New to modding, where do I begin?
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Hello!
I need help lol. I have never owned a pc game, never modded a game before, etc.
I don't currently own GTA V on my pc (using a laptop).
I want to get GTA V, and start to use mods (specifically car mods).
This is going to sound odd but, I don't even really want to do it to enjoy the game itself. I have GTA V on my Xbox and generally play it there. The only reason I want to do this on my laptop is so that I can import real life cars, put them into my garages, and just be able to walk around them and compare them etc. so that I can try and rank them lol. I'm strange I know.
In a way though I suppose that makes things simpler for me than your average gta v mod enthusiast because I don't care to do plenty of other mods, all I want is GTA V with real cars (that I get to pick) in it. Also some sort of unlimited money cheat of course so I don't have to worry about buying these cars.
Can someone please give me some advice? Literally I have zero clue what I'm doing lol. I'm hoping it's not too too complicated, I understand basic computing and programming but not to a crazy extent.
Do I just download GTA V from rockstar? Or do I have to get a special mod-friendly version elsewhere?
Do I need like a mod-installer? Or do I just start downloading mod files and putting them in the game somehow without any installer?
How do I go about installing all of the car's?
How does upgrading cars work? Can I take a real life car mod to los santos customs and paint it? Or do the cars come how they're modded and you can't change them?
How much space does the game + say 200 real car's require? I have about 120 GB space remaining as of right now.
Are viruses ever really a concern with car mods downloaded from this website? I would try to only download the mods with lots of good reviews of course.
Do certain mods like... clash? Or can I just download whatever ones I want?
Is my goal of getting all these real life cars into garages where I can walk up to them and compare them, smarter to attempt in gta online or offline?
Any non-car related mods that are just must-haves? Like things that you would recommend to anyone that's just getting into modding
Sorry for my lack of knowledge in this stuff, I'm trying to learn haha, and thanks in advance
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@astefanidis1 Wow. That's quite a handful. Hope this helps.
- Download from Steam or Epic/Whatever. I prefer Steam, game is heavily discounted (I'm sure Epic is also) and the Steam launcher is less of a PITA after an update.
- No such thing as a mod friendly version.
- Yes you need a few files and apps to load your mods (OpenIV, SHV) - I'll post a good tutorial at the bottom.
3A. You will also need certain files/addons that will allow you to run a stable game, because GTA5 was not designed to run addons (gameconfig, heap adjusters, packfile). - You will also need a trainer ( Menyoo, ENT, etc) to customize your cars and you can also do this through scripts - if you want to learn how to script. You can paint and modify etc.
- You should be fine with 20 to 30 GB of storage for hundreds of cars and other addons.
- Viruses are always a concern on a PC. Don't click on executables (.bat, .exe, etc). Addons are not executables and this site is safe. Don't accept unknown scripts from anyone. A script can definitely play with your system even though it is not a virus, just malicious code.
- Vehicle mods should not clash but mission or script or graphics mods can. Vehicles may have the same spawn name - causing a minor issue.
- You can't bring mods into GTA Online.
- Yes, you can have your own garage.
- Yes there are hundreds of non-related mods such as maps, garages, handling editors etc. Are they must-haves? Not for me but for many users they are.
Exceptions, for my personal setup, are RCA and Forests (both available on this site). Menyoo, although no longer supported, is the only trainer I would use.
You may need to install files such as ScripthookDotNet and NativeUI or others - you will see the requirements on the mod page and/or instructions.
Start with this video and then holler when you need help. It will seem overwhelming at first, but after a few installs you'll be able to do it in your sleep.
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Thank you!! This answers a lot for me
really appreciate it!
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@astefanidis1 No worries. The video is a logical first step, but I'm sure you will have questions afterwards. Once you get the hang of it, you'll have loads of fun.
One word of caution, when you start to mod you will be duplicating game folders and files with a "mods" folder. Consequently attention to detail is required to make sure you work with the right folders. At the start, work with more current mods as older mods didn't always take into account the concept of a mods folder. Once you are up to speed, you can then install those older mods in the proper folders - correcting for 2021.
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@JohnFromGWN
Here are the proper links for 2 critical components:
All other mods should come from this site. Huge files will have links to googledrives, mediafire etc.http://dev-c.com/GTAV/scripthookv
and
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@JohnFromGWN Thank you! I've just purchased and downloaded GTA V from steam. About to download those two files now too and watch the video. Hopefully it all goes smoothly haha
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@JohnFromGWN Hey John! So I've managed to follow along that video and download the necessary things but, unfortunately the first few car add-ons I've tried downloading arent working and im not sure why.
I tried downloading a testarossa add on like he does in the video (I believe I downloaded a different testarossa than he did). I created a folder in GTA V>mods>update>x64>dlcpacks called "Testarossa" and within that folder I put the .rar file that I got for the testarossa. Then I went into OpenIV and went to GTA V>mods>update>update.rpf>common>data and went to the dlclist.xml file in edit mode and opened it up and wrote a new line at the bottom saying <Item>dlcpacks:/testarossa/</Item>
I saved it, backed out, went into GTA V and tried to spawn the car and it said invalid. I've managed to get the other mods to work like the screenshot thing and the menu trainer, and when i use that menu trainer it lets me spawn other cars, but when i go to the bottom of that menu to type in my specific car that I want to spawn (idk how else to find the add-on cars) and I type in "trossa" like the description of the testarossa link says to do, it won't spawn the car.
So I tried downloading another car, I just looked up the most downloaded add-on car and it was an R35 GTR, so I followed all of the same steps (made a new folder called "R35GTR", put the .rar file in it, went to the dlc xml and added a new line for the gtr, then went in game to spawn it and typed "GTR" like it said to) and it didnt work either.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong
Any ideas?
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@astefanidis1 Your first hiccup! Won't be your last.
As @WGotch07 wrote, you always need to unzip/unpack the mod file.
To add to what he wrote, just to make it perfectly clear, an addon vehicle (as opposed to a replacement) vehicle will always be in 2 parts. The reason I'm specifying this is because the unzipped file could contain many files: the addon vehicle itself but also templates, handling files, pics, instructions, credits etc.
But you will only install the folder which contains the dlc.rpf. In other words. (You can install handling files etc. but let's keep it simple for now).
- The folder (for example Trossa) - this goes in your dlcpacks folder.
- The dlc.rpf file inside the folder (this contains the vehicle/model, textures, and various data and meta files - all visible in OpenIV, some just plain text.
The spawn name is generally the same as the Folder name, but not always. And some mods will have more than 1 vehicle in the dlc.rpf (rage package file).
One more thing. You wrote that you created a folder called testarossa. In 99% of cases (give or take) you do NOT have to create the folder containing the dlc.rpf, it is already created for you (and yes, there are the rare exceptions). And you have 2 options for the install: you can just copy or move the Folder to your dlcpacks folder using Windows Explorer or you can do this in OpenIV. The choice is yours.
Ok I forgot, one more. Always put the mods in your mods folder, quite a few older mods will tell you to place them in the games folder. Don't. Put them in mods, always mods whether it is an addon or a replacement.
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Thank you for all this! Managed to do all of that and now the cars are working
I did try to download a couple of other non-car related mods though and they don't seem to be working, but that's not a big deal. One of them was a mod that supposedly adds the houses and garages from online to single player but I dont think it worked https://www.gta5-mods.com/scripts/single-player-apartment-spg-net
Another was GTA V Remastered and, tbh I just can't tell if it worked or not lol https://www.gta5-mods.com/maps/grand-theft-auto-v-remastered-add-on
And another was the tony stark mansion, which also didnt work
https://www.gta5-mods.com/maps/stark-mansionNot sure what I'm doing wrong with those.
In terms of my goal of being able to have a big garage where I can keep all of my real life supercars in it, what would my next steps be? First I'd need a house with a garage where you can see a whole bunch of the cars together. I'm sure if I just search mansions on here though I'll find one. The other thing though is, will I be able to save my modded cars there? So I don't have to spawn them each in every time I open the game up?
Thanks!
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@astefanidis1 I don't use those mods so you'll have to experiment and do some research. You have to be realistic too, the more addon cars you spawn in one session the more likely your game will crash, particularly with large size/high polygon count cars. And the other issue is persistence, despite your best efforts some cars just seem to disappear. Aside from the garage mods, you can also spawn cars and then save them as a map with Menyoo for example or try to save with your gamefile.
Again, i don't use many "non-entity" addons (i.e other than peds and cars), but you might try this:
https://www.gta5-mods.com/scripts/i-m-not-mental-s-persistance-mod
and don't forget to install companion mods to protect you from gang attacks, like the "give em the finguh mod".
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Hahaha love that mod! Thats amazing lol
I gotcha though, Ill have to do some research and figure out how to get them all to work:)
One strange thing I'm running into right now is I downloaded the 100% game save mod, and got it to work, but for some reason it wont let me buy any houses in the game whether in person or via dynasty real estate on the phone. I also noticed every app on the phone is greyed out except like two of them. Any idea why this might be the case? Almost like the game is confused between the game save being 100% done but also it thinks I just started the game? Not sure.
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@astefanidis1 no reason for phone functions to be disabled, start a new game and see if phone works properly. Also, there are more than one saved game files out there so switch if necessary
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Managed to get that to work, thanks!
I also managed to get pretty much all of the other mods I wanted to work too
One issue I'm running into is getting the office garage (60 car garage) mod to work. Not sure why. I'm kind of confused as I'm seeing theres a bunch of different mods that say they do the same thing, and some of them ask you to install each other. I tried looking up videos on youtube of someone installing the office garage but I couldn't find one. Do you know how to do that mod? Not only for the garage to work but also to be able to save cars in the garage (one of the mods said something like "Garage spawns on map but you can't save cars in the garage")