# GTA IV compatibility issue



## billubakra (Oct 25, 2016)

Hi Guys,

I bought GTA IV at a rock bottom price from some store. When I started the game, the resolution was 800x600, I changed the setting from the in-game setting menu and the resolution is fine now but the graphics sucks. The graphics tab in the in-game setting menu keeps on telling me that I need to lower the settings or something. I lowered it but it didn't help and now I am not able to increase it from the same menu. I am also not able to optimize the game from Nvidia Geforce Experience Panel. The specs of my system are i5 processor, 8gb ram, 4gb nvidia 940m graphic card, win 10 x64 bit. I have seen people playing this game on systems with 10 on YT and it works fine. What should I do?

Thanks


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## Desmond (Oct 25, 2016)

Are your GPU drivers up to date?


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## gameranand (Oct 26, 2016)

Did you bought it on steam or have on GFWL ??


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## quicky008 (Oct 26, 2016)

You are probably using a very old version of gta 4 that was buggy-i'd suggest that you download the latest updates for the game(if any)before attempting to play it any further.Also have you tried to manually edit the settings from the game itself to improve the graphical quality?If it tells you to lower the graphics options then just ignore it as your system is more than capable of running the game smoothly at high settings.


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## billubakra (Oct 27, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Are your GPU drivers up to date?



Yes dear.



gameranand said:


> Did you bought it on steam or have on GFWL ??



I bought the disc, non-steam version. What's GFWL?



quicky008 said:


> You are probably using a very old version of gta 4 that was buggy-i'd suggest that you download the latest updates for the game(if any)before attempting to play it any further.Also have you tried to manually edit the settings from the game itself to improve the graphical quality?If it tells you to lower the graphics options then just ignore it as your system is more than capable of running the game smoothly at high settings.



There are no updates of GTA IV as per Rockstar's support. They are telling me to upgrade to GTA V as they don't support IV anymore. I tried to manually up the graphic quality from the game itself but I can't do that, I can lower it though. It keeps on telling me that I need to lower settings as it is eating up resources or something.


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## Desmond (Oct 27, 2016)

billubakra said:


> They are telling me to upgrade to GTA V as they don't support IV anymore.



What!?

You know that they are completely separate games, right?

Besides, I think you need to start searching for community created updates for GTA IV.


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## sling-shot (Oct 27, 2016)

GTA IV was buggy and riddled with some spyware kind of thing (some community or such) which was later disabled by an update. It was officially sold for Rs. 499 (I bought a disc too).

But it should have been playable for you. Something is wrong with the installation or your setup. I got 20 - 25 FPS on a crappy old Athlon 64 3600+ CPU and Radeon HD4670 graphics card. ( I was on 1040 patch or something)

For now:

*updates.rockstargames.com/patches/gtaiv/title_update_7_EN.zip

Also look at this page : GTA IV PC Software Prerequisites &ndash; Rockstar Suppor


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## billubakra (Oct 28, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> What!?
> 
> You know that they are completely separate games, right?
> 
> Besides, I think you need to start searching for community created updates for GTA IV.



I know. I told them that I already have GTA V, then they thanked me for being a loyal customer and told me to try other Rockstar Games. Their customer support sucks.



sling-shot said:


> GTA IV was buggy and riddled with some spyware kind of thing (some community or such) which was later disabled by an update. It was officially sold for Rs. 499 (I bought a disc too).
> 
> But it should have been playable for you. Something is wrong with the installation or your setup. I got 20 - 25 FPS on a crappy old Athlon 64 3600+ CPU and Radeon HD4670 graphics card. ( I was on 1040 patch or something)
> 
> ...



Do I need to apply that update from the first link? I have everything installed from the second link except this-
GTA IV PC Activation Suppor
What exactly is SecuRom?

I know the specs of my system should play the game but idk why the game keeps on displaying this error on the graphics page in the settings menu-

*oi63.tinypic.com/j7ak2t.jpg


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## Desmond (Oct 28, 2016)

Why do you only have 123 MB VRAM? It looks like you are running on onboard graphics for some reason.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## billubakra (Oct 29, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Why do you only have 123 MB VRAM? It looks like you are running on onboard graphics for some reason.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk



I didn't get you. A little noob language please.


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## Desmond (Oct 29, 2016)

See the "Resource usage" section of that options screen. It says 590/123 MB. That means you only have 123 MB video memory available and the settings you are using requires 590 MB.


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## gameranand (Oct 29, 2016)

I guess, Dessy you found the root of the problem.


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## billubakra (Oct 29, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> See the "Resource usage" section of that options screen. It says 590/123 MB. That means you only have 123 MB video memory available and the settings you are using requires 590 MB.





gameranand said:


> I guess, Dessy you found the root of the problem.



Kindly guide how to fix the same?


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## Desmond (Oct 29, 2016)

Since you are using an M series GPU. That means you are running on a laptop.

Now, most laptops have that hybrid GPU thing going on, where the onboard GPU is used for desktop and the motherboard switches to the discreet GPU for full screen applications. In this case, I think the onboard GPU is still being used that is why your VRAM is so low. Perhaps if you can somehow disable that switching feature, this might get fixed.

I don't remember where you have to go to disable it though. Perhaps you could look online.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## sling-shot (Oct 30, 2016)

1. Right Click on Desktop
2. Select nVidia Control Panel
3. In left panel select "Manage 3D Settings"
4. In right panel select Global Tab
5. Under "Preferred Graphics Processor" select "Auto-Select" and hit APPLY button

Above is from How to Switch Between Nvidia And Intel Graphic Cards in K55VD Asus Laptop? - [Solved] - Graphics Card

Also look at this page Disabling Integrated Graphics card? - Video - Laptop - Dell Community


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## tanmaymohan (Oct 31, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> 1. Right Click on Desktop
> 2. Select nVidia Control Panel
> 3. In left panel select "Manage 3D Settings"
> 4. In right panel select Global Tab
> ...



or select the app in the Program settings tab 

Eg : *i.imgur.com/Q88E33R.png


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## billubakra (Oct 31, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Since you are using an M series GPU. That means you are running on a laptop.
> 
> Now, most laptops have that hybrid GPU thing going on, where the onboard GPU is used for desktop and the motherboard switches to the discreet GPU for full screen applications. In this case, I think the onboard GPU is still being used that is why your VRAM is so low. Perhaps if you can somehow disable that switching feature, this might get fixed.
> 
> ...





sling-shot said:


> 1. Right Click on Desktop
> 2. Select nVidia Control Panel
> 3. In left panel select "Manage 3D Settings"
> 4. In right panel select Global Tab
> ...





tanmaymohan said:


> or select the app in the Program settings tab
> 
> Eg : *i.imgur.com/Q88E33R.png



First of all Happy Diwali and thanks for replying. It was already auto selected-
*oi66.tinypic.com/5fro0k.jpg

I selected the app, it prompted me to select GTA IV or GTA IV Browser, I selected the former but I got the same message as before-
*oi68.tinypic.com/sq5ogn.jpg

Any other help? Why am I not able to optimize this game in Nvidia GeForce Experience?


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## sling-shot (Oct 31, 2016)

Under Manage 3D Settings > Preferred Graphics Processor option, can you force it NVidia from Auto? What are the options available under the drop down menu there? 

Note: I have not used NVidia before so take all my replies as wild guesses.


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## billubakra (Oct 31, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Under Manage 3D Settings > Preferred Graphics Processor option, can you force it NVidia from Auto? What are the options available under the drop down menu there?
> 
> Note: I have not used NVidia before so take all my replies as wild guesses.



*i67.tinypic.com/35bzipg.jpg

Yes I can select Nvidia and I have selected it but still the same issue


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## sling-shot (Oct 31, 2016)

Can you please give the exact model number of your laptop and also driver version. 

Since you are running Windows 10, I guess the driver updates are being taken care of Windows itself. Still.

Also please run the following programs and post screenshots of them:
CPU-Z
GPU-Z


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## billubakra (Oct 31, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Can you please give the exact model number of your laptop and also driver version.
> 
> Since you are running Windows 10, I guess the driver updates are being taken care of Windows itself. Still.
> 
> ...



ab522tx
Latest drivers, 10 updates them itself.
PFA.


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## sling-shot (Oct 31, 2016)

OK. 

Can you look into power management settings and see something there is set to power save mode or something?


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## Desmond (Nov 1, 2016)

This could also be a known issue with GTA4. When looking online keep an eye out for similar issues that other people might have faced.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## billubakra (Nov 1, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> OK.
> 
> Can you look into power management settings and see something there is set to power save mode or something?



Are the drivers etc. ok, from what's mentioned in that specs file? The power mode is set to HP recommended and not power saver. What does the power management mode have to do with this?



Desmond David said:


> This could also be a known issue with GTA4. When looking online keep an eye out for similar issues that other people might have faced.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk



Will be trying what the YT videos are saying and that Rockstar fix-

gta iv issues - Google Searc

Issues with GTA IV  showing video cards with over 2GB as under spec &ndash; Rockstar Suppor


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## sling-shot (Nov 1, 2016)

You need to check deeper into power options. There might be an option of selecting Intel graphics to save power. 

Also the other things suggested above might help. 

About driver versions, I am not too sure as I don't have any recent experience with NVidia.


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## billubakra (Nov 1, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> You need to check deeper into power options. There might be an option of selecting Intel graphics to save power.
> 
> Also the other things suggested above might help.
> 
> About driver versions, I am not too sure as I don't have any recent experience with NVidia.



These are the options under the current plan selected by default-
*oi64.tinypic.com/14y2xb8.jpg

Do I need to change anything? Will try the above posted links and will post the result here.


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## Desmond (Nov 2, 2016)

There must be someway to disable the onboard GPU permanently, at least for playing the game. You can later turn it back on when you are done. An option in the BIOS perhaps.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## billubakra (Nov 3, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> There must be someway to disable the onboard GPU permanently, at least for playing the game. You can later turn it back on when you are done. An option in the BIOS perhaps.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk



Need more insights on that brother. The fixes posted RG's forum aren't helpful.


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## sling-shot (Nov 3, 2016)

Is this only with GTA? Any other heavy game showing similar behavior?


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## billubakra (Nov 3, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Is this only with GTA? Any other heavy game showing similar behavior?



This issue is only with GTA IV. GTA V, NFS Rivals & Mafia II works fine.


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## Desmond (Nov 3, 2016)

Have your checked for the settings in the BIOS? You could also try disabling your integrated GPU from the device manager.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## billubakra (Nov 3, 2016)

Desmond David said:


> Have your checked for the settings in the BIOS? You could also try disabling your integrated GPU from the device manager.
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk



Disabled Intel's gpu but still same result. Don't know how to do that via BIOS.


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## Desmond (Nov 3, 2016)

Which laptop are you using? Post make and model and I will see if I can find some info on how to access its BIOS.


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## sling-shot (Nov 3, 2016)

Hold your horses! After further reading it seems to be a limitation from GTA IV itself and Rockstar's refusal to update it. 

Go here and read carefully 3rd to 7th posts on the page. 
Follow the instructions to create _ commandline.txt _ file and then try. 

*forums.geforce.com/default/topic/7...dia-geforce-740m-2-gb-graphics-card/?offset=5

There is another official looking page saying similar things here Issues with GTA IV  showing video cards with over 2GB as under spec &ndash; Rockstar Suppor


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## Desmond (Nov 3, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Hold your horses! After further reading it seems to be a limitation from GTA IV itself and Rockstar's refusal to update it.
> 
> Go here and read carefully 3rd to 7th posts on the page.
> Follow the instructions to create _ commandline.txt _ file and then try.
> ...



This seems pretty much spot on.


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## billubakra (Nov 6, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Hold your horses! After further reading it seems to be a limitation from GTA IV itself and Rockstar's refusal to update it.
> 
> Go here and read carefully 3rd to 7th posts on the page.
> Follow the instructions to create _ commandline.txt _ file and then try.
> ...





Desmond David said:


> This seems pretty much spot on.



I created a commandline text file with this _-norestrictions -nomemrestrict_ The graphics(the menu photo and the loading photos of the characters) became great but the game never started as it kept on loading maybe as the resource usage was still in red. Then I created a file with _availablevidmem 70.0_, didn't use the "-" sign hope thats ok, the resource usage increased and I was able to increase the texture, shadow settings. If I selected the max settings the game became like I was playing it in slow motion. It works fine if only high settings are selected. The graphics on the other hand are not that good. Playable but it hurts your eyes. Is there anything more that can be done? The graphics with -norestrictions -nomemrestrict were awesome.

I have created the text file, do I need to do this-

_Note that these command lines can be added immediately after the last quotation mark in the target parameter of the program shortcut.

    Locate the shortcut to the video game on your desktop.
    Right click the file and select Properties.
    Under the shortcut tab, you will see an area that says Target, this will list the exact location of the file within quotation marks.
    Modify the Target adding the command line variables after the last quotation mark.
    Press apply and start your game via the shortcut._

Issues with GTA IV  showing video cards with over 2GB as under spec &ndash; Rockstar Suppor


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## sling-shot (Nov 6, 2016)

Adding the commands either to the program launch shortcut or to the command text file should have the same effect.


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## billubakra (Nov 6, 2016)

sling-shot said:


> Adding the commands either to the program launch shortcut or to the command text file should have the same effect.



Ok dear. Anything more that can be done to make it better?


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## sling-shot (Nov 6, 2016)

Nuh. 

May be open an account in those forums and try and see if you can get further help.


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## baccilus (Nov 7, 2016)

This issue is not laptop specific. Even on my Desktop, I have been trying to play this game on Windows 10 with no success so far. I will try the command line option and see if that helps. I have the DVD version which I bought when the game released, but I never really finished the game. Is there any place where I can download the latest patch (apart from the official one posted in this thread) and also remove the requirement to put in the DVD each time? Are there any community patches for this game?


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## sling-shot (Nov 7, 2016)

Removing the requirement to put in disc can only done by using a cracked executable I guess. 

You should go to the official Rockstar website and get latest patch.


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## baccilus (Nov 7, 2016)

Has anyone been able to run this game on Windows 10 with a modern graphic card? Haven't been able to find a confirmation about in online at least


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## billubakra (Nov 7, 2016)

baccilus said:


> This issue is not laptop specific. Even on my Desktop, I have been trying to play this game on Windows 10 with no success so far. I will try the command line option and see if that helps. I have the DVD version which I bought when the game released, but I never really finished the game. Is there any place where I can download the latest patch (apart from the official one posted in this thread) and also remove the requirement to put in the DVD each time? Are there any community patches for this game?





baccilus said:


> Has anyone been able to run this game on Windows 10 with a modern graphic card? Haven't been able to find a confirmation about in online at least



Why are you not able to run the game without the disc? Is your game, the steam version one?
 [MENTION=139416]sling-shot[/MENTION] I don't think that there's a patch for this.

Check videos on YT, people are playing it on 10 with amazing graphics.


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## baccilus (Nov 7, 2016)

I have the disc version but I find it too inconvenient to load disc in to my system each time I want to play. Will check Youtube though.


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## Shah (Nov 7, 2016)

baccilus said:


> Has anyone been able to run this game on Windows 10 with a modern graphic card? Haven't been able to find a confirmation about in online at least



I own it on Steam and it works fine on Windows 10 Pro. I had to tweak some configuration and install some patch for it to work though. 

Search steamcommunity, there are some tweaks to run it on Windows 8. I upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 10 some time after installing it. It should work for Windows 10 too.


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## billubakra (Nov 7, 2016)

Shah said:


> I own it on Steam and it works fine on Windows 10 Pro. I had to tweak some configuration and install some patch for it to work though.
> 
> Search steamcommunity, there are some tweaks to run it on Windows 8. I upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 10 some time after installing it. It should work for Windows 10 too.



Do you remember the settings and patch which you applied? How are the in game graphics?


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## Shah (Nov 7, 2016)

billubakra said:


> Do you remember the settings and patch which you applied? How are the in game graphics?



The game used to hang a lot and resolution fixed to 800x600 (on a GTX960) before I applied the patch. But after that there were no problems. 

I'd have shared the link if I remembered it. It was over a year ago. Anyway, I'll search steamcommunity and let you know.

*Edit:* This was it Steam Community :: Guide :: Fixing All Problems Associated With Windows 10 Including Graphics Settings Fi



> For this step you simply want to go to your steam library and right click GTA 4 the click properties and set launch options.
> Here you want to type in: '-nomemrestrict' and 'norestrictions' make sure you spelled them correctly and also disinclude the inverted commas ('), just type what's inside them.
> When you are in game you can now change the resolution and graphics settings.
> As this is an older game I reccomend putting up the settings all the way regardless of your pc specs, as long as your pc is relatively new it should be able to handle this.
> It may say you need to restart GTA to use texture quailty settings but this is unecessary it will make you get an infinite loading screen (Which I will tell you how to fix in the next section) and as long as you have the resolution up fully it looks ok.


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## billubakra (Nov 8, 2016)

Shah said:


> The game used to hang a lot and resolution fixed to 800x600 (on a GTX960) before I applied the patch. But after that there were no problems.
> 
> I'd have shared the link if I remembered it. It was over a year ago. Anyway, I'll search steamcommunity and let you know.
> 
> *Edit:* This was it Steam Community :: Guide :: Fixing All Problems Associated With Windows 10 Including Graphics Settings Fi



I did try those -norestrictions -nomemrestrict fixes and the graphics were great but then the infinite loading screen showed up. I doubt that the infinite loading screen fix as mentioned on the stream thread will help as with these commands the resource usage was still in red, but I will give it a try.

*forum.digit.in/software-q/199004-gta-iv-compatibility-issue-4.html#post2305943

Do I need to set the compatibility mode fix? Steam Community :: swatcopper2 :: Review for Grand Theft Auto I
If yes, then to which version of Windows. XP, 7 or 10?

The current commandline file in my system has these commands-
-availablevidmem 7.0 
-framelimit 0 
-norestrictions 
-nomemrestrict

I think some values needs to be altered as per this link
[W.I.P] Unique Complete Commandline Parameters - Help & Support - GTAForums
But I don't know which one's to be precise. With the current graphics the game is playable but it hurts the eyes.


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## Shah (Nov 8, 2016)

billubakra said:


> I did try those -norestrictions -nomemrestrict fixes and the graphics were great but then the infinite loading screen showed up. I doubt that the infinite loading screen fix as mentioned on the stream thread will help as with these commands the resource usage was still in red, but I will give it a try.
> 
> *forum.digit.in/software-q/199004-gta-iv-compatibility-issue-4.html#post2305943
> 
> ...



Your best bet would be to try every tweak out there. What worked for me may not work for you.


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## billubakra (Dec 9, 2016)

[MENTION=129731]Shah[/MENTION]   [MENTION=11731]baccilus[/MENTION]

Any idea how to apply this patch-
[11/29/16] GTAIV Patch 8 Notes (PC Only) &ndash; Rockstar Suppor

- - - Updated - - -
 [MENTION=129731]Shah[/MENTION]  [MENTION=11731]baccilus[/MENTION]

Any idea how to apply this patch-
[11/29/16] GTAIV Patch 8 Notes (PC Only) &ndash; Rockstar Suppor


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## Shah (Dec 9, 2016)

billubakra said:


> [MENTION=129731]Shah[/MENTION]   [MENTION=11731]baccilus[/MENTION]
> 
> Any idea how to apply this patch-
> [11/29/16] GTAIV Patch 8 Notes (PC Only) – Rockstar Suppor
> ...



If you had it on Steam, The updates will be downloaded and installed automatically, unless you choose otherwise.

Since you bought it from a brick-and-mortar store, I am not sure how you can get the patch. I cannot find download links from Rockstar for this patch. Found only this one. Not sure if it is legit or not.


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## billubakra (Dec 9, 2016)

Shah said:


> If you had it on Steam, The updates will be downloaded and installed automatically, unless you choose otherwise.
> 
> Since you bought it from a brick-and-mortar store, I am not sure how you can get the patch. I cannot find download links from Rockstar for this patch. Found only this one. Not sure if it is legit or not.



I am sure that the patch is for all steam and non-steam versions. Just not able to find the installer file of the same. The link that you have posted is not an official patch.


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## Shah (Dec 9, 2016)

billubakra said:


> I am sure that the patch is for all steam and non-steam versions. Just not able to find the installer file of the same. The link that you have posted is not an official patch.



Have you tried gtaforums.com? Someone there might have the link to the official patch.


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## baccilus (Dec 11, 2016)

See if this works:
Patch for GTA 4 1.0.8.


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