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)

[Bapt]

danilov님이 먼저 게시:

Same here. Can't get more FPS with Vulkan (DX9 AVG FPS is 33, Vulkan AVG FPS is 24) on ASUS N550JX (i7-4720HQ + GeForce GTX 950M). GPU usage with Vulkan is around 75-80% (and memory usage is 2.2GB), while with DX9 it's 95-98% (with only 800BM memory usage). GTA version is 1.0.7. Latest Nvidia driver (497.29).

yeah , every systems dont react the same with DXVK, i heard it work better on amd gpu cause of driver performing less on DX compare to nvidia which have already some well optimized driver for DX.

[oChalko]

i downloaded this link and i didnt get any of those files, did i get the wrong thing?

[Markie]

WilsonElTk님이 먼저 게시:

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

Bapt-Man님이 먼저 게시:

Same here, gtx 780 + r5 3600 16gb ram, 3gb vram, get less fps with DXVK, tried everything command lines no memrestrictions , frame latency 1, game runs bad compare to d3d9 around 40fps less.

Ive read somewhere than DXVK dont work well on the last gta 4 versions.

danilov님이 먼저 게시:

Same here. Can't get more FPS with Vulkan (DX9 AVG FPS is 33, Vulkan AVG FPS is 24) on ASUS N550JX (i7-4720HQ + GeForce GTX 950M). GPU usage with Vulkan is around 75-80% (and memory usage is 2.2GB), while with DX9 it's 95-98% (with only 800BM memory usage). GTA version is 1.0.7. Latest Nvidia driver (497.29).

That's just how it is, by using Vulkan through DXVK you're able to bypass old API limitations (DX9 in this case) and avoid bottlenecks often making higher frame rates and stutter-free gameplay possible, but the games can actually become more GPU demanding as well, it's a trade-off. I tried GTA IV with DXVK on my old GTX 750 Ti and it gave me 100% GPU usage all the time and maxed out VRAM as well, with a lower frame rate overral. I believe to get a real advantage out of Vulkan in this game you have to have at least:

-A quad-core CPU (not 2 cores 4 threads with HT)
-8GB of RAM, preferably dual channel (2x4GB)
-A middle-range 900 series Nvidia GPU or superior, with at least 2GB of VRAM (so a GTX 950 or equivalent/above, like the GTX 1050). The reason I say 900 series is because the 700 series GPUs don't seem to deal with Vulkan well, that's why the guy with a GTX 780 above also had a bad experience despite it being a lot more powerful than a GTX 750 TI and even a 760/950/1050.

I have an i5 2400, 8GB of RAM and a GTX 950 2GB and DXVK gives me much higher frame rates and nearly zero stutter, the improvement is massive.

[Bapt]

Markie님이 먼저 게시:

WilsonElTk님이 먼저 게시:

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

Bapt-Man님이 먼저 게시:

Same here, gtx 780 + r5 3600 16gb ram, 3gb vram, get less fps with DXVK, tried everything command lines no memrestrictions , frame latency 1, game runs bad compare to d3d9 around 40fps less.

Ive read somewhere than DXVK dont work well on the last gta 4 versions.

danilov님이 먼저 게시:

Same here. Can't get more FPS with Vulkan (DX9 AVG FPS is 33, Vulkan AVG FPS is 24) on ASUS N550JX (i7-4720HQ + GeForce GTX 950M). GPU usage with Vulkan is around 75-80% (and memory usage is 2.2GB), while with DX9 it's 95-98% (with only 800BM memory usage). GTA version is 1.0.7. Latest Nvidia driver (497.29).

That's just how it is, by using Vulkan through DXVK you're able to bypass old API limitations (DX9 in this case) and avoid bottlenecks often making higher frame rates and stutter-free gameplay possible, but the games can actually become more GPU demanding as well, it's a trade-off. I tried GTA IV with DXVK on my old GTX 750 Ti and it gave me 100% GPU usage all the time and maxed out VRAM as well, with a lower frame rate overral. I believe to get a real advantage out of Vulkan in this game you have to have at least:

-A quad-core CPU (not 2 cores 4 threads with HT)
-8GB of RAM, preferably dual channel (2x4GB)
-A middle-range 900 series Nvidia GPU or superior, with at least 2GB of VRAM (so a GTX 950 or equivalent/above, like the GTX 1050). The reason I say 900 series is because the 700 series GPUs don't seem to deal with Vulkan well, that's why the guy with a GTX 780 above also had a bad experience despite it being a lot more powerful than a GTX 750 TI and even a 760/950/1050.

I have an i5 2400, 8GB of RAM and a GTX 950 2GB and DXVK gives me much higher frame rates and nearly zero stutter, the improvement is massive.

yeah this make sense, mostly depend of gpu yeah, im surprised to get around 100fps with a 780 at 1440p, high settings. decent performance for the age, but sadly yes it stutter as sometimes, i think DXVK is nice for 60fps locked, should give less stutter.

[Tharon]

Keep in mind you should not go over 30 fps anyway because the game physic and logic will break. Even at 60 there are issues, but going futher the game glitches in umpredictable ways.

[Markie]

Tharon님이 먼저 게시:

Keep in mind you should not go over 30 fps anyway because the game physic and logic will break. Even at 60 there are issues, but going futher the game glitches in umpredictable ways.

You can play the game at 60 FPS just fine. I finished it that way and didn't have to cap the frame rate even at points where people say there are issues, like the mission at the end where you have to press spacebar quickly to climb on the helicopter. To be honest you can play most of the game with an uncapped frame rate or at least 120 FPS just fine and turn V-Sync on when necessary, during cutscenes or mission events that might break, it's not that bad.

[ancalimon]

This causes the game to run at lower resolutions. I cant set resolution above a certain point. I tried -norestrictions -nomemrestrict but they do nothing.

[Markie]

ancalimon님이 먼저 게시:

This causes the game to run at lower resolutions. I cant set resolution above a certain point. I tried -norestrictions -nomemrestrict but they do nothing.

I've had this problem in the past but not anymore somehow. Just restart the game and try changing the resolution again.

[ancalimon]

Markie님이 먼저 게시:

ancalimon님이 먼저 게시:

This causes the game to run at lower resolutions. I cant set resolution above a certain point. I tried -norestrictions -nomemrestrict but they do nothing.

I've had this problem in the past but not anymore somehow. Just restart the game and try changing the resolution again.

I used -width 2560 -height 1440 in commandline and it worked.

[rowan airshun]

oChalko님이 먼저 게시:

i downloaded this link and i didnt get any of those files, did i get the wrong thing?

Maybe.

Download dxvk-1.9.2.tar.gz [it may be different version number than 1.9.2]
Open the .gz file in 7zip or whatever unzip tool you have.
Open the .tar in 7zip or whatever other tool you have.
Open directory dxvk-1.9.2 [it may be different version number]
Open directory x32

There you see the files.

Thanks OP, quick 5 mins test with some building cache stutters starting to iron-out and it looks as if this'll be a fair improvement.

[Agent 047]

Coldmobi's video "Glitched Avatar" (non-stop step) from the movie "Glitches4Life" got more than 20 likes in a short time
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2710305029

[Markie]

HaskaMoosic님이 먼저 게시:

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 <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)

DXVK.conf tweaks (and the file itself) are no longer necessary. The availablevidmem command depends on your GPU's amount of VRAM and can be put in a "commandline.txt" file rather than on Steam launch arguments, which may disappear with Steam updates or new installs/reinstalls. The stream.ini tweak is a must, especially for the DLC episodes which may stutter a lot without it.

Currently there are two issues is one issue in GTA IV with DXVK on Windows:
-If you alt+tab and then go back, menu and loading screen sounds will be missing.
-If you open and close the Steam overlay you may get the system mouse cursor stuck over the game until it is restarted.

Update: DXVK 1.9.3 has been released and the first issue mentioned is fixed. The second one can still happen. I've tested it myself.

[IceSackBoy]

i installled the 1.9.4 one and my game starts to freeze a lot

[Rollo]

Thank you so much. Followed so many DXVK guides but your one was the one that fixed the stutters because of your steam overlay and screenshot button tip. Big thank you!

[HaskaMoosic]

Rollo님이 먼저 게시:

Thank you so much. Followed so many DXVK guides but your one was the one that fixed the stutters because of your steam overlay and screenshot button tip. Big thank you!

ofcourse friend c: