# GTAIV Freezing during gameplay



## suortin (Feb 22, 2009)

Hi my name is Ed and I'm pretty angry about an issue with my copy of GTAIV.

I purchased the game on steam a few days ago and to begin with it ran pretty smoothly. All graphic settings on high in-game with the occasional random freeze. Even though the freezes were pretty annoying they were only slight jerks and I put up with them and managed to get quite far into the game. Then randomly after about 4-5 hours of continuous play the game crashed completely. There was no error message and the audio was looping. I could not minimise thus I opened up task manager, ended the process and loaded up the game once more. I tried again and it froze again. Third times a charm? Yes; on the third try the game was running fine again and I continued to plough through the missions, thoroughly enjoying the game. And then disaster. The game froze once more and continues to do so everytime I run it. In its current state the game will open up to the start menu without any trouble. Once I launch the game it will feel slightly jerky just like it was before when I first played. Within a few minutes it'll suddenly feel a lot more unplayable until, bang, completely frozen. No error messages, looping audio and only one way to close the programme, CTRL+ALT+DELETE and End Process. Like before I tried again but this time it will freeze every time within around 5 minutes of gameplay.

After browsing around the internet I have tried various solutions. So far I have updated my graphics card drivers, tried running the game in different compatibility modes, tried entering different commands into the games launch options, tried lowering the graphics settings in-game and in my nVidia Control Panel and now I'm pretty much stumped as to what the problem could be. I feel slightly gutted because I was really enjoying this game and felt like I certainly got my monies worth. I don't understand how I could run the game fine for a while and then suddenly it starts to crash. When I open task manager after a crash it always displays a high CPU usage for the GTAIV.exe process. This CPU usage has varied. Sometimes its around 60-70% and other times its been at 100%! If you can help me to resolve this issue it would be MUCH appreciated.

Here are my system specs:-

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
AMD ATHLON II 3.0Ghz Dual Core Processor
nVidia GTX 460 1GB Graphics Card
4GB Ram
500GB HD

I have used a website which determines whether or not your PC system can run particular games received positive feedback in terms of my PC running GTAIV.


Thank You



suo

P.S Most online forum posts for this issue are dated at around 2008 and early 2009 where the solutions don't really apply to me. (New OS, unreleased at the time; Steam copy as opposed to retail)


----------



## Elvenleader3 (Jan 1, 2010)

Have you tried cleaning out the computer? Dust could be the culprit if it's a heat problem. 

I would also try and set GTAIV to the highest priority in Task Manager. Right click GTAIV and go to Priority and set it to High.


----------



## suortin (Feb 22, 2009)

Elvenleader3 said:


> Have you tried cleaning out the computer? Dust could be the culprit if it's a heat problem.
> 
> I would also try and set GTAIV to the highest priority in Task Manager. Right click GTAIV and go to Priority and set it to High.


It's a brand new computer and in pristine condition. I'll try setting the priority to high and reporting back.

Cheers.


----------



## suortin (Feb 22, 2009)

Okay I've tried setting the priority to high but it is still freezing.

Any other suggestions? I also tried running the game with GameBooster active but to no avail. I feel angry that steam has listed my computer as being fully capable of running this game in its system requirements yet this is happening. RAGE!


----------



## Headpred (Aug 16, 2009)

Steam is not to blame. They only post recommended specs provided by the developers. Although GTAIV suggests minimum sytem requirements to be a core 2 duo 1.8ghz it is really recommended that you play with a quad core processor. This game was build in it's day with the future in mind and had lots of issues with users when it first came out. Fortunately you did get the game from Steam which insures that you have all the updates. 
We need to try a few steps to see if it affects your gameplay. First try running Steam in offline mode when you play the game. It will help keep anything from happening in the background such as steam checking for client updates or checking for game updates.
Also, download SIW from my signature. Find the tab that says sensors and take a screen with your system at idle. Then as soon as you pc starts to "lag" get another screenshot of them as well. As elvenleader3 said it does sound like overheating regardless if you pc is new or not it may not have adequate airflow. Which a simple solution from there would be to purchase another case fan which are fairly inexpensive compared to their overall impact.
I almost forgot one more thing. Can you please post specs from your Power Supply Unit as well?


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

what power supply

brand
model
wattage


----------



## suortin (Feb 22, 2009)

Hey guys. Late reply due to being away visiting family. Anyway this is my PSU:-

400W Xigmatek PSU

Here are two screenshot of SIW one idle and the other while GTAIV has completely frozen:-

*Idle*









*Frozen*


----------



## Elvenleader3 (Jan 1, 2010)

I'd probably blame the power supply. The 460 is a big card that needs a lot of power, and using a PSU with 400w isn't going to cut it. I would try to get one from a friend to test out(preferably a good quality 650w unit) and try to play the game again.


----------



## suortin (Feb 22, 2009)

Cheers for the replies guys. I made a video of the error as well if it can help with any further investigation. Just a stab in the dark really to see if anyone comes to any realisation about what could be wrong.

‪GTAIV Crash‬‏ - YouTube


----------

