***Updated to add relevant new information and remove redundant information. Please keep in mind, this game receives updates that changes how the game functions, so periodically the information may no longer be effective.***
If you have completed the online achievements in the Xbox One version of the game, you can import your GTA Online character to this version and automatically pop all the online achievements you’ve earned previously. Please note, importing your Xbox One GTA character to the Xbox Series X version will essentially wipe your Xbox One GTA Online character progress, so it’s highly advised to finish the Xbox One and the Japanese stack if you plan on doing it first.
If you have not started or imported any of your progress from the previous generation:As of now, you need to complete all three of the Criminal Mastermind Challenges achieved in Grand Theft Auto Online. To find your progress, you must be in an online lobby, public or private. Press
, then use
or
to find the Stats tab at the end. Press
, then scroll down to Awards. Press
on Awards, then scroll down to The Doomsday Heist. Press
to view all The Doomsday Heist related awards available. The three challenges you need to focus on are:
Criminal Mastermind II: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 2 players, on hard difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind III: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 3 players, on hard difficulty without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
Criminal Mastermind IV: Complete The Doomsday Heist in order, with the same team of 4 players, on hard difficulty without losing any lives on Setups and Finales.
While working on each of these awards, you will likely complete All in Order bonus and Loyalty II,III, and IV.
Criteria every player needs to know to avoid progress reset:You CAN die during Preps, but CANNOT die during the Setups or Finales.
You CAN fail a Setup or Finale and choose quick restart option. If you do fail a mission, make sure it wasn't due to a death.
The quit out trick for player death during Setups and Finales is easily the most important trick to use. If a player in your crew dies, hit
, then either select Grand Theft Auto V and scroll down and hit quit, or simply select another game in the recently played list. The game must be exited in less than five seconds from the moment a team member dies. The idea is similar to the Dashboard method players used for the original Criminal Mastermind on the Xbox 360. This method does not 100% work, as missions auto save checkpoints, and if you happen to die during the auto save, it automatically fails the Criminal Mastermind.
Personal in game vehicles that explode cause the game to immediately autosave. If you die due to a personal vehicle explosion, it will likely reset your progress. Credit to rafa1000house for bringing this to our attention. I can confirm this is true as both progress resets I've encountered were a result of car explosion killing us causing an immediate autosave, voiding the medal. Typically, any mission with helicopters will likely lead to potential explosion due to their heat seeking missiles.
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***rafa1000house offers insight for these missions:
- Rescue ULP - use Kuruma to block the foundry entrance and leave it when the helicopter appears, so it won't blow your car. Destroy it using heat seekers.
- Rescue Agent 14 - use Kuruma to kill the first wave of enemies after leaving the first area with Agent 14; but be warned: one helicopter will spawn, so hide your car while your teammates destroy the helicopter.
- Escort ULP - just use your Kuruma and don't escort your teammates at all. This misison is very buggy and your can explode from nowhere. I was miles away from helicopters and my car exploded for no reason, so just stay in Paleto Bay, or run to the forest, so you will only deal with enemy cars.
If a player disconnects during a mission, it's advised that everyone needs to immediately quit the game using the quit out method, as this may void progress.
You CANNOT purchase prep vehicles to skip the missions and progress.
You CAN do all Preps first, then do all Setups for each Act; or do Prep, Setup, Prep, Setup until completion of the Finale. As stated in the actual challenge, you MUST do ALL Setups and Finales in order, top to bottom, starting with Act I and finishing with Act III.
Preps CAN be done in private lobbies now. This is a new update that resolves the aging frustrations of playing with randoms in a public lobby.
When doing Setups and Finale Heists, its best to go into a private lobby. There are reports of server issues in public lobbies that can cause players to disconnect from a full lobby at the end of a Setup, causing server lapses that reset progress.
When you start a Criminal Mastermind play-through, you MUST complete it with the same people in the same order before starting a new one. You CANNOT do multiple Criminal Masterminds play-throughs at the same time. Example, you can not start CMII with friend A, then start CMIV with friends B, C and D and continue progress for CMII. However, do keep in mind, if friend A was the host of CMII play-through, THEY will keep THEIR OWN progress if you decided to reset YOUR OWN by going for CMIV. So if you do decide to start a new play-through, it's best to let your teammates know.
You DO NOT need to complete every challenge with the same players for all three play-throughs. You do not need to play with friend A for CMII, CMIII, and CMIV. You CAN play with friend A in CMII; friend B and E in CMIII; and friends B, D, and F in CMIV. Just ensure you are playing the entire play-through, Act I through Act III, with the players you start each play-through with.
These DO NOT need to be completed in one session. You can play a few missions a night for a couple of weeks. Progress will not be interrupted while playing free roam, multiplayer, or other non Doomsday heists.
It's IDEAL to make sure every player doing the heist missions to be in the same organization. To do this, the player hosting the missions needs to hire each player as a body guard after registering as a CEO. This helps the system keep the group as a unit, as servers can split players up prior to missions starting. I would recommend players all being within the player owned facility before starting each mission to avoid sync issues.
Tips and Tricks:
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***-Snacks can now be easily accessed by assigning the snacks to your quick action button. This feature makes it incredibly easy to maintain health compared to having to quickly access the snacks through many onscreen actions.
-During Prep missions, you can call Lester to remove your wanted level, making the missions much quicker and easier.
-Purchase and upgrade an Armored Kuruma. These cars make doing many missions easy, as you can drive up and shoot enemies with Micro SMGs, Mini SMGs and AP Pistol. Most damage will be negated by the armor plating, though you will occasionally lose armor or health.
-Purchase a Buzzard or call one through CEO menu if the host is a CEO or for anyone who owns one during Prep missions. They are expensive to own at first, though cheap to call in and can split time in half during Prep missions by flying over everything and destroying everything with heat-seeking missiles. If you can't gain access to one, revert to using the Armored Kuruma.
Basic start up procedures include:
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***-Buy body armor from Ammunation. Always buy Super Heavy Body armor.
-Free snacks are also available in your facilities. You will burn through these if you use up all body armor. If you can't get snacks at your facility, you can purchase them at local stores found throughout the game, though supply can run out.
-Purchase relevant weapons and try to max out ammo. You want to use the Assault Shotgun for close range battles, Combat MG or Special Carbine for mid to long range battles, any sniper for long range. Purchase a Mini SMG or AP Pistol for use to shoot from the vehicles. Homing rockets make taking out vehicles such as choppers pretty easy on foot. Miniguns are great against Juggernauts in Act III, though I wouldn't recommend it for anything else, as you can't take cover, causing players to take excessive damage. It's ideal to use Suppressors on pretty much any gun mentioned above during stealth missions.
-Purchase the Bullet Proof Helmet and the Heavy Utility Vest from Ammunation or Suburban. They are intended to help avoid some damage. You can't use it on every mission, but when you can, you should select your heist gear. It is unconfirmed, but there are reports that the intended use of the helmet and vest do not work during The Doomsday Heist, but I still recommend using them.
Using the Interaction menu:
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***You need to learn how to utilize the interaction menu to eat food to restore health, add body armor to replenish used armor and to quick select your preset heist gear.
To access the Interaction menu, hold 
, and select Inventory. Here, you can select to use food and body armor. Its best to eat food while in cover or in a vehicle, as it skips the animation and prevents the player from taking more damage.
If you need to quickly add your heist gear back on, select Style instead of inventory. Click your preset outfit you create when you purchase it new. If you still need to create a preset outfit, go to Ammunation or Suburban Outfitting and find the clothing section. Here, you can click your purchased items and add them to a preset outfit creation.
Purchasing a Facility:
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***You must first purchase a facility of choice. Press 
, then press the Internet Icon button to access Internet. From here click the sponsored link: Maze Bank Foreclosures. Click enter site, then scroll up. Facilities are the purple orbs. The cheapest facility is located in Paleto Bay, the furthest North facility at $1,250,000. Here is a great link to a community ran wiki page that provides in-depth information in regards to facilities. http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Facilities
Registering as a VIP, CEO, President and hiring heist Crew:
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***Hold to access the Interaction Menu. Click on SecuroServ. Register as VIP or other status.
Once you have become a VIP, hire your crew members from the SecuroServ screen. The crew member that gets the invite will accept them by pressing to access the phone, then clicking the SecuroServ App. It will then show your invite, from any VIP or other status players to be hired as an Associate/ body guard. You may need to register as a body guard if invites won't come through by holding , then going into to the SecuroServ option.
By doing this, it gives all players hired by the player access to the heist leader's facility. Crew members will also gain many amazing bonuses such as continuous RP and cash ticks. Here is a great link from a community ran wiki page that provides more in-depth information in regards to organizations. http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Organizations
“The Standard FPS-2 control setting is the best option because it allows you to sprint while having the interaction menu open.”
*Credit to Rheinadler for this suggestion*
Special thanks to oxBURN3Rxo and HollaBackGaming for their contributions. Thanks for all the up-votes and contributions in the comments! Good luck to everyone!