Adding Cars to GTA 3 & Vice City

This step-by-step guide helps you install any car from this website into GTA. It takes a long time and you must be very careful. Do not install many cars at once.

This tutorial does not cover GTA San Andreas.

Finding Where GTA Is

Normally:

To save space, this tutorial uses gta\. Replace that with your own location.

Get Ready for Modding

Make a new install of GTA 3 or GTA Vice City. Only add mods to the new install. If something goes wrong you can use the original files as backups.

Do not skip this step! It really is worth making a separate install for mods.

Custom Wheels

Dmagic1’s Wheel Mod is used by almost every new vehicle. You must install this first:

Make sure you get the correct version. Only install it once.

The New Files

car.dff
Shape of the vehicle, damaged parts and animated parts.
car.txd
Graphics used by the car, such as paint effects and damage marks.
car.col
Solid areas and materials used by the car.
carcols.dat
The colours it will use in the game.
default.ide
Wheel size and other special settings.
handling.cfg
Peformance and handling of the car.
readme.txt
Sometimes has the handling.cfg and default.ide data.

Cars normally have a car.dff file and a car.txd files. If other files are missing, don’t worry.

Tools and Editors

We must use special programs to install cars. Programs I use are:

G-IMG by Respawn
Install the car.dff and car.txd files.
Collision Editor 2 by Steve-M
Install the car.col file, if the car has one.
CFG Studio 2 by Me
Install the handling.cfg data, if the car has any. This data might be in the readme.txt.

Test your Multiple Installs

After making multiple installs of GTA, test if the new one works.

  1. Going to the folder where you made the new install.
  2. Double-click the something.exe file.
  3. When it has started, load a saved game.
  4. If it works, you can continue this tutorial.

Do this now. Better safe than sorry!

Starting to Install

Unzip or extract all the new files you downloaded to safe place.

car.dff and car.txd: Shape and Graphics

  1. Look at the new car.dff and car.txd files. They might be called banshee.dff or esperant.dff.
  2. Use G-IMG to open your gta\models\gta3.img file. It takes a while to list all the files.
  3. Search for banshee or esperant or whatever the new files are called.
  4. Delete the .dff and .txd which it finds.
  5. Add the new car.dff and car.txd files.
  6. Rebuild the gta3.img.

This is enough to install most vehicles. You can usually test the car in-game now. If it doesn’t work, there might be more files to install.

Defragment your hard drive if you install lots of mods. This helps with loading times.

car.col: Collision Model

  1. Use Collision Editor 2 (ColEd2) to open the gta\models\coll\vehicles.col file. It may take a while to load.
  2. A list at the top shows the names of the .col files it contains.
  3. Find the entry in that list whose name matches the new car.col file.
  4. Delete that entry.
  5. Import the new car.col file. Confirm any windows which pop up.
  6. Save the vehicles.col file.

The new collision model has now been installed. You can test the car in-game again. If it doesn’t work, there might be more files to install.

handling.cfg: Performance and Handling

  1. Get the handling.fg data for the new car and Copy it. It might be in the readme.txt.
  2. Use CFG Studio 2 to open the gta\data\handling.cfg file.
  3. Find the handling line the new car will replace. BANSHEE or ESPERANT, for example.
  4. Select that row by clicking on the name of the car, in the first column.
  5. Paste the new handling data. It will replace the selected data.
  6. Save the handling.cfg file.

The handling data is now installed. You can test the car in-game again. If it doesn’t work, there might be more files to install.

default.ide: Wheel Size and other Special Settings

  1. Get the default.ide data for the new car and Copy it. It might be in the readme.txt.
  2. Use Notepad or CFG Studio 2 to open the gta\data\default.ide file.
  3. Find the entry for the new car and select that entire line.
  4. Paste the new default.ide data. It will replace the selected data.
  5. Save the default.ide file.

The wheel size and other special settings are now installed. You can test the car in-game again. If it doesn’t work, there might be more files to install.

carcols.dat: Vehicle Colours

  1. Get the carcols.dat data for the new car and Copy it. It might be in the readme.txt.
  2. Use Notepad or CFG Studio 2 to open the gta\data\carcols.dat file.
  3. Find the entry for the new car and select that entire line.
  4. Paste the new vehicle colours data. It will replace the selected data.
  5. Save the carcols.dat file.

Sometimes you will get new “global colours”. These must added to the list at the top of the file.

The vehicle colours are now installed. You can test the car in-game again. If it still doesn’t work, you have done something wrong.

If it Still Does Not Work

Do not e-mail me asking for help; check what you have done.

For more help, ask on GTA Forums.