LCS's engine?

[emeryrulz]

Yes I search, and got nothing, that I didn't have to search through like 20 pages to find. I really want to know what engine LCS and VCS are running on. I tried wiki, but it seems someone get a hold of it and edited it. Is it the same thing as all the other 3D GTA's, I believe RenderWare?

[Ja750]

Yes I search, and got nothing, that I didn't have to search through like 20 pages to find. I really want to know what engine LCS and VCS are running on. I tried wiki, but it seems someone get a hold of it and edited it. Is it the same thing as all the other 3D GTA's, I believe RenderWare?

Im not sure, The past GTA's run on Renderware (3, VC, SA) but if you remember... the banner that used to be up the top of the VCS Section "VCS Dosen't Use The San Andreas Engine"

 

I don't think they run on Renderware.

[Canoxa]

If I remember correctly the pre-release discussion of these games, it was a modified rendition of Vice City's Renderware version.

[emeryrulz]

Thats what I was thinking. So would LCS use a modified version of GTA3's?

[Blackadder.]

If I remember correctly the pre-release discussion of these games, it was a modified rendition of Vice City's Renderware version.

I'm probably wrong, but I think they actually used parts of the San Andreas engine aswell, there are some minor things that show this, and VCS furthers this

 

But it is safe to say LCS/VCS runs on a edited VC engine.

[james_root]

lcs and vcs used renderware engine aswell as gta3,vc,sa

[gamerzworld]

It does NOT run on RenderWare! They would have to make an license agreement with EA to do that and I don't think Rockstar would want to do that. (EA bought RenderWare just before SA was released. Luckily, Rockstar had already licensed the engine for SA and Bully before EA came into the picture) In an interview with the head of Rockstar Leeds back before LCS was released, he said LCS uses a new in house engine. VCS uses that same "in house" engine with a few tweaks. This is why the model and texture formats are not like SA, VC, or III.

[jnzooger]

It is however highly based on VC's Renderware. That is why, in LCS, you can get the $50 bonus for stopping people running from the cops. (Previously only in VC)

 

 

Independence

Though most players won't realize it, one of the more interesting notes about Liberty City Stories' technology is that this is the first time since the series has gone 3D that there's a GTA game not built using Renderware. Instead, the LCS engine has been built by Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North. This doesn't come as a huge surprise, though -- you didn't expect Rockstar to want to pay Electronic Arts (which recently purchased Criterion, which is responsible for Renderware) royalties on every GTA game sold, did you?

 

 

GTA: LCS's engine is nothing more than the Vice City engine with less polygons. Either this game was in development since before San Andreas came out, or Rockstar decided that there was no way they could get the SA engine running on the PSP. Either way, it's great. You have motorcycles, helicopters, you can shoot out tires, go indoors, etc. But like I said, it has none of the new features from San Andreas; no bikes, no player stats.

This, of course is mis-guided, but does show that it is based on Renderware. Edited July 13, 2007 by jnzooger

[Ash_735]

Just to clear this uo, it's actually RAGE it uses, but a toned down version of it, as it is Rockstar Own Engine. LCS was based on the Vice incarnation of the Renderware Engine and was near enough "Emulated" the whole thing with a few things added here and there and some stuff tweaked. VCS is an evolved version of that, but not as evolved as the San Andreas incarnation of Renderware. The VCS engine is just a vastly upgraded LCS engine with some stuff copied from the San Andreas Engine. To map it out...

 

GTA3 - Renderware

Vice City - Renderware, Upgraded Incarnation of GTA3

San Andreas - Renderware, Vast Upgraded Incarnation of Vice City

 

LCS - RAGE, Based on Vice City Incarnation of Renderware

VCS - RAGE, Upgraded Incarnation of LCS

 

edit: The above information is outdated, LCS and VCS do use a custom rendering engine but it's known internally as R*L3D, this information was found out around six years after this post.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Ash_735

[VictorVNce3]

I know this maybe a dead forum, but I just wanna say that both VCS and LCS is not at all based off the engines from III and VC but based off a retooled San andreas engine, kinda how GTA IV engine is used in The ballad of Gay tony and The lost and damned, I kinda think that San andreas is the main game kinda like GTA IV and the stories games are DLC that you pay for.

[WedaSan]

On 8/9/2022 at 10:42 PM, VictorVNce3 said:

I know this maybe a dead forum, but I just wanna say that both VCS and LCS is not at all based off the engines from III and VC but based off a retooled San andreas engine, kinda how GTA IV engine is used in The ballad of Gay tony and The lost and damned, I kinda think that San andreas is the main game kinda like GTA IV and the stories games are DLC that you pay for.

As for VCS, I am sure. Since both VCS and SA have quadbike, police bike and bicycle and also the ability to swim.

I thought LCS was based on VC engine. Since the emergency vehicles siren was using VC instead of III.

Hidden Packages system in LCS was also based on III and VC.

[stef_92]

I didn't expect to see such outcome of the discussion in this topic I always thought that LCS and VCS use Renderware, specifically the same implementation from Vice City (at least) because LCS have fully functional bikes and helicopter physics (of course they don't allow you to control helicopters but we know about those 2 missions that can be exploited). I wasn't aware that EA games bought RenderWare at that time

Edited May 6, 2025 by stef_92

[cant remember]

I only recently learned LCS and VCS don't use RenderWare but they still are renderware games in my heart.

[Hazelnot]

RenderWare is/was primarily a rendering engine. It did also come with physics, audio, and AI APIs, but the actual game logic of the 3D era games is as far as I'm aware fully custom. LCS and VCS feel like the Renderware-based because they run on updated versions of the same engine, with the rendering (and possibly other stuff?) swapped out - basically, what's used for the presentation is different, but the core is the same.

[Jencike1997]

3 uses renderware VC SA LCS and VCS use an updated version of renderware

[Stahli]

14 hours ago, Jencike1997 said:

3 uses renderware VC SA LCS and VCS use an updated version of renderware

Didn't you read the posts above yours?  

[Jeansowaty]

On 11/25/2025 at 1:23 PM, Hazelnot said:

RenderWare is/was primarily a rendering engine. It did also come with physics, audio, and AI APIs, but the actual game logic of the 3D era games is as far as I'm aware fully custom. LCS and VCS feel like the Renderware-based because they run on updated versions of the same engine, with the rendering (and possibly other stuff?) swapped out - basically, what's used for the presentation is different, but the core is the same.

Finally someone who f*cking gets it. That's exactly it. It's not the main engine and all being "renderware", it's predominantly the graphic rendering engine, but the rest of the code is custom by R*. Look at Defective Edition, it runs off Unreal and not RenderWare and yet it plays almost the same.

[_Xrtist_]

From what I’ve gathered over the years, this is roughly how the progression went — not in a strictly technical sense, but more in terms of how it feels when playing:

 

0> 1999
GTA III and Manhunt both began development around 1999.

 

1> 2001: GTA III
The foundation.

 

2> 2002: Vice City
Built on an enhanced fork of the GTA III engine, with some early Manhunt (beta) models.

 

3> 2003: Manhunt
Still very similar to GTA III in feel, but with much higher texture resolution (mostly 512×512), compared to III and VC’s typical 128×128 or 256×256 textures.

 

4> 2004: San Andreas
A heavily upgraded version of the Vice City engine, incorporating Manhunt models and several new features. PC version had high-res textures.

 

5> 2005:

 

Liberty City Stories
Uses the Vice City engine with several San Andreas improvements (camera, HUD, cutscene character design). At its core, though, it still feels like GTA III running on the VC engine with a new story.
(The PS2 version also reused many generic San Andreas assets, such as trees and environmental objects.)

 

The Warriors
Likely based on either the LCS or San Andreas engine, judging by its visuals and gameplay mechanics.

 

6> 2006:

 

Vice City Stories
Built on the same engine as LCS, but with even more San Andreas features and refinements.

 

Bully

Reminiscent of the SA engine, but i'm not really sure

 

7> 2007: Manhunt 2
This marks the end of the classic “SA-style” engine lineage before the transition to the next generation.