handling.cfg

The handling.cfg file stores handling configuration data and settings for vehicles in GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas.

GTA III and Vice City

Format and syntax description

The file is in plain text format so it can be opened with any text editor (like Notepad). Line comments are indicated by the character ; (semicolon) and empty lines are allowed. They can be placed anywhere in the file. Each entry takes up one line and follows a specific format detailed below. Data in each entry are separated by  (space) and  (horizontal tab). The file must contain the line ;the end\n (;the end with at least an empty line after it) in order for the game to stop reading the file. The length of each line is limited to 200 characters and the size of the file is limited to 55000 bytes but the games do not perform any checks on the limits so going past them can cause instabilities or crashes.

Standard Data

This section contains all the performance settings for land vehicles and provides the base settings for boats, bikes and flying vehicles. In GTA III the special behaviour of boats, bikes and flying vehicles are hardcoded and are not included in the handling.cfg file. Vice City included many of those handling data into the file.

		Identifier	Type	Description
A		vehicle identifier	string	The identifier must be from the list of hardcoded names (see below).
B		fMass	float	Mass of the vehicle in kilograms.
C		Dimensions.x	float	Width of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
D		Dimensions.y	float	Length of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
E		Dimensions.z	float	Height of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
F		CentreOfMass.x	float	Distance from the centre of the car in metres to the right for the centre of mass.
G		CentreOfMass.y	float	Distance from the centre of the car in metres forward for the centre of mass. Moving the weight backward induces oversteer. Moving it forward induces understeer.
H		CentreOfMass.z	float	Distance from the centre of the car in metres upward for the centre of mass. Moving the weight upward increases body roll; downward decreases body roll.
I		nPercentSubmerged	integer	Percentage of the vehicle height required to be submerged for the car to float.
J		fTractionMultiplier	float	Grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction. Effectively the peak grip status before any loss of grip.
K		fTractionLoss	float	Effectively the minimum grip status after losing traction, e.g. in a skidding situation. Higher values make the car more controllable after losing traction.
L		fTractionBias	float	Ratio of front axle grip to rear axle grip; higher value shifts grip forwards.
M		TransmissionData.nNumberOfGears	integer	Number of gearchange animations and sound effects to use.
N		TransmissionData.fMaxVelocity	float	Limits the top speed.
O		TransmissionData.fEngineAcceleration	float	Basic rate of acceleration.
P		TransmissionData.nDriveType	character	Assigns Front, Rear or 4 wheel drive.
Q		TransmissionData.nEngineType	character	Assigns Petrol, Diesel or Electric engine characteristics.
R		fBrakeDeceleration	float	Overall decelerative force, set so keyboard controls do not quite lock up the wheels. Note: this is affected by tire grip.
S		fBrakeBias	float	Ratio of braking force of front compared to rear; higher values move bias forward.
T		bABS	integer	Seems to have no effect.
U		fSteeringLock	float	Maximum rotation of steering arc in degrees; use negatives for rear wheel steered vehicles.
V		fSuspensionForceLevel	float	Essentially the stiffness of the springs. This is affected by the suspension upper/lower limit defined below; less travel will require lower stiffness to remain the same. Note: low suspension force will cause the body to sit lower to the ground and vice versa.
W		fSuspensionDampingLevel	float	Damping prevents the springs from continuing to flex and compress after they are compressed; essentially preventing a bouncy ride.
X		fSeatOffsetDistance	float	Distance from door position to seat position.
Y		fCollisionDamageMultiplier	float	How much damage vehicle engine gets from collisions. Higher value means more damage.
Z		nMonetaryValue	integer	Used to determine monetary award for crusher, collisions, and explosions in GTA III and the Property Destroyed statistic in Vice City.
AA		suspension upper limit	float	Uppermost movement of wheels in metres.
AB		suspension lower limit	float	Ride height of vehicle in metres.
AC		suspension bias	float	Ratio of suspension force to apply at the rear compared to the front.
-	AD	suspension anti-dive multiplier	float	Changes the amount of body pitching under braking and acceleration.
AD	AE	Flags	hex	Special features which can be enabled or disabled (see below).
AE	AF	front lights	integer	Defines the size of the head lights of the vehicle. Using numbers out of range has unusual effects.
AF	AG	rear lights	integer	Same as above but for the tail lights.

List of vehicle identifiers

The games contain a hardcoded list of vehicle identifiers. This is used to assign a vehicle's handling name to a handling index (LANDSTAL is at index 0, IDAHO is at index 1, etc.).

LANDSTAL IDAHO STINGER LINERUN PEREN SENTINEL PATRIOT FIRETRUK TRASH STRETCH MANANA INFERNUS BLISTA PONY MULE CHEETAH AMBULAN FBICAR MOONBEAM ESPERANT TAXI KURUMA BOBCAT MRWHOOP BFINJECT POLICE ENFORCER SECURICA BANSHEE PREDATOR BUS RHINO BARRACKS TRAIN HELI DODO COACH CABBIE STALLION RUMPO RCBANDIT BELLYUP MRWONGS MAFIA YARDIE YAKUZA DIABLOS COLUMB HOODS AIRTRAIN DEADDODO SPEEDER REEFER PANLANT FLATBED YANKEE BORGNINE	LANDSTAL IDAHO STINGER LINERUN PEREN SENTINEL PATRIOT FIRETRUK TRASH STRETCH MANANA INFERNUS PONY MULE CHEETAH AMBULAN FBICAR MOONBEAM ESPERANT TAXI KURUMA BOBCAT MRWHOOP BFINJECT POLICE ENFORCER SECURICA BANSHEE BUS RHINO BARRACKS TRAIN HELI DODO COACH CABBIE STALLION RUMPO RCBANDIT MAFIA AIRTRAIN DEADDODO FLATBED YANKEE GOLFCART VOODOO WASHING CUBAN ROMERO PACKER ADMIRAL GANGBUR ZEBRA TOPFUN GLENDALE OCEANIC HERMES SABRE1 SABRETUR PHEONIX WALTON REGINA COMET DELUXO BURRITO SPAND BAGGAGE KAUFMAN RANCHER FBIRANCH VIRGO GREENWOO HOTRING SANDKING BLISTAC BOXVILLE BENSON DESPERAD LOVEFIST BLOODRA BLOODRB BIKE MOPED DIRTBIKE ANGEL FREEWAY PREDATOR SPEEDER REEFER RIO SQUALO TROPIC COASTGRD DINGHY MARQUIS CUPBOAT SEAPLANE SPARROW SEASPAR MAVERICK COASTMAV POLMAV HUNTER RCBARON RCGOBLIN RCCOPTER	LANDSTAL IDAHO STINGER LINERUN PEREN SENTINEL PATRIOT FIRETRUK TRASH STRETCH MANANA INFERNUS PONY MULE CHEETAH AMBULAN FBICAR MOONBEAM ESPERANT TAXI KURUMA BOBCAT MRWHOOP BFINJECT POLICE ENFORCER SECURICA BANSHEE BUS RHINO BARRACKS TRAIN FERRY HELI DODO COACH CABBIE STALLION RUMPO RCBANDIT MAFIA AIRTRAIN DEADDODO FLATBED YANKEE BLISTA BELLYUP MRWONGS YARDIE YAKUZA DIABLOS COLUMB HOODS PANLANT BORGNINE CAMPVAN BALLOT SPIDER SHELBY PONTIAC ESPRIT MINI HOTROD SINDACCO FORELLI BIKE MOPED DIRTBIKE ANGEL DIRTBIK2 ANGE2 FREEWAY PREDATOR SPEEDER REEFER MAVERICK COASTMAV POLMAV HUNTER RCGOBLIN RCCOPTER

Flags

The flag is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Game	Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
	1	1	1G_BOOST	Power boost in first gear. Makes tyres spin more readily from standing starts.
		2	2G_BOOST	Power boost in second gear. Makes tyres spin more readily at low speeds.
		4	REV_BONNET	Reverses the direction boot and bonnet axis operate.
		8	HANGING_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the top.
	2	1	NO_DOORS	Removes all testing for doors.
		2	IS_VAN	Allows double boot object.
		4	IS_BUS	Uses Coach version of animations over standard one and makes the driver invisible (only makes sense to use on Coach).
		8	IS_LOW	Uses low version of animations over standard one.
	3	1	DBL_EXHAUST	Creates a second exhaust by mirroring the model's exhaust over the y-axis.
		2	TAILGATE_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the bottom.
		4	NOSWING_BOOT	When damaged, boot does not swing if it normally does and falls off instead.
		8	NONPLAYER_STABILISER	Seems to have no effect, could be related to how the AI operates the vehicle
	4	1	NEUTRALHANDLING	Stability control. Prevents oversteer.
		2	HAS_NO_ROOF	Various slight effects.
		4	IS_BIG	Changes the way that the AI drives around corners.
		8	HALOGEN_LIGHTS	Bluish headlights.
	5	1	IS_BIKE	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a motorbike when used with default.ide attributes.
		2	IS_HELI	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a helicopter when used with default.ide attributes.
		4	IS_PLANE	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a plane when used with default.ide attributes.
		8	IS_BOAT	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a boat when used with default.ide attributes.
	6	1	NO_EXHAUST	Removes the exhaust animation particle for this vehicle.
		2	REARWHEEL_1ST	Seems to have no effect.
		4	HANDBRAKE_TYRE	Seems to have no effect.
		8	SIT_IN_BOAT	Makes the player sit in this boat.
	7	1	FAT_REARW	Wider rear wheels.
		2	NARROW_FRONTW	Narrower front wheels.
		4	GOOD_INSAND	Prevents vehicle from bogging down on sand surface.
		8		Is not mentioned in the handling.cfg comments. Causes the vehicle to not render while looking behind in first person view.

• 

  A Sentinel with double exhausts (DBL_EXHAUST).

• 

  An Idaho with normal headlights on the left compared with a Stinger with halogen lights (HALOGEN_LIGHTS) on the right.

• 

  A Linerunner with normal wheels on the left compared with a Linerunner with fat rear wheels (FAT_REARW) on the right.

• 

  A Linerunner with normal wheels on the left compared with a Linerunner with narrow front wheels (NARROW_FRONTW) on the right.

Vice City-specific

The following sections contain information specific to Vice City.

Boat Data

Some of the Standard Data settings have a different effect for floating vehicles than they would for land vehicles.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
J	Bank Force Mult	Amount of lean when turning.
K	Rudder Turn Force	Effect of the steering.
L	Speed Steer Falloff	Amount to reduce steering effect by as speed increases.
R	Vertical Wave Hit Limit
S	Forward Wave Hit Brake
V	WaterResistance Volume Mult
W	Water Damping Mult
ab	Handbrake Drag Mult
ac	Sideslip Force	Strength that the boat will be pushed sideways by waves.

Data specific to boats have lines that begin with % (percentage sign) character.

%	Identifier	Type	Description
A	ID	string	The identifier must be from the list of hardcoded names (see above).
B	ThrustY	float
C	ThrustZ	float
D	ThrustAppZ	float
E	AqPlaneForce	float
F	AqPlaneLimit	float
G	AqPlaneOffset	float
H	WaveAudioMult	float
I	MoveResX	float
J	MoveResY	float
K	MoveResZ	float
L	TurnResX	float
M	TurnResY	float
N	TurnResZ	float
O	Look_L_R_BehindCamHeight	float

Bike Data

Data specific to bikes have lines that begin with ! (exclamation mark) character.

!	Identifier	Type	Description
A	ID	string	The identifier must be from the list of hardcoded names (see above).
B	LeanFwdCOM	float
C	LeanFwdForce	float
D	LeanBakCOM	float
E	LeanBackForce	float
F	MaxLean	float
G	FullAnimLean	float
H	DesLean	float
I	SpeedSteer	float
J	SlipSteer	float
K	NoPlayerCOMz	float
L	WheelieAng	float
M	StoppieAng	float
N	WheelieSteer	float
O	WheelieStabMult	float
P	StoppieStabMult	float

Flying Data

Data specific to flying vehicles have lines that begin with $ (dollar sign) character.

$	Identifier	Type	Description
A	ID	string	The identifier must be from the list of hardcoded names (see above).
B	Thrust	float	Engine power. This affects yaw, pitch and roll in that those values could be equal, but the vehicle with greater thrust will have more pronounced yaw, pitch and roll.
C	ThrustFallOff	float
D	Yaw	float
E	YawStab	float
F	SideSlip	float
G	Roll	float
H	RollStab	float
I	Pitch	float
J	PitchStab	float
K	FormLift	float
L	AttackLift	float
M	MoveRes	float
N	TurnRes.x	float
O	TurnRes.y	float
P	TurnRes.z	float	Affects how likely vehicle is to rotate in terms of yaw without using the rudder.
Q	SpeedRes.x	float
R	SpeedRes.y	float
S	SpeedRes.z	float

GTA San Andreas

Standard Data

This section contains all the performance settings for land vehicles and provides the base settings for boats, bikes and flying vehicles. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
A	vehicle identifier	Relates this data with vehicle.ide and other files.
B	fMass	Mass of the vehicle in kilograms.
C	fTurnMass	Used to calculate motion effects. Higher values make the vehicle's body rotate slower around every axis (similar to the VecInertiaMultiplier values in GTAV). This also seems to be relative to Mass, meaning that a vehicle with a greater Mass requires an exponentially greater Turn Mass to achieve the same effect.
D	fDragMult	Changes resistance to movement.
F	CentreOfMass.x	Distance from the centre of the car in metres to the right for the centre of mass.
G	CentreOfMass.y	Distance from the centre of the car in metres forwards for the centre of mass. Affects handling such that negative values (moving the weight back) induces oversteer in RWD vehicles. Moving the weight forward has the same effect on FWD vehicles.
H	CentreOfMass.z	Distance from the centre of the car in metres upwards for the centre of mass. Affects stability of car; negative values inhibit rolling over.
I	nPercentSubmerged	Percentage of the vehicle height required to be submerged for the car to float.
J	fTractionMultiplier	Grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction. Effectively the peak grip status before any loss of grip.
K	fTractionLoss	Effectively the minimum grip status after losing traction, e.g. in a skidding situation. Higher values make the car more controllable after losing traction.
L	fTractionBias	Ratio of front axle grip to rear axle grip; higher value shifts grip forwards.
M	TransmissionData.nNumberOfGears	Number of gearchange animations and sound effects to use.
N	TransmissionData.fMaxVelocity	Limits the top speed.
O	TransmissionData.fEngineAcceleration	Basic rate of acceleration. Functionally acts as engine power.
P	TransmissionData.fEngineInertia	Smooths or sharpens the acceleration curve.
Q	TransmissionData.nDriveType	Assigns Front, Rear or 4 wheel drive.
R	TransmissionData.nEngineType	Assigns Petrol, Diesel or Electric engine characteristics.
S	fBrakeDeceleration	Overall decelerative force.
T	fBrakeBias	Ratio of braking force of front compared to rear; higher values move bias forward.
U	bABS	Anti-lock Brakes. "0" = disabled and "1" = enabled
V	fSteeringLock	Maximum angle of steering in degrees.
a	fSuspensionForceLevel	Stiffness of springs.
b	fSuspensionDampingLevel	Damping strength.
c	fSuspensionHighSpdComDamp	Stiffens the dampening strength as speed increases.
d	suspension upper limit	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
e	suspension lower limit	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
f	suspension bias between front and rear	Ratio of suspension force to apply at the front compared to the rear. If weight is shifted forward or backward, this must be adjusted or else the car will lean in that direction.
g	suspension anti-dive multiplier	Reduces body pitching under braking and acceleration.
aa	fSeatOffsetDistance	Distance from door position to seat postion.
ab	fCollisionDamageMultiplier	Amount of engine damage vehicle gets from collisions. Higher value means more damage.
ac	nMonetaryValue	Used to calculate the Value of property damaged statistic.
af	modelFlags	Special animations features of the which can be enabled or disabled.
ag	handlingFlags	Special performance features.
ah	front lights	Type of head lights of the vehicle.
ai	rear lights	Same as above but for the tail lights.
aj	Vehicle anim group	Refers to an Animation ID number.

Model Flag Data

Column "af", called "modelFlags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	IS_VAN	Allows double doors for the rear animation.
	2	IS_BUS	Uses Coach version of animations over standard one and makes the driver invisible (only makes sense to use on Coach).
	4	IS_LOW	Uses low version of animations over standard one.
	8	IS_BIG	Changes the way that the AI drives around corners.
2	1	REVERSE_BONNET	Bonnet and boot open in opposite direction from normal.
	2	HANGING_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the top.
	4	TAILGATE_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the bottom.
	8	NOSWING_BOOT	When damaged, boot does not swing if it normally does and falls off instead.
3	1	NO_DOORS	Removes all testing for doors.
	2	TANDEM_SEATS	Two people will use the front passenger seat.
	4	SIT_IN_BOAT	Uses seated boat animation instead of standing.
	8	CONVERTIBLE	Changes how hookers operate and other small effects.
4	1	NO_EXHAUST	Removes all exhaust particles.
	2	DBL_EXHAUST	Creates a second exhaust by mirroring the model's exhaust over the y-axis.
	4	NO1FPS_LOOK_BEHIND	Prevents player using rear view when in first-person mode.
	8	FORCE_DOOR_CHECK
5	1	AXLE_F_NOTILT	Front wheels stay vertical to the car like GTA 3.
	2	AXLE_F_SOLID	Front wheels stay parallel to each other.
	4	AXLE_F_MCPHERSON	Front wheels tilt like GTA Vice City.
	8	AXLE_F_REVERSE	Reverses the tilting of wheels when using AXLE_F_MCPHERSON suspension.
6	1	AXLE_R_NOTILT	Rear wheels stay vertical to the car like GTA 3.
	2	AXLE_R_SOLID	Rear wheels stay parallel to each other.
	4	AXLE_R_MCPHERSON	Rear wheels tilt like GTA Vice City.
	8	AXLE_R_REVERSE	Reverses the tilting of wheels when using AXLE_R_MCPHERSON suspension.
7	1	IS_BIKE	Use extra handling settings in the bikes section.
	2	IS_HELI	Use extra handling settings in the flying section.
	4	IS_PLANE	Use extra handling settings in the flying section.
	8	IS_BOAT	Use extra handling settings in the boats section.
8	1	BOUNCE_PANELS
	2	DOUBLE_RWHEELS	Places a second instance of each rear wheel next to the normal one.
	4	FORCE_GROUND_CLEARANCE	Prevents vehicle from bottoming out. If disabled, vehicle may collide with stairs instead of jumping off them.
	8	IS_HATCHBACK

Handling Flag Data

Column "ag", called "handlingFlags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	1G_BOOST	Gives more engine power for standing starts; better hill climbing.
	2	2G_BOOST	Gives more engine power at slightly higher speeds.
	4	NPC_ANTI_ROLL	No body roll when driven by AI characters.
	8	NPC_NEUTRAL_HANDL	Stability control for AI drivers. Prevents oversteer.
2	1	NO_HANDBRAKE	Disables the handbrake effect.
	2	STEER_REARWHEELS	Rear wheels steer instead of front, like a forklift truck.
	4	HB_REARWHEEL_STEER	Handbrake makes the rear wheels steer as well as front, like the monster truck.
	8	ALT_STEER_OPT
3	1	WHEEL_F_NARROW2	Very narrow front wheels.
	2	WHEEL_F_NARROW	Narrow front wheels.
	4	WHEEL_F_WIDE	Wide front wheels.
	8	WHEEL_F_WIDE2	Very wide front wheels.
4	1	WHEEL_R_NARROW2	Very narrow rear wheels.
	2	WHEEL_R_NARROW	Narrow rear wheels.
	4	WHEEL_R_WIDE	Wide rear wheels.
	8	WHEEL_R_WIDE2	Very wide rear wheels.
5	1	HYDRAULIC_GEOM	Lowrider hydraulics
	2	HYDRAULIC_INST	Will spawn with hydraulics installed.
	4	NOS_INST	Vehicle automatically gets NOS installed when it spawns.
	8	HYDRAULIC_NONE	Hydraulics cannot be installed.
6	1	OFFROAD_ABILITY	Vehicle will perform better on loose surfaces like dirt.
	2	OFFROAD_ABILITY2	Vehicle will perform better on soft surfaces like sand.
	4	HALOGEN_LIGHTS	Bluish headlights.
	8	PROC_REARWHEEL_1ST
7	1	USE_MAXSP_LIMIT	Prevents vehicle going faster than column N value for maximum speed.
	2	LOW_RIDER	Allows vehicle to be modified at Loco Low Co shops.
	4	STREET_RACER	When set, vehicle can only be modified at Wheel Arch Angels.
	8	UNDEFINED	No effect.
8	1	SWINGING_CHASSIS	Lets the car body move from side to side on the suspension.
	2	UNDEFINED	No effect.
	4	UNDEFINED	No effect.
	8	UNDEFINED	No effect.

Boat Data

This section contains all the performance settings from the section for floating vehicles, such as boats and flying vehicles which can land on water. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
J	Bank Force Mult	Amount of lean when turning.
K	Rudder Turn Force	Effect of the steering.
L	Speed Steer Falloff	Amount to reduce steering effect by as speed increases.
S	Vertical Wave Hit Limit
T	Forward Wave Hit Brake
a	WaterResistance Volume Mult
b	Water Damping Mult
d	Handbrake Drag Mult
e	Sideslip Force	Strength that the boat will be pushed sideways by waves.

Tools

•    CFG Studio - a comprehensive handling editor for GTA3, GTA VC and GTA SA by Cerbera.
• Handling.cfg Reloader

See also

• handling.dat

External links

• GTA3 Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera
• VC Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera
• SA Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera