Hacking Grand Theft Auto IV: Part III

Another feature set provided by the Games For Windows API is various functions for “protecting” data (hashing & validating). GTA IV uses these functions to hash and validate its save files. I’m not exactly sure how these functions work exactly — other than the fact that the one we are interested in, XLiveUnprotectData, is called in a peculiar way.

It’s called twice, with five arguments, none of these arguments point at the save data itself, but at the 360 byte blob at the end of the save file. I suspect that this process is actually decrypting some memory rather than hashing the save itself, the end result is that a CRC32 hash of a part of the save is extracted, then compared against. By hashing the save and providing the valid CRC32 in the result of a replaced XLiveUnprotectData we can get past this validation, allow us to load other people’s saves as well as letting us modify our saves.

For the new version of the wrapper:

  • Multiplayer functionality of GTA IV is now forcefully disabled, to prevent usage of my wrapper to cheat in multiplayer. Yeah, sorry, I’m not going to encourage it.
  • Protected buffers have slightly changed to better organize them, they are a single block of data rather than two now (this is only really useful if you’re writing a trainer for use with my wrapper).
  • A new tool, CopyXLiveResources, is now provided to fix the invisible Games For Windows interface in-game. You do not have to use this tool if you do not want to.
  • Save validation is now disabled, you can load any save. Note: This will not magically fix any form of corruption on your save files if they are corrupted.

Note: the save validation “feature” of this version of my wrapper now potentially makes it incompatible with any other game, and previous version of GTA IV. This version of the wrapper was made with GTA IV 1.0.1.0 in mind, if there are compatibility issues with previous versions I have no plans to support them.

XLive Wrapper (1.2.0.7) for GTA IV (1.0.1.0)

I have only tested my wrapper locally. There could be unforeseen issues that I have not expected, if you experience any bugs feel free to comment this post.

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241 Responses to “Hacking Grand Theft Auto IV: Part III”

  1. Ewippel says:

    I have a windows XP 64bit and everytime I run CopyXLiveResources.exe, it does not work and gives me this message:

    Error:
    Failed to Load:
    C:\WINDOWS\system32\xlive.dll

    Is this a especific problem with XP 64bit??? Someone please help me!!!

  2. david says:

    hey i just downloaded GTA and i donwloaded a save file from a certain mission im using the razor 1991 crack
    by the way im runnnig windows 7 RTM
    so i but your xlive.dll file in my gta directory and run gta then i get the usual black msdos screen coz of the razor crack
    then the screen goes gray and the game crashes..
    what should i do?

  3. Kappun says:

    At first I had the ” failed to load xlive.dll ” error. However, if you put a xlive.dll in your gta folder, THEN use the wrapper, it seems to work.

    But now I cant start GTA, just crashes. If I remove the xlive.dll it starts, but I cant load savegames 🙁

  4. Igor says:

    I have a problem: my OS is windows 7 and I installed it but the game doesn`t run while the xLive.dll is in the GTA folder. And heard that wrapper just work on Windows XP, so I wanna know if can you do a wrapper for Windows 7 or help me in my problem. THX

  5. Paul says:

    Will there be a wrapper for GTA 4 1.4?

  6. Jack says:

    Hi! I have used your wrapper several times on Windows 7, but I recently re-installed Windows, and when the xLive.dll is in the GTA directory the game will not load, what should I do?

  7. Igor says:

    I have the same problem of Jack

  8. Johannes says:

    Thanks alot . IT WORKED! You are a angel

  9. Johannes says:

    This program fix will let you import your old savings in GTA 4

  10. xblade says:

    Hi all :), the wrapper no work in GFWL 3.0 grettings

  11. Alex Smith says:

    Hey so how do i get it to work on any computer with out having to connect to xlive?

  12. Robi says:

    Hi, any solutions for vista 64-bit? How can I restore my savegames? It’s urgent! THX

  13. Fahd says:

    I gave my computer for mantainance.They formatted my save games for GTA 4.I had made back up but still it is not loading.it gives error that loading faile.I have offline account.

  14. Fahd says:

    What should i do

  15. lmpzkt says:

    i think the worng thing is GFWL 3.0 i use before xlive.dll but with the old GFWL and every thing is going fine and load the old save game but with patch 1.0.4 and GFWL 3.0 the game can’t even open , and about the xliveless.dll can any one told me how can i install it ? i put the xlive.dll in game folder and replace the save game but the game open and no save file help

  16. lmpzkt says:

    nothing will make old save game work again yet , i try every thing for 2 days xp and vista 32 and 64 all patchs 1.0.1 to 1.0.4 ! if any one had solve this f..k problem please tell us i start to hate this

  17. Fahd says:

    I figured it download xlive wrapper

  18. Fahd says:

    Guys now i am stuck in mission Esculea of streets given by manny.At ware house nothing happens.

  19. lmpzkt says:

    Her it’s …
    it’s all about GFWL Verison do not install the new verison just install GFWL v2.0 and every thing will going ok
    it’s not about the patch verison , install the game and apply latest patch , just put xlive.dll in game directory
    GFWL v2.0 still working till now if it stop we need xlive.dll for GFWL v3.0
    hope it work for every one .

  20. FreddyLuxe says:

    Hi Rick,

    I have the original game (with DVD’s) and I patched it to version 1.0.1.0.
    I want to have a 100% savegame because I have the game on my Xbox 360 and I don’t want to play missions again. I just want to make videos.
    So when I copy the xlive.dll into my GTAIV directory and I launch the game (with LaunchGTAIV.exe or via RGSC) the game wont start. An error message pops up and the game do not run.

    I have Vista 32bit. I don’t understant why it works for everyone but not for me. Can you help me please? Thank you.

    (if you can answer me by e-mail that would be great)

  21. Rick says:

    As far as I can tell, most of these problems are due to newer XLive 3.0.

  22. Black Rhythm says:

    Hey Rick,
    Great job putting in time to create this helpful file, but I got a problem.
    Im running XP 64-bit so they may be why its not working.
    But everytime I load the 100% save file it cant seem to find it at all.
    I put the files in the new location in My Documents but it still wont detect the files.
    I think it may be a xp 64-bit problem.

    I too have a 100% file on my Xbox but my xbox recently RROD and im waiting for it to come back.
    Also PC for videos!

  23. iwt2001 says:

    I just wanted to say you saved me a ton of time. I reformatted recently and transferred over the savefiles with no luck until I came across this site.

  24. Lorenzo says:

    Hey Rick,

    When i loaded CopyXLiveResources.exe and then press GTAIV.exe i got the question if i want to copy xlive.dll and xlive.dll.Cat.
    When i press okay i get a error message with the text (failed to copy xlive.dll!)
    Iam running this original game on Vista 32bit.
    You got the solution to solve this?
    I tried to run it in admin mode but i get the same message again.

    Alright allthough when i have to believe my friends its a great programm u made.
    Props to u.

  25. HELP says:

    Hey ii loaded a save file then it says error unable to load save game check hardrive

  26. HELP says:

    help rick

  27. Nick says:

    To those above, definitely seems that the wrapper does not work with the updated versions of GTA (1.4) and possibly xlive 3.0.
    Time to start from the beginning! 🙂

  28. me says:

    hey motherfucker !! enable multiplayer

    idiot, i will download it, but now, NOOOO !
    NOT MULTIPLAYER ? ARE YOU CRAZY ?
    FUCK YOUU !

  29. ms money says:

    Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.

  30. Shuv says:

    whenever i finish da mission called CONCRETE JUNGLE i get the blue screen error…dunno watta do…. tried downloading save files of 100% complete but tat too doesn’t work ,,,,i need to roam da city badly…. PLEASE SOME ONE HELP BOUT IT…… COS I LOVE GTA MORE THAN ANY OTHER PC GAMES….. HERE’S MY EMAIL……..
    shuvro.talukder@gmail.com

  31. grizel says:

    doesn’t work on 1.0.4.0
    after copying xlive.dll and CopyXLiveResources.exe do GTAIV folder and running it, game just won’t start and says something about xlive.dll

  32. killer says:

    Stupid question, but how do you find out what version of gta 4 you currently have? It doesn’t say anywhere in the game, and I’m not quite sure, I just installed it and did not patch it or anything.

    Because yeah if you I put this wrapper in my game folder it won’t start (like a few other people here). If I need to update to the correct version that this xlive.dll works with, where can you get that correct patch/update?

    My problem (without the xlive.dll) is that I have some savegames (I backed them up before a reformat a while ago), but when I installed gta 4 again they won’t work (the game sees them if I place them in the correct folder), but gives a “load failed” error if I try to load any of them.

  33. Sherif Errefae says:

    i need a working crack for GTA iv 1.0.1.0 <<<<

    please help me i canot save my missions

    my e-mail : Shero_dj5@hotmail.com
    facebook : Sherif Errefae

  34. Weezlee says:

    hello i got this problem. i do everything that it say in readme but when i double click CopyXLiveResources i got this: Error – Could not write: C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto IV\xlive.dll

    any sugestion?

  35. Sherif Errefae says:

    hey hey its so easy to save progress ur game just download this file { http://rapidshare.com/files/297077342/GTA_iv_Patch_1.0.4.0___its_crack__razor_.rar.html
    MD5: 3744CDB4701375A4CEC4D8679F6DD95D } that includes gta iv patch 1.0.4.0 & its crack (razor) really working (extract the file then extract the patch file u will find the patch setup istall it, after that extract the last folder that contains the crack replace all the files in this folder in the palce where u have istalled GTAiv then open the social club & when the screen of games for windows live apears click create a new account then choose offline account (:D) after that u can play & save ur game progress too. :D:D

  36. Sherif Errefae says:

    hey hey its so easy to save ur game progress just download this file { http://rapidshare.com/files/297077342/GTA_iv_Patch_1.0.4.0___its_crack__razor_.rar.html }
    that includes gta iv patch 1.0.4.0 & its crack (razor) really working (extract the file then extract the patch file u will find the patch setup isntall it, after that extract the last folder that contains the crack replace all the files in this folder in the palce where u have istalled GTAiv then open the social club & when the screen of [games for windows] live apears click create a new account then choose offline account (:D) after that u can play & save ur game progress too.) 😀

  37. baran baron ( not real name) says:

    it’s work great
    thanx very much your patch is make my savegame works again

    i tried on

    GTA iv v 1.0.0.4
    windows 7

    work very very great

  38. beerk says:

    GTA IV 1.0.4, Win 7, 64 now working
    i copied my savegames in the appdate dir, i tried the wrapper and XLiveLess , nothing worked. BUT than i created a new offline account, saved a new game und searched those new files. I found them in my docs, replaced them with my savegames and now it works.

    Maybe this helps

  39. mamameme says:

    HELP HELP
    HELP ME
    my saves don’t work. when i use xlive.dll, the game crashes. but when i use offline account and copy my saves where they’re supposed to be, it says “login failed, check hard drive” when i load em. i tried making new offline account, still same problem.
    HELP!

  40. mamameme says:

    I HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION
    go to http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=388658
    there you shall find xliveless, another wrapper, which works with the newest xlive and gta4 version!!!!!!!!!
    works perfectly.

  41. rover wanderer says:

    mamameme ‘s solution provided on november 4th is the only working method and works perfectly with 1.0.4.0 update .tnx man you’ve helped alot

  42. Alex says:

    hey, I dont know how to change the language…I have downloaded the russian version, and now the whole game is in russian….so i dont understand a piece of it…maybe you can help?…please reply…wanna play it soo bad

  43. Sherif Errefae says:

    i think u have to download the english version, but i am not sure.

  44. Eric says:

    Hi. Vista x64. Clean install (GTA_IV-ArenaBG). Patched. Copied xlive.dll to gamefolder. I get an appcrash upon running. Tried with update versions 1.0.1.0, 1.0.4.0, and 1.0.5.0.

    Thanks

  45. My husband would fall in love this website. We were recently talking about this. lol

  46. Jae Young says:

    IT DOESNT WORK IN WIN7 PLEASE HELP HOW TO LAUNCH WITHOUT X NET

  47. karlo says:

    oh man !!! THanK u so MUch!! it works!

  48. karlo says:

    oh man !!! THanK u so MUch!! it works on my windows 7 utimate 32bit

  49. Logan says:

    Hey! I hope you can help me, when I put the xlive.dll file on the GTA IV folder, the game just crashes, but when I remove it, the game runs fine, but then I can’t load saves. How can I fix it?
    Please Help!

    Thanks in advance!

  50. mirza says:

    it dosent worh i downloaded GTA IV (1.0.1.0) patch placed the xlive .dll in gta4 ran the XLive Wrapper (1.2.0.7) start the game and it gave an error cannot run gta4