The modding team called Revolution Team has launched its GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition project, much to the community fanfare. This ambitious mod revives the 2002 classic using the GTA 4 RAGE engine, recreating missions and cutscenes with upgraded visuals, physics, and mechanics. But here’s the catch: much like Nintendo, Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has a reputation for swiftly taking down fan projects like this.
Revolution Team’s YouTube channel was already nuked just days before the mod’s release, losing archival streams and a communication platform for its growing fanbase. If history is anything to go by, this mod might not stay online for long.
In a statement on their new YouTube account, Revolution Team shared its frustration. It added that GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition was made to work standalone because it doesn’t see the need to ‘show respect to the publisher.’
“This was a cruel move from them, but we have already accepted the situation, since we cannot influence it. [..]
Initially, the modification was planned to require the original game in order to show respect to the publisher. However, over the past two days, we have completely rebuilt the project […] In light of the current uncertainties, we had to make this change to ensure the mod’s stable performance for the widest possible audience.”
The Vice City Nextgen Edition official ModDB page provides the .torrent file for download, and it’s already drawing over 9,200 connections.
We have tried the Vice City Nextgen Edition mod and it works flawlessly even without any trace of GTA 4 on our device. Prepare 8GB for the download file and another 8.5GB for the installation size. In case you’re having trouble launching it, edit the .EXE properties to Run as Admin and it should play fine. Unfortunately, for non-KBM users, it doesn’t natively support a controller. You might need to play it through Steam for SteamInput or use third-party apps like DS4Windows.
Make sure to select English during the installation option. But, if you somehow changed the default language, you can tweak it in the in-game Display options:
- Select the second option from the left in the main menu.
- Pick the third option from the top left.
- Change the one before the last on the menu list.
If you’re a fan of Vice City, don’t sleep on this GTA 4 Nextgen Edition mod. It’s a lovingly crafted reimagining of a beloved classic — and there’s no telling how long it’ll stay up.