Topic: Grand Theft Auto 4

[K-man]

So I scored a Special Edition of this game yesterday at my local Game Crazy for 24 bucks (which was cheaper than their price for the standalone game).  The extras are neat and everything, but I definitely would not have paid 90 bucks for it.  The bank lock box is a nifty but completely useless inclusion.

[MysterD]

GTA4: Ballad of Gay Tony DLC - Trailer.

[PyroMenace]

Damn, they always did know how to make some awesome trailers.

[MysterD]

Can't argue w/ that statement, Pyro.
I thought the trailer was kick-ass, as well.

I so hope that Lost and Damned and Gay Tony do make their way to the PC -- hopefully, on disc as an expansion pack.

[MysterD]

IGN takes on GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC in this preview.

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Hands-On
There's no problem high explosives can't solve.
by Hilary Goldstein

September 16, 2009 - Ten minutes into my first experience with the second (and final) GTA IV downloadable episode, I hijacked a train by carrying it to an empty ballfield via helicopter. That was shortly after leaping from an overpass onto the moving train, crawling along the top and blowing a dozen pursuing attack choppers to bits. Yeah, The Ballad of Gay Tony is a little over-the-top. For those who missed the outlandishness of GTA: San Andreas, rejoice. Every mission I played from the newest episode ratchets up the ridiculousness. It's a damned good time.

[MysterD]

New GTA4 PC Patch released.
And it adds Achievement for TLAD (The Lost And the Damned).
Sounds like GTA4 PC will be getting TLAD eventually.
Sweet.

[MysterD]

Take-Two says that GTA don't need to be an annual franchise.

You know, I wish more designers would take note of this and maybe just make more meatier-sized DLC (sized as say expansion packs and sold as such) for their BIG franchise game until they release the next BIG iteration in a series maybe some 3-5 years or more later.

For example, I still can't shake the feeling that say Bioshock 2 is still coming TOO soon for me - while it feels just right that Mafia 2 is coming next year in 2010.

GTA doesn't need to be an annualised franchise - Take Two

Take Two has said that Grand Theft Auto doesn't need to be an annualised franchise in order to best benefit the company.

"We don't feel that GTA ought to be an annualised franchise," Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick told investors during an earnings call.

"There's a balance between how long it takes to develop such an incredible title... and how long you wait for the [customer's] appetite to be both satisfied and whetted for the next title. That's something I think the company has done well."

Take Two is pleased with the results of bringing GTA to new platforms, he added. "By bringing the title to handheld we achieved the highest Metacritic score ever for DS and PSP for that title. I applaud the team for doing that."

In order to optimise its release schedule over the next three years, it was confirmed that one unannounced, triple A title originally planned for next year would be moved out of the 2010 fiscal year.

"We determined we needed to make this adjustment," said Zelnick, adding that, like all of the company's triple A games, it was an important title.

[scottws]

In other words:  "We saw the total sales for each iteration trending downwards and decided to take a break so we don't completely ruin the franchise."

[MysterD]

In other words:  "We saw the total sales for each iteration trending downwards and decided to take a break so we don't completely ruin the franchise."

That too - hehe.
 
Instead of having Rockstar put out next iteration after next iteration of GTA, Take-Two can rely on one of their other franchises - Bioshock; Mafia; Borderlands; Civ; or any other big new franchises that start up; etc etc.

I like seeing new IP's come about.

[MysterD]

GTA4 DLC sells WAY less than Take-2 expected.

GTA4 DLC Sold "Less than Expected"
Take-Two attributes underwhelming sales to a lack of "initial launch fervor."
By Kris Pigna, 12/19/2009

Ballad of Gay Tony

Grand Theft Auto 4 was one of the biggest games of the decade, so why, then, is Take-Two interactive not experiencing the same runaway sales success with the game's two downloadable episodes, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony? According to CEO Ben Feder, it may be a matter of timing -- and a huge loss of marketing momentum.

"Both we and Microsoft believe there was a big market for GTA 4 episodic content," said Feder during an investors conference call (via Kotaku). "And some factors have affected their performance. Both were released significantly after the core unit ... GTA 4, which was launched in April of 2008 and therefore weren't able to leverage GTA 4's initial marketing campaign and initial launch fervor."

While sales figures for the episodes -- which were released first as separate $20 downloads and later packaged together on a disc as "Episodes of Liberty City" -- haven't been divulged, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimated sales for the disc were around 100,000 in the U.S. "Episodes From Liberty City seems to have been most appealing to those who have finished GTA 4 and wanted more story and gameplay," Feder said. "Which is a smaller market than initially expected."

Let us recall that Microsoft paid a whopping $50 million to keep the GTA 4 episodic content exclusive to the Xbox 360. With that taken into account, would the "smaller than expected" market be considered a tremendous failure? Not necessarily, as Feder said the episodes were already profitable (for Take-Two, anyway), and they expect sales to continue for some time.

"There's very little precedent for this type of episodic content at the price point that we offered it. And so we're confident that these titles will continue to have a long life, just as we've seen a long life from all of our other prior GTA releases."

[Quemaqua]

Good, I hope they fail miserably.  Fucking exclusive DLC can kiss my ass.  Rot in hell, Take 2.

[MysterD]

Good, I hope they fail miserably.  Fucking exclusive DLC can kiss my ass.  Rot in hell, Take 2.

I dunno how long those 2 DLC's will stay exclusive to X360 alone, Que.
PC version's latest patch included all the GTA: The Lost And The Damned achievements.
I think TLATD might be coming to G4WL.

I'm surprised the GTA4 DLC failed - since these packs pretty much offer up for $20 each expansion-pack worthy length of content.

[Quemaqua]

Yay, so we get to play the DLC years after it came out.  Who fucking cares?  I mean, I have no interest in GTAIV anymore anyway, and got really bored with it before the end of the stock game.  I just think this exclusivity shit is shady and shouldn't be happening.

[MysterD]

Yay, so we get to play the DLC years after it came out.  Who fucking cares?  I mean, I have no interest in GTAIV anymore anyway, and got really bored with it before the end of the stock game.  I just think this exclusivity shit is shady and shouldn't be happening.

It's about time PC version is getting the DLC - we don't deserve to be left out of the mix. Sure, it's way late - but at least we're getting it. I'm tired of PC versions getting screwed out of DLC and not getting DLC period.

Honestly, they should launch DLC for all versions around the same time, if you ask me. Like within say a two month window - like Borderlands has been doing for console and PC.

I just think this exclusivity shit is shady and shouldn't be happening.

Oh, I agree w/ that 100%.

EDIT:
You know, Que - I wouldn't be surprised if GTA4 PC gets a re-release w/ all the DLC content on disc, at some later date.

[MysterD]

Another game w/ sound problems for me. Grrrrr. Game graphically runs fine w/ all stuff on Medium on 1024x768 on my single-core processor w/ 8800 GT RAM. But, here's the problem - the sound is all stuttering like a son-of-a-gun. Sound card drivers up-to-date and all for my RealTek Audio on-board sound card.

So, I've had sound-card troubles on my PC w/ a handful of games - Prototype, Divinity 2 Demo, Borderlands (intro vid only - otherwise the game is fine), and now freakin' GTA4. Seems like the list of games I got issues w/ on my (Aging) on-board sound card is just growing and growing.

So - what is a good modern day sound card period? How much is it?
Okay, also - what's good for around say $50? $100? $150?

EDIT:
Fixed the sound issue myself.
Threw GTAIV.exe into the FFDShow exceptions list.
Sound is perfect now.
Back to the game.

[idolminds]

DLC packs to be released on PC and PS3 in March.

[MysterD]

DLC packs to be released on PC and PS3 in March.

Sweet.
Better late than never.

[Quemaqua]

Does anyone really care at this point?  I got bored with the game before I even finished it, and having separate little stories doesn't appeal to me.  If they were to add more city or more *detail* to the original city... that would be worth noting.

[MysterD]

Does anyone really care at this point?

Me.

If they were to add more city or more *detail* to the original city... that would be worth noting.

That'd be cool, too.

[MysterD]

GTA: Episodes from Liberty City for PC and PS3 delayed by two weeks (now April 13th in USA; April 16th elsewhere).

The PS3 PAL version is having some "minor content changes" done at Sony Europe's request just to make them happy.

[MysterD]

GTA4 PC Version patched again (Patch #6).
Things worth noting: Rockstar Club Program NO LONGER required to launch game and improved performance (especially w/ Shadows).

Grand Theft Auto 4 PC Patch Improves Shadows, Removes Social Club App
by Alice O'Connor Apr 13, 2010 1:00pm
CST tags: Grand Theft Auto 4

Coinciding with the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV's downloadable content 'The Ballad of Gay Tony' and 'The Lost and Damned' on PC today, Rockstar has released a new patch for the open-world murder simulator available in a 104MB download on FileShack.

The patch brings better-looking shadows as well as performance optimisations and bug fixes, and finally removes the need to run that irksome Rockstar Games Social Club application before you can play the game. The full changelog follows below.

    GTA IV Title Update 1.0.6.0 \ 1.0.5.1 \ 1.0.4.2 (Patch 6)

        * Rockstar Games Social Club
              o Remove Rockstar Games Social Club application
              o Separate RGSC application no longer required to launch game
              o Social Club login now occurs during the launch process
        * Shadows
              o A new, less memory-intensive, and better-looking scalable shadow solution has been implemented
              o Enhanced Night Shadows added with user-selectable level of detail (replaces Shadow Density)
        * Performance
              o Rendering optimizations have been made to improve performance, particularly when enabling shadows
              o User-configurable graphics settings have been added for shadow control
              o Improved memory management
        * Multiplayer
              o Enhanced security to isolate users from cheaters and hackers
        * Episodic Content
              o Provide in-game support to purchase "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" (Not available in Russian/Japanese Versions)
        * Bug Fixes
              o Vehicle shadows re-enabled between 8pm and 6am
              o Fix floating street textures
              o Pedestrians in vehicles appear further out from the player to allow for long range sniping
              o The Moon has been implemented with simulated lunar phases
              o Fixed garbled text in Japanese Multiplayer menus
              o "RESC 10" error fix for specific hardware configuration

[gpw11]

I'm waiting until it's $7-10 again.

[MysterD]

I'm waiting until it's $7-10 again.

It's easily worth that, from what I've played, so far.
Got about 40 hours or so logged into it, according to Steam.

I should note - GTA4 PC does run better, thanks to the new patch. I was running 800x600 w/ most stuff on Low, but now Shadows is on Medium.

[MysterD]

Finished GTA4 PC not too long ago tonight.

For those curious of how things went for me...

(click to show/hide)

I took out Darko Brevic;
I took out Dimitri on the boat;
Kate got killed by Jimmy Peg in a driveby right after the wedding;
I took down Jimmy Peg;
After Credits ran and back to gameworld, Roman called and said Mallorie is pregnant.

[MysterD]

GTA4 PC and Episodes from Liberty City PC have been patched through G4WL.

Episodes From Liberty City

v. 1.1.2.0

    * fixed a bug causing tree leaves to look transparent
    * fixed a bug that prevented uploading of rendered videos to Social Club when attaching music tracks from The Ballad of Gay Tony
    * fixed for clip capture "OFF" slowdowns occurring when near water's edge
    * fixed for slowdown occurring when getting in a boat during "Sexy Time" mission in The Ballad of Gay Tony
    * exposed "detonate" in custom key mapping options menu for Lost and Damned so users can remap "down" arrow key
    * EFLC now has it's own settings file called "SETTINGS_EFLC.CFG" to avoid possible conflicts with GTA IV installation

Grand Theft Auto IV

v. 1.0.7.0 / 1.0.6.1 (Russian) / 1.0.5.2 (Japanese)

    * fixed a bug causing tree leaves to look transparent
    * fixed a bug that prevented uploading of rendered videos to Social Club when attaching certain music tracks
    * fixed for clip capture "OFF" slowdowns occurring when near water's edge
    * exposed "detonate" in custom key mapping options menu for Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned so users can remap "down" arrow key.

[MysterD]

Kotaku -> GTA IV: Complete Edition listed on Amazon.
GTA IV: Complete will contain GTA IV + The Lost And The Damned + Ballad of Gay Tony.

[idolminds]

Good thing I waited.

[MysterD]

Good thing I waited.

At least if you did say buy GTA4 on disc for PC/Consoles - if you avoided the DLC route...
All the DLC was packaged together on disc as GTA: Episodes From Lib City (Lost & Tony) - unlike SOME other games I can think of...

[PyroMenace]

I still want to play Ballad of Gay Tony. I like coming back to GTA4 after prolonged periods of having not played the game. It still looks good and nobody still hasn't made a open world game as good as Liberty City. Lost and the Damned was totally awesome too, probably the best DLC to come out for a game.

[MysterD]

I still want to play Ballad of Gay Tony. I like coming back to GTA4 after prolonged periods of having not played the game. It still looks good and nobody still hasn't made a open world game as good as Liberty City. Lost and the Damned was totally awesome too, probably the best DLC to come out for a game.

I bought GTA4 (during that $7.49 sale) and Episodes from Lib City from Steam ($15 during a sale).
I did finish GTA4 - which I thought was really good.
I should make some space on my first HDD drive for EFLC.

[Cobra951]

I still want to play Ballad of Gay Tony. I like coming back to GTA4 after prolonged periods of having not played the game. It still looks good and nobody still hasn't made a open world game as good as Liberty City. Lost and the Damned was totally awesome too, probably the best DLC to come out for a game.

Now I want to jump in too.  I never did check out the DLC for this game.

[MysterD]

GTA: Vice City Rage - upcoming mod to bring GTA: Vice City over onto GTA4 [RAGE Engine].
Planned for X-Mas 2011.

[MysterD]

All the GTA4 Fans of the world, be ready & prepared just in case songs could get removed/patched-out:
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/04/09/some-of-gta-ivs-music-licenses-expire-later-this-month-and-songs-will-be-removed

Music license is supposedly at the end of this month for GTA4's Music.

Might want to back-up your game-folder, music folder/files, and whatnot....just in case.

Of course, if you already own any songs on MP3 format that get removed - you could always put them in the game's MP3 Radio Station.

[Cobra951]

Removed how?  If I have a game on my system, especially one that old, it takes action from me for anything to happen to it.  Does Steam regularly reach in and delete stuff from your hard drive?

[MysterD]

Removed how?  If I have a game on my system, especially one that old, it takes action from me for anything to happen to it.  Does Steam regularly reach in and delete stuff from your hard drive?

Steam games can force updates when you log into Steam.

Even if you tell a game in your Preferences to only update when necessary - any forced-updates from the dev's and pub's can override this setting. You'll just have to deal with it, TBH.

They (Steam, dev's, pub's, etc) can replace the old grouped-file pack of music (which has music files inside it) with an empty pack. Or, they can place a file in there w/ less music that has a newer file updated date. This will force Steam to replace the old file w/ the newer file.

My suggestions, you can do a few things.

01. Back-up your GTA4 game-folder in full now. Just remember, both GTA4 PC and EFLC are each about 16GB or piece! If you're that worried about everything, do this!

02. Just back-up the music folders/files from GTA4 game-folder elsewhere, as long as it's outside of your Steam folder. This way, you always have it - just in case you can manipulate the files now or later.

03. Find a program or app that can extract the music files and stick them elsewhere, just not in the Steam folder. GTA's popular, so...I'd guess they might use a file format that some app can extract already or some modders already wrote a program to deal w/ this. (i.e. In GTA5, OpenIV can extract GTA5's music files).

04. Find out the GTA4 Soundtrack songs. Here's that list: http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Radio_Stations_in_GTA_IV
Anything you already own on CD, MP3, FLAC, WAV, or whatever - convert it to MP3 and toss into the GTA4 MP3 Radio Station's music folder.

05. Wait for the hopefully inevitable mod that has all of the old music files and put them back where they belong. For example: Mafia 1 has been through similar situation, where a lot of the music's been removed - but there is a mod now, on the PC, which has all the old music files.

[MysterD]

PC Gamer - GTA4 has been removed for purchasing from Steam:
https://www.pcgamer.com/gta-4-is-no-longer-being-sold-on-steam/

So, here's some guesses to what could be the reasoning.
Could be any of these, a few of these...or something else:
1. Rockstar could been removing Microsoft's old G4WL...and maybe replacing it with their own Rockstar Launcher.
2. Maybe Steam ran out of G4WL keys for GTA4 (since it uses that)...and needs to get them refilled from Microsoft and Rockstar.
3. Rockstar could be doing a remaster for GTA4 maybe.
4. Music licenses again have expired for some songs...and they need to be removed or replaced.
5. Rockstar is just pulling the game from Steam period.

I'm sure, we'll maybe find out sooner or later, why it got pulled from being able to purchase over on Steam.

[MysterD]

They (Rockstar and Steam) ran out of G4WL (Games For Windows Live) activation keys:
https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/13/21063575/grand-theft-auto-4-pc-steam-games-for-windows-live-gta4

Info:
- GTA4 and EFLC still uses the old G4WL activation system.
(Side note: Microsoft now uses the Xbox for PC App / Windows 10 Game Store)
- GTA4 on Steam ran out of keys for G4WL.
- B/c Microsoft doesn't use the system anymore, no new keys can be generated for this game.
- Rockstar is looking into another system to handle the game. (Hmmm, maybe Steamworks or Rockstar Launcher?)

[MysterD]

Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City news:

Given what's happening with GTA4/EFLC on Steam, it might be worthwhile to back-up the old GTA4 base-game and GTA: EFLC folders before 3/19/2020.

GTA4/EFLC from Steam, as long as you have the files somewhere, they can be launched w/out Steam (like many G4WL-based games on Steam) - so, you might want to copy & rename those old folders somewhere else.

Looks like w/ the planned 3/19 Steam-update to move everyone to GTA4: Complete Edition...we're losing G4WL, Multiplayer (which was on G4WL), Leaderboards, and some Radio Stations (i.e. the EFLC stations) in an update:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/12210/announcements/detail/3176663794401897532

Also, looks like retail keys will activate up also to get the new GTA4: Complete version - not sure if that'll activate up on Steam, RSSC, or where though - but, I'm guessing RSSC activation.

[MysterD]

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is back on Steam:
https://www.pcgamer.com/grand-theft-auto-4-is-back-on-steam-and-has-been-upgraded-to-the-complete-edition/

Info:
- If you owned GTA4 (base game) or Episodes From Liberty City (stand-alone DLC pack) on Steam, you now have been upgraded to Complete Edition (with both altogether).
- GTA4: Complete Edition owners on Steam, you now have the new Complete Edition.
- CD Keys can activate-up on Rockstar Game Launcher.
- Saves files from old versions of GTA4 & EFLC are compatible w/ the new one.
- Multiplayer component & online Leaderboards has been removed.
- RamJam FM, Self-Actualization FM and Vice City FM have also been taken out of the roster of radio stations.