This Guide has been made using the german & english GTA Fandom, Mapgenie & IGN's Interactive Maps, and Rockstar Games' official Website.

This Guide spoilers nearly everything there is to San Andreas - The Definitive Edition's first Act, Los Santos. An in-depth list of the missions, easter eggs, and other information gets spoilered in this guide. If you do not want to get spoiled about San Andreas' Main Story, proceed to click off this guide.

Rockstar Games made a Video featured in the america-only Special Edition of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas & the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas: Official Soundtrack compilation, which serves as a prequel to GTA San Andreas, that explains the moments that lead up to the events to the main game.
It officially replaces the need for a GTA San Andreas Stories game, kind of like the Vice City Stories & Liberty City Stories games, that act as a prequel to GTA Vice City & GTA III respectively.

Although there isn't a Definitive Edition "Introduction", it is safe to say that its still canon, as the story & lore did not change in comparison to the original installment of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Make sure to get used to the controls of the game, set the visual settings correctly to your computers specs, and possibly grab the 9mm pistol that is found behind Sweet's house in the Grove Street, and a Bodyarmor that is found in the Drainage Tunnel behind the Grove Street.

Completing 12 Vigilante Missions grants a 50% increase in CJ's Bulletproof Vest durability.

This method works without cheats in all versions. When you do the vigilante mission, it's pretty early on that you have two to three stars. If you're currently out of Bribe Stars (found on Mapgenie's Interactive Map), try this: drive to the nearest Pay'n'Spray. Now you get out of your vehicle. You now have 60 seconds to get back into the vehicle. Now you quickly take any vehicle off the road. You drive quickly into the Pay'n'Spray, the vehicle is repainted and your stars flash. You can go to the suspects now. Eventually, your wanted stars will be gone and you can continue to focus on completing the vigilante mission. You can repeat this trick as many times as you want because it is quite simple and effective.

The Rewards:

Level 1 - $50
Level 2 - $200
Level 3 - $450
Level 4 - $800
Level 5 - $1,250
Level 6 - $1,800
Level 7 - $2,450
Level 8 - $3,200
Level 9 - $4,050
Level 10 - $5,000
Level 11 - $6,050
Level 12 - $7,200 & 50% Armor Increase


Completing 12 Firefighter Missions grants CJ complete immunity to fire damage.

A fire truck with a water nozzle can be found near the hospital closest to the Grove Street.
While only having access to Los Santos, the best location to do the firefighter missions is the freeway on the east beach, located on the east of Ganton.
You'll have more than enough time to reach every burning car, just watch out for the handling of the fire truck.

The Rewards:

Level 1 - $200
Level 2 - $450
Level 3 - $800
Level 4 - $1,250
Level 5 - $1,800
Level 6 - $2,450
Level 7 - $3,200
Level 8 - $4,050
Level 9 - $5,000
Level 10 - $6,050
Level 11 - $7,200
Level 12 - $13,450 and fire immunity


Completing 12 Paramedic Missions increases CJ's overall health to 100%.
A Ambulance can be found parked near most hospitals, alternatively, you can kill some pedestrians and a Ambulance should appear automatically.

As with the fire fighter missions, the best location to do those missions would be in a smaller country-side town with a hospital, such as the Crippen Memorial Hospital located in Red County, closest to Las Venturas.

The Rewards:

Level 1 - $50
Level 2 - $200
Level 3 - $450
Level 4 - $800
Level 5 - $1,250
Level 6 - $1,800
Level 7 - $2,450
Level 8 - $3,200
Level 9 - $4,050
Level 10 - $5,000
Level 11 - $6,050
Level 12 - $7,200 and total health maximized




The Fat Stat can be increased by all kinds of foods & drinks, while the Fat Stat can be decreased by Running, Cycling, Swimming & using the various machines in the various Gyms.

The Stamina Stat can be increased by Running, Cycling, Swimming & using the various machines in the various Gyms.

Total Respect can both be increased through progressing the main story, and by spraying all 100 Graffiti Tags.

Lung Capacity can be increased by increasing the stamina stat, diving, and swimming.

Sex Appeal has various factors, such as how fat or muscular the player is, What vehicle he currently uses, and which hairstyle he uses.

The Player can get more muscular by using the various Gyms scattered through San Andreas.

Driving, Flying, Bike, and Cycling Skills can be increased by using the corresponding Vehicles without crashing / while doing stunts.

You'll need lots of money to buy various assets & properties in San Andreas, some Achievements need up to a million GTA$ to be completed.


Drug Dealers & Gang Members often carry huge sums of money (up to 2,5k GTA$) & sometimes weapons around. Killing them drops said money & weapons, to be easily picked up by Carl. The easiest way to kill them quickly, is to simply drive them over with a car.


An asset is a profitable business in the Grand Theft Auto series that can be bought or acquired by the player character. After the completion of an asset's missions, money generated by the asset can be collected by the player.

Johnson House

In order to get the Johnson House as an asset, you have to complete the mission "Doberman" allowing Carl to earn up to 10k GTA$ per Day. After the mission "The Green Sabre", the Johnson House loses said asset status, although the asset status gets restored after completing the mission "Home Coming"

Robois Food Mart

Roboi's Food Mart is a convenience store chain featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The store is located in Commerce and on Mulholland Drive in Mulholland, Los Santos. The interiors of both stores are 24/7 stores. The Commerce shop becomes an asset in the game, after Carl Johnson completes the courier mission. That store generates a maximum of $2,000 after completing the delivery missions and pays roughly $15,000 for the deliveries.


Inside Track Betting

Inside Track's inclusion in GTA San Andreas is part of the game's gambling mechanism, serving as one of the first gambling establishments that the player has access to prior to unlocking the Las Venturas segment of San Andreas; in fact, GTA San Andreas' only two Inside Track outlets are located within the Los Santos/Red County landmass that is available for the player to explore from the beginning of the game.

Odds & Numbers

If the player bets $100 on a horse with 2/1 odd and the horse wins by finishing first, the player receives their $100 bet back in addition to $200 from the 2/1 odds. Otherwise, the player gets nothing.

Based on 1,000 simulations, the blue colored horse wins 22.9% of the races, the red colored horse wins 22.3% of the races, the yellow colored horse wins 18.0% of the races, the purple colored horse wins 17.4% of the races, and the teal colored horse wins 19.4% of the races. Due to this, paired with the betting odds on each horse, the player should always bet on the teal horse. Also, at the end of the race, if two or more horses tie for a position, the win automatically goes to the horse with the better odds to win (Blue then Red then Yellow and so on).

The Plan

A simple way to ensure the player never loses money is to save before betting, so they can just reload the save game if anything goes wrong. With gambling all their money in one go, the player can earn a large amount of money if succeeding.

The player should bet on the same horse every time. Statistically, this horse will eventually win, and should not take more than around five attempts. After winning, save the game again and repeat the process if required.

Always bet on the Teal horse that has the worst odds (the 11/1 or 12/1 horse). This way, the player can win the most amount of cash if succeeded. (Note: the Teal horse usually wins around 19% of the time, yet the player wins 11 or 12 times the money bet if the Teal horse wins).

To save time travelling back to the betting shop after reloading, the player should save at a location close to the betting shop. The closest safehouse and Inside Track Betting Shop together are the Jefferson Safehouse in Jefferson and the betting shop in Downtown Los Santos.

In the first Act, you'll gradually get introduced to more powerful weapons, but you should be mainly focused on obtaining enough Pistol & SMG Ammo, in order to be able to do drive by shootings. Said Weapons can be found around the Grove Street & Drainage Tunnel, alongside a body armor.

Make sure to always wear body armor, and to eat/drink regularly to keep CJ from getting too skinny, which can even be deadly if you don't eat for too long.

Police Bikes & Bikes in general are the best & fastest way to travel through Los Santos, with the NRG-500 being the fastest land-vehicle ingame.

Carl Johnson returns to Los Santos after spending five years on the East Coast when his brother Sweet Johnson informs him about his mother's death. However, when he reaches home to Grove Street, he gets captured by C.R.A.S.H. officers, who take his money and force him to get into their car before dropping him off at Jefferson, a Ballas territory.
Make the way back to Grove Street to receive the first mission.

Carl enters the Johnson House, his home, at Grove Street, where he recalls his childhood memories after finding his deceased mother's photo. Carl's childhood friend Big Smoke, mistaking Carl for a burglar, tries to attack him, but Carl reveals himself. A convinced Smoke hugs him and promises to avenge his mother's death before both leave the house to the cemetery in Vinewood.
Meet Big Smoke inside the Johnson House.

Carl and Big Smoke arrive at the cemetery, where Carl reunites with his brother Sweet and his sister Kendl. Sweet blames Carl for their mother's death and explains to Carl about more deaths. As the gang leaves the cemetery, they are ambushed by the Ballas. They decide to head back to Grove Street while escaping the Ballas.
Arrive at the cemetery in Temple and escape from a Ballas car using a BMX.

Carl meets Ryder at his house in Grove Street and realizes that Ryder is not that happy to see Carl back. Ryder explains to Carl that a pizza shop keeps painting over Grove Street tags and decides to give them some shame.
Go with Ryder to get a haircut at the Barbershop and eat at the Pizza shop.

Driving over the Pizza shop owner drops a Shotgun with some ammo.

Carl visits Sweet and Big Smoke at Sweet's house. Sweet questions Carl about what made him come back to the hood, before giving him a spray can to let him spray over some Ballas tags. Sweet, however, changes his mind and decides to go with him.
Spray over some Ballas tags.

Tagging up Turf can be pretty handy to acquire all 100 Tags scattered around in Los Santos' Main City. The Spray Can in this mission has infinite capacity, meaning you don't have to rely on picking up enough ammo for it. A map to guide you where to find each tag, can either be found on mapgenie[mapgenie.io] or on IGN.


Sweet, Big Smoke, and Ryder are discussing the rise in crack cocaine in the city. After a brief argument, Ryder and CJ decide to take care of the business, despite failing to recruit their former associates to help them.
Take out drug dealers in the territory of the Grove and assault a Ballas crack den.


Big Smoke, Sweet, and Ryder decide to go to eat, as CJ joins them. They head to Cluckin' Bell and get some orders. As they are eating, they spot the same Ballas who chased them earlier heading towards Grove Street.
Visit Cluckin' Bell and stop the Ballas from getting to Grove Street.


CJ wants to know what weapons Grove Street Families currently have to defend themselves, only to find out that they have nothing. Big Smoke and CJ go to pay a visit to Emmet, a member of Seville Boulevard Families, a disbanded set of Grove Street Families.
Visit Emmet for some target practice and buy clothes at a Binco shop.

Completing this Mission will spawn a 9mm Pistol at Emmet's Place, marked by a unique Icon on the Minimap.


Ryder complains about CJ's driving skills, saying that CJ always crashes cars. Sweet, however, allows CJ to drive, while he, Ryder, and Big Smoke will ride shotgun. The gang drives to a territory of Ballas for the drive-by.
Perform drive-by shootings on Ballas.

The Mission will guide you to the local Pay'N'Spray, unlocking the "Pay'n'Spray" Achievement.


CJ gets a phone call from Sweet saying that he and his girlfriend are trapped by the Seville Boulevard Families while visiting his girlfriend. CJ heads to rescue Sweet and his girlfriend before they die.
Save Sweet and his girl from an onslaught of Seville Boulevard Families gang members.


Sweet and Kendl argue about Kendl's relationship with a Mexican gangster, who is none other than the Varrios Los Aztecas leader Cesar Vialpando. Sweet tells Carl to keep an eye on her to avoid any danger.
Follow Kendl and win the Lowrider Challenge.


OG Loc is released from prison and CJ, Sweet, and Big Smoke go to the police station to pick him up. Loc reveals that a Mexican gangster, Freddy, raped him in the jail and stole his rhymes. Loc joins the trio to go to Freddy's house.
Pick up OG Loc from jail, chase and kill Freddy, and take OG Loc to Burger Shot.


Smoke tells CJ that his cousin is arriving at the city from Mexico and he's going to pick her up. CJ and Smoke drive to East Los Santos where they find out two Mexican gangsters. Smoke confronts them, only to get verbally abused. An enraged Smoke kills one of them and tells CJ to go after the other.
Chase down and kill a Los Santos Vagos gang member.


Smoke informs CJ about a deal between the Vagos and San Fierro Rifa and decides to crash their meeting. Both head to Unity Station and wait for the train. However, it turns out to be an ambush, and the Vagos attempt to escape by the train and Smoke and CJ try to stop them.
Disrupt a gang meeting and follow a train.


Big Smoke has some business to take care of and goes with CJ to the Atrium in Commerce. After arriving, Smoke tells CJ to stand as his backup while he goes inside the Atrium. After an ambush from the Russians, Smoke calls CJ inside.
Help Big Smoke fight against the Russian Mafia in the Atrium and then escape from them using the sewer system.


Ryder is looking for the drugs he buried inside his lawn, but can't find them. He asks Carl to steal weapon crates from a war veteran who lives in East Beach. They both wait until midnight for the robbery.
Rob a war veteran living in East Beach for weapons crates.

This Mission will unlock the Burglary Van & Burglary Missions.


After failing to find the stuff he buried, Ryder prepares his own drugs. C.R.A.S.H. arrives and informs that an ammo train will be arriving shortly at East Los Santos, but the Vagos and Ballas will attempt to rob the train.
Steal crates of weapons from a train.


Ryder tells CJ that the army has many weapons. They both head to an army base called National Guard Depot in Ocean Docks to steal the army's weapons.
Raid a National Guard base in the Ocean Docks area.


CJ visits Cesar at the latter's house and Cesar explains to him the rules of the street race in which both are competing. CJ follows Cesar to the race's starting point.
Race Cesar Vialpando and other racers in the Lowrider Race.

CJ visits OG Loc, who is working at the Burger Shot. Loc is planning to host a house party but lacks a sound system. He informs CJ about a beach party at Santa Maria Beach and that they have a sound van, and tells him to steal it.
Steal a sound system Pony for OG Loc's house party.

By keeping the score while dancing on "Perfect", you'll unlock the "Smooth Moves" Achievement.


Although Loc got back the sound system, he doesn't have rhymes to read for rapping. Loc asks CJ to steal a rhyme book owned by a famous rapper Madd Dogg, which is at his mansion.
Steal Madd Dogg's rhyme book.

By killing all guards while unnoticed in stealthmode, you'll unlock the "Assassin" Achievement.


Now that Loc has the sound system and the rhymes for his party, he still isn't satisfied. Loc reveals that Madd Dogg's manager, Alan Crawford, is preventing Loc from getting into music, becoming Loc's huge problem. Loc wants the manager killed.
Kidnap and kill Madd Dogg's manager and his girlfriend.


OG Loc quits working as an employee and decides to go back to prison, but wants to have a huge party before. He tells CJ to prepare everything for the party. After a call from Loc, CJ visits the party but gets warned about the attack on Grove Street by Ballas. CJ and Sweet prepare to defend it.
Visit OG Loc's party and protect Grove Street from an attack by the Ballas.


CJ reluctantly meets C.R.A.S.H at the doughnut shop. Tenpenny informs CJ about a Vagos gang member who is trying to get in their way, and orders CJ to kill him.
Burn down a Vagos member's house and rescue a girl.

By rescueing Denise, you will unlock her as your first Girlfriend.


Tenpenny informs CJ about a deal between the Ballas and Russians at the warehouse in Ocean Docks. He tells CJ to destroy the deal by killing the dealer.
Kill a Russian arms dealer.


After a phone call from Sweet, CJ heads to the Ammu-Nation to purchase some firearms to kill a former Grove Street Families member Little Weasel, who betrayed them and joined Ballas.
Take over Glen Park and kill Little Weasel.


The Ballas are holding a funeral for Little Weasel, who Carl killed earlier, and all the Ballas members are going to attend it. Sweet tells CJ to disrupt the funeral. CJ recruits some Grove Street members to help them and drive to the funeral before it starts.
Raid the funeral and kill the Ballas gang leader Kane.


Sweet decides to reunite all the Grove Street gang sets that have been split up, as the Ballas have been dealing with the drugs for too long. The gang heads to Jefferson Motel where all the sets meet, but shortly after, they are ambushed by the LSPD and SWAT.
Take Sweet, Big Smoke, and Ryder to reunite the Grove Street Families and escape from the police.


Following the Grove Street Families reunion, Sweet decides to put justice against the Ballas. Sweet tells CJ to meet him at the gunfight between GSF and Ballas, but CJ is forced to meet Cesar, who wants to show CJ something that CJ won't believe.
Witness Smoke and Ryder's betrayal, then rush to rescue Sweet.

Completing this Mission will finish Act 1 of San Andreas, and award you with the "All Dressed up for San Fierro" Achievement.

By now you should have more than the basic understanding of the controls, a fairly skilled CJ, and the means necessary to take on the second Act of San Andreas. I'll post a guide about the upcoming Act as soon as I played through it myself.

Check out my other Guides around the Definitive Edition, and check YouTube out to see if you like any of the Content Creators. The Community around the Definitive & the Original Trilogy is fairly small nowadays in comparison to the GTA V / GTA Online Community, so it has less clickbait & more enjoyable content.

If I got anything wrong in this guide, please let me know in the comments.
Please excuse any poor spelling & grammar errors, as english is my second language, and I basically all typed this down in around 10 hours, including the research for it.

Currently, I only have one more guide to the definitive edition, being a guide about the cheat codes, if you want to just sit back, and have some fun with the build-in cheatcodes.

Special thanks to elsa & krista for proof-reading this mess, and helping me improve! :)