Fans have stepped up once again to bring the fixes to Grand Theft Auto IV that Rockstar didn’t make.
Ash R. made this announcement on Twitter:
Grand Theft Auto IV finally has Dynamic License Plates! We’re happy to reveal LibertyCityPlates, a mod by Shvab, CP and myself.
This also includes vehicle specific plates such as Taxis, Police, Biker, Ambulance, etc AND even state plates for Alderney!
Ash R. linked to NexusMods, and you can download it here. They provided this description on NexusMods:
LibertyCityPlates is an innovative mod for Grand Theft Auto IV that significantly enhances the realism and customization of vehicle license plates in the game. Forget about static textures – now license plates are fully functional and change dynamically!
The LibertyCityPlates mod includes dynamic license plates that will finally replace static license plate mods for GTA IV!
Forget about mods that add license plate textures to the .wtd container of each car; now every vehicle will look even more realistic without adding a multitude of textures.The mod features flexible license plate management, allowing you to change them on vehicles using in-game .sco scripts.
This functionality is also available via ScriptHook and other third-party scripting engines. This opens up limitless possibilities for creating your own missions where cars will have unique license plates (e.g., a Comet with BRUC1E plates), adding variety to the gameplay.
This mod includes License Plates for specific vehicle types such as Ambulance, Taxi, Police, etc as well as ones for the Alderney region of the map.
What Is This? Why Did We Need This Mod?
If you haven’t played Grand Theft Auto IV, this may all sound like Cypriot too you. But all these fans worked on this mod for a really annoying little thing Rockstar did in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Or it may be accurate to say that this was a thing Rockstar did not do. As you can see in this post on the GTAIV subreddit, Rockstar only has one license plate number for all the vehicles in the whole game.
Earlier games, like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, had dynamic license plates, so that different vehicles had different plate numbers. So this was something Rockstar already figured out.
Nobody is sure what mistake Rockstar’s programmers made to make this happen. But the speculation is that they just gave up on it and fixed their license plates on Grand Theft Auto V.
As this GTAForums thread shows, the LibertyCityPlates team has been working on it since last year. So this isn’t exactly new, but it’s the best implementation they have made so far.
Ash R. explained at the end of this thread that the NexusMods download is a pre-made pack that includes all the vehicles that have already been converted. This pack is also made for Fusion Fix.
We’re still waiting for Rockstar to actually remaster Grand Theft Auto IV for modern platforms. Hopefully if they do, they put the sincere investment in to fix all these issues, big and small.
