Grand Theft Auto IV

  • Thread starter Thread starter Christhedude
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Taking a while to get used to this. I press L1 to hail a cab, then it says press triangle to get into the cab, I press that but it hi-jacks the Cab as it would normally, do I need to hold L1 when I press triangle?

You have to press and HOLD triangle. Hold it until you have opened the rear door.
 
Guys you can unlock the 1080P on the PS3 version by going settings, custom, then unlocking 1080i and 720p
There you go, once you start game its 1080P
I have a 55 inch and looks bit better with a lot less jaggies :)

By the way you need a +40 inch tv with 1080p HDMI


I have a 32inch lcd which supports 1080p. Your positive about it needing to be 40inch on up to display it? The output changes from 1080p to 720p when the game begins and can't find any settings in game to change that,
Am I missing something here?

Thanks.
 
To get into 1080p.. many PS3 titles can do that.. but its upscalled..
Go to OPTION on the PS3 menus.. and click custom resolution options (forgot the exact folder names) then uncheck 1080i and 720p.. save and start the game.. it will be 1080p...



So is anyone getting PC version?
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about "resolution", the difference between native and support, and a few other things as well...


Guys you can unlock the 1080P on the PS3 version by going settings, custom, then unlocking 1080i and 720p
There you go, once you start game its 1080P
Actually it is still not 1080p. All you have done is scaled up the native resolution in order to output it in 1080p... which add no additional detail. In fact, if you have a display that has a native resolution of 1080p (not one that just "supports 1080i or 1080p - I'll explain the difference in a moment for those who may not already know), then the TV is already scaling all video sources that are not 1080p to 1080p.

So by forcing the PS3 to do the scaling, you are not "unlocking 1080p", all you are doing is bypassing your TV's scaler instead.


I have a 55 inch and looks bit better with a lot less jaggies :)
What you have discovered is that the PS3 has a better video processor/scaler than your TV, which is the case with most TVs. However some models have a better scaler than the PS3, and thus they will see better results by letting the TV do all the scaling, and not the PS3. So in the case of this game, and for those people with displays with superior scalers, it is better to let the PS3 output the native 720p signal.

Truth be told, in most cases, with the exception of displays with truly top tier video processors, it is almost always best to view a digital source with a native resolution on a display that matches that resolution, such that there is NO scaling done what so ever. This is often referred to as 1:1 pixel mapping. Some digital displays will even let you do that within their native pixel panel. In other words, if you have a 1080p display, it has about 2 million pixels. However a native 720p video uses less than 1 million pixels. If a video processor allows it, it can display just those 900k pixels, leaving the remaining pixels on the panel off.

However, very few TV's allow for this, thus they will always be scaling whatever video they are receiving to match the native resolution of the TV itself.

So bottom line, if you have a 720p TV, let the PS3 output in 720p to match the native rendered resolution of the game, thus no scaling is necessary. If you have a 1080p TV, compare between having the PS3 scale the video to 1080p and letting your TV do the scaling and use the one that looks the best.


By the way you need a +40 inch tv with 1080p HDMI
Size has absolutely nothing to do with it, and if your display supports it, you can also get 1080p via component... most displays though do not support 1080p via component, and in that case you would need one with VGA, DVI, or HDMI. However, in this case, as the native resolution isn't 1080p anyway, it likely doesn't much matter.




I have a 32inch lcd which supports 1080p.
It's important to know the difference between "Support" and "Native". I suspect your TV very likely has a native resolution of 1280x720 or 1366x768, and not 1920x1080. Thus, by support it just means your TV can accept an incoming signal that is 1080p, but because it doesn't have a 1080p panel, it must then scaling that signal down by more than half in order to display it.

In your case, just leave well enough alone, and let the PS3 output in 720p. If you let the PS3 output in 1080p all you are doing is adding yet another scaling step which if anything will lower the image quality, not improve it.


Your positive about it needing to be 40inch on up to display it?
This is not true. In fact, while many people think its true, you do not even need a big screen to see the difference between 720p and 1080p. Size has nothing to do with it. It has to do only with how much of the display fills your field of vision. If you are sitting two feet away from a 24" monitor, you'll see far more detail in an image than if you were sitting ten feet from a 40" TV.


The output changes from 1080p to 720p when the game begins and can't find any settings in game to change that,
Am I missing something here?
No. Just leave it exactly the way you have it set up. If you have a 720p/768p TV, as it sounds like you do, you do not want to force the PS3 to output a 1080p signal. The same goes for those with a 1080p TV that has a superior video processor. For them, they will likely get slightly better results if they let the PS3 only output the native resolution, and not let it do any scaling... but YMMV. 👍
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about "resolution", the difference between native and support, and a few other things as well...



Actually it is still not 1080p. All you have done is scaled up the native resolution in order to output it in 1080p... which add no additional detail. In fact, if you have a display that has a native resolution of 1080p (not one that just "supports 1080i or 1080p - I'll explain the difference in a moment for those who may not already know), then the TV is already scaling all video sources that are not 1080p to 1080p.

So by forcing the PS3 to do the scaling, you are not "unlocking 1080p", all you are doing is bypassing your TV's scaler instead.



What you have discovered is that the PS3 has a better video processor/scaler than your TV, which is the case with most TVs. However some models have a better scaler than the PS3, and thus they will see better results by letting the TV do all the scaling, and not the PS3. So in the case of this game, and for those people with displays with superior scalers, it is better to let the PS3 output the native 720p signal.

Truth be told, in most cases, with the exception of displays with truly top tier video processors, it is almost always best to view a digital source with a native resolution on a display that matches that resolution, such that there is NO scaling done what so ever. This is often referred to as 1:1 pixel mapping. Some digital displays will even let you do that within their native pixel panel. In other words, if you have a 1080p display, it has about 2 million pixels. However a native 720p video uses less than 1 million pixels. If a video processor allows it, it can display just those 900k pixels, leaving the remaining pixels on the panel off.

However, very few TV's allow for this, thus they will always be scaling whatever video they are receiving to match the native resolution of the TV itself.

So bottom line, if you have a 720p TV, let the PS3 output in 720p to match the native rendered resolution of the game, thus no scaling is necessary. If you have a 1080p TV, compare between having the PS3 scale the video to 1080p and letting your TV do the scaling and use the one that looks the best.



Size has absolutely nothing to do with it, and if your display supports it, you can also get 1080p via component... most displays though do not support 1080p via component, and in that case you would need one with VGA, DVI, or HDMI. However, in this case, as the native resolution isn't 1080p anyway, it likely doesn't much matter.





It's important to know the difference between "Support" and "Native". I suspect your TV very likely has a native resolution of 1280x720 or 1366x768, and not 1920x1080. Thus, by support it just means your TV can accept an incoming signal that is 1080p, but because it doesn't have a 1080p panel, it must then scaling that signal down by more than half in order to display it.

In your case, just leave well enough alone, and let the PS3 output in 720p. If you let the PS3 output in 1080p all you are doing is adding yet another scaling step which if anything will lower the image quality, not improve it.



This is not true. In fact, while many people think its true, you do not even need a big screen to see the difference between 720p and 1080p. Size has nothing to do with it. It has to do only with how much of the display fills your field of vision. If you are sitting two feet away from a 24" monitor, you'll see far more detail in an image than if you were sitting ten feet from a 40" TV.



No. Just leave it exactly the way you have it set up. If you have a 720p/768p TV, as it sounds like you do, you do not want to force the PS3 to output a 1080p signal. The same goes for those with a 1080p TV that has a superior video processor. For them, they will likely get slightly better results if they let the PS3 only output the native resolution, and not let it do any scaling... but YMMV. 👍

Excellent post. Thanks for the education.
 
Me and my Russian friend had some good fun on GTA last night being the cops for a change. The best way to do it is host a free mode, set weapons to melee (important!), and go find yourself a cop station (use your map supplied with the game not in-game map to find your nearest). Each cop car gets you 5 shotgun rounds, so now you can kill the criminals much more effectively then their bat should they attempt to take you down.

Then begin, treat it as seriously as possible, try not to hurt civilians, to preserve your cruiser, even if it means giving up the chase, and try to stop the criminal as effectively as possible (best done with a support officer with you in another car, 2 is better then 1). Then once you pulled them over, try to avoid killing them (pointing a shotty at a bat is quite a threat!) and if they try to rob another car, aim for the tyres and go again, eventually you'll have to take them out most likely as they'll attack you, but it's good fun.
 
I haz the confused...

I've got a win listed in every single Multiplayer Team mode, but don't have the trophy I should get for it ("Taking it for the Team"). Yes, I've won as both Cop and Crook in Cops'n'Crooks. Anyone?
 
I haz the confused...

I've got a win listed in every single Multiplayer Team mode, but don't have the trophy I should get for it ("Taking it for the Team"). Yes, I've won as both Cop and Crook in Cops'n'Crooks. Anyone?

From what I read on GTAForums... you need to do them all in one sitting-- ditto with the flying the coop trophy-- I don't know if it has to be one "game" where the hosts switches between games or just as long as you don't exit to single player.

I don't know if the race trophy (20 win one) has to be-- I have to be getting close on that one if not.
 
You have to do the Auf Wiedersehen Petrovic (You won in all variations of multiplayer games) all in one go, too. There is a bug somewhere with stat tracking, obviously, that Rockstar haven't addressed yet. :(
 
From what I read on GTAForums... you need to do them all in one sitting-- ditto with the flying the coop trophy-- I don't know if it has to be one "game" where the hosts switches between games or just as long as you don't exit to single player.

I don't know if the race trophy (20 win one) has to be-- I have to be getting close on that one if not.

I'd also read that the Race one has to be 20 wins at different tracks in the same session (and not GTA Race wins).

And that the AWP one includes wins at all the tracks in Race AND GTA Race in the same session...
 
100%, Key to the City!

Nice. How many in-game hours did it take you to reach 100%?


I just completed the story in 15 hours the other day in a frantic rush to get the gleamin' gold trophy for completing the story under 30 hours. Needless to say, I don't remember much of the storyline.
 
I'd also read that the Race one has to be 20 wins at different tracks in the same session (and not GTA Race wins).

And that the AWP one includes wins at all the tracks in Race AND GTA Race in the same session...

So are you saying our sessions are pointless then? Anyone got a spare 5-hr slot? Christmas day perhaps?:crazy:
 
Finished the story missions last night.

Needless to say, a little disappointed in how it ended. I found myself saying "that's it?!?" I at least wanted to earn a house as a save point. Looks like I'm stuck in apartments for the whole game. Isn't Niko and Roman's goal throughout the game to make it big in America? You think they would at least get a house or something...

Now on to 100%....
 
Finished the story missions last night.

Needless to say, a little disappointed in how it ended. I found myself saying "that's it?!?" I at least wanted to earn a house as a save point. Looks like I'm stuck in apartments for the whole game. Isn't Niko and Roman's goal throughout the game to make it big in America? You think they would at least get a house or something...

Now on to 100%....

There's one nice place on the second island you can get if you killed (can't remember his name) a certain person as apposed to killing the other when you have a choice. It's been posted here somewhere I just can't remember where.
 
There's one nice place on the second island you can get if you killed (can't remember his name) a certain person as apposed to killing the other when you have a choice. It's been posted here somewhere I just can't remember where.

Yes, if you chose to kill Playboy X you also took the ownership of his swish apartment.

Indeed, the ending for GTA IV is rather empty, and highlights many of its downfalls when compared to the sheer amount of post-story play that appeared in its predecessor.
 
Yeah, I have that apartment. Got the Lambo and Aston Martin parked out front too.:D But seeing all of the mansions on the third island with huge garages makes me jealous. Specifically the huge place with a 4 or 5 car garage and the helipad. They should have put the ability to purchase property in this one.:(
 
So are you saying our sessions are pointless then? Anyone got a spare 5-hr slot? Christmas day perhaps?:crazy:

We'll only know once one of us reaches 20 wins.

Other than that, yes.

Edit: Well, I just got the trophy. I have good news and I have bad news.

20 Race Wins total: Err, no.
20 Race Wins in one session: Yep - I got my trophy after my 20th race.
GTA Race: Nope. Counts for squat.
Road races: Nope. Boats and Helis count too (I had 4 boat wins, 2 heli wins and 14 road wins)
Win at every track: Nope. I still haven't managed to win at some of the Alderney races, nor Rize in the East.

Puts a different complexion on things, rather.
 
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20 different races right???

Did you try any free or cannonball races-- I imagine they count as well.

Thanks for the clarification.

This could still be done in a relatively short session with 2 players doing single lap races--

avoid the slower vehicles on the longer tracks--

The fly the coop one is the only one that is going to be real pain-- the other team mode games aren't too bad-- cops n crooks, team mafia work, turfwar, team deathmatch etc-- these can all be done in a short period of time.

Famine--- did you switch games or was the same host there for all??

I haven't played for several days but got invited by Macy to a team deathmatch-- I can usually hold my own but the other team were all real good and I never got in a good rhythm with just one game--- finished with 7 kills, 22 deaths-- almost everyone in the game was an 8 or higher-- no weak opponents to exploit-- and our team just never got in the groove-- we kept it close for about 10 minutes then they tore us up.
 
I didn't try Free/Cannonball races, so can't comment. I didn't leave multiplayer at any time, so I ended up hosting pretty much the majority of my races (thanks to Host Migration) and yes, it was 20 different tracks.

With the latter said, every time I won, I moved on to a new track and at no point won again at an old one (I even tried to let someone else win at Drag Kings, but he made it very hard :lol: )
 
We can go for the race trophies, but it essentially means a nominated trophy-receiver and everyone else running interference for them.

Which would be... you know... cool :D
 
'Every gamer knows that GTA IV lacks a plethora of features that made its predecessor, San Andreas, so much better. Here you can create and vote on ideas and features, both original and new, that YOU would like in the next major GTA game, and those to come.' -

http://gta.uservoice.com/


I need a few new contributions to get this new site going. Please do come and join people!
 
I saw a few YouTube videos showcasing a look at most of the machines you can steal/drive/ride. If it's one thing the GTA series doesn't fail at, it's providing a variety of vehicles. I though GTA: San Andreas was pretty diverse with many more kinds of car and motorcycle in series history. This one really seems to offer a lot more including a few different versions of the same machine. For one, the Sultan and Sultan RS. There's even a normal taxi cab, and then a taxi with a different kind of car (the Merit) as well as a taxi van (Cabby). Most of the usual suspect cars have returned with new versions. Those include the Banshee, Infernus, Stallion, Blista Compact, Bobcat, and cars like that.

So here are a some notables I've seen (courtesy of: http://www.gta4.net/vehicles/ ):

--- Cars ---
* Banshee (has a little Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione look to it)
* Cavalcade and Cavalcade EXT (like a Suburban)
* Cognoscenti (like a Maybach, though I'm not really a Maybach guy... sweet car!)
* Comet (purely Porsche with a Carerra GT-like light design)
* Contender (that's a mean truck... car... Ute thingy)
* Coquette (kind of like a Corvette)
* Dilettante (second-generation Toyota Prius, clearly, with some 1990s Honda influence up front)
* Dukes (clearly a bad ass old-school Dodge Charger)
* Faction (clearly a Buick Grand National)
* Feltzer (I look at it and think Lexus for some reason...)
* FBI Buffalo (clearly a 2003-ish Century Dodge Charger with a cool grill)
* Futo (Toyota AE86 Levin with a sedan look as opposed to a hatchback)
* Habanero (like a Lexus RX-series SUV. I love those and this machine).
* Hakumai (clearly a Nissan Silvia S12 with a little Honda influence)
* Huntley Sport (Land Rover-like)
* Infernus (have the Infernus always been Lamborghinis? Murciélago-like car)
* Intruder (kind of like a Nissan Cedric with some Infiniti influence)
* Merit (like a 2003 Pontiac GTO)
* Minivan (a lot like a late 1990s or early 2000s Dodge Grand Caravan)
* NOOSE Cruiser (Ford Crown Victoria police car)
* NOOSE Patriot (police-customized Hummer H2; most of you know I've gotten tired of Hummers since the H2)
* Patriot (almost always Hummers; H2 here)
* Perennial (very Honda-like)
* Peyote (old-school Pontiac GTO)
* Pinnacle (Lexus-like all around, more like the fourth-generation ES 300)
* PMP 600 (Chrysler 300 in design)
* Police Patrol (uses the Merit; Pontiac GTO-like)
* Premier (Hyundai Accent-like)
* Rancher (I may be wrong, but either like an '80s or '90s S-10 or F-150)
* Ridley (...the bloody hell is this thing?)
* Ruiner (kind of like a Mazda RX-7 FC with a little 1980s or early 1990s Chevy Camaro mixed in (or the other way around))
* Sabre GT (Chevelle with a little Nova mixed in)
* Schafter (very likely a Toyota; Camry with Avalon features)
* Sentinel and Sentinel XS (they were always BMWs... and this M3-like car is no different
* Speedo (most likely a Chevrolet commercial van
* Stallion (lovely car, but unsure what car this resembles... the least I know is that it's a Plymouth or a Dodge)
* Sultan and Sultan RS (most likely a Lexus IS200 with a little Lancer Evo VII(?) mixed in)
* Super GT (most likely an Aston Martin and Jaguar hybrid)
* Turismo (Porsche Cayman S side profile with a Ferrari 360 Modena-like front end)
* Vincent (Mitsubishi-like, but unsure if it's like the Legnum or Diamante or what)
* Voodoo (like the Buick Special in Gran Turismo 4; too bad I don't know the original car)

--- Motorcycles ---
* Faggio (much better than what I remember in "GTA: Vice City." Wished it was designed like the Yamaha T-MAX)
* Hellfury (like a custom chopper, but a bit boring)
* NRG900 (kind of like a Suzuki GSXR 1000)
* PCJ 600 (was a cool sportbike, now a sporty naked bike)
* Zombie (interesting chopper with two car-like tires)



Those are just some notables from me. Still love to play this game in the future. That's even though I said this game may have changed too much to where it isn't as fun to play.
 
Hey John, thanks for that list, but i think there are a few mistakes in the car discreption to their real life counterparts.

*Cavalcade and Cavalcade EXT (like a Suburban) - I believe its more like an Escalade, not only the name has a reference, also the looks.

* Comet (purely Porsche with a Carerra GT-like light design) - The comet is a Porsche Carerra, but not GT, its a 911.

* Huntley Sport (Land Rover-like) - Clearly a Range Rover Sport (Land Rover Yes)

Thanks

Chris
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about "resolution", the difference between native and support, and a few other things as well...



Actually it is still not 1080p. All you have done is scaled up the native resolution in order to output it in 1080p... which add no additional detail. In fact, if you have a display that has a native resolution of 1080p (not one that just "supports 1080i or 1080p - I'll explain the difference in a moment for those who may not already know), then the TV is already scaling all video sources that are not 1080p to 1080p.

So by forcing the PS3 to do the scaling, you are not "unlocking 1080p", all you are doing is bypassing your TV's scaler instead.



What you have discovered is that the PS3 has a better video processor/scaler than your TV, which is the case with most TVs. However some models have a better scaler than the PS3, and thus they will see better results by letting the TV do all the scaling, and not the PS3. So in the case of this game, and for those people with displays with superior scalers, it is better to let the PS3 output the native 720p signal.

Truth be told, in most cases, with the exception of displays with truly top tier video processors, it is almost always best to view a digital source with a native resolution on a display that matches that resolution, such that there is NO scaling done what so ever. This is often referred to as 1:1 pixel mapping. Some digital displays will even let you do that within their native pixel panel. In other words, if you have a 1080p display, it has about 2 million pixels. However a native 720p video uses less than 1 million pixels. If a video processor allows it, it can display just those 900k pixels, leaving the remaining pixels on the panel off.

However, very few TV's allow for this, thus they will always be scaling whatever video they are receiving to match the native resolution of the TV itself.

So bottom line, if you have a 720p TV, let the PS3 output in 720p to match the native rendered resolution of the game, thus no scaling is necessary. If you have a 1080p TV, compare between having the PS3 scale the video to 1080p and letting your TV do the scaling and use the one that looks the best.



Size has absolutely nothing to do with it, and if your display supports it, you can also get 1080p via component... most displays though do not support 1080p via component, and in that case you would need one with VGA, DVI, or HDMI. However, in this case, as the native resolution isn't 1080p anyway, it likely doesn't much matter.





It's important to know the difference between "Support" and "Native". I suspect your TV very likely has a native resolution of 1280x720 or 1366x768, and not 1920x1080. Thus, by support it just means your TV can accept an incoming signal that is 1080p, but because it doesn't have a 1080p panel, it must then scaling that signal down by more than half in order to display it.

In your case, just leave well enough alone, and let the PS3 output in 720p. If you let the PS3 output in 1080p all you are doing is adding yet another scaling step which if anything will lower the image quality, not improve it.



This is not true. In fact, while many people think its true, you do not even need a big screen to see the difference between 720p and 1080p. Size has nothing to do with it. It has to do only with how much of the display fills your field of vision. If you are sitting two feet away from a 24" monitor, you'll see far more detail in an image than if you were sitting ten feet from a 40" TV.



No. Just leave it exactly the way you have it set up. If you have a 720p/768p TV, as it sounds like you do, you do not want to force the PS3 to output a 1080p signal. The same goes for those with a 1080p TV that has a superior video processor. For them, they will likely get slightly better results if they let the PS3 only output the native resolution, and not let it do any scaling... but YMMV. 👍

Thanks for the response! Nice to see some will take the time to thoroughly answer a question.
 
--- Cars ---
* Banshee (has a little Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione look to it)
* Futo (Toyota AE86 Levin with a sedan look as opposed to a hatchback)
* Turismo (Porsche Cayman S side profile with a Ferrari 360 Modena-like front end)

I'd say the Banshee was much more Dodge Viper GTS (the hard top one) then the same minus a roof in soft top.

AE86s do come in a coupe format almost identical to the Futo.

Finally I'd say the Turismo is almost all Ferrari 360 based.

Good list though, I've been using gta4.net as well :)
 
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