Myths, Misconceptions, & Misleading Mods

 

1. The Gameconfig is infallible.
Many users are puzzled when their game crashes or hangs even though they’ve installed the latest version of a gameconfig.xml. While this mod, along with the limit adjusters, should be considered essential, no mod, or mod combinations, will absolutely prevent crashing. Also, there are many variations of this critical file – not just one version which is one size fits all.

2. Script Hook V Crashes Game.
This is a common complaint on the forums. Game crashes with SH5, works fine without it. The simple truth is that it’s mods that crash the game. SH5, on the contrary is the enabler that allows us to play modded. In other words, SH5 doesn't crash GTA5.

3. The ASI Loader versus dinput8.dll
Even experts recommend installing both, not realizing it’s exactly the same file. The ASI Loader is packaged with OpenIV while dinput8.dll is packaged with Script Hook V. Thankfully this file hasn’t been updated since 2015 so both offerings are identical. Dinput8.dll loads asi mods (essentially renamed dlls) so that's why it goes by the name of ASI Loader in OpenIV and in general conversations. Trivia: a file called dsound.dll was the original asi loader.

4. Mod Managers
I’m amazed at the number of "mod managers" that promise to disable all mods so you can play GTA Online or switch profiles or manage multiple copies of GTA 5, essentially by moving mods back and forth. This is an inefficient process, and honestly a really stupid idea, when the simple solution is to rename files or folders. Renaming dinput8.dll is all you need to play online without a ban. Renaming mod folders will quickly allow you to select a profile and this can be easily done with simple .bat files. Renamed folders will not load. Finally, there is absolutely no reason to have more than one version of GTA 5 installed and worst case it will cause conflicts.

5. It’s Scripts not scripts
I cringe when I see experienced creators specify in their instructions to explicitly create a Scripts folder and not a scripts folder. Fact is, it doesn’t matter. The Windows file system is case-insensitive. Use upper or lower case, it doesn’t matter. Same goes for Mods or mods folder.

6. Mod Remove Tools
These mods are incredibly misleading because they omit a very important fact. They can’t uninstall changes made by OIV installers inside encrypted rpf packages. Nothing is easier than uninstalling the mods that these mods can. You just use your delete key from OpenIV or Windows Explorer. However you can’t uninstall OIV installations that replace files - unless you backed up the files that were replaced with the exact originals for your game. No OIV can backup your files. Sadly these mods make a false claim they can install all mods. Rubbish.

7. Graphic Mods. More is More.
I’ve seen many posts, one recently, where users complain of game issues because they have multiple Graphic Mods installed. The misconception is that if one graphic mod enhances the game, then 2 or 3 or 10 will be even better. Unfortunately this is isn’t true and issues are to be expected. This also applies to scripts ands addons. Be selective when installing, if not you will definitely run the risk of conflicts and crashes. More is less. It’s about quality, not just quantity.

8. Proper Version of SH5
Many users with games crash are surprised because they have the updated and proper version of SH5 installed. Fact is SH5 does a version check so it’s impossible to play modded with the wrong version.

9. Renaming dinput8.dll isn’t enough for GTAO
One creator argued that renaming or disabling dinput8.dll isn’t enough to ensure not getting banned Online because Rockstar scans our drives for mods. Rubbish. If this were true millions of gamers who play both SP modded and GTAO would have been banned. You don’t need to move all your mods out, back and forth, to play GTAO.

10. MP Female Mods
New users download mods of MP female faces or hair under the impression that the preview pictures are what you see is what you get. They are disappointed when they actually install the mods and wonder what presets or values should be used in the Trainer to get the same results as the preview pics. What they don’t realize is that these pics are not of the MP female. They are photoshopped in order to get the new user to download them. Fact is, the MP female is ugly as are most GTA 5 NPCs, even the ones from mods prefixed with “better”.

11. Hot Coffee
This very popular, but somewhat outdated script, is not what new users think it is. It does not magically transport you and a female companion to the nearest Starbucks or Bean Machine to enjoy an expensive Vanilla Latte. Nope, not at all, but no spoilers here, try it yourself.

12. My download is just a rar
I've seen this complaint recently and more than once on the forums. User expects the mod "as is" or in a zip compressed (archive) format, not aware there are other formats such as rar and 7z. Trivia: OIVs are archives that can be extracted. So are MS Excel files with .xlsb extensions. RPFs are encrypted archives. More Trivia: well not really trivia, more of a misconception. Not all files compress. Text files compress really well, multimedia files like mp3s, pdf, etc. don't compress - they are all already compressed.