Several months ago, it was revealed that a group of modders known as the OpenIV Team were working on a Liberty City mod to add every single aspect of GTA4's map into Rockstar Games' most recent entry in the open world action-adventure series, Grand Theft Auto 5, but now it seems that the project has hit a snag in its production process. As it so happens, OpenIV's lead developer GooD-NTS recently announced that the mod will be delayed due to scheduling issues within the team.

As found in the quote below taken from the GTA Forums, GooD-NTS states that the Liberty City mod for Grand Theft Auto 5's original release window of sometime in the spring will be delayed to a more nebulous, but manageable time frame of 2017 since the team has its own personal lives to which they need to tend. The mod creator then goes on to make followup statements regarding potential questions fans may have about the delay.

Although the Liberty City mod's delay may be disappointed to some Grand Theft Auto 5 fans, maintaining a personal life outside of modding is definitely an understandable reason as to why it has been pushed back. After all, the venture is still underway and is making progress–albeit incrementally–and it's also a good sign that it has yet to incur any legal notices from Rockstar Games to halt the project completely.

Of course, there may be some Grand Theft Auto 5 fans who are unfamiliar with the Liberty City mod. Should that be the case, they can check out a handful of gorgeous screenshots of the work-in-progress that OpenIV has put together so far.

Taking all of this into consideration, one can only hope that the OpenIV Team finishes the Liberty City mod before Rockstar decides to issue a cease and desist. Should the game developer crack down on the project, not only would it negate the modding group's fantastic work, but also it would deprive fans of an exciting chance to revisit the entirety of GTA4 within the enhanced framework of Grand Theft Auto 5.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is available now for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Source: GTA Forums