GTAMP.com

The original Grand Theft Auto

Q: Is there anything I can do to speed up singleplayer?
A: Click start button > run > dxdiag > sound > change sound acceleration to basic or none.  Remember to change it back for other games.  Push F8 to turn the frame rate limiter on or off.   Push F11 to change resolution.

Q: GTA1 windows version crashes with NVIDIA 8800 and newer cards. Is there a fix?
A: I don’t know of any fix for the Windows version.  You could try running the DOS version in dosbox.

GTA1 development video from 1996!

OpenGTA - An open source clone of the GTA1 engine (written in C++ and SDL). You can walk around the GTA1 cities and fire some weapons but you can’t drive cars yet and it’s just singleplayer for now. Feel free to improve it.

GTAFixer.rar 23KB
The free version of GTA1 has some strange bug that corrupts PLAYER_A.DAT after the first run on some systems. Extract gtafixer.exe to your GTA1 folder and run it every time before you play GTA1. I think it changes a single byte in PLAYER_A.DAT and renames the music files to the correct filenames.

GTA1 Game Finder - Steven Day created this over a year ago but very few people used it and now the default server is down, so it doesn’t work anymore. The Java source code for the client and server are still available for any Java programmers who wish to revive it.

gta1patch.zip 385KB
If you already have the free GTA1 then this is useless, it’s only for the CD version. This update for GTA1 allows resolutions higher than 800×600. These files were extracted from the free version of GTA1, so you can update your original GTA1 without needing to d/l the 328MB gtainstaller.zip. Uncompress to your GTA1 directory and then run GTAWIN\gtafree.exe (your shortcuts won’t run that file, so you may want to update them).

GTA1 official manual 137KB. The manual that used to come with GTA1 retail, it’s in PDF format

GTA1 maps 3.2MB. The printed maps that used to come with GTA1 retail (PDF format)

GTA Wave 4.0 1.92MB, audio editor for GTA1 and GTA2 by Adrian Grucza. It can also export GTA3 sounds.

CityScape Data Structure (cds.doc) - Technical details of the GTA1 map format (.cmp) by DMA Design

Mission Template Description (mtd.doc) - GTA1 mission.ini documentation (must read for GTA1 mission makers)

GTA1, London 1961 and 1969 Multiplayer Notes:

You need the exact same operating system as your opponent to play GTA1. You can’t play XP vs 98 because it will be out of sync. Whatever they used to seed the random city must have changed on XP. GTA2 doesn’t have this XP vs 98 problem but it can still go out of sync for other reasons.

Chat messages (F1-F4) work in the DOS version but they never appear on the Windows version. If you must chat during GTA1 then could use a third party voice chat program like Teamspeak or Ventrilo but it may slow down GTA1.

GTA1 works fine in true DOS with DOS network drivers but London 1969 and 1961 spit out the same error on all my machines if DOS network drivers are installed.

"GTA24 v11.5

(c) 1997 DMA Design Ltd

Error 17.12: Int 31 fn 301h call failed"

All the DOS versions work under Windows with the Windows IPX drivers (at least they did years ago when I tried).

The Windows version can’t play against the DOS version and 24bit can’t play 8bit. GTA London will connect to the GTA1 but it isn’t going to work properly.

How to start a GTA1 multiplayer game

You must use the same version of Windows as your opponent or GTA1 instantly go out of sync. I haven’t tried all combinations but if you play using a Windows 98 machine against a Windows XP then the game will instantly go out of sync (it’s unplayable).

All players must open these network ports or you will never be able to play.

Hosting:

1: Find someone who wants to play GTA1 multiplayer (you could try asking people on GTA2 Game Hunter)
2: Find out your IP address - try www.ipchicken.com
3: Tell your friend your IP address

4: Start GTA1 and choose gather network
5: Select your character, city and either cannonball run or deathmatch
6: Select Internet TCP/IP
7: Name your session game (any name will do)
8: If you choose deathmatch then you can select points or frags to win
9: You should be on gathering screen. Wait for your friend to join.

Joining:

1: Get your friends IP address and remember it or copy to clipboard
2: Start GTA1 and choose join network
3: Select your character
4: Select Internet TCP/IP
5: Type or paste your friends IP address
6: Hopefully you can see the name of your friends game.

If this doesn’t work then make sure you have the right IP address and check if you are behind a router or a firewall is in the way. Remove it if you can and try for a direct connection or if you are smart then you can forward these GTA network ports .

Q: Why is my friend running into walls?
A: Maybe he just sucks or maybe the game is out of sync.
If you have mods installed then make sure your friend has exactly the same mods. I know it’s strange but you must use the same version of Windows as your opponent or GTA1 instantly go out of sync.

Q: Why is multiplayer running slowly?
A: GTA1 wasn’t made for dialup or high latency connections. Even if both users have broadband the game can be really slow if you are far away from your opponent or you just have poor routing between you. Close bittorrent and anything that could be uploading or downloading. If you are sharing bandwidth with others then kick them off the network.

Q: How do I send messages?
A: Messages don’t work in GTA1 Windows version. You can send them with F1-F4 but they are never received. It’s a bug and there’s no fix.