Get with the times

Rockstar’s modding guidelines, recently updated in advance of GTA 6, say much about how you can’t dream up unofficial story missions, or give the upcoming instalment a cheeky unofficial PC port. But they don’t say a goddamn thing about crowbarring DLSS, DLAA, and FSR into 2008’s Grand Theft Auto IV, which is exactly what ChunkLeChuck’s DLSS IV mod has gone and done.

This isn’t the first time modders have got Nvidia and/or AMD’s anti-aliasing upscaler replacements into GTA 4; Warcaco’s RTX Remix mod had DLSS working as part of a wider suite of high-rez texture and path tracing additions. DLSS IV, though, looks like the much lighter, quicker, cleaner fix if you just want to give a modern makeover to the base game’s infamously jagged and shimmering attempt at AA.

Dull technical reminder: DLSS is Nvidia’s machine-learned upscaler for GeForce RTX graphics cards, while DLAA is basically DLSS’s anti-aliasing component without the upscaling. The mod’s chosen version of FSR, AMD’s equivalent, appears to be FSR 3, so it’s not quite as pin-sharp as Nvidia’s cleverer tech but should work on any functional GPU from any manufacturer.

Any of these three will give Liberty City’s edges a nice sand-and-varnish, and are compatible with HDR. DLAA’s lack of upscaling means it won’t have the same performance-massaging effect as DLSS or FSR, but I’m guessing that if you’re interested in modding GTA 4 in 2026, it’s because you’re already playing GTA 4 in 2026, which means your PC can already run GTA 4 in 2026. Also, look, this game is older than most GTA 6 players will be. Your RTX 3060 will be fine.

Allegedly, Rockstar were considered a full, modernising remaster of GTA 4 as recently as 2022, but (also allegedly) binned the idea after the launch of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. Player and critical response to this remastered bundle was largely unenthusiastic, on the grounds that it was massive bum.