Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

Grand Theft Auto:
Episodes from Liberty City

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
Controls	Direct control
Vehicles	Automobile, Motorcycle
Themes	Contemporary, LGBTQ
Series	Grand Theft Auto

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		Custom DRM code may sabotage the game in several ways.
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Steam (unavailable)		Replaced with Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition

All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE and SecuROM DRM.

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.

CD keys can be redeemed on the Rockstar Games Launcher. Doing this will activate Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition.

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

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>
Requires an ASI Loader.

Restore Removed Music

Some music was removed after Rockstar's music licence for this game expired after 10 years.

Run the radio downgrader
Download the downgrader. Unpack to the installation folder. Run install.bat.

Game data

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/

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/

%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.

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 keyboard/mouse settings.

In-game gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Supports XInput and DirectInput devices.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Can only switch between pre-set layouts.
Controller sensitivity		Called Aim Sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

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.
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.

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

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

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

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

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
Go to <path-to-game>\EFLC Rename LaunchEFLC.exe to LaunchEFLC.exe.old. Download the updated LaunchEFLC.exe file and extract the contents to <path-to-game>\EFLC Run LaunchEFLC.exe.

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

Install Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 and .NET 3.5

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]

Download the fixed waterTex shader file. Go to <path-to-game>\EFLC Go to common\shaders\win32_30_atidx10\ Place your downloaded waterTex.fxc shader file and replace the original. Go to common\shaders\win32_30_low_ati\ Place your downloaded waterTex.fxc shader file and replace the original. 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

Install the Bullet Spread/Recoil Fix script
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
Create a text file named commandline.txt in <path-to-game>\EFLC and put the following statement inside it: -availablevidmem 2.0 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:

Create a blank text document in <path-to-game> and name it commandline -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.) -norestrictions -memrestrict y //Replace y with either 230686720 (Low textures), 314572800 (Medium textures) or 681574400 (High textures) -reservedApp 0 //For 64-bit operating systems only -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

• GTA4-Mods
• GTA Garage
• GTA Inside

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.

Install DXVK file
Download the - Latest DXVK file. 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. Launch the game

Custom music

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

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	Vista SP1
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz	AMD Phenom X3 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1.5 GB	2.5 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	16 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1900 Nvidia GeForce 7900 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon 3870 Nvidia GeForce 8600 512 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	5.1 Channel Audio Card