So about a week ago I bought GTA IV, And ever since I bought it I can't play it because of unbearable lag. I've followed tutorials and done everything I know but it still lags to much. Does anyone know how to fix this? 

 

Computer Specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Processor 3.00 GHz

Installed RAM: 4.00 GB

 

So about a week ago I bought GTA IV, And ever since I bought it I can't play it because of unbearable lag. I've followed tutorials and done everything I know but it still lags to much. Does anyone know how to fix this? 

 

Computer Specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon™ II X2 250 Processor 3.00 GHz

Installed RAM: 4.00 GB

 

GTA IV is a very demanding game, and you are running a little low on RAM. I am not a fan of amd, so I have no clue if the processor is good enough. 

 

Just take in mind that GTA IV is the worst pc-port in history. Make sure that you are running the latest patch and not using any high-poly car models. 

GTA IV is a very demanding game, and you are running a little low on RAM. I am not a fan of amd, so I have no clue if the processor is good enough. 

 

Just take in mind that GTA IV is the worst pc-port in history. Make sure that you are running the latest patch and not using any high-poly car models. 

I got the game on Steam, So I'm running whatever version steam has.

Are you using any mods? If yes, uninstall them ALL, even ScriptHook & ASI loader/xliveless. If the game starts running without any FPS drops, then start installing them one by one to figure out which mod is making you lag.

If no, then try running the game on all low settings.

I think you might still not be able to run it (judging from the very small specs list you gave), in that case, you have earned the "Get a New Computer" suggestion!

 

FYI, your game is having FPS (Frames per Second) issues, not lags.

Lag only happens in online gaming, since lag means getting "steps" in other player's moments due to slow internet, or high latency (common cause is that you live very very far away from the server [eg: Server is in Europe, you live in Australia] ), etc.

Edited August 9, 201312 yr by Rocking_Star101

I was having the same issue, the lag was so bad i got so mad and threw one of my monitors across my office. So after buying a new monitor I found a way to solve most of my issues. First off you do need more RAM, 8GB is what I run and seems to be good enough. secondly, the PC version of GTA IV is not coded very well and not designed to run on multi-core processors. go into your task manager and under processes find gta iv and right click then click set affinity and choose only one core for it to run off of, it will greatly improve fps and game quality. also start out with all the graphic setting on low and turn off shadows bc its a major fps killer and start from there and slowly increase the graphics until the game looks good and still functions good.