When I bought GTA IV, I knew that I didn't meet the requirements to run the game. However, the game is running smoothly after doing some discovered and undiscovered tweaks and I still do not meet the requirements. I'm going to let you in on some things you may know and some things you don't Here are my specs you need to know.
Genuine Intel® CPU 585 @ 2.16GHz
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 32-bit
Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family
RAM: 3.0 GB
The Trick #1:
Note: (This certain tweak can also help people who meet the requirements, but can only put their graphics on medium.)
Open your GTA IV directory and go to common/shaders/. You should see a folder called win32_30_atidx10 and win32_30_nv8 and others. Make a backup of win32_30_atidx10 folder and move it into win32_30_nv8. Once done, you may or may not get 10 extra fraps. If not, please don't blame me. Remember, it's more for people who can't put their graphics past medium.
The Trick #2 (for low end computers only)
Using a commandline is helpful only if you use it correctly.
Make a file in notepad called, "commandline" and add it to your main folder.
Add the following:
-noprecache
-windowed
-novsync
-novblank
-viewdistance 0
-renderquality 0
-detailquality
-frameLimit 0
-texturequality 0
Then, in the game graphics menu, whatever you can turn off or put on low, that would be recommended
You would think that after putting the settings above would cause the game not to load anything, but it does the opposite for me at least.
You put certain number in front of -availablevidmem depending on how much memory you actually have. Start with -availablevidmem 2.0 but if that doesn't help, put 3.0 instead, and if that doesn't work keep on going up.
Now, you might notice that your game is lagging once in a while. This is because you need to put your texture filter to Anisotropic 2x located in the graphics menu and it's recommended to turn off the clip recording feature located in the game menu. It also helps if you don't have too many scripts in the scripts folder because it could slow down your game or cause it to freeze. Using the LCPDFR which puts files in the Scripts folder should be okay. Just to make sure your game is totally running smoothly, download process tamer here and change the priority to above normal or high. you have to run the program every time you play gta iv to switch it to high or above normal If you need any assistance, comment.