USE DXVK (low fps/stutter fix)

[HaskaMoosic]

i have no idea how so many people are unaware if this but with this small fix i can crank graphics settings all the way up and maintain stable framerates well over 60fps on my system (im averaging over 100) and you dont even have to downgrade, im running the latest version of the game.
It seems the issue with gta 4 is that it does not play nice with the DirectX renderer and this fix forces the game to run in Vulkan.

download dxvk:
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases

1) place dxgi.dll and d3d9.dll in your GTA IV directory

2) create a new txt document and add the lines:
dxgi.maxFrameLatency = 1
d3d9.maxFrameLatency = 1

3) rename the txt document dxvk.conf and place it in the gta iv directory

4) in your gta iv steam launch options add the line:
-availablevidmem 4096

DONE

some extra things you can do:

make sure the steam overlay is on for this game and the screenshot button is assigned to a key if you use a controller (this stops the controller stutter glitch that makes the game unplayable)

go into the stream.ini file located in steamapps<common<Grand Theft Auto IV<GTAIV<pc and change each of the numbers in there from 204800 to 409600 (this makes gta 4 use 4gb of ram instead of the default 2gb)

[ant_sh]

I have gt730 with 2 gb of VRAM. Do I still need to specify -availablevidmem 4096?

[HaskaMoosic]

Originally posted by ant_sh:

I have gt730 with 2 gb of VRAM. Do I still need to specify -availablevidmem 4096?

yes, just so your game will use more than 512mb

[ant_sh]

Originally posted by HaskaMoosic:

Originally posted by ant_sh:

I have gt730 with 2 gb of VRAM. Do I still need to specify -availablevidmem 4096?

yes, just so your game will use more than 512mb

I have only 3 gb of system RAM and when I specify big value in -availablevidmem the game crashes when Niko enters cabaret or comedy club. When I specified -availablevidmem 1983 as per this guide[ant-sh.blogspot.com] then it runs OK.

[Tharon]

Originally posted by ant_sh:

I have gt730 with 2 gb of VRAM. Do I still need to specify -availablevidmem 4096?

No, don't dare to do it or the game will crash. Use -availablevidmem 2048 instead. Well, less than 2048 because some is used by the system.

[Larry the Carry]

for the .txt file, do i need to change the extension to '.conf' or should i keep it as a txt file as 'x.conf.txt' ?

[Tharon]

You must change the extension to .conf

[ant_sh]

Originally posted by Larry the Carry:

for the .txt file, do i need to change the extension to '.conf' or should i keep it as a txt file as 'x.conf.txt' ?

You may try running without dxvk.conf. Those DXVK parameters were needed as workarounds in earlier builds but latest build works OK without them since the issue was fixed in August 2020 [github.com]

[GameKho]

I have follow your steps to install the lastest DXVK within the x32 folder but when i load into screen where you select GTA IV or EFLC, it crash.

Intel 7600K
GTX 1080 with 8 gig vram
16 gig ram

[Oet]

I had glittering in the game when using Vulkan (both on Windows 10 and Linux). To get rid of the glittering I had to use (the DLL from) DXVK 1.7.3.

AMD 6900 XT

[Tharon]

what do you mean with glittering ?

[Oet]

Colored lighted spots appearing and disappearing.

[ant_sh]

Originally posted by Oet:

I had glittering in the game when using Vulkan (both on Windows 10 and Linux). To get rid of the glittering I had to use (the DLL from) DXVK 1.7.3.

AMD 6900 XT

It is a known issue https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/issues/1862
Good that you worked around it.

[KOI20XX]

I've been testing it but I have a problem and it is that instead of seeing an improvement in performance, the fps decrease compared to the game without vulkan activated

[Tharon]

Originally posted by WilsonElTk:

I've been testing it but I have a problem and it is that instead of seeing an improvement in performance, the fps decrease compared to the game without vulkan activated

That's really strange. What are your system spec ?

[KOI20XX]

Originally posted by Tharon:

Originally posted by WilsonElTk:

I've been testing it but I have a problem and it is that instead of seeing an improvement in performance, the fps decrease compared to the game without vulkan activated

That's really strange. What are your system spec ?

I have an Intel core i5-6200U processor and an AMD radeon R5 M330 card.