A Guide to Installing Car Mods in GTA: San Andreas

There are thousands of car mods available for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. While the modding process may seem a little daunting at first, it’s not so bad once you get the hang of it. You can replace cars that are already in the game, or you can add cars to the game. This wikiHow article teaches you how to install the basic mods needed to mod Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and how to install car mods.

Modding San Andreas: Car Mods Overview

Before you get started, start with a clean installation of the game, back up the game with no mods, and exclude the game folder from Windows Defender.
Install the SA essentials pack from MixMods, the Fastman92 Limit Adjuster, and the RZL trainer.
Once you're all set up, download car mods, move them to the ModLoader folder, and start spawning cars.

Part 1

Part 1 of 6:

Before You Begin

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1
Start with a clean installation of GTA San Andreas. This means you have the latest version with no mods installed. If you have any installed, go ahead and uninstall your game and delete your game folder, then reinstall it from scratch.
- It's also a good idea to make a backup of your game with no mods before you begin. To do so, copy the contents of the GTA: SA game folder into a separate location. You can also just copy your Grand Theft Auto San Andreas game folder and paste it into the same location. Rename it something like “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Vanilla” or “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Modded."
- The location of your game folder varies depending on how you installed the game. If you installed it from Steam, it will be in your Steam folder. If you are installing the game from Rock Star, it’s recommended that you install it in a separate Games folder.
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Make sure you have administrative privileges. You may need administrative privileges to work with some of the required files. Make sure you are logged into Windows with an administrative account.

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Add a Windows Defender exclusion to your game folder. Some of the files you work with may trip your antivirus software. Use the following steps to add an exclusion to your Grand Theft Auto San Andreas game folder:^{[1]
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- Press the Windows key and type “Windows Security.”
- Go to Windows Security > Virus & Threat Protection > Manage Settings.
- Scroll down and click Add or remove exclusions below “Exclusions.”
- Click Yes if prompted.
- Click + Add an exclusion.
- Select Folder.
- Select the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game folder you intend to mod.

Part 2

Part 2 of 6:

Downgrade San Andreas

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Download a downgrader. Many mods do not work with the latest version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You will need to downgrade it to version 1.0. To download the tool you'll need, go to downgraders.rockstarvision.com and click Download below the “Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.”^{[2]
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Extract the contents of the RAR file. Use WinRAR or 7-Zip to unRAR the contents of the downgrader file you just downloaded.
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Move the contents of the extracted folder into your GTA SA game folder. There should be a “SA DOWNGRADE” folder, an “Install.bat” folder, and a “jptch.exe” file in the extracted files. Copy all of these files and paste them into the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas game folder for the version you intend to mod.
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Run the “Install.bat” file. Double-click the install.bat file to run it. Allow it a few minutes to do its thing.^{[3]
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- You may even want to make a backup copy of the downgraded Grand Theft Auto San Andreas game folder when you are finished.

Part 3

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Install the Modding Tools

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Download the MixMods Essentials pack. This pack contains all the files you will need to mod GTA: SA. Go to the essentials pack website and click Download at the bottom of the page to go to the Sharemods page. Click Create Download Link at the bottom of the page, then click Download again.^{[4]
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- This pack includes an ASI loader, which is used to load ASI files that many mods use. It also includes CLEO and CLEO+, which is a modding library that allows you to load “.cs” (custom script) files. Finally, it includes the ModLoader, which allows you to load mods without having to replace any files.
2
Extract the contents of the zip file into your modded game folder. Open the SA Essentials zip file after you download it. Select everything in the folder (you can deselect the “ESSENTIALS README” folder at the top). Then, drag and drop the contents of the entire folder into your Grand Theft Auto San Andreas modded game folder.
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Delete the original “gta-sa.exe” files. The essentials pack should have a file called “gta_sa.exe.” Your original game file should have at least one “.exe” file called “gta-sa.exe.” You may also have a file called “gta-sa-steam.exe.” Go ahead and delete both of those files and leave the one that came with the ESSENTIALS pack.
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Rename the new GTA “.exe” file “gta-sa.exe.” Go ahead and select the “gta_sa.exe” file and click Rename at the top. Rename the file “gta-sa.exe” (with a dash instead of an underscore).
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Download the Fastman92 limit adjuster. This mod removes several limits placed on the game and allows you to add vehicles without replacing ones that are already in the game. Use the following steps to install the Fastman92 Limit Adjuster.
- Go to the mod download page.
- Click Download below “For GTA SA PC.”
- Click Create Download Link on the page.
- Click Download on the page.
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Open the Fastman92 Limit Adjuster 7z file. Use 7-Zip or your preferred extractor to open the file, then open the “$fastman92 limit adjuster” folder. Copy all the contents and paste them into your Grand Theft Auto San Andreas modded folder.
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Download and install the RZL Trainer. RZL Trainer adds an in-game menu to the game that allows you to spawn vehicles (along with other options). Use the following steps to download and install RZL Trainer:
- Go to RZL Trainer download website.
- Click Download at the bottom of the page.
- Click Create Download Link.
- Click Download.
- Open the “modloader” folder in the modded game folder.
- Create a new folder called “RZL Trainer.”
- Copy the “CLEO” folder from within the RZL Trainer downloaded file into the “RZL Trainer” folder in your “modloader” folder.
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Run the “gta-sa.exe” file. This is the main executable file for the modded version of San Andreas. Go ahead and double-click it and run it to make sure it runs okay.
- If the game crashes before the title screen, you probably need to delete your settings file. To do so, open the “GTA San Andreas User Files” folder (it’s probably in your “Documents” folder), then delete the “gta_sa.set” file.
- If that doesn’t work, you can delete everything in this folder.
- You may need to redo your settings for the modded version of GTA San Andreas.

Part 4

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Adjust the Game Limits

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Open the Fastman92 Limit Adjust “.ini” file. This file should generate automatically in your main game folder the first time you run the game with the mod installed. Right-click the file and select Open with > Notepad.
2
Enable Apply Handling. To do so, press Ctrl + F to open the Find. Search for the “Apply Handlin” line. Remove the hashtag at the beginning of the line (this enables the setting).. Change the “Apply handling.cfg patch =0” to “Apply handling.cfg patch =1.”
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Increase the number of standard lines. If you don’t see the number of standard lines section below the “Apply Handling” section, use Ctrl + F to search “Standard Lines”. Remove the hashtag at the start of “Number of standard lines” and increase the number of standard lines to 300 or a close number.
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Increase the number of vehicles. This will allow you to add vehicles to the game. To do so, press Ctrl + F and search “Vehicle Models.” Remove the hashtag at the start of the line and increase the number of vehicles to something like 300.
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Increase the number of killable model IDs to 12,600. Next, press Ctrl + F and search “Killable Model IDs.” Remove the hashtag at the beginning of the line and increase the number of killable model IDs to a large number, like 12,600.
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Save the INI file. Press Ctrl + S or click File, followed by Save to save the file.

Part 5

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Add Car Mods

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Download the car mods you want to add to GTA SA. Now that you have your mod installer ready to go, you can download a car mod. Car mods will download in ZIP or RAR format. There are several places you can download car mods from, including:
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Open the mod file. Most mods will come as a ZIP or RAR file. Go ahead and open the file to see what is in it.
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Drag and drop the “Added” or “Replace” folder into the “modloader” folder. If you want to replace a car model that is already in the game, simply drag and drop the “Replace” folder into the “modloader” folder in your game folder. If you want to add a car, drag and drop the “Added” folder into the ModLoader folder.
- Replacing a car is generally easier than adding one. All you need to do is drag the “Replace” folder into your “modloader” folder. Adding a car generally requires you to note the vehicle ID and model and make changes to some of the configuration files in the game.
- If the car mod doesn’t have an “Added” or “Replace” folder, create a new folder for the car mod in the “modloader” folder. Name it after the car model name. Drag and drop the contents of the Zip or RAR file into the folder you just created. Be sure to check the text file that came with the mod. You may need to assign it a vehicle ID number and change the model name of the car (if you want to add the car instead of replacing another car).
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Check the “.txt” file in the car mod folder and note or assign the vehicle ID number. There should be a text (.txt) file in the “Added” or “Replace” folder. This contains various information, such as the vehicle ID and the model. If it is replacing a car in the game, it will contain the vehicle ID and model of a car that already exists in the game. If you are adding the car, you will need to assign it a vehicle number that is not already assigned to another car.^{[5]
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- Make sure you do not install two vehicle mods with the same vehicle ID. If you do, they will conflict with one another and possibly cause the game to crash.
- If you want to see a complete list of car models in the game, open the game folder, open the “data” folder in the game folder, and then open the “Vehicle.ide” file in Notepad.
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Check the README file. The README file may contain special instructions for the vehicle mod. For example, it may contain custom audio or special features, and explain how to install them.
- The README file may ask you to copy and paste a line into the “gtasa_vehicleAudioSettings.cfg” file or the “model_special_features.cfg” file. Both are in the “data” folder in your San Andreas game folder. You can modify these files using Notepad.
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Copy the “cargrp.dat” file into the “modloader” folder (optional). This isn’t necessary if you are replacing a car within the game. However, if you are adding a car and you want it to spawn in traffic, locate the “cargrp.dat” file in the “data” folder. Copy it into the “modloader” folder.
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Add the vehicle model to the “cargrp.dat” file. After copying the “cargrp.dat” file into your “modloader” folder, open it in Notepad. You’ll see a list of vehicle models and where they spawn. All you need to do is add the vehicle model name to the list of cars. You can add it to as many locations as you want.

Part 6

Part 6 of 6:

Spawn a Car

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Open the modded version of GTA. To do so, double-click the “gta-sa.exe” file in your modded game folder.
2
Press F2 while in-game. This will open the RZL Trainer menu.
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Select Vehicle Spawning. It’s in the middle of the menu.
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Select Input Vehicle ID. This allows you to spawn a vehicle by its ID number.
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Enter the ID of the vehicle you want to spawn and press ⇧ Shift twice. Make sure you enter the correct vehicle ID. Entering the wrong ID number may crash the game. Press Shift once to get a warning message. Press Shift again to confirm. This will spawn the vehicle with you inside it.

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Are there any car mods for PS2?

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Technically, yes, practically, no. You can't mod the PS2 version unless you modify the .ELF file, burn it to a new DVD and play it on a modded PS2.

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What do I do if I am told I don't have microsoft.NET framework when I open Sami?

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After you open it, it will give you the option to download it, so download and install it.

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Is there a way to auto install mods?

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As said: the SAMI will help you. There might be more available in the market.

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