GTA: Vice City problem on Windows 8.1

Anonymous
2017-05-21T21:30:14+00:00

I have checked the forums already and can't find a solution to my problem.  I'm not very technical and this will show.  My PC is only 3 years old.  Here goes:

I played Vice City on this PC two years ago.  It then stopped working (the game would start up fine but when I went to start/load a game the pink bar just sat there and the game crashed).  So I decided to buy it from Steam.  Same exact problem.

I tried everything I could come up with... opened some DEP thing and made it open Vice City. 

I tried every single compatibility setting available. 

Added "run as administrator"

I tried to change my own screen resolution but it can't go that low (640X480).

So now the game won't even start, I get the common issue that says "Cannot find 640X480 video mode".

I've watched Youtube videos and checked this forum (including Steam's) and cannot find a solution. 

I don't understand why this game would have worked 2 years ago but not now.

I'm desperate to play.  Please help me.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Gaming

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

41 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-08-07T19:57:45+00:00

    When I go to Startup it only asks if I want to go to the task manager, nothing else is listed under that, nothing for me to uncheck.  The task manager makes me wary of using it because otherwise I feel like I could just do the control-alt-delete and go there instead of finding it through searching for msconfig, etc.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-06T15:17:34+00:00

    To narrow down the things that we can disable, click on the Startup tab and uncheck all the items on the window then click OK. Another window will pop-up asking you to restart. Just choose Save changes and restart.

    After rebooting, launch the game and see if the same error will occur.

    If you have further questions, please let us know.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-03T02:37:48+00:00

    As you can probably tell, there's a ton of content under the Services tab; I'm wondering if this is bad.  Thank you for explaining to me how to do it!  And I'm sorry it's so small; I tried to make it look bigger but the text got very blurry.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-08-01T18:40:58+00:00

    To attach pictures on the community thread, please follow the steps below:

    • Click on the Reply button.
    • On the buttons above where you type your message, click on the Insert Image button (The second to the last icon on the right side).
    • Once the Upload window pops-up, click on the Browse button.
    • On the File Explorer window, select the picture you want to attach then click Open.
    • Then click on Upload.

    We hope to hear from you soon.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2017-08-01T15:29:10+00:00

    Hello,

    Aside from the troubleshooting steps provided above, we also suggest running the program in Compatibility mode. You can click on this link to learn more. This article contains different methods that you can try to launch the game successfully in Windows 8.1.

    Should you have further questions, please let us know.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments