GTA San Andreas on PC

GTA San Andreas with two monitors: screen choice window at every start

Single player: with more than one monitor, the game asks you to set the resolution every time it starts, and it can crash or lose the mouse to the other screen. SilentPatch fixes these.

Steps

1. Single player: install SilentPatch

   PCGamingWiki says that with more than one monitor, the game shows a window to set the resolution every time it starts. Its fix is SilentPatch. SilentPatch's page says it remade this window: it remembers the screen you picked, and it has an option to skip the window at every start. SilentPatch also locks the mouse cursor to the game window, so fast mouse moves no longer take the cursor out of the window when you have more than one monitor. Both fixes work with the 1.0, Steam and Rockstar Games Launcher copies. Download it from the author's page, silentsblog.com/mods/gta-sa/.

   Careful: Single player only. Before you play MTA, MTA asks you to delete every .asi file from the GTA and MTA folders. Its own example is SilentPatch's file. If you also play MTA, read the last step first.

   ASI plugins or a game-folder DLL block MTA →

   Source: SilentPatch page, PCGamingWiki, MTA help

2. SilentPatch needs an ASI Loader

   SilentPatch needs an ASI Loader. Its page links Silent's ASI Loader, further down the same page. On the Rockstar Games Launcher copy, use Ultimate ASI Loader instead. The page links it too.

   Source: SilentPatch page, SilentPatch author blog

3. Put the files in the game folder

   Open your game folder. Steam: right-click the game, choose Manage, then Browse local files. Rockstar Games Launcher: click Settings, click the game in My installed games, then click Open next to View installation folder. Disc copy: right-click the game's shortcut and choose Open file location. Then right-click each downloaded .zip file (SilentPatch and the ASI Loader), choose Extract All, set the game folder as the destination and click Extract. If Windows says the destination has files with the same names, choose Replace the files in the destination.

   Careful: Single player only. Before you play MTA, MTA asks you to delete every .asi file from the GTA and MTA folders. Its own example is SilentPatch's file. Do not do this in the GTA folder that MTA uses (see the last step).

   ASI plugins or a game-folder DLL block MTA →

   Source: SilentPatch setup page, MTA help

4. Pick your screen once

   Start the game. In the screen choice window, pick your screen and resolution. SilentPatch's author says these choices can now be remembered in a separate .set file, and the window can be turned off. To choose another screen later, delete the file device_remembered.set from the GTA San Andreas User Files folder in Documents. The author says the tooltip of the window's new checkbox tells you this.

   Source: SilentPatch author blog, PCGamingWiki

5. Crashes on a PC with two monitors

   Only if the game crashes when a car explodes, or when you open the advanced display options.

   SilentPatch's page lists fixes for two crashes. One happens when a car explodes, and the page says it is most likely with more than one monitor. The other happens when you open the advanced display options after these steps: you started the game on the main monitor at its biggest resolution, closed it, then started it on the second monitor at that monitor's biggest resolution. It only happened when the second monitor's biggest resolution was bigger than the main monitor's. Both fixes work with the 1.0, Steam and Rockstar Games Launcher copies.

   Source: SilentPatch page, PCGamingWiki

6. Keep a clean GTA copy for MTA

   SilentPatch is for single player only. MTA's manual says the GTA copy for MTA should have no mods, because they may conflict with MTA. To keep SilentPatch, install GTA a second time in another folder. Use the copy without mods for MTA.

   Using GTA mods with MTA →

   Source: MTA wiki, MTA help

See also: GTA San Andreas stretched picture, widescreen or missing resolution, GTA San Andreas mouse not working on Windows 10 and 11, GTA SA crashes near escalators, vending machines or car explosions, GTA SA: SilentPatch or ASI mods stop working (Rockstar Launcher), Using GTA mods with MTA

Playing MTA, not single player? Use the MTA steps above, or search the Fix tool for your message.

Other problems like this

• GTA San Andreas black screen when entering or leaving a building
• GTA SA crashes near escalators, vending machines or car explosions
• GTA San Andreas minimizes by itself at start
• GTA SA gym message never ends, or a mission gets stuck
• GTA SA garage: my car was replaced, or its paint job is gone
• GTA SA: SilentPatch or ASI mods stop working (Rockstar Launcher)

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