San Andreas HD mod subtly sharpens Rockstar's classic crime sim

pcgamer.com:

GTA San Andreas HD:  The Definitive Edition Classic(opens in new tab), a mouthful of a mod designed to sharpen up the textures of the original GTA San Andreas, has released «the last and the best» version of its graphical improvement package.

Unlike Rockstar's own Definitive Edition of the game, which radically changed the original art-style, horribly mutilated many characters, and was generally a big letdown(opens in new tab), this mod gently sharpens up the game's base textures to look a little smarter on modern screens.

«The Definitive Edition Classic does not intend to be a UHD mod, but to keep intact the charm of the original game in better definition,» writes the mod's creator flyaway888. «Nothing is changed but everything is quite visible».

Flyaway888 also posted a video featuring comparison shots that demonstrate the mod's improvements. It can be difficult to spot the changes in some scenes, but they're probably most visible in the first image of CJ at the airport. If you look at the 'Arrivals' board in the background, it's a lot more readable in the second image than in the first. In any case, it's nice to see a mod that takes a subtler approach to visual enhancement, especially considering the hash Grove Street Games made of the official Definitive Editions.

If you fancy a snazzier San Andreas, you can download The Definitive Edition Classic here(opens in new tab). Note that you'll need to download all three parts to the mod. You'll also need to own a copy of San Andreas, which might be difficult considering Rockstar removed the original version from Steam(opens in new tab), lumping everyone with the Definitive Edition Trilogy.