How can I fix Niko Bellic's storyline? Please help.

[rsaudi7.1]

I have a problem running GTA IV on my computer. After downloading GTA IV from Steam and installing it, the game works well in Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition in both stories except for Niko Bellic's original story, which does not work. It only shows the loading screen and then a black screen with the mission name at the bottom. I'm still struggling to get the game to run.
I've tried a lot after watching videos on YouTube about how to fix the game, but to no avail. It's worth noting that , the game files are still clean without any mods or anything else.

[rsaudi7.1]

After several attempts, I found a copy of the Windows Live program, but when I try to install it, I receive an error message saying "Installation of the program failed."

[Yujah]

Games for Windows Live (GFWL) is obsolete; "GTA IV: The Complete Edition" is since 2020 not a GFWL game anymore. The likely issue is high FPS. Please see https://steamcommunity.com/app/12210/discussions/0/4358998752034577830/?tscn=1715848002#c4358998752036106431

That is, install FusionFix; if not immediately helped, use its frame-limiter to cap to at most 60 FPS; if not helped check if your VRAM shows correctly in the graphics options menu and if not do the -availablevidmem thing; if not helped, maybe go all the way down to DXVK as mentioned there.

And if then still not helped (but you probably are already at step 1) post again.

[rsaudi7.1]

done most of the steps there and the game still isn't working. What about "(gta iv -availablevidmem)"? How do I do that?

[Yujah]

Let's first of all verify that you installed FusionFix correctly. Do you now in the GTA4 "Graphics" option menu have a "FPS LImiter" choice?

If so you've installed it correctly; if not not. In latter case you need to (with GTA4 not running) unpack the downloaded GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix.zip to

<SteamLibrary>\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV\

That is, when so done there should in that directory exist a file "dinput8.dll" and folders "plugins" and "update".

If it's correct; do good things happen if you in fact use that "FPS Limiter" option to limit to 60 or even 30 FPS?

If not, does at the bottom of that same "Graphics" option menu the "Resource Usage" claim you have only 512MB video memory? If so let us add the launch option: with GTA4 closed rightclick its Steam library entry, Properties -> General and enter

-availablevidmem 3072.0

into the "Launch Options" input box. Restarting GTA4 now first again check that "Resource Usage" display which should then show 3072M. Good things?

It's fairly unexpected that FF wouldn't immediately help so I sort of expect that you may have not correctly installed it. But if on the other hand you have I wouldn't really expect the availablevidmem thing to be the issue so possibly things are in that case harder, and we'd need more hardware details for a possible idea. First lets try the above though.

[rsaudi7.1]

First of all, I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to help me and solve the problem. Yes, I did it correctly because, as you said, if the "FPS Limiter" option appears, it means I did everything right. However, Niko Bellic's story did not work. Then, I tried writing "availablevidmem" in Steam, but it also didn't work. I downloaded a file and placed it with all the files I had previously downloaded in:

D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV

The file is named: GTA IV 1.0.7.0 Downgrade

From this link: https://libertycity.net/files/gta-4/193576-gta-iv-1-0-7-0-downgrade-patch.html

Surprisingly, the game worked well, and then I increased the settings to the highest level, and it ran smoothly.

Then, I deleted the entire game and re-downloaded it again, and added only the "GTA IV 1.0.7.0 Downgrade" file to test it. Strangely, the game started, but it took a very long time in the loading screen. So, I will redo the steps you gave me and add this good file to them.

I hope the game continues to run well.

[Yujah]

Thanks for noting. That downgrade to 1.0.7.0 is probably fine but it would seem then that the final step of my link, DXVK (i.e., Vulkan) will be the thing you in fact need on your hardware.

As such I would in fact more suggest not using that one, but following the entire guide by Spoggi99, including the DXVK step. Also gets you deleted songs:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921826093

More importantly than those songs the reason I'd suggest using that instead is... if you do the 1.0.7.0 downgrade using the source you found, do you even retain access to the TLaD and TBoGT DLCs?

Perhaps you do, but well, while it'll probably be fine, one should in fact in the context of malware exercise some caution when installing random executables from around the web. All that's advised in Spoggi99's guide I know to be safe; would not know anything about the source you found.

The above notwithstanding, congrats on finding a working solution. Would I be correct in guessing that you have a new-ish AMD GPU and/or CPU? :)

(off to bed by the way, so I'll check back in tomorrow)

[rsaudi7.1]

The game is running well now. I have tried some mods to see if they work properly, and so far, so good. I would like to thank you for the help. I had really lost hope of playing it again, as I have many fond memories with this game.

Here are my PC :

Graphics Card: RTX 3080
Processor: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700K at 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM: 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

[Yujah]

Thanks; good to know that this also happen on Intel/Nvidia. Seems that DXVK might just be for "very powerful" systems and that I had only seen AMD ones.

And yes, great game. have fun :)