3D world

The 3D world is GTA V’s map, rendered in your browser so you can move through it like a free camera. It is the 3D world tab of the Interactive Map and the 3D world panel of the YMAP Builder. Use it to scout a location before you script it, check what a spot looks like from the street, grab a pin at an exact place, or place ymap props where they belong.

Where you find it

Both need a desktop browser with WebGL 2, a mouse and a keyboard. On phones the Interactive Map stays on the 2D map and the YMAP Builder hides the button.

Quick start

1. Open the Interactive Map on a desktop. You start above Legion Square.
2. Click the view. The mouse now turns the camera. Press Esc to get the pointer back.
3. Hold W to fly forward. Scroll the mouse wheel to change speed.
4. Press Walk in the top left toolbar to drop to street level and walk.
5. Press Pin here to save the spot, then switch to 2D map to copy it as vector3 or vector4.

Toolbar

The toolbar sits in the top left corner of the view.

The box in the top right corner shows live numbers: fps (amber below 30), draws (draw calls), tris (triangles in millions), nodes (world pieces loaded, plus how many are still loading), props (trees, lamps, benches and other props drawn right now), data (MB of world data loaded), heap (browser memory, only in Chromium browsers) and, while flying, speed in m/s.

Controls

Looking around

The keyboard only works while the view has focus. If keys do nothing, click the view once.

Fly

The camera eases in and out of movement, so short taps give small, precise moves.

Walk

In walk mode you follow the ground and roofs, you step up curbs and stairs, and you cannot climb anything higher than about 0.8 m in one step. Walls stop you and you slide along them. Doorways stay open. Props such as trees, lamp posts and benches do not block you. The mouse wheel does nothing while walking.

Switch to Walk while flying high and you fall to the ground under you. If the ground there has not loaded yet, you hover until it has.

Drive

Drive is a small driving and drift mode in the Interactive Map. It uses the keyboard (or a gamepad), so it is hidden on touch screens. A bar under the toolbar lets you set it up:

Keys while driving:

The bottom right panel shows your speed in km/h, the boost bar and your best drift score. Drift scoring works like this:

• Slide sideways at speed and a score counter appears with the drift angle and a multiplier. The multiplier goes up the longer you hold the drift, up to x5.
• Straighten out and the score is banked after a moment. A new record shows New best drift.
• Crash hard during a drift and the chain is lost (Crashed, drift lost).

The car looks after itself: if it lands on its roof it flips back after two seconds, and if it falls into the sea or leaves the ground for too long it is put back on the last good spot on the road. Your last car, paints, sound setting and best score are saved in your browser.

Quality

The quality menu trades detail for frame rate. The choice is saved in your browser.

The setting applies right away, no reload needed.

What you see

• The whole main island: Los Santos, Blaine County and Paleto Bay, with terrain, roads, buildings, bridges and the sea, lakes and rivers.
• Detail changes with distance like in the game: far away you see the low detail versions of districts and mountains, and full detail buildings, trees and street props appear as you get closer.
• Street props and vegetation: trees, lamp posts, benches, bins, fences and so on.
• Interiors of many buildings that are open in the base game (police stations, banks, shops, the car showroom and others) on Medium and High. They load when you are close to them.
• Fixed calm daylight.

Not shown:

• Cayo Perico and North Yankton.
• Peds, traffic, parked vehicles and animals.
• Time of day, weather, street lights at night and shadows.
• Interiors that a server has to load with a script, and interiors on Low.

Textures are lighter than the game’s, so close up surfaces look flatter than in GTA V. Distances, heights and positions match the game.

Performance tips

• Watch fps in the corner. If it drops below 30 (it turns amber), switch to Low.
• Fly slower when you arrive somewhere new. At full speed the world has to catch up, so you see low detail for a moment. At the same spot a second later everything is there.
• Full screen renders more pixels. On a weak GPU a normal size view is smoother.
• Use a browser with hardware acceleration on. If chrome://gpu or about:support says WebGL is software only, the view will be slow or will not start.
• Laptops: plug in and pick the high performance GPU for your browser if you have two.
• Close other heavy tabs (other 3D pages, video). Only one 3D view runs well at a time.
• If data keeps climbing after a long session and things get choppy, reload the page.

Messages you may see

Common mistakes

• Keys do nothing. The view does not have focus. Click it once.
• The mouse is stuck. You clicked the view in the Interactive Map, which captures the pointer. Press Esc.
• Walking through a tree or bench. Props do not block you in walk mode. Walls and buildings do.
• Low detail everywhere. You are moving faster than the world loads, or Low is selected. Stop for a second, or pick Medium.

Limitations

• Desktop only: WebGL 2, a mouse and a keyboard are needed. Drive also works with a gamepad once started.
• It is a viewer. Positions you pick here are exact enough for scripts, but check spawn heights on roofs and stairs in game.
• Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you do in the view is uploaded.

Related tools

• Interactive Map
• YMAP Builder
• Objects / Props List