Multiplayer in GTA IV

Multiplayer is a feature in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City that immensely expanded multiplayer functions that were otherwise absent, or limited in previous GTA games.

Basic information
Multiplayer in Grand Theft Auto IV is hosted on the PlayStation Network (PlayStation), Xbox Live (Xbox), and Games for Windows (PC). The game requires a working internet connection or connected to a Local Area Network (exclusively for PC version) and supports up to 16 players (Xbox and PlayStation), and up to 32 (PC). The multiplayer, along with the online leaderboards, were removed from the PC "Complete Edition" updated version of the game on March 19, 2020, due to end of support of Microsoft's Games for Windows Live platform. Despite this, un-patched installations of the game still have multiplayer enabled.

General Gameplay
Gameplay features differ slightly to that of standard single player. The player can always sprint and will never get tired, and can change weapons more quickly. Pickups are deployed across the map and are labeled with a specific icon. Health pickups now can be collected while in a vehicle, restoring player's health and vehicle's damage. Weapons pickups now will have a larger amount of ammunition when picked up and are labeled differently (Pistols from Shotguns), but aren't specifically defined (An assault rifle will be either the Assault Rifle (AK-47) or the Carbine (M4)). GPS waypoints can still be placed on the radar and are visible to all players, along with the guided route (if enabled through the main options of the game). Players are labeled with a certain color that represents their characters. Like any ally/enemy in missions, they are labeled with a dot on the minimap, along with a name, where the player can identify another player throught the cursor and the screens in-game. The player itself, like the protagonists, is represented with an arrow of the designed color. Some games require the player to be on a team. The player's online ID display matches with that of their respective team.

Players can also partially communicate with others via the player model. While on foot, pressing the L1 button will allow players to partially converse with others (only in Grand Theft Auto IV). During the game session, the players can be viewed by pressing down on the D-pad of the controller.

Differences to Single Player Scenario
In Multiplayer, many changes are made to Liberty City. Weapons and Health/Body Armour are found in specific locations in the selected region of the city, which the player can still leave anyway. Most novelty vehicles appears in special locations. For example, the Heli Tours heliport spawns Annihilators instead of Heli Tour Mavericks, and in The Ballad of Gay Tony multiplayer an APC spawns in the East Holland LCPD Station car lot, as well as Police Mavericks on the station's helipad. Most glitches from single player can also be used in multiplayer, as seen here and many of the inaccessible areas from single player are unlocked in multiplayer.

In addition, all three islands are accessible in multiplayer regardless of the player's progression in the story.

Accessing multiplayer
Multiplayer is available from the beginning of the game (after The Cousins Bellic), though Niko actually receives his real phone in the second mission (It's Your Call). To access multiplayer, the player has to bring up the cell phone and select "multiplayer". This will bring up a new menu which contains six options:

Games
Brings the player to two options: Quick Match, and Custom Match. Quick Match allows the player to jump into a game via the game lobby, while Custom Match allows the player to customize the game type, as well as the private slots (the number of players that require a game invite to join).


 * Deathmatch
 * Mafiya Work
 * Car Jack City
 * Race/GTA Race
 * Team Deathmatch
 * Team Mafiya Work
 * Team Car Jack City
 * Cops 'n' Crooks
 * Turf War
 * Deal Breaker
 * Hangman's NOOSE
 * Bomb Da Base II
 * Free Mode

Party Mode
An invite-only variant of Free Mode. The player(s) are free to do as they wish as with free mode. Each one also starts party mode at the Alderney Casino (also marked with a safehouse icon) with a selected variety of vehicles on the area. Default settings are used here. If at least two players are in the game, then they can start any game (see above). When the host leaves, then another player is appointed party leader.

Invites
Game invites are shown here. Selecting one of these will allow the player to join the game in which the player's friend(s) are in. Invites last until the game session is over. If waited too long the player can still join, but they will have skipped the game lobby. These can be sent if the player is or isn't already in a game session. Invites sent to someone playing single player will appear just like a text message notification does.

Player Model
Selecting this allows the player to customize the look of their multiplayer character. As with each rank, the player will unlock more clothing (highlighted when ranking up). Player models are separated between a man and a woman, so the player can customize both genders separately, as well as a zombie model after ranking up to level 1.

One can change their character model before starting a match. Note that in some games, more specifically Turf War, Cops 'n' Crooks, Bomb Da Base II, Hangman's NOOSE, and Deal Breaker, the player will assume the appearance of a generic gang member (or a police officer in Cops 'n' Crooks). If the player has already joined a match, they can't change their model until the match expires (or after leaving an infinite Free Mode).

Preferences
Options that the player can change. The three options are: auto-aim, police, and friendly fire. Each can be set to disallow, don't care (random), or allow. Players join games based on their preferences, unless they use an invite.

Auto-aiming: Only works against people who attack the player, so innocent pedestrians who pose no threat to the player won't be auto-targeted. This also has to be enabled through the main options menu. Though, if reticule health is enabled, and the player's weapon target is set to complex, the current health of an NPC can still be tracked.

Police: Enabling the wanted system works just as it would in single player, except the absence of the FIB. Wanted levels are only visible through the player's perspective. Due to this, others can only have a sense of the wanted level of another player based on the quantity of law enforcement groups pursing one another. Police will also attempt to kill players rather than arrest them. None of the police settings apply in party mode. If a player escapes but is carrying another player, is possible that the other player will be still chased by cops, depending of the wanted level earned by their own.

Friendly-fire: Allows players to be killed by another player directly. When enabled, every player has the chance of kill someone with firearms. When disabled, they can only receive damage from an AI or player's vehicles, cops (if enabled), crashing a wrecked helicopter, or falling.

Tutorial
A quick tutorial about multiplayer. Selecting this will transport the player to Charge Island, where the game gives beginners instructions about weapons, pickups, games and teams. To view the tutorial, the player cannot have a wanted level.

Inside a match
The phone is a vital tool that can be accessed at any point during gameplay and tells anything about the match. Cheats are obviously disabled in multiplayer, as the player no longer can use the phone's numbers.

When inside a match, these options appear:

Phonebook
This contains the other members of the game session, as well as Zit!, which is always in the phonebook. There are three options for each of them.

The first one is Call, where a player can call other players via headset/microphone and only works if the player has one. The second one is to "mute" and "unmute" other players when desired. If a player is muted by all other players that started in the lobby, then they can't receive calls until they are unmuted. The last one is kick, where the player can select another one to be kicked out of the match. This can be used if a player is repeatedly causing trouble for other players, or if others want to maintain a private match. Upon using this, a message will appear in the top left corner reading "<> Wants to Kick <>". To kick a player, there will be a majority between the match. Provided there is at least three players, two can kick another player from the game. If someone is kicked from a game, then they can't return to it, and are stated as "<> left the game".

Kicking can also be used in the game lobby before it starts. It's commonly used when the host takes too long to start.

Leave Game
Self explanatory, selecting this will allow the player to leave the current game session, and return to singleplayer. The player can also leave by accessing options, and selecting leave under the game menu.

Game Info
Information on the current game. Has the description of the game, as well as the set preferences, and host's options.

Multiplayer
Selecting this will let the player start a new game, party mode, or with the downloaded The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, change the episode.

Friends
Allows the player to send a game invite for friends to join them. Friends can only be invited if they have a IV icon next to their name. If the friend doesn't have one and their name is in black, it means they are online, but not playing Grand Theft Auto IV. If the name is grayed out, however, they are offline.

Next Game
Selecting this, and selecting another game allows the player to suggest the next game. If all players suggest the same game, a time will count down from 8:00 before starting the new game.

Player match
Player Match puts the player up against others in every possible multiplayer mode. Scores in these matches are not carried over into other matches, and are irrelevant once the time is up. You also cannot earn money or achievements in this mode; it's a casual mode, well-suited for socializing and getting a feel for the different modes before jumping into Ranked matches. It is very common for LAN matches for PC version only.

Ranked match
Ranked Matches — either on PlayStation Network or Xbox Live — give the player a rank which will gradually increase (to a maximum rank of 10) as they advance and earn money. Advancing in rank unlocks additional clothing for one's multiplayer character. Some money earned in team matches is split up equally (Turf War, Team Car Jack City). Although in others the amount of money the player the player earns depends on how much they have made (Team Deathmatch, Hangman's NOOSE, Deal Breaker, and Bomb Da Base II). Any money received at the end of one of the three co-op games is the same for everyone. Below is a list showing the amount of money needed to get to each rank. If the player is in a game they may have to spectate before the current game ends and they can join in. Leaving the game will see that no money or network stats are recorded, this is the same if the player is kicked. Killing oneself or member of the same team will cost the player (or team) a loss of $100. The same applies to being killed by an NPC. Ranked money from regular Grand Theft Auto IV will carry on to The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.


 * Ranking system

Game options
These are the options in which the host of the game (represented by a crown icon) can alter. Anything native to a game session is not listed here.

Statistics
Upon completing a game, a statistics screen will appear on the screen. This will list all the players, along with their rank, and how much money is need to gain a level up. It also shows how much money the player has made, how many kills, and how many deaths. It will also show things that are native to the game such as how many turfs were taken over in Turf War, how many cars were delivered in Car Jack City, what place the player was in during a race, or a deathmatch, or how many tasks were carried through in Mafiya Work. The player can search stats in the option menu by pressing the start button. These are worldwide stats that track every game except for free mode and party mode. These can only be viewed in single player.

Kills
Whenever someone is killed by the AI (mostly cops) or other players, a message will appear in the top-left corner reading "<> Died" or "<> killed <>". This message used to describe the killing differs between anything the player can do onto another (weapons or vehicles). The multiplayer killfeed uses a variety of messages to indicate the death of players in gameplay, which follow a basic "Player1" " " "Player2" format, where the first is the attacker and the second, the victim.

Death of the player will result in loss of all current weapons, but upon respawning, the player is granted a few seconds of invincibility.

Achievements/Trophies in multiplayer

 * Main article: Achievements in GTA IV.

Navigation
Multiplayer (IV) es:Grand Theft Auto IV: Online