Introduction

Installing cars into GTA3 is a very simple process (usually), but quite how to do it depends on the contents of the zip file you download.

Firstly, to clear this up, all the cars for download on this site are for use with the PC version of GTA3 only. Ok? good.

The Tools

You only need two tools (at most) to install GTA3 cars, not including the mandatory Notepad & WinZip of course. They are IMGTool and TXDTool, both are available for download from gta3mods.com. There are a few alternatives available, but these are the tools I use.

Zip Contents

With a bit of luck the zip file you download will have at the minimum a .dff file (unless it's just a skin, not a complete model), and a readme file. You may however also have any combination of .txd & .bmp files. I'll cover installing all these, and you can pic the bits you need depending on the available files.

DFF Files

Using IMGTool, open up gta3.img in your GTA3/data directory (usually in C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\GTA3\data). Use the search function (if your version of IMGTool doesn't have the search feature get the latest copy from the above URL), and type the name of the dff you've been supplied with. So if your zip has infernus.dff then you're replacing the Infernus in game. It's all nice and logical like that.

Just press F2, enter "infernus.dff" in the box and the window should jump to the appropriate file. Now right click on the file name and select REPLACE. Just browse to wherever you extracted the new .dff file to and hit ok.

If it says the file is too large to replace existing file then don't worry. Simply RENAME the current file to something obvious ("infernus.bak" springs to mind), then use the ADD function to put the new .dff file at the end. Simple.

TXD Files

Equally simple, just do the same as above, but do it in the txd.img instead of gta3.img. Just open up the file, search for the txd to replace and replace it. Simple as that.

BMP Files

If you have a bmp file then you'll have to manually edit the contents of a txd file. If the file is called something like infernus128bit4.bmp or whatever, then you want to use TXDTool to open up txd.img. If however it's something like wheel_saloon64.bmp then you want to open up MISC.txd. Again both are found in your data directory. With a bit of luck the readme will tell you which file these new bmps are going in. If not just open up txd.img in TXDTool, look for the .txd that goes with your car (like for txds above), and see if the file name appears in the list on the left. If not, you're more likely than not supposed to be in MISC.txd.

Once you have the correct open find the appropriate txd (obviously in MISC.txd there's only one, where as txd.img is a library file, or a collection of txd files bundled up). Once you select the correct txd on the left, the window on the right will show the bmps that are in that particular txd.

Just right click on the name of the file you were looking for, then go to IMPORT - TEXTURE. Then browse to the new .bmp and click OK.

If you're replacing wheel_sport64.bmp then you should also have an ALPHA file to go with it. This is just a two colour version of the wheel that says which bits are solid (the white bits) and which are transparent (the black bits). To import this just right click on the wheel name, then IMPORT - ALPHA.

Stats

Cars should also come with some details in the readme of changes you have to make to the data files. These are usually default.ide, carcols.dat and handling.cfg. All three are plain text files and should be edited in notepad (or with one of those fancy GTA3 specific editors that are floating around if you feel flash). Just insert the new details from the readme. If there aren't any in the readme then I wouldn't worry about it.

That's It

Installing GTA3 cars is just as easy as GTA or GTA2, which is quite ironic since they take so damned long to make! If you get stuck just pop a note in the forums help section and someone will do their best to aid you.

Note I'll add some screen shots to aid with clarity for this page when I get a chance.