I need some help. every time I play GTA VC for PC the game freezes alot. it plays, freezes, plays, freezes, & so on. it never did this before. Ive even reinstalled the game many times but it still does it. does any one know how to fix this?

Is it an illegal or legal version?

You probably don't have enough memory or whatever to run it.

He's probably right.... if it is a valid version (illegal versions usually install along with a virus and shutdown very early on). Try toning down the graphics...that could help as well..if not...xbox's are supa cheap now!

its a legal version. I bought it brand new




HD or RAM?

RAM(256 at the most minimum for GTA)....if you didn't have enough space on the harddrive you wouldn't have been able to install it. You should check for updates to the game as well since most PC based games come out with the bugs, they then get fixed in patches....

I have 512MB of ram.
where can I find updates?

I had similiar problems with GTA:VC.

For a while loading was taking like 5 seconds. after about 50% way through the game, after it had finished loading, the game just hung for anywhere b/w 10 seconds to 5 minutes
also the camera didn;t reset after doing a Unique Stunt. And occasionally hung after being wasted.

- for the first issue, ejecting the disc, stopped the "hang" [although screwed the framerate, reinsert disc...]

GTA:VC and GTA3 were very bugged. GTA:SA isn't so bad

You wouldn't have a nVidia FX graphics card by any chance?

Ill try that

I have an ATI graphics card



Is GTA SA for PC called "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas DVD Edition"?

Yup

As for your other problem, have you got the latest drivers for your graphics card, check if you need to defrag your HDD that could help.

what do you mean drivers?

drivers are what allows the operating system to "talk" to the graphics card [and any other piece of hardware]

where can I check to see if Ive got the latest drivers?



btw the "ejecting the disc" thing just stops the game all together



also when it "plays, freezes, plays, freezes" I can hear the CD rom drive speeding up & slowing down

on Win98: XP should be similiar, may have different display names...

1. Open Control Panel [From Start Menu]
2. Double Click on "System"
3. Click no the "Device Manager" tab
4. Expand the "Display Adapters" tree.
5. Click on the GFX card.
6. Click on the "Properties" button
7. Click on the "Driver" tab
8. Click "Update Driver"

To check for what drivers your currently running: [your pc may not have it, I can't remember if I installed with DX8 SDK or not]
1. In the Sart Menu, find "run"
2. Type "dxdiag"
3. One of the Tabs tells you computer information and the drivers your running. [I can't tell you which one as I just lost the mouse ]

Im using "radeon 7500"

Boom there's your problem, the Radeon 7500 is one of the weakest graphics cards in existence and GTA is a modern game. It blows chunks i'm afraid, you'd need to upgrade it to play the game smoothly.

But in future when you have a problem it's always best to put your system specs in the first post.

which graphics card should I buy?

also which is better? PCI or AGP

AGP if you have an AGP motherboard, and which you should buy naturally depends on your budget.

good because thats what I have.

so which graphics card should I buy?

BUDGET?!?!?!! Do people read?

no more than $100

VC is kinda old tho, read the system requirements and see if you need something better/newer. if not, try closing some programs

Okey, with a fairly limited budget you cant expect to get one of the newer cards, but dont worry about that, for 100 bucks you can today get a card that was one of the better ones yesterday and still is a really good card today.

Here are two cards based on the same chipset for just under $100 these are the best ones I could find that are within your budget,

http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getp...asterid=3024072

and

http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getp...asterid=1956559

Either one of those cards will greatly improve the performance of your computer, just make sure they they would work with the rest of your hardware.

For $100 the best choice is by far the MSI 6600GT from Ebay, for the price it provides great performance http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-NX6600GT-TD128E-nV...1QQcmdZViewItem

ok thanks. I think I will get one of those.

Cool, they are great cards for the price.

I know this is post is a couple years old but I had same problem recently going back to playing this great game. I was running a Win2k system on an Asus A7V880 mobo, with 2GB or DDR RAM, ATI 9550 256MD DDR graphics, 300GB HDD and a 300W Antec power supply. After checking and updating all video, sound and VIA 4-in-1 drivers, and problem still happening, I tried backing the mobo bios AGP settings down from 8x to 4x as some said but still no help. In the end the problem was staring me right in the face and I didn't realize it. I kept updating this pc over the years but never updated the 300w power supply so my system was underpowered. With all I was running I was almost maxed out at normal usage, but when the Direct3D would kick in on games like GTA VC, it would not have enough power to operate and system would freeze, and most times crash completely. I updated the power supply to an Antec 430W and system runs smoothly now and at maximum video settings in game and on card. I will remember from now on, and suggest you all do the same, take stock of your power supplies and make sure you are not under powered when video problems come up. Here is a good link to use to calculate your system wattage used to give you an idea if you need a bigger power supply. http://www.journeysystems.com/?powercalc