5 lore-friendly GTA Vice City mods in 2024

The upcoming GTA title will take players back to Vice City but in a more detailed, larger, and modern setting. However, many fans of the series still fondly remember the 80s vibes of the original rendition in GTA Vice City. With that in mind, we've listed mods for those who want to return to the 2002 game but with some modern tweaks.

These mods will all improve the game substantially but not ruin the immersion. In other words, these are all lore-friendly mods that don't deviate from the setting and story. Playing GTA Vice City with these mods will make you feel like they were always a part of the game.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the author's opinions.

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5 best GTA Vice City mods that maintain the lore

1) SkyGfx

The PS2 versions of GTA Vice City and San Andreas were far superior to the PC version in terms of the overall ambiance. For instance, there's an orangish glow in the PS2 version of San Andreas that's replaced with a whiter sky and sun in the PC version. All these unwanted changes can be undone with SkyGfx.

SkyGfx also enhances the effect in some aspects; the settings can even be customized. It affects the entire game's lighting and is considered an essential mod by many. The Netflix GTA Trilogy on mobile retained the classic lighting effect, although the implementation isn't completely accurate when it comes to San Andreas.

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2) Vice City Neons

GTA Vice City takes players to a neon-drenched city inspired by Miami. The 1980s aesthetics were improved upon in GTA Vice City Stories, the 2006 PSP title that serves as a prequel. The neon glow looks better and more vibrant in this version.

This mod simply brings over this aesthetic to the original Vice City on PC. It makes all the neon lights in the city glow brighter and has a better lighting effect. This upgrade is especially visible in Ocean Drive, where every hotel is neon-illuminated.

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3) Xbox vehicles

The Xbox ports of GTA 3 and Vice City had higher-resolution textures, and the map was much more detailed in some places. Most importantly, the vehicles looked way better with the detailed textures and actual, working 3D engine models. The PS2 and PC versions simply had a blobby mess instead.

This mod ports over the improved vehicle textures as well as the detailed engines onto the PC version of Vice City. While the mod is mostly lore-friendly, the "wheels.txd" file included in the mod adds real-life tire brands to the game.

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4) Proper Weapon Retex

Much like the vehicles, the weapons in the 3D Universe games were also poorly detailed. They had blurry textures, and some components looked like they had melted and merged together. This mod aims to fix that by replacing the outdated weapon textures with more detailed, high-resolution ones.

It also modifies all the pickups, like money and the save icon. Despite being a retexture, this mod manages to maintain the original low-poly aesthetic of the game so that the weapons don't feel out of place.

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5) Vice City Big Mission Pack

As the name implies, this mod is a compilation of several small missions. According to the mod description, it adds more than 130 new missions. These include missions from some of the story characters, police and SWAT missions, phone missions, robberies, stadium events, and much more. It also adds new features to GTA Vice City that make the game feel more like an immersive RPG.

You'll now get an inventory, the phone is now usable and lets you order stuff, outfits grant bonuses, there's an upgrade system and a hunger mechanic, and more. The mod is also quite active, with the latest update being rolled out on February 18.

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Check out our other GTA articles and guides:

Iconic Vice City tracks || Most boring missions || Characters who deserved more screen time || Characters whose deaths felt undeserving || Most memorable love interests || Major plot twists