Cutscene
'Cutscenes are short, pre-animated sequences before, during or after missions. Their purpose is to advance the plot and give background information about characters, situations and actions.
Contents
San Andreas Cutscenes
In San Andreas cutscenes are only loaded using main.scm. However, camera movement during cutscenes can't be controlled via script. This data is usually stored externally in the anim\cuts.img archive. Each cutscene consists of 3 files with the same name and a different extension: .cut, .ifp and .dat.
Whilst modification of existing cutscenes is possible through the files detailed below, new cutscenes cannot be added to the game unless they have a filename that already exists. This is due to the presence of an internally hardcoded table which links each cutscene (the .cut, .ifp and .dat files) to its audio streams and it does so by cutscene filename.
Cutscene data
The CUT File
The .cut file is loaded first. It contains the important data of the cutscene like its offset and the loaded models. The models of an cutscene are usually stored in the models\cutscene.img archive. It's split up into certain sections. Not every cut-file requires all sections, but it is better to include all sections into a cut-file and leave unused sections empty.
INFO
The info section contains information to the offset. It describes the 3D-coords of a point to which all other coords in the rest of the files are relative. Its format is
info offset X Y Z end
The offset parameter can also be set using opcode 0244.
MODEL
The model section contains information about models the cutscene uses. The models don't need to be defined in the IDEs. But the texture name must be the same as the model's one. The model section also attaches models to animations in the IFP-animation archive. Its format is:
model ?, name, animation end
Where the name is without extension, and the animation describes an entry in the IFP file. The unknown value is a number, which is always 1 and actually is ignored by the game.
There is a Limit to 50 entries here!
EXTRACOL
Extracol stands for "Extracolor" and sets the active interior's color. It corresponds to the opcode 04F9.
extracol Number end
Extracolours can be edited in the TimeCyc_Definition file
TEXT
The text section displays a GXT Entry at an certain point of time relative to the cutscene start.
text starttime, length, gxt end
Where the numbers are integer and define the time in milliseconds.
UNCOMPRESS
the uncompress-section uncompresses the IFP animations.
uncompress Animation end
PEFFECT
stands for the particle effect and sets an particle effect from the effects.fxp.
peffect effectname, starttime, endtime, unknown_number, bone, X, Y, Z, ?, ?, ? end
The bone is a number of the body part the particle effect is attached to.
REMOVE
Removes an static (IPL-mapped) object being placed at specified coord.
remove Objectname, X, Y, Z end
ATTACH
Actually the content and use of this section is unknown. It is rarely used.
attach Number, Number, Number end
MOTION
This section is ignored by the game!
The DAT-File
The dat-file contains information about the camera movements during the cutscene.
It consists of 4 blocks:
- Block1: Rotation
- Block2: Zoom
- Block3: CameraPositions
- Block4: CameraTargetPoints
Each block starts with an integer number being the number of entries in this block, followed by its content and ended by a semicolon. The whole file is also marked as finished with an additional semicolon. Each line is marked as finished by an simple comma. The file describes 3 lanes, where the last 2 ones are ignored. So those 3 lines could be set identically by editors. This gives a general format:
TimeOffset,Lane1,Lane2,Lane3,
The TimeOffset is an floating value which defines the time of the event in seconds. The game interpolates the curve between the 2 points.
Block1 - Rotation
TimeOffset,Rotation(Lane_1),Rotation(Lane_2),Rotation(Lane_3),
Describes the rotation around the vector towards the target point in euler angles (degree).
Block2 - Zoom
TimeOffset,Zoom(Lane_1),Zoom(Lane_2),Zoom(Lane_3),
Defines the focal of the camera for each lane.
Block3 - Cameraposition
TimeOffset,X(Lane_1),Y(Lane_1),Z(Lane_1),X(Lane_2),Y(Lane_2),Z(Lane_2),X(Lane_3),Y(Lane_3),Z(Lane_3),
Defines the position of the camera relative to the offset point.
Block4 - Target
TimeOffset,X(Lane_1),Y(Lane_1),Z(Lane_1),X(Lane_2),Y(Lane_2),Z(Lane_2),X(Lane_3),Y(Lane_3),Z(Lane_3),
Defines the position of the target of the camera relative to the offset-point.
The IFP animation archive
This is an ANPK (Animation Package v1 | GTA III/VC) IFP file including the animations used for the cutscene. For the file specification look here: IFP Animations. The positions of the bones and animated objects in the animation are relative to the offset defined in the INFO section of the .cut file.
List of Cutscenes in San Andreas
| Cutscene | Description |
|---|---|
| bcesa4w | |
| bcesa5w | |
| bcesar2 | |
| bcesar4 | |
| bcesar5 | |
| bcras1 | |
| bcras2 | |
| bhill1 | |
| bhill2 | |
| bhill3a | |
| bhill3b | |
| bhill3c | |
| bhill5a | |
| bhill5b | |
| cas6b_1 | |
| cas6b_2 | |
| cas_11a | |
| cas_1a | |
| cas_2 | |
| cas_3 | |
| cas_4a | |
| cas_4b | |
| cas_4c | |
| cas_5a | |
| cas_6a | |
| cas_7b | |
| cas_9a1 | |
| cas_9a2 | |
| cat_1 | |
| cat_2 | |
| cat_3 | |
| cat_4 | |
| cesar1a | |
| crash1a | |
| crash3a | |
| crashv1 | |
| crashv2a | |
| crashv2b | |
| cuttest | |
| d10_alt | |
| d8_alt | |
| date1a | |
| date1b | |
| date2a | |
| date2b | |
| date3a | |
| date3b | |
| date4a | |
| date4b | |
| date5a | |
| date5b | |
| date6a | |
| date6b | |
| desert1 | |
| desert2 | |
| desert3 | |
| desert4 | |
| desert6 | |
| desert8 | |
| desert9 | |
| des_10a | |
| des_10b | |
| doc_2 | |
| epilog | |
| farl_2a | |
| farl_3a | |
| farl_3b | |
| farl_4a | |
| farl_5a | |
| final1a | |
| final2a | |
| final2b | |
| garag1b | |
| garag1c | |
| garag3a | |
| grove1a | |
| grove1b | |
| grove1c | |
| grove2 | |
| heist1a | |
| heist2a | |
| heist4a | |
| heist5a | |
| heist6a | |
| heist8a | |
| intro1a | |
| intro1b | |
| intro2a | |
| prolog1 | |
| prolog3 | |
| riot4e1 | |
| riot4e2 | |
| riot_1a | |
| riot_1b | |
| riot_2 | |
| riot_4a | |
| riot_4b | |
| riot_4c | |
| riot_4d | |
| ryder1a | |
| ryder2a | |
| ryder3a | |
| scrash1 | |
| scrash2 | |
| smoke1a | |
| smoke1b | |
| smoke2a | |
| smoke2b | |
| smoke3a | |
| smoke4a | |
| steal_1 | |
| steal_2 | |
| steal_4 | |
| steal_5 | |
| strap1a | |
| strap2a | |
| strap3a | |
| strap4a | |
| strp4b1 | |
| strp4b2 | |
| sweet1a | |
| sweet1b | |
| sweet1c | |
| sweet2a | |
| sweet2b | |
| sweet3a | |
| sweet3b | |
| sweet4a | |
| sweet5a | |
| sweet6a | |
| sweet6b | |
| sweet7a | |
| synd_2a | |
| synd_2b | |
| synd_3a | |
| synd_4a | |
| synd_4b | |
| synd_7 | |
| truth_1 | |
| truth_2 | |
| w2_alt | |
| woozi1a | |
| woozi1b | |
| woozie2 | |
| woozie4 | |
| zero_1 | |
| zero_2 | |
| zero_4 |
SCM (OpCodes)
- 0244 - SetsCutscenePosition
- 02E4 - LoadsCutsceneData
- 02E7 - StartsCutscene
- 02E8 - GetsCutsceneTime
- 02E9 - HasCutsceneReachedEnd
- 02EA - EndsCutscene
- 03B7 - ProcessCutsceneOnly
- 06B9 - IsCutsceneDataLoaded
- 08D0 - IsCutsceneSkipped
- 08F0 - SetsCutsceneModelTexture
