Tutorial 2: Operation and installation of mods to modify interfaces.

10/02/2025 — Jolaine KANDA, Ameni HAJJI, Yohan SCHMITT, Léo BONO

Cosmetic changes (“reskinning” or visual modification of elements):

.gxt2 files to replace generally in the folders present in the “update”, via OpenIV (rewrite function with OpenIV Text Viewer), to modify the displayed texts (app names, menus, characters, messages, etc).
→ Necessary to open them in OpenIV, then export them via the Text Viewer. You then need to convert the .gxt2 to .TXT or .CSV, edit it outside of OpenIV, then “replace” it in OpenIV (keeping the name and reconverting it to the correct format) to inject the modified file.

.ytd files (for Y Texture Dictionary) to replace generally in the folders present in the “data”, always via OpenIV (opening files via OpenIV Texture Viewer, Photoshop, etc.), to modify the displayed images and 2D elements (app icons, map elements, map background, phone wallpapers, textures of the different 3D elements of the game, etc).

.gfx and .swf files (Scaleform) to decompile into .fla with a dedicated tool to modify animations, positions and event triggers (buttons), then recompile into .gfx/.swf (+ more technical and unstable than other modifications!).

Injection of overlay (= additional graphical or textual layer that is drawn over the existing game interface and overlays the player's screen), rather than replacing the game files: write a script (often in C#) with ScriptHookVDotNet + a library dedicated to the UI (LemonUI, NativeUI).
→ Allows you to “draw” directly on the screen, above the game's HUD, which can be more flexible and dynamic than modifying the game files (adding rather than editing the existing interface).

Functional changes (adding code to modify or add features in the game):

.asi, .dll or .lua files (i.e., scripts) allow you to code a new application or feature and integrate it into the phone.
→ Requires writing code directly via ScriptHookV, ScriptHookV .NET, RAGE Plugin Hook… with libraries like NativeUI (GitHub) — or its discussion on GTAForums, and LemonUI (GitHub).

Resources

• OpenIV Team. OpenIV. Publisher: openiv.com. Web link: https://openiv.com/, 2024.
• Alexander Blade. ScriptHookV. Publisher: dev-c.com. Web link: https://www.dev-c.com/gtav/scripthookv/, 2023.
• Crosire. ScriptHookVDotNet. Publisher: gta5-mods.com. Web link: https://www.gta5-mods.com/tools/scripthookv-net, 2023.
• Rage Plugin Hook Team. Rage Plugin Hook. Publisher: lcpdfr.com. Web link: https://ragepluginhook.net/, 2023.
• Guad. NativeUI. Publisher: GitHub. Web link: https://github.com/Guad/NativeUI, 2023.
• LemonUI Project. LemonUI: Open Source UI Library. Publisher: GitHub. Web link: https://github.com/LemonUIbyLemon/LemonUI, 2023.