BlackListedB

Even GTA III can be laggy on a laptop, or Integrated "EXTREME GRAPHICS" from Intel system. My early modular Latitude Dells allowed some minor upgrading with sister-board graphics cards, nVidia and mostly ATI Radeon variety. Same is still true these days, removable and replaceable graphics cards for laptops exist in MXM and other varieties... in Dell's example, proprietary. If you're not sure on something you own, Google available specs and parts, via eBay for example, you can easily find what parts are there or not, or look at a motherboard for sale to see what chips reside soldered on the board itself, therefore coming down on the side of "Integrated", some of which ARE nVidia and ATI graphics GPUs, mostly they are other lesser known competitors if not Intel graphics chipsets San Andreas is still the same era and generation as Vice and 3, but it demands better hardware, think 2005, Hyperthreading Intel Pentium 4, Core Duo or Pentium D dual core (do more), on the AMD side, a good Athlon XP may work, but in that era, mid 2000s, the AMD64 will aid these older PC games, in single core technology, found more prevalent at the time. http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/29381/replacing-a-laptop-video-card There lacks a good reference for the type of cards used in the Dell, I would say they were engineered expressly for the boards they adapted to

For the premise of GTA in the story telling and graphics, I feel Red Dead Redemption is the finest game ever made to date. It isn't wall to wall gameplay as people might come to expect in, say, Halo or Call of Duty, or Gears of War, but it looks exceptional, it animates and controls beautifully and it's story is like no other before it. So, GTA maybe the original Rockstar success story, if you sidestep DMA's Lemmings... GTA has that looming potential as a modern Open World that even RDR's future prospects might be challenged by, but I'm hoping for a pretty bright future for the franchise of Red Dead Red I like to think the two games are on par, and LA Noire and Max Payne are nice diversions but not up in the same quality league. It just is that way, no bias in saying so.

I don't know what age I was getting GTA for the first time, but I actually BOUGHT GTA 3 and only started the missions, I didn't delve into the game franchise like a man obsessed, but I became that way as Vice City followed up the 3 smash hit, and it's been hard to look away, or back, ever since I didn't opt to play it on PC, but I have gotten just about all the PC versions since. I think what hurts the age perspective of GTA gaming is that it's a crime thriller, but it also said the HELL WITH IT for playing it safe with the language and some of the antics, like full frontal nudity, of the male variety. If you're my age, it's akin to any R-rated fare, but there's certainly room for more games based on what makes GTA fun, that aren't that objectionable. As I see it, Vice and GTA III were pretty dang tame, people were claiming cursing that just wasn't there. It seemed more rough and tumble then it was... BUT the option to kill a prostitute and get your money back just made some people livid, even if it's complete fiction in a graphic realm and no one got hurt...for real

Hey man, a series is more then one game... Logical, eh?! Anywho, I am a console gamer at the core, but I started on Apple with keyboard, NO MOUSE. We used keys in directional placement as most are still at times. However, it was the infancy of gaming and most were text driven interpreters or letter keys short for the meaningful WORD they represented C for Conversation, in an adventure RPG style game? Anywho, I use USB controllers like those for PS3 found to work on PC, or Microsoft's driver tool for it's own 360 controllers, however, prior to this gen, I was using PSX from Radio Shack to allow PS2 gaming controller to work on PC. It's often how I play GTA on PC still. Balancing a controller, mouse, keyboard, it's all a bit TOO MUCH. My first memories of GTA VICE on PC I thought the camera did allow 360 views, then as I got my own copy much later, I realized analog control via adapter doesn't allow it, only moving the mouse around offered the complete 360 virtual views, which is severely limiting, but everything that hampers control in prior GTAs is what adds to the lack of graphic prowess of the team, in those early outings My viewpoint has always been, GTA gets exceptionally better as the franchise matures. It's often thought of in it's own defining role...but more to the point, read the old PC reviews, it did not get high marks for the control and aiming! haha It's reflective of how a great premise was still pretty rough and needed more finesse

So sad to hear of the tragic suicide of director Tony Scott, famous for his work helming some major Hollywood films. He apparently had been diagnosed with cancer and decided matter of factly to end his life jumping from a bridge in California I found this out watching CNN news, so more will be known about what transpired later in the week. His family is in mourning and wanted to keep things in private, however, it's been noted that he had some journals or papers in his car, when he drove to the bridge to jump from, We'll be hearing more about those as this comes to the public attention. Our hearts our heavy with thoughts and prayers to those survived in the Scott family. Many in Hollywood are on Twitter or voicing their respects over this sad, sad news Just shocking to hear this first thing when I got up! http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/20/showbiz/obit-tony-scott/index.html

In my mind, Muppets creator Jim Hanson would not take a stand against religion, he'd be respectful of that opinion, so I think getting hot under the collar about it is a mystery. Not everyone will be adopting of Alternative Lifestyles because some gay or lesbian or open couple, etc... says they're in the right on the matter. It's just the same coming from the opposing viewpoint

10 hours ago. Basically when I came to Newswire (Firstly) I was jumping online to report the sad news of Tony Scott's death, and this leaves something of a good/bad feeling in one's mind. I expected more stills, it was the least ROCK could provide. I missed the breaking news by 5 hours based on the Newswire site. Looks like they used other Social Networking to announce it, from what people are saying. It is the Cheetah, just not totally exposed as Chris mentions. What depresses me is where will the Ferrari look alike be in this GTA?? What will it be? Speaking on the Harrier pilot, I am unconvinced it's Ned Luke playing the protag in that shot, but I do have a gut feeling he could be a major "player" in this GTA game {Weren't these planes thought of as Harrier jets in the original San An? I don't equate all the REAL world types, unless it's an obvious influence ...it's safe to say that any vehicle in GTA takes on fictional styling cues and is not representative of an actual car or truck, etc....unless it's a MOD! haha}

It happened, the worst... My local 20GB XBox Hard Drive lost my online Gamertag profile, I've yet to try and download it if possible, wanting to hear from anyone who had to do that. Basically all the online progress and offline gaming on the GT is gone off the HDD, but it still works with other profiles...so, what's the best procedure if there is one? T.I.A.

How many people have XP 64 bit version?! I've yet to see one personally, but it did have problems when first issued. I just think that despite a zillion patches since it's inception, XP is uber useful since it works on so many varied machines ever made! Honestly

I've been swapping from one old FIC OEM board to another, one AMD Athlon XP Socket A, the other Intel i845 chipset, and seeing both sharing virtually the same level of specs. I don't have a heap of DDR or Pentium 4s, but I did wind up with about 10 in all, no more then, over the years of computing. Even the Athlon XP more then any other CPU of all machines I've had. Doing a current search for platform attributes, It's interesting to note these CPU supporting lifecycles compared to the shortest, Windows ME or Socket 1156 for example. Read a recent article saying that Intel has major impact in what motherboard makers are making. They say jump, you third parties say "How High?" The consumer says "WTH", or words to that effect! haha What I dislike about threads I Google like this; http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/297116-28-best-pentium-4ghz ...is that many people replying just say, here's what's current... Here's what's on the shelves now, the only upgrade is with current tech. If you're looking for the best hardware for a particular generation, various reviews help, but the online things like these don't produce much solid "footwork", people should comment on what they did use in a particular rig, how it worked for them, and what limitations are found from board to board, chip to chip The interesting aspect of Intel's Pentium 4 came from 2001 into the modern era with Hyper Threading and 800Mhz Front Side Bus, but Asus does the old P4 better with a board supporting SATA, PCI Express as well as DDR2 Ram! It's something of a hybrid. On Intel's G31 chipset. Prior generations Intel North and South bridges cover the Willamette 400 Mhz FSB up to the Prescotts on the high end. AMD kept Athlon just as important in this era up to it's 64bit offerings on a new socket. My search had also unearthed one board iteration with AGP x6, some boards allowed PC133 last gen memory, Rambus RDRAM as well as SDRAM, all using the same CPU and socket... so it's had a venerable run in the Tech market, and now history http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-P4B533-X-Socket478-Intel-845E-Motherboard-/261054658859?pt=Motherboards&hash=item3cc811f92b#ht_4999wt_906 Though It's not a good idea to post an Ebay link in a thread, This board is interesting in it's 845 generation but supporting new features that a BIOS upgrade alone can't provide.

In a driver search, and my work on two comparable systems, I dug this up for you PC GTA'ers... You see good OLD SAN AN has issues on a Core Duo supported Intel chipset... WTH/WTF?!? haha http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel945g/sb/CS-021706.htm

I hope someone, Modder of GTA or no, can take requests, I want a 79 to 85 Eldorado (convertible or SS top) and a Firebird based around the later 3rd gen, or perhaps a '66 or '67 Chevelle. A late 70s Corvette Stingrays, more cool American cars, please! hahaha (if not exacting, hoping Rockstar can focus on a well rounded variety I suspect one of the things holding up the game is adding things like this to the finale recipe Also on The Weather Channel today, I saw some video from Times Square, NYC... it was wall to wall people, which begs the question, Why was GTA IV's LC no where near as populated? I heard when Dead Rising (? I forget for some reason) came out, the amount of peds or any human like entity on the screen at any given time was impressive, and perhaps could be done in different game genres. One things for sure, GTA has a long way to go yet! haha

All peeps need know is GTA IV is "optimized for dual core" it came out in 2008, Core Duo came out in 2005, HT came out in Jan of 2004, you can have Core2 now with Hyper Threading or multicore 939 socket AMD64 and up from there you can run the game, with a PCIexpress first iteration socket, yep. Direct X 9 complient will work, Shader Model 3 is the minimum. 1 and a half Gigabyte of RAM is what's listed as needed. XP will work at 3 and half Gigs, at 4GB RAM you're asking for trouble on XP or any 32 bit system End of story, the i5 and i7 second and third generation should not pose any real problem. Think about the logic?! The thing is as suggested, it's geared on RAGE built for PS3 and Xbox, first and foremost. The fact you have GTA and MP3 on PC means that RDR and some other RAGE game should not be impossible to make for PC, but if ported, it's been needing perfection since the first RAGE/Euphoria game. This building engine has problems on consoles as well, let's not forget

That was no doubt confusing. Here's one of the odd things MANY forget, GTA started out with little in the way of expletives, it fought the NON GAMING talking heads who rally for decency with Vice City and the previous GTA III, culminating again with Hot Coffee in 2005, yet, play the games prior, there's little really out and out offensive. I felt that perhaps SA was pushing some envelope, but I didn't really notice. It has plenty of gameplay that's just navigating and existing within the virtual San An. Most of the profanity is in keeping with the "urban slang" and story characterization. I feel what GTA IV does wrong is almost RELY on shocking moments like profanity for profanities sake, this to me originally surfaces as a response to the critics that if you want something to complain about, how 'bout this?? They don't want their games remembered that way, so I hope they realize it's ultimately unnecessary to go for shock with crued gaming tactics, and it might even hurt GTA compared to other games trying to steal it's thunder. They could be a filter to make GTA a game more age groups could play It's ultimately satire on real, modern life. Which can be quite boring most of the time, so crime in the context of the game premise is what the virtual platform lends itself to, a Do what You want DIGITAL SANDBOX. I just felt in some respects Saints Row was running along with GTA in their lowest common denominator gameplay attributes, or jokes that are more crude then funny. It's a fine line, as they say. Don't think I'm a prude, I'm approaching it as a mature adult's idea on how GTA can be fun, still get it's premise across and not be out and out offending more then not (to anyone who gets offended, I'll say)

Lacking an EDIT update, another FYI bump on this, I looked out far and wide and have found if you're updating an older 478 socket Pentium 4, the best you can do for a 400 to 533 FSB [Front Side Bus], Northwood Pentiums, at 3.06Ghz is the only HTT model option you have, giving your old machine Hyper Threading Technology. I was pricing them starting at $15USD, so I hope to get a few myself, since I'll need more then one obviously. This older generation doesn't help too much based on older AGP and PCI as mentioned before, still causing some bottlenecks, but it's possible to gain much needed new life in an upgrade if you so chose to go this route http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/291232-28-showing-pentium

Hot Ring racers in GTA Vice City are in the wishlist for GTA V, so as far as a mod, no idea, but we're hoping to influence someone at Rockstar planning future GTA to include more of that, and I concur, sounds like something similar to GTA San Andreas, but also something that could be resurrected

I worry about them pulling support for PBS, where I know they air some ads promoting kid's educational programming, I grew up watching the Muppets, I don't think they should make an issue about this where kids are concerned, sure the importance of accepting different people of different backgrounds is important, I feel the same in cases where I was disenfranchised, but I also believe in having morals, as a good thing, and as a Christian, we face a more open Secular stance then in decades past, for example some alternative lifestyle preachers DO exist, female pastors was the major change I first observed, as well as marriages for clergy.. I also think Jim Hensen, were he alive to witness this, he wouldn't condemn Christian views, though I don't know how religious he was, I believe he just wouldn't take up a position that present opposing hate, which in it's base form comes down to hate I feel. You can't force anyone to think just as you do. Which is what it seems is the goal in all this protesting I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and I still feel you don't rob kids of their innocence too soon, it's not good but it's happening rather alarmingly these days, that's why GTA and M rated games are simply not good fodder for the young and impressionable I am a lover of music, as such, personal differences in my heroes life-styles don't effect me as they would if I were to single them out on that alone... Elton John and Rob Halford two notables, Freddy Mercury of Queen another, I can respect them for their humanity, we all have faults that are not easy to overcome. To be sure. As a child I find it conflicting and worrisome more so I'd have to say, as again, our family's belief in Christianity is much the same as the CEO's ideas of a "normal family", but as a child, you'd likely be stuck in a sitation with one parent for a host of reasons, or a gay couple raising you, and have to cope with that and societal view

I hope not to do too much bumping or appending Double posts, though with expiring EDIT function it's hard to go back to the original post around here... I found this current eBay score, and as an owner, compelled to respond to this.... Seems the users' OS install issue COULD be the same as mine, which was getting the ODD to boot an installer disc and having the proper SATA driver load before hand, typically Windows prompts you for such things as it's beginning the disc reading and file loading (to memory) process. There's also notable upgrade paths for this machine he's selling, assentially the same as mine, but with different spec attributes. Of course, note the internal GMA950 graphics, meaning there's mostly a chance Acer saw fit to outfit the motheboard with no MXM slot, that's required for PCI Express Module cards for gaming, ATI and Nvidia offer a host of them as can be obtained online in the marketplace presently http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-Aspire-4710-Laptop-PARTS-OR-REPAIR-/280931349908?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4168d03594

Just want to FYI some information I obtained doing parts swaps and upgrades, I take in old "free" computers or scrapped parts and look to build a good MODERN system, that being with some 10 year old parts as need be, but able to run on XP online at this point in time means a proper upgrade and refurbishing. I'm not alone here, many a Google search turns up people asking for some upgrade advice, and logically the help they get is "it's not worth it, sell it and use the money on a new computer", Not everyone has hundreds upon hundreds to spend, they have their own personal reasons to make do with that 10 year old computer but look to upgrade and expand it, as best within that generational hardware span. I maintain that view and have for years because it works, when something works, you don't just trash it, I find a way to make it useful, and gaming or high end video encoding or MASSIVE Multitasking demands can drain any system resource, no matter what the hardware, there are plenty of software choices that are not taxing or demanding and do much the same, and if not, most other computing tasks. I love Dual and Quad Core and the promise of the same for GPUs, like those with dual GPUs on one card, and possibly a console using that tech some day, but I operate on a Dell made in 2004, and sometimes earlier. My Core Duo is from 2005 or 2006, which is still a very capable system, expressly for multitasking and multimedia http://www.fic.com.t...rboard_all.aspx FIC is more to the point of this posting, that some of the standardized hardware devices by organizations without a bias to commercial operations of a company, like having SATA and ATA on all motherboards or ATX sized boards, miniATX, or miniPCI, PCI and PCI Express, PC Card, PCMCIA, USB, all standardized from machine to machine, [no real bias] to develop an Industry wide standard for all PC users, this is a major difference between PC and Apple over the years, and reason why Apple partners with other vendors, and has for years now. Some of these ideas fail but also had good design in some respects, such as BTX which Dell tried to adopt but was not MADE by Dell, yet lauded for it's design to aid cooling internals over the motherboard FIC makes the motherboards found in HP and eMachines, and could even be swapped to a Dell, as I found based on it's headers being standard, and the OEM choosing to use a traditional front panel wiring scheme. This opens up an large array of options based on what motherboard you can mount (off the risers, securing screw posts) and not only the motherboard but drives and Power Supply can be "retrofitted". FIC is just one example, ASUS aka Asustek also makes computers and motherboards for others, along with Quanta and several other Asian companies like Foxconn who made news for some tough working conditions and some suicides in the last year. To update you on that end, it seems they have taken the reports in and are making changes to their operation, hopefully that will continue as it needs to. A few of these Asian companies produce the mainboards in mass for all your OEM brands, few of which are ever made in house It bothers me that people slag a branding for this very reason, they don't have all the facts in hand to dismiss the company's whole product line, and others may have a very different experience with the company or even the same product

I was raised a Christian, the remarks of a CEO or company president about "Family Values" doesn't offend me or startle me, but the back lash presently over Same Sex Marriage and the company Chick Fil A has.... Read more here if you're still living under a rock... http://finance.yahoo...e-too-far-.html Fact is, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Expression, and Values seem under heavy assualt, and one person on TV claims Christianity gets more flack then any other religion, though I don't know the validity of that claim, this controversy just shouldn't be. If you came out as a person who prefers same sex, the only complaint you can make legally (or should be) is about discrimination based on hiring or allowing you to buy or rent based on that, where as far as I know, they can chose to hire you NOT based on that, but again, because the CEO or President has values and came out expressing them, he and his business are being villianized it seems Even more disturbing... http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/07/muppets-dump-chick-fil-a-over-christian-values-non-support-of-gay-marriage/

I haven't done the same mods to help you specifically, but one that aids control of these "slippery" cars in Vice and III would be a bit helpful, the PC and console versions have some amped up chases where controlling vehicles is one of the hardest game play mechanics, but I know people are less then enthusiastic about the gun aiming as well. As I believe others suggest in the past, and I believe, a spare or new HDD formatted JUST for GTA or any specific games should be used, and disable anything else, all that extra OS or Anti Virus, programs running that are wasting resources should be shut down, and a streamlined OS without normal bloatware (not adware) can elliviate such slow downs I think I personally use several HDDs on one laptop for example, and you can daisychain two old PATA HDDs in a desktop on a normal IDE cable, or of course, plenty more SATA drives

I don't know about you, but I love Windows XP, most people who use other OSes still think XP is Microsoft's best Operating System from a historical perspective, but in about 2 years or less, MS hopes to ditch supporting all XPs for Vista!!!.... Windows 7 and Windows 8, barring that, a new Windows 9 purported to be on the horizon, but as someone who just did another install of Windows 7, I am here to tell you, XP kicks literal arse! We should take some time here to think on it's wondermints. TONS AND TONS of software have been released supporting it, drivers for nearly every device ever manufactured. XP's lifespan is probably near unequaled in the history of computing, bar variations of Linux So, from my end, XP will be the OS to start a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) format fresh for many years to come, and I see at least 10 years still on the horizon for how long XP will actually be servicing the computers around the world What say you all? Some great links to the best OS ever made; http://windows.micro...help/windows-xp https://clickstartco...indows-xp-facts Some repeat facts among these, but have a look anyway, you will learn something I'm sure! http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Windows-XP-190387.html

I did some thread about legacy tech, but since no one is feeling too talkative besides me, this thread here is about any older technical marvel you still have, keep around, and perhaps even actually use. I come from an age where the REAL worry was more about getting a warranty and having something break 90 days on out to 2 or 5 years later. When our one or two TVs in the home were relied on for decades of service. Now we live in the throw away phone, camera and computer age. Where after a year, it's just not up to snuff any longer. Surely, there are some electronic products that are so useful, well designed, and capable, that you just feel like you've no reason to fear obsolesence in such cases... Expound on your personal cache here... For me, it's easy to say what electronics pass muster more solely on their very forward thinking design or quality build, though advances relagate them to the past, they work, and when it ain't broke, don't fix it....or replace it... My motto! haha

One of the Mods for GTA IV PC was near on 3GB in size, I can't recall specifically which one, but around here, Broadband is delivered via Wifi to everyone in the city, I suppose this limits bandwidth somewhat severely

Cool, but I downloaded a massive RAR compressed file for the last one, IIRC, Now I have to do that again? Truly took half a day to download the file! haha