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.



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.







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


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.

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.

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.[1] 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.


Radar text


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




  • Lazlow Jones - Lazlow is said to reside in Upstate.

Miscellaneous images


Air Exploration Water Exploration
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Last modified on 19 July 2012, at 23:29