Vegetation Mods for GTA 5 - Transform Los Santos Landscapes
Upgrade GTA 5's outdated trees, grass, and foliage with vegetation mods. This 2026 guide covers the best mods for creating lush, realistic environments in Los Santos and Blaine County.
Types of Vegetation Mods
| Mod Type |
What It Changes |
Performance Impact |
| Tree Replacements |
Higher-poly tree models with better bark and leaf textures |
Medium |
| Grass Overhauls |
Denser grass rendering, new grass types, ground cover |
Medium-High |
| Foliage Textures |
HD leaf, bush, and shrub textures (2K/4K) |
Low-Medium |
| Plant Additions |
New flowers, crops, and decorative plants via map mods |
Low |
| LOD Improvements |
Better distant vegetation rendering, reduced pop-in |
Medium |
Top Vegetation Mods in 2026
-
VisualV Natural Vegetation — Complete tree and grass overhaul included in VisualV pack
-
Realistic Trees & Palms — Replaces all tree models with high-quality alternatives
-
HD Ground Textures — Better grass, dirt, and terrain textures
-
Forests of San Andreas — Adds dense forest areas to mountain regions
-
Natural Grass Mod — Improves grass density and color variety
Installation Guide
- Open OpenIV and enable Edit Mode
- Navigate to vegetation files:
x64e.rpf/levels/gta5/props/vegetation/
- Install via mods folder — drag replacement .ydr and .ytd files
- For grass mods, edit
visualsettings.dat to adjust grass density parameters
- Some mods require
timecycle modifications for proper lighting on vegetation
Key Files for Vegetation Modding
| File |
Location |
Controls |
visualsettings.dat |
update/update.rpf/common/data/ |
Grass render distance and density |
vegetation_*.ydr |
x64e.rpf/levels/gta5/props/vegetation/ |
Tree and plant 3D models |
vegetation_*.ytd |
Same location |
Vegetation textures |
grassbatch_*.ymap |
Various level RPFs |
Grass placement maps |
w_proc_*.xml |
Streaming data |
Procedural vegetation settings |
Performance Optimization Tips
-
Grass quality — Set to Normal or High in graphics settings, Ultra is very demanding
-
Extended distance — Increase
grass.lodDistScale in visualsettings.dat carefully
-
Texture resolution — Use 2K textures for balance between quality and VRAM usage
-
LOD tweaks — Adjust tree LOD distances in
visualsettings.dat for less pop-in
-
Combine wisely — Don't stack multiple grass overhauls; pick one and supplement with texture packs
Comments0
Sign in to leave a comment
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!