Players Are Keeping GTA 4 Online Alive By Buying Old PS3s
GTA
Images via Rockstar Games
While you might associate the online elements of Grand Theft Auto with GTA Online these days, let’s remember Niko Bellic laid the foundations for the massive multiplayer that spun off from GTA V. Although it’s been 14 years since we first jumped into Liberty City, die-hard fans are keeping this world alive.
Although multiplayer has featured in every main GTA game apart from (weirdly) GTA III, things really took a leap with GTA IV. In 2020, GTA IV multiplayer was removed from the «Complete Edition» when Microsoft ended its Games for Windows Live support. Unpatched versions still have multiplayer enabled, but in another world, PlayStation owners are playing the way Rockstar intended all those years ago.
How Are GTA IV Players Keeping Online Alive?
Click to enlarge
Speaking to GamesRadar, GTA IV fanatic and community leader EL Fuga explained how the 2008 game’s online element is anything but dead. «I run a community on Telegram, and we’re still very active on the multiplayer scene,» said EL Fuga. «Some of us have been around since it came out, which means we know the game pretty well because it’s been well over a decade.»
They went on to reveal that there’s been an influx of players old and new who are actively buying PlayStation 3 consoles to jump into Liberty City with pals. They wax lyrical on the «first era» of GTA IV multiplayer between 2008 and 2012, where players were split between auto-aim servers and free-aim servers. EL Fuga continued: «The first era was 2008-2012 when modded games didn’t exist so no one had to worry about it while playing in public lobbies. In the old days, people used to focus on one game mode specifically, whether that be Races, Team Deathmatch, Team Mafia Work, Cops n Crooks, Turf War or the Co-op modes.»
GTA IV multiplayer was changed forever in mid-2012 when jailbroken PS3s allowed modders and hackers into the game, which usually went unpunished by PSN.
A particular problem was the God Mode that made them invincible. Rockstar was reportedly too focussed on GTA V to really care. In 2018, those who’d been pushed to the fringes of the online community came back together, and these days, EL Fuga carefully screens players to make sure they aren’t cheaters hiding in plain sight. In 2022, there’s a 50-strong group that plays daily at around 7pm.
What’s Next For GTA Online?
Click to enlarge
EL Fuga and the rest keeping a 14-year-old multiplayer alive is an amazing feat. They concluded, «Imagine seeing some names I hadn’t seen for about a decade, and then see them coming to play again in 2022! I gotta say, I’m also impressed there are still new people that come to the multiplayer scene every year and stick around. For a 14-year-old game, it says a lot.»
Even though GTA Online lives on bigger and better than ever thanks to The Criminal Enterprises update adding a tonne of new content in 2022, Rockstar has slowly been shuttering it on older consoles.
In December, GTA Online was axed from the PS3 and Xbox 360, but with it still going strong on PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/Xbox Series, it makes sense to focus on these platforms. With the upcoming goliath of GTA 6 sure to tie into GTA Online, expect a much bigger community than the GTA IV online fan base to be playing after 14 years.
Trending
‘GTA 4’s missing multiplayer on Steam is a necessary sacrifice
A major gameplay mode is conspicuously absent, but it may be worth it.
Tomas Franzese
Grand Theft Auto IV is one of the most influential games of the 2000s, which is why it was sad to see it removed from Steam in January. More than a month after its initial removal, Rockstar Games finally announced that GTA IV will be coming back to the online games marketplace on March 19. Unfortunately, a significant chunk of the game will no longer be accessible, as the online modes have been cut.
As Rockstar’s Steam post confirms, the version that will be available on Steam after March 19 is Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edtion, which comes with all of the game’s DLC and is also available on Rockstar’s proprietary launcher. Fortunately, all save files should be compatible for newer players and those who don’t own just the base game or the Episodes from Liberty City DLC will be upgraded to the Complete Edition after a simple update.
Sadly, those that do boot up Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition won’t be able to access some things. Some radio stations (RamJam FM, Self-Actualization FM, and Vice City FM) will be «temporarily unavailable» when Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition launches in March and no ETA was given on when they will be added back.
More notably, none of the multiplayer features will be accessible once the game returns to Steam. This encompasses the multiplayer mode that lets players free roam or participate in races and deathmatches as well as the leaderboards that accompany them.
On the plus side, Grand Theft Auto IV will now fully support Steam achievements.
Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is coming back to Steam on March 19.
Grand Theft Auto IV’s removal from Steam and the multiplayer mode’s absence upon its return can both be attributed to one thing: Games for Windows Live. This mostly disliked PC service from Microsoft was very prevalent in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and companies are starting to run into issues as they can no longer get new keys over a decade out from the discounted service’s launch.
In a statement given to PC Gamer, Rockstar elaborated. «Grand Theft Auto IV was originally created for the Games For Windows Live platform,» they said. «With Microsoft no longer supporting Games For Windows Live, it is no longer possible to generate the additional keys needed to continue selling the current version of the game.» Games For Windows Live was intrinsically tied to Grand Theft Auto IV’s multiplayer modes on PC, so without that service, they could not return.
While some hardcore Grand Theft Auto IV online players are probably very disappointed by its removal, it was a necessary sacrifice to get it back on Steam. Rockstar also probably doesn’t mind that much as Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2’s multiplayer modes are both very successful and consistently updated.
The fan response is actually somewhat mixed. Many fans are happy to see a great game return.
Others chiming into the post’s comments worry about the cuts and are saying things like «I know how RS will handle the bugs and kill the experience by cutting out content» and «they just keep making their old games worse and worse by taking out stuff from their games.» As the Games for Windows Live issues seems to have been mostly out of their control though, I’m willing to give Rockstar the benefit of the doubt with this re-release barring any major, unannounced changes.
Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition returns to Steam on March 19.
Related Tags
- Video Games
Share:
GTA 4 online — how to play for free with friends
GTA 4 is the ninth game in the Grand Theft Auto series, adapted for the Xbox 360, Windows, PlayStation 3 gaming platforms. GPS, police and pedestrians have noticeably “smartered”, instead of garages, specially designated parking areas began to be used. For defense and attack, 15 types of weapons are provided from a knife to a grenade launcher.
Graphic visualization of the game world is made in three-dimensional format. The advanced functionality of the game environment allows you to play GTA 4 online with other people or overcome the storyline alone (you can also peep codes for GTA 4 on our website).
Multiplayer: general information
Multiplayer mode is supported for Xbox 360, PS3, PC game platforms connected to the Internet. In the case of the PC version of GTA 4, the multiplayer mode can be launched via a local area network (LAN).
The maximum number of players in one session of GTA 4 for PC reaches 32 people, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 — 16.
For proper functioning of GTA 4 in multiplayer mode, you will need a PC with an operating system of at least Vista SP 1 or XP SP 3. The processor will need support for two cores and a frequency of at least 2.4 GHz (1.8 GHz) for Intel chipsets and 2.1 GHz from AMD. You will also need RAM from 2 GB (1.6 GB), a video card from 512 MB (256 MB), hard disk space from 16 GB and a network card to play online.
The general scenario of the multiplayer has a number of differences from the single mode. Weapons with an impressive amount of ammunition are located in certain areas of the open game world. After death, the character loses all collected weapons. Unlocked several hard-to-reach areas that were originally closed in single player. nine0003
GTA 4 Multiplayer: Start of the Game
All game modes in GTA 4 Multiplayer can be conditionally grouped into five thematic groups — Race, Team, Competitive, Cooperative, Free.
In each group there are several different ways to organize the game over the network.
Access to multiplayer and its settings can be obtained using a phone that is available to the character. After opening the «Multiplayer» menu, three options will be offered to choose from — Party Mode, Player Match, Ranked. When choosing Player Match, the player will be able to invite people, but the achievements of the participants will not be included in the statistics. If you select Ranked, you will be able to gain ranks, but you will not be able to invite friends. nine0003
To start an online Party Mode game, the organizer must select the entire city or a separate area as a location, the number of civilians, the level of activity of law enforcement agencies and set the parameters of weather conditions. At will, he can impose restrictions on the use of various types of weapons and the ability to automatically aim the sight. Upon completion of the network mode settings, the organizer has the right to start the game at any time, the rest of the participants are connected to the finished scenario.
Any player can act as an organizer. nine0003
Each player moves up the career ladder. A character’s status is equivalent to its rank. There are 10 of them in total. The transition to each next rank allows the player to receive additional bonuses and expanded gaming opportunities. In total, there are 10 ranks in multiplayer, each of which is assigned after the player earns a certain amount of money. To get the first rank, you need to earn $1,000, 2 ranks — $10,000, 3 — $50,000, 4 — $100,000, 5 — $250,000, 6 — $500,000, 7 — $750,000, 8 — 1 million , nine- 2.5 million, 10 — 5 million
What if you want to play online in GTA IV? — Guides for DTF
The simple answer is to play.
15563
views
www.rockstargames.com
The detailed answer below refers to a licensed copy of the game from 1C. It will be about installing on Windows 10, transferring saves and playing online.
So, since childhood, you have valued the work of developers and bought a licensed copy of the game with the money saved or earned by overwork.
She went through the years with you until 2020. nine0003
And suddenly, with the latest update, the network game in GTA IV turned out to be disabled, but if, by some unknown dictate of the soul, you want a network game, then it is possible for the happy owner of a licensed edition on vintage DVDs.
All you have to do is install the game from discs and you can play online. But since the game is not new, there will be several obstacles along the way.
Available: GTA IV on licensed DVDs, Windows 10 and multiplayer lust. You will also need a patch from the official site, first download the version for the Russian version of the game. nine0003
Run setup.exe from
The Most Known
To avoid this trouble, hover over setup.exe, right-click, select «Properties», open the «Compatibility» tab, set the compatibility mode to Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).
After this simple manipulation, run setup.exe, and the installation goes without a hitch. In addition to the game itself, legacy versions of Rockstar Games Social Club and Games for Windows Live will be installed. After the installation is complete, install the patch that was downloaded earlier. This is the last patch before the global update of the game. The patch removes the obsolete Rockstar Games Social Club, but stumbles on the Games for Windows Live update, so before installing the patch, uninstall GfWL yourself (Windows Settings — Applications — Microsoft Games for Windows-LIVE Redistributable), Rockstar Games for Windows-LIVE Redistributable preventive self-uninstallation stumbles on the above mentioned and the photographed fig, but the patch will do the job. nine0003
Now you need to activate the game. Run LaunchGTAIV.exe from the folder with the game installed, enter the activation key and activate the game. You are getting closer to launching the game.
You can skip the next step if you don’t have save files left.
