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This is that patch you've been looking for to improve your favorite video racing game

This is that patch you've been looking for to improve your favorite video racing game

Vote: (15,661 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Rockstar Games

Version: 1.0.8.0

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(15,661 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

Rockstar Games

1.0.8.0

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Fully compatible with the original version of GTA IV
  • Small footprint
  • Fixes several bugs
  • Updates game to latest version

Cons

  • Players may not notice much of a difference
  • Only makes minor improvements

Grand Theft Auto IV Patch is a collection of hotfixes that correct several problems with GTA IV's underlying code. Perhaps the most noticeable changes are to the way that the graphics engine works. Once you've finished installing the patch, you should notice some small improvements in the way that shadows are rendered and reflections work.

For instance, many gamers claimed that they were able to notice some sort of jagged lines around the edges of shadows when they positioned their character to look in a downward direction. If this sounds familiar, then you're certainly going to want to install this patch. While the impact isn't all that major, you probably will see a difference if you're a detail-oriented player.

Best of all, it's quite lightweight. All you have to do is download a simple package and inflate it. You won't have to worry about any sort of configuration options or messing around with different registry keys. The patch handles everything itself, which should come as a welcome relief to beleaguered FPS players who were afraid that the Grand Theft Auto series was going to be as rough to update as some of their favorite titles.

While GTA 4 is a popular sandbox adventure game, a few of these graphical errors could have drawn people away from the immersive experience. That's why this patch is so helpful for serious gamers. If you've ever felt as though there was any chance you'd lose the immersive impact of a game just because of some weird glitch, then this is the perfect opportunity to prevent this from ever happening.

When the PC version of GTA 4 was originally released, many people criticized it as lagging behind the console ports. This patch certainly isn't going to correct all of the complaints that players had in that respect, but it will certainly solve some of the more serious problems. Keep in mind that there's only so much a group of hotfixes can do. This certainly isn't going to turn the PC edition into a fully featured console shooter.

However, it will certainly bring some things into line. Several showstopper bugs were occasionally reported by players. While you might have never experienced these depending on the specific hardware configuration you're working with, there's a good chance that you might eventually come into contact with them. Installing it might not totally prevent the possibility of a system crash, but it will go along way toward reducing the risk of them.

If you've never noticed any instability in the past, then installing this update will certainly cut the chances that you ever will. That's why it's still a good idea even if you're working with relatively solid hardware. It's going to help you support the game application in a number of instances, which has helped to make it attractive to those who might be on the fence about installing individual updates like this.

Some people have complained about the patch's system requirements spec sheet. It's best to install these on a machine that has at least 512MB of video RAM and 2GB of actual generic RAM. Most people will want to work with some sort of Core 2 Quad CPU system, perhaps running at 2.4 GHz. Admittedly, these are pretty high specs.

That being said, they're just about the same that would have been suggested for the unpatched version of the game. As a result, the entire question is something of a moot point. Those who have slightly lower stats can install it and then turn down the graphical settings ever so slightly to ensure that the game runs nice and smooth without any interruption.

In fact, a patched version of the game with lower graphics options will actually run slightly better than an unpatched version with the graphics engine turned up all the way. It'll also look slightly better, which should help to encourage people to migrate to the newer version in spite of whatever performance issues that they might have been experiencing in the past.

Few gamers who install something like this will want to change up configuration options, but that's actually reliant on the game and not the patch. As promised, the patch itself doesn't really have any option to select beyond finding exactly where the game was installed to a local hard drive when it was first run.

Fatal exceptions have been one of the biggest issues to plague GTA IV players. Those who've been suffering through these kinds of problems will find that once they install this patch they won't see that error message any longer. Depending on the exact date that your install media shipped, you might not even have to worry about this because Rockstar Games was installing the patch on some versions out of the box.

Fixes have also been included for the ATI 1900 series of video adapters. These were among the worst when it came to showing poor quality artifacts around shadows and reflections. Those who might have experienced lower frame rates in the past might also experience some improvements as a result of the bundled fixes.

A few other problems are solved with the patch as well. For instance, you'll probably see a few improvements in the Video Editor. Smarter naming conventions and support for dedicated gaming mice come included as well.

Once you've installed the patch, Grand Theft Auto IV will make sure to periodically query your CPU's speed. The unpatched version only ever does when first start it up.

MMA10 errors were quite a problem for those who used the game's featured Social Club system, but the patch should solve these as well. While that's not much of an issue for those who don't play online, it's going to be a big thing for anyone who does.

If you're on the fence about installing it, then you might want to consider all these features before you decide against it.

Pros

  • Fully compatible with the original version of GTA IV
  • Small footprint
  • Fixes several bugs
  • Updates game to latest version

Cons

  • Players may not notice much of a difference
  • Only makes minor improvements