Here's a list of tips I compiled with the help of GeorgiaBoi that may or may not help to increase performance in GTA3 for the PC. If you would like to check the framerate (the number of times per second a 3D scene is redrawn) that you get before or after doing any of these things, download Fraps99 at www.fraps.com . Click on a section above to go there!

Feel free to e-mail me at: peter@magenheimer.com  with any additional tips and I will post them here! You can also e-mail me with any questions, suggestions, or whatnot.

Update: Having trouble loading saved games? Go to the Downloads section for the fix!

Updates

March 20, 2004 at 2:09 PM

EDIT (2:21 PM): I just uploaded a new counter to the page (since the old one wouldn't work on this server), and while I was looking up the old number... WOW! 312,594 visits to this site in the last year and a half? Pretty cool.

I just moved the site over to my new site (magenheimer.com was too unstable). Everything should be working fine, but if it's not, please e-mail me (my e-mail address is still the same).

Also, for those of you who are wondering, no, I don't really update this page anymore. However, I still answer the occasional e-mail, so don't be afraid to ask me a question via e-mail.

April 15, 2003 at 8:30 PM

Well, look at that... my other GTA3 site (http://www.magenheimer.com/gta3mods) got mentioned in PCGamer! Kinda surprising, I thought no one ever visited that site... Oh well, I feel special!

I'm working on putting up a general FAQ that should answer almost any question anyone should have about getting the game to run, so expect to see that soon.

A couple other updates include a fix to some of the links to GTAForums posts, so if you were having trouble with those before, you can try again now. Also, I noticed that www.gamecopyworld.com no longer has GTA No-CD patches, so you can go to http://www.megagames.com/cracks/html/c904950_0.htm for a full list of working patches. Try them one at a time if you're having trouble.

August 28, 2002 at 10:43 PM

I just found out that the link to the High FPS Mod is down, so I uploaded it to my site to download from here. It's been updated to v5, and it includes an easy-to-use installer! Go to the Downloads page to get it.

I've been getting a lot of e-mails from people complaining of lag. Let me tell you now that, no matter how good the rest of your system is, GTA 3 will not run well at all with anything less than a 64MB video card (yes, Rockstar's recommendations are crap). nVidia TNT2's are becoming very outdated, and can not handle the intense graphics situations presented by GTA 3, so I suggest you buy a new video card if you've tried everything on this page and still can not get a good framerate. I bought a relatively good GeForce2 Ti for only $60 off of eBay, but you might want something a little better than that.

August 1, 2002 at 10:33 PM

And MORE problems with the No-CD crack! It seems that certain cracks work with certain computers, and the one that works for you may vary. Go to http://www.gamecopyworld.com , go to the Game Index, scroll down to the link to Grand Theft Auto 3, and it should give you a list of all available cracks at this time. Please try a few of those to see how they work, and in the meantime, I'll try to figure out a way to get a crack that works with all computers. NOTE: I do not promote nor do I condone the use of warez, I am merely trying to help those out who have problems with the game.

Oh, and if you find a crack that works for you, please e-mail me the exact title of the crack and where you found it, and your computer's specifications (including operating system, video card, etc.). I'm doing some research, and may be able to make a list of which cracks work with which type of computer.

July 21, 2002 at 3:12 PM

I've been getting quite a few e-mails from people saying that the Saved Game Fix combined with the No-CD crack asks for the 2nd CD still when starting the game. Thanks to Brenton Simes, this problem has been solved for those of you with Win XP. One of my tips suggests having gta3.exe run in Win 98/ME compatibilty mode with the "Disable visual themes" option selected. If you have done this, and GTA3 is asking for the 2nd CD, try turning off the compatibilty mode for gta3.exe, but keep the "Disable visual themes" option selected. This has about the same effect on performance as it does with Win 98/Me compatibility selected.

July 9, 2002 at 9:59 PM

All right, I found a saved-game fix combined with a No-CD patch. Download it in the downloads section.

July 4, 2002 at 2:55 PM (Happy 4th Of July!)

Woops! I've gotten a few e-mails notifying me that that saved game fix I posted does not work with the No-CD patch, so I'm currently looking for one that is combined with the No-CD patch. I will post it if I find one Also, I've had a couple requests that I post the original gta3.exe so if you want, you can revert to before you started installing stuff. But in the future, always back up your files! Anyways, I will post it when I get home to my computer with GTA3.

June 28, 2002 at 10:45 PM

Sorry about the delay in updates, I had some problems saving work I had done on the site. Anyways, I've received lots of e-mails from people saying they can't load their saved games (and no, it's not just a problem with the warez version). I posted a fix for this in the downloads section.

Also, Rockstar has released their first patch! I have yet to try it out, but you can download it at the Downloads section. Please note that after installing this patch, you will need to use the CD to play the game (meaning you can't use the No-CD crack). I'll notify you when there's a No-CD crack released that will work with the patch.

June 23, 2002 at 3:00 PM

I've been getting about 70 e-mails a day from this site, so please note that I may take a few days at most to reply. Thanks for your patience. I have split up the site into a few different sections, because the single page by itself was getting too long. Also, now all the files mentioned here are downloadable in the "Downloads" section.

June 18, 2002 at 6:49 PM

I'll be doing some "renovating" on the design of this site, so don't get mad at me if this site is offline at all in the next couple days. I'm open to tips on the new layout and look, so e-mail me if you have any suggestions! Also, make sure to check out the User-Submitted tips section near the bottom of this page, there are some good ones there!

Last updated: April 15, 2003 at 8:35 PM GMT (that's mountain time, people :-)

Keywords: gta3, grand theft auto iii, gta 3, lag, optimize, performance, problem