GTA IV lagging badly on my laptop?

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Pikachu53

New Member
Hello,

I've been playing GTA 4 on my laptop recently and I'm getting really frustrated with the lagging even though my laptop's specs are way above the reccomended specs Rockstar Games suggested.

The only way I could get it to stop lagging is when all my GTA4 settings (textures, water quality, damages etc) are set to "low" and resolution to minimum. This is really bad as I wanted to use GTA4 to make some videos but with the terrible resolution the game is unable to export the recorded footage at anything higher than 480P.

Here are my laptop's specs.

Model: HP Touchsmart Envy 15 (released 2013)
Processor: 4th Gen Intel Core I7
Ram: 8GB Ram
Hard Disk: 750GB of hard disk space
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 750M 4GB DDR3
Running Windows 8.1

I've just gotten this laptop so it's hard disk is almost empty.
I did a full virus scan with several Anti-Virus software such as McAfee and Norton and they said my computer is not infected.

Please help me.... I really want to play a lag-free, high graphics setting GTA4 on my laptop. Any other infomation needed just leave a reply and I'll reply back ASAP.

Thanks in advance! :)

PS: If there already is a similiar thread started, please redirect me and I'll delete this thread ASAP. Sorry and thanks.
 
Unfortunately i don't think there's much you can do about this,GTA IV for PC was a console port..its poorly optimized.
 
@Shane
Thanks for your reply :)
Do you know what is it that other computers have that my computer does not have that enables smooth running of the game?
 
Like mentioned a stronger graphics card,The GeForce 750M is alright,But on a game like GTA IV that's poorly optimized im not surprised it doesn't run all that great.

Back on my Overclocked Q6600 system with an Overclocked HD4890 2gb graphics card the game still ran badly on my system,Yet would completely max out games like Crysis with no issues.

While your laptop is nice,Its not really geared for games like GTA IV om higher settings.
 
Yeah the 750M and a the fact that it's a mobile processor are holding you back. GTA IV lags sometimes on the machine in my spec, which is WAY above the recommended. It's just a pretty terrible port.

Also there's a possibility that the game is running on the integrated intel video card and not the 750M. Reading over your post again you said you had to be in absolute lowest settings to not lag, so that kind of makes me think that's the issue. Open up the Nvidia Control Panel and go to Manage 3D Settings then Program Settings. Click the add button and find GTA IV in the list. Then under number 2 select "High-Performance NVIDIA Processor". Then in the bottom right hit apply.

Also I assume you're not trying to play this on the battery? Gaming performance on laptops is crap in battery saving mode (which it automatically goes to if it's unplugged).
 
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Even if it is plugged in, it's possible that the current power setting throttles the GPU performance. If you go to:

Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings (next to plan currently selected) > Change advanced power settings

There will be an option for your video card called "Power Saving Mode" which can be set to "Maximum Performance" or "Maximum Power Saving".
 
@Shane, @voyagerfan99, @Denther, @Troncoso
Thanks for your replies! :)

Okay I've just found out that my graphics card is actually a Nvidia Geforce GT 740M 4GB :(

Anyways, I've been to the Nvidia control panel and added GTA4 and i went to my control panel to change power settings to "high performence"

I will be trying the game out over the weekend when I'm free and I hope it would run smoother. I'll get back to you guys.

Thanks all for your help and fast replies. Appreciated it alot! :)
 
Pikachu53 said:
@Shane, @voyagerfan99, @Denther, @Troncoso
Thanks for your replies! :)

Okay I've just found out that my graphics card is actually a Nvidia Geforce GT 740M 4GB :(

Anyways, I've been to the Nvidia control panel and added GTA4 and i went to my control panel to change power settings to "high performence"

I will be trying the game out over the weekend when I'm free and I hope it would run smoother. I'll get back to you guys.

Thanks all for your help and fast replies. Appreciated it alot! :)
Click to expand...

I have the 740M and it's actually a pretty good chip for some light/medium gaming. I can play Skyrim on high at 1366 x 768. I'm inclined to think it wasn't using your dedicated video because you should be able to play it at higher than the absolute lowest settings.

Also make sure you don't leave high performance mode on when you're not gaming and on battery, your battery life will tank.
 
Denther said:
I have the 740M and it's actually a pretty good chip for some light/medium gaming. I can play Skyrim on high at 1366 x 768. I'm inclined to think it wasn't using your dedicated video because you should be able to play it at higher than the absolute lowest settings.

Also make sure you don't leave high performance mode on when you're not gaming and on battery, your battery life will tank.
Click to expand...

You can setup your power options to be high performance while plugged in and power saver while not.
 
Thank you!

Hi @Denther, @Troncoso

My GTA4 isn't lagging anymore! After I switched the the graphics processor to the Nvidia card and set my laptop to high performence as you two said, the game runs smoothly even with settings at max!

I'm so happy and can't thank you guys enough. THANKSSS!! :):)
 

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