GTA San Andreas Cheat Codes PC & All Secrets

The first hour back in San Andreas is brutal if you've been spoiled by GTA 5. Cars feel twitchy, CJ runs out of stamina in seconds, and your aim is wired to your sniper skill level. Do not skip the gym. The 8-minute investment in Ganton Gym at the start of the game triples your max health, doubles your melee damage, and lets you sprint long enough to actually escape cops. The drive-by skill in particular is criminally underrated — most players never level it up because it requires shooting from a moving vehicle, but maxing it lets you dual-wield while driving.

For money, the safe houses' courier and pimping missions print money in the early game. Don't bother with vigilante or taxi missions until you have body armour — the rewards don't scale until level 12 and the damage you take in between is brutal. Once you unlock San Fierro, immediately buy the garage; the import/export list there is the single biggest money source in the early-mid game and you can drop off stolen cars while doing other missions.

Save before every gym session and clothing change — the cutscene bugs in unpatched SA can permanently break body fat values. The Hot Coffee mod is no longer included by default in modern releases but is still trivially restorable; we don't recommend installing it on shared machines for obvious reasons. And finally: the jetpack from Verdant Meadows is permanent. Once you finish the Black Project mission, it stays in the hangar forever. Use it to grab every Oyster, Horseshoe, Snapshot and Tag in the game inside an afternoon.