How to fix Grand Theft Auto IV in 2024

Very simple guide to fix the game, only tested with the Steam version.

Introduction

First of all, you have to get this idea out of your mind that this GTA in particular can run more than 60 FPS. It's impossible, the game can't handle high FPS and it will cause a lot of stutter, the cinematics have an unnecessary zoom in and it's unplayable trust me, in certain missions you'll need a frame limiter to 60 FPS.

Rockstar Games with this version, removed a lot of features like multiplayer, leaderboards, some songs removed, etc. If you are a simple guy like me, bought this game nowadays and doesn't give much importance about the features removed, this guide is perfect for you.

All of this steps that I'm gonna post here are meant for the Steam version, I'm not entirely sure if the downgraded version of this works but if you got the downgraded, you surely put mods to work it out and maybe you don't need this.

First step

Since this GTA is weird with his engine or something, we need to download the DXVK [github.com].
Before you download this, you can download the latest version of this but with some research I've done people said that the version 1.9.4 performed the best for GTA IV, causing less more stutter and less usage on the GPU. The choice is yours, you can use as well the latest one or use that one in specific.

The folder you need to download is the one that ends with .tar.gz. When you download this folder you need to extract only the file d3d9.dll that is located in the x32 folder and paste in the game's root folder Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV.

GTA IV is a 32 BIT application, if you use the 64 BIT it will cause issues.

You probably have seen in other guides saying also to extract the file dxgi.dll. Now you may wonder, why don't you need that?

Some people posted in other platforms that you really don't need that file, it gets in the way basically, I tried using the two files and the game would still have problems, when removed the game was perfoming way better.

Second step

This second step you will have to go to once again to the game's root folder and then go to the folder named pc, Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV/pc, there is a file named stream.ini . For some reason, GTA IV uses a maximum of 2 GB of RAM by default but you can change it to 4 GB to perform better.
Open up the file and you will see something like this:

virtual 204800
physical 204800
virtual_optimised 204800
physical_optimised 204800

Change all of these numbers to 409600 to use up to 4 GB of RAM.

Third step

In the game's root folder Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV, you will need to create a file called commandline.txt. You'll need to copy and paste these commands.

-width XXX
-height XXX
-nomemrestrict
-norestrictions
-percentvidmem 100
-availablevidmem {type the amount of VRAM available of your GPU, don't forget to remove the brackets}
-reservedApp 0
-managed
-refreshrate 60

Don't forget to change the numbers of the -availablevidmem and also the resolution (on the X's) you desire to play the game.
If you want to know what these commands do, just search them on Google, I can assure that these are the recommended ones.

Fourth step

Again, in the game's root folder Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV, we need to create another file but this one called dxvk.conf (dxvk as the file name and .conf as the extension of the file) to avoid and reduce even more stutters to the game.
When this file is created, you'll need to put these commands

dxgi.maxFrameLatency = 1
d3d9.maxFrameLatency = 1
d3d9.maxAvailableMemory = {type the amount of VRAM available of your GPU, remove the brackets after}
d3d9.presentInterval = 1
d3d9.numBackBuffers = 3
dxvk.enableAsync = true
dxvk.numAsyncThreads = {type half of your CPU threads, remove the brackets as well}

These commands will make sure that VSync and Triple Buffering will work properly and will make the game even more smoother, you'll need to put again the amount of VRAM in that specific command again, just to make sure everything works.

Fifth step

To make sure this works, we have to customize some options in the NVIDIA Control Panel, if you have another GPU that is not of NVIDIA, I really can't help ya, try putting something similar to this.

Before doing this, start up GTA and once you are in the menu, exit it.

Launch the NVIDIA Control Panel and go to: 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Add > Grand Theft Auto 4 (gtaiv.exe)

These options worked fine for me, some of them may not show up to you, depends on it's GPU. Anti-aliasing does not work because of the DXVK so the options in the NVIDIA Control Panel are useless. You will notice in-game. Having the options enabled won't change anything. To make this work you need some mod or injector to work properly.

I will share my settings below:

Sixth step (OPTIONAL)

If you're running a low end PC, you can go to the game's root folder Steam\steamapps\common\Grand Theft Auto IV\GTAIV, and in each .exe that folder has, you right click and then properties, go to compatibility, make sure that you tick the Disable fullscreen optimizations and to end, press as well Change high DPI settings, tick the last box that shows up.
Tick as well the compatibility mode and set below to Vista Service Pack 2.
Press OK and apply those settings again, to each of every .exe that the game has.

Conclusion

At first the game may be stuttering as it builds some cache, it's completely normal. The more you play the game the smoother it will become. It is recommended that you do at least 3 times the benchmark to get the best experience or leave the game open for a while.

I understand that the majority of people want everything of the original version and they downgrade. I feel like downgrading the game is such a pain in the ass and with those shady websites they promote to install, is not safe in my opinion. A lot of there install a lot of mods but I actually prefer keeping it Vanilla, without mods.

NOTE: IF YOU STILL EXPERIENCE SOME ZOOM IN THE CINEMATICS, MAKE SURE TO CHANGE THE REFRESH RATE AND THE MAX FRAME RATE TO 59 IN THE NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL AND IN-GAME.

But there you go, with all of this the game should be playable.

If you have any questions, you can share them and I will try to help. Get this with more ratings so that the people won't waste time searching.
Thank you.

[AlconburyBlues]

dxvk.numAsyncThreads = {type half of your CPU threads, remove the brackets as well}

This one can be confusing, because the item "Threads" in Task Manager/Performance tab shows it fluctuating between ~4000-4500. But when I did my research, it's actually Logical Processors you are looking for. Which in my case would be 16.

So why do people keep saying "Threads"?

[shabbadahutt]

Just enable steam overlay it fixed the stuttering issues, i tried all other "fixes" nothing worked
Also add this to launch options : -managed -availablevidmem (your vram) -noprecache
using the vulkan api have not reverted back to dx9
its buttery smooth with everything on very high and no stuttering what so ever

[AfricanTerror69]

How can I go about fixing the final Issue I arrive at? my resolution is 1920x1080 which I set properly, but the resolution of the game won't let me go above 1280x720 50fps

[djfamycom]

wow so unnecessary no offense https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u4P15xa6oE read the description, less than 5 minutes with a clean install... come on bruv, this is like a manifesto haha

[FartSmella69]

thank you for this, it works like a charm

[Masque]

Third and fourth step: type the amount of VRAM available of your GPU
----
What should this look like? And which number do I use? 8192 or 24500

My system info via Nvidia Control Panel:

Total Available Graphics Memory: 24500 MB
Dedicated Video Memory: 8192 MB GDDR6
---

[Roush]

A faster way to make the game run faster is follow this video: https://youtu.be/aUIhtXzdeZY

It uses DXVK which massively reduces stutters and improving the games performance.

[Stevo Mullup]

The way I got it to run the best is to download and install the improved classic mod. It fixes alot of problems plus puts all the missing songs back in and you can still play the dlc without the downgrade.its just a 9.5 gig download

[nigga]

Aim stuttering can be fixed with a plugin called Fusionfix and it's very easy to install.

[ARsparx]

Worked well for me. My game runs smoothly and I've had no issues at all.