I just bought San Andreas from the deal they had yesterday and it will not let me complete the first mission...It goes to the cutscene where the ballas blow up Smoke's car and then it comes up saying gta:sa has crashed. Everytime like clockwork. Has anyone else had this problem and/or is there a way to fix this? Any feedback would be kind.

Some system specs or the like would be nice...
 
SA is an old game; there may be compatibility issues with new systems.

The very first things to do when facing crashes on PC (through steam) is to : 
 
restart Steam. If that doesn't work then 
restart your PC. if that doesn't work then
re-install the game. If that doesn't work, i usually go on the official steam/valve forums and find the perfect thread with the right fix in less than 2 minutes (by googling)

re install is the best bet.

Thanks for the tips, I'll try that. Yes, I'm running on my new Alienware I just got a few months ago so age of the game probably does make a difference. :/

Doesn't verifying the game cache's integrity do the same thing as reinstalling it without loss of personal data?

O there we go. It is an Alienware.. that is the obvious problem.  
 
Anyway. Ditto to the other suggestions you also might try googlin the specifics. Assuming you don't get the problem solved using the steam forums. Also try and keep an eye out for precursors to the crash. slow downs, visual glitching etc. The more you notice the more it could help find the problem. Sometimes the older games just like to be a pain in the ass on new hardware.

The Ballas blew up more than Smoke's car!

O another thing. There is a function in the settings of steam that will allow you to test the files and make repairs. Might save you the time re-downloading and such.

Or you could give information about what the crash error says. You haven't modded it at all?

oh fuck i've had san andreas on their for awhile. I've beat it on ps2 2 times, xbox 3 times, and pc once. Looks like I will need to replay some of it again.

I am not usually into replaying games, but there are a few that I just love to play over again.

@MrKlorox: Not a bit.

Quick question, I've never had to re-install a game yet on my Steam account. Does that require me to delete it completely from my computer and then go in and install it just like before?

@Th3_James said:

oh fuck i've had san andreas on their for awhile. I've beat it on ps2 2 times, xbox 3 times, and pc once. Looks like I will need to replay some of it again.

I am not usually into replaying games, but there are a few that I just love to play over again.

Fully agreed. Re-downloading it right now myself. Finished it twice on xbox and about three or four times on PC. I gotta use the v1.0 exe though since it's the only one that supports SAAC. Now I just gotta get my old xbox controller, unless SAAC got updated to work with wireless ones.

@Buie04 said:

Quick question, I've never had to re-install a game yet on my Steam account. Does that require me to delete it completely from my computer and then go in and install it just like before?

Pretty much. Sometimes there is a folder that contains all the required stuff to make it work (like directx or dotnet framework, etc). Might try finding and running all the installers in that in case they somehow didn't get run during the install, before you go and download another 5gb.

Okay so re-installing didn't work. Nothing did. :/ Should I just accept the fact that it's probably my computer specs and just forget about it?