GTA San Andreas is undoubtedly the most popular GTA series game after GTA V and GTA Online. First released in 2004 and remastered in 2021, GTA San Andreas still boasts an active player population of more than a hundred thousand players worldwide.
For a singleplayer only game released almost 18years ago, the player count confirms just how much popular the game was in the franchise.
With the release of the definitive edition last year, Rockstar brought the game to today’s standards with inclusion of a new generation game engine, reworked graphics and much more. The release further boosted the player count and also brought a new life to the modding scene of the game.
Today we are going to take about some “Must Try” mods for GTA San Andreas. Before we start, remember that all the mods mentioned in the article are compatible with the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition and may work with GTA 3 and GTA Vice City also.
1. All Radio Songs Restored
Essentially the most important mod on the list today. This mod will restore all the radio songs that were cut off from GTA San Andreas with the release of Definitive Editon. Rockstar had warned about cutting off some old songs due to licensing issues.
All Radio Songs Restored is a mod specially designed to restore all the old radio songs that were removed from the latest release of the game. The modder claims that all radio songs from GTA San Andreas have been restored to the 2004 version. Alongside GTA San Andreas, the modder has also provided files for GTA 3 and some FM stations.
Check out the mod here- https://www.nexusmods.com/grandtheftautothetrilogy/mods/91
2. The Uncompressed Sounds of Grand Theft Auto
A simple mod that restores high-quality and uncompressed sound effects heard across all the games in GTA Trilogy. While we call this mod simple, it is simply an amazing piece of work that brings the sound effects of the games to today’s standard.
It is amazing how Rockstar just forgot that a “Definitive Edition” must also improve on the sound effects of the games. But guess what, they totally shipped the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition with compressed audio files meaning the sound effects were not crisp and sounded muffled.
This mod works for all 3 games in the trilogy and also restores some radio stations for GTA San Andreas (the first mod above works better for radios). From menu sounds to sirens and ambient audio, this mod touches upon almost every audio source in the game and replaces them with a higher quality uncompressed version.
Check out the mod here- https://www.nexusmods.com/grandtheftautothetrilogy/mods/44
3. GTA SA – Project Revitalized – The Definitive Edition
An engine extension plus engine tweak for the definitive edition of GTA San Andreas. This mod is basically a reshade fork that the mod maker specially tuned for GTA San Andreas. The mod adds more graphical options to the game engine and tweaks the values of the various options already present in the game.
Since the definitive edition was remastered on Unreal Engine 4, the game’s engine is extremely customizable and can be tweaked for higher graphical settings.
This mod adds a new sharpen filter to the game, as well as increases the shadow resolution, and tweaks many lightning and FX values of the game. The modder has also included a special add-on to the mod download page which includes enhanced 4k textures, realistic rain, and an enhanced reshade profile.
Check out the mod here- https://www.nexusmods.com/grandtheftautothetrilogy/mods/82
4. Simple Reticle
Just as the name suggests, this mod replaces the old weapon reticle with Dot. That’s all.
GTA Trilogy Definitive Editon comes with the same old and ugly reticle that uses too much screen space hiding some important stuff. This mod replaces that old reticle with a simple Dot which is opaque and doesn’t take much space. Plus this mod makes the reticle static, meaning the reticle won’t change its size as you fire your weapon.
Check out the mod here- https://www.nexusmods.com/grandtheftautothetrilogy/mods/30
5. GTA SA- Project Texture Overhaul
Project Texture Overhaul replaces many textures in the definitive edition of the game with real 2K and 4K resolution textures.
Almost all the textures present in the definitive edition of the San Andreas are upscaled versions of the old mobile textures of the game. Since the mobile textures were of lower poly count and resolution, many of the upscaled textures looked horrible and blurred.
With Project Texture Overhaul, the modder aims to recreate many of these horrible upscaled textures and replace them with real 4K and 2K resolution options. The new textures added by this mod are extremely sharp and clear. This mod is a must-have for anyone starting the game today and should always keep them installed.
Check out the mod here- CLICK HERE
