Multiplayer
Few GTA games have official multiplayer features, and these are often limited in their usage. There have, however, been numerous attempts by teams of fans to create multiplayer gameplay in GTA games. Some of the modifications created by these teams have been critically acclaimed and have proved very successful.
Official Support
Rockstar included multiplayer support with the free download release of Grand Theft Auto 2 for the PC, and also in the most recent release of GTA 4 for the xbox360, PS3 and PC platforms.
GTA 2
The first game to officially support multiplayer modes was the PC version of GTA 2, in 1999. GTA 2 was released as a free download in December 2004.
GTA III
The PC version of Grand Theft Auto III was at one point going to contain a multiplayer mode, however Rockstar cancelled this during development. One can view textures related to multiplayer mode menu screens in the file models/menu.txd, using a TXD viewer. Additionally, strings found in the game's GXT files suggest some of the modes and options that would have been available. The file american.gxt contains:
FEM_MAP - "Select Map"
FEM_MP - "MULTIPLAYER"
FEN_CON - "Connection"
FEN_GAM - "Find Game"
FEN_GNA - "Game Name:"
FEN_NAM - "Name:"
FEN_NCI - "NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET"
FEN_NET - "Network"
FEN_PLA - "Number of players:"
FEN_PLC - "Player color"
FEN_PLS - "Player settings"
FEN_STA - "START GAME"
FEN_TY0 - "Deathmatch"
FEN_TY1 - "Deathmatch stealth"
FEN_TY2 - "Team Deathmatch"
FEN_TY3 - "Team Deathmatch stealth"
FEN_TY4 - "Stash the cash"
FEN_TY5 - "Capture the Flag"
FEN_TY6 - "Rat Race"
FEN_TY7 - "Domination"
GTA San Andreas co-op mode
The PS2 and Xbox versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured a co-op mode, which allowed 2 players to either 'free roam' or go on a 'rampage'. This feature was limited, in that both players had to stay within close proximity of one another.
GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories
In 2005, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was released on the PSP and featured a multiplayer mode for up to 6 players through WiFi ad-hoc mode. A total of 7 modes of play were available. In 2006, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was released on the PSP with the same functionality as its predecessor, and an additional 3 modes of play available.
GTA IV
- Main article: Multiplayer in GTA IV
GTA IV contained the most developed implementation of multiplayer gaming in the GTA series. This has carried over into GTA IV's expansions, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
GTA Chinatown Wars
Unofficial Modifications
Multi Theft Auto (MTA)
Multi Theft Auto was the first attempt by a team of fans to implement a multiplayer version of Grand Theft Auto 3. It saw its first release February 8, 2003 and quickly gained a large following. Development continued through the releases of GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas, and is still ongoing today. The current release for GTA3 and GTA Vice City is 0.5, while a separate version, 1.1.1R is available for GTA San Andreas.
Vice City Multiplayer (VC-MP)
Vice City Multiplayer started development in April 2005, and was used as a codebase for the later SA:MP. The release of GTA San Andreas led to much of the team focusing on that game, however some members continue developing VC:MP. It has so far proved to be quite popular, however SA:MP continues to dominate most of the attention. The current release is v0.3.
San Andreas Multiplayer (SA-MP)
SA:MP started out as VC:MP (described above) in April 2005. Once GTA San Andreas was released on the PC, most of the team turned to development for the game. It has enjoyed a lot of success during public beta tests, as well as in releases. It has a large variety of game modes, the most of any third party multiplayer mod, and also supports custom game modes. The current version is 0.2, released by the team on June 20th, 2007.
GTA Tournament (gtaT)
GTA:Tournament started out in April 2003, created by "DracoBlue", who envisioned the use of scriptable servers, support for up to 96 players, and the ability to have thousands of skins and vehicles in the game. It eventually saw releases for Vice City, and later San Andreas. On 29th April 2006, DracoBlue announced that development on the mod would cease. After talks with the SA:MP team, DracoBlue turned to scripting for that mod.
Attempts by other teams
GTA Rumble
GTA Rumble was started in December 2005, and is assumed to no longer be in development; its homepage at gtarumble.co.uk is no longer active. The latest beta release was 0.1c. Its features included chat, spawning, scoreboards, screenshots, weather/time changing, and parachutes, among others.
SA-2P
SA-2P, or San Andreas 2 Player, was, as its name implies, a mod to bring the 2 player co-op mode found in the PS2 and Xbox version of GTA San Andreas to the PC, using online play. After having started in June 2005, version 0.1 only ever reached 10% progress according to its creator's website, which was last updated in July 2005. No versions were ever released. SA-2P's homepage can be found at SA-2P.com, and includes a few screenshots and videos of the mod in action, as well as a short FAQ.
External Links