I just got Grand Theft Auto III...

[svtcobra]

Originally posted by lokem
I was just about to complain about the speed. I have the same machine as you, except a different vid card (GF2MX). I'm running at a pathetic 640x480x16.

I really wish they can do something about the performance!!!

Isnt it terrible, Lokem? I cant believe my system has been brought to its knees by this game. I have a 18" LCD so if I run the game at 800x600 it runs like garbage. I'll try the patch and see if it helps out with the sound.

 

[Tweakster]

System Geforce3 (Nvidia) on 2xAGP.
1000Mhz Pentium
256MB ram 133hz (pants cheap stuff)
Sound Blaster Live WDM

I run at 1024 x 468 at 32bit. EAX sound and full view distance.

Tips i think will help.

Defrag Harddisk, set computer role as server. Turn off Antianilising (geforce2 / 3). Lower sound quality settings in windows or change what driver is used for soundcard in GTA3 :EAX, direct sound etc(find whats best for your card).

 

[lokem]

Originally posted by svtcobra Isnt it terrible, Lokem? I cant believe my system has been brought to its knees by this game. I have a 18" LCD so if I run the game at 800x600 it runs like garbage. I'll try the patch and see if it helps out with the sound.

It most definitely is. I've a 19" CRT and the game looks like crap compared to the screenies {g}

BTW, what patch are you trying out?

BTW2, anyone knows why I can't select Creative EAX on my SB PCI128 sound card? I can only choose Miles Audio and the Software option. Using the audio drivers that came with Win XP.

 

[PHATMAN5050]

I've got the AMD Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6 ghz), ATI Radeon 64mb DDR, 256mb PC2100 DDR and this game kills my ego about my computer. I have it running at 1024x768 32 and it will run fine and then get slow and then better and slow. I guess i'll try with a lower resolution...

 

[LNCPapa]

Runs great for me!
<--- What a butthead

LNCPapa

 

[lokem]

Originally posted by PHATMAN5050
I've got the AMD Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6 ghz), ATI Radeon 64mb DDR, 256mb PC2100 DDR and this game kills my ego about my computer. I have it running at 1024x768 32 and it will run fine and then get slow and then better and slow. I guess i'll try with a lower resolution...

Seems like this game could be more demanding than Doom III {g}

Anyway, as for your inconsistent speed problem; do you have the Frame Limiter turned OFF? I experience that when the Frame Limiter option is turned OFF. Give it a try by turning in ON.

 

[Spliffmeister]

Originally posted by lokem



BTW2, anyone knows why I can't select Creative EAX on my SB PCI128 sound card? I can only choose Miles Audio and the Software option. Using the audio drivers that came with Win XP.

I might be teaching you how to suck eggs but there are two EAX settings in the sound options screen - one worked and the other didn't - If my memory serves me correct , 1 was EAX2 which shouldn't work on your soundcard.

hope that helps.

 

[lokem]

Originally posted by Spliffmeister


I might be teaching you how to suck eggs but there are two EAX settings in the sound options screen - one worked and the other didn't - If my memory serves me correct , 1 was EAX2 which shouldn't work on your soundcard.

hope that helps.

I've tried both and also Direct Sound Hardware. None of them works

 

[Spliffmeister]

This might help - there are a couple of sound solutions here.... have you installed the latest drivers for your soundcard?

 

[svtcobra]

Lokem, the patch is the MS D3D upgrade that Spliff linked earlier.

Alright, I havent posted in a day or so because I am finally playing. Here are my settings:

Graphics: 800x600x32. I know its low but the game runs very smooth. I enabled the frame limiter and disabled Trails. I set the draw distance low, maybe 4, and turned off Frame Sync (Im trying to do this from memory so I dont if it is called frame sync).

Sound: I d'loaded the most recent Win XP drivers and then selected the Creative EAX Hardware setting and the sound is now perfect. I think my older drivers were having a hardtime with the game.

Spliffmeister linked a tweak guide at Seagrave.org in an earlier post and it definately helps. Its not TS quality but it is good for now.

I am going to trying running the game at 1024x768x32 to see how it plays but I think Im going to get "Phatlike" results.


One other thing as well, PC Gamer reviewed GTAIII and they said that they ran the game fine on a PIII 667 @ 1600x1200. I think they are full of it because the game doesnt support that resolution and there is no way that a PIII of any speed could run this game respectable at 1600x1200. They attribute the great game performance to the "Geforce 3" they are using but I think they are full of it. The review was decent and the author even gave a few tips on how to kill Chong at the Noodle Stand.

 

[lokem]

svtcobra: I've patched my system with that patch a while ago. Performance still isn't what I expected. Oh well, time to get a vid card upgrade {g}

 

[svtcobra]

Originally posted by lokem
svtcobra: I've patched my system with that patch a while ago. Performance still isn't what I expected. Oh well, time to get a vid card upgrade {g}

Dont you love it when "a" game makes you upgrade your system. 50.00 for the game and a couple of hundred in upgrades to play it. Its too much...

 

[lokem]

Originally posted by svtcobra Dont you love it when "a" game makes you upgrade your system. 50.00 for the game and a couple of hundred in upgrades to play it. Its too much...

I just "love" it I just installed Creative's drivers for my sound card and I'm using EAX as the sound device. The game speed seem to have improved. Guess I'll try 800x600x16 now :dead:

 

[TS | Thomas]

Originally posted by Spliffmeister
There have been reported bugs for anyone running XP - such as menus disappearing amongst other anomalies, there is a patch for this availablehere from knowledge base. There is also a tweak guide available here from seagrave.org, although I'm sure it will never be as good as anything TS will publish.

Heh, well, have to buy the game first

 

[SleeperDC]

this game really loads alot of things when you are driving around.
after i format and reinstall my win2k, it runs much smoother.

as they said in the "readme" defeg your HD if you found it choppy when you are driving around, it really helped

 

[svtcobra]

The biggest performance improvement has been d'loading the no-cd patch from gamecopyworld.com and copying the audio file from the CD onto the hard drive.


This has helped out with my performance alot.

 

[lokem]

The biggest perf improvement for me was installing Creative's drivers for my SB AudioPCI and turning on EAX. Although the sound is a bit odd, but the performance does seem to have increased. I can even play it on 800x600x16

 

[svtcobra]

Good to hear that you have the game playing well, Lokem. ITs a real chore to get it configured right.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

GeForce owners:
It seems to run quite well with Detonator 28.32 drivers.
Way better than 21.83, at least.

 

[Tweakster]

Gta3 Model Change )

This is the first Nude patch out for GTA3.

http://www.svenimania.com/sveni/m_dl_gta3-eng.htm

 

[svtcobra]

Thanks Tweakster for the patch...Very Cool!

 

[SleeperDC]

the new ATI Catalyst really improves the frame rate!
it's a MUST for those Radeon owners!!

 

[Tweakster]

NEW Offical patch is out:

http://www.take2games.com/index.php?p=support_patches

Grand Theft Auto III
Patch 1.1


Contents

Zip file "GTA3patch1.1.zip" containing

gta3patch.exe
gta3patch.txt (this file)


Installation

Start gta3patch.exe.
After clicking next twice, browse to your installed Grand Theft Auto III directory (the directory where GTA3.EXE resides) and click next.
The patch will check for the presence of your GTA3.EXE file. If the patch finds an un-modified GTA3.EXE, then this file will be updated to version 1.1, otherwise no patching can occur.
Click start to begin the update process.
After patching click exit.


The only file changed by this patch is GTA3.EXE which is upgraded to version 1.1

Save game and setting files are carried forward with no issues.


Changes-

- Exception error after blue Rockstar load screen fixed.

- Error loading saved games fixed.

- Mouse sensitivity now saved with other settings (no changes made to existing settings).

- Option for user to play audio files directly from hard disk. Copy the contents of the PLAY discs Audio directory into your installed Grand Theft Auto III Audio directory. Grand Theft Auto III still requires the presence of the PLAY disc when started. This may give better performance on some machines (though worse on others).

- All protection checks (apart from needing PLAY disc to start) removed. Grand Theft Auto III still checks for the presence of the PLAY disc when initially started, and plays audio from the PLAY disc if not found on the hard disk (see above).

 

[Spliffmeister]

thanks for that Tweakster...

 

[PHATMAN5050]

After i did the no-cd patch it now says that the GTAIII.exe has no version. Anyone else getting this?