Reinstalling GTA IV - Very Frustrated

[mtonne 7]

Had GTA IV, LCPDFR .95, numerous mods, etc installed on my machine (which has ample specs and ran at nice FPS with few crashes) for over a year.

 

Decided to do a fresh reinstall and configure it for LCPDFR 1.0. It's turned into a mess and I must have gone completely dumb or am completely forgetting something I did the first time around.

 

Uninstalled GTA IV, Rockstar Games Social Club, LCPDFR .95 ... looked for Rockstar Games folders in my program files folder and found none, just in case there might be some leftover that needs to be manually deleted.

 

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit (had GTA IV installed in the Program Files x86 folder last time and thought about installing in the regular Program Files folder but at this point I just want to get it working).

 

To reinstall I did the following:

 

1) I put the disc in and perform the regular install without incident.

 

2) Run the 1.0.7.0 title update

 

Tried to open (Run As Admin) the game and got a lovely WS10 error.

 

3) Remembered xliveless and extracted the xlive,dll file into my Grand Theft Auto folder

 

Tried to open again (Run as Admin) and this time no WS10 error, but a small black window opens for 3 seconds, closes, disc spins in the pc, then nothing happens. No error, no nothing. 

 

What did I miss here? I'm not even up to setting up LCPDFR 1.0 yet.

 

Appreciate your help in advance.

Edited January 4, 2014 by mtonne

[ineseri 5,125]

Hey! Let me just tell you first, I understand your frustration. I have some well put words for Rockstar and their PC port... 

 

It would help immensly if you could answer the following questions (Is it a legal copy of the game? Steam/Retail? Are you running the game as administrator properly? Are you using any mods, if so lst them please.

 

Running the game as administrator properly: Go to the GTA IV folder, right click on GTAIV.exe, Properties, Compatibility and select 'Run this program as administrator', do the same exact thing to the LaunchGTAIV.exe.

 

Also, could you post a screenshot of your GTA IV folder? 

[mtonne 7]

It's a legal copy. Installed from the same disc I used previously.

 

I'm running as administrator.

 

Here's a screenshot ...

 

[ineseri 5,125]

Didn't you say you installed it in the x86 folder this time? Just checking. And you did run both GTA IV and LaunchGTAIV as admin? 

[mtonne 7]

Didn't you say you installed it in the x86 folder this time? Just checking. And you did run both GTA IV and LaunchGTAIV as admin? 

 

Sorry. Crossed up. This is the 4th time I'm gone through the process and I did in fact install it into the Program Files folder instead of x86.

 

I did run both as admin.

[ineseri 5,125]

And it still doesn't work? Just a straight CTD each time? 

[mtonne 7]

And it still doesn't work? Just a straight CTD each time? 

 

Yep.

 

Especially frustrating because I had it working perfectly for over a year.

[ineseri 5,125]

Can you try using dsound again, but before launching the game, apply this instead (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5549). 

[mtonne 7]

Switched out xlive for dsound.

No change. Boooooooo.

[mtonne 7]

Guess I'm stuck.

[ineseri 5,125]

Have you applied the hot-fix? It's in the manual installation package.