GTA IV: LCPD

Ensti

Just wondering, is this only available on PC? Some folk say it is but I've seen a video of a guy playing it on xbox? If its available on xbox/PS3, any ideas where I would get it?

Guy playing it on xbox

overexcitedaj

No, this seems to be a mod for the P.C. don't know why the xbox symbols are appearing but if you listening to the video at 2.50, they are talking about a computer keyboard.

CMpunked

One of them is definitely using the keyboard and the other one is more than likely using one of these:

Ensti

Ah I see, thanks guys

CMpunked

Ensti wrote: »

Ah I see, thanks guys

For what it's worth, Harvey Norman are found those controllers for pc pretty cheap these days. About 20 quid.
They don't work on the Xbox, though.

ScumLord

A lot of PC games change the on screen button tips depending on if the keyboard or controller is being used.

Has anyone on here ever modded their IV?

I did a little bit of modding to San Andreas the other day, and changed out a few police cars (and then got a little too adventurous and now the game won't work!) but it spurred me on to buying IV for PC and that thingy that lets you use 360 joypads on the PC.

Just wondering if anyone knows of a 'fools guide' to modding it to slap in some Garda cars or such?

Picked it up on PC yesterday. Got stuck in and this is the result of my endeavours so far;




The picture makes the graphic quality look a lot worse than it actually is, but in saying that, my PC really can't run it properly. Will be needing to pick up a new graphics card pretty sharpish.

CMpunked

Looks decent.

How hard is modding something like that?

Not really that difficult at all. Frustrating for the first hour or two (and I think I've permanently broken my San Andreas by not keeping a backup of it) but when you spend an hour or two getting the basics in (the emergency lighting system and ability to spawn any vehicle, etc.) then replacing cars is pretty simple stuff, really.

I know there's a way to add cars to the game (add, rather than replace), but I'm not fully sure how to do it and I'm not really all that bothered. I just wanted updated/better looking emergency vehicles and I'm happy with what I've got.


That said, some of the people who make the mods are obviously not the best with the handling configurations. The Garda estate car can topple over if you take a lot of hard bends with it, but the LAPD car is just like any other in-game car.

The Garda van topples if there's a gust of wind (as is evidenced by the two vans on their side in the right of the picture). But if you decide against a vehicle you can always change it out again for something else anyway, so...

wnolan1992

You've inspired me to buy a copy of it. Have always wanted to try modding games, and since I'll be modding Oblivion next year as part of college, might be good to have a go at this.

The Garda car looks awesome, did you make it yourself or get files online?

dreamers75

Modding in GTA is mostly replacing textures in an exact format/filesize with your own.

Then inserting or injecting them into packed files.


If your any use with Photoshop its a piece of piss. But they must be able to be rendered in the engine in different resolutions.

wnolan1992

wnolan1992 wrote: »

You've inspired me to buy a copy of it. Have always wanted to try modding games, and since I'll be modding Oblivion next year as part of college, might be good to have a go at this.

The Garda car looks awesome, did you make it yourself or get files online?

Files online (just google and you get sites, or do a youtube search and the video description usually has a link to download a certain car featured in the video).


One thing I;ll say is, when you install the game, first thing you want to do (after ensuring it's all working right) is go to your rockstar games folder (the installation will create one if you dont already have it) and copy it all to a different location or onto an external drive. It's about 16gb, but once you change something, from what i can see, there's no easy way back out of it.

I completely uninstalled and re-installed San Andreas and it still won't work after I messed with it. I swapped out a police car in IV and then backed up my files, but thankfully the police car I swapped to (the LAPD one) works fine.

I downloaded an older LAPD car, too, but the game knocks off everytime I use the headlights (turn them on full). I had a British Police car too that caused the game to knock off every time I tried to turn on the lightbar.

So some cars are a bit iffy, but so far, most seem fine. It's a little bit of fun, too, playing with the different lighting routines etc. and having different lights to play with (the Garda car, for example, has a secondary light in the back window with "SLOW", "ACCIDENT" and "POLICE" on it, which you can flick between or have it strobe through them all etc.


I know there's a mod (that I'm yet to go near) that gives you the ability to pull over cars, arrest people, be alerted of crimes/chases, etc. so that'll be fun when I get around to it.

Just one thing I'll say is, and this drove me up the walls, if you install the ELS (Emergency lighting system, gives you the ability to use the light bars and secondary lights without having the siren on and such), it has to create a folder upon starting the game to allow the lights to function (or something like that).

So if/when you install that, make sure you go into the folder of the game (C:/Program Files/Rockstar Games/etc.) and right click on "LaunchEFLC" and "run as administrator". Otherwise the PC won't let the game make the necessary changes, and it wont get further than the loading screen.


It's such a simple thing, but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out until one person said it in passing on a forum (Everyone else just seemed to know this information already).


I switched out a few cars (Swapped the Garda car for LAPD and the ever-toppling Garda van for another van) and stuck in some more (jeep, fire and sheriff) so this is what I'm playing with at the moment;








I'm sure it'd all look a lot better on a decent PC made for high end gaming (I love my desktop, but a serious gaming machine it isn't) though I did push the resolution up to get the screenshots (As it seems to degrade their quality anyway).


So yeah.. after many years of wanting to do this kinda stuff, it's actually fairly straight-forward. Just, as I say, be sure to backup every file before you go running into it (though I'm still learning the very basics here, so...)

wnolan1992

Cheers for the tips. When I get my copy it'll be my first foray into the world of modding so should be fun. Was looking at a few of the GTA modding forums and it seems straightforward enough, so I'm hopeful.

The vans in those pics look awesome btw. But is it weird that I thought the Garda car was cooler than the LAPD ones? :P

CMpunked

I'd wanna get one of them italian police lambos into the game if i was to mod it.

wnolan1992

CMpunked wrote: »

I'd wanna get one of them italian police lambos into the game if i was to mod it.

My first aim: Get some Mini Coopers in there.
Second aim: Get some Italian lookingpolice cars.
Final aim: Drive to the Bank of Liberty, rob it, and re-enact the Italian Job car chases. :P

wnolan1992

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Cheers for the tips. When I get my copy it'll be my first foray into the world of modding so should be fun. Was looking at a few of the GTA modding forums and it seems straightforward enough, so I'm hopeful.

The vans in those pics look awesome btw. But is it weird that I thought the Garda car was cooler than the LAPD ones? :P

It is fairly straight-forward when you get into it. I'm sure there are more complicated things that can be done (like adding, rather than replacing, cars) but for simple swaps, it's handy enough.

I liked the Garda car myself, but it was a bit odd. It was a lovely white car, but sometimes it'd spawn in a silver colour (as if it hadn't fully loaded, though it actually looked pretty good, and there are silver Garda cars out there, so it's a two-for-one really) but a lot of the time it spawns as a completely silver car without any markings or such and just the lightbar on the roof, sounds handy (unmarked car, 3-for-1) but the detail on it was pretty poor. It looked like it was from a PS2 game. Really choppy looking.

I'd imagine it's because the car's textures are fairly high quality my computer just has an issue with loading several at once, so if you've got a decent PC you'll probably be okay.

I can't find a decent/accurate looking Garda patrol car though (white w/ yellow stripe). Lots of UK cars out there that could be used as a Traffic Corps car, but none in the right make (can't find a Mondeo or Avensis anywhere)

CMpunked

Deleted User wrote: »

I can't find a decent/accurate looking Garda patrol car though (white w/ yellow stripe). Lots of UK cars out there that could be used as a Traffic Corps car, but none in the right make (can't find a Mondeo or Avensis anywhere)

Are mondeos called something different in the US? You might have better luck if they do.

CMpunked

CMpunked wrote: »

Are mondeos called something different in the US? You might have better luck if they do.

I'm not sure. I know Ford make/made the US Police cars for most places for a good while (Crown Victoria is massively popular over there as a Police car/Taxi/general service vehicle) but I'd imagine if anyone was making a Garda car they'd be Irish/English and call it a Mondeo anyway?

CMpunked

Deleted User wrote: »

but I'd imagine if anyone was making a Garda car they'd be Irish/English and call it a Mondeo anyway?

Oh well i mean if you're finding it hard to locate a good mondeo to fit the irish garda style then you might get further with a Contour model.