3 Warnings About GTA 5 Story Mode Cheats

Cheat codes are dead in most games, but GTA 5 is an exception. Like most of the Grand Theft Auto games that came before it, inputting certain codes will activate a variety of fun, useful, and strange effects. However, there are a few things to keep in mind before you go wild with GTA 5 story mode cheats because if you’re not careful, you could permanently ruin your game.

Also check out: GTA 5 story mode

1. Using Cheats During Missions

Cheat codes are not allowed during missions for obvious reasons. This would completely ruin the experience and allow you to breeze through everything. Also, considering how the missions are programmed, there is a very good chance you could break the game with cheats if you could use them during missions. Speaking of which…

2. Breaking the Game

While there are no officially confirmed cases of people ruining their game with GTA 5 story mode cheats, it is commonly accepted knowledge in video games that you don’t want to save your game while cheats are active. This is because cheat codes do weird things to the code and saving while cheats are active could corrupt your game. If you want to use GTA 5 story mode cheats, make a backup save file first.

3. Trophies and Achievements

This should also be obvious, but trophies and achievements are disabled when cheats are enabled. This makes it so that you can’t cheat to get them and is another reason why you want to create a separate save file for when you’re screwing around with cheat codes.

How to Use GTA 5 Story Mode Cheats

Now that you know how to use GTA 5 story mode cheats responsibly, here’s how to use the cheats themselves. There are two ways to activate cheats: using the controller to input a combination of buttons, or using the in-game phone. On PC you can also open the cheat console using the “~” key. Generally speaking, the phone is the best method since it will allow you to reuse cheats without the hassle after you’ve put them in once.

Also read: Are There Any Money Cheats in GTA 5?

To disable a cheat, just input the code again and it should turn it off. However, this isn’t always the case and sometimes you’ll need to quit the game to get the cheat to turn off. That said, some cheats, like health and weapon cheats, are registered on your save file permanently when activated. This is one of the big reasons why you should create a backup save file before using GTA 5 story mode cheats.

For more content like this, have a look at this piece on the all weapons cheat in GTA 5.