Out of Commission: How to Fix the Helicopter Glitch in GTA IV

Having the final mission of a game repeatedly glitch to prevent completion is frustrating enough on its own. But for the developers to actually name the level “Out of Commission” is ironic in the worst way possible. If you’ve been a Rockstar fan for any number of years, then this type of humor is probably right up your alley.

Out of Commission takes place during the Revenge ending, so players who chose the Deal ending won't have to bother with this obstacle. In this mission, you chase the car all the way to the safehouse, murc an entire warehouse full of goons, and follow Pegorino by bike along the coast until jumping a large ramp and grabbing onto a friendly helicopter.



If your FPS allows you to make it this far, you then continue to follow Pegorino’s boat in the chopper while aiming at it with rockets. That is not what happened my first few playthroughs.

After launching myself up the ramp marker and watching the short cutscene, I was tasked with “repeatedly tapping A” (could be [space] depending on your controller) so that Niko could pull himself into the helicopter. If this is not done in time, Pegorino gets away and the mission is failed, meaning you’ll have to start over.

GTA IV was released in 2008 for PS3 and XBOX 360. But almost 15 years later, it stands to reason some of the code will become obsolete. In this case, it never got patched for compatibility with newer gen computers.

There are a few different methods to working around this glitch, and you don’t need to be a superhacker to do it. All you need is timing.

Windows PC Fix

Play the mission through to the point where Niko gets on the bike. Right before approaching the ramp, press the Windows key. It helps to already have task manager open for ease of access. Look for the program labeled “GTA IV.exe” and right-click on it. It may be filed under one of the open Rockstar Games icons.

When the panel pops up, look for the option “select affinity.” This will open the CPU panel, where you have the option to select or unselect drivers 1-11. Unselect all drivers except for one. This is going to make your screen lag and look crunchy, but you only need to tolerate it as long as it takes to accelerate up the ramp and into the marker.

This time when the game tells you to repeatedly press A”, Niko should eventually be able to pull himself into the chopper.

As soon as the next short cutscene ends, you should press the Windows button to minimize the game again. Return to your processor affinity and turn all of the CPUs back on.

Click back into the game and finish the mission.

XBOX Fix

While the solution is straightforward for PC, there are few XBOX solutions floating around. Some Reddit users suggest spamming the A button at twice the speed. Others suggest downloading the XBOX app and streaming the game through PC on low quality. Unfortunately, there is no verified fix.

Feel free to leave a comment if you found this walkthrough helpful, and enjoy the ending of Grand Theft Auto: IV!