Introducing a mod designed to enhance your Liberty City experience like never before.

What is a popcycle, you might ask? Popcycle, short for Population cycle is a relatively small, yet very important gamefile inside you GTAIV files which basically dictates how you experience Liberty City during your play sessions. It decides how many peds, scenarios, cars and parked cars are present and even tells the game what kind of peds to use in which district! As you can imagine this is a highly crucial factor because this file is very essential in order to feel immersed into the game.
There are many popcycles created for this game and I tried most of them. None of them are as good as mine and I can almost guarantee this. Pair this popcycle with the excellent Potential Grim mod and I truly hope that you will be shocked how immersive this 2008 can still be after all these years.



Created from the ground up to make the game feel more alive and diverse across every time of day.
Carefully tried to balance gameplay and realism in order to be more immersive for the player.

Please watch this overview video of the features:

• Different rush hour scenarios implemented for different district types (Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Park, or perhaps a blend of two or more...
• Each district feels somewhat unique now.
• Somewhat reduced vehicle traffic in order to avoid ugly  and unrealistic traffic jams  on smaller streets.
• Peaceful (or perhaps eerie?)nights, weekends buzzing with activity—all seamlessly integrated into the game.
• Police presence is also reduced, cop patrols are much rarer. But this does not mean you can just commit crimes left and right without consequences, of course!
• And MUCH more!
  

Ever wanted to truly feel part of the city's daily life? With this mod, you'll get just that. Dive into the crowds in peak hours or take a stroll through the streets during the quieter early afternoons.

But it's not just about the big moments. Each neighborhood has its own vibe. With this mod, you'll hopefully explore every corner of the city, experiencing its daily rhythm.

This is a lore friendly mod.

So, if you're ready for a deeper, more immersive dive into Liberty City, this mod can be your ticket to a whole new level of gameplay. Or at least that is my hope and intention.



Notes:

• The mod was created with an ingame setting of Vehicle Density set to maximum ingame. If you use less than that you may experience traffic that is less than intended. I made sure to balance traffic on the maximum density in order to not feel overwhelming from the get-to.
• The mod can be used with or without Potential Grim. Feel free to even use the Potential Grim version on a vanilla game, as it basically only affects the different types of peds that have a chance to spawn at any given time.
• Due to how the game handles car spawns (it has its own hardcoded spawn patterns for each area) you may still experience some traffic issues here or there but I largely tried to compensate for these.
• In case you have any issues or suggestions drop a comment.
• For my downgrading guide which will give you a basic downgraded game with Fusionfix GO HERE
  

Installation:
Just drag and drop the popcycle.dat file into common/data. Fusion overloader is also supported. Instructions inside.

Other great mods

This mod wouldnt look as good without DayL's Natural Timecycle. Check it out!

For gang fights/hostility towards the player after certain events in the story check out Potential Grim

To achieve the visuals seen in the video above check out my reshade - made for DayL's Natural TImecycle

 Other recommended mods

 (I recommend downgrading to 1.0.8.0 for the best modding experience and compatibility)

• I highly recommend you check out My Timecycle
   mod here on Nexus if you are into my style (all versions of the game
  supported). It is also a very realistic and very intricately designed
  mod which compliments this very well. Compatible with the base vanilla
  game or Potential Grim, a mod which I also recommend.
• Some of the shots in my showcase video and screenshots below feature DayL's
  Project Lights mod, it adds new volumetric light sources to a lot of
  things on the map and also changes up some lighting properties of
  streetlamps. It can be a bit heavy on the performance, but it is a very
  high effort mod. You can find it on DayL's discord.
• Various Fixes - A pretty essential mod, which as the name suggests fixes up a lot of fixes throughout liberty city. Too many to list.
• Liberty Tweaks - Only supports 1070, 1080 at the moment, but one of the best mods ever made. Contains a lot of useful scripts. Check it out.
• Project 2DFX - For beautiful far render coronas across the map I linked the last
  version that works with 1070/1080. If you use CE please use a newer
  version
• Volumetric Lights  - a Mod by AssaultKifle , adds  nice visible volumetric light shafts for a
  lot of lamps in the city. A simple script mod, but almost invaluable.
  Only compatible with 1080.
• Restored Pedestrians - self explanatory. Compatible with any version of the game.
• Various Pedestrians Actions - A very  important mod, adds a lot of unused ambient actions to npcs
  throughout the world, making it feel more alive. All game versions
  supported
• Project Birds - A fun little mod, adds some birds throughout liberty city for greater immersion. Featured in my video as well.
• Project Thunder - 1070, 1080 support only, adds actual lightning strikes for lightning weather. great mod.
• VAmbience - Adds various ambient sounds to the city's atmosphere.
• Higher Resolution Miscellaneous Pack - I don't recommend to use too many high res assets as it can lead to nasty texture loss issues but this one is invaluable.
• Vehicle Pack - Same as above.
• Xbox Rain Droplets - A nice little script mod, adds visible raindrops to your screen camera where its approppriate
  

Thanks to:
Lord Criminal for Potential Grim
diporrisvn for helping me test