Take-Two has now declared all modding for any GTA game illegal.

What are your thoughts on this? For 10 years there has been a modding tool that is essential for nearly every GTA mod across multiple games called OpenIV. Take-Two has recently sent a cease and desist to the developers of the tool, effectively making all modding for their games illegal. For those that don't know OpenIV is basically an archive manager and editor for GTAIV and GTA V, and some other Rockstar games like Max Payne. Without OpenIV being available and continuing to be in development, mods are done for Rockstar games. OpenIV even disables the online, so I see no reason for this to happen honestly. Especially considering it has been available for 10 years, and Rockstar themselves have featured mods before.

http://www.pcgamer.com/gta-modding-tool-openiv-shuts-down-claiming-cease-and-desist-from-take-two/

I guess they are doing this to combat cheating in GTA Online?

Feels like a bad trade to me. GTA Online is often a frustrating, miserable experience, but I have many glowing things to say about the breadth and scope of the GTA modding scene, from GTA RP to smashing the city as the Incredible Hulk.

I haven't cared much for any of there games since like vice city, bought 5 recently on pc and installed mods and made it look pretty. Ended up getting bored quick though and didn't touch the online thing.

Doesn't seem like it has much to do with online since you would get banned for it anyway(thats what tge mod said anyway and had an option to disable when playing online). Just seems like some more misguided attempt to combat piracy by punishing their fans.

I actually had a ton of fun fucking around in GTA Online. I didn't really want to play all of their multiplayer modes and stuff, I just wanted to do dumb shit with my friends (like have a giant fistfight on a busy highway in the middle of nowhere). The amount of money they take from you every time you die is what really sapped every last bit of entertainment I was getting out of that game. And it's a real shame, too, because I was having sooooo much fun playing it.

This just sucks. A lot of great stuff comes out of modding scenes for PC games and for Take-Two to just squash that out entirely is fucking terrible.

Somewhat misleading title?

Sending a cease and desist to an important modding tool used in GTA 4 and 5, Episodes from Liberty City and Max Payne 3 isn't the same thing as Take-Two just outright banning mods for all GTA games.

Still sounds like bad news for that part of the community. I wonder what the thought process was behind this, because they must know it will upset people. Maybe just a security thing for GTA Online, even if the mod tools aren't intended to be used with it.

Like 90+% of mods require OpenIV to use. This is outright banning mods for all GTA games. I wouldn't call it just an important modding tool. It is the only way to use the vast majority of mods. Doing this means there will be no mods anymore.

Sucks, GTAV's mod got really, really fun even if I fell off that game a while ago. Hopefully I can still do all the crazy super hero shit in that game.

So does this also ban the FoV mod? Cause if so whoever the asshole was that called this down from on high should be strung up by their balls and beat like a pinata. I get trying to stop cheating and hacking, it is incredibly annoying, but you don't fucking punish the majority of people for the sins of the few. Ever. In anything.

Are they planning to start selling mods like Bethesda is doing?

'Illegal' is kind of a strong word for something that is at most a civil matter. You could theoretically be sued for modding a game, but it would be a huge waste of time and money--and good-will for that matter--for any sensible corporation. C&D letters are usually just corporate bullying; they're intended to scare those unable to mount a legal defense into complying whether or not there's actually a case to be made against them.

It's a dumb move, probably one made by people who don't know how to foster a good gaming community. Abusing your corporate power is probably pretty trivial when you've got a franchise as big as GTA. :(

That was my first thought as well, really seems like a "the only way your getting more content for this game is by paying US" move.

I quite enjoyed messing around in GTA4's online with a friend just doing stupid stuff in free roam, think I lasted about 2 hours in GTA5's mode before completely giving up on it after seeing all the ways it waste your money.

I think people trying to think of it as some "no content except ours!" thing are probably off base. It is probably something about stability or cheating that they think they are doing in some way to secure things and that's as far as they are looking at it, which is shortsighted. It's usually the case with this stuff.

I would hope Minecraft could be a good example for other companies in how it supports modding. I personally will always be for it, but ability to mod games is just really spotty these days. There will always be games like ARMA or Mount and Blade that really thrive on mods though.

lol, they got about 12K new negative reviews on steam now...

why would anyone put a stop to this?

It's pretty weird how determined they are to drive all fun out of their games to tell their crappy crime stories after how wacky the older games were.

This is some grade a bull. OpenIV in no way deals with the online portion of GTA and they have gone to great lengths to insure that never happens. OpenIV has done everything right and the only reason they are getting shutdown is because take two is greedy. They want more people to use online so they buy into their microtransactions and they see the single player directly competing with that. I am deathly afraid of what now is going to happen to KSP and frankly every other game people mod

I'm sure it'll be so hard to get a copy of Open IV from here on!

Another company not understanding that banning something on the Internet doesn't really work.

Why? Why now after the game has been out for what, four years?

They're milking the shit out of GTA Online, making an absolute killing, so why the fuck do they care about mods for the single player? This is like shooting themselves in the foot, destroying the longevity of their game.

It's a pretty dumb move. I'm sure Take Two has future plans for GTA as a service and that they want to deal with the mod scene now rather then later. And share holders probably have pushed really hard for this move as well. This won't stop people from modding though.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on this. Incredibly dumb move by Take Two on so many levels.

The title of this thread is hilariously blown out of proportion.

The Kotaku article on this was updated with a quote from Rockstar, which I've included below since it's put in a weird spot in the original article.

“Take-Two’s actions were not specifically targeting single player mods. Unfortunately OpenIV enables recent malicious mods that allow harassment of players and interfere with the GTA Online experience for everybody. We are working to figure out how we can continue to support the creative community without negatively impacting our players.”

I know this'll undoubtedly ring as a hollow ass-covering PR statement with most people, but they do seem to be aware on some level that this reads as Hot BS.

@dudeglove: Honestly, stuff like that seems like the last thing in the world a company like Take Two/Rockstar would give a shit about. Hot Coffee was only an issue for them because the content was originally in the game's files and because of financial pressure resulting from big box retailers refusing to stock an AO rated game. Reskinned cop cars don't result in financial pressures.

On the other hand, multiplayer hacks (or, in this case, tools that might have the potential or that appear to allow someone to implement multiplayer hacks) that cut into the Shark Card economy are a (granted, probably relatively minor) threat to their income stream. Hence, OpenIV goes bye-bye.

While I'm far from happy about it, I'm honestly surprised it took them this long...I wonder what the final straw was.

I kinda jumped ship to Saints Row since those games are more fun for me. But, yeah. Gotta love a game publishers' corporate bullshit these days.

Honestly, I dont care about mods, but saying "Take-Two has now declared all modding for any GTA game illegal" sounds a bit hyperbolic. They sent a cease and desist letter and they may have handled it in a shitty manner, but they haven't declared all mods "illegal."

Well sending a cease and desist to the only modding tool for GTA is kinda making GTA modding illegal. Maybe "any" is a bit hyperbolic more like the last 2 modern ones.

@drgreatjob: they are worried about it effecting multi-player apparently. Something that 4floor doesn't allow. The fact this happened shortly after the take two ceo said he wanted more money from micro transactions makes me believe this was entirely financially driven and had dick all to do with game balance. Especially as it was take two and not rockstar who are threatening legal action.

It's their game, and while I enjoy mods, in no way do I feel like game makers should be beholden to the mod community. So yeah it sucks that they're going this route, but as it is their game, they have every rite to do so.

Either way this isn't going to stop the next Red Dead, from making stupid money. So they really don't need to worry about any brief indignation.

Edit- Actually now that I think about. I'm more curious if this means there will a longer gap between console and PC releases of Rockstar games? I mean if all of the comments I have seen of people now saying that they will be pirating Rockstar games out of spite, are being read by Take Two employees, then I wonder if we get another console only Red Dead.

@ungodly: sorry but the game has sold heavily on the back of MOD support on pc. Not by the community but by rockstar themselves. I don't think nearly as many people would've double or triple dipped of they hadnt

This is some anti consumer bullshit I never thought a publisher could sink so low this is why sometimes I really hate the gaming industry. I could see if this program/ mod was affecting the MP part of the game but it's not it's only effects the SP it's been around for 10 freaking years. Modding has been a main staple for PC gaming for Take-Two to take this away is insane and disgusting Take- Two can eat shit.

I'm on a phone so I can't expand on this as much as I'd like too.

I absolutely should have the right to change or modify something I paid money for, provided I don't infringe on someone else's rights. Telling me I can't after I paid money for your product is a slap in the face. My copy is my copy, not yours. I know that laws and licensing and everything are way more complex than that, but Take Two shouldn't have the right to just tell me I can't do what I want to with something I paid for.

@yesiamaduck: I mean GTA V sold so goddamn much on the XBox 360 and PS3, when it launched, and then for the XBox One and PS4, that they're probably not worried about the PC version honestly. Plus they don't really benifit with mods. Also they're still making an insane amount of money for the online. Yes mods add longevity to a game, but they're more interested in their online, which shockingly has more legs than most thought it would.

Moding is great, but it's a nice add on, and not a feature. Companies are well within their rites to shut it down. Is it dick move? Sure, but they don't owe anyone anything.

What is your point? They shut down offline modding, the online will not be affected by this move at all

The point I'm making is that people have right to be upset because Rockstar promoted modding for GTA V PC and that feature has now been taken away. Everything thing else you mentioned is irrelevant to my point. I don't even own the game on PC, it doesn't effect me in anyway. But I can empathize with the reaction and because they promoted it I do NOT think it's okay for them to remove it 'just cause it's there game'

@ungodly: if they aren't worried about pc why even go after openiv? I get the feeling they somehow didnt think they would get this much backlash. Last i checked over 20k people signed a petition and about 18k new negative reviews on steam. I think those numbers are beyond arbitrary, and if it affects sales could impact whatever they expect to milk out of micro transactions.

There's one thing I think it's super important to clarify. Are people actually using this tool to cheat in multi-player? I know it's not a sanctioned use of the tool, but have people found out how to do it anyway? Take 2 says yes, but people here and on other forums seem to be saying no.

If people are using this tool to cheat in multiplayer, sanctioned by the tool creator or not, then Take 2 has a good reason to shut it down. If people aren't doing that and Take 2 is just lying because it's better for PR, then it seems like a shady move.

@wynnduffy: I mention the online, because someone was talking about how modding added legs to GTAV, and I was saying that the online added more longevity than anyone thought it would. I can't say why I attributed it to you. Sorry.

@oursin_360: I agree with thinking they probably didn't expect people would be this negative about it. As far as why they shut down openIV, that I can not say. They have their reasons, but the online reason doesn't feel right. But I still don't think they care much about their PC audience.

Also I just don't like how entitled people get about modding.

In the case of GTA V Online, if the cease and desist does remedy the online cheating, then it would definitely be worth it. Way too many people lost hundreds of hours of progress in GTA V because of hackers entering their rooms and getting them banned (via fake money/item spawns etc.). Furthermore, with Rockstar operating without a customer service branch for account restoration or ban appeals, honest players were forced to restart from scratch. Most of them just quit the game, though. I know I would.

@neurogia: it wont this tool worked specifically for single player, cheaters used something else and will still use it regardless because that's what cheaters do.

I wonder if this is tied to the crazy amount of money changing hands with the GTA V RP mods at th moment. Though not mentioned I could see a company either wanting to get their share or shut something like that down.

Welp that's no RDR2 for me i guess :(

It appears all the outrage and negative reviews on Steam actually worked. OpenIV is back up, at least for now.

Really? I hope this becomes a temporary thing. Hate to see so much nagativity. But even take2 can fall. The bigger they are huh.

Hooray for customer justice!

Normally I typically side with the developer in situations like this, but considering how wild and awesome the modding scene is and how much money GTAV has raked in the last few years, fuck 'em. GTA Online is the least interesting part of that game for me, and kneecapping the rest of their game to accommodate for it is super lame.