[karl128k]

Hello, this is my first post on these forums...so here goes:

I bought the DVD version of GTA IV and dual-boot into Windows on my Mac so that I can play. I installed the game onto a USB hard disk, in XP compatibility mode, and the game starts fine. But as soon as I begin playing, I notice that the textures of the buildings and roads (but not cars, streetlights, dumpsters, and people) are all invisible .

In the graphics settings, it claims I've used 275/60 MB (complete garbage since I have 384 MB). I also can't change any of the settings; they are locked.

My Mac meets the minimum requirements, although it uses the Intel HD 3000 graphics (with a minimum of 384 MB allocated for graphics). However, others have run this (Youtube) on my exact computer, so I know it is possible to run this game on my system. I don't care about running this on anything higher than minimum settings, just so everybody understands...

I did my research before posting. I tried commandline.txt, I tried putting the command line options in the target of a shortcut to LaunchGTAIV.exe, and I tried deleting settings.cfg. Nothing had any effect.

What did I do wrong? (And, no, my mistake was not trying to run this game on a MacBook Pro.)

[marmoo]

QUOTE

My Mac meets the minimum requirements, although it uses the Intel HD 3000 graphics

There in itself lies your problem
Integrated chips do run the game but with disappointing performance, similar to the one you are expriencing
Also, minimum requirements for this game are not a good true portrayal of an acceptable gaming experience

You are running game on a MacBook Pro
Can you put a graphics card in one of those as i know most laptops will not allow this?

what's your other spec's?

[Girish]

First of all, youtube is not reliable. Just because someone else got the game to run with the same config as yours does not mean that you'll be able to run the game too. GTA IV is quite unpredictable.

Your system clearly doesn't meet the minimum requirements. The 60MB that you see in the graphics settings is the minimum amount of VRAM that is required and assigned at system bootup. Depending upon the game and available system RAM, it'll then choose how much more RAM can be allocated to be used as total VRAM.

In your case, the commandline should help you get more resource memory for use in the graphics settings, however, issues like invisible texture and missing objects are common and have been reported by many before you. I'm afraid there's not much I can recommend to you in this case other than tinkering around with settings and updating your video drivers.

[karl128k]

QUOTE

Can you put a graphics card in one of those as i know most laptops will not allow this?

No, I can't put in a graphics card.

QUOTE

what's your other spec's?

My specs are as follows:

-2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (Dual core Sandy Bridge with Turbo Boost)
-4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM
-Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

As I hinted in my original post, an acceptable gaming experience for me is 800x600 (or 640x480 if GTA IV goes that low, which I doubt), lowest graphics settings.

QUOTE

Just because someone else got the game to run with the same config as yours does not mean that you'll be able to run the game too. GTA IV is quite unpredictable.

Plenty of people have run GTA IV on HD 3000 graphics, and plenty have played on the exact same machine I have. Even if I'm having a driver issue or something similar, my computer should have the physical hardware requirements for this game.

QUOTE

Your system clearly doesn't meet the minimum requirements. The 60MB that you see in the graphics settings is the minimum amount of VRAM that is required and assigned at system bootup. Depending upon the game and available system RAM, it'll then choose how much more RAM can be allocated to be used as total VRAM.

As I explained in my original post, GTA IV actually is using 275 MB of VRAM according to the control for the graphics settings, but thinks it only has 60 MB available. My real problem here is that commandline.txt is not over-riding the game's default settings. Why isn't commandline.txt working for any of the commands I throw at it?

If screenshots will help, I will provide them.

EDIT: Here's some more info about my graphics:



This post has been edited by karl128k on Friday, Apr 27 2012, 22:56

[mkey82]

Can you see the "dedicated video memory: 64 MB" part? What about it is unclear?

Dedicated = fast
Shared = slow as the GPU will always have a lot slower access to system memory then it has to VRAM.

Sorry if that's not the answer you wanted to hear, but it is what it is. On the commandline issue, they sometimes don't work. Check this out http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=458859 it may give you some hints.

[karl128k]

I got it working! But after doing so I feel like a complete idiot. Because the reason my commandline.txt wasn't working was because it was named "commandline.txt.txt".

Anyway, the game runs wonderfully, despite some not-so-optimistic comments about integrated graphics. Below are some screenshots (sorry for the on-screen keyboard; my laptop doesn't have a print screen key):