GTA: SA Running In Slow-motion At Times

[dazuk1972]

I got a copy of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the other day as the PC versions and when I play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas it keeps going in slow-motion but the other two are not doing that. Does anyone know what is causing this?

Another thing, with all three of them, there's times when my mouse does dead on me and when I save my game play on any of them the mouse is working again. Does anyone know what causes that? I tried a different mouse and the same happened. It doesn't do this when I'm using my PC for other things, it only happens with the Grand Theft Auto games.

Many thanks.

Darren.

[Chewy]

well the problem game is the later of the three and requires more horse power

Recommended System Requirements

Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP processor (or better)
384(+) MB of RAM
16x DVD-ROM drive
4.7 GB of free Hard Disk space for a full install
128(+) MB Video Card with DirectX 9 compatible drivers ("GeForce4" or better)
DirectX 9 compatible Surround Sound Card

pretty lame by today's standards

[admin]

Yes, you need a beefy system, but there are also bugs with the game that causes this to happen. What you need to do is to go into the advanced graphics options for the game and enable "framelimiter", this will stop the speed changes. With a good system, the game will always play at a high framerate, so you won't notice the speed changes. But once the FPS dips below 25, then the game slows down. Blame it on the game's console origins, I guess.

The problem with the "framelimiter" is that it's set to 25 FPS, which is not going to give you a smooth motion. There is a trainer tool called the "San Andreas Performance Tool" which allows you to increase the frame limit to 30, as well as turn off some graphics intensive features. It only works with the 1.0 version of the game though:

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=288759

With the other GTA games on fast systems, you will actually get fast motion, which again can be solved by enabling the frame limiter.

For the mouse issue, I've read that some can get it to stop by changing the .exe file's compatibility mode to "Windows 98/Me" (for example, right click on gta_sa.exe, go to the "Compatiblity" tab). Some also suggest you unplug and other input devices that you are not using (eg. joysticks, gamepads, and even things like IR receivers).

[dazuk1972]

well the problem game is the later of the three and requires more horse power

Recommended System Requirements

Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon XP processor (or better)
384(+) MB of RAM
16x DVD-ROM drive
4.7 GB of free Hard Disk space for a full install
128(+) MB Video Card with DirectX 9 compatible drivers ("GeForce4" or better)
DirectX 9 compatible Surround Sound Card

pretty lame by today's standards

Many thanks for the help.

I'm not sure how to find out this 'n' that depending on some things and I'm not sure how to find out how good my video card is.

I'm using Windows XP with Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.99GHz, 0.99 GB of RAM.

When it says 0.99GB of RAM the catlaogue that I bought my PC from mentioned just over 1200MB RAM so I have no idea where the 0.99GB came from.

I'm sure my DVD burner is fast so it has to be 16x speed. The speed of the disc can't slow things down at times because GTA: SA doesn't require the DVD-ROM during game play otherwise a message would appear and tell me to put the disc in like GTA 3 and GTA: VC.

I have a 144GB hard drive and there's 79.2GB free. I installed GTA: SA into my 160GB external hard drive that has 71.3 GB free. I mentioned both hard drives because some of the game might have gone into my C-Drive in the System32 folder.

I also have DirectX 9. This might sound like a silly question. Is there only one version of DirectX 9, meaning, once I have it and I do as I said, is mine surround stereo?

Last night I was playing GTA: SA and it seemed to behave but it might act odd again at any time, I don't know.

Many thanks.

Darren.

[dazuk1972]

Yes, you need a beefy system, but there are also bugs with the game that causes this to happen. What you need to do is to go into the advanced graphics options for the game and enable "framelimiter", this will stop the speed changes. With a good system, the game will always play at a high framerate, so you won't notice the speed changes. But once the FPS dips below 25, then the game slows down. Blame it on the game's console origins, I guess.

The problem with the "framelimiter" is that it's set to 25 FPS, which is not going to give you a smooth motion. There is a trainer tool called the "San Andreas Performance Tool" which allows you to increase the frame limit to 30, as well as turn off some graphics intensive features. It only works with the 1.0 version of the game though:

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=288759

With the other GTA games on fast systems, you will actually get fast motion, which again can be solved by enabling the frame limiter.

For the mouse issue, I've read that some can get it to stop by changing the .exe file's compatibility mode to "Windows 98/Me" (for example, right click on gta_sa.exe, go to the "Compatiblity" tab). Some also suggest you unplug and other input devices that you are not using (eg. joysticks, gamepads, and even things like IR receivers).

Many thanks for the info on this and for the link as well. I'll check things out on that. I must add, I never installed any modifications that are available for the PC version such as where you came change the streets around and make CJ look like the Phantom super hero where he can jump off the tallest building without wasting himself because cheats and modifications can cause the game to act like an idiot.

By the way, at the moment I'm using the keyboard and mouse. Something else and this happens with GTA: 3, GTA: VC and GTA: SA so this happens with all three of them. My mouse goes dead at times and it works again after I save my game. This only happens with these three games.

Many thanks.

Darren.

[Chewy]

What you need to do is to go into the advanced graphics options for the game and enable "framelimiter"

follow admin's advise

another issue is even with a full install and trying to play from an external hard drive, you load times will be pretty slow, that 16x read in a dvd-rom speed is faster than your hard drive can supply over usb2

another issue is the usb2 is system intensive with the cpu doing too much work

go to system in control panel to find out about your graphics

[dazuk1972]

follow admin's advise

another issue is even with a full install and trying to play from an external hard drive, you load times will be pretty slow, that 16x read in a dvd-rom speed is faster than your hard drive can supply over usb2

another issue is the usb2 is system intensive with the cpu doing too much work

go to system in control panel to find out about your graphics

It amazing you meantioned about one of my hard drive doing too much work because sometimes I'm using Napster to download in the same hard drive to where my GTA games are. I did try GTA: SA with Napster off and things were running fine for a while and it went slow again. When I went into a Safe House to save my game while having slow-motion, the moment I was in a Safe House the game went to the normal speed and slow when I went outside again.

What worries me is if I back-up my game play from a folder that I believe is called GTA San Andreas User Files that's pre-created in My Documents during installation, when I re-install the game and install it in my C-Drive, will the game still be able to make contact with that folder even though I'll delete the second pre-created one and replace it for my backed-up version. Another installation will create another and that's when I'll have to delete it and replace it for my backed-up copy. Some modifications such as moving files and folders about can cause problems where the PC might not be able to find the location etc and this might happen all the time the game is installed in a different hard drive for the second time. It won't matter that much if things go wrong with that connection because I haven't got that far in the game because I'm also playing GTA 3 and GTA: VC as well. The reason why I asked about the folder with the game play thing is because one of my brothers was playing a game and he had to back-up all his data (of course) and format his hard drive. When he put his data back in after the format he said the folder to where his game play was failed to load in his game when his PC was up and running.

Many thanks.

Darren.

[admin]

What worries me is if I back-up my game play from a folder that I believe is called GTA San Andreas User Files that's pre-created in My Documents during installation, when I re-install the game and install it in my C-Drive, will the game still be able to make contact with that folder even though I'll delete the second pre-created one and replace it for my backed-up version. Another installation will create another and that's when I'll have to delete it and replace it for my backed-up copy.

Just copy your backup savegame folder over the new one that GTA creates, overwriting all the existing files, and GTA will be able to load the savegames.

I love the GTA series, I must have played through all the games at least 3 times now (currently playing San Andreas again). Can't wait for GTA IV.

[dazuk1972]

Just copy your backup savegame folder over the new one that GTA creates, overwriting all the existing files, and GTA will be able to load the savegames.

I love the GTA series, I must have played through all the games at least 3 times now (currently playing San Andreas again). Can't wait for GTA IV.

Many thanks for the suggestion but it didn't work. Every time I load my game things are fine and as soon as CJ is outside it suddenly goes slow. It's odd why it starts when he walks through the front door of a safe house. Suddenly the game will speed up to the normal speed. One of my brothers is having the same problem and both of our computers have the correct requirements because we recently bought a new PC. I'm wondering if there's any patches for this game where Rockstar might have blundered on the PC version and a patch was released to solve the problem. It's a matter of me finding it even though I've found some sites to explore.

That issue about my mouse going dead at times and it also happens with GTA: 3 and GTA: VC, my brother uses a game pad and he said that goes dead on him as well. It's annoying when it happens during a mission.

I love these games as well. I've played GTA: SA twice on the PS2, I started it on the XBox but I never finished it because I borrowed that copy and I keep meaning to buy it and finish the XBox version but at the moment and as you know I'm playing the game yet again as the PC version. I'm also playing GTA 3 and GTA: VC as the PC versions as I mentioned. I can't wait for GTA 4. There was a rumour that some countries are trying to ban it already. The only thing that would happen is Rockstar would be forced to edit it the way they were with GTA: SA because of the Hot Coffee scenes. I found images of the Hot Coffee and it's amazing what was taken out. As you know, I can't upload the images in the forum because they are contents of a sexual nature. Without those it makes the dating easier. With GTA 4, I don't know why Rockstar had to base it in Liberty City. I wonder why they keep using Liberty City. I don't like that place much because it always rains and it's always foggy. I read a rumour about more than one island was planned for the game. It would be brilliant if Vice City and San Andreas were included. What I'd like most is a brand-new island because I enjoy the exploring. Anyway, now it's in Liberty City again I hope we can fly this time. I wish flying was added to GTA: LCS.

A change with GTA: LCS between the PSP and PS2 versions, when you do the car salesman mission, it snows for a bit in the PSP version and it gets very foggy in the PS2 version.

Sorry for writing so much. As soon as a topic about the GTA comes out I get carried away. Once more thing, I prefer CJ out of the others because I find him funny and GTA: SA is my favourite GTA game because the island is the biggest and there's more to do in the game. GTA: VC and GTA: VCS are good but the island is too small.

Darren.

[Chewy]

but there are also bugs with the game that causes this to happen. What you need to do is to go into the advanced graphics options for the game and enable "framelimiter", this will stop the speed changes. With a good system, the game will always play at a high framerate, so you won't notice the speed changes. But once the FPS dips below 25, then the game slows down. Blame it on the game's console origins, I guess.

did you follow this advise from post #3?

[dazuk1972]

did you follow this advise from post #3?

Sorry about that. I did forget to go to that link for a bit. I went to it after I read your message and I joined it and I speak about the GTA games there now. The reason why I forgot about the link was due to sorting out other issues.

Darren.

[Chewy]

What you need to do is to go into the advanced graphics options for the game and enable "framelimiter", this will stop the speed changes.

did you do this?

[Dan]

Been reading through this thread and you definitely have to enable famelimiter and adjust your draw distance. Also, I suggest you lower your resolution to see if that helps, it did help me when I played GTA Vice City on an older GPU.

[dazuk1972]

Been reading through this thread and you definitely have to enable famelimiter and adjust your draw distance. Also, I suggest you lower your resolution to see if that helps, it did help me when I played GTA Vice City on an older GPU.

Many thanks. I'll give that a try. It was a pain in a mission the other day when it went in slow-motion because I felt as if I was using a cheat to slow the game down and I don't like that. I must admit, I've used cheats with the PS2 but I want to play this game again without cheating. I know I can do it. I'm going to write to Rockstar about why the mouse and the game pad goes dead at times with all the GTA games. The only way to get the mouse and game pad working depending on what's being used is by pressing Escape twice and that is most annoying during a fast-moving mission. I don't want that to happen during the mission End Of The Line because that is the hardest mission where it's like four missions rolled into one. If you go wrong at the end it's back to the beginning and that is enough to cause a major headache. That mission can take about ten minutes to complete because it's so long.

Somebody told me he had so many problems passing that mission, he smashed his PS2 in temper. Lol. That was clever. Not only was it a hard mission for him, it was also and expensive one because his PS2 wasn't under warranty.

Many thanks again.

Darren.

[Dan]

There are so many problems with those games it's unreal. Just browsing at a support forum and Rockstar Games help section I see endless amounts of problems with all kinds of solutions.

Don't know if it will ever run well for you dazuk.