Rockstar patches GTA IV for PC

Rockstar has patched Grand Theft Auto IV for PC to deal with "known issues including, but not limited to, performance, input functionality, and overall stability".

Despite strong reviews (including our own), the game has been rocked by stability issues and error messages, with some players unable to get the game working at all.

Our office copy, for example, simply didn't work, throwing up a fatal error message - one of many encountered by players.

Hence the patch, which has restored our office copy to life - yippee! - and also claims all of the following, lifted from Rockstar's media advisory:

• Better memory management to improve stability, especially for players with lower-end machines
• Added a fix for the ATI 1900 series video cards to improve stability and the visual quality of shadows
• Custom graphic settings and multiplayer characters will now save
• Several improvements to the Video Editor, including higher rendering quality, smarter naming of videos and better effects during replays
• Mouse-based movements with sensitive mice or gaming mice will properly detect
• CPU speeds will now query periodically rather than just at startup, resulting in smoother frame-rates
• Fixed a crash after legal screen German customers were reporting

Rockstar also promises to continue to support the game through GTA forums and its own support site, where you can grab the 32MB patch file now.

Expect more patches to follow, however, as not everyone's problems appear to be solved, judging by posts on GTA.TV and GTAGaming.