GTA Online noob question...

[Nalydyenlo]

So my question is: How the f**k do you play this crap? Say I want to join a TDM. I go to the icon on the map, walk into the blue circle and then I'm the host of an empty lobby. First of all, I don't want to be the host 'cause my connection isn't strong enough and secondly, the lobby is empty and stays that way. Is there a way I can join a match or a mission or whatever, like a normal online game without having to wait for an invitation. I get lots of invites in the game for this and that, mostly heists and setups, but when I go to join them, something always screws up and I don't get to play. Either I get exasperated waiting at loading screens or in lobbies and quit, or else the game itself screws up and hangs.

[cpt cannibal]

Open your phone. The middle-left icon lets you queue for a job of your choosing (race, tdm, etc) and will let you stay in free-roam mode until it finds a populated host and will connect you automatically.

Or, when you are the host of an empty lobby you should make sure Matchmaking is set to <open> so it will populate your job. Additionally, you can invite folks to your job.

[Nalydyenlo]

OK, thanks. I'll try that, but I don't want to be the host as my connection isn't great. I'd like to join games that others host. Another thing, 3-5 minutes waiting for online to load - is that normal? Seems crazy to me. I'm already exasperated by the time the damn thing loads!

[cpt cannibal]

Im not sure how exactly the matchmaking works, but my GUESS is that the host is simply the "leader" of the group who sets the options, while the actual game is still hosted on a public server. I don't think the host actually "hosts" the match on their PC.

If you choose that middle left phone option (forget what its called), it will find a job of your choosing and join you to it. You won't be the host. Though if you remain in that lobby and choose more jobs, it may matchmake you into a new room as the host at some point.

As for loading, yes the load times are a little much. I'm not knocking consoles, but traditionally they have more/longer load times and this game feels like a console-designed game in that respect. 5 minutes seems a bit on the long side. I have a fairly powerful rig and it takes maybe 1 full minute.

[Nalydyenlo]

Oh, so I can host and not worry about other players lagging due to my connection. Good to know.

I just went online and looked for a TDM job using that middle left icon on the phone and it took 5 minutes to find a game where every player had 'left' and I was in an empty lobby. Great matchmaking! Out of all the players there must be out there, it could only find me one empty lobby after a 5 minute wait? That's just wonderful! Then, suddenly, due to an 'unknown error' it dropped me out of online mode completely and into story mode. The online mode to me seems completely f**ked up and broken. Too much waiting and nothing happening apart from errors.

[hadde]

you just have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ internet. it finds every job in a server with 15+ people in 20 seconds, and i dont know what errors are you talking about. I've had total of 5crashes in 60hrs

[Nalydyenlo]

Originally posted by hademztr.qq MSi:

you just have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ internet. it finds every job in a server with 15+ people in 20 seconds, and i dont know what errors are you talking about. I've had total of 5crashes in 60hrs

Well it's not the quickest in terms of bandwidth, but it's not bandwidth that counts in online gaming is it. It's the latency. I can play all my other game's online modes without any problem and have reasonable a ping too. As regards errors, I don't get any crashes at all. I just keep getting dissconnected from online mode or it just hangs where I can hear stuff going on but can't move. Happens regularly. Between one thing and another, I always end up getting exasperated and annoyed when I try online mode. Thank God I haven't had any problems with the story mode. I'm enjoying that!

[Nalydyenlo]

BUMP!

[Optimore]

It takes me about 3-4 minutes to load into GTA Online the first time, but afterwards things are fiarly normal. I do *occassionally* get that thing where everyone else in the lobby suddenly decides to 'leave' all at once, but it usually only happens after I've been in a lobby for like and hour not doing much. Also, normal loading times are around 1-2 minutes on a good internet and powerful rig (with a crap video card, but that's another issue).

[Nalydyenlo]

Well, I haven't played ANYTHING online yet. In the few sessions I did manage to join, I got stuck looking at a screen with my character and the other players and I can hear them playing but I can't move or do anything! I was told that alt tabbing or changing the window mode corrects this but nothing has worked for me. Why would internet affect loading times, does it have to like, download 30MB or something each time it loads? Hardly.

[Nalydyenlo]

Now I can find games quickly using the 'quick job' icon on the phone, but it gets stuck 'populating the lobby'. The number of players never reaches the required quota. It goes up slowly but always gets reset before it reaches the required number of players.

EDIT: Finally, I got into a game of deathmatch, but good God, the teleporting and lag made it an utterly unplayable mess. Players were hopping and teleporting around the place like spastic chess pieces!

R*, I give up on GTA V Online.

[Myth[Alex]]

Originally posted by Nalydyenlo:

Now I can find games quickly using the 'quick job' icon on the phone, but it gets stuck 'populating the lobby'. The number of players never reaches the required quota. It goes up slowly but always gets reset before it reaches the required number of players.

EDIT: Finally, I got into a game of deathmatch, but good God, the teleporting and lag made it an utterly unplayable mess. Players were hopping and teleporting around the place like spastic chess pieces!

R*, I give up on GTA V Online.

Rockstar doesn't read these (Steam) forums. Your posts are useless here.

If you want to provide feedback / bug reports to Rockstar, go to this link (their support) and submit a request (& describe the problems you get):

https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

^ that's where Rockstar reads the problems you encounter in-game.

[Nalydyenlo]

OK, thanks. By God have I got some feedback for them.