Fix for missing diffuse lighting in GTA SA

[Red]

As is the case with my former GTA III fix thread, this one is a repost of my original thread on SPUF.

This fix has been around for a while (not discovered by me), but some people are still unaware of it, so here is a reminder. As far as I know, this problem affects all PC versions of the game (retail and digital) making this fix quite universal.

Some of you may have already noticed that all characters look pretty dark (especially during game's daytime or inside buildings). It is also evident on weapons, some parts of vehicles and other objects (that can be broken or moved; not being part of the static map).
Turns out that Rockstar, having reworked the lighting system for the PC version, disabled the old diffuse lighting. The problem is that many models still rely on it, severly lowering the overall graphics quality.

Here's a small comparison to illustrate the difference:

Example 1: Original[red.ofp2.pl] / Fixed[red.ofp2.pl]
Example 2: Original[red.ofp2.pl] / Fixed[red.ofp2.pl]

This fix is a really simple one - it doesn't even require anything to download. The replacement file is already included in the game files.

All you need to do is follow these steps:

• Make sure you are not using any mods that tamper with the "timecyc.dat" file.
  
• Rename the "timecyc.dat" file to "timecyc_old.dat" in the following directory: "PATH_TO_STEAM\steamapps\common\grand theft auto san andreas\data\"
  
• Rename the "timecycp.dat" file to "timecyc.dat" in the same directory.
  
• That's it - you can now run the game!

If you like the new look, make sure to repeat these steps every time you reinstall or verify game cache files.

[Red]

It's quite difficult to do anything with version 3.0 since the game verifies the size of some files on startup and crashes if it's incorrect. There are some other bugs I took care of, but I think that deserves a separate thread.