Time cycle
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 TimeCyc.dat Structure (Section Name, Section Type)
- 2.1 Amb (Color)
- 2.2 Amb_Obj (Color)
- 2.3 Amb_Bl (Color)
- 2.4 Amb_Obj_bl (Color)
- 2.5 Dir (Color)
- 2.6 Sky top (Color)
- 2.7 Sky bot (Color)
- 2.8 SunCore (Color)
- 2.9 SunCorona (Color)
- 2.10 Sky top
- 2.11 SunSz
- 2.12 SprSz
- 2.13 SprBght
- 2.14 Shdw
- 2.15 LightShd
- 2.16 PoleShd
- 2.17 FarClp
- 2.18 FogSt
- 2.19 LightOnGround
- 2.20 LowCloudsRGB (Color)
- 2.21 TopCloudRGB (Color)
- 2.22 BottomCloudRGB (Color)
- 2.23 BlurRGB (Color)
- 2.24 WaterRGBA (Color4)
Introduction
This document only covers gta3 and vice city at the moment.
The timecyc.dat file contains the information for how to display the sky, weather effects and time of day. It is broken into the many sections. There is one line of data per hour in the game, per weather type. In the Vice City timecyc.dat, there is an extra section at the bottom of the file named "EXTRACOLOURS". These extra colours are used for building interiors, but should function the same.
Note: A comment in the timecyc.dat file is preceded by a series of slashes ("//") and they will precede each type of weather, and time of day in the file.
TimeCyc.dat Structure (Section Name, Section Type)
Amb (Color)
Controls amount of ambient color on static map objects, like most buildings, structures and landmasses.
Amb_Obj (Color)
Controls the amount of ambient light on dynamic objects, like pedestrians, vehicles and breakable objects.
Amb_Bl (Color)
Effect unknown, changing produces no visible results.
Amb_Obj_bl (Color)
Effect unknown, changing produces no visible results.
Dir (Color)
Controls amount of direct light on pedestrians and vehicles.
Sky top (Color)
Color of the top of the sky.
Sky bot (Color)
Color of the bottom of the sky.
SunCore (Color)
Coming Soon.
SunCorona (Color)
Coming Soon.
Sky top
Coming Soon.
SunSz
Coming Soon.
SprSz
Coming Soon.
SprBght
Coming Soon.
Shdw
Coming Soon.
LightShd
Coming Soon.
PoleShd
Coming Soon.
FarClp
Coming Soon.
FogSt
Coming Soon.
LightOnGround
Coming Soon.
LowCloudsRGB (Color)
Coming Soon.
TopCloudRGB (Color)
Coming Soon.
BottomCloudRGB (Color)
Coming Soon.
BlurRGB (Color)
Coming Soon.
WaterRGBA (Color4)
Controls the color of the water. On the pc version of the game, the water texture is greenish-blue. It needs to be converted to grayscale to fully see the effect of changing the water color in the timecyc.dat, as the colors defined in this file, are multiplied by the water texture color ingame. The last part of RGBA, the A, is the alpha channel and it controls the level of transparency for the water. 0, will make the water totally transparent, while 255 will make the water as opaque as the game will allow.
