5 best new GTA Vice City mods with similar features to Definitive Edition

The Definitive Edition of GTA Vice City may have tons of glitches that make it unplayable, but it sure looks and feels slightly better. Apart from the character models, the textures and visual effects are vastly superior to that of the original game.

Some of the quality-of-life upgrades, such as the radio/weapon wheels and GPS radar, create a much more intuitive experience. Gamers can, however, experience something similar in the original GTA Vice City with the help of mods.

This article compiles a list of a few such mods that bridge the gap between the old and new versions of the game.

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GTA Vice City: 5 best mods that bring the original game closer to the Definitive Edition

5) Proper Weapon Retex

The weapons use high-quality models in this mod (Image via MixMods)

This is a simple retexture mod that transforms the weapons from being colored clay molds to more realistic-looking ones. All weapons and their associated props have been retextured to look much more detailed.

Download here

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4) Vice City Neons v5 (VCS to VC)

Ocean Beach looks much more alive with this mod (Image via MixMods)

The beachfront of GTA Vice City is its most iconic location. The game begins in the neon-drenched streets of Ocean Beach, where Tommy gets his first safehouse. This area looked much better in GTA Vice City Stories, with its improved neon lighting effects.

The Vice City Neons mod attempts to bring the neon effects of Vice City Stories to the original Vice City.

Download here

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3) SkyGfx (3.0b)

For GTA gamers who are familiar with mods, SkyGFX needs no introduction. It has almost become an essential mod for those running the older trilogy on modern PCs.

SkyGFX aims to emulate the graphical effects of the PS2 versions of the original GTA Trilogy on PC. However, it is much more than that, and players can modify it to their own liking, with various available tweaks. The best feature is that it can work in conjunction with other graphical mods.

Download here

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2) GTA V Hud

The GTA 5-like HUD in the original Vice City (Image via MixMods)

One of the most noticeable changes in the Definitive Edition Trilogy is the radio/weapons selection wheels and the GPS navigation system. This mod brings the selection wheels and the rectangular radar to Vice City straight from GTA 5.

Download here

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1) RenderHook Raytracing (RTX graphics)

There are various graphical mods that aim to upscale the textures of GTA Vice City and make it more presentable on modern hardware. However, this particular mod focuses on the lighting instead, and the results are much more noticeable.

RenderHook is a work-in-progress mod for the original trilogy that uses DirectX 11 shaders for ray-traced lighting and reflection calculation. Players should note that this mod only works for Nvidia RTX graphics cards for now, although it may support GTX cards soon.

Download here

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Honorable mentions

• Original HQ Palms - The palm trees in the original trilogy looked nothing like real trees. This mod has recreated them from scratch to look much more realistic now. Players are suggested to use SkyGFX along with this mod.
• Xbox Vehicles - The Xbox version of the original GTA trilogy used more detailed models with an actual engine block, something not present in the DE games. As the name suggests, this mod brings the Xbox vehicles to GTA Vice City on PC.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinion of the writer.