[d3d9] GTA IV will crash/freeze/keep loading indefinitely at first loading screen if you Alt-Tab before

[sn-o-w]

GTA IV runs smoothly with DXVK, but sometimes it will crash/freeze after going on a mission, during the loading screen. Usually loading screens take a few seconds, like 3-5 seconds, but when the game decides to crash/freeze, it will stay longer, like ~10 seconds. It's easy to figure out when the game decides to stop given that it takes way more time than regular loading screen.

Software information

• Game: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition v1.2.0.43
• Graphics API: DirectX 9
• Architecture: x86

System information

• GPU: GTX 1080
• Driver: 466.77
• DXVK version: Latest from Actions (branch master) -> https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/actions/runs/953336287
• OS: Windows 10 64-bit (21H1)

Apitrace file(s)

Unfortunately I cannot generate apitrace. It says MSVCP140D.dll, VCRUNTIME140D.dll and UCRTBASED.DLL are not found. And yes, I've reinstalled Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, both x86 and x64 versions. Error keeps popping up. I followed the instructions posted on Wiki, don't know what else I can do to obtain an apitrace file.

I've managed to record an apitrace eventually: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dqv-dsd_HJYvgN3ndB6-uDlgkXlGvx4Y/view

Log files

GTAIV_d3d9.log

[K0bin]

The loading screen hangs are a known issue. It also only happens on Windows and I have no idea what causes it. The game randomly decides to never stop loading.

Don't expect this to be fixed any time soon.

[sn-o-w]

The loading screen hangs are a known issue. It also only happens on Windows and I have no idea what causes it. The game randomly decides to never stop loading.

Don't expect this to be fixed any time soon.

It's pretty weird issue appears only on Windows, but not on Linux. 😕
I've managed to record an apitrace eventually, despite I cannot reproduce the issue with apitrace, only with DXVK.
In above apitrace file it used to crash/freeze during the last loading screen.

[K0bin]

It also happens when you use WineD3D on Windows.

[sn-o-w]

It also happens when you use WineD3D on Windows.

I just tried WinD3D and you are right. I encountered a crash at the first try with WineD3D, lol.
Anyways, there's a huge difference between DXVK and WineD3D. With WineD3D I get inconsistent FPS like 5-10 to 40-50 FPS, textures rendering very chaotic, game feels very choppy... Tbh I'm not sure if it's better or worse than the original renderer of the game.

[K0bin]

When I tried WineD3D it didnt crash but it got stuck on the loading screen in the exact same way as DXVK.

[KuraiShidosha]

I'm not sure if this will help but GTA IV used to have a problem with loading being tied to v-sync and certain framerate limiters. For instance, if you forced v-sync on in say the Nvidia driver, then load times would be substantially longer. Eventually Rockstar patched this problem out so now with Complete Edition you get fast loads no matter what you set in the driver. It seems adding DXVK undoes whatever fix this targeted.

[K0bin]

I did some more digging. The problem can be reproduced on Linux and it's caused by the Rockstar Games Overlay which gets stuck waiting for a window message that never arrives. No idea how to fix this though.

[sn-o-w]

I did some more digging. The problem can be reproduced on Linux and it's caused by the Rockstar Games Overlay which gets stuck waiting for a window message that never arrives. No idea how to fix this though.

Are you sure about that? Because I tried both the Steam version and "modified" version that uses Goldberg Socialclub Emu and the issue appears in both versions.

I contacted the creator of Goldberg Socialclub Emu and he said that "when running the emu there should be no rockstar overlay so it can't cause the crash". Perhaps there is another cause whether it's the original game or not.

And I wonder what makes the original renderer so different that it doesn't freeze/crash/keep loading indefinitely the game during loading screens.

[KuraiShidosha]

I'm sad to say I'm also certain it isn't the Rockstar Overlay because the version I run the game on, v1.0.4.0, also experiences this problem and this version of the game never knew what the Rockstar Overlay even was. It came out in like 2008/2009 and the Rockstar Overlay wasn't added to the game until 2018 or thereabouts.

I'm confident the issue is related to framerate and vertical sync somehow. It's existed in the game's own D3D9 version since launch, and only got patched out when Rockstar updated it a decade later. For now if I want to avoid long load times with DXVK, I simply turn off all framerate limiters and v-sync, then toggle my FPS limiter back on once the game loads up. But it can be annoying as any time a cutscene loads or you go from an interior like an apartment to outside and you hit a black loading screen, you must toggle the fps limiter off to break through otherwise it can take minutes to load or even outright crash.

[K0bin]

I'm not sure at all.

I'm confident the issue is related to framerate and vertical sync somehow.

I don't use a frame limiter or vsync and can reproduce the issue.

[KuraiShidosha]

What graphics card are you running? IIRC the old issue was tied to Nvidia cards. Wonder if you have AMD/Intel.