Grand Theft Auto: VC – The Essential Fixes

Overview

A collection of various mods from the Grand Theft Auto modding community aiming to fix many leftover issues and restore some of the missing features from the PlayStation 2 release and then some.

Introduction

Following the success of Grand Theft Auto III, Rockstar went on to it up with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, taking players to a neon-flavored 1980’s Miami as they work their way up the criminal ladder featuring new gameplay elements, cars, and weapons to play around to start their own empire. The game has seen ports to Windows PC followed by the original Xbox in 2003, and for its 10th anniversary, a port released on mobile iOS and Android systems in 2012. As with the PC release of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City has some new additions and benefits over the original PlayStation 2 version, but comes with a lot of glaring issues, missing features, downgraded graphics from the console releases, and a growing number of compatibility issues with newer Windows operating systems and hardware. Thankfully, much like Grand Theft Auto III‘s PC port, we can fix many of the issues of the PC version of Vice City with community-made mods that can not only restore those missing features from the PlayStation 2 version, but also make their experience even better on PC. You can also see differences between the PC and other versions of the game in-depth by Vadim-M with the video links below.

In the retail PC releases, the song “Running with the Night” by Lionel Richie was cut from the Flash FM radio station. For a time, the game’s Steam release was initially pulled from the platform in late 2012 until months later with rumors of a number of the game’s music also being removed from the game similarly to the mobile versions most likely due to losing the licences to those songs. The rumor can be laid to rest as the Steam version still has the complete soundtrack (see below), possibly an oversight by Rockstar when bringing the game back to the Steam, however there is a very rare 2013 retail re-print of the game for PC that did receive the same music cuts from the mobile versions as well as the recent Rockstar Games Launcher version.

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The Essential Fixes

In the following download is a compilation of various fixes and mods by the Grand Theft Auto modding community with the intent of fixing leftover issues from the PC release and restore some of the missing features from the PlayStation 2 version, along with allowing your game to become mod-friendly by allowing you to use mods without replacing most core installation files. This will also downgrade the Steam and retail v1.1 versions to the v1.0 release to allow these mods to work.

✔ Proper widescreen display, FOV fixes, custom HUD scaling, DirectX 9 support (contrary to what the game’s system requirements states, Vice City on PC still uses DirectX 8.1), borderless fullscreen, and an ASI loader (via Widescreen Fix).

✔ The original PlayStation 2 atmosphere and effects restored (via SilentPatch, SkyGfx, and ParticleEx), along with SkyGfx presets available based on other releases.

✔ Modern XInput and DualShock 3 controller support, with classic or Grand Theft Auto IV-styled controls (via GInput VC); higher-quality controller prompts for GInput are also included.

✔ The ability to restore positional 3D hardware-accelerated audio and EAX effects (through EAX Fix and DSOAL; optional).

✔ Comes with Link2012’s Mod Loader plugin, which allows you to use various mods for the game without replacing most core installation files, making installing/uninstalling mods easier.

Note: You do not need to use this if you have the retail or Steam release.

If you happen to have the Rockstar Games Launcher version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, there’s more than just executable replacement to downgrade it to the v1.0 release as it’s also missing a portion of music like in the mobile and rare 2013 retail version. However, thanks to George Costanza from the GTA Forums, he has also put together a downgrader tool for the Rockstar Games Launcher version along with III and San Andreas and work the same way.

1. Download the RGL VC Downgrader[gtaforums.com].
2. Extract the contents of the zip archive you just downloaded and place the files into the root of your Grand Theft Auto: Vice City folder
3. Run the “install.bat” file and let the downgrader do its work. The tool will delete the files you don’t need anymore and the command prompt window will close automatically after it finishes downgrading the game.
4. Launch the game using the newly created gta-vc.exe executable. Do NOT use the old executable since it will open the Rockstar Games Launcher version and undo the downgrade!

NOTE: A clean, vanilla installation or freshly downgraded RSGL version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is also highly recommended to minimize issues upon installing these files! I also suggest making a back-up vanilla copy of the game to save time in case if you need to re-install the original files!

IMPORTANT: If you are installing the game from the retail discs, you must also copy the audio folder from second installation disc and merge that folder into your game’s installation folder where game’s *.exe is located. For the North American version, it should be the CD labelled “PLAY” that has the audio files, and for European versions, it should be CD labelled as “DISC 2”. You should have about ~1 GB worth of audio files in the audio folder.

1. Install Grand Theft Auto: Vice City through Steam or the installation discs if you own the retail release.
2. Download the Grand Theft Auto VC: The Essential Fixes package from the links below.

   Download – v1.04[1drv.ms]
   Mirror: mega (dot) nz/#F!CwdkWADR!4ntDJwETSywzU-j8ls-mUg

3. Extract the contents of the zip archive and copy the files to your Grand Theft Auto: Vice City installation folder, overwriting any files in the process. If you are installing these files from a downgraded RSGL copy, you probably don’t need the included gta-vc.exe since the downgrader tool already provides you with a v1.0 executable.
4. Tweak any settings of each mod’s .ini file if they support configuration files as desired, found under <path-to-GTA_VC>scripts folder or its root installation folder.

If you have any save files that have became incompatible after applying these fixes and downgrading the game to v1.0, see the following section below on how to convert your Steam save files to be compatible with the retail release.

Comparisons

Below are a couple of screenshots featuring a collection of these issues present in the PC version and a before and after comparison of these these fixes are applied, however since Vice City shared similar issues with III, I’ll just show some of the more obvious differences with these mods applied. Again, these screenshots were taken at a resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p).

Just like with III, the game’s widescreen function (left) is poorly implemented and causes the game to stretched out, even with the Widescreen setting in Options menu set to “ON”, and HUD elements are being stretched from 4:3 to widescreen. The field of view is also too close to your character as well since the game wasn’t really made with widescreen in mind. With ThirteenAG’s Widescreen Fix, not only do we get a native widescreen presentation, but it also scales the game’s HUD accordingly and freely, and thanks to its D3D8to9 and ASI loader features, it can also use mods like The Hero’s SkyGfx to restore the original PlayStation 2 atmosphere.

Another issue caused by the broken widescreen feature in the game is the misaligned mouse crosshair when using the mouse and keyboard control style (left), causing your shots to fire slight above and to the right instead of at the dot in the middle of the crosshair. This issue was also fixed with Widescreen Fix (right), allowing your shots to be pin-point accurate as intended.

Another visual oddity is the absence of surface glow effect from pick-ups missing in the PC version (left), however this can be easily fixed by SilentPatch (right) among many other issues in the PC version of Vice City.

Other issues that aren’t shown but can be fixed with these mods are the simplified/altered particle effects (can be remedied and improved via ParticleEx), unused loading screen images (can be re-implemented via SkyGfx), the pedestrians don’t talk with each other like they did in the PlayStation 2 version (a fix by Sergeanur is available), Rosenburg doesn’t talk after you’ve been busted by the cops (was fixed by Silent), and much more.

Converting Steam Save Files

The Steam version of Vice City uses a somewhat different game save algorithm than what the retail versions originally used, causing save game incompatibility with the Steam release which tells the game to start a new game when loading a retail save file or the retail release outright crashing when attempting to load a Steam save file. This save file converter tool by Silent however can easily allow you to convert your Steam saves to the retail version’s game scripts and vice-versa. For the purpose of this guide, you should convert your Steam save files to the retail version’s game scripts. You can either use the tool by simply dragging your save file on top of the tool’s executable or a use a terminal such as Command Prompt and launch the program with the path pointing to the program and the save file by using this command:

It also creates back-ups of converted save files should anything go wrong in the process.

• Vice City Save Converter[gtaforums.com]

PS2 Feels VC Edition

PS2 Feels VC Edition mod by Mugetsuga basically converts many of the assets and features of the PlayStation 2 release of the game to PC, while fixing some of the oddities from that version. It also has a few optional tweaks that can be added while retaining the look of the PlayStation 2 version. This is nice way for those that want to re-experience the original PlayStation 2 version without resorting to emulation or if you do not have access to the PlayStation 4 re-release. Unlike the version for Grand Theft Auto III, this also requires the Vice City: The Leftover Fixes and the VC Fixes installed via Mod Loader first. I’ve included with these files bundled with PS2 Feels VC Edition.

• Vice City: The Leftover Fixes[gtaforums.com]

GTA VC: Anniversary Edition

Going in a similar route with what I put together for Grand Theft Auto III, I decided to try and make a mod pack which restores missing features from the PlayStation 2 version via The Leftovers Fix, but give players the ability to swap between other features such as the ability to use Xbox character and vehicle models and alternative GUI styles between the classic and 10th anniversary style through a collection of various community made mods and fixes, giving the game a similar look to the mobile version. However, unlike the Anniversary Edition for Grand Theft Auto III, there are no articulated and animated cutscene hand mods that are present, and separating the ability to toggle Xbox character models and vehicles individually wasn’t as easy as it was in III so they are (mostly) tied together. Installing this with The Hero’s converted Xbox map for Vice City is recommended since the mobile version appears to be derived from the Xbox port. Installation instructions for the Xbox map mod is included with the download.

• v0.03a: mega (dot) nz/#F!C1k0lCba!AD0qIQkORnS-ko80SaBLLA
• Xbox Map for Vice City (recommended for Anniversary Edition)[gtaforums.com]

Other Recommended Mods

Here is list of other mods that I can recommend for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City that weren’t part of The Essential Fixes but might be worth using.

• Auto-Save[github.com] – This CLEO script adds an auto-save function to the game, which saves your progress upon completing a mission.
• Walk Mod[github.com] – Binds the Alt key to allow you to walk when playing on mouse and keyboard. May not work when played in borderless fullscreen.
• Wheel Turning Speed Adjuster[github.com] – Makes the wheels on vehicles turn a bit more slowly and “realistic”.
• Radio for All Vehicles[github.com] – Allows all vehicles, including emergency vehicles like the Police car and Ambulance trucks, to support the radio.
• Turn Indicators[github.com] Allows your vehicle to use turn indicators while driving (if the vehicle has them). Has not been tested with non-vanilla Grand Theft Auto III vehicles.
• Vehicle Camera Movement[github.com] – Allows camera movement while driving with the mouse. Only works on the “Standard” (mouse and keyboard) control style!
• Not An Amazing Screenshot[github.com] – A script that allows you to control the camera and allow unique screenshots.
• Classic Axis[gtaforums.com] – This plugin gives players a more modern camera system similar to San Andreas. Be advised that this mod can be buggy from my experience at the moment with certain GInput configuration set-ups.
• VBDec[gtaforums.com] – This plugin allows the ability to use the original PlayStation 2 VB audio format files into the game. Highly recommended for PS2 Feels VC Edition or Anniversary Edition when using the PlayStation 2 features. Requires Audio Samples (also available on the same forum page) and the original *.VB audio files!
• Achievement System[gtaforums.com] – Self-explanatory, adds Achievements to the game based on the PlayStation 4 re-release.

Troubleshooting

NOTE: If there’s a problem with the mods themselves, please direct them to their respective developers, this list for common and more easily fixable issues that can occur when using some of these mods.

Older PC games (primarily ones that use DirectX 8 or below) require a feature in Windows 8 or later to be enabled to play them. A big thank you to Folway Sirth for reminding me of this oversight.

1. Go to Control Panel → Programs, then click Turn Windows Features on or off. If you can’t find your control panel, type “OptionalFeatures.exe” without the quotation marks in Run (Windows Key+R) and press Enter.
2. In the Windows Feature window, go to the Legacy Components section and expand it, and enable DirectPlay then click OK. Let Windows install DirectPlay.
3. Now try launching an older PC game and see if it launches.

Unfortunately, random “Unhandled Error Exception <code numbers>” crashes can still happen, even with these fixes speaking from experience. The best things I can suggest are:

• Delete your “gta_vc.set” settings file (found under Documents/GTA Vice City User Files). If need be, screenshot your settings and keybind beforehand!
• Uninstall any mods you may have downloaded outside of the ones mentioned in this Steam guide, though removing files from The Essential Fixes may help, too.
• Revalidate/reinstall your Grand Theft Auto: Vice City installation from Steam, or if you have the retail release, reinstall the game from the discs.

This seems to be an issue with Steam not knowing the game is being played under DirectX 9 instead of DirectX 8 moreover the patched .exe itself (I have tried disabling Widescreen Fix’s D3D8to9 function and the game worked with the patched .exe launched via Steam, but it also means mods like SkyGfx won’t work). For a possible workaround, try the following:

• Run the game using Windows 7 or Windows XP compatibility mode.
• Use SweetFx with Widescreen Fix (you do not need to use effects, but do NOT mix MSAA with SMAA!).

I’m not sure if this is an issue with Widescreen Fix or how the game is able to handle resolution switching while running under Direct3D 9 instead of 8. If you need to switch resolutions, open GTA3.WidescreenFix.ini found in <path-to-GTA3>scripts with a text editor (preferably Notepad++ to maintain format) and change the following to your desired resolution:

Setting these values to “-1” will use the game’s settings instead being overridden by Widescreen Fix. You may also want to manally change the aspect-ratio of FrontendTextures (e.g. set it to “16:9” for 1920×1080) if some menu textures appear to be not scaling properly to the game’s resolution.

I’ve preset the HUD scaling size in Widescreen Fix based around the recommended original scaling settings. If you need to adjust the HUD scaling, open GTAVC.WidescreenFix.ini found in <path-to-GTA_VC>scripts with a text editor and adjust the following settings:

Setting these values to “0.0” also seem to automatically set values to default scaling settings used by Widescreen Fix.

From my experience, it could be possible by using DS4Windows to wrap XInput to a DualShock 4 controller to use with GInput. You can download and install DS4Windows in the link below:

• [link]

Using Steam’s Input wrapper and enabling PlayStation 4 support can also work. If you need to change button prompts to match, open GInputVC.ini found in the root of your Grand Theft Auto: Vice City installation folder or the scripts folder and change the following:

Setting this value to “1” will swap the Xbox prompts with PlayStation ones and vice-versa.

Credits

A major thank you to Resident Meme for the gift copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, this guide wouldn’t be possible without his help. Another huge thanks to the talented modding community at the GTA Forums for developing these fixes to improve our experience playing these classic games on modern systems.

[link] [link]

• Silent
• ThirteenAG
• The Hero
• Link2012
• Sergeanur
• Fire_Head
• Seemann
• Deji
• Ryadica926
• spaceeinstein
• theNGclan
• muzzammil
• Verokster
• KCAT
• IDrinkLava
• Philips_27
• Mugetsuga
• Forever L
• niltwill
• -Quantum-
• XEPOMAHT007
• Vice Cry Team
• yojo2