Grand Theft Auto 4 PC Patch Detailed, Due Soon; Rockstar Estimates 1% Have GTA4 Problems

Further addressing the problems that surfaced after Grand Theft Auto IV hit PC last week, developer and publisher Rockstar has completed work on the first patch.

"We are working on making a patch available in the next few days," the studio posted on fansite GTAForums. "Since Grand Theft Auto IV is a Games For Windows - Live game the patch must be certified by Microsoft before release. The patch is already at Microsoft and we expect a speedy approval."

Support calls have indicated that "roughly around one percent" are having issues with the game, technical director Kevin Hoare IGN, stressing that the frequency of support calls is "the only thing we have to go on as far as numbers go."

"It seems like maybe these forum posters are the more outspoken percentage of the players," he noted.

"Going through certification with Microsoft and our external QA process, we didn't run into the amount of problems that the boards seemed to be saying there are," development VP Jeronimo Barrera added.

"We're seeing some of the things that people are complaining about but they're so peripheral of the target audience," Barrera continued. "We do recognize that people are having problems with this but it's not the disaster that people have it hyped up to be."

Along with the below list of changes, Rockstar and Nvidia have worked together to create specialized GTA4-friendly drivers, with new ATI drivers due December 10.

The patch contains a variety of fixes including:

• A fix to the crash after legal screen that some German customers were reporting.

• Numerous improvements to the video editor: Smarter naming of videos, improved rendering quality, better fx during replays

• Fix to bowling while using certain sensitive mice

• Fix for ATI 1900 shadows

• Overall savings to memory

• Graphic improvements to particle systems and mirrors

• Multiplayer character settings are preserved

• Support for DirectInput controllers. Note: The current hack way of supporting these controllers may not work with the improved functionality. So we recommend you remove the hack before upgrading to the patch.

Issues with power management software have also been fixed (slow speed, double speed issues). Even after the patch comes out setting power management software to maximum performance is recommended. Weve seen cases where power management software does not detect the game is running and puts the CPU in green mode.

Besides the patch we've also improved the way the Social Club handles data this should have greatly reduced or eliminated the Mma10 error. If you are still receiving this error after logging in and out of Social Club we would like to know as much info as you can about it.

Information Needed For Troubleshooting

We want everyone to experience Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC the way it was intended. To that end, we will continue to monitor the forums for any and all issues users are having, and respond whenever possible. We would greatly appreciate it if people with unresolved problems could post some information about their PC configuration in this thread for us. Please include the following information:

• Where exactly in the game you experienced the issue (start screen, while playing the game, etc.)

• What version of the game you have (retail, steam, other online store)

• What is your OS

• Benchmark info or DxDiag is also helpful

Rockstar Games Social Club Application Info

Due to the high volume of new Social Club users, some users may have experienced periods of time where they are unable to log into their Social Club account using the Rockstar Games Social Club application. If you are unable to log in using the Rockstar Games Social Club application, please skip the login process by clicking "Skip Login" or run in offline mode by clicking "Start in Offline Mode". This is meant as a temporary solution to allow users to play GTA IV PC, so please continue to periodically retry your login as we are working hard to promptly address any lapses in service.

A small number of users have reported the Rockstar Games Social Club application encountering a fatal error, preventing them from playing GTA IV PC. One possible solution is to uninstall the .NET Framework (from Add/Remove Programs) and reinstall it by downloading it from www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en. If you continue to run into fatal errors in the Rockstar Games Social Club application, please contact Rockstar Games support.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to work around the clock to resolve these issues. Support updates will continue to be posted at www.rockstargames.com/support as soon as they are available.