. perhaps social club wasn't ready for multiplayer then, im not sure. It was just a bit painful to sign up for 2 different services only to play single player...

[Steve M]

I bought a second hand version of GTA4, and I'm using windows 8. This was a few months ago. I installed it but when I click on the icon it says "No disc inserted" even though the disc IS inserted. Can anyone help me?

[DaveLembke]

I bought a second hand version of GTA4, and I'm using windows 8. This was a few months ago. I installed it but when I click on the icon it says "No disc inserted" even though the disc IS inserted. Can anyone help me?

This is common with 2 conditions... #1 The Drive or Disc is damaged. #2 the Disc is copy of the original and is failing the anti-piracy feature that verifies that the disc is original. If other discs are fine in the drive  and the disc isnt damaged then its probably #2 as the problem.

Where did you buy this second hand disc?

[Steve M]

This is common with 2 conditions... #1 The Drive or Disc is damaged. #2 the Disc is copy of the original and is failing the anti-piracy feature that verifies that the disc is original. If other discs are fine in the drive  and the disc isnt damaged then its probably #2 as the problem.

Where did you buy this second hand disc?

It was bought from a chain of stores called CEX, they have a lot of shops selling second hand electrical goods. All the pakheging is there and the discs have the GTA pictures on them. Nobody would bother going to so much effort to pirate it for the sake of a few quid. It seems genuine. Last time I tried the disc sometimes it says there is no disc, other times it comes up with a log in box for the Rockstar social club, but won't let me create an account.

[Salmon Trout]

CEX is a UK chain of stores that sell used hardware and software. Some comments I have found

last time i was a customer there was when they still sold imports & even then they were hardly great. Nowdays the shops are just good places for chavs & crackheads to offload stolen games & mobiles. Online is even worse as their condition ratings are a minefield of lies.

Im amazed people still shop there to be honest.

Used to buy psp games from them and some even turned up with a fake plastic case with no manual and a poorly printed black and white cover!

Even instore practically everything but blu rays are full of scratches. I wouldnt bother.

I didnt go near my local stores for ages, they were selling ps2 games for about £2 with reprinted covers that looked very much like pirated games and very bad ones at that, i highlighted this to them online and they claimed that they were reprinted by the store as a 'security measure' even though the case you take to the till just gets a manual (if it exists) and disc added to it.

[Steve M]

The game does seem genuine but may be faulty for some other reason. At the same time I bought GTA4 I also got the previous Fallout game from them, but had to take it back because one of the discs was missing!

[Salmon Trout]

CEX has got a name for selling scratched or otherwise damaged disks.

[Steve M]

Well, I'll put the game to one side for the moment. Life's too short (even though I really would like to play it). For some reason, when I boot my computer up I get the Rockstar Social club log in box popping up. How do I stop it doing that?

[Kikobrian55]

Why did not you buy the GTA game on-line in its official site?

[Salmon Trout]

Kikobrian55, you are reviving a lot of dead threads.