Patching your 1.01 or 2.00 version of gta_sa.exe

[darkdreamingdan]

Important note: before using this patch, first re-download the latest version of MTA from https://multitheftauto.com/ and re-install it, as the installer contains a procedure to automatically make your GTA installation compatible (without modifying original game files) that for technical reasons isn't included in the MTA auto-updater, on which many users may rely for years without installing MTA, therefore creating a problem if their GTA installation changes at some point.

So, if you currently have no compatibility or have an unsupported version of GTA (prompting you to come here) or any other similar problem, please first re-install MTA. If  this doesn't help, then proceed with the below instructions.

This topic offers a patcher which will patch the following unsupported versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:

• USA 1.01
• USA 2.00
• European 1.01
• European 2.00
• German 1.00
• German 1.01
• German 2.00

This patch does NOT turn your gta_sa.exe into a crack/No-CD, but converts your gta_sa.exe to a 1.00 EU version. Please make necessary backups in case something goes wrong; we are not responsible for damaged or lost files.

I have tested this personally, though please post if you have any problems while using the patcher.

Although you will be reverting back to a fully moddable version of the game, you will also lose improvements contained within 1.01+, so downgrade at your own risk. Remember, you can always upgrade back to 1.01 from this patched version. Should you experience any problems you can always reinstall GTA:SA.

Pick one of the following mirrors to download:

• DOWNLOAD MIRROR 1 (files.mtasa.com)
• DOWNLOAD MIRROR 2 (MediaFire)

Thanks to Mike for testing and mista.maja for helping me get a German gta_sa.exe, and to nippy401 for letting me get ahold of GTA:SA 2.00

I have added 2.0 support for DE, untested.

Regarding users of the Steam version of GTA: San Andreas

This patch is not compatible with the Steam version of San Andreas, primarily because the .exe is completely different. You don't need to use this patcher for the Steam version, as the procedure to make MTA compatible with it is now included in the installer of recent MTA versions.

So if you have the Steam version, follow these steps:

1) install the Steam version of GTA. If you already have it installed, make sure the game, more specifically the EXE is unmodded, or else MTA may be unable to perform the operation.

2) download the latest version of MTA (make sure of this) from https://multitheftauto.com/ > "Download" and install it. If MTA was already installed, make sure to re-install it (your files and saved settings won't be lost, MTA will be overwritten only) to ensure the Steam compatibility operation is performed by the installer.

* Make sure to repeat this process every time you re-install your Steam version of GTA, or "verify files" (repair install it) in Steam, or whenever a problem occurs with launching GTA.

 

Last resort

This topic and the patcher was created to help a group of users that happen to have either modded, or upgraded versions of GTA:SA.
MTA San Andreas is designed for, and thus best supported on, the original versions of GTA:SA (US 1.0 and EU 1.0 EXE's) without later GTA updates (1.01 and later) applied to it.. these updates only change the EXE and not other game files, and break MTA compabibility.

So that also means if nothing in this topic works for you, the last resort (actually the method of preference in any case) would be to re-install GTA from DVD so that you will get the original EXE (US or EU 1.0) which MTA supports entirely. As far we know, no DVD version contains an updated EXE (1.01 or later) and they are all 1.0.

If you find a retail version with an updated EXE, this patcher is still likely to work for it, unlike any modded GTA versions (based on 1.01 or later) from shady sources which the patcher may not recognize. So because of the higher success rate for original game in any shape, we recommend you to only get the original game from retail (DVD or digital download) and we tend to only offer support if this is the case. MTA will not provide support for attempts to downgrade/make compatible cracked, or heavily modded installations of GTA. Besides the ethical aspect, MTA is also designed to best support unmodded versions and stability or functioning isn't even guaranteed in other scenario's.

For more information on places where you can buy legitimate and supported versions of GTA, we advise you to visit this wiki page: 

https://wiki.multitheftauto.com/index.php?title=Where_to_buy_GTASA

 

NOTE: There have been numerous cases of people externally linking directly to the file. If you wish to link to the downgrader, I request that you link to this TOPIC, not directly to the file. This is to ensure that users having trouble post in this thread rather than creating new topics. If you would like to mirror it please contact an administrator.

* Topic update date: 29th March 2020

Changelog: 

updated Steam compatibility information
added more information

 

[Guest]

No like i said, totally clean.

I tryed it again, fresh installed gta (original bought, i payed already 80 euros for the ps2 version and bought the pc version only to play clean pc multiplayer) patched and the multiplayer. It gives me a inverted lookin screen and thats it.

However, i´m glad if somebody gives me advice,

Mörser out

ps screen http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mygtaet4.jpg

[erorr404]

Same thing happen in single player?

[Guest]

no

Mörser out

[Guest]

After bitchin round with installations...

On sum servers it works, well i guess it was only a noob failure.

Well sry for takin ur time but now u know this bug too.

i luv this game so much i bought it for 80 euros when it came out and bought it again for pc, i´m a freelancer fan so i recommend that u buy this original...thanx for tge help so far ,

Mörser out

[Guest]

Hey guys i cant get GTA:MA to work at all. I dont have the Cd of san andreas

anymore so im using a cracked exe and i belive my version is 2.0.. I tryed using the downgrade you guys have but it keeps on telling me there is an error. When i remove my cracked exe and have the reg old exe in the folder it tells me "there is nothing to do". Can anyone help me?

[Jani]

The patch ONLY works on the original EXE, not on the no-cd patches etc.

Obviously if you remove the exe, the patch can't do anything because there's nothing to patch. I suggest you go and find your DVD, either that or buy another copy.

[Guest]

Thank you Talidan i needed this!

[Guest]

So what your saying is people who have downloaded the game from say Bittorrent cannot play MTA?, if so that sucks, but i guess i can buy a cheap copy from ebay.

[Guest]

I have a russian version..And it don't work at all on MTA, its the first edit i bought off ebay

[Guest]

ok i have GTA SA. i downloaded the patch and i get a different error than everyone else. Mine says"This file contains invalid data.". Now im going to ask kindly and nicely.WTF does that mean?Did you just make the patch to fix the 2.0 update patch, or did you make it work with the actual 2.0 game! I have the 2.0 CD, not a 1.0 with a 2.0 patch.

[darkdreamingdan]

Is this error when opening the patcher or when trying to patch it?

If its when trying to open it its because your download was incomplete, try again. If it still doesnt work i reccomend you 'upgrade' to Mozilla Firefox over Internet Explorer (assuming your on IE, its only IE that gets this problem)

lestat338497: Can you try to find out if the russian version is censored or changed in any way? That might be the problem

[Guest]

its when i try to open it. i am on mozilla and it is completly download about 6 times now

[Guest]

well, there was no book, and the entire case is in russian, at the top it says "recgame" in a funky way. theres no readme the game looks the same as it is on xbox, i payed my 20$ to play mta, as i used to play mtavc, but to me i might try to trade a friend or resell on ebay, i just don't know, i LOVE mta and i wanna play , thx for everything Taliban

[Guest]

Hi,

I had san andreas second edition (pc) on win xp sp2.

I installed the downgrade so I could install a better map, it worked. Then saw a tool that could help me find my last 3 gang tags I somehow lost and installed that. Also installed a teleporter from map.

Does installing these things make it so my missions mess up ? Only person I could see I had missions left to do on was carlos (CV) so I went to do the lowrider race, won and saved. Now I see no missions from anyone.

Any Idea what I may have done wrong ? or if what I installed messed it up ?

[darkdreamingdan]

Genna: the issue most likely has nothing to do with the patcher. It sounds to me like you just have to wait for a Phone call to continue the game.

lestat338497: Can zou confirm that your game is authentic? It sounds like a dodgy version, i suggest you try obtaining a 1.00 .exe from elsewhere.

I cant help you precisely right now because i am abroad, once i return iäll give you guys more attention

[Guest]

I ended up just using an older save I had after House Party, where I could still see Tenpenny and CV's mission. All i lost were some territories and pimping... the missions were easy after already having done them before.

I made sure to do CV's first, then did Gray Imports - Sweet's missions then appeared again as they should.

Somehow I messed things up by ignoring CV's race until last. All is ok now, and I redid my oysters and tags without a problem, so it's not the downgrader or the teleporter, they both work great. I think these are the only "cheats" I'll use, I don't really want to ruin the gameplay completely.. I just hate driving and running over old ladies and causing the city to go broke fixing all the telephone poles I demolish.

Thanks

[Guest]

Ok, hi, I'm like, new to this. I got GTA San Andreas last Christmas (end of 2005, begining of 2006) from my dad, I don't know where it came from, but as I live in the UK I guess its the EU Second Edition version.

I am worried that if I use this patch that it will delete all my save games and stuff like that, and I don't want to have to reinstall GTA and ettempt to redo all the missions.

So I really just want to confirm that if I create a copy of the GTA .exe file (I have no idea where that is, but I'll probably find it easily) and put it somewhere else, and then use the patch on one of the copies, then leaving my PC with a copy of GTA SA 2.0 and another copy of GTA SA 1.0. Is this correct?

After having done that much, I should be then able to run MTA on the GTA SA 1.0 copy? Correct?

Then if I wanted to go back to GTA SA 2.0 on single player I could easily without redoing missions and reinstalling..?

At the momant, GTA SA (2.0) single player works fine, I did have a problem of it not loading, because it had an error, but somehow that just went away, and now it works fine. When I tried to run MTA in the current state (without the Patch) it loads, and after doing the film of GTA at the end of the load process (what would lead me up to the Start Game menu) it goes to a black screen, which quickly turns into a sort of 50% gray screen, and then locks, I had to fight myself out of that using CRTL ALT DELETE without being able to see it.

MTA looks like a seriously cool game, but I don't want to have permantly screwed up my PC and current GTA SA version in the process of trying to get MTA to work.

Hope you can help, Thanks for your time in reading a long post!

[Guest]

Hey,

I'm a first time poster and reader, but I just read 10 pages of notes of what to do with the patch. Could you possibly consolidate all of it into your first post? It just gets a littler overbearing to go through all the pages. Thank you!!

(specifically, backing up the .exe)

[vicecity55]

you have to have your SA to a 1.0 if yours is a 2.0, it will only work with 1.0 SA

[Jani]

To back up your existing exe:

Right click gta_sa.exe

Click Copy

Right click on your desktop

ClicK paste

To run the patch:

Double click it.

[Guest]

Well, I guess what you just said:

Right click gta_sa.exe

Click Copy

Right click on your desktop

ClicK paste

Is what to do, so I'll do it!!

Oh, and PS, do the GTA SA PC cheats work on MTA, or have they been disabled, or do you get kicked when you use them, or what?

EDIT:

I went to C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\GTA San Andreas and in there, there was a file called "gta_sa" so I clicked on it, did CTRL C, then went to "My Documents" and did CTRL V, so now I had "gta_sa" in its folder, and my docs, I renamed the "gta_sa" in my docs "NORMALgta_sa".

Then, I downloaded the patch from the big "Download" button on page one of this thread, and I began to install it, and when it asked me to tell it where my GTA foler was, I said C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\GTA San Andreas and it tested it and said it was fine. It ettempted the install process, and finished very fast and said "Nothing to do! The files are already updated."

Thats impossible, because I got that version of GTA last x-mass, so I'm fairly sure its 2.0. So I tried MTA again, and it didn't work, same problem as I said in my last post (^^^). So I'm confused, any help?

Edited August 14, 2006 by Guest

[Jani]

They've been disabled. Do you honestly think the MTA team is THAT stupid?

[Guest]

wow wow wow wow, you what!?!? they've disabled the patch!?!?!?

[Jani]

They've disabled the cheats...

[Guest]

oh, ah, lol, soz.

Anyway, why does my patch think my GTA has already been updated!?!