VCUnlock

Play GTA Vice City at any frame rate.
The game still runs at 30 Hz underneath, so nothing breaks.

Note

VCUnlock is an unofficial fan project. It needs your own copy of GTA Vice City, from Steam, the retail 1.0 release or the Japanese release, and contains no game code or files. It is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Game names and logos are trademarks of their owners.

Compatibility

Game	Version	Status	Download
	Steam	Supported	VCUnlock.zip
	Retail 1.0	Supported	VCUnlock.zip
	Japanese	Supported	VCUnlock.zip
		In progress
		In progress

Mods

- = the mod doesn't run on that game version, also without VCUnlock.

Mod	Version	Steam	Retail 1.0	Japanese	Notes
Ultimate ASI Loader	9.7.4	Works	Works	Works
SilentPatch	Build 12.1	Works	Works	-
SpeedrunSilentPatch	Build 11	-	-	Works
Widescreen Fix	4 Oct 2026	Works	Works	-	Put VCUnlock.asi in scripts
Project2DFX	25 Sep 2026	-	Works	-
SkyGfx	3.0b	-	Works	-	Set ShowFPS in VCUnlock.ini
GInput	1.11a	Works	Works	-
Mod Loader	0.3.10	-	Works	-
CLEO Redux	1.5.1	-	Needs fix	-	Guide

Your mod isn't listed? Open an issue and tell me if it works with VCUnlock, needs a fix (and what the fix is), or doesn't work. I'll add it to the table.

Tip

Mod developers: if you use VCUnlock in your mod pack and it doesn't work well with your other mods, open an issue and tell me about it. I'd like to help you fix it.

Video

Why

Vice City was made for 30 fps. Its physics move one step per frame, so when you turn the frame limiter off, the game runs faster than it should: cars stop dead, helicopters climb too fast and boats crawl.

VCUnlock lets you play at your monitor's refresh rate while the game keeps running at 30 steps a second, exactly like the original.

It changes nothing else. Wide screen, window modes and draw distance are left to the game and to the mods you choose for them.

Features

	Original	VCUnlock
Frame rate	30 fps cap	VSync, any cap or uncapped
Physics and timers	Break above 30 fps	Same at any frame rate
Building fade-in	0.06 s at 240 fps	0.5 s at any frame rate
Settings	Frame Limiter on or off	Frame Limiter choices and an FPS counter

How it works

The game world (physics, AI, scripts, timers) updates 30 times a second, the same as the original with its limiter on. Your screen can show many more frames than that, so each frame is drawn between the last two world updates. Motion looks smooth, and the game underneath is unchanged.

Part	On screen
Peds, vehicles, objects and skeletons	Smooth
Doors, bonnet, boot, wheels and steering	Smooth
Suspension, bike forks and lean, lights	Smooth
Cutscene characters, props and cameras	Smooth
Follow and scripted cameras	Smooth, mouse look every frame
Particles, water waves, trees and rain	Smooth
Markers, bullet traces, glass and ropes	Smooth
Plane trails, coronas and the sun	Smooth
HUD flashes, radio and sound fades	Every frame, at 30 fps speed
Engine pitch, water scroll, swinging doors	Every frame, at 30 fps speed
Heli rotors, animated textures, most clothing	30 steps a second
Keyboard and gamepad	Read 30 times a second

Tested

Same vehicle, same place and the same scripted input, recorded from the game at 240 fps:

	VCUnlock	Original, limiter off
World updates per second	30.00	240, one per frame
Game clock	Same as 30 fps	8% slow
Infernus coasting	Same as 30 fps	Stops dead in 1.5 s
Maverick climb	Same as 30 fps	79 m up in 7 s instead of 67
Speeder at full throttle	Same as 30 fps	60 to 90 km/h instead of 120
Skimmer on water	Same as 30 fps	18 km/h instead of 60
Boat in reverse	Same as 30 fps	18 km/h instead of 14 after 2 s

Also checked:

• Vehicle lights, wheels, doors and bike lean sit where the vehicle is drawn, on every frame.
• Every per-frame fix that was removed got a breakpoint. None fired outside a world update.
• The 30 Hz world runs against a copy of the Steam executable in offline tests.
• On retail 1.0 and the Japanese release every change goes in, the same as on Steam, and the world keeps 30 updates a second.
• Other mods: see Mods.

Install

You need GTA Vice City from Steam, the retail CD version 1.0 or the Japanese release. Other versions, such as retail 1.1, the Rockstar Games Launcher and the Definitive Edition, are not supported. VCUnlock leaves them untouched.

VCUnlock is an .asi plugin, like most GTA mods, so it needs an ASI loader. If you already have one, for example for SilentPatch, skip step 1.

1. Install Ultimate ASI Loader, the 32-bit (Win32) version: put its dinput8.dll into the game folder, next to gta-vc.exe.
2. Download VCUnlock.zip.
3. Extract VCUnlock.asi into the game folder, or into its scripts or plugins folder if your other .asi files are there.
4. Start the game.

To open the game folder on Steam, right-click the game and choose Manage → Browse local files. The retail game is in the folder you installed it to.

To uninstall, delete VCUnlock.asi.

Older versions of VCUnlock came as a dinput8.dll. If you have one, replace it with the ASI loader's dinput8.dll.

Settings

Both are in Options → Display Setup:

Setting	Values
Frame Limiter	VSYNC, 30, 60, 120, 144, 165, 240, OFF
Show FPS	ON, OFF

Original	VCUnlock
Display Setup: Frame Limiter and Show FPS

Settings are saved in VCUnlock.ini, next to VCUnlock.asi, which has a few extra options:

Key	Default	What it does
RefreshRate	0	Refresh rate in exclusive fullscreen. 0 uses the highest one
FPSLimit	0	Any frame rate cap, also one that isn't in the menu
Log	0	Write VCUnlock.log

Older versions also had wide screen, window, draw distance and audio options. They were removed so that VCUnlock works next to other mods for those. Older versions kept VCUnlock.ini in Documents\GTA Vice City User Files. The first start moves it next to VCUnlock.asi with the settings above, and the ones you changed are kept.

Troubleshooting

Nothing changed in the game. Make sure an ASI loader is installed and VCUnlock.asi sits in the game folder or next to your other .asi files. An older VCUnlock dinput8.dll must be replaced by the loader. Set Log=1 and check VCUnlock.log. VCUnlock checks the game's code before every change and skips anything that doesn't match. If the log says "unsupported executable", your game version is not one VCUnlock knows.

Another frame rate mod. Remove other frame rate mods first.

Antivirus warning. Every release is built by GitHub Actions from this source. You can check your download against SHA256SUMS.txt on the release page.

Found a bug? Open an issue and attach VCUnlock.log and VCUnlock.ini.

Building

You need Visual Studio 2022 or newer with the Desktop development with C++ workload.

build.bat

The plugin is written to build\VCUnlock.asi. Pushing a tag such as v1.0.0 publishes a release.

Special thanks

Root1X made VCUnlock with me, from the first idea to the release.

YBurakD played build after build and gave the feedback that shaped the fixes.

Licence

VCUnlock is released under the MIT Licence.