A GTA modder has got the 1997 original working on modern PCs and Steam Deck
Source: Hacker News
Nice one, right, beauty! What a way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GTA, even though I am a day late to the celebration, having all three games remastered on such a day is nothing short of respect. This version may even rival the MAX PACK by Toshiba‑3. I have not played all the way through this version of the 2D trilogy, but it all looked good to me from the outside and among the few things I messed around with in‑game. I love the CRT filter you added; combined with the aspect‑ratio option it makes for a nostalgic joyride. I am not sure what to think about the other filters. Bilinear, scanline, fast‑sharpen, and xbr‑lv2‑noblend are the only ones I noticed any real differences on. Albeit small, they made a difference compared to the other filters on this list where I saw little to no effect at all, although that could just be my laptop acting funny.
Something I noticed about London 1969 and London 1961 is that both have scores from previous games; I think you may have forgotten to fix that, but it is not really a big deal breaker. There are some suggestions I would like to add to improve the experience; I’ll leave the glitch hunting to others or when I eventually get back into the spirit of the game.
Quick edit
- There are only two languages at the moment; I hope to see support for other languages in an update.
- What does the German flag icon at the upper right do?
HUD needs an update
Don’t get me wrong, I like the HUD—it gives off a typical ’90s or 2000s vibe just from the way it looks. However, the background picture looks rushed and somewhat bland, and there are very few options to choose from.
Possible improvements:
- Refresh the background image and expand the option list.
- Add an option to play each game with its own unique menus and backgrounds.
- Provide tooltip descriptions for the “Vsync” and “Aspect ratio” options (they are currently missing).
- Include a “Controls” menu directly in the HUD for quick access, rather than requiring users to edit files manually.
- (Optional) Offer the 2D GTA maps as a selectable option.
3DFX & Low Color Mode
This may be a stretch and possibly impossible to include since this is running on the Windows version of the 2D GTA games, but it would be nice to have these options. There isn’t a strong argument for their inclusion beyond the different graphics style and potentially better framerate in low‑color mode. Ultimately, this is up to you, as the package is already solid overall.
Conclusion
That is all I could really offer as suggestions based on what I have noticed outside the games. I do not want to come off as ungrateful or whiny for this port—I’m not. Thanks to your contribution the game runs better and plays better. Not to mention, the multiplayer is much more accessible and less of a headache to set up than the MAX PACK version, which required additional programming to get working. So again, you have my thanks and the thanks of everyone in the GTA community.
Edited October 22, 2022 by ThermalSmoke – Grammar correction & tweaks