[quote name='gcorlett']I've avoided this game because of the hoops they make you jump through to play. I really appreciate you posting that GOG thread, so I now know that it's still a horrible experience.
FYI, on steam earlier this month, this news was released:
http://store.steampowered.com/news/3695/
The parts that is important here is that (for the Steam version):
1) you don't have to use Rockstar Social Club anymore to play [correction - it still exists but it's all in-game, not a stand-alone application]
2) some of the graphics have been optimized for PC play (shadows in particular)
3) All regional SKUs have been merged into a single SKU (a good sign that it's advancing to less DRM).
However, It's still listed on Steam as using "SecuROM: Unlimited Machine Activations". And Apparently GFWL is still in the mix. I will continue to avoid this game on the PC. I might have to finally get an Xbox to play it though, heh.[/QUOTE]
I went ahead and jump on the deal and here's my personal experience for those of you whom are still on the fence (I'm leaving out all the extracting and unpacking portions).
- Download ~13.8 GB
- Start autorun,
- Install R* Social Club
- Input GFWL key/token, installs game
- Download 160 MB latest Title Update
- Install Title Update which in turns also uninstalls R* Social Club
- Register with R* Social Club (although this doesn't seem to be necessary as you can just play in "offline" mode but is required for multiplayer; not 100% sure)
- Login R* Social Club at game start up and play.
Keep in mind I already had an GFWL installed and account created so that took off a few steps and headache (from other games). Yes it's a lot of steps to go through but for $7.49 you can't really complain. Game runs "decent" and very playable knowing how much a system hog the game is (everything at medium with all distance settings at 20% and 1680x1050 res).
My system spec.
e8400
8800GT 512 MB
evga 750i FTW
4GB DDR2
Vista Business
SecuROM is just one of those hurdles you can't (legitimately) really avoid anymore in in modern PC gaming and so you just got to live with it and besides it's no where near as bad as StarForce, TAGES or the current UbiSoft scheme (which doesn't even allow you to play offline).