Installing San Andres On Windows Vista

[Vinnie]

Due to some of the newer hardware & of course the new Microsoft Operating System, Windows Vista. You may have some problems on getting GTA San Andreas Running. You will find that you will need a slightly higher spec machine to run GTA San Andreas properly on Windows Vista.

Many problems are related to a low amount of RAM, or out of date drivers, or poor graphics cards

 

My Recommended Specification For GTA San Andreas On Windows Vista

2048Mb (2Gb) Memory [Has To Be A Large Amount Because Of Vista's Processes].

2.4GHz Pentium 4 or AMD Equivalent.

A High Range 256Mb Graphics Card With Up To Date Drivers (If You Are Using Aero)

A Mid To High Range 256Mb Graphics Card With Up To Date Drivers (If You are running Basic, or have disabled Aero).

 

Make Sure That Your Drivers Are Up To Date, And This Goes For Any Gaming In Vista.

 

The above specification may seem high compared to the specifications on the box, but because of Vista's processes, you'll find that you will need around the specification listed above.

 

If you have V1, you may want to upgrade it to V1.1 by getting the patch. V2 users will not have to do anything.

 

There have been numerous users saying that GTA San Andreas will not run on Vista out of the box. This is because you'll need to put the game into Windows XP or Windows 98 Compatibility mode for it to run properly.

 

To do this:

 

Right Click The GTA San Andreas Shortcut > Properties > Compatibility > Check Run This In Compatibility Mode For: > Windows XP Or Windows 98 (Whatever Works Best).

 

Remember, Because Vista drivers are being developed all the time it's important that you Keep Your Drivers & Software Up To Date At All Times.

 

Dual/Multi-Core Systems

 

San Andreas may not work on these CPUs. Remember before you run San Andreas to allow it use only one core.

Edited July 15, 2007 by Vinnie

[Justin]

Windows 98 compatibility mode will restrict the running process to a single core regardless, meaning limiting the number of running cores is unnecessary in such a situation. If limiting the cores is necessary (generally only when experiencing excessive frame rates/game speed), compatibility mode is the way to go as it's a permanent fix whereas the manual limiting of the process' affinity must be done every time the game is launched and requires an ALT+TAB out of the game to open Task Manager.

 

Since XP had (has) many issues similar to Vista that are solved by Windows 98 compatibility mode of the EXE, it's probably best to simply advice 98 compatibility rather than XP.

 

I'm not sure if the patch is necessary either... I'm not sure, but does it even address the issues Vista users experience? As far as I'm aware, the single biggest solution to any Vista problem is locating appropriate video drivers, as you've stated.

 

Should forum search be working, I'd direct you to some of the large topics which have exhausted many of the Vista fixes which aren't yet documented formally in the pinned topics.

 

Good job on taking the initiative.

 

[EDIT] This topic is the most comprehensive of recent times.

Edited July 16, 2007 by Fuzzy Juzzy

[Vinnie]

The patch isn't absolutly required. Just listed it for the bugfixes it does contain.

[Ring_of_Fire]

Should I be replying? - might want to disable replies after this post. I figure it didn't make sense to create my own guide as people would think I am a copy cat!

 

Another thing you want to mention is the updating of other drivers! "Graphics driver" alone doesn't satisfy the word drivers.

 

 

Drivers to download for Vista issues in San Andreas: (Uninstall older drivers in "Add or Remove Programs" before proceeding.)

 

1. Graphics: Intel GMA...Radeon...GeForce...S3 Chrome Series

 

2. Chipset: Intel...VIA...AMD/ATi...nVidia

 

3. Sound: Realtek AC'97/HD Audio...SoundMAX...Creative Sound Blaster...C-Media XEAR 3D Audio

 

4. BIOS - flash if necessary to the latest (this helps to reduce overall problem confusion)

 

5. Monitor - don't have to update it, but you want to avoid being forced from doing an auto-adjustment or a manual screen adjustment everytime you use a resolution that is not supported.

After doing the above, delete [.set] file!

 

 

Where to get 'em:

 

Method 1 - System/OEM manufacturer

Method 2 - Motherboard mannufactuer

Method 3 - Chipset manufacturer (best place)

Usually you just type in your product series/model # to find all the drivers for your computer for Methods 1 & 2. People who are smart would want to follow the necessary tools you can use to find up-to-date chipset downloads themselves below.

 

 

Tools you can use:

 

- CPU-Z (you can save and give us a log file of your system, and upload it here via a file-hosting website -> it's easier to just tell us though or via the copy/pasting method).

 

- Device Manager

 

- DirectX Diagnostics

 

- System Properties/Information

Edited July 17, 2007 by Ring_of_Fire

[w1l50nator]

when i start up san andreas i get all these numbers appear on the screen and ingame too, my drivers are up to date and i have a better video card than my friend but his works. it looks like this!

 

[Ring_of_Fire]

Well the next step would be to delete [.set] file, install Patch 1.01, and run the game in compatibility mode. And make sure you do a little bit of tweaking around in the "Display" menu - you could play around with the res, color quality, and the mip-mapping.

 

If your video card also came with a control panel (Forceware/Catalyst), try do a little tweaking around in there.

[w1l50nator]

where do i find the 'set.' file?

[Ring_of_Fire]

My Documents -> GTA San Andreas User Files.

 

And you could at least confirm to the other advices I had given out and say: "It worked" / "Didn't work".

[stowt07]

this is what I did to fix it.

 

I right clicked the shortcut to GTA SA > compatibility > checked compatibility, and chose windows XP (SP2).

 

and then just deleted the .set file in my documents > GTA San Andreas User Files.

[pj_maverick]

BROTHA im having the same damn problem....n i pretty much followed everything tht u said...im running on vista 2....n iv gt those very same numbers thr....but still no relief...

[chambita]

same problem, i even disabled the multi-core feature, didn't work

[chambita]

SOLVED, I uninstalled the latest video driver and installed the xp version.

 

Im using Widows vista business 32, Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Video card, 2gigs of ram, Im able to play it at 1440x900 at the highest detail

[Dimrain47]

thanks for the topic I really needed some help.

[Dimrain47]

this is what I did to fix it.

 

I right clicked the shortcut to GTA SA > compatibility > checked compatibility, and chose windows XP (SP2).

 

and then just deleted the .set file in my documents > GTA San Andreas User Files.

Sorry for doubleposting but, when I click the shortcut, it puts me 6 options:

_play the game

_install DIRECTX 9.0C

_uninstall

_readme

_explore dvd content

_links

 

but where's ''compatibility''???

[VCHolmes]

Dimrain47, compatibility mode is on the exe file.

 

Right Click San Andreas desktop Shortcut -> Compatibility.

Set compatibility mode of your choice and press OK.

[Dimrain47]

so I should be able to play it changing the compatibility and deleting the .set file on user files??

[VCHolmes]

so I should be able to play it changing the compatibility and deleting the .set file on user files??

Just try it out. It may differ from user to user. No harm in trying, you can revert back the original settings later.

Deleting the .set file will make you loose all your in-game settings, so instead of deleting it, rename the file to something like 'gta_saOLD.set'. You can always rename it back if you find that the game still does not work.

[gillies]

 

In the interests of having the answer to this spelled out somewhere - a number of people have posted about this since Windows Vista was released, and it appears to be caused by an old version of the Intel graphics driver. The solution is to update the Intel graphics driver.