IV:MP low FPS and random lagging

[Luke]

Okay so I have upgraded my PC numerous times now. To the point where I have spent over £500 on a whole new PC, and well GTA IV has a very bad low FPS problem.

This PC can run BF4 Ultra 60fps, and other games with ease, but for some reason the only game I have issues with is GTA IV.

My system specs are as follows;

i5 4690k @ 4.5Ghz (OC'd)
8GB Corsair Vengence @ 1866Mhz
R9 270x (OC'd also)
1TB 7200rpm HDD
Corsair 430w PSU

My system is a pretty decent build, yet I have issues with the game, could it be that it was imported from consoles not brilliant, and may require a better GPU? Im bummed with ideas, I dont want to use commandline as its pretty pointless in my issue and I want to play the game at high settings as I know this computer has the potential, just why don't it? Ideas? Thanks.

Edit: Would also like to add that I was thinking of upgrading to a 750w Corsair with another R9 270x in crossfire, would that resolve the issue possibly?

[CharlieKasper]

I am no PC expert but its safe to say that your PSU is bottlenecking this CPU intensive game.

[Pokedude]

Try to use a commandline (May work)
Make a TXT file in the folder with the GTAIV.exe file and name it "commandline" without the quotes ofcourse.
use these commands that match your texture settings. CLICK ME!
Here is another fix: FPS Fix
and my own personnel commandline: Here.

[Ninda]

Would also like to add that I was thinking of upgrading to a 750w Corsair with another R9 270x in crossfire, would that resolve the issue possibly?

I think it will not affect too much, crossfire program might be useless for GTA4, unless you are trying to make multiple monitors view.

R9 270 is good GPU card,it can run most recent high graphic games smoothly, but somehow, GTA 4 can not detect latest GPUs dedicated memory ( Sometimes, even if you have 4GB dedicated memory in your GPU, GTA 4 will say it only 1Gb)
So like Pokedude said, you still need to put commandline.txt in your game folder then it will fix it.

Another suggestion :
1. You might need to defrag your GTA4 game folder by using Contig.exe
Some players fixed FPS problem after using it, and it gives you better performance.
How to use contig:

Spoiler for Hiden:

what is Contig ?
Contig is a single-file defragmenter that attempts to make files contiguous on disk. Its perfect for quickly optimizing files that are continuously becoming fragmented, or that you want to ensure are in as few fragments as possible. It can make your games smoother and get better performance ( works also for GTA 4 )

Using Contig :
1. Download Contig.exe
2. Extract and put contig.exe in your GTA IV game folder
3. Right click and send it to the desktop
4. Back to your desktop, right click on contig shorcut and click properties
5. Add " -s" ( space -s ) without quotes at the end of target box ( as shown on the picture )
     
6. Click ok to apply
7. Double click your contig shortcut and let the program defrags your game until it finished.
8. Run your game.

2. You can download this modded files and replace the original files with these, it will increase 10-15 FPS of your game
  Download files here : Boost FPS

[rid]

Try using commandline with only the following settings:

   -nomemrestrict (Disables memory restrictions)
   -norestrictions (Does not limit graphics settings)

This will not reduce any graphics option. It will only remove some limits that may be causing you trouble. If this does not fix it, I recommend you to not keep them, as it may result in you running out of VRAM since the game thinks you have an infinite supply of it (although that shouldn't be easy in a R9 270 if the game is stock)


For that, create a commandline.txt in your Grand Theft Auto IV directory with these two commands in separate lines, like this:

Code: [Select]

-nomemrestrict
-norestrictions

Make sure you have PowerPlay disabled / full performance mode. I'm not sure if this option is available for desktops (if it doesn't you shouldn't worry about it):



Also make sure you have your Windows plan in Performance mode:



Make sure you have the latest graphics drivers, but it probably isn't the cause.


If this still fails, I recommend you get the MSI Afterburner + RivaTuner statistics server (should be built-in) and enable the OSD view (google for that).


This will allow you to see what is being used the most ingame, CPU or GPU (and a lot of other details).

The PSU should be fine, your system probably does not reach 400W with everything under full load, and Corsairs tend to have decent Amps on their +12V rails so it shouldn't be an issue either. You may try remove the CPU overclock to see if that was causing the PSU to struggle in GTA IV (it's quite a CPU intensive game) but I bet BF4 is not easy on it either, so it probably goes just fine...


And like michelleina said, CrossFire won't do much for GTA IV. It barely works (if at all), so you're better off with a single card

[Luke]

Thanks alot guys for your reply's, I will go through all of the suggestions and post feedback. Thanks. 

[Mark]

Did you solve the issue ?

[Mark]

24 hours passed and you did not reply. I guess you solved, the thread will be locked, PM me if you want it back open.