All banned GTA mods and why they were taken down

The GTA community has come up with numerous ambitious mods over the years. They can make cosmetic enhancements, add brand new features, and even import entire maps from one game to another. While many interesting creations still exist for different Grand Theft Auto games, some of the best have, unfortunately, been banned in recent years.

In fact, the latest mod take-down happened not too long ago from the time of this writing. In this article, we will take a look at all banned GTA mods, as well as why they were taken down.

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All banned GTA mods: Vice Cry, Liberty City Preservation Project, and more

A still from the now banned Vice City Nextgen Edition mod (Image via Revolution Team || Rockstar Games)

In the last few years, several mods for Grand Theft Auto titles have been banned after the creators or platforms hosting them received DMCA notices from Take-Two Interactive.

For those unaware, a DMCA notice is a legal document that is submitted against acts of copyright infringement, requesting their removal. According to Rockstar Games' stance on single-player mods, anything that imports content from other IPs (including Rockstar's own), uses tools to make new missions, storylines, or maps is not allowed.

In 2021, a bunch of GTA mods were banned in quick succession because of Take-Two DMCA notices. These included:

• Grand Theft Auto Underground - This mod added the maps of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and a few other Rockstar titles in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, allowing for an expansive open-world map.
• GTA: Liberty City - This was a conversion mod, porting Grand Theft Auto 3 over to Grand Theft Auto Vice City's engine.
• Vice Cry - A visual enhancement mod for Grand Theft Auto Vice City.
• GTA State of Liberty - Another mod that combined maps of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. It also aimed to introduce new features in Vice City, like swimming and crawling.
• GTA V San Andreas - A Grand Theft Auto San Andreas mod that added elements from Grand Theft Auto 5.
• Vice City Stories PC Edition - Converted Grand Theft Auto San Andreas into Vice City Stories.
• Liberty City Stories PC Edition - A similar mod for San Andreas that allowed playing Liberty City Stories on PC.

The removal of these mods caused an uproar in the gaming community. ModDB hosted a lot of these mods, and its Editor and Community Manager at the time explained in a tweet that they tried to have the mods not be taken down, but as per them, Take-Two was "unreceptive".

Tweets from ModDB's Editor and Community Manager at the time (Images via X)

Then in July 2022, Flat2VR, a mod that allowed experiencing Grand Theft Auto 5 (and some games from other franchises) in VR, was taken down. It was quite popular among fans, but its creator, Luke Ross, had to remove it after they were sent a DMCA by Take-Two Interactive.

The following year, Inworld Sentient Streets, a mod that let players have AI-generated conversations with NPCs in GTA 5, was taken down. It, too, was struck by a DMCA from Rockstar's parent company.

The Liberty City Preservation Project mod, which brought Grand Theft Auto 4's map into Grand Theft Auto 5 (along with active traffic, NPCs, and loads of other details) started gaining a lot of praise around December 2024. Not too long afterwards, its creator, World Travel, took it down after Rockstar Games contacted them.

Most recently, the GTA Vice City: Nextgen Edition mod was banned. It ported Grand Theft Auto Vice City's map, NPCs, vehicles, soundtrack, all story missions, and more, over to Grand Theft Auto 4's iteration of Rockstar's RAGE engine.

It released in early 2025, but had to be taken down pretty quickly after its creators, Revolution Team, received a complaint from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), an organization which represents video game developers and publishers.

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