Gta3: Official Troubleshooting Guide
Here is a checklist of general fixes for GTA 3 PC to try first.
1.) For Windows XP users there is a patch that needs to be installed. It
replaces a few system files that have been found to make the game work
better. (Along with the other fixes below) If you are not sure if you have
the patch installed here is an easy way to find out.
Click Start -> Run. Erase whatever is in the box and type in DXDIAG. Then
click on the DirectX Files tab and look for these two files... (These files
are located at the top of the DirectX Files tab so they are easy to find.)
D3d8.dll ver 5.1.2600.29 <- You have the patch
Ddraw.dll ver 5.1.2600.29 <- You have the patch
D3d8.dll ver 5.1.2600 <- You do not have the patch
Ddraw.dll ver 5.1.2600 <- You do not have the patch
If you do not have these files or version numbers do not match then you do
not have the patch installed. Go to this website
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306676 to download
the patch and make sure you have DirectX 8.1 video & sound drivers as well.
2.) If you are getting no textures or an incredibly dense fog in the game
with an NVIDIA video card, you need to enable Fog Table Emulation.
Right Click on an empty area of the desktop
Left Click on Properties
Click on the Settings Tab
Click on Advanced Properties
Click on the GeForce Tab (it will have the same name as you video card)
Click on the Additional Properties
Click on the Direct3D Setting Tab Place a Check Mark next to Enable For
Table Emulation
Click Apply
Click OK and keep clicking OK until all those windows are closed. Then try
the game again. For more information on this please contact the
manufacturer,
www.nvidia.com.
3.) Close your background applications, use CTRL+ALT+DEL. This will bring up
close programs. END TASK on each item except for EXPLORER and SYSTRAY.
You will need to repeat for each item. Now when you do this give about 8
seconds in-between hitting END TASK and doing CTRL+ALT+DEL. If you do not
you will reboot your system and will have to start this task all from the
beginning. If a another window pops up just hit END TASK again. After all
but EXPLORER and SYSTRAY are left, Then start your program up.
For XP users:
To close your background applications, use CTRL+ALT+DEL. This will bring up
the Windows Security Box and you need to click on Task Manager. END TASK on
each item except for EXPLORER.EXE as that is Windows itself. You will need
to repeat the above step for each item. Now when you do this give about 8
seconds in-between hitting END TASK and doing CTRL+ALT+DEL. If you do not
you will reboot your system and will have to start this task all from the
beginning. If another window pops up just hit END TASK again. After all but
EXPLORER.EXE is left, you can then start your program up. Once you reboot
the system, all of the items you just removed will be back.
4.) Check your display settings in Windows.
Go to Start, Settings, then Control Panel.
Double-click the Display icon.
Click the Settings Tab. For the Color Palette setting, select 16-bit High
colors. (Do not use 24 or 32 bit true color) For the Desktop Area, set it to
800x600 or around 1024 x 768 if you wish.
Click Apply, and restart the system if prompted.
If you set your resolution to those settings and still get the error
message, this usually means that the monitor itself may not be setup
correctly.
5.) Check your monitor settings by Right-clicking on the Desktop and choose
Properties from the menu. Click the Settings tab, then the Advanced
Properties button. Click the Monitor tab (this may say "Unknown, Standard or
Default"). Click the Change button, and after Windows builds the driver
information database, select the proper monitor type (Plug And Play is
usually the correct choice; check with your monitor or system manufacturer
if you are unsure). Click Apply, then Ok or Close, and restart the system
when prompted. Make sure only one monitor is listed and not two. Remove any
other ones listed that are not the true monitor you have connected to your
computer now.
6.) Make sure your video card has certified DirectX 8.1 drivers from the
manufacturer of the video or sound card. Note that DirectX 8.1 does not load
during the install if you do not have it already installed. If you look at
the Install CD, you'll see a folder labeled Direct X Runtime. Inside that
folder are Direct X installation programs. Choose the appropriate one for
your operating system and run it to install Direct X 8.1.
7.) This game requires Direct X 8.1 to run. 3DFX, the company that made
Voodoo cards, is no longer in business, so no more official drivers that
support newer versions of Direct X will be available. There are third party
drivers available (a good place to look at these is the
www.voodoofiles.com
website) but as these are not official drivers, you may find that this game
will not run on one of these video cards.
8.) If you are experiencing short, periodic slowdowns while driving, Grand
Theft Auto III may be having trouble retrieving data at a fast enough rate
from your hard disk. It is recommended that you run your systems
Defragmentation utility regularly to allow optimum speed in the game's
performance. To begin the process: Click on Start -> Programs ->
Accessories -> System Tools -> Scandisk or Disk Cleanup then Defrag.
9.) For more flowing gameplay it is recommended that in game you set the
game to 800 x 600 16bit & turn off Frame Synch, Frame Limiter & Wide Screen.
Regardless of your system specs this is the most optimized for flowing game
play.
10.) If you are experiencing odd player controls, such as sluggish reaction
from the character, or random and uncontrollable spinning, you may want to
check a few things.
If you have a force feedback mouse, such as the iFeel mouse, or an infrared
optical mouse, you may need to disable all background applications that
maybe running including anti-virus software. There may be an icon in your
taskbar that you can disable. If this remedy does not work, you may need to
simply use a standard non force feedback or non infrared mouse. If you have
a joystick that you aren't using during game play, you may want to either
unplug the joystick or disable it in the Gaming Options of your Control
Panel. Simply click on the device and then click Remove.
11.) If you have a Nvidia video card make sure you have the 28.32 detonator
drivers. Should you have the new Nforce motherboard (with the intergrated
video & sound card built on the motherboard) then make sure you install the
Nforce drivers and not the Detonator drivers.
Www.nvidia.com
12.) If you are receiving an error stating that you need to have a 12meg
video card, and you have a 16meg video card or higher. First make sure your
hardware acceleration is set all the way to 'full'. Also we have found that
some video cards that have what is called an Intergrated ramdac are seeing
some choppy or delayed framerate during gameplay. (Which shows what kind of
ramdac you have in your Dxdiag.)
To check what ramdac you have, Click Start -> Run. Erase whatever is in the
box and type in 'DXDIAG'. Click on the Display tab and on the upper left
hand side it should show you either Internal Ramdac or Intergrated Ramdac.
If nothing is showing for your Dac Type then the gameplay will be choppy.
Reinstalling your drivers or contacting your videocard manufacturer should
fix this problem.
13.) It will also help us if you can send to us any and all screenshots of
the error message along with the both DXDIAG & MSINFO text files. These
files are not on your system. You will have to make them and the
instructions are shown below.
DXDIAG -> Click Start -> Run. Erase whatever is in the box and type in
'DXDIAG'. Click on 'Save All Information' and save the file to a place that
you can find it later (the desktop is a good place). Attach it to an email,
and send it back to us with MSINFO32 shown below.
MSINFO32 -> Now put the game or program cd into the cd-rom drive then do the
following below...
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type 'MSINFO32' Without the quotes and then click OK. This
will bring up the Microsoft System Information window.
Click on File then EXPORT. (WARNING: DO NOT USE SAVE)
Now where it says 'File name' type in MSINFO32, and on the top where it says
Save in make sure it says 'desktop'. Now click on save and then replay back
to me with the DXDIAG.txt and MSINFO32.txt file as attachments and the
complete problem you are having with the program.
NOTE: Windows 2000 users remember when you first open MSINFO32, you must
click first on System Information, then the 'Action' button on the top left
menu bar, then click on 'Save as test file'.
Just send us both files and we will tell you of what we find that may be a
recorded or unrecorded issue with the program. Thank you for contacting Take
2 Technical Support.