Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

174 ratings
The ULTIMATE MODDING GUIDE for GTA San Andreas! (2023 Guide)
By TJGM
The BEST San Andreas modding guide for beginners and pros, 10+ years of modding experience in one easy to follow guide!

9
5
2
14
2
3
3
3
3
2
2
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Introduction
Modding San Andreas as a beginner can be difficult. There's a lot of outdated and straight up wrong information out there regarding how you should mod the beloved classic.

However, with 10+ years of experience modding San Andreas, I've decided to make the ULTIMATE MODDING GUIDE for the game.

This guide will teach you the latest and best way to mod San Andreas. You'll learn the following...
  • How to prepare San Andreas for modding
  • How to install the best and essential San Andreas mods
  • How to install Modloader for San Andreas and learn in-depth how Modloader works
  • How San Andreas works itself and what file types do what
  • How to diagnose and solve San Andreas crashes
  • Where to download San Andreas mods from
  • Essential pro tips

If you find this guide helpful, be sure to share it with others and also give it a thumbs up.

So, get comfortable, grab a drink and prepare to mod San Andreas, the correct way.
Questions & Answers
What's the difference between this guide and other guides?
Other guides typically just show you how to install mods, without actually explaining how they work. So sure, by the end of most guides, you will have a modded game.

However, what happens after that when it comes to installing mods on your own? It can get quite confusing, as a lot of these other guides don't really teach you why you should install certain mods one way and other mods another way.

By the end of the ULTIMATE MODDING GUIDE for GTA San Andreas, you will be able to download any mod for San Andreas, and understand how you should install it.

You'll also learn how Modloader works in-depth, which most guides don't cover correctly, and you'll also learn how to diagnose and solve crashes yourself, which is bound to happen as you play around with mods.

Lastly, the ULTIMATE MODDING GUIDE for GTA San Andreas is also fully subtitled. So it's easy to translate for non-English speakers and it's also easier to follow for those who are hard of hearing.

Why should I follow this guide instead of using a Modpack?
Modpacks can be a quick and easy way to mod San Andreas, but if you want to install any mods after you install a Modpack, it can be a massive pain, even if you know what you're doing.

Modpacks often aren't organised optimally, and it's also common for them to use outdated mods.

If you don't know what you're doing, you generally won't know what mods are actually included in a Modpack either, and you could run into issues installing duplicate mods if you decide to start installing mods yourself.

As well as that, you generally learn nothing by installing a Modpack. They're usually just drag and drop, whereas with this guide, you'll learn all there is to know about modding San Andreas.

I've run into an issue following the guide, how do I get in contact with you?
If you've run into an issue, you'll get a response fastest by contacting me on my Discord server or on any of the following socials below.
Episode #1 - Getting Started
In the first episode, we get ourselves ready for modding.

So we'll make sure we have the correct version of San Andreas, make sure we have our OS setup correctly to view file formats and also cover some rules to follow before starting.

Episode #2 - Installing Essentials
In this episode, we'll install the essential GTA SA mods which make the game much more playable on modern systems.

So, we'll be installing an ASI Loader, CLEO, ModLoader, SilentPatch and more in this part of the guide, as well as learning about most of them in-depth.

Episode #3 - Modloader Tutorial & Learning File Types
In this episode, we're going to install mod tools for GTA SA, including an IMG Editor and TXD Editor. We'll also make our own basic mod for San Andreas, and install it with and without Modloader so you get an idea of how Modloader works.

Throughout the guide, we're also going to cover almost all of the San Andreas file types so you know exactly what each type of file does and what mods may use them for.

Episode #4 - Installing More Mods
In this episode, we're going to install more GTA SA mods.

This will include installing texture mods such as ROSA Project Evolved and other great mods such as Project 2DFX. We'll also learn how some of these mods function and cover what their files do.

Episode #5 - Diagnosing and Solving Crashes
In this episode, we learn how to diagnose and solve GTA SA crashes, as well as ways to prevent crashes when you're installing mods.

Episode #6 - Where to Find Mods and Pro Tips
In the last episode of this modding guide for San Andreas, we're going to go over where you can download GTA SA mods, and I'll also share with you some essential pro tips you can use when modding San Andreas.

30 Comments
TJGM  [author] 9 Apr @ 7:07pm 
The guide is to teach you how to mod, not just modding your game one way. So no.
stefaustin.sr 9 Apr @ 6:29pm 
is there a before and after or side by side comparison video so i can tell if its worth it?
g.salambassi 24 Jan @ 3:28am 
Great guides, can I make a suggestion for the videos for anyone watching 1.5x speed for watching(you can thank me later)
AkiraJkr 28 Dec, 2023 @ 1:43am 
@Wyrmlight The guides are extremely huge, go through everything that's possible and try to make sure the end user has THE LEAST AMOUNT of problems possible if they DID follow the guide properly. It is not something that can be easily transcribed to text.

It can be done, but it would require a lot of time and effort, and TJGM would likely be constantly blocked/timed out from editing their Steam Guide if they kept making changes to a text guide.

Again, this guide is in great detail, tries to avoid misinformation and help the end user as much as possible, so it's not 100% possible to have a proper text guide.
Askan 22 Dec, 2023 @ 10:15pm 
Why don't you just make this a text guide instead of farming YouTube views? Adblocker on lol.
LegendofBarry 11 Dec, 2023 @ 9:16pm 
TJGM, you took the time to explain everything in great detail, that's pretty amazing, thank you.
Gavalaria 27 Nov, 2023 @ 4:08pm 
ok contacted you in twitter if you have spare time to take a look in this type of mods
TJGM  [author] 26 Nov, 2023 @ 4:00am 
There's no mods in the ".pak" format.
Gavalaria 26 Nov, 2023 @ 2:11am 
i have cleo installed and i install mods in .pak format too but when i launch the game i have only scripts from cleo working not the .pak mods any idea how to fix this issue ?
Rich Cat 24 Nov, 2023 @ 11:57am 
oh another great guide, paste videos into the thing and call it a day