hi guys and girls
bought gta 4, very excited etc.
installed it. screen goes black for 1 minute approx. then loads. intro vid loads, and crashes every time before the end of it. a complete system reboot!
reinstalled it. updated gpu drivers. patched gta 4 to 1.03. uninstalled microsoft framework and installed latest version (3.5). restarted etc, and i still have the same problems!!
i managed once to get as far as the game itself, but only by skipping the intro vid. it ran smoothly enough for the half minute it did actually run!
specs are:
q6600@ 2.8ghz
512mb 4850
xp service pack 3
3.2 gb of 1066mhz ram


i might well be missing something really obvious, so please share anything!
im at a loss as to what to do next, any help at all would be greatly appreciated.


cheers all

Sorry for the delay jpph!

I don't know why this wasn't picked up already.. lemme make da bump and see if we can get some answers for you.

Thanks for your patience

Hey Guys,

@ jpph, Sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble. Did you purchase a hard copy, or download it from somewhere?

If you purchased a hard copy, and are installing from a CD, then I would think that getting it returned and replaced would be the first way to go. It may be that you simply have a bad CD. In which case you could spend hours making yourself crazy for nothing.

If you replace it, and still have the same problems, then I would look at conflicts, have you tried having your Task Manager open to see what is crashing when you are installing the program?

Have you checked your error reports?

If it is downloaded, then I would try a different location if they offer it, or get them to send you a CD.

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

hey guys, thanks for replies
ladygreenwitch, yep i bought the dvd version, not pirated, and i would return it, but i was told as i bought it (i assume because they've had so many complaints) that if it doesn't work i would not be able to return it or anything, and that i had to be sure it would work.

i would reinstall xp, but i dont have the disc, but it worked for the second guy here: GTAForums.com -> Anyone using Asus P5Q Pro + ATI with GTAIV?

i just took xp from an old computer for my current one, i just pulled out the hardrive and stuck it in. a lot of people said it wouldnt work, but it did so ive just left it. however, apparently it wouldnt work cos i dont have the right xp drivers (it did work tho), but perhaps this is the cause of the crash, someone mentioned that it was likely a conflict of drivers causing it. but i dont know how to reinstall xp now, cos i dont have a disk for it. i also tried with the i386 thing, but i cant find the program to burn the disk with xp on it now.

well, i cant see what is crashing via task manager, because it either does a system crash, or else a crash to desktop with the resc10 error (which asks to reboot the system)

cheers

Hey JP, that's good to know, I find it really suspicious that the retailer told you as you were purchasing it that you couldn't return it. What kind of place did you buy this at?

OK, moving forward. Your error code is referring to your graphic's memory. Perhaps completely uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics card with new drivers ontop of SP3 would help. You have twice the minimum specs for GTA 4, so it shouldn't be giving you that error while it's just loading.

Your situation is unusual, I have never heard of the drivers just working by moving the HDD over to a new box before. There are usually problems porting from one pc to the other. You totally lucked out.

It is possible that your HDD has a partition for reinstalling to factory new. How different is this new box compared to the one the HDD came with?

Looking forward to your reply,

TTFN

LGW

thanks for replies

i bought it from a gamestop in ireland.
i have already completely uninstalled and reinstalled my gpu (short of taking it out)

by box i assume you mean pc!
my relatively new baby is completely different, i wont list my specs again as they are in the first post. my old pcs specs (it was a prebuilt hp)
amd 3800+ dual core 2.0ghz
2gb of 533mhz ram (1gb i added myself)
8600gt (i added myself, upgrading from 7300le (PUKE!!)

i am inclined to think xp is to blame for this, especially since you just mentioned it was rare to work. and apparently, only a driver conflict would cause system crashes like that. also, i get the feeling my pc underperforms a bit as well. just yesterday i was playing assassins creed and it crashed twice in the space of an hour, and every few seconds there was a quick shudder. the same thing happened in the witcher a lot. also, frame rates tended to be very low with the witcher, despite my specs being plenty (and it wasnt anything to do with settings, i tried all of them, frame rates stayed the exact same no matter what res. etc)

i think i will order a windows xp, it seems a pity to do it for one game, but i have had a host of problems, it should increase stabillity as well.

any idea where to get a cheap os?? (short of pirating:P)

just to say i've ordered windows xp professional sp 2 oem from amazon.
hopefully it will work, il report back when i have it installed etc.
cheers