Grand Theft Auto 4 has 50 music tracks removed & breaks the game severely for many.

[M300843499]

For what it is worth, music is only licensed to be used in video games for a finite amount of time. Unfortunately this bought about a lot of issues with even getting the game to work now. Game fails to recognize Vram again even though they patched it to fix this issue. On top of this issue, there is a big wait after the Rockstar logo for the game to get to the main menu, upon starting the loading screen fades and locks in place to never load GTA 4, it will just play music endlessly.

 

Example.

 

 

List of the music removed. https://www.destructoid.com/here-s-a-list-of-songs-removed-in-gta-iv-s-latest-update-500493.phtml

 

 

 

 

[Princess Luna]

Solution: run pirated version

 

Seriously though, this is a real bummer, GTA 4 single player mode is still infinitely better than 5's.

[Guest]

Unlucky but what about prior GTA games that have music still, like SA - and why doesn't Rockstar just licence out the music again?

[M300843499]

Just now, RorzNZ said:

Unlucky but what about prior GTA games that have music still, like SA - and why doesn't Rockstar just licence out the music again?

My guess is money.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Guess who don't have this problem...? 

 

10 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Unlucky but what about prior GTA games that have music still, like SA - and why doesn't Rockstar just licence out the music again?

This is the issue: how long should they license (pay) a song to include in a game released once? Can you imagine watching the original Star Wars and find it has no music, because the licensing from John Williams expired so the songs got deleted from your copy?

 

The way it was licensed in the first place, and this constant overwriting of software products we are getting accustomed to is getting out of hand fast.

And some people even call it "a feature"...

[S w a t s o n]

This is going to keep happening until a studio gets taken to court and has to point out that hard copies for consoles aren't affected, unless... do we expect that might start happening for 360/PS3's that are connected to the internet? And what if they dont connect?

[AshleyAshes]

Is this for all versions or just on PC?  What about Xbox 360 and PS3? 

[vanished]

Is this on Steam or from a disk?  I always found that patch 4 (v1.0.4.0) was the best out of the 7 they did.  If you have the option to go back and try an older version, I would do that.  You might get lucky.

[AresKrieger]

Once again a game maker shows why it is better to not be a paying customer, nice job guys, 10/10 would radio again.

[Zodiark1593]

The music was a big part of driving in the middle of nowhere. 

[Ryujin2003]

meanwhile: still listening to STP from original Gran Turismo.

 

I never played GTA4, but I don't blame them for not renewing it. They are going to put money into new things. I'm sure there is a way to make it play your own personal playlist. And if not, make a way. That way you've got semi decent jams. Otherwise, turn the music off and play your own music while playing the game.

[pas008]

shouldnt the copies sold after the license expired be the ones affected? imho

[Misanthrope]

51 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Unlucky but what about prior GTA games that have music still, like SA - and why doesn't Rockstar just licence out the music again?

It's tricky: Technically this isn't a real issue for older games because well, they're mostly long gone without active sales or an active franchise.

 

GTA however is so successful it does have active players even 10, 15, 20 years after the initial release date. So if you're R* (and like all businesses, you have to put yourself into the business mindset which is basically being a money obsessed sociopath) you can spend your money on renewing licenses for the older titles or keep that for the newer ones, which you want to because honestly R* would much rather you move on to GTA 5 instead so they'll sell you microtransactions on it instead of replaying GTA IV or older.

 

Did you know that R* has added radio stations to GTA 5 after release? They just patched in a new radio station (well not recently but quite after release) meaning they paid for those licenses to promote GTA Online and henceforth promote people spending real cash for in-game moon dollars.

[Cookybiscuit]

58 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Solution: run pirated version

This but unironically.

[aezakmi]

 

 

 

[Okjoek]

NCS

[RyomaSJibenG]

i don't play GTA but can't you make the game play your own song instead?

[BuckGup]

18 minutes ago, RyomaSJibenG said:

i don't play GTA but can't you make the game play your own song instead?

Yeah but the issue is removing the songs breaks the game for some reason

[RyomaSJibenG]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

like GTA radio playing your own songs? depending on how sound files are installed in the game i guess. they might need some transcoding but if they're encoded into a binary or a an asset library then it's a bit more tough

 

loved Super Hexagon for that though. Changed the Otis level music to the one from the official OST just with a file swap

indeed, there are few games that allow you to use your own songs. i believe The Sims 3 does

[Egg-Roll]

Well not sure if this still works but I'll look into it

 

My Liberty City also has a update pending... 

[Guest]

On 4/27/2018 at 1:32 PM, Misanthrope said:

It's tricky: Technically this isn't a real issue for older games because well, they're mostly long gone without active sales or an active franchise.

 

GTA however is so successful it does have active players even 10, 15, 20 years after the initial release date. So if you're R* (and like all businesses, you have to put yourself into the business mindset which is basically being a money obsessed sociopath) you can spend your money on renewing licenses for the older titles or keep that for the newer ones, which you want to because honestly R* would much rather you move on to GTA 5 instead so they'll sell you microtransactions on it instead of replaying GTA IV or older.

 

Did you know that R* has added radio stations to GTA 5 after release? They just patched in a new radio station (well not recently but quite after release) meaning they paid for those licenses to promote GTA Online and henceforth promote people spending real cash for in-game moon dollars.

To be fair GTA:V is their latest one, and it gets updated weekly. 

 

I haven't actually moved on from GTA:SA :'( but that still has all its music and still looks great. 

[Deus Voltage]

2 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

which GTA was it that had "one step fowards is two steps back" in the radio? I remember my brother and I were like "hey isn't that mom's music?"

GTA San Andreas. I think K Rose radio

[Spotty]

I'm still waiting to be able to activate my GFWL copy of GTA IV on Steam like a few other GFWL games did after the service died.
Also where the hell is Red Dead Redemption for PC?
 

2 hours ago, RyomaSJibenG said:

i don't play GTA but can't you make the game play your own song instead?

Looking at my retail box copy of GTA IV now, and on the back is listed "Customize a radio station using your own songs with Independence FM" as a feature.
So, solution is to illegally download purchase digital copies of the songs that were removed and then play them in the game through Independence FM.

For those interested there's a full list of all the original songs that featured on all the radio stations in the back of the "On Liberty" tourist guide that comes with retail copies. This list is probably online somewhere in a wiki or something as well.

[veli2501]

4 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Did you know that R* has added radio stations to GTA 5 after release? They just patched in a new radio station (well not recently but quite after release) meaning they paid for those licenses to promote GTA Online and henceforth promote people spending real cash for in-game moon dollars.

They actually added one with the Doomsday heist, which was release in December last year.  So fairly recently!

[i_got_laid_by_a_dragoness]

4 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

Solution: run pirated version

You joke, but you don't at the same time.

 

If you already bought the game, patching it yourself would definitely help but may remove access to online services.