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Paths in Vice City are grouped into nodes, each with at most 12 sub-nodes. The group nodes define the type of vehicle going to be used by the sub nodes. Sub nodes contain path coordinates which are linked to each other. There are two kinds of links:
- internal links – connecting nodes within the same group.
- external links – connecting nodes over two different groups.
Description of the Vice City paths system
First of all, consider a small segment of the line in a group node. The group node has to be defined and then there are the 12 sub-nodes inside it. The number of coordinates vary from 2 to 12. If the number of coordinates does not reach 12, then they are filled with null nodes which does not do anything just to make the group node hold always 12 nodes. The internal and external sub nodes are defined each with a special attribute in it. The internal sub nodes are the middle parts of a segment of the line, while the external sub nodes are the end points of the segment of the line. They are used to connect to other external sub-node or end point of another segment (another group) of the line. To connect the external sub-nodes or end points, they must and always must have the same coordinates. All the other group nodes link up together using this concept, thus you get a path which a vehicle or a ped follows from the beginning and to the end of the line. Spawns are made in the external nodes (always remember that fact) and then they follow the route of the line.
One can add a maximum of 24 group nodes in Vice City though this limit can be increased by Maxorator's Path hacks. [1]
Flags
The last three numbers at the end of a paths line are the Flags, each ones can define a special function.
Flag 1, Node Speed Limit
Flag 1 has been identified as a Speed function. It specifies the speed of NPC Vehicles travelling in the node
| 0 | Slow Vehicle Speed |
| 1 | Average Vehicle Speed |
| 2 | Fast Vehicle Speed |
Flag 2, Vehicle Travel/Roadblock
Flag 2 has been identified as a controller for where some vehicle can travel and where Police Roadblock will spawn.
Note, Police Roadblock will only work if it is a Vehicle node with that Flag.
Note, Specified Vehicles Only, means that only Vehicles with a Specified flag will use the Paths.
| 0 | Flag Ignored |
| 1 | Node Ignored By Traffic |
| 2 | Police Roadblock Spawns |
| 4 | Restricted Node |
Flag 3, Spawn Rate
Flag 3 is supposably used to control the Spawn rate of Vehicles on that path but people have not noticed a difference. The spawn frequency can range from 0.0 to 1.0
Setup of a VC Paths Line [code]iNodeType, iNextNode, iunknown, fX, fY, fZ, fMedian, dwLeftLanes, dwRightLanes, dwSpeedLimit, dwFlags, fSpawnRate [/code]
Tools and scripts
- ^ Maxorator's Path Limit Hack – by
GTAForums: Maxorator 
GTAForums: In-Game Paths Maker – by Swoorup
External links
- Description of the Vice City paths format – by Cerbera
- In-Game Paths Maker for VC – by Swoorup
- Flags description – by AK-73
- paths.ipl statistics for researching – by Steve-m
