Upstate

Interior of Shoreside Vale from the Upstate side.

Upstate is the name given to the northern terrain of Shoreside Vale in Grand Theft Auto: III, and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. Normally the area is inaccessible during gameplay. The area could be considered the technical limitations of GTA III. Upstate is mentioned in GTA III however the location is never revealed. The northern part can only be assumed as the location. The name, and location is suggested in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Description

Overview

Lying behind the Shoreside Vale land mass are water patches and a gaping entrance into Blue Hell. There is also a small city block situated behind the massif in GTA III.

The hills which are above Cedar Grove are only there to cover up the area behind it. Most of the hills are not solid. The way to distinguish this is if the grass is blurred, it's usually not solid. Most of the ground below the observatory is solid and the ground at or above the observatory isn't. A chain of telephones poles that appear in the city begin from Upstate. The very first one (or last one) is located directly next to the observatory.

GTA III

View to the north-west. Here the second hill mass appears paper-thin. The backside of the dam. Another view of the back of the dam Closeup view of the hole in the corner of the mountain. Although it displays blue hell it is considered a water hole, and is invisibly connected to the strip of water above. The patch of water above the hole. Map of the entire Upstate area in GTA III.

GTA Liberty City Stories

A map of Upstate in GTA Liberty City Stories. The middle part of the Upstate, the player has access to a small part of it. Central-eastern and eastern part of the site. Interior Upstate, visible entrance to the "blue hell". South-western part of the area.

Geography

Upstate is the hilliest part of Shoreside Vale. The hills are located above Cedar Grove as mentioned before. There are two layers of hills. The first layer is under the observatory. And the second layer is at the same level as the observatory although some of it stretches out above it. There is a steep rocky wall connecting the two. The wall also stretches around the western part of the hills near Cochrane Dam, and the western part of the hills. The first layer is solid, and the player can roam on. The second layer isn't solid. Located above the wall is an invisible field that blocks the player. It is worth noting that some of the hills on the first land mass can be used as ramps to jump onto, and through the second hill mass.

Cochrane Dam

Around the upper-area of Cochrane Dam the north-western section of the hills can be seen sheltering the water contained in the dam. Parts of this section are solid but are normally not accessible. From certain viewpoints optical illusions can be seen which are results of incomplete draw graphics such as water jutting through the wall of the dam. Under the water a large entrance of Blue Hell exists. Unlike all of the other Blue Hell entrances, if the player falls in they will fall for a longer period of time as opposed to the normal amount of time.

Viewed from the North-East		View from the North-West.

Road tunnels

GTA III

Two road tunnels first appear in GTA III. One is located in Cedar Grove, and the other is located near the Cochrane Dam. In GTA III these are blocked off without much reasoning. The tunnels would appear to be under construction as mounds of dirt, and construction signs are visible. The tunnels are in no way accessible, as there is an invisible wall around the tunnel entrances. If the player were to cause an explosion on the items, it will still be blocked. And the construction signs aren't solid, which is why explosives don't affect them. The only solid part is the small path in front of the pile of rubble.

The tunnels extends at least twenty feet into the hills before they come to a stop. Past the end of the tunnel is nothing. It would also appear that the tunnels connect to each other (as seen in the interior, however they don't). Also as seen through the radar they appear to lead up towards the city limits (edge of the gameworld) but they don't.

Upstate hills as viewed to the north. One of the Upstate tunnels. (Upstate exterior) Tunnel interior The tunnels on the radar. One ends at "Obbeburgh", and the other ends at "Garystown". A tunnel testers sign.

GTA Liberty City Stories

The two tunnels return in GTA Liberty City Stories but this time they are accessible and include traffic. The two tunnels connect to another in a t-junction, and another tunnel branching off at the intersection. The tunnel which branches off can't be entered as there is also a planted here. The other side of this road appears to go uphill, but isn't solid.

A map of Liberty City in GTA Liberty City Stories. Located behind the observatory the Upstate tunnel is visible. The entrance of the western tunnel. Interior of the tunnel. Inside the tunnel in 1998, with a very different design before it was closed in 2001 to change the interior.

Boundaries of the gameworld

The borders of Upstate.

Surrounding all of Liberty City is an area dubbed the borders of the "gameworld." This can be spotted usually as a light blue area behind the water (colors can change with time and weather). This is nothing more than the biggest "hole" in the game. It works just as blue hell does. It can be seen as such as when the player gets close to it they can angle the camera to a certain extent to which it emulates a "trail" effect. This area has no water and is void of any physical objects. The atmosphere is still present in this area and low-textured birds can still be seen.

Venturing too far into this region can result in the game crashing only if the player enters it from the north. If the player attempts to enter it from any other direction the game will "bounce" them back. Entering the names Aaronsville, and Garystown will crash the game as they are too far north. In the PS2 and Xbox versions, the game will freeze but the radio still plays if the player is in a vehicle. In the PC version the game will immediately crash, giving the user an unhandled exception error message. The distance in which it crashes differs between the three consoles. In the PC version if the player enters said names it will crash, but with the console games the player can nearly cross over before it crashes.

Also, if the player approaches Upstate from the Portland side, and flies into the north-eastern hill mass their vehicle will disappear and reappear after a few seconds. The reason for the hills not being complete was the thought that no players can normally venture there. However in GTA Liberty City Stories, most of the hills actually have backsides (but are unsolid) instead of having large holes in the landscape.

Radar text

Close to the edge of Liberty City in GTA III there are several names that can be seen on the radar: Chris's Town, Gary's Town, Adamton, Obbeburgh, Woodcunty, Les County, and Aaronsville, all of which were named after some of the programmers. To see these names the player would have to learn how to fly the Dodo and fly it behind the Shoreside Vale hills.

These names may have been placed here just as Easter eggs (which could be the purpose of the Dodo). It is not possible for it to be another part of the city as it too close to the edge of the gameworld, and could crash unexpectedly. The names are evidenced to be named after developers of GTA III:

Name	Programmer name	Position
Aaronsville	Aaron Garbut	Art Director
Adamton	Adam Fowler, Adam Cochrane	Technical Direction, 3D Artist
Chris'sTown	Chris Rothwell	Design By
Garystown	Gary Mcadam	3D Artist
Les County	Leslie Benzies	Producer
Obbeburgh	Obbe Vermeij	Technical Direction
Woodcunty	Alisdair Wood

The unused map of northern Shoreside Vale. Note that the tunnels don't actually stretch that far from Shoreside Vale. The radar names.

Access

The main mean of reaching Upstate in GTA III is by plane. Another way to reach it is the use of cheats in combination with the Rhino tank. The player cannot reach it by boat as there are invisible currents that cut off Upstate from the water around Francis International and Portland. However, in GTA Liberty City Stories, the inclusion of a floating car cheat allows the player to drive through the boundaries which would normally prevent boats from entering. Also if the player has obtained a helicopter they can use that to go past the boundaries, but not the height limit.

Residents

• Lazlow - Lazlow is said to reside in Upstate.
• Fernando Martinez - Fernando also says he is from Upstate; he is also accused of being "a cheap pimp from Upstate".

Miscellaneous images

The Cedar Ridge Observatory. The Ghost Town.

Videos

Air Exploration	Water Exploration
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Notes

• The small fold-out maps that come with all copies of GTA III do not include the Upstate area of Liberty City.