This page covers only what MTA:SA Neon changes. For standard MTA behavior, use the official MTA Wiki.

Neon is still experimental. Its capacity patches keep the normal San Andreas defaults unless a server or resource opts into the larger limits.

Start with what you want to build

Goal	Start here	Current scope
Populate the world with synchronized GTA NPCs	Synchronized NPCs and traffic	Shared outdoor civilian peds use GTA’s native models, paths, Wander AI, reactions, owner handoff, and observer presentation. Ambient vehicles and the remaining population families are still in progress.
Give the game a PS2-style image	SkyGFX and PS2-style visuals	Selected color, blur, depth-bias, radiosity, and YCbCr effects are integrated and optional. This is not complete SkyGFX or exact PS2 parity.
Discover and join Neon servers	Neon client experience	A GTA-style menu combines the public registry with live server data, filters, favorites, artwork, localization, and connection states.
Add verified community identity	Neon Identity	Servers can choose disabled, optional, or required Neon/Discord identity and use verified IDs in resources and bans.
Give custom vehicles their own sound	Custom vehicle audio	One client resource owns a configuration lease and presents opted-in vehicles through the packaged FMOD runtime.
Use more of the world	Extended world	A 20 km XY domain with matching sectors, water, radar, map, pickup, and network work.
Load static worlds through GTA	Native world packs	A server can select an ordered set from the four reviewed v3 city packs. One imported city is resident at a time; changing the selected set requires a clean process.
Give resources stable custom model IDs	Custom models	Server identities map to local GTA slots with native-parent fallback and cleanup.
Build GTA-style scenes or missions	Story runtime	Native tasks, camera and cutscene leases, mission audio and text, recordings, and actor policies.
See what the mission harnesses prove	Mission checkpoints	Tagging Up Turf and Drive-Thru have substantial in-game coverage; Nines and AK’s remains partially exercised.
Call a specific function	Neon Lua API	Searchable reference with side, lifecycle, source, commit, native mapping, and test evidence.

World and streaming

Area	Standard MTA:SA	Neon
Main world-sector grid	120 × 120	400 × 400
LOD world-sector grid	30 × 30	100 × 100
Supported extended-world XY	About −3,000 to +3,000	−10,000 to +9,999
Custom-water grid	12 × 12 / 144 blocks	40 × 40 / 1,600 blocks
Custom-water XY	About −3,000 to +3,000	−10,000 to +9,999
Pickup visual XY	−4,096 to +4,095.875	−10,000 to +9,999
Low-precision network XY	About −8,192 to +8,192	−10,000 to +10,000 on Neon-capable connections
Absolute network camera range	About −8,192 to +8,192	About −16,384 to +16,384 on Neon-capable connections
Procedural seabed	Unlimited	Server-configurable 3,000–10,000 or unlimited
Native minimap	Fixed 12 × 12 stock grid	Sparse 40 × 40 logical grid with protected stock cells
F11 map	Packaged San Andreas image	Runtime atlas composed from native and registered extended tiles
Large IMG-backed cities	Basic client IMG links	Bounded resource-managed residency and safe city switching
Native world packs	Not available	Legacy single-pack formats plus format-3 multi-IMG child packs, an audited selected-set coordinator, immutable cache, and owner-server isolation
Reviewed native-world catalog	—	Bullworth, Vice City, Liberty City, and Carcer City; automatic spatial residency with one imported city active at a time

Rendering and native pools

Area	Standard MTA:SA	Neon
GTA corona pool	64	4,096; 4,094 available to scripted coronas
GTA 3D marker pool	32	4,096
GTA checkpoint pool	32	4,096
Direction arrows	5	4,096
Attribute CULL zones	1,300	4,096
Tunnel CULL zones	40	256
Mirror CULL zones	72	256
Visible entity pointers	1,000	8,192
Visible LOD pointers	1,000	8,192
Streaming RenderWare instances	2,500	30,000
PS2-style post effects	Not built in	Selected, opt-in SkyGFX color filter, blur, timecycle adaptation, depth-bias, radiosity, and YCbCr paths
Native CULL editing	Internal only	Resource-owned Lua CRUD, stable IDs, and cleanup
Project2DFX distant lights	Not integrated	Opt-in static coronas and timed traffic lights from the complete startup IPL catalogue, using a private 25,000-light render queue

Models and gameplay

Area	Standard MTA:SA	Neon
Custom model identity	Client-local runtime allocation	Server-stable logical IDs mapped to per-client GTA slots
Supported server model types	—	Objects, vehicles, and peds with native-parent fallback
Model-native ped locomotion	No synchronized explicit mode	Shared Lua policy that follows skin changes and recreation
Ambient pedestrian traffic	Local GTA population remains disabled	Server-owned MTA peds proposed from GTA’s civilian models and paths, with one native-AI owner, handoff epochs, observer presentation, and cleanup
Native ped story tasks	No direct reusable surface	Reusable movement, driving, combat, dialogue, sequence, and actor-policy primitives
Native AI on non-syncers	Ordinary synchronized element state	Reusable locomotion, ordered animation, fight/chat, weapon audiovisual, and selected ambient-reaction presentation without competing AI or duplicate damage
Ambient vehicle traffic	Local GTA population remains disabled	Not implemented yet; native vehicle tasks are available for server-authored missions, convoys, escorts, and scripted traffic
Native route continuity	Stream range normally ends native simulation	Resource-owned streaming leases plus a server-owned route harness with owner epochs and syncer reconstruction
Story actor and vehicle policy	General MTA abstractions	Persistent native actor flags, event-profile leases, raw door locks, tyre policy, vehicle proofs, and mission collision loading
Native script camera	Standard MTA camera setters	Resource-exclusive generation-token lease over GTA primitives
Native file cutscenes	Not exposed as a resource-owned API	Stock DAT/CUT/IFP playback with load/start barriers, synchronized skip, fades, completion, and cleanup
Stock entry-exit transitions	Native manager disabled by MTA because its entry path crashes	Optional server-owned Lua runtime using audited IPL pairs, exact on-foot triggers, fades, authoritative interior moves, and rollback
Mission audio	No owned GTA mission slots	Four resource-owned native slots with load recovery and cleanup, plus the original mission-passed tunes
Mission GXT text	No resource-owned native lease	Exclusive block lease with small/help/big text queues
Recorded-car playback	Not exposed	Resource-owned direct non-looped native playback
Gang tags	Disabled single-player tag path	Resource-owned native spray hits, persistent 8-alpha progress, Grove rendering, and cleanup
Directional scene load	Not exposed	GTA 0A0B directional preload sequence with finite input validation
Vehicle story gates	Approximate public checks	Exact 09D0 all-wheel predicate and verified vehicle-attached script-audio events
Fast weapon strafe	Not available	Synchronized fastweaponstrafe glitch, disabled by default

The tables describe available code paths, not one shared stability level. Follow the linked system guide for ownership, limitations, and the evidence behind a particular feature.

Tools and tests

• Drag-and-drop DFF/TXD skin and IFP animation previews for local development.
• Extended-world generators, IMG packers, radar extractors, manifest validators, cache tests, and native payload audits.
• Focused test resources for engine limits, world systems, native tasks, scene primitives, mission checkpoints, compatibility, and cleanup.
• A CI-built Windows Neon installer with its own branding, registry state, protocol registration, shortcuts, and uninstall path, isolated from an existing official MTA installation.

See Tooling and verification for the test levels and harness index. A successful build or static check is not described as an in-game pass.

API inventory

The Neon Lua API is generated from the final C++ registrations and documents both Neon additions and existing MTA functions whose side, task, or lifecycle contract Neon extends. Each entry identifies its actual side, implementation commit, ownership rules, failure conditions, and focused test resource when one exists.