Even though a massive fan effort to revive one of the most prominent toolsets used by the GTA 5 modding community was successful, the recent crackdown on both GTA Online cheats and anything that alters the game, even in single player, has still claimed some victims.
While OpenIV is once again being updated and distributed, thus enabling large-scale single player modding of GTA 5 to continue healthily, Take-Two and Rockstar have imposed tighter restrictions on what mods may be created for the game. One of the new rules is that any content infringing on copyright and intellectual property rights is outlawed, including if said IP is from other Rockstar properties.
Of course, this deeply sours the victory of the modding community, seeing as mods which introduce character skins, features, vehicles, locations and more from other popular movies, TV shows and games make up a massive chunk of mods. By extension, the rule also outlaws any mod that would port the map of other GTA titles into GTA V.
LibertyIV, the major modding project undertaken by the OpenIV team some time ago and announced recently, sought to transplant the Liberty City map from GTA IV over into the newest game in the series, and have it physically sit in the same map, just across the ocean, allowing players to fly or swim over (geographical accuracy be damned).
First of all, we want to say 'Thank you' to everyone who supported us in this tough situation. We’re very grateful for your support; for demonstration of the fact, that modding community is still a minority, but very vocal, creative and determined minority. You made the impossible and this story is already scribed into the history of PC gaming and the Internet itself
This meant using something that constitutes the IP of Rockstar Games, which as outlined above, is no longer allowed. Since they only just managed to win the battle for their very right to exist and function, the folks over at OpenIV probably didn't want to come to shove in this matter as well, so unfortunately LibertyIV won't be happening.
Unfortunately, our highly anticipated mod 'Liberty City in GTA V' will not be released because it clearly contradicts with Rockstar modding policy. Liberty City mod is a big loss for us, since it was a huge part of our motivation to push OpenIV functionality. We are currently revising our plans for the future.
With this ambitious project off the table, it isn't clear what OpenIV will be up to next. Obviously they'll continue to support and update the toolset itself, but the fact that they began working on LibertyIV means that they have spare time and resources they want to invest into something else, a concrete mod. Whatever that may be, only time will tell.
LibertyIV wasn't the only victim of the modding crackdown, but the only one we'll be mourning. Luckily OpenIV came back from the brink, however Take-Two also targeted hacking tools which actually deserved to be shut down as well. Three hacking menus were forced to cease distribution and donate any proceeds to charities selected by the Take-Two legal team, who also enforced this donation (presumably).
While the return of OpenIV prevented this whole saga from being a true modding apocalypse, the revised restrictions on modding still ensure that the scene will never be the same again. Rest in peace, LibertyIV.
