Awsome JP,

No pirating here M8, just by Gamestop it appears . I think that having your XP CD will be the best thing for you in the long run. Make sure that you do all of your updates before you start trying to load your games, you will have less chance of conflicts.

We'll be looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

Hey,

What version of DX are you running? I know the game requires 9, if you have 10 there could be a conflict? Also, make sure you disable AA in your GPU driver because the game itself doesn't support it. I know that in ATi when I force AA I get a crash every time. Also, do you have good temps?

right, xp cd has arrived, and im going to do a complete reinstall. im just wondering should i reset the cmos while im at it?? and what does it actually do??

@bf2gamer, nope im using xp, so dx9, but thats an interesting point about aa. i already have the xp cd, so im going to install that anyway, but i will make sure about the aa before i play gta 4

Hey Jp,

Removing and reinstalling or replacing your CMOS battery can be helpful, I don't think it will effect your situation. That just resets the BIOS. But it couldn't hurt.

Make sure that your HDD gets wiped, if you aren't sure, I can give you some directions. Give it a try with the new CD first tho.

We'll be keeping an eye out for your reply,

TTFN

LGW

hello again
in the end i didnt clean cmos, just reset bios.
installed xp dadeda
spent a day installing all the annoying little thing like sp3, framework, drivers, patch and whatnot

anyway, load up gta 4, no stupid 2 minute black screen wait anymore. sign in to windows live etc (tho i had a hell of a problem at first, fixed now tho), and it system crashed once, crash to desktop a few times, froze twice and as a result i stll havent been able to save it once (never got that far). still its definitely an improvement.
also the shadows look absolutely awful, something is definitely wrong there, and the lack of aa makes it look just awful!

so i dont know, its an improvement, but it still runs like ****
im not sure what to do
maybe stick with oblivion for the moment!

Hey JP,

That doesn't sound like an improvement . Have you checked your RAM for errors?

Are you getting any error messages when it hangs or crashes?

Are these problems all still related to GTA 4, or are they happening at any other time?

I would also tell the makers of GTA, that you are still having these problems, you can't be the only one if the store tells you upfront you can't return it. They should be working on a patch.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

im not sure how to check for a memory error.
nope, no messages as to why the cursed thing decides to screw up every time. i tried a moment ago to start IV up, and it got stuck on the very first screen (copyright stuff) before the menu even loaded up. i had no choice but to reboot!

these problems are as far as i can tell, just IV related.