Today is Earth Day, a day dedicated derived to inspire awareness of earths environmental situation. It's been celebrated since 1970, so I think I'll party a bit as well by not lighting any electrical lights today, and by shutting down my PC four hours earlier than usual. Hurrah. Have a good day with the Earth peoples!

(note: post been lying around in a scrapped .txt file for a while, written about four months back)

It was great, but as I feared,  a bit too much to handle. For me? No, not at all, just gripping the motorbike handles was like lighting a thousand candles, but my computer can't take the new pressure. So, to fully enjoy GTA IV without the game lagging to death by every street corner, and to finally be able to play my intensely modded version of GTA San Andreas at the highest possible draw distance, resolution and detail levels... I need a new computer. Now, to get a new computer I need money, and to get money I need a job, and to get a good job I might need a drivers license, but to have time to get my drivers license I just might have to stop straying on the net and working on my own projects for a while and actually catch up to and preferably get up a bit ahead of current educatory schedules. Thus, the current ladder of achievement is as follows: Studies > Drivers License > Job > Money > Computer > GTA4. Or something like that.

Anyhow, I've been playing a few major modifications for GTA SA as well today, while working on my own, and beginning my grand voyage into the new future world of GTA SA, so it's only fair I leave a short review for all of these masterpieces, starting with my own:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Master Mod (5/5)

As of today, the zero point fifth "Half Good" version is released. The Master Mod is a major modification that basically improves everything there is in the game and adds more to it. Using various large texture replacements, minor tweaks and patches, as well as a gigantic amount of extra functions I created a masterpiece. The strain it puts on my computer can be measured at the same levels as GTA 4 (which is the one reason I'll stop updating this mod until I can get my hands on a new PC with at least twice the RAM and memory), and the difference in graphical detail and effect is intense. Features from the both other 3D GTA games in this trilogy have been ported into this mod, allowing you to for example dive out of a cars vicious destructive path (from VC) or show cops the finger and get a wanted level (from 3), there are even features ported from the version after this one, such as you flying though windshields when hitting an object at high speed, picking up the phone at desired intervals, etc. It really adds quite a lot of extra functionality and essence to the game. There are a few added areas in the game, such as the large Fantasy Island in front of the Los Santos beach, with 8 kilometers of winding roads over a Chinese hillside and I've made sure to not add any major script changes either, so you can still load your old save-games and keep playing!

Over all this, a large array of game and modding tools are available, as well as numerous sets of wallpapers, icons, missions, player models, and more! The mod enhances and adds to the game, but does not remove anything, thus you can install other mods on top of this, as long as they add textures to files instead of replacing the entire files, in which case everything would crash.

San Andreas Re-textured & San Andreas Re-textured Continued (5/5)

This isn't (unlike the other mods listed here) a complete replacement. It does change almost all interior and exterior textures in the game. What the original mod author failed to complete has been taken even further by another author, and the result is astounding. My computer can't handle any high resolution settings on the game with this installed, unfortunately, so I'll only be able to witness it's true power when I get that new computer. Btw, this mod is included in my Master Mod, above. ^

Grand Carma (3/5)

The concept is genius, porting the levels from Carmageddon one and two into GTA SA, and setting them all together into one gigantic mass of land. Textures aren't as beautiful as in the original game, but it feels pretty amazing being able to drive around a completely new world with the same vehicles you are used to. The roads are long, many, and the landscapes varied, the game engine is still the same, but other than that this is something completely new. Unfortunately there is nothing to do in this new world, yet, but it certainly is fun exploring for a while...

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Oldskool (?/5)

It crashed my game, tried with a clean install, load game, new game, even on a separate drive, no results... other than that it's probably a great game. I love driving around in oldskool car models in GTA SA, and the same author made the mod below, which is a very nice replacement. Keep reading.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Real v2 (3/5)

Most of the vehicles have been replaced with new ones, the models all shiny and blank, the controls a bit strange at the beginning, but once you get the hang of them they are supremely realistic in difference to the old ones. Roads are all new, an aspect which I don't (but I know many others do) like, and both exterior and interior textures have been replaced with new ones. It's not a perfect combination. Most cars are replaced nicely, but some had their controls modified for drifting, others for realistic handling, and the speeds and controls don't fit together at all. The added textures are mostly good, but there are a few crappy includes in lack of others, and the replacement of the moon texture with the authors personal logo is fun for a while, but overall not very beautiful to look at. A highway in the air, reaching all the different sections of the game land, has been added as well. It can't be seen from below, so if you fly a lot, crashing into invisible barriers sometimes is VERY annoying, as for driving it's a great addition though. In summary, the cars separately are all nice additions, and the changes and additions to the mass of land are alternatingly fun and annoying. An entertaining mod to play around with, but not something I'd like to play through the game with.

Andreas '08 (4/5)

The -08 mod aims to replace all textures, car models, pedestrians, etc, with new modern ones. They succeeded quite nicely, all the new vehicle replacements are fun driving and they look stunning in graphics. The game doesn't crash, through it certainly puts a bit of an extra strain on my somewhat aged PC, but that's not their fault. A downside is the degree of replacements, they've replaced everything, even if the only replacements of choice were not that great. Most areas of the game look beautiful, but some of them are... crap. If you want a modern San Andreas however, this is definitely the mod of choice.

Andreas '07 (3/5)

Earlier version of the mod above. Since this release things have not only been added, however, but also replaced, so the content of these two mods are quite different. There aren't as many replacements here, but for those interested in playing GTA SA in as many different styles as possible, it's certainly worth downloading.

GTA SA Copland (4/5)

Copland is one of the earliest total-conversion mods for the game. With it the Grove Street gangs all achieve black clothes, and the Balla's get cop uniforms. The dialogs have also been changed to show "cop" instead of 'balla', though they haven't gone to the trouble of recording new dialogs, so id you don't show subtitles you won't notice the difference. Many vehicles have also been replaced, but since this is an older mod the models used aren't the best ones of choice. Still, it's entertaining playing, and the various changes all puzzle together nicely, other than the subtitles I didn't notice anything that seemed out of place. Even the vehicle replacements are in the right time, the mod is recommend.

Patbreus Complete Vehicle Replacement (3/5)

As the title suggests, only vehicles have been replaced, but not just a few, almost all of them now boast new well-chosen models! It's an old mod, so the models aren't the newest ones, but they still all look great and differ from the original in-game models. A few other texture replacements and features are included as well, such as the hidden interiors and hot coffee mods. I'd have given this mod a 5/5 if it wasn't for the fact that it will only work with a patched San Andreas game. Of course you can install the mod with any version, but the game save-files only work with either the first or the second version, and not being able to play your save-files sucks. There are programs to convert save-files from one format to another, but using the second version doesn't give the same freedom to continue modding the game either. Recommended if you are just starting out with the game, since the patch does fix many errors you might otherwise have trouble with, and the replacement is great otherwise, but if you've played through the game it might not be the handiest of TC's.

GTA SA High-End Mega Conversation Pack v2.0 & GTA SA New Cars 2/GTA SA Die Hard 4 BY OSA321 (?/5)

Only mods I haven't tried yet, hopefully they are good, if the ones listed above don't suit you you might like to try these yourself. And there are thousands of smaller mods available for the game, a few larger ones as well, try gtainside.com or gtagarage.com if you need more, together they have almost everything worth downloading.

Don't let my inspiration
Run out
Just let my words
Come to live

I see my shadow
It breathes through me
I see it leave
For a short while

It passes behind a tree
Out of my view
Out of my reach
And I feel lonely

My shadow returns
It reaches down and grasps
My ankles
And we walk along the path

My shadow and I
Together
We keep up with each other
My shadow and I

There are days
When the sun shines
When its rays pierce through
The land, and the glass
And my head with all its juice
And it sparks up a little bit
Spiffy
It leaves me a bit confused
Yet uplifted
And a bit tired
And my head is thumping
So I let my shoulders drop
And drift away
To dreamland

There are days
When the sun shines
And its rays pierce
Through the rain
And their shadow
Casts a prism
Of grim light and beauty
Contained
And I stare at it
Forget where I'm standing
Don't bother seeing
I just feel like landing
Down on the ground again
After a while
After a brief flight in the sky

There are days
When the sun shines
But its rays
Are blocked by clouds
And they cast shadows
And they cast chills
And the world surrounding me
Rages out loud
But then the sun comes back from its short vacation
And spreads beautiful rays across the nation
And people close their eyes and drift away
Until the moon rises
And ends their day

And there are days
When the sun shines
Not

There was once a pigeon
A pigeon called Sam
He lived where he lived
High up on Hoover dam

He saw the water falling
And dove down down down
To the drops that kept calling
As they fell to the ground

And he leapt through the water
And he surfed on its wave
And he purred in delight
At the joy that this gave

Yet he saved some for later
Some work, then some play
And collected some food
From kind people this day

They all stood by the bridge
Always eager to meet
The demands that he gave
To him all he could eat

And he picked up his pebbles
Happy and content
Then Sam the spiffy Pigeon
Back to his nest went