[Chris]

Less than one week after it's release, some people have already been successful in modding Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC. Some files in GTA IV are hash protected - a tactic employed by many games companies to prevent people from modifying the games, this probably has something to do with the Hot Coffee fiasco, but there are some workarounds already out there.

First GTA IV mods
I did only say 'some' files though, some which aren't hashed include the language (.gxt) files. The first GTA IV mod uploaded to our downloads database is in fact a modification of american.gxt. Bobster has decided to rename all the vehicles in the game to match those of their real life counterparts, something which proved popular when San Andreas was released. You can check out his real vehicle names mod here. I've tested it myself and can verify it works. Bobster provides simple instructions in the readme on how to get this working, and he also provides a full list of what he renamed each vehicle to.

File modding patches
A couple of users over at GTAForums have been successful in modifying handling and weapons configuration files. Two experimental methods are currently available for allowing people to mod GTA IV.

• opium_addict's GTAIV Launcher injector - He demonstrates this by modifying the Glock to shoot rockets, another example is DuKtape's drift mod
  
• aru's File Modding Ability patch

OpenIV project
Finally, some of you may be aware of an all-purpose modding tool currently in beta stages called OpenIV. The tool looks quite promising based on the videos shown on their blog, once released we could see modding take off pretty quickly. No doubt there are many more talented people currently writing similar tools - we'll keep you up to date on any major developments within the modding community.

Host your mods here
If you've made a mod and want to put it online, our massive downloads database is a great place to host it. As long as you have an account on our forums you'll have the ability to upload your mods here. Once approved they'll appear in our database for anyone to download. You can update your file whenever you need and add as many screenshots as you like to show off your modification

[Spider-Vice]

Nice, I already saw two of those but it's nice to see that GTA IV mods are arriving to the Internet

[TM™]

The hype on modding right now would've hit the sky really high, but the fact that everyone is having problems with their PC version, seems it's going to take time for them to at least mod. But is cool if you ask me that some have started.

Some damn good mods will hopefully be made, but the fact that Rockstar are against modding and shit in IV, we may not be able to edit most files, probably patch it legally and change some attributes etc. But damn, this is going to be an interesting time for GTA IV PC once these problems start dropping.

[bobster]

Thanks for the feature, appreciated<3 much love

I have more mods instore undergoing builds

much love to openiv <3 respect here.

Yours truely,
Bobster

This post has been edited by bobster: 07 December 2008 - 08:58 PM

[Mehhh]

bobster, on Dec 7 2008, 03:54 PM, said:

Thanks for the feature, appreciated<3 much love

I have more mods instore undergoing builds

much love to openiv <3 respect here.

Yours truely,
Bobster

I wondered about talk of modding, since basically its altering the game, or even hacking, isnt that post to be what all this "security fuss" is about ? I've been weary of even speaking about it, because its like, if you get anywhere near "backing up, modding" its like you're an evil pirating thief, breaking the law, violating UA...

Mehh, I can say, I enjoyed VC & SA much more by being able to design my own custom skins like paint/graphics for cars, adjusting characteristics of cars like speed, weight etc, importing 3D models of real or custom cars ppl put so much effort into creating, it was great! I dont see why that would HAVE to be so frowned upon when no one is trying to "hurt" business by doin that. This could increase business by increasing popularity, granted some ppl will pirate no matter what but for the paying customers, its ANOTHER incentive, like the half life series of games having a developer console where you can adjust about any aspect of the game & you can install mods too, all to enhance your gaming experience.

There was even a guy who made a garage editor for GTurismo 3 for Ps2 where you could switch chassis, engines other fitments, alter ALL the settings of each car, I had a Zonda RC w/ over 3400hp, it'd top out around 322mph, stuck to the road like it was on rails and stoppt almost b4 you hit the brakes.. I even had a RUF (Porsche) that I hit I think just over 800 mph on the test track, I even have a vid somewhere of it .. That program increased the popularity of that game exponentially, ppl went out and bought it for its coolness but many stated it was for the modding capability.. Sadly, the excitement dropped off for GT4 because they encrypted the data & so the programmer found it not worth the effort to decrypt, program somethin for free on his own.. I hated that.. not bought another GTurismo game since...

At any rate, Kudos to Bobster

[bobster]

My thoughts on the new DRM currently in IV. Strictly pointless where i stand at the current moment. DRM is easy to bypass, And we all know how easy games are cracked these days. Alltho I dont blame them for Trying to secure the game, Business is business. But taking away modding abilities was a big hit at first when it first came to it when i pointed it out first day it was released i immediatly tried to mod iv. In my strong opinion many people bought gta iv for pc for beliefs of better performance and graphics and the near experience, but i strongly beleive because of the widely ranged scene in GTA Modding and we as i should say stripped of our privledges as a pc consumer. I must say i have nothing against R* but it is a major blow to the gta series, Any how back to project's i also was making an img archiver for ver 3 of the img archive iv's current. Alltho as openIv Is here its totally been scratched off my list, now either moving onto a map editor specifically for IV, all tho may not happen. All tho What i do know i will be making Mods for this game and not Name edits. For now thats the best we have

My only concern is online play, My name mod is currently working in online mode, and ive yet to see why i would be banned for car names as it gives me no advantage over any other player besides having sexy names, besides the point if i were to get banned due to name changes i would seriously look into it.

All tho at this current moment i highly suggest no one uses advantaged Mods on multiplayer.(im being a guinee pig and testing advantages on online to see if i get banned i dont care for multiplayer)


Yours truely,
Bobster

This post has been edited by bobster: 07 December 2008 - 10:05 PM

[Righty]

I might try the real name mod. The vehicles in this game look way more realistic and like real vehicles than in the past games.

[Connor]

I'd really love to do some modding on IV, but I need to get the PC version, that isn't so hard, but I'll need to upgrade my PC first.

Wanna make some textures and models.

[Mehhh]

bobster, on Dec 7 2008, 05:02 PM, said:

My thoughts on the new DRM currently in IV. Strictly pointless where i stand at the current moment. DRM is easy to bypass, And we all know how easy games are cracked these days. Alltho I dont blame them for Trying to secure the game, Business is business. But taking away modding abilities was a big hit at first when it first came to it when i pointed it out first day it was released i immediatly tried to mod iv. In my strong opinion many people bought gta iv for pc for beliefs of better performance and graphics and the near experience, but i strongly beleive because of the widely ranged scene in GTA Modding and we as i should say stripped of our privledges as a pc consumer. I must say i have nothing against R* but it is a major blow to the gta series, Any how back to project's i also was making an img archiver for ver 3 of the img archive iv's current. Alltho as openIv Is here its totally been scratched off my list, now either moving onto a map editor specifically for IV, all tho may not happen. All tho What i do know i will be making Mods for this game and not Name edits. For now thats the best we have

My only concern is online play, My name mod is currently working in online mode, and ive yet to see why i would be banned for car names as it gives me no advantage over any other player besides having sexy names, besides the point if i were to get banned due to name changes i would seriously look into it.

All tho at this current moment i highly suggest no one uses advantaged Mods on multiplayer.(im being a guinee pig and testing advantages on online to see if i get banned i dont care for multiplayer)


Yours truely,
Bobster

I agree, like you said, biz is biz .. otherwise this side of it, adds to our enjoyment, gaming on Ps2 when it came out, as it was superior to Psx, was a big deal, newer capabilites w/ the system, gamers & designers were talking alot about game lengths which lead to replayability, some games jus dint seem long enough, so something had to add to replay value to lengthen it, cuz games were so much more expensive and gamers dint feel like they got the best bang for their buck ... Like you say, w/ past GTA games, ppl loved the modding, I could not believe the amount of vehicles from bi/motorcycles to freight trucks, race cars, hummer limos and all from the classics to modern day and some concept vehicles.. Ppl also came up w/ diff player skins, custom weapons & skins... Ppl even began redoing billboards and whatnot, I couldnt keep up w/ it all ...

O, well, unless there is some online check system to verify every file, not necessarily content but maybe file size like a sort of CRC, I wouldnt think it'd matter about that, I dont think anyone else could say anything either because, I imagine they wont see your car names, only you, I'm sure they will just see the default on their system.. I'm not sure how the online system works, if it really uses bit for bit, all of the information being transmitted from your machine...

I also agree on the no-advantage mods!
I mean I'm not really into online play either, maybe w/ some Friends or ppl that are good sportsman. That is, to play, play fair, have fun for goodness sake and not act like this is a real life kill or be killed, take it personal, "I can beat you up" kind of thing, ppl can be so childish... Part of the problem is, too many feel like they're invincible behind the internet, so they "act" bigger than they are .. They dont realize, there are real life consequences to threats...

So is there a place we can see your progress, provide suggestions or help in some way ?

Connor, we're already playing the game, many w/ recommended settings & it loox like most of us still need to upgrade our pc's ! =oP

[Kel-F]

Nice! Will GTA IV have the GTA IV text font for download too, like the other GTAs?

[Chris]

That's a good point actually, did we ever find out what font it was? I completely forget.

@Mehhh: bobster has since posted a topic in our GTA IV modding forum for one of his upcoming mods. Looks like he's showing video previews and such there so I guess you could give suggestions in those topics.

I would suggest to anyone who is modding but isn't quite ready to release their mod to follow the same route and make a topic in our forums, needless to say, advice and suggestions from other users can be a great help sometimes.
And same goes if you've already uploaded a mod and want to show it off, just make a topic. If we like it enough we'll probably feature it on the homepage.

[Mehhh]

Ok Chris, I'll head in there, Ty for the heads up