# GTA San Andreas on Vista



## JPLamb (Jan 27, 2005)

I have just got a brand new copy of GTA SA and i have installed it in my laptop that runs vista Basic, the laptop has more than the required specifications.

the game installed fine with no problems but i am not able to play it. when i press start a new game if freezes, i have left it at this stage for half an hour last night and nothing happened, when i go to the task manager it says that GTA has stopped responding. this also happens when i try and load a game, i downloaded a save so that i could see if the game would load that way but it doesent.

the game ran fine on my xp machine from the same disk so i know that the disk is good.

is there a patch that i need to run it on Vista??



Thanks in advance.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

2 things:

Laptops are not designed for playing games, especially games graphically intensive as GTA: SA.

Since the game came out before Vista, you can try to use the Windows XP Compatibility Mode.

What laptop do you have?


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## JPLamb (Jan 27, 2005)

i understand that laptops are not designed to play games btu my last machine did and this one is higher spec so i guessed that it would play it, my laptop it a Toshiba Satellite L30 -10Y

how do i get to the XP Compatibility Mode?

cheers


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## ACA529 (Nov 16, 2005)

Couriant said:


> 2 things:
> 
> Laptops are not designed for playing games, especially games graphically intensive as GTA: SA.
> 
> ...


That's not necessarily true. Laptops, like the Dell XPS's work fine for playing games.

My friend owns an Acer 5672WLMi and it works fine for playing high-end games. It even runs them better than my Desktop. He can play high-end games like Battlefield 2 running on high settings... so that's not exactly true.

It completely depends on which laptop.


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## Super-D-38 (Apr 25, 2002)

jammysheep said:


> how do i get to the XP Compatibility Mode?
> 
> cheers


Never messed with Vista but if it's like XP just right click the SA.exe and see if there is a compatibility option.

Some say it works just fine, others have random problems.. who knows really, just gota poke around and see what works.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

jammysheep said:


> i understand that laptops are not designed to play games btu my last machine did and this one is higher spec so i guessed that it would play it, my laptop it a Toshiba Satellite L30 -10Y
> 
> how do i get to the XP Compatibility Mode?
> 
> cheers


Right click on the game .exe file (or the shortcut in the Start Menu or desktop if it's there) > Properties > Compatibility Tab. Check the box to Run Program As and the drop down menu should already be on Windows XP SP2.

Generally the notebooks are not suitable for gaming because of the video card, though I have seen one or two with decent cards that can do the job... though battery life is not that good


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## JPLamb (Jan 27, 2005)

Hi, sorry i have take time to get back to you,

i have tried the XP Compatibility Mode and this has not helped it still freezes in exactly the same place. i will have a play around and try to get it working but any other sergestions would be great, 

cheers.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

OK, I found the specificatioons, and although your machine may have the required hardware, the problem you have is that the video is not independent from the memory. From what I can can tell, you have 512MB of memory. Up to 256MB of that memory will be used up for the video card. Vista itself is a memory intensive OS, so I would think that you will have a lot of issues with it.


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## JPLamb (Jan 27, 2005)

ah right, cheers for that, i never thought about the video memory.

thanks everyone that has helped.


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## xxVIPERxx (Mar 23, 2008)

hey i read the above and i have a machine that runs cysis on high settings so gta should be no problem but its freezing and saying not responding just as before i had it working for like 20 min but when i paused the game to view map it froze their any advice is their a patch plz help if anyone uses this thread anymore ?


thanks


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## chazzman (Apr 20, 2008)

i was installing it and it crashed about 3/4s of the way through say it was a missing cutscene is there anyway to fix this?


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## jackdw (Jul 1, 2005)

chazzman said:


> i was installing it and it crashed about 3/4s of the way through say it was a missing cutscene is there anyway to fix this?


Re-install the game.

JP: If it was a RAM problem, I think the game should still load.. GTA:SA, in terms of todays computers, is not an intensive game so a laptop should run it well. Do you have any problems with any other games?


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## chazzman (Apr 20, 2008)

no it might just be that my cd is scratched cause i bought it 2nd hand


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## iwassnow (Jun 19, 2006)

If it's a matter of not enough RAM because Vista is consuming it all, see if vista lets you turn off the 3d menus like XP does. In the XP performance options in Computer Properties, there's an adjust for best performance. It makes it look like win98, but if it plays your games, it may be worth a try.


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## janis1 (May 9, 2008)

When i play San Andreas my screen turns off adn then i have to reboot my computer!


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## alor13 (May 17, 2008)

Hi. I've got problem with my own GTA: SA. I've installed it without any problems, then, when i wanted to launch it, doesn't work. I can see black screen and for a second, maybe two I can hear game music. My computer doesn't show any problems. I've got 2.0 version which go with Vista. My computer specification is: 
Windows Vista Home Ultimate
GeForce 8800GT
4Gb Ram memory
Intel Core2Duo 2.77Ghz
I've checked a plant of forums, but i didn't find anything. Thank you for your quick help, I hope.


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## gpeksoz (Jun 5, 2008)

There is no information about your Windows vista sidebar status. I had the same problem but it is solved with closing the vista sidebar. IF the Always on top option is enabled sidebar couses resolution problem for san andreas.


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## alor13 (May 17, 2008)

whatever... I'm just going to change Vista for XP again  It'll be better for me. However, thanks for your help . One more question, could you tell me what the "sidebar status" is? I'm from Poland, and I couldn't find it in dictionaty


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## jackdw (Jul 1, 2005)

The status of the windows sidebar. Ie, is it open or did you shut it?


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## alor13 (May 17, 2008)

If I've understood right, IE means Internet Explorer? My English is really poor  so forgive. Honestly I prefer Mozilla Firefox. I can't understand connection between this things


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