GTA San Andreas for PC
 

Probably old news but GTA: SA looks like it's gonna ship 6-6-5.

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...154&pfp=SEARCH

Same with Xbox. And DAAAAAAAYYYYMMMMM LOOKS GOOD!@

Sweet news indeed!

Love these games.

Seems like it's been years since I beat that game. Awesome game though, one of the best I've ever played.

I'm such a loser, I've prepaid my copy and taken the day off from work. :)

Meh, I think I'll wait til it's in the bargain bin with Vice City before I pick it up for PC. But hey, if you're into those games, go for it! :)

Its funny, I got VC way back when it first came out on PC, played it for a couple hours, and didn't play it again until about a month ago. Then i couldn't stop playing it until I beat it. Now I can't wait for San Andreas to come out. I won't probably get it the day it comes out but it will probably be some time that week.

i already paid for it for the ps2.. so is it legal to download it? hehehe... i'll wait for the price to drop and for my pc to be upgraded... VC barely ran on this old machine.

Anyone seen the Ltd Ed for PC of San Andreas?
Comes with a Novella whatever that is. Got a feeling it might mean novel.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...814266-7893237

I hated it on the PS2, the damn thing hurt my eyes 'cause it looked so bad. Getting it for the PC because I know it's a good game and it'll look a damn sight lot better on my rig.

p.s. i wuv my ps2, just has crappy graphics sometimes

Is the save game system the same as VC? Not being able to save during a mission made for some very annoying replays.

I'm actually going to check out Best Buy tomorrow and see if they have it. The strange thing is the Best Buy Sunday circular shows the store will have it for the PC Thursday, but online at bestbuy.com they show a release date of 06/06/2005. I didn't think I'd like GTA Vice City at first. I started playing and I had to complete it 100%.

VC was great on the PC....if I end up getting SA that means I'll play WoW less....hmmm maybe I won't pick up SA just yet :D

Looks like a release on the 10th for Australia:
http://www.gpstore.com.au/Games/Schedule/

Given this is released tomorrow, i would've thought this thread would be populated with xbox/pc users ? :eek:

Picked up the PC version today, Tuesday. From what I've read it will only be available in DVD format. I've installed it on one computer so far, and the controls are funky. I've been reading a forum for GTA games and it seems there is a quirky form of aiming in the PC version that was not in the PS2 version. From what I read, you have to click a button to start aiming. I haven't really gotten to play it much beyond starting it up and riding the bicycle around. The X-Box version was also available at my local EB Games. Oh yea, the full install with audio on my system shows 4.68 gigabytes.

It's the same and honestly I think that is a good think. If you enable an autosave/quickload system it effectively eliminates any element of challenge in a game.

Challenge? Perhaps. Tedium and repetition? Certainly.

why not just use a constant god mode then...

God mode = saves? huh?

If you cannot see the difference, well, there's not much point in discussing it.

Man, I'm conflicted. I wanna get it for XBox, but I already have it for PS2. I mean, it's the same game, but it looks better on Xbox.

Anyone else buy it for both(or all three) platforms?

I always thought a good compromise may be a limit on the number of saves you have per level - that way you can't just go hog wild. Hitman and Soldier of Fortune 2 had this kind of save system (i imagine others do as well) and it helps keep the game a little more challenging without the apparent "cheapness" of saving every 5 seconds. Anyway, i always found the saves in GTA to be ok - it was back in the old school days of Goldeneye when a save or 2 during a level would've been a big help! :p

I wouldn't mind seeing a Hitman style save system. Some of the missions were just crazy hard in VC which I don't find fun. The Hillary race in particular.

I could see a checkpoint system where when you reach milestones within a mission and there is a small break in action you can 'save' or just restart there during the current session but I don't see how it would be practical to save during a car race.

Gamespot reviews now up.

Looks like there is no definitive version of the game. I will probably go for the PC version for the graphics. There will probably be a patch for the sound issues.

Well I have installed it on two compuers. Both are about the same setup, but one has 1 gig of ram and the other has 512 megs of ram. Both have Geforce 4 ti's and 2.4 gig Intel processors. So far no glitches that I can see, audio or video. It took a bit to get used to looking around with the mouse while driving, but it does help. Like when you come up to an intersection, you can look left and right before going through. I haven't started any missions yet. Just maxed my bicycle skills while collecting weapons. Bout to start working on my driving skills and max it before starting up the first mission. I did find one tiny glitch. There is a sawed off shotgun in a rail car on the far southeast part of the map. I can't get into the rail car. Each time I jump trying to get into the rail car CJ grabs the roof of the rail car and I can't get in. The only way I've been able to get in the rail car and get the shotgun is by bunny hopping into the rail car with a bicycle. This weekend I should have CJ big pimpin.

I installed the sex mod for it. From here:




A few months ago, Barton Waterduck discovered a few sections of unused code in the PS2 version of San An for the girlfriend "missions". With a bit of memory hacking and such, he discovered these removed portions of mission scripting were to not only put the camera inside the girlfriends' house when you stop in for "coffee", but also to make a little mini-game of it. Now, with the magic of user-editable files on the PC, PatrickW was able to unlock the uncensored "coffee" segments for all to play with. Here's a few screens, but be warned, they might be a bit on the NSFW side...




Just another reason why PC GTA > PS2 GTA always.

I got the game it is so kick ass!!! I have the Saitek P880 and it kicks add for this game! For me at least! They have done such a good job with the story as they have in the past. Kick ass Rockstar... kick ass!!

Cheers!

A spot on GameSpot.

I'm just gettin this game so I can use some of the mods that are guaranteed to come out for it. Which there already seems to be some.

http://www.gtasanandreas.net/news/single.php?id=1469

More on the "Hot Coffee", not bogus at all.

I got it the day after it came out on PC, and this is defintely my favorite GTA thus far. Currently I'm about 19% done with the game, and most of it has been pretty enjoyable. At first I had some problems with it crashing, then I reinstalled, and reformatted my computer, and now it works fine with no problems.

I much prefer the PC version to the PS2 version. Much prettier, and having crosshairs to help shoot with is an absolute bonus.

I'm afraid I'll never be able to play a console version of GTA again and be satisified. At least I am happy now.

The pc version is fun. I prefer the more interactive story type pc games (deus ex), but there is a console appeal to the frustration some of the missions produce. The setting is not as instantly appealing as the 80s/mafia themes of VC, but it's still a fun game. The engine seems to have grown to accomodate the evolving game.

Anyone help me beat the Cesar Vilipando low rider mission? I'm stuck on it right now, have tried everything including lowering all my graphics settings and I just can't get past it.

http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0...S2PN5NE3B2MBP8

There's not really much to it. One thing that'll help is if you head over to your beach house and wander around till you see a lowrider 50's pickup truck lookin' thing (the game calls it a slamvan). It's got hydraulics on it already and it's fast as holy hell.

Then just learn the route and drive it.

It's not the race, I haven't even gotten to that yet. Its the stupid dance thing... I'm barely into the game and can't get much further because I can't finish it succesfully.

oh. That's just a timing thing. Watch the arrows on the bottom of your screen. When they enter the circle, hit the direction key that corresponds to the direction of the arrows.

Yes, I know. I have done it now around 20+ times. I can never beat the opponent. Even when I get it right on it says stuff like bad...

Just ignore what it says, just press the buttons.
And try to get into it, like start boppin with the music.
I mean, it's Cool and the Gang, man.

As for "High Stakes, Low Rider", find that slamvan, take it into the mod shop, and put some nitro on it. Just remember the course, though.

I just installed yesterday, and everytime I try to save, it gets corrupted. I can't load any of the files. Its a legit copy too, not a warez. Its really pissing me off.

Other than that, looks great, but I wish I could get my dual analog controller to work the same way that the one did in VC and still be able to use the mouse for looking around. I can't seem to get it to setup properly. Very annoying.

I just did some searching and found the reason why my games won't save. I have a . in my windows username. There's a fix at the following link if anyone has the same problem but I think I'll wait until Rockstar releases a patch.

http://www.gta-sanandreas.com/forums...howtopic=41927

Does anyone have the controller configuration for the PS2 version handy? I have been trying to set SA up to use my PS1 controller up as it would in the PS2 version but I don't know which button does what in the PS2 version. For example, I have to use my mouse scroll wheel to change radio stations because I can't do it with my control.

I just wish that the controls were the same for driving and walking in SA as they are in VC.

They need to have selective mouse inversion is what they need to do. When you're flying a plane you gotta have the mouse inverted or it's confusing. But then when you get out of the plane the inverted mouse makes looking around bizarre.

SA is good, but imho not as good as 3 or vc


maybe there's too much driving around the deser and back country (fun at first, now it' just taxing)

or lack of an interesting city. San Fierro is the best of the 3. I dunno, it's still fun as shit, but it lacks something. And eating is SUCH a pain, they need to remove that from any next possible installments

I think that GTA 3 will always hold a special place in my heart for being the first of the breed. GTA:SA has a good deal of pluses and minuses over the previous game

Minus:
-Get rid of the mundane stuff, I want to do stuff I can't do in real life, not mash buttons to work out, eat fast food and drive for hours on end to get across the city
-The world is huge, and it takes forever to get anywhere
-Tagging doesn't give you a damn thing until you've got all 100
-If you miss a tip during the game, there is no way to get it back without a reload. Who wants to read the manual
-If you nudge another car in the game, the AI freaks out and follows you around trying to kill you.

Plus:
-Gang War, fun, exciting and simple. Too bad they take it away from you.
-The world is huge, there is lots to explore.
-Mission variety is vastly improved over the previous two where it was manly drive here by this time, or kill this person.

i agree with most of those.

working out, eating and immense amounts of driving was stupid.

i like the more aggressive ai, but thats all they fixed. it's still dumb as shit.

i HATE speeding down the street and a car randomly pulling out in front of you, i really wish they were more aware.

the world is big, but there's too much nothingness. There are ALOT of pointless forests and crap that could have been better spent on expanding urban/suburban areas, or improving AI

i didn't enjoy many of the missions. Some of Cesar's were cool for wang cars, but thats about it.

I like combinations of "story missions" (steal this so we can go here etc) but i like old school grand THEFT auto missions. Missions for the heck of doing crap, the beginning in grove street had this. killing dealers, making drug deals. More random violence! Stealing more cars from random people, blowing crap up, etc. It seemed everything in SA was connected to the story.

That said, i'd like to see alot more non-linear missions, finding a few random pedestrians and doing missions for them. Maybe a random drug dealer, or some dude in the streets etc.

I liked property much better in VC than SA. It seemed to work better, it gave you missions and power. Didnt seem to do too much in SA, and it came way later to have any meaning. And what was with all the safehouses? (that really did nothing)

i'd like to see property have more of a role, have more influence on what missions you get, that way it really matters which place you buy and where, not just when you get around to buying it.

i'd like things to have dynamic impact upon other events. Like, if you do one guy's missions, a whole new set will be available, and other missions from other guys will not. Property you buy and when you do, will affect who you can get missions from. That way it's not the same game every time.


More open-ended story. GTA3 was great because it didnt have a plot, so it didn't have much in the way of expectations. It was (there were small plot elements) basically a guy out for blood. Which is really what the first 2 were all about. I'd like to see a return to that. This way, the story arc wouldn't be as predictable or (is boring the right word?), that way more shit could go down depending on how you act. Instead of one ultimate plot that HAS to happen. (and im not talking like 50 endings or anything)

but remember, this is GRAND THEFT AUTO, it seems it's been turning into the sims, or some similar game. I really don't care about your story and your 'crew'. Rockstar needs to re-examine GTA1 and GTA2 and why those games were so excellent.

Too much freedom in the wrong places. Swimming? Boring. It doesn't add too much to the game. But, boats are fun at least.

Too much flying. In VC, flying was a realy treat. It was so awesome to be finally able to fly over the whole city. (I remember spending hours trying to keep the clipped dodo up in 3!)

It just reveals too much, too quick. In 3 and VC, roofs were important. Lots of goodies were hidden up there, and i remember seeing an obstacle and going "hey, that place looks fun, i wonder if i can get up there!" Half the challenge was seeing if you could discover new places to go! In SA you can just jump in a plane and go anywhere. Remember, it's grand theft AUTO.


I really didn't even like the gang system. It felt too rushed. Gang wars were incredibly easy (even if all your cronies died out in 30 seconds as they usually did) The AI is just too poor at this point for anything like this to work.


Dont get me wrong, i love SA, but it doesnt have some of the epic qualities the first ones did. I LOVE bike riding though. That early mission you have to escape a Ballaz car on a bike through the city was AWESOME.


oh, and fewer flying missions. and NO more RC missions. Those are incredibly lame.

I don't mind the swimming - used to really piss me off when you'd go to jump out of a boat, miss, then sit there drowning. Seems to me a guy streetsmart enough to take over an entire city's crime industry should at least be able to doggie paddle ;)

I don't see how the ability to swim is a negative. It's nice to have a character that doesn't drown in the deep end. I also think all the flying in the game was great. It makes it easier to get across the huge map and it adds a whole new element to the game.

I agree with most everything else that was said though. Although I liked the game there is definatly room for improvement.

On previous games, people complained about how the main characters weren't able to swim..now you complain about swimming.
The same thing with planes, you said Dodos were frustrating, and now you can fly real planes (and even a fighter jet and that's cool) and you think its not cool because it makes things too easy..
I honestly think the game is great. There's thousands of challenges in this game...flying a plane at the exact height needed and jumping at the exact moment so you can on a cool building and watch your plane crash somewhere random...
What I used to do is get 3 stars, go on top of one of those building with the doors that bing you to the roof and then shoot down some helicopters just before they reach me... then would watch em fall a bit and jump after them...the result is a matrix ish style jump, falling next to a spinning out of control helicopter (if you have a parachute its even better)

im not saying swimming is a negative. but it's not a positive. good thing there were only a few (1?) missions that involved any swimming.

I think spending even tiny amounts of memory texturing/underwater is a waste.


Yes, flying the Dodo WAS frustrating, and that's a good thing. I yearn for grant theft AUTO. game makers have a real bad habit of making things "bigger" and expaning outwards and upwards without resolving any of the game's key problems. (AI, camera, etc)


basically SA was too many new things, without resolving many of the old, and still prevelant problems.

You're nitpicking, man. If the worst you can come up with is the devs are trying new things, well, Metroid Prime sucks because it's not played with a NES pad. And Goldeneye sucks because Rare should have stuck with Donkey Kong.

Lighten up, dude ;)

honestly..if you just try to have fun for a minute it ll be great.
I finished the game several months ago, but I still hop on a NRG 500 and lean forward a bit so it goes even faster (aerodynamics)...race through the city with that, or the wrong side of the highway.
Also try finding jumps that weren't meant to be jumps. Anything slightly curved upwards will do.

gameplay-wise, it's still very much the same game. which is not a bad thing, they're building on a fantastic engine. but, i would prefer a smaller game with fewer errors than a larger game with a bunch.

the open-country, fairly good idea, but there's too much of it. i would have like to see one giant urban metropolis, (i.e. all 3 cities attached) with the mountain/desert on the outside. would have been a far more enjoyable game like that

It would have killed any progression in the game, if it was just one city. Having the three distinctly separated allowed a feeling of advancement that was lacking in Vice City.

So is the consensus that this is worth buying?

I have GTA:3 and VC on X-box, but haven't finished either of them. I enjoy them, but I just get frustrated and quit after hitting a hard mission.


Mr Mephisto

Mr Mephisto, I think there's some hard missions on San An, but not on the same level of difficulty as those annoying missions in VC. The game is definitely worth getting, I'm still enjoying it on PS2, and I've had it since it came out.

gta3 and vice city were both one city

Dude, rune, if they made the game just the way you wanted it, it would be the same game as GTA3 & VC. They have to keep adding things like swimming and character attributes to keep every game from being exactly the same as the one before it. I say embrace the new stuff and enjoy it, or go play the old ones over again.

"They have to keep adding things like swimming and character attributes"

you seemed to have missed what i'm saying.


they did just that, they added tons of new stuff. but they only adressed a few of the problems which plagued the earlier ones.



"we're not going to spend time fixing anything, so instead, your character can now swim and eat fast food!"

Well, the thing with harder missions, is that simply doing them over and over sometimes isn't enough to beat it. Like, when I 1st started, the only 2 missions i got stuck on were the OG LOC mission with the DDR shit, and the BS mission with the train, and the motorcycle.
The game is great because you can build up your dancing skills by going to the club, and you can build up your motorcycle skills by driving around. And higher skills will help you beat the missions.

So I guess it's hard to do all the missions linearly, one after another, but it's easy if you take breaks, and build up skills.

I've never seen a more buggy game released in my life, so many bugs that the game is unplayable...how the hell did they let this shit slide.

Here are the issues I am having:

1. Everytime I save the game and continue, there is this loud annoying sound (like riding the bike except extremely loud) which blocks all other sound and makes the game pointless.

2. There are random crashes that are unlike a crash I've seen before. For example, it would crash and the mouse pointer would go crazy on the desktop until I click it several times, and then once I get the game back up, it's skipped the cutscene and moved into gameplay (it normally crashes during cutscenes).

3. Graphic glitches every now and then. One of them happens to 'easy e' looking character (forgot his name) , where his mustache and upper lip dissapear and he looks like an utter moron, and some other glitches like a distortion (something like heat or being underwater, except it's obviously not supposed to be there.

I've re-installed and done the driver updates, admin junk, everything, nothing is helping.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If this gets any more annoying, I may just return this garbage and get SC:CT

3 or vice city didn't have any problems, they both ran like a charm, but this one is just beyond horrendous.

Rdr4evr, try reading through this forum.

http://www.gtaforums.com

It has a section dedicated to San Andreas and maybe they can fix some of the problems you are having. When I did my install on my computer, I defragmented before installed. So far I haven't had any major crashes. I think I had one crash that threw me to the desktop, but have not seen it again. I do have a problem with rain. When it rains, every other sound in the game turns off. Sometimes audio will completely disapear after the rain has finished. I'm hoping someone makes a mod where I can turn off the rain and the shimmering effect from heat. The shimmering effect from the heat or sun isn't a glitch, but it distorts my aim.

sadistikdreams, I had the same problem with Wrong side of the Tracks mission in Los Santos. I read on the gtaforums that you should ride on the outside of the right rail. Keep on the outside of that right rail and Big Smoke will be able to hit the gang members on the train.

Another helpful web page I found linked to the gtaforums was

http://www.gtasanandreas.net

Oh yea, here is a cool pinned item they have in the gtaforums. They have been finding and posting Secrets and Easter Eggs in the game. I've been looking for some of these as I play through the game.

http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=174800

Hmm I am really on the line with this game, the bugs sound like it might not be worth it.

thanks for the advice cobalt...i'm on the forums now d/ling and doing everything they said on the bugs thread. i appreciate your help.

I think the haze from the heat effect is actually part of the game. I really wish the video options were more advanced and customizable because I really can't stand the haze. I want to turn it off.

Question about spray painting tags: Are all 100 in the original Los Santos area? I've found 39 I think so far, I don't want to keep hunting in Los Santos if the rest are in the San Francisco and Vegas areas (I don't remember their names in game). I haven't gotten far enough to unlock those areas yet, but I did try to take a boat to Vegas and the cops freaked out and killed me.

Another good source of information is gamefaqs.com

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/dos...me/924362.html

There are guides for a few things. Each section you go to has a scavenger hunt. Gamefaqs.com has a .png and a text file for each if you need help finding everything. And yes Bratwurst, all gang tags are located in Los Santos. No special vehicles are needed to find them all. After you complete the Tagging up Turf mission, you can go after all the rest of the tags. I think it was a big help having the weapons in the kitchen each time I loaded up a game.

Los Santos has the gang tags.

Your reward in some respect as well as the Tec-9, Molotov Cocktails, Sawn-Off Shotgun and AK-47 appear inside of CJ's house in his kitchen.

Las Venturas has the horseshoes.

Not sure which weapons are awarded, the text guide only says this.

Weapons delivered to Four Dragons Casino!

San Fierro has the snapshots.

You have now unlocked the Shotgun, Micro-Smg, Sniper Rifle and Grenades at the garage you start San Fierro area from (where you started from when you went to get the 1st Snapshot).

And finally the oysters are located throughout the whole map, but you wont be able to complete it till you can go everywhere on the map.

Your Lung and Sex Appeal have now been increased (with all the swimming you did you probably maxed out your Lung stat without needing the lung increase).

well, it seems that when i downloaded the automatic updates at creative and had them installed, it fixed my sound issue when saving. i've saved 4 or 5 times now and haven't had the problem, interestingly enough, the game hasn't crashed during cut scenes either...and i have sound when it rains. well, this is thanks to you cobalt, and thanks to that specific gta forum, it seems my problems are solved....for now anyway, and hopefully through out the whole game.

Yeah, when you get horseshoes, your "LUCK" meter goes up. Which means, when you gamble, the more horseshoes you have, the bigger of a chance of winning.

Another thing I absolutely love about GTASA, is gambling.

I just got to the point a few days ago that I am not spending almost all my time playing trying to win more gang territory. This part of the game is very fun imo. I'm getting a bunch of tactics down. Thing is, I keep getting annoyed with stuff like eating and making sure Denise or whatever her name is happy with dates. I wish I could turn those kinds of things off in an options menu.

I am sure there are going to be/are mods that let you do that kind of thing, but will that hurt my ability to finish the game?

For the same reason, I haven't installed the "coffee" mod. Besides, I wouldn't want my wife to walk in while I was playing if I had that installed...

im pretty far into the game at this point. the only thing ive found to be frustrating is the flight school missions. Legend has it that they werent so hard on the PS2 and Xbox, but theyre damn near impossible with a keyboard. If you've passed them, you know what I mean, and if youve yet to get to them, have fun. However, I am working on a trainer to stop the clocks in all of the schools, but I'm not so hot at the whole trainer making thing.

EDIT: Sucked it up, and made a trainer, let me know if you guys want it.

So if I am taking over territories in the gang war, and some territories are darker green than others, does that mean that there aren't enough of my gang members there? Or does that mean that I haven't found all the tags in that area and sprayed over them?

How does the AI determine which territories to attack, once again, is that because of tags in that area?

I dont think that tags have anything to do with gang wars. tags are more like the hidden packages of VC and GTA3. So long as a territory is green its yours. There is a yellowish color that looks sorta light green when its over water which is another gang.

I've loved all the GTA games, going to pick this one up soon, cant wait to try it out :)

Nothing like a bit of mindless viloence ;)

The game is really great. It is massive though. Hopefully there will be a patch for the mouse, reboot, and sound issues. The controversy over the "Hot Coffee" scenes is probably going to make this game fly off of the shelves. The game play took a little getting used to. It isn't as "easy" to manuver as III and VC were. Mostly it took me some time to get used to driving with my left hand instead of my right. I agree about the hints, the only way to get them back is to restart and that sucks. Also I looked around and the cheat codes aren't as friendly as they were in the previous two. I always like to finish the game without them then go back and use them for fun.

Overall I love the game. I think VC was my favorite so far, the story was great and it was much easier to get away with crimes. There are police everywhere in this game, so it isn't easy to steal cars and get away with murder, literally. I can understand Rockstars idea about the AI flipping out when you hit a car, but man it sucks when you're working on a mission or trying to evade police and some idiot pins your car to the wall cause their pissed you hit it.

This game is worth the buy. If you are a fan of the series, then pick it up. If you've never played a GTA before then pick it up and pick up III and VC too.