View source for Item Definition

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'''Item definition''' files, usually identified by the file extension <code>.ide</code>, are used to declare many different aspects for the map system or to specify special behaviour rules for one of the aspects. They are stored in plain text format, so that they can be opened by any text editing program (like [[Wikipedia:Notepad|Notepad]]), but there are also some tools to simplify editing.

== Overview ==
The ''item definition'' files are split up into several sections. There is no order on how you arrange the sections. Also you do not need to use all the sections in a file.

=== Format and syntax description ===

The basic structure of the different sections is pretty simple. Each section starts with a four-character section identifier indicating how the content of the section gets interpreted by the game. The identifier is followed by the definition entries. Each entry takes one line and every line follows certain rules which are described in the articles handling the sections in detail (see below). However lines can also be empty or commented. If so they get ignored by the games' parser. The end of every section are indicated by the terminating string "end". Both (section identifier and terminating string) are not case sensitive, but by default they are written in lower case.

Comments are usually indicated by the character <code>#</code> (number sign). It is possible to add comments to the end of a line, but breaking the line format for the current section using comments may cause the game to crash during loading. It is recommended that a comment should be placed on a separate line. Comments can also be placed outside of sections.

Lines itself are always formatted in the same way differing only in the number of their parameters describing the semantical content of the line. Parameters are usually separated by the character <code>,</code> (comma). [[wikipedia:Whitespace_character|Whitespace characters]] at the beginning or the end of an parameter get trimmed but they are usually used to give the content a more clear structure to make it more easier to read for human. Strings can be encased by the character <code>"</code> (quotation mark), but this is optional and rarely used by default. Also the games' parser uses an invariant culture to parse numerical values and strings. Which means strings are [[Wikipedia:ASCII|ASCII]] encrypted and the decimal separator is <code>.</code> (period).

==== Section example ====

 objs
 ...
 end

=== Sections ===

The following table contains all known sections in the item definition. The supported games column lists games that support the sections but it doesn't necessarily means they're functional in the games. Mouse over the game icons to see if the games are functional.

{|class="mw-collapsible wikitable center-col-1 center-col-2" style="width: 100%;"
!style="width: 7em;"|Identifier
!style="width: 8em;"|Supported games
!Description
|-
|[[OBJS]]||{{Icon|trilogy}} {{Icon|4}}||Most important section: defines objects for the map. These objects can be placed into the world through the ''[[INST]]'' section of the [[IPL|item placement files]].
|-
|[[TOBJ]]||{{Icon|trilogy}} {{Icon|4}}||Functions similarly to ''OBJS'' but has two additional parameters defining the ingame time range the object can get rendered. These objects can be placed into the world through the ''INST'' section of the item placement files.
|-
|[[HIER]]||{{Icon|trilogy}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to define objects for use in cutscenes.
|-
|[[CARS (IDE Section)|CARS]]||{{Icon|trilogy}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to define vehicles.
|-
|[[PEDS]]||{{Icon|trilogy}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to define pedestrians (random [[wikipedia:Non-player character|NPC's]]).
|-
|[[PATH (IDE Section)|PATH]]||{{Icon|3}} <span title="Vice City (unstable)">{{Icon|VC|16|}}</span>||Used to create waypoints for random NPC spawns ([[Paths]]).
|-
|[[2DFX]]||{{Icon|3}} {{Icon|VC}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to add particle effects and simple ped behaviors to defined objects.
|-
|[[WEAP]]||{{Icon|VC}} {{Icon|SA}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to define weapons.
|-
|[[ANIM]]||{{Icon|SA}} {{Icon|4}}||Functions similarly to ''OBJS'', but it has one additional parameter indicating an [[IFP]] or [[WAD]] animation file to assign an animation to the object.<br>These objects are placed through the ''INST'' section of the item placement files.
|-
|[[TXDP]]||{{Icon|SA}} {{Icon|4}}||Used to virtually extend [[TXD|texture dictionaries]].
|-
|[[TANM]]||{{Icon|4}}||Used to combine ''TOBJ'' and ''ANIM'' sections.<br>Those objects get placed inside the ''INST'' section of the ''WPL''.
|-
|[[TREE]]||<span title="GTA IV (not functional)">{{Icon|4|16|}}</span>||&ndash;
|-
|[[VNOD]]||{{Icon|4}}||&ndash;
|-
|[[LINK]]||{{Icon|4}}||&ndash;
|-
|[[MLO]]||{{Icon|4}}||Used to create [[interior]]s. This section does also contain information about portals (previous [[ENEX]] connections) and dimensions of the interior which influences certain aspects, like the weather, for example. All objects are placed relative to an offset placed using [[MLO+]] inside the [[IPL]] or [[WPL]] file.
|-
|[[AMAT]]||{{Icon|4}}||This is Audio Materials. Possible Used to make a sound effect at the model. Usually used for dynamic objects.
|-
|[[LODM]]||<span title="GTA IV (not functional)">{{Icon|4|16|}}</span>||&ndash;
|-
|[[AGRPS]]||{{Icon|4}}||&ndash;
|-
|[[HAND]]||VC XBOX||&ndash;
|}

== IDE Flags ==

Flags are used in order to specify the behaviour of objects. They are interpreted as signed 32-bit integer values where each bit describes a [[wikipedia:Boolean_algebra_(logic)|boolean]] value of a different aspect. The following table shows the standard flags used for objects defined in ''OBJS'', ''TOBJ'' and ''ANIM'' section.
{{Object-Flags}}

=== GTA III ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Bit !! Value !! Name !! Description !! Examples
|-
| 0 || 1 || NORMAL_CULL || Cull model if player doesn't look at it. Ignored in GTA 3. || Fences
|-
| 1 || 2{{ref|1}} ||  DO_NOT_FADE || Do not fade the object when it is being loaded into or out of view. || Some lampposts
|-
| 2 || 4{{ref|1}} || DRAW_LAST || Model is transparent. Render this object after all opaque objects, allowing transparencies of other objects to be visible through this object. || Trees
|-
| 3 || 8 || ADDITIVE || Render with additive blending. Previous flag must be enabled too. || 
|-
| 4 || 16{{ref|1}} || IS_SUBWAY || Model is a tunnel, i.e. set the object as invisible unless the player enters [[Cullzone.dat|cull zone flag 128]]. This flag works only with static models. || Tunnels, some dynamic objects
|-
| 5 || 32 || IGNORE_LIGHTING || Don't use static lighting, we want dynamic if it's possible. || Some lampposts and trafficlights
|-
| 6 || 64{{ref|1}} || NO_ZBUFFER_WRITE || Model is a shadow. Disable writing to z-buffer when rendering it, allowing transparencies of other objects, shadows, and lights to be visible through this object. || Shadow
|}

For flags defining different aspects of different definitions read the articles about their sections.

== Difference between GTA III and GTA IV engines ==

[[GTA IV]] not only uses different formats to the previous games, it also does not use IDs to identify objects anymore. While [[GTA 3|GTA III]] era games use an ID as an index inside an array of definitions, GTA IV uses the hashes of the model name as a key inside a hash table. For more information about this see [[Map System]].

== Tools ==

* [[KEd]] &ndash; By {{U|JernejL}}
* [[MEd]] &ndash; By {{U|Tonywob}}
* {{GTAG|4817|IDEditor}} &ndash; By {{U|Xmen}}
* {{GTAF|402942|IDE-IV in GTA-IV script centre}} &ndash; by {{U|Gforce}}
* [http://www.aschratt.com/fileview.php?file=1004 FlagValue Calculator] &ndash; By {{U|Aschratt}} - Calculates all flagvalues (even those unknown).

== See also ==

* [[Item placement]]
* [[Map System]]
* [[Dynamic Object]]

== References ==

* {{note|2}} {{GTAF|post|102833|1067607073|Screenshots of flags in GTA III}}

== External links ==

* {{GTAF|102833|GTAVC IDE Definitions}} - topic by {{U|ODIE}} covering specific details of IDE files in GTA VC
* {{GTAF|118193|GTA3/VC Map File Documentation and Troubleshooting}} - topic by {{U|Opius}} covering general features of IDE files in GTA3 and GTA VC
* [http://gta-worldmods.t-n-network.de/forum/thread.php?threadid=3382 ID Flagvalue Decoding Project] - project to decode all missing flag values

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[[Category:Map Formats]]