How to find stores, bars, internet cafes etc.. in GTA-4

Question

Is there anyway to quickly find where the stores, bars, internet cafes, food joints etc.. in GTA4 (PC version) other than walking up and down the streets looking for buildings to enter or having the place introduced in a mission?

Thanks

Asked by OrionDarkwood

Answer

The game comes with a poster-sized map which shows most of those locations:

There are also plenty of interactive maps on the web.

I would also assume that you could get a mod for the PC version which would make the in-game map more detailed.

Otherwise I think you're just supposed to learn your way around the city!

Answered by jwaddell

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How to change the driving side in GTA 4?

Question

Is is possible to change the driving side in GTA-4? In the game you drive on the right side, but in my country, India, we drive on the left side of the road.

And in the game it becomes a lot harder to chase or win the races for me, as I tend to drive on the left side of the road.

Is it possible to change the driving side in the game? Is there any cheat that will do this?

Asked by Prashant

Answer

I'm thinking this is almost impossible to do, because I think I read somewhere that the way the cars go from A to B is hardcoded in the game, meaning it would take a lot of skill, and heavily modifying the game to actually do. I can't find the source for it though ... I'll try looking for it later on.

Answered by Lyrion

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How to lock in radio stations in Grand Theft Auto IV?

Question

Is there a way to lock a radio station to always be a specific one, or to at least eliminate radio stations I don't particularly care for? Some of the stations really annoy me, and I am tired of having to press on the d-pad to find one that doesn't make my teeth grit.

Asked by APrough

Answer

AFAIK, there aren't any settings related to radio stations as you described above. Only thing I recall is the ability to just turn the radio station down or up (start > audio).

Answered by Tony

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How Can I Force AA in GTA IV?

Question

I'm a newbie of GTA IV.

My GTA IV version is 1.0.7.0.

But there is no AA setting.

The image looks fine but if you save the image and see it bigger size, you can see clear aliasing. it looks very dirty.

so i'm trying to accept AA by NVIDIA control panel(I'm using GTX560ti), but it's not effect.

How can I accept AA?

Asked by ks0830

Answer

AFAIK, the driver software for both Nvidia and AMD/ATI can't force AA in GTA IV due to how GTA IV's graphics engine was made (or rather, how it was ported to the PC from the console platform).

You can however, force SMAA on it by using injectSMAA:

Description:

• adds "Subpixel Morphological Antialiasing" to an application
• is based on "injectFXAA" (written by "some dude")
• is supposed to work only with directx 9, directx 10, directx 11, x86 applications
• may be incompatible with any other form of antialiasing
• may be incompatible with overlays (Steam Overlay, MSI Afterburner, Fraps, ...)

SMAA is a very efficient GPU-based MLAA implementation, capable of handling subpixel features seamlessly, and featuring an advanced pattern detection & handling mechanism.

http://www.iryoku.com/smaa/

Screenshots (from http://mrhaandi.blogspot.com/p/injectsmaa.html - click to enlarge):

No AA:

With SMAA:

Answered by galacticninja

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“Under the Radar” achievement in GTA4?

Question

Under which bridges do I have to fly to get the "Under the Radar" achievement in GTA4?

Asked by akira

Answer

This site explains why you're having trouble.

This is the key exerpt:

Find the smokestack in Alderney’s industrial park. If you have maneuvered your helicopter underneath all four of the bridges that cross the inlet above Alderney’s industrial park and the game gives you credit for only three of the four bridges, fly to the bridge located at the opening of the inlet. Open the map and find the smokestack, which is indicated as a gray circle. Step 3 Maneuver the helicopter south of the smokestack. Fly your helicopter south of the smokestack, then fly straight ahead under this section of the bridge. Flying under the section that crosses water will not give you credit. Once you have flown under all 14 bridges, you will obtain the Under the Radar achievement and receive 40 gamer points.

Answered by Jaydles

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Can't get the Key To The City achievement (100% completion) in GTA IV

Question

I'm trying to get 100% on GTA IV to get the Keys To The City achievement but I'm stuck at 95%.

http://wikicheats.gametrailers.com/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_-_PS3_XB360/Achievements

I saw that some people are stuck at 99.5% and they said this half percentage point is a random encounter.

What do you think is missing on my game? I already had done everything on the checklist...

Answer

Without knowing what you've completed to this point, there's no way to say what you're missing, so all I can suggest is that you go back through and confirm that you have completed everything on the list. I recommend using a more detailed list, like the one here, so that you can ensure you have crossed off every detail for every item. At 95%, you're clearly missing a significant portion of at least one item on the overall list.

If you've got the following achievements, then you'll get the listed percentage toward completion. Make sure you have the achievements and that you are playing from a save on which you got them.

• Story Missions: 60%
  According to the linked post, there are 87 of these. If you got the You Won! achievement with this saved game, then you should have this part done.
• No More Strangers: 5%, but you must also complete the missions the strangers give you
• Cleaned The Mean Streets: 2.5%
• Endangered Species: 2.5%
• Manhunt: 2.5%
• Dare Devil: 2.5%
• Courier Service: 2%
• Order Fulfilled: 2%
• Genetically Superior: 2%
  You need to complete only the first nine races to get the 2% toward completion; the others count only toward the Genetically Superior achievement
• Assassin's Greed: 2%
• You Got The Message: 2%

That leaves 15%. 10% comes from friends (note that percentages for these are not broken out):

Open all unique abilities
You must unlock all unique abilities from friends.
- Brucie - Helicopter
- Little Jacob - Guns
- Packie - Bomb
You do not need to keep the abilities unlocked, you just have to unlock them all at least once.

Complete every possible activity with each friend (Brucie, Little Jacob and Packie)
- You must actually BEAT your friends at pool, darts, and bowling.
- Dwayne, Michelle, and Roman do NOT count towards the percentage.

and 5% comes from games. Note that if you have completed the 10% Friends above, you will also have completed some of the games below:

Beat all games at least once
- Darts vs friend or computer - 1.25%
- Bowling vs friend in a FULL game - 1.25%
- Pool vs friend or computer win - 1.25%
- QUB3D beat high score - 1.25% (also the King of QUB3D achievement)

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Fastest way to make money in GTA IV multiplayer?

Question

I've been reading a lot about money-making schemes in GTA IV multiplayer, and everyone seems to believe something different works best. What is the one mathematically fastest way to make money?

Assume the player has access to the main game, The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and The Damned DLC packs. Try to avoid answers that require boosters (people who are willing to help you specifically gain money), since they're few and far between.

Answer

Running Hangman's NOOSE over and over again with a solid group of people who know how the situation plays out exactly and can communicate is a great way to earn money. You can run NOOSE with random players, but if you aren't winning every time and doing so in just a few minuets the rate at which you earn money isn't as high as it could be. The OP might consider this a "boosting" answer since the money gained is higher when working with a group of well coordinated players, if so just disregard it.

I'd still say that Hangman's NOOSE is the best way though, because when it goes well you win rather quickly, and when things go bad, your group is killed rather quickly. The other forms of multiplayer (DM/TDM/Racing/Turf Wars/ect) can take much longer and don't return nearly as much money.

Just be warned if you are looking to get the Wanted achievement/trophy. The grind to it ($5,000,000 gained in multiplayer) will take forever no matter which method you end up using.

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GTA IV system requirements

Question

do you think I can run GTA IV on a pc with this system:

• Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
• RAM: Up to 4GB
• ATI Radeon Graphics Processor 512MB HD 2400 PRO

?

Answer

Your VGA is a little better than the X1900 mentioned in the GTA 4 minimum requirements in the Wikipedia article. The only weak component of your system seems to be the CPU, but it's one of the fastest one-core Pentium 4, so you'll do fine with it. It won't be ultra settings, of course, but it'll be playable at normal framerate. By the way, back then it even worked on my 2.4GHz P4 with 9600GT.

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What's the excuse in GTA IV to close some parts of city?

Question

In GTA 3 the excuse to close the bridge was a bomb.

In GTA IV, what's the excuse? I just don't understand why they should kill me The radio said something about it, but I was busy and did not listen the full sentence

Answer

The excuse is a terror alert; it is mentioned on the radio, both on the news and during the talk shows.

Found this as reference (just listen to the start):

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Is there any way to change characters in GTA IV?

Question

I remember in GTA: Vice City you could change characters with cheat codes. Do any such cheat codes exist for GTA IV?

Answer

You can buy clothes but you cannot change the character in GTA IV.

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GTA IV Multiplayer cheats - How to use and avoid?

Question

I play GTA IV on XBox Live and recently, and I have seen several people somehow using cheats in the game. Some cars are extremely fast, there's no way that it's possible in game (sometimes it's a bus and they wreck havoc on other players)

Sometimes they spawn new colourful helicopters, or become god so no matter how many bullets I put in their heads, from 2 inches away, they just stand there looking at me and then walk away.

At other times, they appear to be in a building (or, they ARE that building?) and I can never kill them, yet they can kill me.

How is it done? I have tried to search for this forever and cannot find one single clue to this. Also, how do I avoid getting into those kind of games?

Answer

I believe they use hacked XBox DVD firmware and a pre-hacked copy of GTA IV.

You're paying for online multiplayer on the xBox, unlike the PC, so get them reported to the relevant people in XBox Live and make Microsoft do some work.

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How do I select which expansion to play?

Question

I downloaded and installed both the Lost and Gay Tony expansions. When I started GTA4 it asked me if I wanted to play Gay Tony, I said no, and Lost loaded. Now it doesn't ask me anymore, it just loads Lost.

How can I play Gay Tony or the Original game now?

Answer

I'm guessing the game is automatically loading your most recent save, which is for The Lost and Damned.

Have you tried starting a new game?

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Are there any downsides to ignoring your friends in GTA 4?

Question

Are there any tangible, genuine downsides to ignoring your "friends" in GTA 4? I found the whole friend/girlfriend system to be somewhat annoying and detracting from the game itself, and if I decide to go through it again, I'd like to just bypass all of that. (Well, aside from the critical girlfriend in the beginning of the game, and just enough with Jacob to get the gun delivery service.)

Answer

You miss out on the perks, like the weapon delivery you mention. Also there are Achievements & or Trophies depending on what platform you're playing on.

After that, I do not believe so. I think (but need to verify) that as you ignore them how much they like you will drop, and if it drops too low they won't be your friend anymore if you change your mind and want their friendship after all.

Still, my thought would be, on a second playthrough, don't worry about the ones you don't care about.

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Flying helicopters in GTA IV using the keyboard

Question

Short of buying a gamepad, what can I do to improve my control of helicopters using the keyboard in GTA IV - The Ballad of Gay Tony? I am stuck on a mission where I have to blow up a yacht and then chase and take out three moving boats. Whenever I press a key, the movement becomes too much to handle and compensating for it causes me to spiral into a watery death.

I am using the default controls for flying:

• Number pad 4/6 for left and right rotation
• W/S for altitude
• A/D for banking left and right
• Mouse 1 for shooting

I turned off mouse control for helicopters in favor of the keyboard as this would just aggravate my control (or lack of it) when flying.

Answer

I don't have experience with GTA IV, but it sounds similar to the controls/physics for Vice City:

1. Don't hold the keys down as much, try tapping more. This will give you more incremental steering until you get used to the controls a bit more.
2. Finish your turns early, there's usually a bit of inertia that will keep you banking.
3. Relax, you're going to be more tense when you feel clumsy, take a few attempts and mess up on purpose just to get a feel for the heli, crashing into buildings/water, flipping upside-down etc.

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How can I avoid killing people?

Question

I hate to get murder jobs in the game (what should I tell Michelle?) ... until now I basically played the missions as usual, but as the game is "open-world" (well, is it?) I thought I could maybe play it differently ... right now I'm right before the "No Love Lost" mission, where I have to kill the biker boyfriend of Faustin's daughter. I don't mind getting unnerving people out of my way, but I'm certainly not born to be a hitman for other assholes. How can I avoid killing people in the game but still advance in missions?

Answer

It's... not that sort of game. Some of the missions explicitly require you to kill one or more people - including unarmed people. It's disconcerting, yes, but I'm pretty sure there's no way to advance the plot without doing these kinds of missions. The GTA series is infamous for the terrible things you do - it has missions in which you beat up juries, missions when you distribute drugs to kids, missions when you bury people alive, etc.

Alternatively, you can forget about the main plot entirely and just play the game as an open-ended sandbox, taking jobs as paramedic, vigilante, competing in races, etc. (though you have to kill some people just to unlock those options...).

One final thing, if you want to avoid running over pedestrians during intense car chases, use the horn! Pedestrians will run away and jump out of the way when you honk. It's also useful for warning other cars - so useful, in fact, that I've bound the horn to one of my mouse buttons (playing on the PC).

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Mods for GTA IV

Question

I recently discovered Garry's Mod for Source and it seems really cool. Then I saw some youtube videos of people playing around with GTA IV's gravity and friction settings (for the PC presumably). This got me wondering, if I get GTA IV for the PC (I've been playing in on 360 up to now), what mods are available? Do they only apply to multiplayer? If there are no mods, what settings can I tweak?

Answer

Graphics mods are popular - ENBSeries really makes GTA look good if you have the PC for it. There's a lot of model mods, which lets you add custom cars and helicopters and pedestrian models. They have a scripting language as well with .NET scripthooks, so you can modify more complex behaviors. In addition, they have physics tweaks (like you mentioned) that make the game a TON of fun. Mods work both in single-player and multiplayer (if a computer with the mods hosts and other computer that have the mods join.) I've been in a multiplayer map where cops were spawned in around a group and we were given tons of weapons by a admin-like player, who basically served as the "god" on that server. I've also played on one where ramps were spawned in the Liberty City Airport and a stunt movie was being made.

I hope that answers your question. Here's my favorite (and I believe, the definitive) mod resource for the GTA series...

http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/index.php

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GTA IV - Out of Commission - Helicopter bug

Question

I am on the last mission of GTA 4 - Out of Commission (PC) and cannot finish due to the bug with getting on the helicopter. I have read some terrible hacks to get it to work e.g. use Fraps, but that doesn't even seem to work in all cases. Is there a definitive fix for this?

Answer

I don't know if they will ever fix this, but here's a list o things you can try, worked for me:

1. used a wired keyboard;
2. remapped the jump key;
3. fps between 26 and 30.

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