[WIP|SCR]Criminal Russia

[Lioshenka]

The description is adapted from Wikipedia, but it was me anyway who wrote the original article.

 

UPDATED 03/05/2010

 

Grand Theft Auto: United Russian Mod (Criminal Russia)

 

Grand Theft Auto: URM (CR) is a modification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was started in 2004 by a group of people, located mainly in Russian Federation. This ambitious modifications is aimed at replacing the whole GTA world with a custom map, new vehicles and a new storyline. The development process is still ongoing at the moment. Two demo-versions are available at the moment. Tons of information can be found below - please find some time to have a quick look through it!

 

Name usage

The correct name for the project at the moment is:

- GTA: United Russian Mod

- GTA: URM

- United Russian Mod

- Criminal Russia

but not GTA: CR or GTA: Criminal Russia. This is done to avoid the confusion with the original project, developed by a different team who had different ideas in mind. Likewise, the first demo of this project is GTA: CR and it should be referred to in such a way.

 

History and the effect

 

It all has started in 2004 when a person known as Labukh, Ukraine, set up a small team whos aim was to create a small Russian town for GTA Vice City. In notime the project became popular and many other people, considered as the best modellers on RuNet, joined the team. Unexpected success gave the developers faith, and the next important stage of the project was the decision to replace the whole map.

 

Summer 2006, GTA San Andreas came out for PC and that was another important stage. The team has decided to change the platform from VC to SA due to the large amount of new features, endless possibilities regarding the map and the weather conditions as well as many other things. Since then and until October 2007 the team worked hard to archive its ambitious targets.

 

During 3 years of development there were enough models produced to replace at least half of San Andreas map. However, the main problems that the team encountered was that many developers were too busy with their private life; did not find the project successful or were in deep conflict with the manager of the project, who, on a number of occasions, has expressed his concerns regarding Ukraine and Russia's today's and past relationship. Every time the developer left, the team lost its models, which sometime made up over the half of the map. One of the most discussed moments was when Predator, Lioshenka and GexoDiver left, almost at the same time, leaving the team with no map at all. Another problem was that at that stage there was no one in the team left who knew how to convert models into SA. The team had only couple of months to finish off the promised demo-version and they have successfully managed to do it, although not without some troubles. Developer ED, who has done most of the modelling for demo-version, has done the impossible, learned to import models and made a new town basically from scratch within the strict time limits.

 

It would be unwise not to mention that the team hasn't influenced the GTA modding community. For its 3-year old history the team had almost all well-known Russian modellers working for them, who, despite the fact they left, brought even more public attention to the project. The countries, where the modellers came from include, but are not limited to: Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Moldavia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, UK, USA, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria. The team has build the confidence and faith in itself and the project is considered as one of the most successful of all time together with GTA: Myriad Islands, GTA: United and GTA: Gostown. It is the only global Russian mod that has reached the successful demo-version stage.

 

Location and storyline

 

According to the project's spec the game was planned to take place in Russia and Ukraine with slight variations depending on the number of team members willing to participate. Timewise it was year 1991-1993 - the time, when CIS countries were at their worst stage ever regarding crime and corruption.

 

The map includes 3 large cities (a capital in Russia, a small city in Russia and yet smaller city in Ukraine); over 100 new missions, Russian vehicles (including aviation, railway transport and boats), new pedestrians and characters, new and improved Russian wireless stations.

 

The first beta was based on models by PYOS, Reinstal, Lioshenka and Vadikgg but was scrapped later. However, a promo video remains:

 

 

The beta-version was due to be released in Autumn, 2006, however it was released on the last day of 2006 as a New Year present for all its fans across the globe. As planned it included some map and vehicles changes. Second beta was due to be released in Spring 2007, but instead a number of patches were released for the original version which was proved to be very unstable and glitchy. Final version was expected to hit the Web at the end of 2007, which did not happen.

 

Below is the promo video of the first demo of the original CR.

 

 

Demo-version

 

The demo-version which received warmest greetings by CR fans included:

 

* Palomino Creek replaced with the town of Ehdovo (pronounced as Eh-doh-voh with the emphasis on the first syllable). It was called so by the name of the one of the developers - ED, who has done most of the work to finish the demo by the deadline.

* Many cars replaced by Russian ones

* Russian militia

* A Russian radio station

* New weapons

* New user interface, menu, loading screens, intro videos

* Auto-installation using a custom made installation wizard

 

Although the demo had a very successful start with over 90 000 downloads from the official site within a year, many users have expressed their concerns about the games performance; one of the issues was the usage of memory (around 120 Mb when launched and over 800 Mb 30 minutes later). The team has released few patches and a final demo-version which, unlike the original one, had radio, cars and town all in one package rather then three different archives.

 

Interesting fact

 

The introduction video that came with the demo originally had a different soundtrack. It was influenced by Young Maylay's rap and was later replaced with the extract from Korobeiniki by OZMA on request by Labukh, but because the video was made for a different song, Korobeiniki ends on a half-note. The original video can be seen below:

 

 

After the first demo

 

October 2007 became the black month for all CR fans. It was officially announced that "GTA: Criminal Russia" is frozen until further notice and that "Full Beam" (lorry driver simulator) will be made instead. The new game uses its own engine and it was promised that after "Full Beam" the team will fix bugs and glitches, improve the engine and use it for a GTA-like game which will be also called Criminal Russia. At the moment it seems that they have done quite a lot of Full Beam, but the lack of information provided to fans is times less compared to the GTA: CR development. Many have accused the team of unfair treatment of the fans and the project seems to be rather unpopular.

 

New life, new people

 

It was announced by Labukh in the beginning of 2008 that it would be a shame if the mod was discontinued. After talks with Yegorchik, another modeller who was developing his own mod, he became the owner of GTA: CR brand. He started new city, but became known for a very slow production rate, ignoring people comments and wishes, also it was often mentioned that his models do not satisfy the standards set by the original CR. There are few more Russian modifications for GTA that had their topics on the same forum and in the Summer 2008 few of them have successfully agreed to work together. Yegorchik turned down any offers regarding the new joint project, explaining that he is capable of doing everything himself and claiming that his team has done quite a lot but doesn't want to show the screenshots. The United Russian Mod, as it became known, has gained lots of popularity worldwide since then, although unlike the original CR current team does not provide any non-Russian documentation.

 

On 14/07/2008 Labukh expressed concerns on the Russian forum about new Criminal Russia's development. He said, that after talks with the United Russian Mod developers he has decided to hand over original CR's models to them if the team maintains its steady progress.

 

On 29/07/2008 Labukh has handed over 200 Mb worth of old (but never seen before) CR models to the United Russian Mod, and added that more models will be given in the meantime.

 

In late July, 2008, Labukh officially announced that United Russian Mod will be released under the name of GTA: Criminal Russia, with Yegorchik's team being forced to join the development.

 

New CR includes people from many mods, such as GTA: Arzamas, GTA: Batyryovo, GTA: Lytkarino Stories, GTA: GTT, GTA: CR as well as some models from GTA: La Mystique de Russie. GTA: Kyshtym's leader who originally helped new CR with the high-quality madels of monuments and statues has left the team on 01/10/2008 due to the aggressive and overeating behaviour of one of the leading team members.

 

New map

 

New map was released shortly. Some towns bear the real name of their prototypes with a few changed letters. Some are very common for Russia, and some can be translated into English e.g. Ozeriye - Laketown, Yuzhnyi - Southern city.

 

This is the map as of 03/05/2010

 

•The mod will take place in modern days (2006-2012)

•There will be roughly equal number of Russian and foreign cars, Russian aircrafts and boats

•All new wireless stations and probably peds` talk on the streets

•The new demo is expected in June 2010

•There is no set date when the mod will be finished

•There are no plans to convert it to VC or IV

•Although the URM team plans to re-create the Russian atmosphere, the main idea is to do what the members of the team want. Be surprised to see unusual vehicles, map locations and missions which have nothing to do with Russia

 

Official URM trailer:

 

 

Promo videos and screenshots

Below is a number of promo videos of the latest version (not available for public use yet):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download demo CR v0.1.5

GTA: CR v0.1.5

I think there is an English install thingy in the archive. And even if it isn't it does it all automatically for you, just keep clicking next.

 

Download URM demo 1

Link no longer available.

 

GTA:URM - United Russian Mod Installation Guide. May be a bit dated now, since it was written for the very first version.

 

•Download the archive.

•Run it. It should ask you for a folder to unpack, browse for a new folder on your Desktop to be safe.

•Once unzipped go to the folder and run SETUP. Click the button which reads "YCTAHOBKA"

•It will bring up a Map Cleaner window. Browse for a new installation of GTA: SA. Accept the default settings, click OK and then when prompted OK again.

•In the next window choose the right button (it should not say OTMEHA). The installation will begin. Once it is done you can close any open windows and run the game as you usually would.

 

I have had problems with starting a new game, I had to download the save file and then it loaded correctly. Good luck, have fun.

 

Download URM demo 2

GTA: URM-beta 2

 

GTA:URM - United Russian Mod Installation Guide. I will update it in the meantime

 

•Download the exe.

•Make sure you have a clean install of a legitimate copy of SA,. European version installed in a location with no non-English symbols, special characters and spaces in the path.

•Run it. Choose a language.

•When you are asked to choose a path browse to the GTA SA install, but CHECK the path before clicking Next. There is a chance that the installer will add some crap at the end - just delete it.

•Keep clicking next until it is all finished.

•You're done.

 

Troubleshooting:

 

Q	A
I click the icon on the Desktop, but it brings up an infinite number of error messages.	Navigate to the GTA SA folder and run Graph Changer manually. Then run gta_sa.exe
The game crashes halfway throughout the intro video.	Go to the Settings and turn the effects quality to low OR/AND Download and load a saved game OR/AND Do not press any keys while the intro plays.
I am on Vista/7 and the game doesn't run.	You've been tricked by Microsoft into buying something you don't need, costs more and runs slower. Run the game in the Win98 compatibility mode.
The game crashes at any particular point.	Set the effects quality in the settings to low OR/AND Delete gta_sa.set file
OMG Itz all in sum weird lnguage!!11 lol	No, your message is. The game was designed in Russian, so if you come across something you don't get, simply try to reproduce it with Latin characters here and I will translate it for you.

[A.Fonz]

Looks great! I really like the trams and the trains, looking forward to this one, keep up the good work.

[GamerShotgun]

Hmm.. Those pics are very nice! I like that Russian Train, and that trolli is very nice! And if u want a mapper, im here! (I can write missions too, but not as a professional coder!) About the buildings... I like them, very nice models...

 

 

Yes, that`s right. It is completely new game, based on the GTA SA engine. New game means - new map,

 

new missions, new characters and peds, new music, new sounds, new timecycle... I guess thats all.

 

About this part, i need to say, this can't be a new Game, cus u need the rights for the GTA title from rockstar, and i dont think they wanna give u permission to release this Total Conversion as a New GTA episode!

 

So, let's call it as a Total Conversion

Edited July 8, 2006 by MasterK

[AM+]

You already have finished a lot of cars

 

no muscles, but I have found some attractive (and to me unknown) cars on your homepage.

I also would like to see some aircraft, like MIL-2 or an Antonov (what about AN-24...? It's a great plane and would be fun in GTA to land on an iced road anywhere far away from civilisation )

 

 

 

Keep it up !

 

[Lioshenka]

I`m not quite sure about air vehicles, because now our modellers are trying to finish the cars n bikes. All planes will be a bit old, because they are supposed to be older than 1992 according to storyline

 

About Total conversion i dunno what our teamleader is going to do with it, he is going to put this mod for sale via internet on the CD, but till next year I think a lot of things will be changed including this. Anyway, I`m outta this sale, Rockstar do you hear me??? I`m just modeller not pirate There is still democracy in Russia... NOone can stop him from selling GTA modifications in CIS but Probably it will be free in Europe he will decide later.

 

PS. Some cars are available for download on http://gtacriminalrusia.com just click on the car`s name under the picture and then click the bottom link in the new window.

Edited July 11, 2006 by ˸øåíüêà

[Lioshenka]

-deleted-

Edited July 11, 2006 by ˸øåíüêà

[FullMetal]

Whoa looks awesome. Nice how you transformed a hot desert into a shivvering cold syberia .

Can't wait to play .

[Frisk]

this looks really nice.Good job,i cant wait until its done.

[The-end]

What you have so far looks very nice indeed Not many tc's atchually stay alive and make decent progress, so you lot are doing a truely great job

 

I recomend you get your website converted to English too, allot of modding community is English, so you would probly get more publicity and downloads.

[Lioshenka]

Thanx everybody

 

I`m trying to make our web-master to finish off the enlish version of site but it seems he does not bother... But in the last few days he nearly finished our official site so god knows, mybe he`ll come up with english site next week!

[leviatan1001]

OH MY GOD!!!

 

What a AWESOME work !!! Completely AMAZING. It reminds me the Scenary of Call of Duty. But, of course. It was in the 40'. And your map is more recent.

 

Really, congratulations, it should be the most important mod i have ever seen. Incredible.

 

Good job. Keep on ot. I hope i can to play on it as soos as possible

[vadikgg]

 

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6244/190fg.jpg

 

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/4553/207fh.jpg

 

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3712/216za.jpg

 

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7703/224av.jpg

 

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6900/119lr.jpg

 

http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/8659/127jp.jpg

 

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5408/143ui.jpg

Edited March 2, 2009 by Suction Testicle Man

[Lioshenka]

vadikgg hey man who the hell are you get lost it my thread

 

just joking.

 

PS. Vadikgg is one of our developers.

[Bobesz]

Great looking pictures! Will you model the Kreml too?

[Lioshenka]

Well the fortress on the pics above (the one with towers and few buildings inside) is actually Kreml but in another city. We are now sure about famous Moscow Kreml but who knows maybe!

[vadikgg]

The Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod is a historic place and historical centre of the city, which houses offices of authorities of all levels. Construction of the brick Kremlin was launched in 1501 with the Ivanovskaya Tower. Major works took off in 1508 and almost in no time - by 1515 - the colossal complex was completed.

The complex includes thirteen towers - five with gates and square foundations - and eight with round foundations. The towers are: Dmitrovskaya (central), Kladovaya, Nikol'skaya, Koromyslova, Tainitskaya, Severnaya, Chasovaya (a bastille with a clock), Ivanovskaya, Belaya, Borisoglebskaya, Zachatievskaya, Georgievskaya and Porokhovaya, From 18 to 30 metres high these are connected with massive (up to 5 metres thick) merloned walls stretching upwards 12-20 metres.

 

 

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1797/239ql.jpg

 

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2456/243ho.jpg

Edited March 2, 2009 by Suction Testicle Man

[Black-hawk]

A russkij v Litve podojdiot dlia pomoshi? Nado bolshe barig dlia goroda vashego pravda.

This mod is looking awesome guys.

[Lioshenka]

äà áóäü òû õîòü íåãðîì ïðåêëîííûõ ãîäîâ, êèòàéöåì, çóñóëîì, åâðååì (Ñ) ïîäîéäóò âñå! Ãëàâíîå äåëàòü áîëåå-ìåíåå ðóññêèå äîìà è ïðèñûëàòü â ôîðìàòå *.max íà ruscrime_obmen ñîáàêà mail.ru ñî âñåìè òåêñòóðàìè. Ìîæåò è â òèòðû âàñ ïîñòàâèì-ñ

 

Yes, of course! You have to model russian-ish houses and send them to ruscrime_obmen at mail.ru in *.max format with all textures with it.

Your help will be appreciated. We might put your name in credits, if it`ll be worth it!

 

 

Here it is!!! http://www.gta-ruscrime.ucoz.ru/ is an english-language web-site with screenshots!Well, finally our web-site looks like.... well sorta web-site Ok, I know this has very poor design and lots of glitches, but this is the only place where you can look through all of our progrecc - map and vehicles included. Please use the menu on the left DO NOT try to click elsewhere otherwise hell know where you`ll be directed to! I did not bother to finish off all this stuff except this menu. I will try to keep this site up-to-date with new screenshots and info, because the INFO about our mod is the standart and not complete. Anyway - enjoy!

P.S. - there is huge light greeen ad block coming from the top, look in bottom right corner of it there is a close button. In the pictures gallery - there are pages numbers at the bottom so keep looking for more pictures to come! Newer pictures will be posted on the first pages.

Edited July 11, 2006 by ˸øåíüêà

[Lioshenka]

 

http://gta-ruscrime.ucoz.ru/ some new screens in our gallery if you're interested

[keep_out]

Hey, that's a great idea guys, keep up the good work! I wish I could help but I'm not so bright at making stuff yet. Maybe someday.

[Flying Dutchman]

Damn this is great! I can't wait for the release! This looks like the best totall conversion mod ever to me.

It's just very f*cking amazing!!

[Sinful]

This mod looks awesome... Is the storyline already done?

[Cool Hand]

Hey,

 

Good grief! This is about the best modification i've ever seen! Brand new vehicles, new storyline, new map, and much more!

 

I really can't wait for the release! Great work!

 

Kind regards,

 

Koos. (Holland)

[Lioshenka]

 

This mod looks awesome... Is the storyline already done?

 

Yes indeed it is, and it is available in Russian on the official web-site if you want you can use freetranslation.com to translate it but i don`t think it is worth it. Basic thing are

-the MH is a taxi driver, he was released from jail after someone proverd he was guilty though he was not

-at the end of the game he, as usually, will kill the traitor

-during the game he will meet the rivary taxi boss, then docks corrupt owner and then some other "powerful" people

 

Thank you everyone for your support I`ve uploaded some new screenshots in the Gallery at The official Screenshots Database. There are 3 new pages of buildings and 1 new page of vehicles.

 

Enjoy

Edited August 10, 2006 by ˸øåíüêà

[Cool Hand]

Those new screenshots are great! Those new buildings.. amazing!

Those new cars looks AWESOME!!!!! I really can't wait anymore.

 

It's so cool that the mod has brand new cars and buildings instead of the standard SA stuff!

 

Greetings,

 

Koos

Edited August 10, 2006 by Cool Hand

[Ryder35]

that very good the russian are perfect modeler not like cea

[GamerShotgun]

 

that very good the russian are perfect modeler not like cea

 

Closed Eyes Area is a cool mod too! Have u made anything similar to it?

 

Anywayz, the mod comes very nicely, and if u need help with scripting, call me

 

[email protected]

[Lioshenka]

ok, thank you we`ll i`ll keep you in mind.

 

and your help will be rewarded

[gta player06]

Nice mod! Vehicles look pretty good. I can`t wait to see screenshots from missions. Good work guys.

Btw I think that you can`t sell this modification because it`s illegal. You didn`t bought the SA engine which you`re using and you can`t make money from the game. At least it says so in license.

[Lioshenka]

well, it`s not my problems the team leaders want to sell the mod, but it actually will be only cost of the DVD and P&P i dunno if THIS is illegal tho, but anyway i am against selling the actual mod. I am trying to make them to agree to upload it somwhere on internet when it`s done... 8 GB btw...