Map Editor for GTA III, Vice City & San Andreas
| W A S D | Move camera (hold keys) |
| LMB drag | Look around (FPS) |
| Alt + MMB | Orbit around target |
| MMB | Pan camera |
| B | Object Browser (pick & place) |
| LMB | Select / place object |
| Shift + LMB | Add to selection |
| Esc | Exit place mode |
| W | Translate mode (move objects) |
| Q | Rotate mode |
| G | Snap selection to ground |
| Shift + G | Align to ground normal + keep facing |
| Snap (Object Info panel) | Snap translation to grid or rotation to angle presets |
| Ctrl + S | Save all modified IPLs |
| Del / Backspace | Delete selected + LODs |
| Ctrl + Z / Y | Undo / Redo |
| Ctrl + C / V | Copy / Paste (auto LOD linking) |
| Ctrl + R | Hot Reload into running game |
| Ctrl + G | Test in Game (Windows) |
| C | Toggle viewer camera (extends far clip distance) |
| Ctrl + Alt + MMB | Zoom into target |
| Ctrl + Alt + LMB | Alternative mode — W/S for forward/backward |
| RMB | Cancel and exit place mode |
| Snap to clicked object | Place on the collision surface of the object you click |
| Snap to ground below | Place on the ground directly below the click point |
| Alt + LMB | Remove object from selection |
| Ctrl + LMB | Toggle selection (select/deselect) |
| RMB on selection | Deselect |
| RMB on deleted instance | Undelete it |
| Double-click in Editor list | Jump camera to that instance |
The Object Browser (B) has four tabs: Categories, IDE (filter by source file), Search (full-text), and Favourites. Right-click any object to add/remove it from favourites.
In the Object Info window (I), enable Ground Follow While Dragging to keep objects on the terrain as you move them. The sub-option Align To Surface also rotates them to match the slope.
The Editor window (E) has camera presets — save, load, and manage named positions for quick navigation.
Deleted instances are commented out with # in the IPL files when saved — not permanently removed. Right-click a deleted instance to undelete it before saving.
| Ctrl + R | Hot Reload — push all changes to GTA SA while it's running (move, add, delete) |
| Ctrl + G | Test in Game — save IPLs and launch the game with your changes (Windows only) |
Hot Reload (Ctrl+R) patches streaming IPLs directly inside the IMG archive and sends entity commands (add, move, delete) to the running game via the Ariane plugin. No need to restart GTA — changes appear in real time. Currently supported for San Andreas.
Test in Game (Ctrl+G) requires the ariane.asi plugin installed in your game directory. It saves all modified IPLs, launches GTA, and teleports you directly to your current Ariane camera position — so you instantly spawn right where you were editing.
Toggle editor panels with a single key.
| B | Object Browser — 3D preview, categories, IDE, search, favourites, placement |
| E | Editor — camera presets, CD images, selection list, instance browser |
| I | Object Info — gizmo controls, instance properties & flags |
| T | Time & Weather — hour, weather, extracolour, wet roads |
| V | View — collision, zones, paths, water, draw distance, LOD mode |
| R | Rendering — post effects, building pipes, fog, backface cull |
3D preview of selected object. Four tabs: Categories, IDE (filter by source file), Search (full-text), and Favourites. Mark objects as favourites. Click "Place" to enter placement mode.
Camera position/target, FOV slider, camera presets (save/load/delete). CD image browser. Full instance list with model name filter. Selection list with double-click-to-jump.
Gizmo mode toggle (translate/rotate). Snap to grid (translation) or angle presets (rotation). Ground-follow & align-to-surface options. Selected instance properties, object flags, effects, and path info.
Hour/minute controls, total-minute slider. Weather A/B selectors with interpolation. Extracolour (VC/SA), day/night balance (SA), wet road effect, Neo light map.
Toggle collisions, zones (map/navig/cull/info/attrib), 2dfx, car & ped paths, water. Draw distance multiplier. Render mode: Normal / HD only / LOD only. Timed objects & area toggles.
PostFX toggle with game-specific colour filters (PS2/PC/Xbox/Mobile). Building pipe mode selector. Backface culling, PS2 alpha test, background, fog, TimeCycle boxes.
Debug overlays, render modes and visual settings available from the View and Rendering panels.
| Draw Collisions | Visualize collision meshes |
| Draw Zones | Map, navigation, cull, info, and attribute zones |
| Draw 2dfx | 2D effects (GTA III & VC) |
| Draw Car / Ped Paths | Vehicle and pedestrian path nodes |
| Draw Water | Water plane visualization |
| Draw TimeCycle boxes | TimeCycle regions (SA) |
| Play Animations | Toggle NPC animation playback (SA) |
| Normal | Default rendering — HD + LOD as the game does |
| HD only | Show only high-detail models |
| LOD only | Show only low-detail models |
| Multiplier slider | 0.5x – 3.0x draw distance |
| Render all Timed Objects | Show all time-dependent objects regardless of hour |
| Render all Areas | Show objects from all interior areas simultaneously |
Full controller support for camera navigation.
| Left Stick | Orbit camera around target |
| Right Stick | Turn / look around (first-person) |
| D-Pad Up | Dolly camera forward |
| D-Pad Down | Dolly camera backward |
| Square | Zoom in |
| Cross | Zoom out |
| L2 held | Half speed (0.5x sensitivity) |
| R2 held | Double speed (2x sensitivity) |
| L2 + R2 held | Quad speed (4x sensitivity) |
| Start + Select (hold) | Quit application |
Ariane is a free, standalone map editor for the classic GTA trilogy: GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas. Built as a native C++ application on top of the librw RenderWare engine reimplementation, Ariane lets modders place, move, rotate, and delete any map object in a fully rendered 3D environment. All changes save directly back to IPL files and IMG archives — no manual file editing required.
Ariane includes a powerful Object Browser with 3D preview, full-text search, category filtering, and a favourites system for quick access to frequently used objects. The editor supports translate and rotate gizmos with configurable snap settings, snap to ground with automatic surface normal alignment, and copy/paste with automatic LOD linking. A full undo/redo history ensures you never lose work.
For San Andreas, Ariane supports hot reload (Ctrl+R) — push your changes to a running game instance in real time via the Ariane ASI plugin. You can also use Test in Game (Ctrl+G) to save, launch GTA, and teleport directly to your current editor camera position.
Visualization tools include collision meshes, car and pedestrian paths, map/navigation/cull/info/attribute zones, water planes, TimeCycle boxes, and 2dfx effects. The time of day and weather can be adjusted in real time with full interpolation between weather states.
Ariane runs natively on Windows (Direct3D 9), macOS (OpenGL 3, ARM64 and Intel), and Linux (OpenGL 3). It auto-detects the game version when launched from a GTA game directory.
Ariane is available as a free download from the GTA Stuff Discord server. Extract the archive into your GTA game folder and run the executable. The editor includes a built-in auto-updater that checks for new releases automatically.
Ariane replaces the browser-based GTA Stuff Map Viewer & Editor, which is now deprecated and will no longer receive updates. As a native desktop application, Ariane offers significantly better performance, more features, and direct file I/O that a browser environment cannot provide.
Ariane is forked from euryopa by aap, which provides the RenderWare rendering foundation. All map editing features — object placement, gizmo manipulation, undo/redo, IPL/IMG saving, hot reload, and the object browser — were built on top of this base.