Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, taking place in the 1980s. The formula was vastly improved with new weapons, further customization, and even more big-name voice actors.

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Bugs Unused Mission-Related ContentThis is where it starts to get interesting. Unused AudioSounds and non-mission dialogue that never got a chance to be heard. Unused ModelsLots of unused props here. Unused VehiclesEarly vehicle styling. Development OversightsThe ghost tower lives! Regional DifferencesWho knew Suxxx liked kittens? Version and Platform DifferencesSo many minor details changed...

Unused Weapons#

Grenade Launcher#

Speaks for itself. Its model (grenlanc.dff) and textures (grenlanc.txd) are present in the PS2 version.

Steyr Aug#

Its model (steyr.dff) and textures (steyr.txd) can be found as well in the PS2 version.

AK-47#

A returning weapon from Grand Theft Auto III. Model and textures are present only on PC. Its low-quality texture implies it may have been discarded earlier in development.

Land Mine#

Model and texture (mine.dff/txd). This weapon would be fully coded for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, but still goes unused.

Short Python#

Just a shorter version of the regular Python in the game (pstsnub.dff/txd) PS2 files only.

Silenced Colt#

Model and texture (coltsil.dff/txd) are also in the PS2 version. Despite the name, it's neither a Colt nor silenced, but instead a Wildey pistol.

Tazer#

Yet another melee weapon hidden in PS2 files (stungun.dff/txd)

Staplegun#

Only present in the files of the PS2 version. (stapleg.dff/txd).

Nailgun#

This weapon can be spotted on the wall of the Tooled UP shops around Vice City (nailgun.dff/txd) only on PS2.

MP5K#

The MP5K, a shorter version of the MP5 that has a model and icon (only on PS2). It can be spotted in the intro deal scene. It is internally named mp5 short(mp5short.dff/txd): "short" being a translation of the German kurz, which is what the K stands for.

Uzi#

Another planned returning weapon from Grand Theft Auto III, except that the textures are corrupted. Its name is (uziold.dff/txd) indicating it was used before, and the UZI icon uses its model instead of the final UZI.

M16#

Yet another weapon planned to return, with corrupted textures.

Early Shotgun#

An earlier version of the shotgun, with the model taken straight from Grand Theft Auto III.

Unused Graphics#

HUD Icons#

Various graphics located in (hud.txd) never appear in the game.

Radio Station Map Icons#

Icons exist for each station (V-Rock and VCN being the only ones with a building) in the game. In Grand Theft Auto III and Liberty City Stories, the radio stations are located as buildings around Liberty City, so that may have been intended to be the case in this game.

Unused Loading Screen#

An unused loading screen of Auntie Poulet found in the PlayStation 2 version. Normally, the game does not load long enough to display this image, so it goes unseen. Also, the artwork shows her wearing a yellow outfit which was changed to purple in the final, but an earlier texture can be found in the beta build.

Unused Lance Texture#

An unused texture of an injured Lance Vance (buddy3.txd), certainly meant to appear in the mission Death Row.

Unused Features#

• Additional clothing labeled as "MC Tommy" is listed in the american.gxt file at MAIN > OUTFT13. Neither models nor textures of this outfit exist.
• Within the same file, tires would have been able to be slashed and recorded into the statistics according to MAIN > TYRESLA.
• A cut cheat code that when enabled through hex editing gives the player's car broken helicopter physics.
• american.gxt lists a 10th radio station at MAIN > FEA_FM9, "810 VCN". Further evidence of this can be found in the PlayStation 2 version's menu graphics (FRONTEN2.TXD), where the VCN logo is stored among the logos for the other radio stations that you can tune in on the menu while adjusting audio options.

Developer Shout-Out#

There is a secret criminal rating for the stats page: "SA Goon". It is only displayed if the player's score is between 1000 and 1005, after which it ticks over to the "Goon" rating. Due to the very small window for it to be achieved, it's nearly impossible to see unless one is deliberately trying for it.

The rating is a reference to the Something Awful Forums, the inhabitants of which are dubbed Goons.

Grand Theft Auto III Leftovers#

Sounds#

The sound used for the pager device in the previous game can be located in the appropriately named pager.wav. This sound, however, was remade for the intro on the Rockstar North logo.

The timer sound from the previous game was in Vice City's audio files.

News Headline#

Leftover news headline from Grand Theft Auto III's intro with the filename of news.txd. Exists only on the Windows version.

Bonus Pickup#

As the model suggests, this is a leftover from GTA III, though it was probably meant for the import-export garage in Sunshine Autos, since the garage itself doesn't allow to export the vehicles that were listed on the delivery list.

Developer Messages#

In the game's executable are some rather rude messages, with the first two referring to missing animation(s), and the last one rudely tells that there's nothing to find here.

Can't find the fucking animation

Haven't I told you I can't find the fucking animation

FUCKFUCKFUCK

nothing here fuckers

Anti-Piracy#

PS2#

Watch on YouTubeAt the time of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City‍ '​s release, the previous game had been successfully cut down and released on a PS2 CD by warez group Kalisto, achieved by removing duplicate .img files (used by the game to optimize streaming) as well as four radio stations. It seems like Rockstar attempted to prevent something similar happening to Vice City, as if the game detects any of the .img duplicates are missing, it activates two measures:

• The first measure (internally known as timerFuckup) breaks the CPU counter, resulting in the game speed varying wildly depending on how loaded the CPU is; this also breaks the two speed-based cheats, since they rely on the CPU timer.
• The second measure should have corrupted the save checksum, but due to a flaw in its design, it is effectively useless.

It was ultimately futile, as ConFusion successfully reduced it to 700 MB regardless, albeit it required removing almost all voice acting and music.

PC#

Watch on YouTube

An array of anti-crack protections are also present in the PC version, although barely anyone noticed them due to a successful crack which avoided them coming out three days before release. If the game detects that the SecuROM copy protection has been tampered with, then a number of fascinating after-effects have a chance of triggering:

• Upon the "mission clean-up" op-code running (usually when a mission starts or finishes) there is a 25% chance of the weather being permanently changed to rain. This is saved into your savegame, so you can't avoid it by restarting the game. (The APLEASANTDAY cheat code and starting certain missions still work, though.)
• When a save game is loaded that has less than 72,000 frames (roughly 40 minutes) of play time logged, all paths will be removed from the map, resulting in no pedestrians or vehicles spawning outside of scripts like missions. Again, this is saved into the save file, so it'll still be in effect even when loaded in a legit version of the game.
• Loading a save with more than 72,000 frames logged crashes the game with an unhandled exception error on load.
• Sniper Rifles no longer do any damage, although they still affect the moon.
• After 35 minutes of play time, all garages are disabled. This renders the "Copland" and "Sir Yes Sir!" missions unwinnable. Pay & Sprays remain open, but won't recolor your vehicle.
• Whenever a police roadblock is spawned, all icons are removed from the map, map legend, and minimap (including your position arrow!).
• The stats menu simply won't display anything. You can still press S to save your stats to a file.
• Finally, there's a 12.5% chance that a firetruck spawning will disable the ability to use non-mission, non-cash pickups, such as the save icon, hidden packages, rampages, weapons, properties (rendering the game unwinnable)...

Oddities#

Boomshine Saigon#

During the cutscene, Phil blows off his right arm. However, it shows him with it intact and his left arm missing when he is dropped off at the doctor.

References#