Impossible to get higher framerates with maxed graphics?

[Arthur]

Title. So I installed GTA 4 again because I felt like replaying it, and unlike on my first playthrough several years ago on a crappy laptop, I now have a mid to high end PC (my GPU is an RX 7800XT, for example), so I thought it would be nice to cramp up every graphical setting to the maximum... Only to realize that view/detail distance make the game run like sh*t anyway.

And I don't think its a hardware issue either, even when the game drops to 40/45fps, my GPU usage is still around 60%, while my CPU usage is around 20/25%.

Now here's the thing: If I severely reduce those two settings (to 1 instead of 100), then I get an average of 160/180 fps (maximum I got was 255 near a pier), and I even see my GPU and CPU usage go up a bit (~30% CPU usage, ~85% GPU usage, with the GPU reaching 100% in that pier area I just mentioned).

Its like those two settings just limit the game's performance regardless of your hardware. Either that or GTA 4 can only use a few cores from my CPU or something. Is there a way to fix this? I already installed the FusionFix mod, it certainly has a few improvements and I feel like the game is stuttering less, but overall the performance isn't great.

(for reference, I can run GTA 5 and Red Dead 2 with maxed out settings on this PC and both run buttery smooth)

[Yujah]

View and Detail distance are known, yes. For example, from the below linked guide:

In-Game Settings Recommendations
As you may know, GTA IV is notorious for having poor performance even on high-end hardware. While the Fusion Fix and DXVK improve performance quite drastically, you can boost GTA IV's performance even further by tweaking some in-game settings. You can also use these settings if you have decided not to use DXVK and need the extra performance to maintain consistent frame rates.

Disable Night Shadows
While it's a neat effect, night shadows in GTA IV absolutely kill performance. In some cases, I noticed a whopping 30% impact on frame rates (without using DXVK, that is). Therefore, I recommend turning off the "Night Shadows" option completely in your GTA IV in-game settings if you are experiencing performance issues.
Don't worry, you'll still have shadows at night - only the shadows cast by vehicle headlights will be removed. It's not a perfect solution, but these effects are arguably not worth a 30% performance hit.

Reduce View and Detail Distance
While I play with each distance slider at max, many people tend to decrease both the "View Distance" and "Detail Distance" sliders to improve performance. I do not think this is necessary, as the steps I have explained above will already noticeably improve performance. However, if you really need to squeeze every last bit of performance out of GTA IV, feel free to turn the sliders down.

With your current figures I wouldn't by the <edit> way </edit> recommend DXVK -- but I wouldn't really anyway, since I'm not the type of person for whom any of it matters. I e.g. could see that fidelity on my recent playthrough on Xbox 360 was a bit less but I just in the end don't guve a fick; I'm a "narrative player" ...

Anyways; the above is from
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921826093

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Yujah:

View and Detail distance are known, yes. For example, from the below linked guide:

In-Game Settings Recommendations
As you may know, GTA IV is notorious for having poor performance even on high-end hardware. While the Fusion Fix and DXVK improve performance quite drastically, you can boost GTA IV's performance even further by tweaking some in-game settings. You can also use these settings if you have decided not to use DXVK and need the extra performance to maintain consistent frame rates.

Disable Night Shadows
While it's a neat effect, night shadows in GTA IV absolutely kill performance. In some cases, I noticed a whopping 30% impact on frame rates (without using DXVK, that is). Therefore, I recommend turning off the "Night Shadows" option completely in your GTA IV in-game settings if you are experiencing performance issues.
Don't worry, you'll still have shadows at night - only the shadows cast by vehicle headlights will be removed. It's not a perfect solution, but these effects are arguably not worth a 30% performance hit.

Reduce View and Detail Distance
While I play with each distance slider at max, many people tend to decrease both the "View Distance" and "Detail Distance" sliders to improve performance. I do not think this is necessary, as the steps I have explained above will already noticeably improve performance. However, if you really need to squeeze every last bit of performance out of GTA IV, feel free to turn the sliders down.

With your current figures I wouldn't by the recommend DXVK -- but I wouldn't really anyway, since I'm not the type of person for whom any of it matters. I e.g. could see that fidelity on my recent playthrough on Xbox 360 was a bit less but I just in the end don't guve a fick; I'm a "narrative player" ...

Anyways; the above is from
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=921826093

Ah, I see, it really is a game problem them. Thanks for linking the guide, I'll check that out!

[Fried Brains]

I run the game vanilla at 60fps, max settings except vehicle density at 30.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Fried Brains:

I run the game vanilla at 60fps, max settings except vehicle density at 30.

Specs?
(I tried lowering vehicle density but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, lol. Guess I could try to reload the game for it to take effect properly, but then again I think the high vehicle density affects gameplay way more than the other two settings)

[Fried Brains]

Vehicle density adjusts the number of cars on the road.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Fried Brains:

Vehicle density adjusts the number of cars on the road.

...I know what it does. What I'm saying is that it doesn't take effect immediately once you change the setting because the game isn't gonna just delete or spawn cars in front of you, it takes effect as a few seconds pass and more traffic happens.