rappo
12-06-2008, 12:01 AM
Only a couple days into the release and modders are already at it! I've test out this method and it works perfectly on my system, which is the retail copy of GTA IV (not Steam). Here's how to mod the game:
Download aru's File Modding Ability Patch (http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3801 02&st=0&#entry1058714807) - this is a small, but powerful tool, because it will basically trick your game into thinking that all the files are original (GTA IV won't run unless the original files are running).
Figure out what you want to mod and locate the file. For this simple example, I made a fast and powerful taxi, which is just a modification of the handling.dat file, which is located at GTA IV\common\data.handling.dat.
Right click the handling.dat file, choose Properties, and make sure that Read-Only is unchecked.
Open the handling.dat file in a text editor like Notepad. Find the line that begins with COMET, it will look something like this:
COMET 1450.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
Copy the whole line.
Find the lines that begin with TAXI and TAXI2. Delete these two lines, and in their place insert the COMET line twice. Change the first pasted COMET line to TAXI, and the second to TAXI2. What we basically did here was give the Taxis the same properties as the Comet.
Change the first value on both the TAXI and TAXI2 lines from 1450.0 to 99999.0, therefore making your lines like this:
TAXI 99999.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
TAXI2 99999.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
Save the handling.dat file, close it, and run GTA IV. Find a Taxi and you should notice that it's a lot more powerful than before!
And that's it. Here's a video of the mod running:
CXkuw3L5tXY
This was a silly little example, but the main thing to get out of this is that Modding Ability Patch - without it your file edits are useless! Be sure to share anything that you whip up :)
Download aru's File Modding Ability Patch (http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3801 02&st=0&#entry1058714807) - this is a small, but powerful tool, because it will basically trick your game into thinking that all the files are original (GTA IV won't run unless the original files are running).
Figure out what you want to mod and locate the file. For this simple example, I made a fast and powerful taxi, which is just a modification of the handling.dat file, which is located at GTA IV\common\data.handling.dat.
Right click the handling.dat file, choose Properties, and make sure that Read-Only is unchecked.
Open the handling.dat file in a text editor like Notepad. Find the line that begins with COMET, it will look something like this:
COMET 1450.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
Copy the whole line.
Find the lines that begin with TAXI and TAXI2. Delete these two lines, and in their place insert the COMET line twice. Change the first pasted COMET line to TAXI, and the second to TAXI2. What we basically did here was give the Taxis the same properties as the Comet.
Change the first value on both the TAXI and TAXI2 lines from 1450.0 to 99999.0, therefore making your lines like this:
TAXI 99999.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
TAXI2 99999.0 6.5 85 0.0 0.0 -0.21 0.2 5 0.24 1.0 160.0 0.34 0.66 0.7 35.0 1.50 1.25 12.5 0.12 0.48 2.4 1.6 1.8 0.10 -0.15 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 0.0 60000 40440010 1 1
Save the handling.dat file, close it, and run GTA IV. Find a Taxi and you should notice that it's a lot more powerful than before!
And that's it. Here's a video of the mod running:
CXkuw3L5tXY
This was a silly little example, but the main thing to get out of this is that Modding Ability Patch - without it your file edits are useless! Be sure to share anything that you whip up :)