Grand Theft Auto: Vital Improvements Pack (VIP)

[DEALUX]

 

Grand Theft Auto: Vital Improvements Pack (VIP) is a series of mods aiming to improve the GTA experience by mainly focusing on audio modifications as well as other types of mods that have yet to be announced.

 

 

 

 

This series of mods aims to improve the sound quality of radio stations and other ambient sounds of GTA games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mod status: Complete (V2 Update, January 20, 2018)

Fully remastered radio stations in 16 bit, 44.1 KHz PCM with lossless sources (with some exceptions where I couldn't source lossles files for some of the songs).

Update: Fixed loudness issues that were caused by an improperly configured limiter on the master channel in the mixer. Completely disabled limiter and done some manual volume control to get a relatively even loudness across the mix. Re-download radio stations to fix the loudness issue that was present in the initial release.

[table]
Radio StationDownloadDetails
Double Clef FMWAVFully remastered station with alternative versions of the original songs (the originals could not be sourced but these recordings are higher quality; Credits). Also restored missing PS2 song.
Flashback FMWAVRemade the original mix with two bonus songs from the Scarface soundtrack (they fit the station really well).
Game Radio FMWAVStation remastered with fully lossless source material (Sampler CD containing two of the radio stations). Also restored the song "Scary Movies" in its full form.
Head RadioWAVRemake of the original mix with (presumably) remastered lossless sources of the original songs with slightly extended length.
K-JAH RadioWAVRemade the original mix in high quality with lossless song sources and slightly extended length (original ending of the final song was cut off).
Lips 106WAVRemastered the original mix using partial original master (from the Sampler CD) and lossless sources of the original songs. Restored the station in its "beta" form (with "Wash Him Off" and "Rush Rush").
MSX FMWAVAlternative version of the original mix with extra songs mixed by Timecode (Tracklist). The station was likely based on this mix (it has no MC voice now).
Rise FMWAVAlternative mix in higher quality. My (amateurish) attempt at remaking the original mix with no voice-over.
Google Driver Folder[/table]
Installation: Simply drop the WAV files in the audio folder of your game.

Special mention: Big thanks to stef_92 for helping me source some of the songs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Development videos
 

 

 

 

Mod status: Complete

New ambient sounds for GTA III (same files as the Vice City SFX).

[table]
SFXDownloadDetails
CityWAVNew city ambient sounds.
WaterWAVNew water\ocean ambiance.
Google Driver Folder[/table]
Installation: Simply drop the WAV files in the audio folder of your game.

 

Mod Status: Complete (V2 Update, January 20, 2018)

I'll start off this topic by posting my recently remastered radio stations for Vice City. They include lossless content from the box set soundtrack as well as other sources plus high quality ads from the Rockstar Advertising Council website (big thanks to spaceenstein for helping me figure out how to source the files). The remastered stations provide WAV (16 bit PCM) or 320 Kbps MP3 (in ADF format) sound quality which provide a vastly improved experience over the original (128 Kbps MP3). Some song lengths are extended and some missing songs are restored.

Update: Fixed mix loudness on all radio stations (plus the mix that plays inside the Malibu club, with higher quality reverb and no limiting). First version of the stations were mixed and exported with an improperly configured limiter on the master channel which caused a 3-5 dB lift on all audio content. The limiter was removed for V2 thus fixing the loudness issue.

[table]
Radio StationDownload 1Download 2Details
Emotion 98.3ADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD.
Radio EspantosoADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD.
Fever 105ADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD.
Flash FMADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD. Restored "Running With The Night" from the PS2 version.
V-RockADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD. Fixed broken song (as a consequence of re-mixing the mix) and restored Love Fist songs.
Wave 103ADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD.
WildstyleADFWAVAdded extra DJ voice-over from the soundtrack CD.
Google Drive Folder
[/table]
Extras: K-Chat and VCPR are also available in Xbox audio quality (WMA source) which is perceptually better than the PS2 and PC versions.

Installation: Download the ADF files to your game's audio folder. This modification may require a no-CD crack since the default game may in fact load the audio files from the Play CD (which bypasses my mod). If you want the absolute best audio quality you may download the WAV versions but using them in game requires HEX editing of the exe (which must be cracked exe, which is a recurring requirement for mods in general). Simply edit the strings in the executable for each radio station to the desired file name, e.g. EMOTION.ADF should read EMOTION.WAV in the exe in all places. Be careful because there are multiple strings mentioning each one of the audio files\radio stations and you must change the extension to WAV for each one if you do decide to use the WAV versions.

Alternatively, you could use VBDec if you want to use the WAV files for radio stations and other stuff. Just download VBDec and Audio Samples and follow the installation instructions. Then edit the strings in the audio-samples.ini file (e.g. EMOTION.ADF to EMOTION.WAV, City.MP3 to City.WAV, etc).

 

Mod Status: Complete

These are various improvements to ambient sounds and music in MP3 (320 Kbps, 44.1\48 KHz) and WAV (16 bit, 44.1\48 KHz). Some songs were restored as heard in the initial PS2 version and cutscenes. Ambient recordings sourced from Freesound.org with permission (Creative Commons license). Most of the mixes are longer than the original versions.

[table]
SFXDownload 1Download 2Details
AirHornLN/AWAVNew air horn sound effect.
AirHornRN/AWAVNew air horn sound effect.
ambsilMP3WAVNew ambient sounds for an unknown area, possibly near the beach or somewhere in the city.
BeachAmbMP3WAVNew ambient sounds for the beach as the name suggests.
CityMP3WAVNew ambient sounds for the city as the name suggests.
DirtRingMP3WAVRemade the mix in higher quality.
HbeachMP3WAVNew beach ambient sounds (different beach area).
HCityMP3WAVNew city ambient sounds (different city area).
HotelMP3WAVRecreated the mix that plays inside the Ocean View Hotel in higher quality (also added new songs from Radio Espantoso).
HwaterMP3WAVNew water\ocean ambiance.
MalibuMP3WAVRestored the full list of songs as heard in the PS2 and other versions during cutscenes.
MallAmbMP3WAVAlternative list of stock music songs used with CC license (Credits).
MiscomMP3WAVHigher quality version of the mission complete jingle (sourced from the PCM intro file).
policeMP3WAVThe PS2 version of the police radio chatter (it's louder and more "radio" like).
StripMP3WAVRecreated the mix that plays in the Pole Position Club in higher quality (also added several new songs from the soundtrack).
stripaMP3WAVRecreated the "More Bounce To The Ounce" jingle that plays in the Pole Position Club in higher quality.
taxiMP3WAVKaufman Cabs taxi radio chatter from the PS2 version (it sounds a bit better\louder).
WaterMP3WAVNew water\ocean ambiance (different area).
Google Driver Folder[/table]

Installation: Simply drop the MP3 files in the audio folder of your game. WAV versions require HEX hacking of the exe as in the case of the radio stations (multiple strings need to be replaced, e.g. Malibu.MP3 to Malibu.WAV etc).

Alternatively, you could use VBDec if you want to use the WAV files for radio stations and other stuff. Just download VBDec and Audio Samples and follow the installation instructions. Then edit the strings in the audio-samples.ini file (e.g. EMOTION.ADF to EMOTION.WAV, City.MP3 to City.WAV, etc).

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by DEALUX

[spaceshape]

Really Noice.

[5Alex]

Nice this is Very Good , i wanted to, see one pack As good as, the pack INSANITY v2 of Ezekiel I think it can be that one!

[5Alex]

Nothing Against EzekielRN and of course !!

Nothing Against He, but has some "MODS" of it that are not so good !!

Edited February 11, 2017 by 5 ALEX

[AndyC1992]

Nice this is Very Good , i wanted to, see one pack As good as, the pack INSANITY v2 of Ezekiel I think it can be that one!

 

This isn't supposed to be compared to Ezekiel's Insanity Pack, which involves upgrading and renewing almost every aspect of SA, ranging from textures to audios, which is a huge project, but this one only focuses on audio renewing and remastering of the III-era games.

Edited February 12, 2017 by AndyC1992

[LaDiDa]

Well III and VC audio remasters were vastly needed since their quality is straight yukkie... However SA doesn't have as bad quality audio (at least not as notable), so I'm really curious how that will turn out

[5Alex]

 

Nice this is Very Good , i wanted to, see one pack As good as, the pack INSANITY v2 of Ezekiel I think it can be that one!

 

This isn't supposed to be compared to Ezekiel's Insanity Pack, which involves upgrading and renewing almost every aspect of SA, ranging from textures to audios, which is a huge project, but this one only focuses on audio renewing and remastering of the III-era games.

 

Exactly because of this, what i because like of this pack!!

he is totalmente difference of pack of EzekielRN V2!!

Good! As I said above and my opinion You don't have to take it seriously OK !!

[DEALUX]

Well III and VC audio remasters were vastly needed since their quality is straight yukkie... However SA doesn't have as bad quality audio (at least not as notable), so I'm really curious how that will turn out

III is particularly challenging because a lot of the songs can't be sourced in their original quality. Plus mixing Rise and MSX is going to be impossible (I'm not a DJ for starters), at least in the way it was done originally. MSX will essentially lose the MC voice but some people probably didn't like it to begin with.

 

SA has OGG audio which should be replaceable easily with WAV files via ModLoader. As for the quality of the original audio, it's pretty bad. Variable bitrate in the 120 (something) kbps range and a 32 KHz sampling rate. I will either do 16 bit, 44.1 KHz PCM or high quality (500 kbps, 44.1 KHz) OGG provided that either Modloader can enable WAV playback instead of OGG or if the game's decoder supports higher quality OGG files. I am doing some testing right now to see which format works.

[Ash_735]

Higher quality OGG isn't exactly a different thing, either the game decodes OGG Vorbis or it doesn't, and the game does.

[DEALUX]

Higher quality OGG isn't exactly a different thing, either the game decodes OGG Vorbis or it doesn't, and the game does.

Yeah, I figured but I am not familiar with this format. Not sure if I can use SAAT though. I mean people are saying it's buggy and that the game restricts you to the original sampling rate, which is not ideal. There is another method of changing the stations which allows for PCM playback but each station has to be a continuous mix (no more dynamic ads and DJ).

 

I will get back to this mod in a few days as I have been too sick lately to work on anything.

[BS_BlackScout]

Good luck with this project man. Nothing great as high fidelity sound .

I've tested the ADVERTS for San Andreas. Seems to be buggy but that's fine. Otherwise the quality is superb.

[DEALUX]

Wait. What's buggy? Please give me exact details and how did you test it?

 

I splice everything to be the same length as the original files, with millisecond precision. If it is buggy as you say then maybe this kind of mod is impossible. Timings might be different due to the increased sampling rate (if the game counts length in terms of samples). I don't know.

 

Edit: Make sure to also download the TrakLkup.DAT file.

Edited March 3, 2017 by ΣΓ

[EternalFlakko]

Actually HCity Is For the Hurricane city ambiance

Edited March 3, 2017 by SolidFrost

[DEALUX]

Actually HCity Is For the City Rain ambient Sound

I think the original recording didn't sound rainy to me at all (more like windy).

 

I re-imported the ads into the game and updated the TrakLkup.DAT file. I did change one more thing by accident (an SFUR song) and it seemed like it wouldn't affect the game (but it might if you don't have the same stream files I have, in this case HC). It should be fixed now (I hope).

Edited March 3, 2017 by ΣΓ

[EternalFlakko]

Sorry For Spamming The Topic, But I found out that

Hbeach Is For Hurricane beach ambiance

and Hwater Is For Hurricane water ambiance.

[DEALUX]

Good luck with this project man. Nothing great as high fidelity sound .

I've tested the ADVERTS for San Andreas. Seems to be buggy but that's fine. Otherwise the quality is superb.

Hmmm. I think I know what the bug is. Radio stations get stuck when ads play (they don't go to the next song for some reason unless you switch stations and go back). At least that is what happened one time during testing.

 

As for the quality, yeah, the 27 ads that I have (encoded in M4A) are louder and higher quality sounding. They probably remastered them or something.

 

Edit: SAAT is f*cked. I straight up just resampled SF-UR from 32 KHz to 44.1 KHz and imported back and the game doesn't go to the next song for some reason. It gets stuck. I will have to use SAORS for this.

Edited March 3, 2017 by ΣΓ

[[...]]

I installed all the SFX files for Vice City and I have the "insert CD" error, even though I've cracked my game. Tried to install .WAV files, edited the .exe file in all necessary places.

[DEALUX]

You made a spelling mistake somewhere or something.

 

Edit: Also make sure to replace all the strings for any given file. Each file is mentioned multiple times and each mention needs to be edited.

Edited March 18, 2017 by ΣΓ

[Ash_735]

Or use VBDec*, since you can set the file extension there to ANY format via notepad.

 

*The audio-samples.ini and asi is what you need from the VBDec package, that allows you to re-route the current audio streams to other places, so in this case, it would be changing:

 

AUDIO\WILD.ADF

to

 

AUDIO\WILD.WAV

To have the game use the WAV file instead, no EXE editing required, keep it clean and simple.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Ash_735

[[...]]

@@Ash_735, will it work if I change it like this:

AUDIO\WILD.ADF

to

AUDIO2\WILD.WAV

[Ash_735]

Yes, as long as there's an Audio2 folder with those files.

[DEALUX]

Yes, as long as there's an Audio2 folder with those files.

Is that where the new audio files have to go? It doesn't mention that in the VBDec topic.

 

Anyway, I updated the instructions in the main post. I will also continue working on the SA remasters soon. I am currently healing from otitis for the billionth time and I am looking forward to get back to work.

Edited March 20, 2017 by ΣΓ

[Ash_735]

Is that where the new audio files have to go? It doesn't mention that in the VBDec topic.

Nope, but IF you want to have these audio files elsewhere then yes, you can use it to specify a new folder. So if people wanted to keep all modded audio away from original audio, then they can denote which folder it's in via the ini.

[BS_BlackScout]

Dude... that is too loud... Brick

 

PLAYBACK.WAV

 

 

Great job nonetheless

Edited March 26, 2017 by BlackScout

[DEALUX]

There shouldn't be any clipping though since I ran a limiter on the master channel. These are different/newer masters hence the loudness. I prefer that level of compression.

 

Edit: I generally don't mess with the levels since I am not a sound engineer and I don't have a lot of experience with mixing/mastering.

Edited March 27, 2017 by ΣΓ

[Cygi]

Regarding youtube thumbnails on the first post:

Any chance for a link to GTA III and Vice City menu screens like in your videos?

They're beautiful.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Cygi

[zanesix]

 

Regarding youtube thumbnails on the first post:

 

Any chance for a link to GTA III and Vice City menu screens like in your videos?

 

They're beautiful.

 

idk about Vice City but the GTA 3 one is the widescreen fix 16:9 textures.

[DEALUX]

Regarding youtube thumbnails on the first post:

 

Any chance for a link to GTA III and Vice City menu screens like in your videos?

 

They're beautiful.

I have several mod sources for that and some of the screens are made by me with Rockstar website sources. File size is huge since these are mostly hi-res (2K-4K) images and they are not compressed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GOIeTAqXdSixuDyoibuLCjx6tXOz3rV9/view?usp=sharing

 

I have released an update for the GTA San Andreas radio station remakes. I have switched to another mod that helps me replace the station hence why my previous release of the mod is no longer supported. Please test and report any bugs (it should work almost like the original radio station). I will be releasing the other stations in the following weeks.

 

Also, a small teaser for another mod I will be working on at some point:

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by Dealux

[DEALUX]

Bump. I redid the mixes for the GTA 3 and Vice City radio stations to fix the loudness issues. Apparently the default limiter I was using on my master channel was giving the mix a 3-5 dB lift, which squished the sound and ruined the dynamics of the songs. It's now fixed thanks to the fact that I backed up the project files for these stations. More GTA San Andreas stations coming tomorrow.

 

Also, this is an analysis of V1 and V2 versions of the III and VC stations. Dynamics look a lot better even on a waveform view.

 

 

[Ash_735]

96Khz/24bit, bruh unless you've got access to the master tapes for these songs and remastered them yourself that is seriously way overkill for this.