San Andreas is arguably the best Grand Theft Auto game ever made.
But with the game being so many years old, it’s only natural for players to turn their attention to modding – especially with all the features that we got in GTA IV and GTA V.
So here I’ve listed out some of the best mods that you can install to make GTA San Andreas feel like a completely different game.
Reinvigorate your SA experience – I’m sure you’ll love the new gameplay for hours on end!
Also if this is the first time that you’re installing mods, let me remind you that it’s better to make a backup save of your game files first before installing anything.
Be sure to make backup saves every time you install new mods as well, as some of them might not be entirely compatible with one another and it could corrupt your files.
And also you’ll need to install CLEO if you want most of the mods on this list to work. I’ve put it at the number one spot on my list so check it out!
I’m putting this mod here instead of any skin mod because you’ll need it to change the way CJ looks.
It basically lets you open up a menu that will allow you to browse through all of the skin mods that you’ve installed, so you can change the way CJ looks in-game.
Are you tired of looking at the same and really old effects of San Andreas? I was too!
This mod changes the way water, light, fire, and interactions with other natural objects work in the game, to make everything look better and modernize San Andreas a tad more.
You will notice how many of the mods on my list are related to the graphics of the game, and that’s to be expected.
San Andreas is super old and many people don’t play it mainly because of its outdated graphics.
Some modders have come to create some fantastic graphical changes to the game, and I want to share them with you. I know you’ll love them as much as I did.
As its name suggests, the Collection of Graphic mods makes enhancements to the way the game looks by changing up a bunch of textures, shadowing, and lighting to make it look better and a bit more modern.
It’s a cool little overhaul that will improve the way your San Andreas game looks without breaking the natural aesthetics that made it such a popular title back in the early 2000s.
Are you tired of associating an amazing character like Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage?
Trust me, me too.
Something had to be done about it, and this is the mod to completely wash your Caged Ghost Rider image by turning CJ into the popular Marvel anti-hero.
Ride the streets of San Andreas and wreak havoc among them with the outfit and powers of the mighty Ghost Rider.
You will be able to see the flames on the skull as well as in the tires of your mighty ride. It looks awesome apart from being a cool gameplay change, so give it a shot and prepare to enjoy some of the most hilarious cutscenes in GTA.
This mod is a complete overhaul to the sounds of San Andreas.
It adds so many sounds that you won’t even believe that it’s the same game if you cover your eyes while playing it (no idea why would you do that, but hey, to each their own).
This mod changes the sounds of explosions, cop cars, car breaks, opening doors, and much more.
If you’re tired of listening to the same sounds for years, this mod will provide you with a fantastic relief that will guarantee you to stay hooked to San Andreas for a little bit more.
I have always hated how bullets seem to bounce off cars after damaging them in the old GTA games.
Yes, I even hated that back in the days when this game was the hottest title in the market – I don’t know why, but hey, there’s a reason why this seemingly pointless addition has made its way to a spot on my list.
It simply adds bullet holes to your shots, so whenever you hit a car, for example, you’ll see the spot where the bullet landed. It’s pretty cool!
V Graphics, as its name suggests, was made with the intention of giving you the graphical feel of GTA V in the world of San Andreas.
It’s a pretty complex graphical overhaul of the game, and you’ll need a decent computer to run it, but it’s super worth it if you can do it.
Combine this baby with a texture mod and you won’t notice a difference in visuals between San Andreas and GTA V.
Maybe even download a mod to turn CJ into Franklin or Michael and change the way the San Andreas story unfolds by looking at it from a different perspective.
GTA United replaces the entire city of San Andreas with none other than Liberty City and Vice City, in a complete overhaul of the game map.
It adds new side missions to the game as well as Easter Eggs that could be found in the two predecessors of the famous San Andreas game.
This isn’t a canon mod by any means, but it will help you reminisce with two of the most emblematic maps that have graced our old TV screens and computers.
As far as San Andreas map mods go this one takes the cake.
The Weapon Menu Mod simply brings up a menu where you can choose whichever weapon you want in the game and instantly spawn it for CJ.
It’s not cheating if you’re using a mod, am I right?
Regardless of how you want to use this mod, it’s a very practical tool that will help you get your hands in the game’s finest as well as least desired guns. Use it wisely!
If your computer isn’t capable of handling high-quality graphics, this is the best mod that you can download when tired of the traditional San Andreas look.
It enhances the way texture load in the game, and even though it does improve everything substantially, it’s still suited to be used in low-end computers.
I believe this is possible mainly because shadows tend to be the one thing that computers struggle to handle (like Minecraft shaders, for example).
This mod adds a ton of graphical enhancements, but keeps shadows to a very low level of quality. It makes everything look great, but it doesn’t compromise the memory usage of your PC. Just what I need.
This sweet mod enhances the way the graphics of roads and streets look in the game.
It basically adds new textures to every single street in San Andreas to make the whole gaming look smoother, something that couldn’t be added back in the days of the release of the game because computers and consoles couldn’t handle higher resolutions in the game files.
Times have changed, though. And this is just one of the many mods that completely enhances the game graphically.
Combine it with others to make San Andreas some justice and modernize the way the game feels, at least in a visual sense!
So, apparently, it wasn’t Tony Stark who created the Iron Man suit, and it somehow made its way to the streets of San Andreas.
How dangerous could be a gangster dressed up in the most powerful body armor ever created by mankind?
It’s up to you to write the fate of the people of San Andreas as well as the fate of your own foes, as you’ll be able to harness your favorite Iron Man powers and use them in San Andreas thanks to this ridiculously well-made mod!
Why play with CJ in a world where you can simply download this mod and become Goku, or even Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans?
Press a couple of buttons after installing this fantastic mod and use your favorite Dragon Ball characters to wreak havoc through in San Andreas and bring misfortune to the citizens of this seemingly-cursed city.
Fly around, use ki blast to attack, and take advantage of the super-strength of these Dragon Ball characters to give your GTA San Andreas save a twist like no other mod can give you (except maybe the Iron Man or Superman mods, but you get my point).
The Skateboard mod will allow you to pick up a skateboard and roll around the streets of San Andreas like Tony Hawk would do in an alternate reality where he’s actually a drug dealer.
You would think that making such a complex mod work well wouldn’t be too easy, but the movement of CJ with this mod is so smooth that it makes you think that it’s a vanilla feature.
Ugh, don’t you guys hate it when you want to spawn a car but you need to input some annoying code to activate it?
I hate it too, and that’s why this mod has come in as handy as they get.
It basically adds a whole new menu to the game, which allows you to instantly select a car and spawn it by just hitting one button. Pretty simple, right?
It’s great if you’re looking to spawn yourself some sweet rides and just enjoy the game for a bit!
San Andreas has been around for far too long, and I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of seeing the same cars over and over again.
There are some car mods that you can download, which will install them directly into the game. But you may also use this pack to get a bunch of them added instantly to your San Andreas safe.
Gone are the days of seeing the same cars pass time and time again – it’s time to spice up your game with a plethora of new rides!
The fantastic Parkour Mod allows CJ to perform true acrobatic moves without getting interrupted in the air.
Combine the essence of Assassin’s Creed with San Andreas and experience being a true gangster while also knowing a thing or two about street athleticism like it wasn’t originally possible in the game.
It really does spice up the game, and it’s actually hilarious seeing CJ perform many of these unexpected moves!
The Teleport mod that we mentioned above is cool and all, but why not bring the essence of GLaDOS to GTA San Andreas if you have the chance?
Sure, this mod will not take you from one corner of San Andreas to the other, but it will enable you to create portals, much as you do in the Portal games!
This mod is fantastic to be installed if you loved the famous puzzle-solvers, and it does enrich your San Andreas experience like no other mod on this list.
San Andreas was made to be run in old computers as well as the PS2 and the Xbox, which meant that the game was very limited in terms of how much memory it was allowed to use.
This mod updates the core GTA San Andreas mechanics and makes the game work with all of the power that modern computer has. Which enables your game to load much more of the map, increasing your viewing distance by almost as much as GTA V allows you to have.
Weapon swapping in the early GTA games was a nightmare. There’s just no other way around it.
Gone are the days where you scroll past the weapon that you actually wanted to select, though!
This mod brings you the ultimate experience of the famous wheel weapon selector that was introduced in the PS3 and Xbox 360, and I’m therefore bringing it to you now.
Rockstar enabled first-person gameplay when GTA V got its current-gen console release, but San Andreas never really had it and people were still playing the game, which is not really fair to them.
Some of these mods might even look better if you were to play in first person, don’t you think?
I do too, and that’s why this mod takes such a high spot on my list.
It basically enables you to play San Andreas like never before, so you can see how CJ truly feels across the story.
You’ll also be able to play around as Iron Man or Spiderman in first person, were you to install the respective mods that enable you to do so, but bear in mind that this mod was made to work with vanilla SA.
The CLEO 4 Mod takes the first spot on my list because it basically enables most of the mods that I’ve mentioned before, all at once.
It unlocks many features that the game didn’t initially come with and allows modders to alter certain features of the game that weren’t meant to be altered in the initial release.
The original version of this mod allowed most modders to work with new tools, and completely overhaul San Andreas with new ideas of their own.
The revolutionary nature of this fantastic add-on rightfully earns it the first place on the list. And you will probably need it if you want many of the others to work so it’s almost like the framework of all San Andreas modding.
Born in the first half of the 90s, video games have been a part of my life ever since I was introduced to Age of Empires I by my dad. I'm a Mass Communications graduate with a specialization in Marketing, as well as a hardcore gamer. My aim is to bring you quality content so you can get the best out of your games and take your experience to the next level!
