San Andreas - Quick questions

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Just loaded up the game for the first time in ages to test out the 8-Track, and was defeated by my own driving. Been too long since I last played.

Edit:
And if you don't keep up with the cars at the beginning, how are you ever going to catch up with the best competitor if you let him get far ahead?

The rival cars begin to disperse around the 2nd/3rd lap, and it;s when they're on their own that they're easier to overtake (namely because they're not crashing into each other and being a danger to you). And I don't let them get far ahead in the first lap, I just stay a short distance behind until they're done playing demolition derby with each other.

From what I played, the guy in front is no better than the guy at back when it comes to overtaking - he just happened to get ahead at some point. They also aren't good at taking the sharp corners (slowing them down when they crash into the walls) nor do they risk taking that long turn at high speed. Learn how to do both without crashing or drifting into a wall and it's easy to overtake - some races I managed to catch up to the cars again while in first place.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

The hotbang racer is too fast for this. Not enough friction for going flat out anywhere. The car is too fragile, sliding along the walls a few times = flames.

I can also confirm my suspection about respawning: Cars I blow to pieces DO respawn at the start area. I can't win by destroying the competitors?? How is this possible to win?

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

Can I somehow disable the R3 button? I'm tired of accidentally cancel vehicle missions. Just cancelled at the end of 10th level.

R3 is used for aiming! How stupid to also make R3 to cancel. I need heart medicine. I...

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

This sounds strange but...
after I finished the paramedic missions, my maximum health seems decreased, not increased.

My health has no numbers, so I measure it in how much food I need to restore it.

Before I did the paramedic missions, one huge meal restored about 25% of my health. After I finished the paramedic, one huge meal restores about 33% of my health.

What else can explain this?

 

[Synobun]

You're not as fat as before and have a smaller stomach ?

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

You're not as fat as before and have a smaller stomach ?

Umm huh??


(Body fat... I keep this 15-25%.)

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

You're not as fat as before and have a smaller stomach ?

I have tested if CJ's body size have something to do with it.

I loaded an older save from before I did the paramedic. I went to gym and trained, got the fat down to zero. Then I went to Well Stacked, let someone shoot at me so I had about zero health left.
Four medium $5 meals, and health was restored to about 98%.

Then I loaded my latest save, this is after I finished all the paramedic missions. I then repeated the above procedure.
Four medium $5 meals, and health was restored to about 98%.

This means the paramedic missions made no difference to my maximum health.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

Now you experts, can anyone of you tell me why I see snow in the streets of Los Santos?

First time I saw it was some time ago, I drove fast and the streets sometimes looked very bright, almomst white. It did not happen a lot and it lastet only for split seconds. I guessed it's because the game is demanding on the HW.

Now it happened again, and I didn't drive fast. I have stopped in a crossing, and the streets is white in all directions! I truly looks like new fresh snow.

The HW should not need more than split seconds to draw the graphics, I have waited many seconds if not a minute.
I'll wait more and see, maybe I'll have to reset the PS2.

Have you seen snow in San Andreas?

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

Damn it. I have lost a car from a garage again. I believe it have happened several times. So I started to make notes for each garage. Now a car simply have disappeared, no doubt. This time it was a customized Broadway I lost from the garage in Mulholland (the 120.000$ house).

I can afford to lose a car and the 6 grand I spent upgrading it, but I hate to not be able to trust the game.

Is the garage in Mulholland only for 1 vehicle?
The inside of that garage is different, a bit strange. Maybe a graphical error. It looks like any other garage on the inside, but it does not work the same way. It works like if an invisible wall forces you to leave some feet space between the vehicle and the right wall.

For this reason I had to park the Broadway behind the BF Injection that I already had stored there. The BF is very small so I turned it sideways, making plenty of room for the Broadway. The car did not touch the garage door.

I have not saved more cars after the Broadway, it was my latest car. I have also loaded the saved game and used the Broadway - it USED to work. But when I load the saved game now, the car is gone.

 

[Kozmos]

Lancelot, the medic mission might have raised your max health to 150, thus requiring more food to heal. But I dont know for sure. Never bothered with the paramedic thing.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

Lancelot, the medic mission might have raised your max health to 150, thus requiring more food to heal. But I dont know for sure. Never bothered with the paramedic thing.

I don't need more food to heal, the effect of food is exactly the same after Paramedic level 12. I ran a test.

It seems there are other ways to get maximum health: Fighting, running, swimming or gym. This takes quite some time, longer time than getting muscles or stamina. I believe the Paramedic missions are the faster way to get there. I have gotten many "your maximum health is increased" messages.

I wrote in the post how I did the test, and the result is clear (if I didn't overlook something).

 

[Synobun]

The car disappearing happens. It's a game glitch.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

The car disappearing happens. It's a game glitch.

OK, thank you.
Will this happen now and then to all garages at random?

I know there is a limit for each garage, and that vehicles will disappear if I store too many. And what exactly are the limit for each garage?

One guide (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/566/566567p1.html) states this:
- Grove Street: 2
- El Corona: 4
- Mulholland: 4
- Santa Maria Beach: 4

However most guides I found states this:
- Grove Street: 2
- El Corona: 2
- Mulholland: 2
- Santa Maria Beach: 4 (two cars + two bikes)

 

[Synobun]

I think it could happen to every garage. Been a while since I've played GTA now.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

About the 8-track race again (earlier discussed in post #69-82).

I was the only car left in the race and I finished lap 12 - and I LOST! As the only driver still in the race I got 12'th place.

How I got alone? Arson . It works better than satchel charges. When the Hotbang Racers don't instantly blow up but instead begin to burn, the AI drivers jump out and leave the car. As long the driver lives, no new car spawns. A lot of "unemployed" people in the race track.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

I need to complain. Not that I think it helps, but...

The OG Loc mission where I'm going to steal Madd Dogg's rhymes is unnecessary hard. Harder than it's meant to be - because of flawed programming.

The first time I tried it, it worked fine, no problems with the second guard. But that was not saved because it was only a test round. I never play a mission only one time, I need to screw around and test out everything.

Later attempts does not go so well, because the game warps me back a bit, so the guard can see me. It happens when I am alerted about the approach of a third guard. The game show me the guard, and when the game let me control CJ again, CJ has magically moved close to the door I just walked through, so the first guard spots me. I am not allowed to use my weapons, not even my silenced gun (stupid) and are caught in a MAC-10 crossfire between the second and third guard. I can kill them both with the knife but it's not supposed to be this way...

Sometimes the second guard turns back because I manage to hide in some shadows. I am supposed to continue undetected when the third guard have passed, but the second guard stops patrolling and ends up walking in circles around the third one, trying to push him away. Continuing undetected in this case is impossible.

Edit: The second guard is the one walking anti-clockwise around the pool. While the game show me the third guard (sort of pause -can't move CJ), the second guard does almost one lap around the pool, he simply cannot miss me.

 

[Synobun]

Err, why don't you sneak up behind every single guard and stealth kill?

 

[GVBN]

Just kill them

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

Err, why don't you sneak up behind every single guard and stealth kill?

I've tried that - I can only stealth-kill guards not walking.
I crouch sneak up behind walking guards, and when I lift the knife they turn around and give me 10 bullets in one second. I do survive, but I consider my mission not successful if I'm detected. The game will let me continue, but it is meant to be stealth, at least until I steal the book. I can't use firearms because I'm supposed to be stealthy, yet it's no problem that a guard uses his machine pistol on me?! I must go on with knife only...

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Sneak up from behind - target the enemy - then use your knife to kill. Is the only thing I can think of that's not making you kill them effectively. I found escaping the mansion harder than actually sneaking in.