I will explain how to acquire the latter anyway. So, let's start!
The first thing you do is go to the actual website of this forum which is
http://vicecitymultiplayer.com. From there on, you take a close look at the website and spot, to the right side of the site, the link encircled in red in the next picture:
Click it and you should be able to initiate the VCMP client's download. Be sure to save it somewhere you will find it, afterwards!
STEP 2Now that we're done with downloading the client, it is time for us to check which directory our
game is in.
For me and for all Windows 7 users running on x64, the default Vice City installation folder will be C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto Vice City\
Remember this directory since you will be installing your VC-MP client into it afterwards.
STEP 3I presume that you have done what I have asked you for in the previous two steps and we can continue with the next. Here is where shit gets cereal. You are going to install the VC-MP client into your VC folder. Amazing, is it not?
If you are a Windows 7 user like myself, you will have to run the .exe you had to unpack from the .zip you downloaded in Step 2 as an
administrator, as shown above. You will be asked to confirm once again and you will have to click Yes again, if you want to play VC-MP of course. This is to allow the .exe to edit/write new files into a system folder.
STEP 4After you have launched the installer, a window like the one below will appear. Ignore the decapitated man to the left of the installer, you will find yourself in his place a lot of times in Vice City Multiplayer, anyway.
This step is dedicated to showing what the installer looks like. The next step however..
STEP 5.. will require you to
change the default installer directory to the one you have found in
Step 1.
This should be fairly easy for most.
STEP 6We are finally ready to let the rootkits and trojan horses invade our PC. Click
install and watch the magic happen.
Success! You have installed Vice City Multiplayer! Do not get too happy though, we are only halfway through our quest to play it.
STEP 7You will now proceed back to your
Vice City game directory and find a file called
vc-mp.exe there. Launching it as an administrator is advised since it has a few minimal advantages such as F8 screenshots saving into your actual Vice City game directory, as well as saved coordinates saving into the proper folder too. It's up to you though since it will not affect gameplay as a whole.
STEP 8This is what you will see when you open vc-mp.exe:
A few guidelines from here on:
- The tick button on the top left corner exists to add a server, given you know it's IP / direct web address.
- The second button in that row will be the counter-part of the previous, it exists to delete a server on your favorites list.
- The third button in the row will refresh the server's information, if needed.
- The fourth button can be used when going on the global internet list. It refreshes the master server, the server which parses all the information about servers you will play on. This is useful if a server you played on was recently shut down / crashed and you want to know if it is back up again.
- The fifth button copies the server information shown on the bottom into your paste buffer so you can paste it into a document etc.
- The sixth button gives the same result that would happen if you clicked the server on a list twice.
- The other buttons are irrelevant to you at current time.
About server categories:
- Favorites - servers of your personal preference that you save by yourself.
- Internet - a list of all servers currently running on VC-MP
- Official - the best of the best servers. They usually contain the best scripts and thus they are the most enjoyable.
- LC:MP - a discontinued multiplayer modification for GTA III. There is an alternative called Liberty Unleashed.
- Legacy - heck if I knew.
STEP 9We will add a server to our favorites list in this step. Click on the first button on the top left corner and paste an IP and it's respective port that you find on the Internet / Official lists.
After you are done, click OK and you will see a server in your Favorites list!
STEP 10FINALLY READY TO PLAYDouble click the server in the list or click the sixth button in the top left row and click
Connect. Now you will be able to enter a world you will never be able to escape from. Have fun!
Written by myself. Interlingual guides to be added soon.
When you close your VC-MP browser, you will be spammed with error boxes. Click ENTER for a few seconds until all the messages have gone and you'll be just fine.