Questions on girlfriends, stats, and gyms

[PutridMoldyman 2]

Hey, all. I'm going to be starting my first normal playthrough of GTA SA after finishing up with VC. I do have a few questions on certain particular mechanics in the game, however. I have done research into this, but found a lot of old and conflicting information about these mechanics, so I figured it'd be best to ask here if someone knows the definite answers to these questions. I am going to be playing it on PS4 and don't want to use any cheats, if that matters for any of these.

 

On girlfriends:

1. Certain girlfriends require CJ to look a particular way before accepting to become his girlfriend. However, if the way he looks would change so that he would no longer meet their initial requirements by the first date and onward, how would this impact the relationship? (For example: CJ initially meets Helena, who requires low fat and low muscle to become his girlfriend. Later, on their first date, CJ has high fat and high muscle. How would this impact things?)
2. It seems that as long as CJ is in the area a particular girlfriend is in, but does not go on a date with them for awhile, their relationship status will begin to decrease. How long does it take for this decline to start happening? At what point does the relationship status get so low that a girlfriend breaks up with you?
3. If you have multiple girlfriends, there's a chance that a "jealous girlfriend" event may begin in which one of CJ's girlfriends tries to confront him while he's on a date with another girlfriend. What exactly triggers these events to happen?
4. Also on "jealous girlfriend" events, there seem to be quite a few things that could permanently bar these events from ever occurring with a certain girlfriend. What are they?
5. After collecting all oysters, would dead girlfriends respawn indefinitely or only a certain number of times?

On stats:

1. You can quickly lose fat and gain muscle by working out in gyms and quickly gain fat by eating many high fat meals until you're on the verge of vomiting, but is there a way to quickly lose muscle?
2. Would certain schools only be able to be completed with gold medals if you are highly skilled within that vehicle type?
3. How exactly does gaining weapon and vehicle skills work? Could I gain weapon skill if I continuously shoot at a bulletproof car?
4. I once read that garages can only repair vehicles a limited amount of times. Is this true? I don't think it is, because as far as I know, SA's garage mechanics are identical to VC's.

On gyms:

1. There's a glitch that makes gyms permanently unusable, with the game always saying that you've reached a limit for working out that day if you try to use any equipment. What causes this glitch to happen? Are there ways to prevent it from happening? Is it true that there are ways to stop the glitch if it impacts one of your save files?
2. There are unique fighting styles that can be learned in certain gyms. I know that you can switch between the different fighting styles by going back to their respective gyms and again defeating their trainers in a fight, but if you want to switch back to the original fighting style, is there a way to do that?

 

Many thanks to anyone who can help!

[OrionSR 1,852]

Girlfriends - To answer your question more directly and ignoring the oyster bonus: If CJ's appearance doesn't match their standard they will not go out on a date. If his appearance changes too much during the date (got too fat during dinner, or more commonly, the vehicle is too damaged) then an otherwise successful date can fail. Appearance probably doesn't influence phone calls. Sometimes girlfriends are never home or at the meeting location and no one knows why. Maybe appearance has something to do with it, but probably not. The truth of the matter is, everyone usually takes the oyster bonus route and there hasn't really been a modern investigation of managing the girlfriends without it.

 

The girlfriend calls are current in the special vehicle topic; new details have emerged. In general, the decline is rapid if CJ only has one girlfriend and is in within her city. The call hour and minutes are random without regard to day, so depending on the dice rolls the progress can drop in a hurry during gang wars without notice. The girlfriends will want to drop CJ at -15% progress, but her stats will drop of the page long before that. Missed calls are -2% progress. There are save editors that can be used to get more specific information as needed.

 

Stats: CJ's skills might help a little but you can always earn gold if your skills are good enough. I have seen no evidence of a limit on garage repairs. There is no place in the save's garage data for a repair count, or any hint that the garages could act that way.

 

Gyms: If you never exceed the daily workout limit you can never get the gym glitch. If you do exceed the daily limit then game records the current game month and game day (stats that can only be viewed with editors) and won't let CJ work out again until the current game month or game day is greater than the values recorded. Everything works as expected until next year, when suddenly it's 1/1 and game intends to wait until something greater than 10/28. There are tools that can fix this glitch but in general it's best to just avoid exceeding the daily limit.

 

Fighting: I don't think there's a way to return to the original style. The thing is though, I'm not sure where this information is stored - and this is exactly the sort of thing I usually keep track of.

[Fooking Rekt 594]

I also have a question about the Gyms, what fighting style is the most effective way to kill (i have seen a difference between them, but i can't figure out what is the fastest. I doubt it is the style learned in SF, since the animation takes a longer time)

[AnDReJ98 1,461]

I think the LV one. There is a punch that does deal over half HP damage (after kicking enemy in head) and you can easily kill anyone.

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

Getting all Oysters is your best bet dealing with the Girlfriends. If you're going for their AP Vehicles when they show up as Jealous Girlfriends, you need to understand the two time dating scripts. Like, if a Jealous Girlfriend does NOT show up, you must reload. If one shows up, but you already got their Vehicle and need another Girlfriend to spawn instead, you will also need to reload. If you go on a Date prior to having TWO OR MORE GIRLFRIENDS active, then that will disable the scripts and you'll never see any Jealous Girlfriend show up.

The Girlfriends, despite reaching 0% Progress and DISAPPEARING from the Stats Menu doesn't mean they are dumping CJ. It actually has to reach -20%, which won't show in the Stats, though, for them to actually dump CJ. All Girlfriends are able to be re-dated except Denise and Millie. If they dump CJ or you kill them, they are gone for good...

 

The only way to lose Muscle quickly would be going to the Gym with NO FAT and then exercising a lot which will probably deplete your Muscle in time. Or you can have NO FAT and go swimming around the Map. That will surely eat your Muscle quickly...

 

No. Getting a Gold Medal has nothing to do with the actual Stat Skills. Like, if you have a high Driving School, that doesn't mean you will or will not pass City Slicking. You can do them first try with Gold or after many Attempts, depending on YOUR SKILL LEVEL, not what the Game says in the Stats...

 

Absolutely not. You can NOT shoot at a Proofed Vehicle to get Hitman Level on Weapons. It only works on REGULAR Vehicles that have no properties like that. You just shoot at it until it starts to catch fire, and then let the Garage close on it to renew it, and then repeat the process until Hitmen Level is reached. The Garage will STOP WORKING if you do it too much, though, or at least that is what I hear. It never happened to me and I usually use Ganton to do this early in the game. I don't get Hitmen Level for ALL Weapons, but the essential ones like Machine Gun (Tec 9/Mac 10), SMG, AK-47, M4, and Sawn Off Shotgun. All the Pistols and regular Shotgun I don't care to get Hitmen Level early on in the Game. As for the Pistol, when you complete all 12 Challenges at the Shooting Ranger later on in the game, the Pistol is automatically maxed to Hitmen Level as far as I can tell. I always have it Hitmen Level upon 100%, despite NEVER using the Pistol besides in the Shooting Range Challenge...

 

You get the Gym Glitch when you work out past your limit. You must work out and stop BEFORE it says you reached your limit...

Edited April 27, 2016 by MetalMilitia89

[Fooking Rekt 594]

I always work out untill i exceed the limit, never got the glitch.

[PutridMoldyman 2]

Very late response, but thanks again to everyone who responded! My power went out the first time I tried responding, so let's try this again:

 

Getting all Oysters is your best bet dealing with the Girlfriends. If you're going for their AP Vehicles when they show up as Jealous Girlfriends, you need to understand the two time dating scripts. Like, if a Jealous Girlfriend does NOT show up, you must reload. If one shows up, but you already got their Vehicle and need another Girlfriend to spawn instead, you will also need to reload. If you go on a Date prior to having TWO OR MORE GIRLFRIENDS active, then that will disable the scripts and you'll never see any Jealous Girlfriend show up.

The Girlfriends, despite reaching 0% Progress and DISAPPEARING from the Stats Menu doesn't mean they are dumping CJ. It actually has to reach -20%, which won't show in the Stats, though, for them to actually dump CJ. All Girlfriends are able to be re-dated except Denise and Millie. If they dump CJ or you kill them, they are gone for good...

 

My main interest in two timing girlfriends is getting their AP vehicles. I wouldn't have really cared much about two timing if it wasn't for the special vehicles. Hopefully, the process of getting all of their vehicles won't be too long. I actually found out about them through your SA special vehicle guide. (By the way, you helped me in a previous VC special vehicle thread and noticed you made a VC special vehicle guide of your own, which I'm currently using. Great job on that!)

 

Would you recommend making EVERY potential girlfriend your girlfriend before going on any dates?

 

Also, is it possible to safely collect all of the oysters in San Andreas before the entire state is unlocked? I wouldn't mind having the non-progress-related benefits related to girlfriends, such as Katie's healthcare, as early as possible.

 

My main concern in terms of girlfriends dumping CJ is Denise. As I go through LS trying to get 100% in everything the city offers, I'm concerned that my lack of dating her may eventually cause her to dump me, although I'm not sure if that'll happen. Can relationship status decrease significantly if you and your girlfriend (namely, Denise) haven't even been on a first date yet?

 

 

I have seen no evidence of a limit on garage repairs. There is no place in the save's garage data for a repair count, or any hint that the garages could act that way.

 

Ah, so it seems there's nothing throughout the game's files that suggest a limit on garage repairs? That's interesting. I wonder how the idea that they are limited spread so much, then. Would you say that SA's garage mechanics work in the exact same way as VC's?

 

 

There are tools that can fix this glitch but in general it's best to just avoid exceeding the daily limit.

 

Are these tools only on PC?

Edited May 3, 2016 by PutridMoldyman

[Fooking Rekt 594]

1. Hopefully, the process of getting all of their vehicles won't be too long.

 

2. Would you recommend making EVERY potential girlfriend your girlfriend before going on any dates?

 

3. Also, is it possible to safely collect all of the oysters in San Andreas before the entire state is unlocked?

 

4. Can relationship status decrease significantly if you and your girlfriend haven't dated?

1. They are REALLY easy to get

 

2. You can do that, as lomg as you don't go on a date before you have atleast 2 girlfriends.

 

3. Yes it is, but if you want the Racing Outfit you need to perform the Oyster glitch to reach 100% with Michelle.

 

4. Yes, but not really fast enough. I have obtained alot of special vehicles in Los Santos and did a lot of garage management recently and Denise is still at 6%. They only dissapear at -15%

[Nick007J 264]

Would certain schools only be able to be completed with gold medals if you are highly skilled within that vehicle type?

Even though the question has already been answered, I'll add an example. It's obviously implied that driving skill makes driving easier and I wanted to find out how exactly. And it turned out that it only affects one aspect of driving.

 

When CJ's vehicle is in air, if he holds left/right button, vehicle will rotate around horisontal axis, if he also holds handbrake button, it will rotate around vertical axis. Driving skill determines coefficient of angular velocity of this rotation. Assuming driving skill is D (values between 0 and 1000), fat level is F (0-1000), this coefficient is

 

C = min(1, 1 + (F - 200)/1600 + D/2000)

 

As seen from this formula, driving skill doesn't affect anything once it reached 250. Coefficient varies between 0.875 and 1 and this change is very hard to notice during gameplay.

So driving skill almost doesn't affect anything. Bike skill on the other hand is more noticable, of course.

 

 

You can quickly lose fat and gain muscle by working out in gyms and quickly gain fat by eating many high fat meals until you're on the verge of vomiting, but is there a way to quickly lose muscle?

From what I know, there are 2 ways of losing muscle. One of them is hungering, other is physical activity that normally reduces fat, but with fat level of 0, it reduces muscle level. For example, riding a bicycle with fat level of 0 causes muscle level to become lower with time.

 

 

How exactly does gaining weapon and vehicle skills work? Could I gain weapon skill if I continuously shoot at a bulletproof car?

Weapon skill is increased per every bullet that hit. Values of increase per bullet can be seen in file data\ar_stats.dat in your SA directory. However, as it has already been noted, hitting bulletproof cars does not affect weapon skill. But there are some interesting examples of being able to increase weapon skill without actually damaging a car. One of them is Reuniting the Families, where during the final part you can shoot your own Greenwood with AK-47, it doesn't take damage, but weapon skill is increased per every hit. AK-47 level can get to maximum level solely with this trick during this mission.

In the same file you can see time necessary to improve other skills. It should be noted that, for example, for driving skill every frame during which player's vehicle was driving at speed of 144 km/h or more is taken with coefficient 1.5, speed between 36 km/h and 144 km/h counts with coefficient 0.5 and driving at lower speed doesn't affect driving skill. It should also be noted that if you reach some progress with driving/bike/etc skill, but it hasn't been shown yet, and you save your game and reload it, all progress is lost.

 

 

I once read that garages can only repair vehicles a limited amount of times. Is this true? I don't think it is, because as far as I know, SA's garage mechanics are identical to VC's.

This is not true, there is no limit. There has always been some funny myths about the game, like I heard a long time ago that if you deliver 5000 ice creams in a row in Vice City, Vercetti's estate revenue will reach 50000$, and if you hit a building with screwdriver 10000 times, it will collapse. Of course, it has nothing in common with reality. Mostly this is related to the fact that garage only stores vital data about vehicle, and health is not one of them, so vehicle is always repaired just because it's recreated every time garage is opened.

[Fooking Rekt 594]

I also have a question for you @Nick007J;

Can a ped steal your vehicle during the coffee scene, if yes, will the vehicle remain proofed?

[Nick007J 264]

I also have a question for you @Nick007J;

Can a ped steal your vehicle during the coffee scene, if yes, will the vehicle remain proofed?

As far as I know, they can't because they can't steal vehicles tied to a script. Player's vehicle is tied to date script and therefore can't be stolen. Anyway, even if it could be stolen, it would lose immunities anyway (unless vehicle is destroyed during the scene somehow).

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

My main interest in two timing girlfriends is getting their AP vehicles. I wouldn't have really cared much about two timing if it wasn't for the special vehicles. Hopefully, the process of getting all of their vehicles won't be too long. I actually found out about them through your SA special vehicle guide. (By the way, you helped me in a previous VC special vehicle thread and noticed you made a VC special vehicle guide of your own, which I'm currently using. Great job on that!)

 

Would you recommend making EVERY potential girlfriend your girlfriend before going on any dates?

 

Also, is it possible to safely collect all of the oysters in San Andreas before the entire state is unlocked? I wouldn't mind having the non-progress-related benefits related to girlfriends, such as Katie's healthcare, as early as possible.

 

My main concern in terms of girlfriends dumping CJ is Denise. As I go through LS trying to get 100% in everything the city offers, I'm concerned that my lack of dating her may eventually cause her to dump me, although I'm not sure if that'll happen. Can relationship status decrease significantly if you and your girlfriend (namely, Denise) haven't even been on a first date yet?

 

They don't take long to obtain, unless you're unlucky I suppose. Tbh, if you're playing on anything other than PS2 where the Girlfriends get glitched and are never home at the certain times they should be home, I'd get ALL of them at the same time, or all of them but Millie (If you didn't pass Key to Her Heart). Lets say Denise, Helena, Katie, Michelle, and Barbara are active. You can just go to Katie (she seems to work best for me) and basically get 4 of the 5 AP Jealous Girlfriend Vehicles using just her. Then use someone else and grab her AP Romero. I say unlucky due to the fact with 5 Girlfriends active, or 6 if you have Millie as a Girlfriend, too, you have a 20% or less chance of having said Vehicle spawn. This can be problematic and time consuming getting the RIGHT AP Vehicle to spawn. There has been times where it took HOURS just to get the RIGHT AP Vehicle to spawn for me. Other times, they spawned a lot quicker. Always remember, though, NEVER date a Girlfriend when just ONE is active and always remember to RELOAD if a Girlfriend doesn't show up AT ALL or if the WRONG Girlfriend shows up. For instance, if you obtained Denise's AP Hustler and when you are trying for the next AP Vehicle, but Denise shows up again, just reload again. Repeat the process until all 5 are obtained, or all 6. But usually nobody goes for Millie's AP Feltzer since it's inferior to the AP/EC2 Feltzer in End of the Line. However, the EotL Feltzer requires a Mission Failure, whereas Millie's doesn't, obviously as obtaining the Girlfriend Vehicles isn't related to Mission Stats...

 

Yeah. You can get no joke, 35/50 or so Oysters WITHOUT getting a Wanted Level even. I just did them the other day for my SA Starter Save. They took HOURS, though, since I had to swim a lot. There is 5 Oysters on the Island of Las Venturas which no matter what, you will have a 4 star wanted level to get them and then there is also about 5 or so on the Island of San Fierro as well as at the Naval Base, which is about another 5 that is NEEDING a Wanted Level. But the rest can literally be obtained without getting a Wanted Level as long as you know the boundary lines and where to fly and park the Seasparrow and then swim to each Oyster, you will be fine and not get a Wanted Level. They are easy, but boring and tedious. I did all of this WITHOUT Fast Food Restaurants unlocked, as well. Meals Eaten Stat is still 0 in my 13.90% SA Starter Save!

 

Denise's Progress WILL get low and quite quick, but this happens to me usually when I had to come back to Los Santos later in the game to do 8 Track, Oysters, etc, etc, etc, etc, but since all of this is done in my Starter Save, I don't need to return to Los Santos anymore, other than to finish the final LS Story Missions and to do Trucking and Races. Other than that, everything in Los Santos is finished off simply by doing the stuff in a Starter Save. Or at the very least, do this stuff BEFORE "Burning Desire" when Denise is unlocked. You'll have no problems if you hold off on this Mission and do a lot of the Requirements in Los Santos early. The less time in Los Santos AFTER Burning Desire, the better. Once you make it to The Country, San Fierro, The Desert, Las Venturas, etc, etc, Denise's Progress won't decrease. It's only when you are in LS and after Burning Desire.

 

I usually get the 5 AP Girlfriend Vehicles after Green Goo, when LV is unlocked and ALL remaining Safehouses can be bought for maximum storage space. I also do Garage Management at this time, too. I rush through to Green Goo or Explosive Situation (Which unlocks Quarry Missions) and then I move everything around, get the AP Jealous Girlfriend Vehicles, and finish the remaining Side Tasks required for 100%. Luckily, now that I got the 13.90% Starter Save fully done with, I won't need to do a Collectibles when I reach this Mission in the future, since all 250/250 are done right after Big Smoke before any other Story Missions in the game...Since I got the 50 Oysters in the beginning, I could get Katie, Michelle, and Barbara in my Starter Save if I wanted, too, but I don't care to do that, really...

Edited May 3, 2016 by MetalMilitia89

[PutridMoldyman 2]

3. Also, is it possible to safely collect all of the oysters in San Andreas before the entire state is unlocked?

3. Yes it is, but if you want the Racing Outfit you need to perform the Oyster glitch to reach 100% with Michelle.

 

What is the oyster glitch?

Edited May 3, 2016 by PutridMoldyman

[lil weasel 2,674]

3. Also, is it possible to safely collect all of the oysters in San Andreas before the entire state is unlocked?

What is the oyster glitch?

Glitch?, If you collect all the Oysters the girls do not care about how Carl looks or what he drives, and you never lose one (unless she dies). Even when a Girl dies Except for Millie and Denise, who are only met in missions the dead GF will respawn.

OR did you mean:

The Exploit I am familiar with is not specific to Oysters.

During certain missions the Want is suspended during the mission.

For instance.

If you do not get into the car after starting the "Drive-By" mission,

And, If you do not enter the Motel during the "Family Reunion" mission you may go about exploring and collecting in and around the Unlocked Islands. Then after doing whatever, you return and Finish or if you want Fail the Mission.

There are no people or traffic during this period. Although you will find normal spawned parked vehicles about.

Edited May 5, 2016 by lil weasel

[Fooking Rekt 594]

The one i am talking about is where you collect the 50th Oyster while having Michelle as your girlfriend (it has to be under 0% progreess) and if you collect the 50th Oyster she gets a boost to around 40-50%

 

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Fooking Rekt

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

Yeah, that is why fnxrak's Video is of 49 Oysters. He doesn't get the one in Glen Pond, but gets the other 49/50. He does this for exactly that. To get Katie, Michelle, and Barbara to 50% Progress without doing anything but making their progress drop to below 0%...

[graciellenebres 2]

I also have a question about the Gyms, what fighting style is the most effective way to kill (i have seen a difference between them, but i can't figure out what is the fastest. I doubt it is the style learned in SF, since the animation takes a longer time)

The Karate kick...You can learn that when you already enter San Fierro, there's a gym that can teach you moves

[PutridMoldyman 2]

Sorry for yet another late response, but...

 

The one i am talking about is where you collect the 50th Oyster while having Michelle as your girlfriend (it has to be under 0% progreess) and if you collect the 50th Oyster she gets a boost to around 40-50%

 

Yeah, that is why fnxrak's Video is of 49 Oysters. He doesn't get the one in Glen Pond, but gets the other 49/50. He does this for exactly that. To get Katie, Michelle, and Barbara to 50% Progress without doing anything but making their progress drop to below 0%...

 

Would this be required in order to do something in a certain way, or is this just an optional trick to quickly boost progress? Also, since you'd have to decrease the progress with your girlfriends below 0% before getting your final oyster for this, I imagine you'd have to meet each of the girlfriends' appearance requirements in order to make them your girlfriends in the first place (since I believe you need all 50 oysters in order for girlfriends not to care about your appearance)?

[‫DefaultUserName 1,854]

Yes.

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

Exactly. It's possible to date Katie, Michelle, and Barbara in the beginning of the game before the first Story Mission and even obtain their AP Vehicles if you want, but it would require CJ to have the right appearance and Stats. It's just easier once all 50 Oysters are collected and then deal with the Girlfriends. Raising their Progress isn't essential, just like the 70 Stunt Jumps in SA aren't essential or Burglary, etc, etc, but people still do some of these things if they want...fnxrak is only doing this so their percent is raised to 50% early on...It's too tedious for my liking...

[Fooking Rekt 594]

Helena too.

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

Helena can't be dated until The Country and Badlands is unlocked...

 

There is only 3 Girlfriends you can date in a Starter Save as well as 3 AP Jealous Girlfriend Vehicles you can obtain in a Starter Save...

 

If Helena could be dated early, why doesn't fnxrak or zmoonchild have her in their Starter Saves? Well, she can't be dated early...

[OrionSR 1,852]

IIRC, Helena will get the oyster bonus of 45% progress before Badlands but the stat never shows because it doesn't get updated from the global variable and is then reset to 15% progress when she is met.

 

Part of the fun of a master save is trying to get better stuff and stats than the other guy. 45% progress is better than 15%, which is plenty of reason for some players to go through the hassle. However, the stats won't show until updated, and since progress can't be made (except Michelle) a missed phone call is the smallest hit that'll cause an update, so 43% visible progress is the best that can be shown.

 

I believe fnxrak went the extra mile to progress Michelle with She Drives dates to get her racing suit on a master save. Since master saves clothing is usually limited to the starting outfit and the bike shorts from Chiliad challenge it's considered a pretty good prize.

Edited May 15, 2016 by OrionSR

[Lethal Vaccine 7,182]

I got the Chiliad Challenge Bike Shorts but not the Racing Suit from Michelle in my Starter Save. I didn't even get any of the Girlfriends in my Starter Save, but I did all 50 Oysters at least...

[toomuchinvigilation 198]

I've completed Burning Desire while having Katie as a girlfriend. Now every time I get Denise on a date, Katie keeps showing up (she appeared 8 times in a row so far). Is it just my luck or is it something in the game's code?

[Fooking Rekt 594]

Lucky coincidence. Sometimes i get a Two-Timing date like 5 times in a row, sometimes not at all

[OrionSR 1,852]

The dating scripts suggest there should be a 50/50 chance of a jealousy date if the conditions are right for it. However, I get the impression that the random number generator isn't as random as it could be, and reloading to try again tends to generate similar randomness to the time before.