gta.dat
The gta*.dat file lists which files define the game map. It can be found in the game's data directory, and is known as gta3.dat in Grand Theft Auto III, gta_vc.dat in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and simply gta.dat in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The same file format is also used for the default.dat file in the same directory.
Format
The files are in plain text format so they can be opened with any text editor (like Notepad). Line comments are indicated by the character # (number sign) and empty lines are allowed. They can be placed anywhere in the file. Since there are different types of files, a keyword is needed for each entry. Most entries use the following format, where the path is relative to the game's base directory:
<keyword> <path>
Although the file itself is not split up into sections, entries are usually grouped by type and arranged in a special order according to the game's loading sequence:
| Keyword | Games | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDIMAGE |   |
Links to additional IMG archives (other than the hardcoded ones). In GTA San Andreas, a maximum of five entries are supported; any more will crash the game. CDIMAGE is supported in GTA III and GTA Vice City but it is unused in the default data files. |
CDIMAGE MODELS\EXAMPLE.IMG |
| IMG |   |
IMG MODELS\EXAMPLE.IMG | |
| IMGLIST | |
Links to external image list files. |
IMGLIST common:/DATA/EXAMPLE.TXT |
| WATER | |
Links to external water plane placement files. The identifier can hold more than one parameter. It is unconfirmed either this also works for other identifiers. |
WATER common:/DATA/EXAMPLE1.DAT WATER common:/DATA/EXAMPLE2.DAT common:/DATA/EXAMPLE3.DAT |
| IDE | |
Links to item definition files. |
IDE DATA\MAPS\EXAMPLE.IDE |
| COLFILE | |
Links to collision files. An additional parameter between keyword and path associates the file to a level. If this is 0, the col file is used by the whole map; a higher number (1 to 3) assigns it to one of the level. |
COLFILE 0 MODELS\COLL\EXAMPLE.COL |
| MAPZONE | |
Links to zone files. |
MAPZONE DATA\EXAMPLE.ZON |
| IPL | |
Links to IPL-style item placement and zone files. |
IPL DATA\EXAMPLE.ZON IPL DATA\MAPS\EXAMPLE.IPL |
| TEXDICTION | |
Links to external texture dictionaries. |
TEXDICTION MODELS\EXAMPLE.TXD |
| MODELFILE | |
Links to external model files. |
MODELFILE MODELS\GENERIC\EXAMPLE.DFF |
| SPLASH | |
Links to splash screens that appear when transitioning between levels. The argument for these is not a path, but just the name (without extension) of a texture dictionary in the \models\txd directory. Might be ignored, though. |
SPLASH loadsc2 |
| HIERFILE | |
Unknown purpose. | |
| EXIT | |
Stops any further processing of the file. |
Since Grand Theft Auto IV has various subdirectories which need to be identified there are new identifiers at the start of the path. They identify the exact location relative to the executeable file. Those are:
platform: common:
Internally they will be replaced with the internal directory description and appendet to the installation directory of the game. Example:
platform:/DATA/MAPS/MANHAT/MANHAT12.IPL
gets
PC/DATA/MAPS/MANHAT/MANHAT12.IPL
which finally is transformed to (e.g.)
C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\Grand Theft Auto 4\PC\DATA\MAPS\MANHAT\MANHAT12.IPL
This page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. This page has a separate license to the CC-BY-SA that applies to most of Grand Theft Wiki.
The full text of the GNU FDL v1.2 is here. Click the "History" button to see the full list of authors. See Grand Theft Wiki:Copyright for more detail on our copyright policy.
|
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. See Grand Theft Wiki:Copyright for more information. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||