Avoiding GTA 5 Update Headaches
In a perfect world we would have DLC updates for SP, just like GTAO. In a perfect world those GTAO updates wouldn’t break the modded SP game. In a perfect world these game breaking updates wouldn't happen twice a year!
The SP game we worked so hard to configure for fun, performance, and stability would still be playable – of course thanks to the help of many talented modders who give their time and expertise to update SH5 and gameconfig mods we can indeed continue to play on after updates.
But sadly the world ain’t perfect and the usual whiners will keep putting the blame on SH5 and modded gameconfig.xml’s for not being the 100% fix all, magic solutions, they expect them to be.
For those interested in mitigating the nasty effects of every update, read on. For those who don’t care, keep whining and blaming R* as well as the people who thanklessly provide solutions for you, free of charge.
Here’s what you can do if you want to avoid and/or minimize down time and issues.
- Before each Rockstar patch/update, backup your GTA5.exe and backup the update.rpf in your mods folder, or at the very least backup your dlclist.xml and any other customized files. Definitely back up GTA5.exe. Ideally keep every single version of GTA5.exe in backup folders, including this patch and the inevitable ones to follow.
- See step 1. That’s all you need to do. Time required, a few minutes.
Benefits of a simple single backup
With the old GTA5.exe, you can now play a modded game while waiting for SH5 and any other essential mods files to be updated. This miracle happens by replacing the updated GTA5.exe with your reverted one from backup
You can play GTAO if you wish by simply renaming or moving dinput8.dll out of your root folder.
After the update, you should back up the new GTA5.exe to allow you to play updated if you want. This is simply by swapping back the new updated GTA5.exe against the reverted one. The exact opposite process of Benefit number 1.
If you're more interested in keeping your game stable, and don't give a damn about updates, just do step 1. No issues, no need to update gameconfig.xml, no need to update SH5.
In other words, all you really need to avoid these headaches is to back up one file.
Optional: I always keep versions of SH5 as well, even if it is backwards compatible, just to be sure as native functions do change with updates.
Now the bad news, well sort of bad. Backing up GTA5.exe, and keeping a copy of update.rpf, will in no way guarantee the updated game won’t break modded games. We’ve seen this over and over with collision issues, outdated scripts, and even the packfile mod failing for the first time in years.
Eventually major issues get fixed but not all issues can be fixed, especially broken scripts. However, with the simple steps above you can essentially play forever.
Just for the record, I don’t lose any sleep when an update is announced. I revert, I keep playing, I can update if I want to, and I can even use new R* DLC as well (although I don’t). No emulator, no cracks, no bypass mods. All legal, legitimate, and effortless.
Important
