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Since because many people been struggling with getting a "stable 60" here, I felt like sharing some useful tips/information regarding the things that I've used to make my game to run smoothly. Not gonna promise you anything huge, as it's always different in case of everyone when it's MTA, but there's a much bigger chance of getting your performance improved if you'll try to follow these steps. Before we start, gotta warn you: your in-game visuals will turn into absolute dogshit if you'll apply every change mentioned. If you're not ready for such a trade-off, it's better to skip the shrinker part. For now, let's just follow these steps one by one and find the best possible solution for you.
1. The first step would be changing the in-game settings, and that means both, MTA settings and the server-specific ones (F11). To squeeze every possible frame out of your game, switch the effects quality level to the lowest possible one, disable the antialiasing and the rest of what's left there that improves the game's visuals. Select a smaller resolution and use the fullscreen mode instead of the borderless windowed one. I know that it makes the tabbing in and out to last a bit longer for some of you, but the good part about it is that it gives you a better framerate and reduces the input lag, since this way the game is controlled by the D3D API instead of the WDM (which enforces stuff like triple buffering etc).
As for the F11, you can copy my in-game settings from here:
A) Video Settings
B) Adv. Video Settings
C) Nametags & Crew Logos
D) Radar Options
E) Car Sounds
Important: Always disable the "Don't cache vinyls in memory" option before going to the paintshop. Otherwise the vinyl previews gonna get screwed and it's gonna be hard for you to manage the layers there. But don't worry, you don't need to restart your game - just disable and later re-enable it after you're done with the livery!
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2. The second step is something that I believe the vast majority here is unaware about. There's a neat program called GTA SA Shrinker, that compress the texture files and with that lowers the texture quality of the world models (nfssa models/vinyls aren't affected by it). It works for the MTA as well as it does for SA-MP, and the program is pretty much a self-explanatory once you launch it. You can automatically revert the changes by just clicking one button if you won't like the end results.
Important: The gta3.img file shouldn't be modified with anything. Otherwise the program will fail to finish the procedure.
Tip: You can shrink the files multiple times. The suggested amount is 2. To do that, go to your "Grand Theft Auto San Andreas\models" folder and move the "gta3_ORIG_BAK" to some other place. (The file should be there if you shrinked the files once.) Then repeat the shrinking procedure.
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3. The third step is the High Performance power plan option that you can enable in your operational system. This one's very easy and will require just a few clicks from you to switch to it. The High Performance power plan is what I strongly suggest all the people to use, regardless of their PC's or Laptop's performance. It's a necessity for the CPU-intensive games, especially the older ones such as GTA San Andreas, which lacks the multicore/threading support. Since all the supported Windows systems (7, 8, 8.1 and 10) are very similar when it comes to power plan options, I'm gonna link you to a short video tutorial that will show you how to enable it.
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4. The fourth step is the Debug Mode options in MTA. Just as with the power plan options, this step is very easy and will only require a few clicks from you to make it work. One thing about it that I'd like to specify is that the debug mode options are not getting saved once you exit the game, so you'll have to re-enable it manually each time you launch the game. The particular options we're looking for now are called "Joystick" and "Graphics". First option, for whatever reason, disabled some of the unnecessary GUI elements from the main menu and kinda helps with improving the FPS. Second option affects the in-game vehicles visuals: Once it's enabled, you'll notice that it disables the body paint, rims paint and the vinyls on every car - they all will turn snow white. This may add some (up to 10) frames, and it's especially useful when you're going through the crowded areas. I'd first suggest you to apply the "Joystick" option and then switch to "Graphics". Following picture shows, where you can find these:
Debug Mode - Graphics
---
TL;DR This is how the game looks like with all of the changes applied (except debug options). Not gonna pretend that the visuals are going to suit everyone's liking, but the simplistic look of it can be beneficial in some cases. The low res textures are less of a visual clutter and are matching the objects collisions quite nicely from my experience. You'll get used to it in a few days if you're really desperate for that last performance squeeze.
Preview
Either way, I hope that this information was any useful to you, and that these steps will improve your gaming experience. Peace!
1. The first step would be changing the in-game settings, and that means both, MTA settings and the server-specific ones (F11). To squeeze every possible frame out of your game, switch the effects quality level to the lowest possible one, disable the antialiasing and the rest of what's left there that improves the game's visuals. Select a smaller resolution and use the fullscreen mode instead of the borderless windowed one. I know that it makes the tabbing in and out to last a bit longer for some of you, but the good part about it is that it gives you a better framerate and reduces the input lag, since this way the game is controlled by the D3D API instead of the WDM (which enforces stuff like triple buffering etc).
As for the F11, you can copy my in-game settings from here:
A) Video Settings
B) Adv. Video Settings
C) Nametags & Crew Logos
D) Radar Options
E) Car Sounds
Important: Always disable the "Don't cache vinyls in memory" option before going to the paintshop. Otherwise the vinyl previews gonna get screwed and it's gonna be hard for you to manage the layers there. But don't worry, you don't need to restart your game - just disable and later re-enable it after you're done with the livery!
---
2. The second step is something that I believe the vast majority here is unaware about. There's a neat program called GTA SA Shrinker, that compress the texture files and with that lowers the texture quality of the world models (nfssa models/vinyls aren't affected by it). It works for the MTA as well as it does for SA-MP, and the program is pretty much a self-explanatory once you launch it. You can automatically revert the changes by just clicking one button if you won't like the end results.
Important: The gta3.img file shouldn't be modified with anything. Otherwise the program will fail to finish the procedure.
Tip: You can shrink the files multiple times. The suggested amount is 2. To do that, go to your "Grand Theft Auto San Andreas\models" folder and move the "gta3_ORIG_BAK" to some other place. (The file should be there if you shrinked the files once.) Then repeat the shrinking procedure.
---
3. The third step is the High Performance power plan option that you can enable in your operational system. This one's very easy and will require just a few clicks from you to switch to it. The High Performance power plan is what I strongly suggest all the people to use, regardless of their PC's or Laptop's performance. It's a necessity for the CPU-intensive games, especially the older ones such as GTA San Andreas, which lacks the multicore/threading support. Since all the supported Windows systems (7, 8, 8.1 and 10) are very similar when it comes to power plan options, I'm gonna link you to a short video tutorial that will show you how to enable it.
---
4. The fourth step is the Debug Mode options in MTA. Just as with the power plan options, this step is very easy and will only require a few clicks from you to make it work. One thing about it that I'd like to specify is that the debug mode options are not getting saved once you exit the game, so you'll have to re-enable it manually each time you launch the game. The particular options we're looking for now are called "Joystick" and "Graphics". First option, for whatever reason, disabled some of the unnecessary GUI elements from the main menu and kinda helps with improving the FPS. Second option affects the in-game vehicles visuals: Once it's enabled, you'll notice that it disables the body paint, rims paint and the vinyls on every car - they all will turn snow white. This may add some (up to 10) frames, and it's especially useful when you're going through the crowded areas. I'd first suggest you to apply the "Joystick" option and then switch to "Graphics". Following picture shows, where you can find these:
Debug Mode - Graphics
---
TL;DR This is how the game looks like with all of the changes applied (except debug options). Not gonna pretend that the visuals are going to suit everyone's liking, but the simplistic look of it can be beneficial in some cases. The low res textures are less of a visual clutter and are matching the objects collisions quite nicely from my experience. You'll get used to it in a few days if you're really desperate for that last performance squeeze.
Preview
Either way, I hope that this information was any useful to you, and that these steps will improve your gaming experience. Peace!
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