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Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Grand Theft Auto:
Episodes from Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City cover
Developers
Rockstar North
Windows Rockstar Toronto
Publishers
Rockstar Games
Russia 1C-SoftClub
Engines
RAGE
Release dates
Windows April 13, 2010
Reception
IGDB 84
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Adventure, Open world, Shooter, TPS
Vehicles Automobile, Motorcycle
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, LGBTQ
Series Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City on HowLongToBeat
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City on IGDB
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City guide on StrategyWiki
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City on MobyGames
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City on Wikipedia
Grand Theft Auto 1997
Grand Theft Auto 2 1999
Grand Theft Auto III 2002
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 2003
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2005
Grand Theft Auto IV 2008
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 2010
Grand Theft Auto: iFruit 2013
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 10 Year Anniversary 2014
Grand Theft Auto V 2015
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars 2021
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (series)

Warnings

For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.

Key points

Extensive modding community, along with Grand Theft Auto IV.
Ability to import your music for your own custom radio station.
Rockstar has removed music from the game due to expired licences. See Restore Removed Music.

General information

GTA Modding - A wiki hosting mod information for the GTA series.
GTAForums - Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City Discussion
GTA Network - A large network of fansites dedicated to the Grand Theft Auto series
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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Requires online activation
Custom DRM code may sabotage the game in several ways.
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Windows
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
[1]
Windows
Steam (unavailable)
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Icon overlay.png
Replaced with Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition
Windows
All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE and SecuROM DRM.[Note 1]
The March 2020 update upgrades the game to the Complete Edition, introducing the Rockstar Games Launcher DRM while removing Games for Windows - LIVE and SecuROM DRM entirely and adding achievements to the Steam version of the game, but also removing multiplayer.[2]
CD keys can be redeemed on the Rockstar Games Launcher. Doing this will activate Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition.[3]

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 3 updates the game to the latest version (see Patch notes for changes). The Steam version is already patched. The previous version, Title Update 1.1.2.0 ("Patch 2"), is also available (may be required for some mods).

Skip intro videos

Use FusionFix[4]

ColAccel

Greatly reduces loading times.
If editing .IMG archives you need to delete colCache.dat and let it get re-created.
Place ColAccel script in <path-to-game>[5]
Requires an ASI Loader.

Restore Removed Music

Some music was removed after Rockstar's music licence for this game expired after 10 years.[6]
Run the radio downgrader[7]
  1. Download the downgrader.
  2. Unpack to the installation folder.
  3. Run install.bat.

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\Settings\SETTINGS_EFLC.CFG
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12220/pfx/[Note 2]
Configuration files are encrypted. For an alternative, see Command line parameters.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\savegames\<user-id>\
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\Profiles\<user-id>\ (Complete Edition)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12220/pfx/[Note 2]
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\XLive must also be backed up as the save data is bound to the Games for Windows - LIVE profile.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Uses Rockstar Social Club's savegame & settings cloud sync function.

Video

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Natively supported, some menus are stretched.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Pressing V will change camera angle and field of view slightly.
Windowed
Launch the game with -windowed parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use FusionFix.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Use SMAA injector for SMAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Cutscenes may be zoomed in incorrectly; Regular camera movement and handbrake camera are too slow; handbrake camera is too fast on high fps. See Timing-related issues.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
SFX, Music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Commands responsible for audio in the game:
  • -fullspecaudio: forces higher quality audio
  • -minspecaudio: forces lower quality audio - good for low-end CPU's (e.g. radio cannot be heard outside car).
Game uses DirectSound which can be handled by Creative Alchemy (set duration to 10), and possibly by IndirectSound (DSOAL on at least R* Launcher version). Just run LaunchGTAIV.exe as admin in case of game crash.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Fan translation, download.
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation.
Italian
Japanese
Not available in the Complete Edition; Japanese users have to change game's language to access the Episodes.[8]
Polish
Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Official localization by 1C-SoftClub; included in the Complete Edition. Patch for other versions is available here.
Russian
Fan translation by «ENPY Studio»
Spanish
Ukrainian
Fan translation, download.

Network

Social Club website stat tracking and leaderboards have been shut down. All other online features are unaffected.[9]
Online features require a Microsoft account (optional for offline play).

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
32 Use vanilla Games for Windows - LIVE's LAN feature, or use IV:MP or CitizenMP:IV. Downgrade first if running the Complete Edition.
Online play
32 Use vanilla Games for Windows - LIVE's LAN feature, or use IV:MP or CitizenMP:IV. Downgrade first if running the Complete Edition.

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 53, 80, 3074
UDP 53, 88, 3074
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
TriDef 3D
iZ3D

Issues fixed

Timing-related issues

An unlocked or incorrect frame rate cap (+60FPS) can result in timing issues.

Related issues

  • In "The Lost and Damned" The motorbike is almost impossible to ride.
  • Mouse movement is very difficult while using a browser computer.
  • The use of the virtual keyboard of the police car computer becomes impossible to control with the keyboard due to the sensitivity being increased too much
  • In "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony", while playing a table hockey, the puck gets stuck in a corner and may never move.
  • While playing pool, the balls physics breaks, balls don't go as far and as fast as they do.
  • The weapons of the enemies are floating in the air (+200fps)
  • The elevating work platform rises faster than normal
  • Too slow handbrake camera and regular camera movement and too zoomed-in cutscenes


Cap frame rate to 60 FPS[10]
Enable Vsync in the options game and set refresh rate on 60hz
For Regular camera movement and handbrake camera are too slow and Cutscenes are too zoomed in Use GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix[11]

Crashing

When starting the game, you may be notified that the file WMVCore.dll is missing. If you're running the game via Steam, this notification may not appear and the game will simply crash after prompting for Social Club login information. Install Windows Media Player to fix.

Game does not launch

Update LaunchEFLC.exe[12]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\EFLC
  2. Rename LaunchEFLC.exe to LaunchEFLC.exe.old.
  3. Download the updated LaunchEFLC.exe file and extract the contents to <path-to-game>\EFLC
  4. Run LaunchEFLC.exe.

"SecuLauncher: Failed to start application [2000]" error

Install Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 and .NET 3.5[13]

Game doesn't get past Social Club window

Reinstall Games for Windows Live[citation needed]

AMD/ATI Radeon Water Fix

There is a problem where the water loses its features and details after a while. To fix this issue do this:
Replace the water shaders[citation needed]
  1. Download the fixed waterTex shader file.
  2. Go to <path-to-game>\EFLC
  3. Go to common\shaders\win32_30_atidx10\
  4. Place your downloaded waterTex.fxc shader file and replace the original.
  5. Go to common\shaders\win32_30_low_ati\
  6. Place your downloaded waterTex.fxc shader file and replace the original.
  7. Play your game!

Notes

Don't forget to backup original files.
A lot of the fixes for Grand Theft Auto IV also work for Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City, But not all of them. So check first.

No recoil/bullet spread

By default, recoil/bullet spread is only enabled when playing with a controller. This results in 100% shooting accuracy when using a keyboard and mouse.
Use GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix[14]
Install the Bullet Spread/Recoil Fix script[15]
Not recommended to use in Multiplayer.
Requires an ASI Loader.


Cannot change the graphics settings

There are reports that certain video cards with more than 2 GB of video memory may be causing GTA IV to believe the system is under specification even though the computer is powerful enough to run the game with higher settings. A possible fix:
Increase available memory[16]
  1. Create a text file named commandline.txt in <path-to-game>\EFLC and put the following statement inside it:
    • -availablevidmem 2.0
  2. If that doesn't work, try increasing the number to one of the following.
    • -availablevidmem 3.0
    • -availablevidmem 4.0
    • -availablevidmem 5.0
    • -availablevidmem 6.0

Notes

For the Steam version, use the -nomemrestrict -norestrictions parameters.

World textures not loading on integrated GPUs

On integrated GPUs with low dedicated memory the world textures won't load properly / the world will appear invisible
Apply Patch 3

Alternatively:

Used the following commandline arguments for older patches:
  1. Create a blank text document in <path-to-game> and name it commandline
  2. -availablevidmem x //Replace x with the iGPU's dedicated memory (if it's 32 MB replace it with 30.0, if it's 64 MB replace it with 60.0, etc.)
  3. -norestrictions
  4. -memrestrict y //Replace y with either 230686720 (Low textures), 314572800 (Medium textures) or 681574400 (High textures)
  5. -reservedApp 0 //For 64-bit operating systems only
  6. -minspecaudio
May cause an extreme increase in loading times, even infinite loading loops in some cases, using a wrapper such as DXVK, DxWrapper or even ENB Series may solve the problem

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Shader Model support 3.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Bullet, Euphoria
Interface Flash
Cutscenes Bink Video, Windows Media Player 1.9r
Multiplayer Games for Windows - LIVE, Rockstar Games Social Club

Modifications

It is strongly recommended to make a backup of any files modifications may replace or amend in the event of corruption.

XLiveLess

Built-in ASI loader
Removes Games for Windows - LIVE service.
Save game data location changes to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\savegames\
Save games made using XLiveLess are not compatible with native save games.
Disables access to the multiplayer to prevent cheating.

First person mod

Compatible with VR.

Excellent ENB

Graphical modification that drastically improves performance and visuals.
Includes multiple presets suitable for low-end and high-end hardware.
Compatible with all patches.
Contains optional ASI loader.
Contains optional trainer.
Contains optional textures for roads and trees.
Minor graphical bug on street lights when night shadows are enabled.

Road Textures by DKT70

Graphical improvement that includes HD textures for roads.
Combine with an ENB modification for best results.

Use DXVK to improve performance

Improves framerates on some versions, but causes a performance drop or no effect at all on other versions.[17]
Install DXVK file[18]
  1. Download the - Latest DXVK file.
  2. Unpack the file, and copy d3d9.dll and dxgi.dll from x32(If the game crashed or appeared with error, then instead copy those file from x64) folder to your GTAIV installation folder.
  3. Launch the game

Custom music

Grand Theft Auto IV allows users to play their own music on a custom radio station, Independence FM.[19]

Simply place any audio files/folders or create shortcuts in the %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\GTA IV\User Music\ folder, and tune into the station in-game.
Supported formats are MP3, WMA, M4A. Other formats and extensions are not recognized.
QuickTime or iTunes needs to be installed for M4A support.
Use shortcuts to audio files/folders to save disk space and improve performance.
Supports High-resolution audio files. Up to 96 kHz / 24 bit.
Supports Surround audio files. Up to 6 channels.
FLAC is not supported. Convert to WMA Lossless to use in-game.
Monaural audio files not supported.

Launch Options

By creating a file called commandline.txt and saving it to your root installation folder you can alter the way your game runs. Below is a list of all the parameters.
Parameter Description
-help Lists the available commands
-adapter Use the specified screen adapter
-autoconfig Automatically adjust quality setting to maintain desired frame rate (15-120)
-availablevidmem Set amount of physical Video Memory
-benchmark Launches the game in Benchmark mode and then quits it
-detailquality Set the detail quality of the game (0-99)
-disableimposters Turn off imposter rendering for vehicles
-forcehighqualitymirrors Enable 64 bit mirrors
-forcer2vb Force Render to Vertex Buffer
-frameLimit Limits your FPS to your refresh rate
-framelockinwindow Force framelock to work even in a window
-fullscreen Force fullscreen mode
-fullspecaudio Force high-end CPU audio footprint
-gpucount Lets you manually set the GPU count if query fails
-height Sets the vertical resolution
-managed Use D3D runtime managed resources
-memrestrict Set the restriction the amount of available memory for the game
-minspecaudio Force low-end CPU audio footprint
-no_3GB Disable 32-bit OS with /3GB
-noBlockOnLostFocus Don't block the window update when it loses focus.
-noprecache Disable precache of resources
-nomemrestrict Disable memory restrictions
-nominimize Disables the ability to restore the game from minimize and changing resolutions (Reduces System Memory Footprint)
-norestrictions Do not limit graphics settings
-noswapdelay Disable sleep delay before Present (Disable fix for hard Present stalls)
-notimefix Disable Time Fix
-novblank Disables V-Sync
-percentvidmem Percentage of Video memory to make available for the game
-refreshrate Set the refresh rate (Must be supported by your monitor)
-reserve Amount of memory to set aside for other applications
-reservedApp Amount of memory to leave available within application space
-renderquality Set the render quality of the game (0-4)
-safemode Sets graphics setting to lowest setting
-shadowdensity Set the number of lights that cast shadows (0-16)
-shadowquality Set the shadow quality (0-4)
-stereo Set game to support stereo rendering mode
-texturequality Set the texture quality of the game (0-2)
-unmanaged Use application managed resources
-usedirectinput Allow DirectInput alongside XInput support.
-viewdistance Set the view distance of the game (0-99)
-windowed Force windowed mode
-width Sets the horizontal resolution

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3, Vista SP1
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1.5 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 16 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon X1900
Nvidia GeForce 7900
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device) 5.1 Channel Audio Card


Notes

  1. Games for Windows - LIVE DRM features: Legacy activation, supports local profiles.
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/12220/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (12220) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Games for Windows - last accessed on 19 August 2022
  2. Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City updates to remove Games for Windows Live - Rockstar Games Customer Support - last accessed on 2020-03-25
    "As a result of this update the following services will no longer be available in Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition - Games for Windows Live, Multiplayer mode, Leaderboards"
  3. Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City updates to remove Games for Windows Live - Rockstar Games Customer Support - last accessed on 2020-03-25
    "Players with existing CD Keys will be able to redeem them via the Rockstar Games Launcher"
  4. ThirteenAG/GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix: This projects aims to fix or address some issues in Grand Theft Auto IV Complete Edition - last accessed on May 2023
  5. ColAccel - reduce loading time by 50%* - Scripts & Plugins - GTAForums
  6. Grand Theft Auto IV Music Cut Patch - Rock Paper Shotgun - last accessed on May 2023
  7. IV/EFLC Radio "downgrader" - GTA Forums - last accessed on May 2023
  8. Japanese language support in Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition - last accessed on 2023-07-01
  9. Effect of GameSpy Closure on Past Rockstar Titles – Rockstar Support - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  10. GTA IV: Bugs and Glitches compilation
  11. Handbrake camera is too slow · Issue #10 · GTAmodding/GTAIV-Issues-List - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  12. EFLC won't install, stuck on securom activation (Fixed) :: Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on May 2023
  13. SecuROM™ Support Website - Grand Theft Auto IV - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  14. Recoil behaves differently between gamepad and kb/mouse · Issue #6 · GTAmodding/GTAIV-Issues-List - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  15. Archived Requests, need ideas? - GTA III, VC & SA - GTAForums - last accessed on May 2023
  16. From Rockstar's Support page
  17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZPriOrnAgQ
  18. Reddit - last accessed on May 2023
  19. Independence FM (User radio) in GTA IV - Rockstar Support - last accessed on May 2023