Topic on Talk:Grand Theft Auto IV

Since editing is disabled, I'll put a few things that are missing here.

- ZPatch also fixes various FPS timing-related issues

See the feature list at https://zolika1351.pages.dev/mods/ivpatch

Specifically:

Fixed bikes sliding more easily above ~80FPS

Fixed cutscenes having jittery camera motion at high FPS

Fixed cutscenes zooming in at high FPS

Fixed the game speeding up above 300FPS

- ZPatch decreases loading times (and can be combined with ColAccel)

Here's a quick comparison of the loading screen between FastLoading from ZPatch, as well as ColAccel, vanilla and both mods at the same time.

https://streamable.com/slqqsl

- Neither FusionFix nor ZPatch remove mouse acceleration

See https://github.com/ThirteenAG/GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix/blob/master/readme.md for FusionFix and https://zolika1351.pages.dev/mods/ivpatch for ZPatch.

They both claim to remove the mouse deadzone, but not mouse acceleration. Though ZPatch does remove mouse acceleration from sniper rifles, see the feature list linked above.

- Taxi bug solutions

Specifically, RIL.Budgeted https://gtaforums.com/topic/744584-reliv-rilbudgeted-population-budget-adjustertaxi-bug-fix/ and IV Tweaker https://zolika1351.pages.dev/mods/ivtweaker both have an option to increase the vehicle budget on 1.0.8.0 and below. Simple Traffic Loader is only a workaround which can introduce issues that are listed already, but both of these mods (as well as FusionFix) increase the actual amount of available memory for vehicle models (see the RIL.Budgeted thread, specifically "this plugin attacks the taxi bug right at its source, rather than working around the bug by loading models forcibly, it allows you to change the maximum size in bytes the game will allow automatically-loaded vehicles to take up!" the IV Tweaker feature list also includes "Vehicle Budget" in the Supported Limits section which also refers to the same thing)

- A simpler downgrade method

Not sure if this fits here but there is a way lighter downgrade method from CE to 1.0.8.0 available here: https://zolika1351.pages.dev/mods/ivpatch/downgrading

Unlike ItsClonkAndre's tool, this only replaces a few files, and only requires a simple drag 'n' drop and then running the included vcredist file, which should therefore be more user friendly. It also already includes the latest versions of ZPatch and IV Tweaker.

- Out of Commission Helicopter Bug Fix

I just tested the linked mod, I had 80-90FPS and it did not fix the bug.

"which should therefore be more user friendly" How? The downgrader only downloads what you need, and it directly leads you through all the steps(additionally, it automatically takes care of configurations and pre-requisities and has a few automated steps like converting the savefile) - being able to read and choose what to download and install is more user-friendly than a pre-determined archive. Ofc, I'll direct this to Macgovern and see if this can be included alongside - I just don't really understand what part is "more user-friendly"

As for other edits, I implemented them, while simultaneously discussing them with Macgovern.

The keyword there is "should" - this downgrader was specifically made to attempt to resolve issues I've come across while watching and helping others use the current downgrader tool.

For one, it seems like it offers *too much* choice. I've frequently seen people get confused and not know what to do when they get to either the version select screen, or the mod select screen. The mod selection is also fairly easy to mess up by a beginner, by installing incompatible mods or not installing essential ones (ZPatch comes to mind, a downgraded game might not even run without it and the only thing telling you this is a small warning on the very right side of the mod list that you have to hover over to pop up, also you can skip GFWL support and then downgrade without installing xliveless by unticking every mod - why? this is a guaranteed bricked install if you don't have the GFWL redist installed already and it doesn't even give a warning about it) and overall the tool seems to blast people with too much information at times. This is good for experienced people but not so much for a newbie who just wants to get some essential fixes that are only available via downgrading.

The bundled mod list also currently bundles some outdated versions of important mods, this can obviously be fixed down the line but currently ZPatch and Shader Fixes Collection are both missing some fixes (Shader Fixes had artifacting in water on V103 which is what the downgrader currently has, and ZPatch fixed sniper rifle mouse acceleration as well as various issues in cutscenes at high FPS since the v6.9.8.2 version that's currently packed in)

It's also fairly heavy in terms of filesize and amount of files modified (though this is to be expected with the amount of mods you can pack in with it) which has made it receive criticism by other modders for replacing too many files, and complicates the repair process if one downgrades their game in place without making a backup and then Steam updates it for example.

The automatic savefile downgrading does make it have a leg up against any simple archive, though, and that's something that should be taken into consideration.

The downgrade archive that I linked tries to fix the above problems in various ways:

- It goes the entire opposite route with choice, just giving you a basic 1.0.8.0 game with essential fixes included, aiming to make downgrading the game a quick and painless process

- The bundled mods are always kept up to date, I push a new version of the downgrade archive every time I release a new update to ZPatch or IV Tweaker

- The mod only overwrites what's absolutely required to properly run a 1.0.8.0 game (GTAIV.exe and PlayGTAIV.exe) and has minimal bloat, compared to the downgrader tool which at the most basic settings replaces 80-100MB of extra files. It also doesn't add or replace any DRM related files as ZPatch makes that unnecessary, specifically binkw32.dll, DFA.dll, gta4Browser.exe and gtaEncoder.exe. This as well as the inclusion of IV Tweaker should also make the game somewhat more compatible with certain "CE-exclusive" mods, such as ones that modify script.img or american.gxt (both of which the downgrader always replaces) and makes it trivial to fix a game that got corrupted from a Steam/RGL update (you can simply re-extract the archive and everything works again)

- To add to the above point about game files, IV Tweaker is bundled in the archive, and the two optional mods on the page are specifically configured to load from IV Tweaker, making neither Shader Fixes nor pre-CE FusionFix require any files to be replaced. This also means less of a chance that an update breaks them.

I've just seen various people describe downgrading as a "hassle" because of the above issues, and so I wanted to remedy that. Whether this archive actually succeeds at doing so is up to the users to decide as I'm not exactly the average GTA IV player, I just brought it up here so it can be discussed and added if it does. The best solution in my opinion would be if the downgrader tool had an "easy install" button of sorts, but that's neither here nor there.

"The mod selection is also fairly easy to mess up by a beginner, by installing incompatible mods or not installing essential ones" As of 2.0, there's warnings to what stuff should(like ZPatch) and shouldn't be installed(and if you ignore the warning signs, I'm not sure what you're even trying to do) - furthermore, I'm yet to encounter a situation where it lets me install incompatible mods, either(there were some issues with 1.0.4.0 previously, but that got fixed).

"The bundled mod list also currently bundles some outdated versions of important mods" - It's updated automatically on server-side. You sound like your packaged downgrade somehow prevents this issue, but it doesn't.

"It's also fairly heavy in terms of filesize" It's really light and only installs what you pick in online version.

"without making a backup" - that'd be a user fault, since the user can pick to backup with the downgrader

"Corrupted from a Steam/RGL update" Steam updates don't change any game files and file recovering is always self-initiated. If you're running the RGL version, you can't downgrade in the first place.

IV Tweaker doesn't really work with Shader Fixes' 3 subfolders, does it?

Nonetheless, I still get your points, and I'll direct it to Macgovern either way. (and please don't think I'm hostile - I'm trying to be nice on everyone's side here)

I checked on 2.0, you can untick ZPatch and the only warning is that small one on the right you have to hover over, while it does exist, it's still really easy to miss

As for messing up your game with a non-GFWL configured copy and unticking xliveless (or unticking every mod which seems like a likely scenario for someone wanting a vanilla downgraded copy) that doesn't give any warnings at all and still bricks the game if you don't get and run gfwlivesetup.

Your point about the mod list is valid, my argument was that even though it's updated server-side it's currently about 2 weeks out of date (which is quite a long time with the amount of modding progress happening recently) and that the bundled mods in mine are currently up to date, and since they're only my mods, the download on the page will be kept up to date as soon as updates come out, though that's obviously not the same thing as the server-side updates that the tool has.

The filesize isn't really something I personally have a problem with, but I've frequently seen other modders describe it as "overwriting half the game" so I just thought I'd bring that up.

Steam updates can and do change game files, AFAIK there's been at least one update in the past few months that had more than the usual social club redist changes (it definitely replaced GTAIV.exe but I don't know the exact details on what else)

IV Tweaker works with Shader Fixes, it's just a little different. You can simply copy one subfolder into a modloader folder (e.g. copying the contents of common/shaders/win32_30 into modloader/shaderfixes would do the trick) as all 3 of those folders in Shader Fixes include the same exact files and IV Tweaker just loads shaders from the mod folder regardless of your GPU vendor, meaning if Shader Fixes was set up for it (which the optional download on my page is) it's even less files than the FusionFix modloader version

Also RGL does allow you to downgrade as long as you don't launch the game through RGL, launching the game directly via the .exe still works from what I've seen

Ah, I see. I thought the three folders had different files, but guess not.

By that logic, you can also just not use Steam to run the downgraded game either.

But oh well, no point in continuing discussion. After some convincing, I got Macgovern to mention your downgrader in the end(i wasn't against it in the first place) - it's worth a mention as much as the tool does, and some people prefer more straightforward approaches.