Sorry, GTA 6, I’ve been online in Vice City before

You always remember your first time going online in Grand Theft Auto. For many, it was the multiplayer modes in 2008’s GTA 4, while for others, it was loading up GTA Online, the multiplayer component of 2013’s GTA 5. For me, however, it was in 2003, loading up a mod called Multi Theft Auto and joining friends to win a match in Vice City on PC.

First created as a way to get GTA 3 online, it eventually led to supporting all three games. In 2005, a huge ‘Blue’ update nixed support for GTA 3 and Vice City, leaving San Andreas, but opening the door to new mods and modes. To mark 20 years since ‘Blue’, we spoke to ijsf, one of the original creators of Multi Theft Auto, to look back on its successes.

✓ VideoGamer Summary

• The Grand Theft Auto series, developed by DMA Design, debuted in 1997 for PlayStation and PC.
• It was arguably 2001’s GTA 3 on PS2 that transformed the series and solidified Rockstar’s reputation as a game development superpower.
• Grand Theft Auto 5, released in 2011, has sold around 220 million copies.
• Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to be released on May 26, 2026.

Multiplayer Theft Auto

Going online in Vice City back then was surprisingly straightforward. Install a package called ‘mtavc’ to access a separate launcher, allowing you to still play the original Vice City. Once it was installed, you could choose your player skin, like a policeman, and you’d be in a server with other players. But with Multi Theft Auto (MTA) starting as a GTA 3 mod, lijsf reveals that he felt inspired to take it online, one way or another.

“In the early 90s, as a young kid, I was quite lucky to have very early access to BBS (pre-internet), internet, and PC games. As my father worked for a well-known American computer company, our house was filled with PCs that were networked together,” lijsf explains. 

“As such, my brothers and I were already very much LAN gamers growing up, playing countless hours of Doom, Command & Conquer, Rise of the Triad, and Duke Nukem 3D. Plus, any deathmatch game we could get our hands on – including GTA and GTA 2 as soon as they came out.”

Similar to many other players at the time, including myself, 2001’s GTA 3 seemed to redefine what an ‘open-world-sandbox’ game was. “When GTA 3 came out, a lot of things that I had wished for in a game finally came together: open world, sandbox, soundtrack, narrative, 3D. But multiplayer wasn’t part of it. So, after the initial single-player rush was over—and I was never one to play games to completion—the dread set in of not being able to play this against other people,” lijsf continues.

“At that time, one or two screenshots circulated online showcasing a new ‘multiplayer mod’. The web was pretty scattered back then, so in the long search for a download link, I had come to the dreadful conclusion that these could only be fake. As I was around 13 at the time, the naive spirit in me drew up the plan to just do it myself instead. That plan came to fruition as soon as I found a very rudimentary modding tool that, thankfully, had its source code available. I took my still very limited game development knowledge and whipped up a very clunky prototype that just seemed to work just enough to gather some attention, starting some very exciting times to come.”

This allowed for GTA 3 and Vice City to be played online, thanks to ljsf’s efforts. You could get a taxi together, race each other on the bikes, or jump into a massive Deathmatch session. It was incredibly fun. Ijsf looks back at this time with fondness.

“What sticks out to me is that the project went from humble beginnings (GTA3: AM, GTA3: MTA, and MTA: VC) to a really substantial project, backed by a new, exciting codebase and a unique team of contributors,” Ijsf explains. “The times before this feel much like a blur, in a good way. A gathering of people and players that were just really excited to try out new things, and a few developers trying to figure out a way to make multiplayer work in a game that probably should’ve had multiplayer from the very beginning. And by the time we reached MTA: SA, and the ‘Blue’ project, there was really a much clearer vision of how things could be done technologically, and with a community to pull it off.”

Indeed, it felt like you were meeting friends in Vice City. You weren’t bound by needing to buy weapons or vehicles, nor did you have to download huge chunks of update data. Here, it was simply a matter of connect and play. However, with GTA: San Andreas’ PC port on its way in 2005, Ijsf was already planning how Multi Theft Auto could work.

“MTA: SA was our first prototype to try and do it “The Right Way”. For fear of going over our heads, the choice was made to focus on a Race mode first. Lots of ideas got unleashed: an amazing editor, a fresh in-game menu and UI, proper scripting support, and a new game engine-like codebase,” Ijsf reveals. 

“These were all different ideas and concepts from us, the few unique developers, that just happened to work together, fully remotely, never having met in real life.” Around this time, Half-Life 2 had just been released, so Ijsf was aware of how there needed to be some extra polish for MTA’s big update.

“I was very much focused on creating an in-game experience like other games of that time, such as Half-Life 2. There needed to be a proper menu, a credits section, and an integrated interface,” Ijsf explains. 
“It needed to look like its own thing, to stand on its own feet and to be lifted from its “multiplayer tool” vibe that it seemed to have at the time, at least to me. I remember spending a lot of time on those specific aspects. But I’m still amazed at all the ideas that these few random developers brought to the table. That they were encouraged by one another and all collaborated. It was quite a unique and lucky experience for me back then. And I’m sure today’s contributors feel the same way about today’s team and community, which is amazing.”

A Blue blur

Around 2005, there were plenty of murmurs about a big update coming for all three GTA games on PC, even one that was planning to merge all of the games into one. But instead, Multi Theft Auto would see its biggest update. Called ‘Blue’, this brought plenty of features and modes to play, but it also meant removing support for GTA 3 and Vice City. It’s something that Ijsf looks back on as the moment the mod came into its own.

“There were roughly two previous incarnations of the codebase: the first one based on my initial GTA 3 prototype made in Visual Basic called GTA3:AM, later renamed to GTA 3:MTA,” Ijsf explains. “It really was the MVP to get people excited, but it was soon clear that this was not going to be a durable solution. A few other programmers, including Cray and Kent, were working on or considering a project in C/C++, so it made sense to merge the efforts. This paved the way for a reboot of the MTA: VC code, a much-needed step up. Most of us were still just learning on the job as well. More talented programmers like eAi, MrJax, ChrML, and slush joined in as well during this time,” outlines Ijsf. 

“With more experience came more insight. At some point, the conclusion was that it would make much more sense to set the whole thing up as a game engine, rather than a trainer-style hooking program, and the concept of ‘Blue’ was born.”

Looking back in the rear-view

There’s a significant MTA community that’s still active today. You can download MTA right now and go online in GTA San Andreas on PC with ease. But with a huge community, it also means that Ijsf has been able to look back on the project, way after he left.

“What’s surprised me most throughout the years, even though I have not been involved with this project for more than a decade, is the overall versatility and longevity of this mod, its community, its contributors, and its players,” Ijsf explains. “Enough of a foundation was laid out in these concepts two decades ago to keep it going, and thanks to the scripting, it’s allowed players to express their own game ideas, which has also become a bit more common in today’s games, thankfully. It never ceases to amaze me, year after year, how many people still play and still make creations and contributions.”

But a big part of MTA’s early days was going online in Vice City, something that’s not possible with the mod, since the ‘Blue’ update. We asked Ijsf why it never came back to MTA, and whether it ever will. “During the initial development of MTA: SA 20 years ago, we had to make some hard choices. Even though most of us were teenagers or in our early twenties, there was just too much to pull off, and there was a tangible sense of urgency to try and come out with the first multiplayer mod for San Andreas,” ljsf explains.

“One of those hard choices was to initially release with just a Race version, and the second choice was to leave Vice City behind. Even though we had started Blue within Vice City, it soon became clear that we couldn’t pull off two projects at the same time in the short timespan we had; Vice City support had to go,” ljsf reveals. “Unfortunately, that meant there was never a lasting foundation for Vice City to build upon.”

Finally, ljsf hopes that MTA has inspired developers, like Rockstar Games with GTA 6, to push user-created content, which can spur plenty of ideas for mods, modes, and cosmetics. 

“Admittedly, I’ve not been in touch with GTA’s online mode much. Though as an enthusiast for game modding, I always have hope that game studios out there make a conscious effort to encourage and enable things like user-created content and scripting for their games,” expounds ljsf.
“This creates an environment where players can become creators, and as we see, not just with MTA but also other classic game modding communities out there (like Garry’s Mod), I think this is the seed required for a long-lasting community.”

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