Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Developer: Rockstar North Publisher: Rockstar Games Platform: Playstation 2 Released in JP: January 25, 2007 Released in US: June 7, 2005 Released in EU: June 10, 2005 This game has unused areas. This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused code. This game has unused modes / minigames. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has revisional differences. This game has a bugs page

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the third game in the Grand Theft Auto III era, was originally released in 2005 to high acclaim from both fans and critics ultimately becoming the best-selling PS2 game of all time. With sales of over 21.5 million units across all formats, in 2010 it was ranked as the 3rd best-selling game of all time. The game has a huge amount of unused content within it as well as evidence of other features that were removed or changed during its development cycle.

Platform Differences

There are a number of differences between the PC version of the game and the console (PS2 and XBox) versions - most of these appear to be simple omissions however several mods exist that re-implement some of these features.

• In the stock PC version, vehicles are always dirty and do not get clean following rainfall or entering a Pay N Spray. On the console versions, vehicles accumulate dirt over time and get clean following rainfall or being re-sprayed. This omission was fixed in the 1.01 patch for the PC version.
• Some large trucks have double-rear wheels on the consoles, they don't on the PC version.
• When entertaining prostitutes in a vehicle, the resultant noises from CJ and the girl can be heard on the consoles but only the vehicle bumping sound can be heard on the PC.
• The moon has correct phases on the consoles but not on the PC - it is always a full moon or the moon is not visible at all.
• There is generally more rubbish and shrubbery on the PC version, mainly for visual effect, most notably in Los Santos - Grove Street certainly has more scenery on the PC - however there are significantly less pre-parked cars on the PC than the console versions.
• The ambient lighting on the PC version is more life-like whilst the console versions maintain a more "smoggy" look - this is particularly evident in Los Santos which maintains an orange hint on the console versions.
• The Shady Industries building in San Fierro was changed to Solarin Industries on the PC, although curiously the various vans around San Andreas maintained the Shady Industries logo and were not changed.
• The PS2 has a glitched Pay N Spray in Las Venturas which doesn't work properly and is not marked on the radar map, this was completely disabled on the PC although it is possible to mod it back into the game.
• There are a large number of objects in Las Venturas missing from the PC version - mainly outside the Four Dragons Casino and The Visage - this seems to be a simple omission from the map as they are still in the game.
• Helicopters have much better rotor blade looks (using correct alpha) on the consoles, this feature doesn't work on the PC as the code was not implemented correctly.
• Finally, there is the obvious difference that co-operative play was removed for the PC version, however single-player versions of the consoles' 2-player Rampages can be modded back into the PC version, and in either case code exists for a 2-player pool mini-game in the PC version but it is disabled and can be re-enabled fairly simply - the PC version however does not natively support more than one simultaneous input method/controller so players have to take it it turns to play the game.

"Hot Coffee"

The sequence in game

In the dating sequences of the game, you can normally conclude proceedings by choosing to leave your girlfriend at her home or entering her house for "coffee", which is treated with a tasteful fade to black. However, the development team had originally implemented another mini-game which allowed you to control what happened inside...

At one stage in development, this feature was disabled with a simple flag and due to time constraints was never removed and so ended up shipping as part of the final retail product. Because there was no outside knowledge of the flag, and thus the sequence was not available, this was not declared to the ESRB since there was no way of players being able to experience it through the normal course of gameplay.

Once the game was released and curious modders started to delve into the game files, the animations, models, textures, sound files and even the code for the sequence were discovered. It was not long before the flag to switch the feature back on was found and thus the resultant Hot Coffee mod and controversy ensued.

You can use this little tool to patch your savegame on any platform to switch the flag and thus enable this functionality.

Skateboard

How it would have looked, via a PC mod

Within the game files are a texture, model, text and a HUD icon for a skateboard item that would have acted as a combination weapon and vehicle. This feature was dropped during development but eventually made it's way into Rockstar's subsequent game Bully.

The following text, from the AMERICAN.GXT file, describes how it would have been used - from the naming convention of these text strings, it can be assumed that the item would first appear instead of the bicycle when leaving Madd Dogg's mansion towards the end of the Madd Dogg's Rhymes mission;-

To use the skateboard pick it up and select it from the weapons inventory items.
Press ~k~~PED_ANSWER_PHONE~ whilst over it to pick it up if your inventory is full.

To use the skateboard, select the it from your weapons inventory. Use the movement
controls to steer the skateboard. Tapping ~k~~PED_SPRINT~ helps you pick up speed and
~k~~PED_JUMPING~ makes you jump.

There are no animations or supported functionality to re-enable the skateboard as a true weapon and vehicle combination although some very elaborate scripting can give the impression of it as a vehicle you can carry with you. Natively, it can be coded as a weapon (some of the original code remains in the DEFAULT.IDE and WEAPON.DAT files) provided it replaces an existing melee weapon as seen in this mod.

The game also alludes to skateboards with an unused character audio voice set - if VOICE_GEN_WMYSKAT is assigned to any existing character in the PEDS.IDE file that character will use a voice set for a skateboarder - this again is completely unused in the game.

Unused HUD Icons

• GTAJetpackIcon.png

  Unused Jetpack HUD icon.

• 

  The Skateboard HUD icon.

• GTASAPhoneIcon.jpeg

  The Cellphone HUD icon.

Several HUD icons are never seen in the game due to the way the relevant items were coded. The Jetpack icon is the most notable - since the game will automatically equip you with a suitable weapon when you have the Jetpack on, you would not see this icon anyway however the game does not reckon on you being unarmed when wearing the Jetpack so the icon never gets displayed in either case. There is also the HUD icon for the aforementioned skateboard. One curious HUD icon you never see is the Cellphone - every 3D GTA game has a HUD icon for the Cellphone but you never get to see it as the phone is not considered an item or weapon in the same context as other world objects that you can pick up and interact with.

One other curiosity with the HUD icons is that the Infra Red Goggles and Night Vision Goggles share the same HUD icon rather than having separate ones.

Unused Missions

There is a multitude of residual assets in the game files which, when pieced together, provide an intriguing insight into what the storyline could have been like. These are the key missions that were removed from the game before the final release (mission names and details have been established by looking through the AMERICAN.GXT strings file);-

• Impounded was a mission for Cesar Vialpando. After completing 'High Stakes, Low Rider' CJ would get a phone call from Cesar inviting him over to socialise while he tunes up CJ's car. Shortly after arriving at Cesar's place, CJ's car would get towed away and impounded. The mission involved Cesar taking CJ to the Los Santos impound in Pershing Square where CJ would have to retrieve his car, lose the heat and get back to Cesar's place where Cesar would tune it up for him. The mission would thus provide an introduction into the workings of the vehicle impounds that the player would otherwise not be aware of - upon completion of the mission, all car impounds would be marked with their own radar icon on the map. The entire audio sequence for the introductory cutscene (which can be heard from the embedded video here), all of the audio from the mission itself (including CJ & Cesar's conversation on the way to the impound), the audio of the phone call from Cesar to CJ, all of the text to support the mission and it's subtitles as well as the radar icon for the Police Impounds can all still be found in the game files. The only missing elements are the mission coding itself and the introduction cutscene animation.
• Doberman in the final game is the name of a mission you complete for Sweet however this was originally the name of a mission that was deleted which you would have completed for Officer Tenpenny (this would be the last mission you complete for him in Los Santos, with Sweet's mission being entitled simply "Gang Wars"). The mission entailed CJ having to get to a drugs bust in East Los Santos, make sure that one of Tenpenny's assets (Poncho) did not make it into custody (he was being arrested at the bust) and to collect the weed being bagged as evidence. All of this was to make sure that another police officer, Carver, did not discover Tenpenny's involvement with the drugs trade. The entire audio for the introductory cutscene (which can be heard from the embedded video here), the audio used during the mission itself and the text to support the mission and it's subtitles can all be found in the game files. The models which were presumably to be used for Poncho and Carver are also in the game but unused.
• Tanked Up is the final mission that CJ would have completed for Zero in San Fierro. In this mission Zero's nemesis, Berkley, launched an attack on Zero's RC Shop with a small army of detonating remote controlled cars. CJ had to fend off the assault with a remote controlled tank. The text used for the mission, including it's subtitles can still be found in the game files. This is the only mission where you would have been able to control the RC Tiger (tank) and it's removal also explains some removed dialogue in a later mission.
• Roadside Assistance is a mission that CJ would have completed with Cesar Vialpando in San Fierro. In this mission CJ and Cesar had to "recover" a broken down Sultan somewhere in San Fierro using a Pickup Truck and get it back to their garage in Doherty. The removal of this mission explains an inconsistency in the game - completing all of the missions for the Wang Cars showroom asset results in 5 different cars spawning there, however 2 of them are the Elegy and Sultan which both spawn after completing "Test Drive". Only one type of car should spawn after completing each mission (the type of car you acquire in that mission), so this happens in the stock game as there are only 4 missions but 5 car spawns. Completing this missing (5th) mission then is what should result in the spawning of the Sultan.
• The Truth Is Out There is a mission that, from text in the game files, can be assumed was in the game at some early point in development. The text details that the mission entailed CJ having to rescue The Truth from an area of Bayside where he had taken refuge after being pursued by Federal Agents, intent on arresting him for snooping around Area 69. The text also details the subtitles for the introductory cutscene with the Truth calling CJ to ask for his help. This would have been the last mission you would complete in the desert before acquiring the Abandoned Airstrip asset.
• Fish In A Barrel in the final game is simply a cutscene of CJ signing an agreement to be a partner in the Four Dragons Casino, however the text file shows that this was originally an actual mission which involved CJ having to escort Mr Ran Fa Li from the Las Venturas airport to the Four Dragons Casino whilst being pursued by the Mafia - upon returning to the Casino, the eventual cutscene would play out. The opening cutscene of this mission also explained Wuzi's "have you gone soft on me again?" line during the phone call after the Saint Mark's Bistro mission.
• Looking For Big Smoke/All Terrain Take Down is a 2-part mission CJ would have completed after his return to Grove Street later in the game - the first part entailed him tracking down a Russian drug dealer in the Market area of Los Santos, beating him up to discover Big Smoke's location in Los Flores, then part two meant having to take over all of Los Santos Vagos' territories to gain access to Smoke's crack palace. All of this was simply replaced by having to take over sufficient territory to progress to the final stages of the storyline, however the mission text including it's subtitles as well as the Russian dealer model - ANDRE.DFF - can still be found in the game files.

Most of the text that details these gameplay omissions, and which reveals their purpose, can be seen in the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hidden Text FAQ at GameFAQs.

Unused Characters & Models

File:GTASACharacters.jpg

Some of the unused character models in the game files.

There are a large number of unused character models in the game. One reason why many of these are not used is that the game was not properly coded to deal with several distinct locales of San Andreas properly - for example, there are models for specific police characters for desert, rural and countryside areas as well as specific motorbike cops for each city, specific taxi drivers for each area, specific drug dealers for each area and many more.

Because of the naming convention and arrays used by the coding, in most cases the absence of these characters meant that their voice and sound files were unused too. In the end, the game only used specific characters for the emergency services in each city and the countryside/desert (this meant police, ambulance and firemen although the same motorcycle cop is used in each city). Curiously, police helicopters do not have a pilot regardless of where you are when being chased by one.

Unused Code

Residual coding from the console versions of the game means that code exists in the PC version that allows 2-players to play against each other at the pool mini game which can be found in the game's bars - this is disabled but is easily re-enabled through the games' proprietary scripting language in the MAIN.SCM and SCRIPT.IMG files. The PC version does not however support more than one simultaneous input method so players have to take it in turns to play the mini game.

Although the code is present, an error in the games' internal scripting means that it is impossible to complete a Quadruple Insane Stunt, even though this can be done and the game supports it through the stats system. The game scripting also skips the portion of this code that allows players to be rewarded for completing Perfect Insane Stunts (Insane Stunts of any degree completed without causing any damage to the vehicle the player used). Both of these can be fixed with knowledge of the games' internal scripting language and the relevant tools.

An external script in the game code (named HOME_BRAINS) also goes unused as it is not attached to any character in the game world. This would have created another character on the streets - a homeless bum - who would have behaved in any one of a random number of ways - begging for money, sitting on the street, urinating or walking around drunk, drinking beer and throwing up. A type of character called "BUM" can be defined in the PEDGROUP.DAT file but this causes a game crash.

As in GTA III and GTA Vice City, the code exists (and works) that supports the use of Adrenaline pickups which allow you to perform feats of great strength in a slowed-down game world however there are no such pickups in San Andreas. Similarly, the code from GTA Vice City that gave the player a $50 Good Citizen Bonus for stopping criminals that were running from police exists in the game but is not used.

In line with GTA III and GTA Vice City, the game code perfectly supports 3 different types of Bomb Shops - "engine start", "timed" and "remote detonator" however in the game only one type of Bomb Shop is present so you can only obtain the "timed" type.

Most spectacularly - and least known - is the inherent native ability of the game to support additional content, in the form of Mission Packs. This appears to be an experiment by Rockstar and was perhaps the precursor to additional downloadable content. These would comprise of script files (the missions) along with another file containing the text strings required for that mission pack. Because no extra content was ever produced for San Andreas, this feature went relatively unknown for some time and is currently used as the basis of distribution for user created content with the Design Your Own Mission mod. A technical explanation of how this method works can be found at GTA Modding.

External links

• GTA San Andreas on Grand Theft Wiki
• GTA:SA Hidden Text FAQ on GameFAQs
• Things To Do In San Andreas page on GTA Garage - a mod that enables pretty much most of the unused content
• Rockstar Games' Official Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas website