# Solved: "Input signal out of range" when I try and start up GTA IV.



## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I've played the game on my PC in the past, but stopped for awhile. Now when I try to play it my monitor goes black and this message appears, I can hear the game starting up though. What's going on, and how do I fix it?


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## Proximity (Jun 1, 2009)

Are your video card drivers up to date?


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I updated them at some point AFTER I had already played, so they should be. I could always try anyway, though that shouldn't be a problem since the game worked before hand.


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I installed the latest drivers, didn't do a thing.


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## Proximity (Jun 1, 2009)

Does this happen with other games? Or just GTA? What happens if you try different in-game screen resolutions?


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I've tried a couple other games and it doesn't happen, only with GTA IV.


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## Proximity (Jun 1, 2009)

Are you able to change the screen resolution used in-game?


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I can't -see- anything when I start it up, the monitor deactivates and shows that error. I know the game is running though because I can hear it.


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## Proximity (Jun 1, 2009)

Well most games have a config file that allows you to adjust setting outside of the game. I don't play GTA, so I'm not sure if it uses one or not.


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

There is a config file but it doesn't seem to contain much, and not a resolution setting that i can see.


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## wiley8425 (Nov 11, 2007)

*Command Line Parameters*

Tools

-benchmark: Runs the benchmark tool and immediately exits game.
-help: Display list of all command line options

Graphics

-renderquality: Set the render quality of the game. (0-4)
-shadowdensity: Set the shadow density of the game. (0-16)
-texturequality: Set the texture quality of the game. (0-2)
-viewdistance: Set the view distance of the game (0-99)
-detailquality: Set the detail quality of the game. (0-99)
-novblank: Disable wait for vblank (No Vsync)
-norestrictions: Do not limit graphics settings
*-width: Set width of main render window (default is 800)
-height: Set height of main render window (default is 600)*
-safemode: Run the graphics in the lowest setting possible
-frameLimit: Limit frame to interval of refresh rate (ex If refreshrate is 60HZ -frameLimit 1 = Locks down to 60HZ)
*-refreshrate: Set the refresh rate of main render window - Warning - Monitor must support (ex. -refreshrate 60)*
-fullscreen: Force fullscreen mode
-windowed: Force windowed mode
-availablevidmem: Set amount of physical Video Memory(ex. -availablevidmem 0.9)
-percentvidmem: Percentage of video memory to make available to GTA

Audio

-fullspecaudio: Force high-end CPU audio footprint
-minspecaudio: Force low-end CPU audio footprint

System

-noprecache: Disable precache of resources
-nomemrestrict: Disable memory restrictions

Superior, unless your frame rate is inexplicably low, or you run into any number of error codes.

Update: Command line options not working on Steam? Try this:

Go to C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\grand theft auto iv\GTAIV and create a shortcut on the LaunchGTAIV.exe (right click, select "Create Shortcut")

You can add any launch options to this new shortcut.

To launch the game properly, first start the RGSCLauncher.exe in C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\grand theft auto iv\RGSC. Then launch your newly created shortcut.

You will not have access to the Steam overlay while launching this Shortcut. However, once you have added these launch options successfully, you can re-launch your game from the Steam application to continue using any new changes.


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

I have no idea how to edit these options. First of all, I bought the game, didn't download it from Steam so I installed it from a physical copy. Second, I tried viewing the gtaIV.exe.cfg with notepad but there's nothing there. Third, it's been awhile but I believe I had disabled the social club when I first installed it.

Maybe I should just reinstall the whole dern thing?


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## wiley8425 (Nov 11, 2007)

They're command line options. Right click on the shortcut for GTA IV, select Properties and add them on to the end like this:

"E:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\LaunchGTAIV.exe" -width 800 -height 600 -refreshrate 60

Then click APPLY.

That should at least allow you to get into the game to change the options from there. 

Or if you prefer, copy and paste the shortcut and edit the copy. That way when you change settings in game, you can simply use the original shortcut to test them.


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

Wow that worked....thanks a bunch, I appreciate it!

I have no idea how it happened in the first place but I'll know what to do if it happens again.


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## wiley8425 (Nov 11, 2007)

Diego Wolfwood said:


> Wow that worked....thanks a bunch, I appreciate it!
> 
> I have no idea how it happened in the first place but I'll know what to do if it happens again.


No problem. If you don't want to use those settings just edit the shortcut again and remove the command line options "-width 800 -height 600 -framerate 60" otherwise it will use those settings every time you launch the shortcut. My guess would be somewhere the settings got changed to a resolution/refresh rate that isn't supported by the monitor.


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## Diego Wolfwood (Mar 31, 2008)

Yeah, after fixing the settings in game I made the shortcut normal again. Thanks a bunch!


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