GTA 1 Save Mod idea

[RGF]

It's been almost 25 years since the first release of the first Grand Theft Auto (according to GTA Wiki Fandom it was first released in United Kingdom on 21st October 1997) and today there still isn't a mod that would allow you to save the game progress.

Because of that I decided to create this article, in which I will explain how I want to make the save game mod, but since I don't know how to create the mod, one of you will have to create the mod basing on my explanation.

Here's the explanation:

1. Options

There will be 3 options in this mod: Load saved game, Save game, Delete saved game.

Each one of these options will be in use after pressing following buttons: F1 for "Load saved game" menu, F2 for "Save game" menu, F3 for "Delete saved game" menu. To close one of these options just press their button once more (example: F1 to open "Load saved game" menu and then F1 to close "Load saved game" menu).

2. Interface and functionality

After pressing one of these buttons the game will freeze (just like when you press the pause button - F6) and a menu will pop up. It will have the same style, font and colors as the "Ya want out?" screen and resolution change menu. The menu will pop up on the center of the screen and will look like this (in this case the "Save game" menu):

Save game

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

After choosing one of the empty slots a menu will pop up that will look like this:

Are you sure you want to overwrite this slot?

Yes / No

If you choose "No", then you will be brought back to the "Save game" menu with no changes.

If you choose "Yes", then you will be brought back to the "Save game" menu and you will see that your choosen slot is overwritten/saved. The overwritten/saved game slot name will be name of the city and chapter you saved the game, date and time when you saved the game.
No mission name will display at the saved game slot, because missions don't have names in GTA 1. Here's how it will look like:

Save game

Liberty City, Gangsta Bang, 05.09.2022 16:45

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Now here's the "Load saved game" menu:

Load saved game

Liberty City, Gangsta Bang, 05.09.2022 16:45

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

If you choose an Empty slot, then nothing will happen.

If you choose a slot with saved game a menu will pop up that will look like this:

Are you sure you want to load the saved game?

Yes / No

If you choose "No", then you will be brought back to the "Load saved game" menu with no changes.

If you choose "Yes", then this menu and the "Load saved game" menu will disappear and the saved game will load. After the saved game loaded the game will unfreeze and there will be a text on top of the screen "Saved game loaded."

The last one is "Delete saved game" menu:

Delete saved game

Liberty City, Gangsta Bang, 05.09.2022 16:45

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

Empty slot

If you choose an Empty slot, then nothing will happen.

If you choose a slot with saved game a menu will pop up that will look like this:

Are you sure you want to delete the saved game?

Yes / No

If you choose "No", then you will be brought back to the "Delete saved game" menu with no changes.

If you choose "Yes", then you will be brought back to the "Delete saved game" menu, but the slot you choosed to be deleted is now Empty slot. Also there will be a text on top of the screen "Saved game deleted."

Edited September 5, 2022 by RGF

[fresh.prince]

The game already has it, called "save states". But I think saving mode will diminish the game's excitement since it probably wasn't supposed to be played that way.

[RGF]

On 11/15/2023 at 2:37 PM, fresh.prince said:

The game already has it, called "save states".

Are you talking about GTA Max Pack by Toshiba-3?

[RGF]

On 11/15/2023 at 2:37 PM, fresh.prince said:

But I think saving mode will diminish the game's excitement since it probably wasn't supposed to be played that way.

But without the saving mode the game is extremely difficult (and impossible if want to complete all missions and kill frenzies).
Also keep in mind that each next chapter and city is more missions and more money required to complete, so I can imagine to complete the game is to playing for hours and taking breaks without closing the game, which is not fun at all that's why I only managed to complete Liberty City chapter 1 (perhaps chapter 2 but I don't remember).

[RGF]

Good thing there is the GTA Max Pack by Toshiba-3 which seems to be the best way to play GTA 1, because it has the save state feature, it works great on Windows 10 and it also has scans of city maps (in a folder). There is also GTA London '69 and '61 included, which is also a good thing about the Max Pack.

I only wonder what if someone is using Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows XP PC for old games, because the GTA Max Pack is "meant for newer systems like Windows 8.1 and Windows 10." So I'm guessing that unfortunately on old PC's the game still has to be played without the save state?

[jm-9]

4 hours ago, RGF said:

Good thing there is the GTA Max Pack by Toshiba-3 which seems to be the best way to play GTA 1, because it has the save state feature, it works great on Windows 10 and it also has scans of city maps (in a folder). There is also GTA London '69 and '61 included, which is also a good thing about the Max Pack.

I only wonder what if someone is using Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows XP PC for old games, because the GTA Max Pack is "meant for newer systems like Windows 8.1 and Windows 10." So I'm guessing that unfortunately on old PC's the game still has to be played without the save state?

Yep, that's what I had to do a few years ago when I beat the Windows versions of all three games on Windows 98. It's not as bad as it seems. Exploration is key in the game. I have the A3 paper maps from the original big box release, but I also printed out maps to mark locations of weapons, police bribes, get out of jail free cards, kill frenzies, lives and most importantly mission multipliers. See my comment here for a picture of one of them. Combined with the open world nature of the later levels (meaning you can skip the hardest missions) it's really not so bad.