[EASY GUIDE] Quick Fixes for Playable GTA IV CE in 2025

Yes, this game is a buggy mess, here’s my bare minimum how you can make it more stable and playable without requiring to downgrade your game version.

Let’s get straight to it:

1. Right-click the game in Steam Library → Properties → General tab → enter your Launch Options at the bottom. Add these to your launch options:
-nomemrestrict -norestrictions -availablevidmem 4096

(Replace 4096 with the amount of VRAM your GPU has. I use 4096 because mine has AMD RX 580 4GB.)

2. Install FusionFix - Fixes various bugs and expands graphical customization options
Download it from here & copy to the GTAIV directory:
https://github.com/ThirteenAG/GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix

That should already improve performance noticeably. But if you want to take it a step further, here’s an optional tweak I recommend:

3. DXVK 2.6.1 (As of April 2025) - Doesn’t work on every hardware, but when it does, the performance gains are totally worth it.
Copy dxgi.dll and d3d9.dll from this link:
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk

4 Radio Downgrader - The Complete Edition removed many iconic songs, but this mod restores them. Highly recommended for the full Liberty City experience!
https://github.com/Tomasak/GTA-Downgraders/releases/tag/iv-latest

Should be ez, now sit back and enjoy Liberty City like it's 2008 all over again!

Here's known bugs list and solution that is leftovers from the original release that were never officially fixed by Rockstar, and some are caused by unofficial fixes from above. Feel free to share in comment if you discover more.

1. (GTA IV) – During the final mission "Out of Commission" (both endings), the player is unable to climb into the helicopter.
Solution: Go to the graphics settings and limit the FPS to 30

2. (TLAD) – The game crashes when approaching Elizabeta’s mission marker for "Marta Full of Grace."
Solution: Disable FusionFix temporarily. Go to your GTAIV game folder, open the "plugins" folder, and delete GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix.asi.Then start the game and get through the mission (yeah, the graphics and performance will suck, but hold on for one mission). Once you're done, just restore the .asi file back to install FusionFix back on.

3. Game wouldnt launch, "GTA IV exited unexpectedly"
Solution: Uninstall DXVK

- Scripthook & ASI Loader for Complete Edition