the cutting room mirror

Development Oversights

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This is a sub-page of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

To do:
A LOT more.

  • Radar at Escobar Airport in the opening cutscene.
  • Ocean View Safehouse Balcony

Vice City was a rather slapped-together game with lots of last-minute changes. Given that, it's not too surprising that there'd be oddities in the most unusual or noticeable of places.

Earlier Map Leftovers#

There are many odds and ends around Vice City which suggest many different map changes were made during development.

Sunshine Autos Map#

An early map of Vice City can be seen at Sunshine Autos. Some of the differences are still present in the LODs of the islands, most notably the "Ghost Tower", which can be seen before the second island loads while crossing a bridge.

Early

Final

Changes include:

  • The Hyman Memorial Stadium and the patch of sand near it are missing.
  • A large chunk of Washington Beach is missing.
  • Fort Baxter Air Base is much larger.
  • The Lighthouse is missing.
  • The bridge between Little Haiti and the Leaf Links Golf Club is curved.
  • Viceport has a little inlet of water going into it.
  • The long road that goes all the way from Viceport to Downtown is cut off early.

Draw Distance Models#

LOD

Normal

  • The Escobar International Airport runaway was much larger, having a longer runway.
  • This model has the infamous "ghost tower" at Escobar International Airport, bearing resemblance to the tower from Francis International Airport from Grand Theft Auto III. It's possible that tower got moved, removed or is an early leftover that was forgotten to be updated.1

LOD

Normal

  • The roof near Raphael's clothing store had the same color as the building next to it.
  • The strips and the lighthouse weren't present.
  • The Ocean Heights Apartment lacks the red stripe pattern.

LOD

Normal

  • The North Point Mall had a completely different roof. An early screenshot had a white-patterned roof, while the model under the finalized roof showed it having a see-through design.
  • The area around the 3321 Vice Point Safehouse was an extension of the sandy beach area.

LOD

Normal

  • The Hyman Memorial Stadium wasn't present.

Unfinished Interiors#

A biker shop called "Howling Pete's" has an unfinished interior that can be seen by the same methods as the above image.

400px

Cutscene Oddities#

A misplaced pedestrian can be seen in the intro cutscene for the mission Messing With the Man, where fixing the coordinates to make them appear will function correctly. There was actually supposed to be a female waitress in place of the cutscene judging from the internal model name, but no such model exists.

Cutscene Model Differences#

The Mr. Vercetti outfit for Tommy has different colors in-game and in cutscenes.

The in-game model has a light purple dress shirt, however in cutscenes Tommy instead wears a pink dress shirt, and the suit has a slightly lighter color.

In-Game

Cutscene

Vehicle Weirdness#

If you take a Pony or Rumpo to a Pay & Spray, the front bumper is flipped backwards for some reason.

Parking your car in the spot shown in the picture (in Ocean Beach) causes it to despawn as soon as you get out of it.

Non-Collision Areas#

There is a miscolored patch of grass in Ocean Beach near the Pay & Spray. It has no collision, so the player will fall out of bounds if the spot is driven to on a motorcycle.

One of the walls around the Downtown Hospital has no collision and can be driven through.

The end of one of the fences of the mansions on Prawn Island also has no collision.

The side of the bridge leading from Prawn Island to Downtown has no collision, and can easily be jumped through. This can be used to get to the second island earlier than intended.

VC_PrawnBridge1.png VC_PrawnBridge2.png

Ronald Reagan Easter Egg#

Hidden inside a wall in the Downtown Ammu-Nation is this image of Ronald Reagan shooting at a picture of Mikhail Gorbachev. Whether this was misplaced or intentionally hidden is unknown. The only way to see it is to aim a rocket launcher or sniper rifle while standing right next to the wall or using a trainer.

Filename Oddities#

Cam Jones is referenced as "mike" in the files (igmike.txd, mike2.txd, etc.).

References#


  1. https://x.com/ObbeVermeij/status/1809946627026591951↩︎