GTA 5 Liberty City Mod Is an Unofficial Expansion Which Draws Inspiration From One of Rockstar’s Biggest Hits

January 4

When Rockstar Games surprised players with the inclusion of Blackwater and New Austin in the map of Red Dead Redemption 2, it marked a monumental moment in game design. Not only did it blend the past and present, but it also showcased the studio’s remarkable ability to push the boundaries of what was possible in an open-world game.

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The modders were inspired by RDR 2. | Image Credit: Rockstar Games

That seamless connection between the old and new map sparked a bold idea for a group of modders: What if we could do the same thing in GTA 5? This led to the creation of the Liberty City Preservation Project: an ambitious mod that took six years to develop and allows players to travel between Los Santos and Liberty City as if they were part of the same world.

Modders built a seamless world in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5

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The modding team spent 6 years to build this seamless mod. | Image credit: Rockstar Games

Inspired by the seamless travel between Blackwater and New Austin in RDR2, Nkjellman imagined how incredible it would be to fly between two massive cities in GTA 5: Los Santos and Liberty City, using the upgraded engine of the latter. He said (shared via RockstarIntel):

I thought it was amazing how Red Dead Redemption 2 allowed you to visit Blackwater and New Austin from Red Dead Redemption 1 and I thought that it’d be amazing to have that in GTA.

In 2018, Nkjellman decided to pursue the idea and started the Liberty City Preservation Project. Although it started as a solo project, he started inviting fellow modders to join the effort, converting it into a collective effort as they were also working on their own Liberty City mods.

By 2021, the team had gained significant momentum, thanks in part to advancements in modding tools and a more robust set of features introduced in Rockstar’s Cayo Perico update and also the use of AI tools like Topaz Gigapixel AI Upscaler to upscale many of the map’s textures.

However, AI alone couldn’t handle everything as the main goal of the team behind the project wasn’t just to port the map, but to create an entirely new experience where the city felt more dynamic and real than ever before. The team embedded over 4,500 hand-placed scenarios throughout the city, adding a sense of life.

A mod that connected with players all around the globe

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The mod is available for free and players are enjoying it. | Image Credit: Rockstar Games

Since its release on December 25, 2024, the mod has been met with overwhelming praise. Players are enjoying the team’s meticulous attention to detail, from the functional subway system to the dynamic scenarios that bring the world to life.

This success also highlighted the state of modding. With the rise of low-effort getting sold for a decent amount of money on platforms like FiveM, the Project was released for free, offering a high-quality experience to everyone. A team member, Retro said:

I don’t like where the modding scene is going—low-effort paid mods, putting DRM on these mods. In my opinion, this was never what modding was about.

By releasing their work for free, the team not only avoided commercializing their passion project but also countered the recent trend of monetizing low-effort mods.

Now that the mod has been released and embraced by the community, the team is turning its attention to further refinements. Their work is still not done as they are now looking to refine the mod even further and enhance the experience.

Beyond the modding scene, many team members, including Nkjellman, are hoping their work might catch the attention of the studio itself, hoping to build on Rockstar’s legacy or perhaps even work with the company in the future.

In the end, players can go to the World Travel discord server (for a free download) and start experiencing the amazing integration of a map in GTA 5. If this mod is any indication, the future of modding or even games (that take inspiration from this mod or RDR 2) looks brighter than ever.

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