Multi Theft Auto
Multi Theft Auto (MTA) is the world's first multiplayer add-on for the Grand Theft Auto 3 Trilogy. Starting as a very simple two player system with no on-foot support, has become one of the most perfect (multiplayer) mods for Grand Theft Auto.
Although often referred to as a modification, Multi Theft Auto is based on code injection and hooking techniques whereby the game is manipulated without altering any original files supplied with the game. The software functions as a game engine that installs itself as an extension of the original game, adding core functionality such as networking and GUI rendering while exposing the original game's engine functionality through a scripting language.
Multi Theft Auto's latest release is for the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and is built upon a now open source game engine that has been in development for several years and is the only project that is still actively maintained. The engine provides users with all the necessary tools they need to create their own game modes and maps by exposing a large part of the original game functionality through a Lua scripting machine.
Before Multi Theft Auto
In February 2003, IJs (formerly known as IJsVogel), founder of the project, was searching for a trainer for GTA3. He stumbled upon the GTA3 Admin Console and its source code. When looking through the code he found a way to read all the data from the previous used car, and he decided to synchronize this with two computers over a network. The result of this was the creation of GTA3:AM, less than an hour later.
However, after the release it was difficult to convince people it actually worked because of various hoaxes and earlier attempts that had failed. This was the start of the MTA project.
History of Multi Theft Auto
- Timeline (from 2003 to 2006)
- Version History (More detailed version history)
- Press Coverage
- Archive
Milestones since 2006
- January 3, 2008 MTA:San Andreas 1.0 Developer Preview(s):
MTA:San Andreas Deathmatch Developer Preview 1 was the first release that featured on-foot synchronization for San Andreas. The name deathmatch refers to the ability to shoot with weapons and get on-foot unlike the race version. The word deathmatch has been dropped in later releases because this version allowed customized gamemodes with LUA scripting and confused people. While the first 5 releases were called 'Developer Preview' it was very popular.
- August 21, 2009 MTA:San Andreas 1.0:
Version 1.0.x was released with the GPLv3 license this allowed to work with more people on the next release when it became open source.
- 2011 Mod of the Year - Players Choice #1[1]