Most of the modern day games do come with patches and updates from time to time, which would be ideal in making sure that the gameplay experience of a particular title will be able to be optimized as far as it is possible. The thing is, game patches and updates were not all that frequent in the past. This could be attributed to many reasons, among them include the lack of a decent platform to disseminate such changes. Well, here’s news for you Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) fans: Rockstar has just introduced the latest patch for the game. Yes sir, this would mean that it is the first time in half a dozen years since GTA IV has picked up a patch. This particular patch will not be an adventure-packed DLC that many people might have hoped for, but at the very least it intends to make the game work more efficiently on modern day computers.
While I strongly believe in the adage of better late than never, to hear of GTA IV getting a patch that will improve the operability of the game on modern day PCs is a rather big letdown. Unless you are one who is stuck in the past, why bother with GTA IV on the PC eight long years after the game was released? Surely adding in new content into the patch would have been able to garner a whole lot more attention from the masses. Ah well, only the folks at Rockstar would know the reasoning behind this move.
You will be able to satisfy your curiosity as to what has been changed or improved in the released patch notes as follows:
- Added error code "WTV270" to indicate a problem with connecting to Windows Live Sign in Assistant / Games for Windows Live Servers.
- Added Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 to compatible OS check.
- Added Display Controller image in Controller Configuration.
- Fixed a bug which made completing "Out of Commission" mission impossible when frame rate exceeds 60fps.
- Fixed a bug with the "Resource Usage" indicator on graphics cards with more than 2GB of VRAM.
- Fixed a bug that restricted settings changes when using modern video cards.
- Fixed a bug with the map crosshair on certain resolutions.
- Fixed a bug with text scrolling in "Brief" Menu.
- Fixed "drawlist overflow" crash.
- Minor performance optimizations.
GTA IV did come with a recommended system specifications that is clearly laughable by today’s standards, but you would do well to remember that it is 2008 that we are talking about. Back then, it was pretty fly to own a gaming PC that had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad CPU running underneath the hood accompanied by 2GB of RAM (2.5GB required if you had Windows Vista as the operating system of choice) and a 512MB graphics card. Clearly these are hardware specifications that even pale in comparison to what a modern day smartphone is able to deliver.
Do take note that six years since the last patch was released, even this new patch will not do away with the Games for Windows Live framework. Fret not, Rockstar knows how to get around this issue with the right instructions.
