Item Placement

Introduction

Item PLacement (.ipl) files are used to place objects into gta world, this includes objects, zones and paths.

Structure

The .ipl files are split up into many sections. How many of them you use in your file is optional, they can even be empty. Each section starts with a section identifier and ends with the keyword "end", both in a single line.

Example:

inst
...
end

INST

Positions of static and dynamic (object.dat) map objects.

GTA3 format:

id, name, x, y, z, sx, sy, sz, rx, ry, rz, rw

GTAVC format:

id, name, int, x, y, z, sx, sy, sz, rx, ry, rz, rw

GTASA format:

id, name, int, x, y, z, rx, ry, rz, rw lod

ID

Unique object identifier. Must match in IDE file identifier. (integer)

Name

Usually same as the .dff model file, without extension (string)

int

Interior number. Zero for outside. (integer)

x, y, z

Item placement coordinates. (floating point numbers)

sx, sy, sz

Item scale, scales visible model only, doesn't scale the collision model. (floating point numbers)

rx, ry, rz, rw

Item rotations. Defined as quaternion, quite sophisticated math is needed to translate it to Euler angles. A map editing program should be used to edit these.

lod

San Andreas only. This the line number in the current IPL file for the LOD which belongs to this object. The first item in IPL file is line number 0, second is number 1 and so on. A value of -1 means no LOD is used. (integer)

PATH

Ped, Car and Boat Paths, defines paths relative to the world centre. Only used in GTA VC, this format is much easier than in GTA3 where the paths were stored in IDE files, and GTA-SA paths which are stored in **nodes.dat inside gta3.img. This is a quite complicated format and hardly usable without an editing program (such as Ked).

GTA SA uses compiled binary files for its paths.

External Links

• GTASA IPL Documentation - GTA Forums topic covering details of the IPL format in GTASA.
• Explanation of GTASA LOD System - GTA Forums message by Steve-M, explaining the LOD system for IPL files in GTASA.