GXT

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A GTA Text (GXT) file contains almost all texts that are displayed on the screen of GTA2 and above. The location of those files may differ between the various game versions, but they are usualy located in a text\ folder inside the games installation directory. Except for GTA 2 There is one GXT file for each language, but the number of gxt files does not define the number of supported languages by the game.

File Format

Each GXT file contains certain tables with entries. And each entry has a unique CRC identifier and a normal text.

GTA San Andreas / GTA IV Format

Header

The header contains data about the tables and their subtables.

INT32   - 4b   - Version (0x080004 for ASCII, 0x100004 for UTF-16)
CHAR[4] - 4b   - TABL

Table Block

The Table Block contains data about the subtables and their offsets.

INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

//Array of [Blocksize / 12 Entries]
CHAR[8] - 8b   - Subtablename
INT32   - 4b   - Offset

The Offset of the subtable points to an 8-byte Char Array with the subtable's name, followed by TKEY. For the MAIN Table this points directly to TKEY!

TKEY and TDAT

TKEY

The TKEY Block of an subtable contains the CRC32-values of the entrytitles. The game calculates the CRC32-value out of a given string and checks if they exist in the GXT.

CHAR[4] - 4b   - TKEY
INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

//Array of [Blocksize / 8]
INT32   - 4b   - Entryoffset
INT32   - 4b   - CRC32 (Entryname)

The TKEY block is directly followed by the TDAT Block which contains the contents of the entries. The Entryoffset is relative to the TDAT + 4 offset.

TDAT

CHAR[4] - 4b   - TDAT
INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

From here the entryoffset of each entry points to the content. The content can have different sizes. However it always ends in '\0'! For Example "Hello!" needs to be transformed to "Hello!\0" here and this gives a size of 6 bytes (To tell it in a short form content is a null-terminated string). If this is the 1st content in TDAT the next got an offset of 0x06!

Encodings

GTA SA          : Windows-1252 always.
GTA IV(8 bits)  : Custom Encoding
GTA IV(16 bits) : Well, its a fake 16 bits encoding, all you need to take care about first 8 bits(1 byte). 
                  Eg. A3F4 C2DD E922, read only A3, C2, E9.

GTA III / GTA Vice City Format

Vice City and GTA III GXTs are very similar to the SA GXTs. In this article all those additional infos are not listed.

Header

The header contains data about the tables and their subtables.

CHAR[4] - 4b   - TABL

Table Block

INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

//Array of [Blocksize / 12 Entries]
CHAR[8] - 8b   - Subtablename
INT32   - 4b   - Offset

TKEY and TDAT

TKEY

CHAR[4] - 4b   - TKEY
INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

//Array of [Blocksize / 12]
INT32   - 4b   - Entryoffset
CHAR[8] - 8b   - Entryname

Unlike San Andreas entrynames are stored directly in 8b chararrays here. This means to calculate the entries in the table you have to divide the blocksize through 12. The Entryoffsets are relative to the end of the "TDAT Header". This means you have to add the entryoffset to the stream position after the TDAT size. (TDAT_Offset + 8 + Entryoffset), to get to the entry.

TDAT

CHAR[4] - 4b   - TDAT
INT32   - 4b   - Blocksize

The TDAT-Block contains the strings which are displayed by the game. But here are some differences towards San Andreas. The strings are encoded in unicode, which means that each character takes the space of 2 characters (which means 2 bytes per character). Mostly the last byte is 0x00.

GTA2 Format

Except for additional header at beginning GTA2 GXT files are identical to GTA3 format.

The first 4 bytes can be one of following, and identify the language for the file: GBLE - english GBLF - french GBLG - german GBLI - italian GBLS - spanish GBLJ - japanese

A uint16 file version follows which is always 100 (decimal)

Text is stored with some specialities, characters are 16 bit while only one of these bytes is actual character the other may store special data such as gang message icon id, etc.. the text is zero-terminated.

The rest of file is same as gta3 with familiar tkey & tdat sections.

GXT Editing

Symbols & Colorcodes (Control Character)

Symbol	Description
	GTA III	Vice City	San Andreas
~1~	number within a text
~a~	text within a text
~b~	blue text	blue text	blue text
~d~			▼-icon
~g~	green text	hot pink text	green text
~h~	white text		highlight
~j~			?
~k~	key (followed by keypresses)
~l~	black text	forces text to default color and ignores set colors	black text
~n~			newline
~m~			?
~o~		pink text	?
~p~	purple text	purple text	purple text
~q~		plum pink text
~r~	red text	hot pink text	red text
~s~			reset color to standard
~t~		green text
~u~			▲-icon
~v~			?
~w~	gray text	gray text	white text
~x~		light blue text	?
~y~	yellow text	yellow text	yellow text
~z~			subtitle (doesn't shown when the Subtitles option is off)
~<~			◄-icon
~>~			►-icon
Special symbols (otherwise normal or blank)
"	triangle icon
<	◄ icon	armor icon
>	► icon	wanted level (star) icon
@
^
_
{		heart icon
|	circle icon
}		dollar sign icon (not "$")

Note that using "~" by itself will crash the game when the game attempts to display it.

Keypresses

You can use opcode 00E1 to check if these keys are being pressed.

Foot Controls

Key	Game	Entry
Fire		~PED_FIREWEAPON~
Next Weapon / Target		~PED_CYCLE_WEAPON_RIGHT~
Previous Weapon / Target		~PED_CYCLE_WEAPON_LEFT~
Group Ctrl Foward		~GROUP_CONTROL_FWD~
Group Ctrl Back		~GROUP_CONTROL_BWD~
Conversation - No		~CONVERSATION_NO~
Conversation - Yes		~CONVERSATION_YES~
Foward		~GO_FORWARD~
Backwards		~GO_BACK~
Left		~GO_LEFT~
Right		~GO_RIGHT~
Zoom In		~PED_SNIPER_ZOOM_IN~
Zoom Out		~PED_SNIPER_ZOOM_OUT~
Enter+Exit		~VEHICLE_ENTER_EXIT~
Change Camera		~CAMERA_CHANGE_VIEW_ALL_SITUATIONS~
Jump		~PED_JUMPING~
Sprint		~PED_SPRINT~
Target / Aim Weapon		~PED_LOCK_TARGET~
Crouch		~PED_DUCK~
Action		~PED_ANSWER_PHONE~
Walk		~SNEAK_ABOUT~
Look Behind		~PED_LOOKBEHIND~
Look Left	[1]	~PED_1RST_PERSON_LOOK_LEFT~
Look Right	[1]	~PED_1RST_PERSON_LOOK_RIGHT~
Look Up	[1]	~PED_1RST_PERSON_LOOK_UP~
Look Down	[1]	~PED_1RST_PERSON_LOOK_DOWN~
Next Target	[1]	~PED_CYCLE_TARGET_LEFT~
Previous Target	[1]	~PED_CYCLE_TARGET_RIGHT~
Center Camera	[1]	~PED_CENTER_CAMERA_BEHIND_PLAYER~

Vehicle Controls

Key	Game	Entry
Fire		~VEHICLE_FIREWEAPON~
Secondary Fire		~VEHICLE_FIREWEAPON_ALT~
Accelerate		~VEHICLE_ACCELERATE~
Brake / Reverse		~VEHICLE_BRAKE~
Left		~VEHICLE_STEERLEFT~
Right		~VEHICLE_STEERRIGHT~
Steer Foward / Down		~VEHICLE_STEERDOWN~
Steer Back / Up		~VEHICLE_STEERUP~
Enter+Exit		~VEHICLE_ENTER_EXIT~
Trip Skip		~CONVERSATION_YES~
Change Radio Station		~VEHICLE_CHANGE_RADIO_STATION~
Next Radio Station		~VEHICLE_RADIO_STATION_UP~
Previous Radio Station		~VEHICLE_RADIO_STATION_DOWN~
User Track Skip		none
Horn		~VEHICLE_HORN~
Sub-mission		~TOGGLE_SUBMISSIONS~
Change Camera		~CAMERA_CHANGE_VIEW_ALL_SITUATIONS~
Handbrake		~VEHICLE_HANDBRAKE~
Mouse Look		~VEHICLE_MOUSELOOK~
Look Left		~VEHICLE_LOOKLEFT~
Look Right		~VEHICLE_LOOKRIGHT~
Turret Left / Special Ctrl Left		~VEHICLE_TURRETLEFT~
Turret Right / Special Ctrl Right		~VEHICLE_TURRETRIGHT~
Turret Up / Special Ctrl Up		~VEHICLE_TURRETUP~
Turret Down / Special Ctrl Down		~VEHICLE_TURRETDOWN~
Look Behind	[2]	~VEHICLE_LOOKBEHIND~

^[1] Classic controls key only
^[2] Hardcoded key in III and VC, unavailable in SA

Unused

Here are some keypress codes only used during development stage. They were removed or replaced later but probably they are still working. Maybe this is useful for further research. Some are only used in PS2 Version.

~TAKE_SCREEN_SHOT~
~SWITCH_DEBUG_CAM_ON~
~TOGGLE_DPAD~
~NETWORK_TALK~

Tools

•    Grand Theft Auto GXT Editor v1.3 - by Zverik, retrieved from archive.org
• GTA Texter v0.93 - by feroCT5
• GXT Editor 1.3 - by Jevon
• GTA: Vice City GXT Editor v1.2 - by CyQ
• GTA San Andreas Text Editor - by JernejL, retrieved from archive.org
• GTA: San Andreas GXT Editor v1.3 - by Hammer83
• A-GXT Editor v1.0a - by Aschratt
• X GXT Editor v2.1 - by xmen

External links

• List of all GXT entries from GTA III to Vice City Stories
• Some of GTA IV GXT text entry names
•  GTAForums: List of usable characters