I am using a program called Nvidia Inspector to fix this issue with games such as Tomb Raider. But GTA 4 is giving me a hard time.I have tried everything, even Nvidia Inspector does not help in detecting Nvidia Graphics Card.I have an Acer Laptop with Optimus technology which seems to be the cause of this.I welcome any fix or solution.I can even try overclocking. I just want to run GTA 4 on my laptop.
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From what I understand, whenever you enter the game, it switches to your integrated video card instead of the added one? If that is the case, make sure that you have the priorities right in BIOS. I'm not an expert in laptops, just a shot in the dark.
Yes that is also one solution but I don't have adequate knowledge of editing bios and I fear I will cause a system crash by doing so.I am using a software(Nvidia inspector) that tricks the optimus technology & detects the Nvidia card but it is not working particularly for this game GTA 4..
Try booting up, hitting F2/Del and go into BIOS, then head for the Advanced tab, and look up the order of the video cards. At this moment, it might be Onboard->PCI->PCI-E, change that to PCI-E->PCI->Onboard
Then press F10 to save and exit, you don't have to change anything else, this will force the signal on the external card rather than the internal.
Hi there ... IMO Its not a very good idea to Overclock a Laptop in any form .. They generate enough heat as it is with out that .. Does your System meet the required specs for the Game ?
Nvidia Optimus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You are right @ Maxie .I agree,overclocking is potentially dangerous and i wouldn't do it unless i is a last resort.The thing is i am trying to solve this issue for months now.And i just wanna play it ...I have reads thousands and thousands of forums...
My Graphics Card Specifications are running all the latest games of 2013 and older..e.g Tomb Raider,Assassins Creed 3,Alan Wake...And Grand Theft Auto 4 came in 2009..So you can imagine..Actually the problems lies in my Laptop Technology i.e Optimus...At the time that i bought the laptop,i didn't knew anything about such technologies but in time i learned...
@ brreaker Thank you man.I will try it and let you know about the outcome.You have given me a unique solution which i didn't got by reading many forum posts.I am keeping my fingers crossed.Let's see how this goes...
By design, Optimus is supposed to start out in (low power) standard graphics chip mode, then switch to the higher power dedicated graphics when called for. But there have been many reports of this system not actually working in reality - people running test programs have shown that even at the highest game settings the graphics never switch.
This could be a problem with the technology, but more likely it is a problem with the game's programming. Without a call from the game and/or OS the system does not know to switch.
The workaround is to bypass the automatic switching and run on dedicated graphics exclusively. But the method to do so involves running a hacked BIOS. This is a procedure that I would never recommend to anyone other than an advanced user. (This assumes that you cannot switch over easily in BIOS as brreaker posted above.)
This epic thread:
Acer Laptop: Switchable Graphics using i7 & AMD Radeon
details the procedure. These guys worked out the solution long ago and it remains one of the only solutions I have seen on any forum that actually works.
Last edited by TVeblen; 02 Sep 2013 at 13:32. Reason: Making it clearer
@ brreaker This is how my BIOS Advanced Options look like.What shall i do..
No, that is the BOOT menu. You won't find it there.
Unfortunately it looks like you have one of those "toy" BIOS - no real settings you can change.
Look under the MAIN tab - see if there is anything about graphics there.
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