How to open GTA IV IMG files and export textures and models

Before you start

• GTA IV for PC, with The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony if you have them, and RPFView 0.9.0 or later.
• GTA IV chosen and set up: click GTA IV when RPFView asks which game to open, then Set up. RPFView reads the key from your GTAIV.exe; nothing is downloaded. See how to open RPF files.
• For models: Blender, or any other 3D program that imports glTF or OBJ.

GTA IV support is a beta. Browsing and exporting never change your game files.

1. Find the files

The folder tree starts at Grand Theft Auto IV. Most models and their textures are in .img archives, which open like folders, just as .rpf archives do:

• pc\models\cdimages\vehicles.img: vehicles, such as admiral.wft with its textures in admiral.wtd.
• pc\models\cdimages\componentpeds.img and pedprops.img: characters and their props, such as m_y_cop.wdd and m_y_cop.wtd.
• pc\models\cdimages\weapons.img: weapons, each .wdr with a .wtd of the same name.
• pc\data\maps\…: the map, in one .img per area. The episodes' files are in the TLAD and TBoGT folders.

.wtd files are texture dictionaries; .wdr is a single model, .wdd a set of models and .wft a vehicle or an object in parts. Search finds files inside .img archives too: press Ctrl+F and try admiral ext:wft, or ext:wtd path:vehicles.img.

2. Export textures as PNG or DDS

1. Click a .wtd once. The texture viewer opens in the preview pane, with every texture of the dictionary in a list.
2. Pick a texture and open Export: Selected texture as PNG… for any image editor, or Selected texture as DDS… for other modding tools.
3. To save the whole dictionary, choose All textures as PNG… or All textures as DDS… and pick a folder.

3. Export models as GLB or OBJ

1. Click a model once. It appears in the 3D viewer in the preview pane, with its textures; vehicles get their wheels. Left drag orbits, middle or Shift+left drag pans, the mouse wheel zooms, and F fits the model into view.
2. If the model has several levels of detail, pick the one with the most triangles under LOD; in a .wdd, pick the model under Drawable.
3. Open Export and choose glTF binary (.glb, embedded textures)… for Blender, a single file with the textures inside. Wavefront OBJ (+ MTL, PNG textures)… writes an .obj, an .mtl and the textures as PNG files instead.

RPFView finds the textures the way the game does: in the .wtd the game's data names for the model, in a .wtd of the same name next to it, and for vehicles in pc\textures\vehicle.wtd, which they all share. Collision files (.wbn, .wbd) show in 3D too and export the same way.

Import the file in Blender with File → Import → glTF 2.0 (.glb/.gltf); the model guide has the details.

4. Export many files at once

1. Open the .img and select the files or folders inside it, then choose Export as… (Ctrl+Shift+E).
2. Under texture dictionaries, pick PNG or DDS (original format, all mips). Each .wtd gets a folder of its own.
3. Under models, pick glTF binary (.glb, textures embedded) or Wavefront (.obj + .mtl + PNG). Each model is exported at its highest level of detail; a .wdd gives one file per model.
4. Choose a Destination folder and click Export.

The dialog names the GTA V file types (.ytd, .ydr …), but its options apply to GTA IV's .wtd, .wdr, .wdd and .wft files.

Replace a texture

Unlike Red Dead Redemption 2's, GTA IV's archives and .wtd files can be edited, the same way as for GTA V (guide):

1. Export the texture as PNG, edit it in your image editor and keep the same size.
2. Select the texture in the viewer, click Replace… and pick your image. RPFView converts it to a format GTA IV understands.
3. Click Save. Before you change a file of your game, RPFView asks first: GTA IV has no mods folder, so the archive in your game folder is changed.

Common problems

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