Here’s a crazy scenario. Grand Theft Auto IV – that’s 4, not 5 – has just received a fairly substantial update on Steam. 6 years after the last one.
The last time Rockstar issued a patch for the game was in May 2010. And guess what? They still didn’t remove the Games for Windows Live Requirement. In fact, the game still tries to install GFWL when booting up.
Oh, and yeah, Securom is still in there as well.
One, two, three, repeat after me …. ARRGHHHHHHHHH!!
There is actually a way to patch GFWL out however, though we can’t confirm the validity of this, or if it will do any harm to the game. Do this at your own risk.
Episodes from Liberty City also apparently received a similar patch as well.
Several reports suggest there is some corruption in the menus, and that the game still remains incredibly demanding performance wise. It also seems as if the patch is a mod-breaker and there are suggestions you need a clean directory to start the game without crashing.
But the update is still desgined to improve the games’ performance and improve compatibility with modern PCs. It also includes a significant bug on the last mission of the game ‘Out of Commission’ where completion was impossible if your frame rate exceeded 60FPS. No, really!
Check out the changelog in full and let us know if you’re intending to redownload this, have noticed any improvements or issues.
- Added error code “WTV270” to indicate a problem with connecting to Windows Live Sign in Assistant / Games for Windows Live Servers.
- Added Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 to compatible OS check.
- Added Display Controller image in Controller Configuration.
- Fixed a bug which made completing “Out of Commission” mission impossible when frame rate exceeds 60fps.
- Fixed a bug with the “Resource Usage” indicator on graphics cards with more than 2GB of VRAM.
- Fixed a bug that restricted settings changes when using modern video cards.
- Fixed a bug with the map crosshair on certain resolutions.
- Fixed a bug with text scrolling in “Brief” Menu.
- Fixed “drawlist overflow” crash.
- Minor performance optimisations.