Definitive Edition is good now? - A list of bugs from past PS2/PC/Mobile versions fixed on the current DE version

[skyeyemx]

I've been playing this game since the original PS2 release, and have 100%ed it on PS2, PC (Steam), and iOS over the years.

 

I've recently been rediscovering the game via the Definitive Edition on PC (Windows 11). I held off on it originally because I watched all the Vadim M reviews of how buggy and messy the edition was, but I figured since it's had several patches, it might be worth trying now.

 

Hot take: it's actually pretty good. Or at least, it is now. Aside for the excellent graphics, I noticed quite a few bug fixes that fix issues that even my original PS2 version had:

• All bugs with high FPS are gone. I can now play the entire game on my 165 Hz monitor without ever needing a frame limiter. Plus, the original 24 FPS frame limiter was absolute trash.
  • Swimming is now at regular speed.
  • The Skimmer can take off properly.
  • Carl swims fast enough to keep up with opponents in Beat the Cock.
  • Button tapping for super sprint doesn't require ungodly speed at high FPS.
  • No random physics bugs or teleportation.
• Fire affects NPCs now. In either the original PS2 version, the PC version, or the crap Remastered versions; fire on the ground did not affect NPCs whatsoever, and fire didn't transfer from person-to-person. You could only light someone on fire by directly hitting them with the Flamethrower. This bug was fixed in DE, making the Flamethrower a significantly more usable weapon.
  • 
• Dense grass is back. Only the PS2 version seemed to have dense grass throughout the desert and countryside. We lost a lot of grass with the PC/Xbox ports, and the Remastered editions completely nuked all grass that was left.
  • 
• Cars can get dirty and be cleaned. This feature where a car could get dirty as you drive on dirt, and could be cleaned at Pay 'n' Spray, only seemed to work on my PS2 version. It does not work at all on my PC version of iOS remastered version, and it seems like most versions of GTA SA have this feature broken. Cars can't get any more dirty or be cleaned at all. DE fixes this so it works as originally intended, though
  • 
• Basketball glitch is gone. Saving/loading from Madd Dogg's Crib no longer breaks Basketball.
  • 
• Analog gas & brake pedals. The PC and Remastered editions of the games only had binary on/off gas and brake controls, while the original PS2 version had a low press and a high press with nothing in between. The DE edition now actually gives you 0-100% pedal actuation mapped to the triggers, which allows you to drive considerably better now that you can feather the brake and throttle. It makes driving cars like the Super GT and Elegy much more viable.
• Full vibration support is back. For some reason, we lost vibration support on the mobile version and Xbox Remastered versions. Not to mention that the original PC version never had vibration support in the first place.
•  

 

Random other bug fixes I noticed:

• Taillights can be knocked out now. For some reason, in all prior versions of the game, only headlights could be knocked out with damage. Now taillights do, too. Small bug fix, but a good one.
• Car drivers no longer randomly die when you hold the gas button while jacking a car from the passenger side.
• Mountain bike no longer bugs out when sprinting forward while reversing.
• Will update this post if I find more bugfixes through my playthrough. I'll especially be looking to see if the Basketball glitch has been fixed

Edited July 11, 2024 by skyeyemx

[Moncastler]

1 hour ago, skyeyemx said:

• All bugs with high FPS are gone. I can now play the entire game on my 165 Hz monitor without ever needing a frame limiter. Plus, the original 24 FPS frame limiter was absolute trash.
  • Swimming is now at regular speed.
  • The Skimmer can take off properly.
  • Carl swims fast enough to keep up with opponents in Beat the Cock.
  • Button tapping for super sprint doesn't require ungodly speed at high FPS.
  • No random physics bugs or teleportation.

Kinda. The physics is now tied to 60 FPS, meaning that swimming is still slower compared to PS2 / PC at 30 FPS / PC with FramerateVigilante. Plus frame pacing is still a big issue if you have in-game VSync and/or frame limiters enabled, I had to set these at a driver level in order to have a consistent frametime... At least it's possible to fix this on PC, console players have to stick with inconsistent frame pacing.

Performance is also abysmal, I have a RX 7800 XT and whenever there are intense light/dirt effects my framerate tanks to 40-50. Launching these games with the "-dx12" argument to use the DX12 API seems to bring a more consistent framerate, but it's still not acceptable for a game that is using RenderWare underneath Unreal Engine 4.

 

1 hour ago, skyeyemx said:

• Analog gas & brake pedals. The PC and Remastered editions of the games only had binary on/off gas and brake controls, while the original PS2 version had a low press and a high press with nothing in between. The DE edition now actually gives you 0-100% pedal actuation mapped to the triggers, which allows you to drive considerably better now that you can feather the brake and throttle. It makes driving cars like the Super GT and Elegy much more viable.
• Full vibration support is back. For some reason, we lost vibration support on the mobile version and Xbox Remastered versions. Not to mention that the original PC version never had vibration support in the first place.

It makes sense, DualShock 2 was one of the few controllers that had pressure sensitive face buttons and at the time it wasn't common to accelerate/brake with triggers (which were digital back then). Keyboards give a digital input, other controllers did the same, hence why the feature was cut from the other ports. These days games have accelerate/brake mapped to the triggers, which are analog on most controllers... The Definition Edition thankfully switched to a more modern control set, so this feature is back. But, to be fair, vibration and analog inputs are also supported by GInput on PC.

 

1 hour ago, skyeyemx said:

I've been playing this game since the original PS2 release, and have 100%ed it on PS2, PC (Steam), and iOS over the years.

 

I've recently been rediscovering the game via the Definitive Edition on PC (Windows 11). I held off on it originally because I watched all the Vadim M reviews of how buggy and messy the edition was, but I figured since it's had several patches, it might be worth trying now.

 

Hot take: it's actually pretty good. Or at least, it is now. Aside for the excellent graphics, I noticed quite a few bug fixes that fix issues that even my original PS2 version had:

I have 100%ed all Trilogy games on PS2, PC and TDE and for me TDE doesn't remotely come close to modded PC. TDE hasn't received many patches and on console/PC people are still waiting for the supposed "Netflx patch" that would bring a set of artistic improvements. I would argue that the out of the box experience is decent compared to all other versions, PC requires modding and PS2/Xbox versions feel outdated in terms of controls, gameplay, visuals and performance (they're 20 year old games after all). Quality-wise though, TDE is a poor showing and it's baffling to me that this thing has the Rockstar Games logo on it. Grammatical errors, missplaced textures, oversaturated colors, missing features, missing weather types, completely different atmosphere and colors, abysmal LOD management... It's hard to ignore all of this, at least for me.

Modding requires some effort and it's hard to choose exactly what you want, especially when you're approaching it for the first time... There are lots of videos, lots of modpacks, lots of guides and lots of opinions, I've been there and I know the struggle but the final result is IMO well worth it.

[Clare Dahl Sundance]

always keep up with the original with modloader, modders do a better job than a hired game dev firm

[MasterEr]

I understand you, as much as I have the original, I really liked the definitive edition, it gave life especially to GTA Vice City, which never had a mod so graphically beautiful.

[cant remember]

It's been a couple of months since I played but I had stopped after encountering some small things that annoyed me:

 

- The sound of the garage door is incorrectly looped in GTA3

- The music in the Bee arcade game loops incorrectly

- The overall plastic shiny look of all the characters. Which is a shame because I think the cars and environment look superb.

[ArmanCan]

 

[Gman8]

I am curious to see if the BP/EP/FP/DP car glitches from certain missions still works? Has anyone tried?

Edited October 7, 2024 by Gman8

[Angel Piner]

On 10/7/2024 at 3:31 AM, MasterEr said:

I understand you, as much as I have the original, I really liked the definitive edition, it gave life especially to GTA Vice City, which never had a mod so graphically beautiful.

I'm glad someone said it. Vice City definitely benefited most from the remaster, imo. It's so beautiful.

[kasa]

One of the worst bugs for me is npc’s stop commenting to cj after certain moment in story line. Anyone else noticed this? I hope one day they still fix it