Mystech
06-10-05, 12:00 PM
Found a little fix to a problem I encountered with GTA SA on my pc, and figured I'd post it here so that googlers might find it if they're experiencing a similar problem. (Rockstar's PC support is lousy, and so tech forums like this one are really the best resource for fixing problems relating ot their games).
After having installed the game, and actually played it for a few minuets, I started fooling around with my video options. I switched the resolution from the default 800x600 up to 1024x768. The game worked fine and was runnin' smooth so I decided to then bump it up to 1280x1024 and after hitting the apply button the game just returned me to a black screen, froze my machine and forced me to reboot my computer.
After that, every time I tried to launch the game it would just take me to a black screen, freeze everything and necessitate that I reboot. I figured that the game was trying to start back up in the 1280x1024 video resolution which was causing some problems for some reason or other, so my first instinct was just to uninstall the program and reinstall it, thinking that the video mode would be reset to the default 800x600 the next time I ran it.
I did this several times without success, and got quite frustrated. After fiddling around with the registry and making sure all the files from the install directory were actually gone I was kind of stumped. Then I remembered how Max Payne (also by Rockstar) kept it's save-games by default in the "My documents" folder on your windows install directory (which in this case was on a different hard drive than the game was actually installed on). So I checked that out, and low and behold, even after uninstiliation GTASA left a folder full of user settings. I deleted that, reinstalled the game, and bam, I was able to start up again at the default of 800x600 and progress to the highest video resolution that was safe for my machine.
Now, as to WHY the program froze my whole computer when it was set to 1280x1024 I have a fairly good idea. Reading Rockstar's own support FAQ about GTA SA, I couldn't help but notice that it consists of only a single question which relates to the GeForce4 MX440 video card chip set. Apparently they had some doubts about the game being able to run on this card and didn't recommend it. That's the card I have, and I suppose that this crashing from higher video modes is just a fact I'll have to live with until I'm willing to upgrade my PC.
As for the fact that I'm actually running a computer for gaming purposes using a GeForce MX440 card, well. . . er hey the machine is 4 years old, and I was strapped for cash when I built it. Besides, the MX440, though ridiculed even in it's day was still more than adequate for running any game on the market at the time, and if supported by enough ram and a fast enough processor was completely capable of running things smoothly. It's aged worse than most cards would have, of course, but I'm still friggin' poor :p
After having installed the game, and actually played it for a few minuets, I started fooling around with my video options. I switched the resolution from the default 800x600 up to 1024x768. The game worked fine and was runnin' smooth so I decided to then bump it up to 1280x1024 and after hitting the apply button the game just returned me to a black screen, froze my machine and forced me to reboot my computer.
After that, every time I tried to launch the game it would just take me to a black screen, freeze everything and necessitate that I reboot. I figured that the game was trying to start back up in the 1280x1024 video resolution which was causing some problems for some reason or other, so my first instinct was just to uninstall the program and reinstall it, thinking that the video mode would be reset to the default 800x600 the next time I ran it.
I did this several times without success, and got quite frustrated. After fiddling around with the registry and making sure all the files from the install directory were actually gone I was kind of stumped. Then I remembered how Max Payne (also by Rockstar) kept it's save-games by default in the "My documents" folder on your windows install directory (which in this case was on a different hard drive than the game was actually installed on). So I checked that out, and low and behold, even after uninstiliation GTASA left a folder full of user settings. I deleted that, reinstalled the game, and bam, I was able to start up again at the default of 800x600 and progress to the highest video resolution that was safe for my machine.
Now, as to WHY the program froze my whole computer when it was set to 1280x1024 I have a fairly good idea. Reading Rockstar's own support FAQ about GTA SA, I couldn't help but notice that it consists of only a single question which relates to the GeForce4 MX440 video card chip set. Apparently they had some doubts about the game being able to run on this card and didn't recommend it. That's the card I have, and I suppose that this crashing from higher video modes is just a fact I'll have to live with until I'm willing to upgrade my PC.
As for the fact that I'm actually running a computer for gaming purposes using a GeForce MX440 card, well. . . er hey the machine is 4 years old, and I was strapped for cash when I built it. Besides, the MX440, though ridiculed even in it's day was still more than adequate for running any game on the market at the time, and if supported by enough ram and a fast enough processor was completely capable of running things smoothly. It's aged worse than most cards would have, of course, but I'm still friggin' poor :p