Common Problems
From SA-MP Wiki
Client
I get the error "San Andreas cannot be found"
San Andreas Multi-player is not a stand-alone program! It adds multi-player functionality to San Andreas, and thus you need GTA San Andreas for the PC - it also needs to be EU/US v1.0, other versions such as v2.0 or Steam and Direct2Drive versions will not work. Click here to download a patch to downgrade your GTA: SA version to 1.0
I can not see any servers in SA-MP browser
First off, ensure you are following the procedures set out in the Quick-start guide. If you have followed what it says, and still cannot see any servers, you must allow SA:MP access through your firewall. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of available firewall software, we can not offer further support on this - we suggest looking at the manufacturers website or trying a Google search. Also make sure you have the latest SA:MP version!
Single Player Loads instead of SA:MP
YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SEE THE SINGLE PLAYER OPTIONS (NEW GAME, LOAD GAME, ETC) - SA:MP SHOULD LOAD BY ITSELF AND NOT PRESENT THESE OPTIONS. IF YOU SEE "NEW GAME" SINGLE PLAYER HAS LOADED, NOT SAN ANDREAS MULTIPLAYER.
Single player can load for 2 reasons - you have installed SA:MP to the wrong folder or you have the wrong version of San Andreas. If you have the wrong version it's easy to fix. . Click here to download the downgrade patch.
Sometimes the single-player menu will be shown, but SA:MP will have in fact loaded properly. To fix this you simply need to select an item on the menu then press esc until you're out of it, then SA:MP will proceed to load.
I get "Unacceptable NickName" when connecting to a server
Ensure you are not using any disallowed characters in your name (use 0-9, a-z, [], (), $, @, ., _ and = only), and that your name is no longer than 20 characters. This also could be caused when a player is on a server with the same name as you (which can happen if you re-join a server very soon after timing out or crashing). Also a Windows server running SA-MP with a uptime greater than 50 days can cause this bug.
Screen sticks at "Connecting to ip:port..."
The server could be offline, or if you can't connect to any server, disable your firewall and see if it works. If it does you must set up your firewall properly - go to its website to find out how. It could also be that you have an old version of SA-MP, download the latest version from the SA-MP download page.
I have a modified GTA: San Andreas and SA:MP won't load
If it won't load then remove your mods.
When launching GTA with SA:MP it won't start
Delete the gta_sa.set file from your userfiles folder and make sure you don't have any cheats/mods.
The game crashes when a vehicle explodes
If you have 2 monitors then there are 3 ways to solve this:
- Disable your 2dr monitor when you play sa-mp. (Maybe not so smart if you like to have the monitor on.)
- Set your Visual FX quality to low. (Esc > Options > Display Setup > Advanced)
- Rename your GTA San Andreas folder (e.g. to "GTA San Andreas2") (This often works, however sometimes it may stop working again so you need to rename it to something else.)
My mouse doesn't work after exiting the pause menu
If your mouse seems to be frozen ingame while it (partially) works in the pause menu, then you should disable the multicore option sa-mp.cfg (set it to 0). Continuously tapping Escape until the mouse responds again may also work, but it is not as neat a solution.
The file dinput8.dll is missing
This is possibly arises when DirectX is not properly installed, try re-installing it - don't forget to restart your PC. If the problem still arises, just go at C:\Windows\System32 and copy paste the dinput.dll file to the root directory of your GTA San Andreas. That would solve it.
I cannot see other player's nametags!
Please be aware that some servers may have nametags globally disabled. Otherwise, this problem often occurs on computers with Intel HD integrated graphics processors (which aren't really meant for gaming, anyway). Unfortunately, the exact cause is unknown and there doesn't seem to be a universal fix available at present time either. A long term fix would be to install a dedicated graphics card in your computer, if this is possible and if your budget allows it. Laptops, of course, can't be upgraded.
Server
Server instantly crashes when started
Most commonly it's an error in your server.cfg file or your gamemode is missing. Check the server_log.txt file and the reason should be located at the bottom. If not, check crashinfo.txt file. The better solution to find out what is causing the crash is using the Crash detect plugin by Zeex/0x5A656578 click for link which will give more information like line numbers, function names, parameter values, etc. If the script is compiled in debug mode (-d3 flag) to make compiler put extra information about all that stuff into the output .amx.
Server is not working - firewall is disabled
You will need to forward your ports to allow players to join your server. You can forward your ports using the PF Port Checker. Download it from: www.portforward.com If the ports are not forwarded that means you have to open them in your router. You can check the router list at http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm
It has all the information on how to forward ports.
'Packet was modified'
The error commonly shown as:[hh:mm:ss] Packet was modified, sent by id: <id>, ip: <ip>:<port>happens when a player times out or is currently having connection issues.
'Warning: client exceeded messageslimit'
The error commonly shown as:Warning: client exceeded 'messageslimit' (1) <ip>:<port> (<count>) Limit: x/sechappens when number of messages per second a client sends to the server exceeds.
'Warning: client exceeded ackslimit'
The error commonly shown as:Warning: client exceeded 'ackslimit' <ip>:<port> (<count>) Limit: x/sechappens when acks limit exceeds.
'Warning: client exceeded messageholelimit'
The error commonly shown as:Warning: client exceeded 'messageholelimit' (<type>) <ip>:<port> (<count>) Limit: xhappens when message hole limit exceeds.
'Warning: Too many out-of-order messages'
The error commonly shown as:Warning: Too many out-of-order messages from player <ip>:<port> (<count>) Limit: x (messageholelimit)happens when 'out of order messages' reuses messageholelimit setting.
For more information about this, refer to this
Players constantly getting "Unacceptable NickName" error but it is valid
If you are sure you use an acceptable name and the server runs on Windows then try to change the compatibility option of the samp-server.exe to Windows 98 and it should be fixed after a server restart.
Windows servers with high up time may also cause this issue to occur. This has been noticed of around 50 days of server up time. To resolve it, a reboot is required.
MSVCR___.dll/MSVCP___.dll not found
This problem regularly occurs on Windows servers when trying to load a plugin that was developed using a higher version of the Visual C++ runtime than is currently installed on your computer. To fix this, download the appropriate Microsoft Visual C++ runtime libraries. Note that the SA-MP server is 32 bit, therefore you'll also need to download the 32 bit (x86) version of the runtime, regardless of architecture. The version of the runtime you specifically require is denoted by the numbers in the filename (see the table below), although it does not hurt to install all of them. These libraries do not stack, or in other words: you won't get the runtimes for the 2013 and earlier versions if you only install the 2015 version.
| Version number | Runtime |
|---|---|
| 10.0 | Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable |
| 11.0 | Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x86 Redistributable |
| 12.0 | Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Redistributable |
| 14.0 | Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 x86 Redistributable |
Pawno
Unable to execute compiler on Windows Vista/7
Run pawno.exe as an administrator.
Failed to set data for ' '
In the directory where you have pawno.exe in, you'll find a file called settings.ini. Open it up using any text editor(such as Notepad) and change "FileAssoc" from 1 to 0. If that doesn't work, run your pawno.exe as an administrator.
