Depending on your age, you may already have been wreaking havoc since you were a child in the virtual streets of Grand Theft Auto. The well-known saga of video games developed by Rockstar began to stand out with the release of GTA III, a title that also meant the abandonment of two dimensions in favor of three.
However, its popularity has also made it a target for pirates looking to play the games of the saga without spending a penny. Here we are not going to point fingers at anyone, and he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. In its fight against piracy, Rockstar has implemented curious systems that many have surely experienced without realizing it. Today, we want to show how “challenging” it was to play GTA: Vice City pirated.
Protective measures too convoluted?
Rockstar used to integrate two layers of protection in their games: copy protection and crack protection. The former is usually implemented through a third-party program, such as Sony’s famous SecuROM. The latter is what meant that we always had to keep the damn disk stuck in our PC while playing (the older ones will understand).
To prevent hackers from removing this layer of protection (I’m sure you’ll remember the “play without CD” patches), an additional layer was often added: crack protection. This is rooted in the same internal code of the game and makes sure that the protection is still active, no matter what. If the game detects that you have removed or modified the first layer of protection (the anti-crack protection), the game will know this and will start triggering certain in-game events that gradually undermine your progress.
The anti-piracy methods of GTA: Vice City
Did you know that GTA: Vice City is full to the brim with anti-piracy measures? If you play with a pirated copy of this installment, everything will start going downhill from the beginning. Now, every time you complete a mission, you will have a 25% chance of activating a permanent rainstorm in your game. Although this is a somewhat strange measure, the truth is that Vice City is no longer the same without its summer sun.
Don’t try to use the rifles either, because not one of them will work. Neither will the garages. After 35 minutes, the game completely disables the functionality of all garages. This means that there is no more change of bodywork and paint and you will not be able to save a single car in your properties. And of course, neither the map nor the markings will work properly, especially if there are cops chasing you. Looking at your game stats? Forget it, the game won’t show you a single one.
But it doesn’t stop there: if you load a game where you have played less than 40 minutes, the city will stop having passers-by. With the rain and the absence of people, Vice City will gradually become a substitute for Silent Hill. However, if you visit places like the mall, you will see people inside as if they were hiding.
Of course, don’t even think of spending more than 40 minutes playing and quitting the game, since you won’t be able to access it again. GTA: Vice City will crash every time you try to access it on your computer. You will only be able to enter again if conditions such as permanent rain or the city without passers-by were activated.
As icing on the cake, if a fire truck appears, there is a 12.5% chance that it will deactivate all entry points. What does this mean? Goodbye saving game, changing clothes, buying property, picking up weapons, etc.
Well, what if I move my saved game to a legal copy of the game, will I be able to continue where I was? The answer is yes, but your game will be marked forever. If you have eternal rain or ghost town activated, you will never be able to get rid of it.
