The game still runs like crap and I have a decent system. The lack of anti-aliasing is disgusting for a modern game.

The lack of anti-aliasing is really what disappointed me the most. AA support would make all the difference in the world.

Cool, I look forward to seeing if it impacts performance. I would like AA as well, but it's been made pretty clear the game will never have it. It doesn't ruin an otherwise awesome game!

What a spoilt cry baby. My game doesnt have anti-aliasing wah wah.

What use would an AA option be if performance is so bad without it? I've setting for shadows that don't look like crap.

I just played the FEAR2 demo. I know it's trying to do a very different thing, but they've really done a great job.

Is this the patch that makes me want to buy the game?

I agree that no AA is a HUGE drawback. I mean, what the hell is wrong with developers like Rock Star and Epic. Seemingly every other game supports AA.

What a spoilt cry baby. My game doesnt have anti-aliasing wah wah.

Erm, I think you better get back on your medication.

It doesn't ruin an otherwise awesome game!

Well, for me the terrible performance and poor visual quality do let it down. It's only annoying because the gameplay itself is very good. For a AAA high-budget game it really is very weak.

I mean, what the hell is wrong with developers like Rock Star and Epic. Seemingly every other game supports AA.

Exactly. It is incredibly important to visual quality and yet developers are still writing rendering paths that are incompatible. DX10.1 even makes it mandatory to support 4xAA. What's worse is that it isn't small developers working to tight budgets but large titles with hundreds of millions invested in them - the first DLC for GTAIV alone has a budget of $25m. These are the developers that should be pushing out the best quality work, not this sub-standard crap. The big insult is that the promotional images all feature high-resolution images with high levels of anti-aliasing applied, as they figured people would be happy with how shit it actually looks.

Considering the shit that you need to step in to install and play the game, I think FSAA is the least they could offer.

Glad I never pick this one up sounds like a can of worms.. Windows live WTF!

Does this add support for rebinding the right mouse button and fix the sprint bug? That's my only real complaint about the game. I think it runs fine on my system, especially considering it's over 3 years old except the video card (GTX 260). I don't get all the whining over AA either, why can't you just force AA in your video drivers? Personally I don't see the need to use AA at high res like 1680x1050. I'm too busy playing the game to be looking for jaggies on the edges of polygons.

Haven't tried it but if it runs like crap without AA, then that's the reason they didn't put AA in the game. It would literally multiply the problem by the level of AA you chose.

Haven't tried it but if it runs like crap without AA, then that's the reason they didn't put AA in the game. It would literally multiply the problem by the level of AA you chose.

Problem is, its doubtful there is no AA by choice, more like Rockstar sucks at optimizing and writing graphical engine etc... Just because it's performance blows without AA doesn't mean they didnt add AA option by choice...

I don't get all the whining over AA either, why can't you just force AA in your video drivers?

Because a) Why should I have to do that?, and b) Because it doesn't work.

Personally I don't see the need to use AA at high res like 1680x1050.

Well, that's because you obviously don't care about visual quality. Personally I do. And I also have a 22" widescreen monitor that runs at 1680x1050 and anti-aliasing is still VERY important.

I think it runs fine on my system, especially considering it's over 3 years old except the video card (GTX 260).

I like the way you say you "think" it runs "fine", which is basically just another way of saying it doesn't run very well. I have a C2D @3.4GHz, 6GB RAM and an overclocked 4870 and I find performance poor. Games like GTAIV are why console ports have such a bad reputation.

I'm too busy playing the game to be looking for jaggies on the edges of polygons.

Let's expand on that argument, shall we? What about shadows? Too busy playing. Weather? Too busy playing. Damage modelling? Too busy playing. Rockstar clearly did care about graphics - otherwise they would have simply reused the GTA3 engine - so it seems silly that they ignored anti-aliasing, an industry standard. The trouble is it's a double whammy - it looks poor and runs like crap.

NM brain damage.

This comment was edited on Jan 24, 2009, 15:24.

My game still turns into a slide show after playing for 10 minutes (sometimes less). I'm talking about 1 frame ever 2 or 3 seconds.

Problem is, its doubtful there is no AA by choice, more like Rockstar sucks at optimizing and writing graphical engine etc... Just because it's performance blows without AA doesn't mean they didnt add AA option by choice...

It's not so much incompetence as it is writing an engine for the consoles, then porting it to PC without rewriting the whole thing, which they do not deem cost effective. Console games cover up jaggies with blur and such, which is what GTA4 did on the 360. Hitting "p" adds this to the PC release, but it honestly looks worse than the jaggies.

They didn't include FSAA because the originating hardware can't handle it (consoles). You want slideshow framerates to become static frame? That is what FSAA and this game means.

It's not so much incompetence as it is writing an engine for the consoles, then porting it to PC without rewriting the whole thing

Indeed. Games like Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed, GRID and FEAR2 show that if you consider the PC properly as a platform then you can have a game that runs fine on both PC and console. They clearly didn't consider PC sensibilities when designing GTAIV, hence the poor performance and lack of basic features such as anti-aliasing. It seems strange, as every previous release has been done for PC as well... it's not like GTAIV was a surprise hit and they suddenly decided to port it.

Hitting "p" adds this to the PC release, but it honestly looks worse than the jaggies.

Yeah, it looks terrible.

Too fucking late Rockstar, I uninstalled it like 3 weeks ago.

Worst PC release ever