Easy solution to play modded GTA IV through RGL online without updating game files

[rishabh2011 1]

I don't know if this solution has been found out already but I figured I'd post it anyway.

 

I recently bought GTA IV through the RGL as I own all other rockstar games solely on RGL. I wanted to apply the NBmod pack (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2119440953)  to the game which is a collection of mods that fixes/improves the various issues with the original game. Unfortunately I was able to launch the game only for the first time after applying the pack as the launcher was already running. The second time I started the launcher, it started updating the game to replace the modded files with the original files.

 

I had no choice but to redownload the original files to be able to play the game. Then I read about a workaround online which involved switching off internet and starting the game and then turning the internet back on. This works but there are a couple of problems. First, I am pretty sure I don't get cloud saves and achievements with this method as the launcher itself remains offline.  Second, with this method I can't play any other rockstar title online like RDRO or GTAO as that would mean I have to start the launcher while connected to the internet and it would immediately start replacing the GTA IV modded files. So I thought why don't I just rename the installation folder. That way the launcher would think the game is not installed and I could play other rockstar titles online. So I renamed the game installation folder and started RGL. To my surprise the launcher auto detected the renamed installation folder but didn't attempt to update it. So now I have tried this out a couple of times. Simply renaming the installation folder makes it so that when RGL is launched it auto detects the "new" installation folder without updating the files. The folder renaming has to be done every single time RGL is quit.

 

I don't know if this solution works for the steam version of the game or that if it works with other GTA titles but I would assume they should work.

 

TLDR :-  Rename game installation folder every time after quitting RGL. When RGL is then launched it will auto detect the "new" game installation folder and will allow playing GTA IV with mods i.e. it won't try to replace the modded files. This solution obviously assumes that auto update is turned off in RGL game settings. I would also recommend keeping a backup of the original game files so that just incase someone forgets to rename the folder and RGL starts auto updating they can simply copy paste files and won't have to wait for RGL to download the original files. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by rishabh2011

[Silverdroid 1]

This is a prime example on how much Rockstar just hates its customers. Having to do this everytime - what a hassle.

Anyway, thank you for this - I'll definitely try this out!

[catsmackaroo 20]

I heard about a commandline you could use in RGL named -skippatchercheck

but I also heard that this unfortunately doesn't work, but the way you'd do it is go into RGL>Settings>Grand Theft Auto IV then change command parameters or somethin like that...

 

I've been wondering if this works for a long time so if someone could correct me I'm wrong, that'd be epic 😎

[kubon352 720]

On 11/13/2020 at 5:57 AM, catsmackaroo said:

I heard about a commandline you could use in RGL named -skippatchercheck

but I also heard that this unfortunately doesn't work, but the way you'd do it is go into RGL>Settings>Grand Theft Auto IV then change command parameters or somethin like that...

 

I've been wondering if this works for a long time so if someone could correct me I'm wrong, that'd be epic 😎

Try this  -scOfflineOnly

[SupermanNew534 0]

Hey man, how would I change the install directory?