One of Grand Theft Auto 4’s biggest and most ambitious mods just launched its first major update in almost 11 years. Icenhancer 4.0 from Hayssam Keilany is finally live, adding physics-based lighting and more compatibility options between other GTA 4 mods in what sounds like a helluva undertaking.
The lighting overhaul mod first launched back in 2011, but Keilany stepped away from the modding scene back in 2014 after enduring years of nasty comments leading into Ice 3’s release and what sounds like too many thankless hours deep in the debug mines. Version 4.0 is likely all we’re getting for a while, as Keilany explained he’s “putting 4.1 on hiatus for now” in the Icenhancer Discord.
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It’s a beefy update that Keilany credits fellow modder Krystaling and ENB mod creator Boris Vorontsov for making possible. There’s quite a lengthy list of light changes big and small in version 4.0, but a few of the highlights you may notice include:
- New Shaders for fog rendering and water
- Shaders are now 2X faster than older versions
- Clouds and fog affect lighting
- Improvements to sky colors and glass textures
- Compatibility fixes with ENB after Windows 11 updates
Before taking the new Icenhancer for a test drive, you’ll have to install ENB’s July 2025 release and make sure you’re running GTA 4 patch 1.0.4.0 (a fresh install of the base game is for patch 1.0.8.0). The GTA 4 downgrader helps with that, rolling back to Icenhancer’s recommended build for the best mod performance.
As for Icenhancer 4.1, the wait may be a while. Keilany’s Discord updates detail all the testing nightmares he encountered to get the mod’s upgrades working, as well as his collaboration with Vorontsov after Windows 11 broke damn near everything related to ENB, Ice 3, and earlier builds of Ice 4. Getting a public version out the door took a toll on the mod’s author, and while there are still Cinematic and Natural presets available to donors over Ko-Fi, there’s no public option for the stylized GTA 4 filters just yet.
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