The key to lasting appeal and success is to embrace mods

Apr 20, 2015 18:51 GMT  ·  By

After a pretty huge amount of waiting, Grand Theft Auto 5 is now available on the PC platform. Many fans had mixed expectations about the new open world game, given the rather common problems experienced by other major titles nowadays, but the consensus, barring some issues, is that Rockstar's come up with a great port of its already old game.

However, as we saw soon after its actual launch, the game makes it very hard for modders to modify existing files by encrypting them, and then using various security methods to ensure that people can't alter the game, either in its single-player story or its GTA Online multiplayer.

This is rather unfortunate, as mods, as we're still seeing with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, or with the much more recent Cities: Skylines, can drastically augment a game's popularity and ensure lasting appeal.

GTA 5 works well on PC

Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on PS3 and Xbox 360 back in September of 2013 worldwide, and soon enough, some fans already managed to bring forth some rather interesting "mods" so to say, as they modified the gameplay through more or less legal means and resulted in flash floods and other hilarious moments.

The game appeared on PS4 and Xbox One last November, but given the closed nature of the two current-generation consoles, nobody managed to come up with any interesting modifications.

Now, after around six months, the game is finally out on PC and interest about mods was already made clear by many enterprising individuals well before the April 14 debut of the open world game.

Shutting out mods means less lasting appeal

Immediately after launch, some modders complained about the security measures employed by Rockstar. ENB Series creator Boris Vorontsov called the game impossible to mod, given the encrypted files, as no proper mod can alter the contents of the locked files and produce any lasting effects.

This didn't stop some mods to tweak the game by injecting code into its executable file, as a popular one appeared to allow players to modify the field of view to larger amounts than permitted, as standard, by the game. However, since this procedure is also used by cheat programs and trainers, using it exposed players to repercussions like bans from Rockstar.

The studio made it clear that it's going to stop any mods that interfere with the GTA Online multiplayer mode or the larger GTA community, and it's unclear if its banning policy will make a difference between programs used to change the field of view and those employed to cheat and gain unfair advantages.

There is still hope

Even so, there is still hope, as enterprising modders have already managed to decrypt Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 PC files. They've uncovered some interesting mentions at unreleased content, such as zombies, horses, and more, although it's unclear if these elements will appear in the future, or were just prototyped by Rockstar during the development process.

Even if things aren't looking that great right now, as some mods use risky methods to make tweaks, while fans can't re-encrypt modified files for use with GTA 5, we shouldn't underestimate the ambition of PC modders.

They've shown time and time again their skill and talent when it comes to modifying games, even those deemed impossible, so it's quite possible that, after some time, things will open up, and GTA 5 on PC will become as friendly to mods as its past iteration.

Considering how popular it is right now, and how many PC users it's drawn in on both Steam and the Rockstar Warehouse, expect a lot of interest and a lot of effort going towards modding GTA 5 on PC.

Grand Theft Auto 5 screenshots (6 Images)

GTA 5 can benefit from mods
GTA 5 on PC is looking greatGTA 5 on PC in action
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