Grand Theft Auto 3’s Vice City and Vice City have been reverse-engineered. In the past week, the publisher issued DMCA takedown notices to GTA 5 map mods such as Vice City Overhaul and multiple other popular mods. It was the first release of GTA: Liberty City in 2005. ModDB has removed it. Vice Cry, which was responsible for replacing Vice City’s textures with models and models with higher resolution versions, has also been removed. GTA: Underground is also gone. It combined maps from GTA 3 and Vice City with those of San Andreas and Rockstar games Bully and Manhunt 2. Then, it added gang warfare. Mods are also converting San Andreas to ports of the console-exclusive Liberty City Stories or Vice City Stories. This is not all.
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GTAForums thread has been documenting the removals. It also notes that Rockstar’s statement regarding singleplayer mods was quietly updated in 2019. This was in response to the 2017 back-and-forth about OpenIV modding tool. Many modders assumed it would protect their work. It now states that the statement does not cover the “use or importation of any IP (including Rockstar IP) in this project” nor the “making of new games, stories or missions”. The original Rockstar statement contained none of these clauses. However, you can read it in our news story. Take-Two is split on the internet between two theories. They are seen as competition for hypothetical remastered GTA 3 and Vice City versions. It’s also connected to recent rumors regarding GTA 6.
