DAT

DAT is the extension used for general data files for Grand Theft Auto. They are commonly plain text files (although there are binary ones) and many have different structures.

List of data files

Files that do not have a specific game are present in every game of GTA 3D series (GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas) and GTA HD series (GTA IV, GTA V).

Game File Description Notes
  CAPS.DAT Stores information about the capabilities of the user video card. binary file
  FemalePlayerSettings.dat, MalePlayerSettings.dat Contains info necessary to render the multiplayer player
  spath*.dat Defines script path data for objects
  ambient.dat
  animgrp.dat, animgrp1.dat Contains predefined animation sequences (By default different types of walking)
animviewer.dat
  ar_stats.dat Present in GTA IV but unused?
  bloodFx.dat
carcols.dat Contains information about vehicle colors
  cargrp.dat
    carmods.dat Defines vehicle tuning abilities and additional car components which can be attached to vehicles using the tuning garages.
  CHASE*.DAT Controls all cars in the introduction sequence binary files located in the .\data\paths directory
  cj_gta.dat
  clothes.dat Defines different rules for clothing. There are different commands to generate special behaving rules for different clothes the player is able to buy. Present in GTA IV and GTA V but unused.
  credits*.dat
    cullzone.dat Contains cullzones flags and coordinates binary file, unused in Vice City
  cullzoneempty.dat binary file, unused
default.dat General map listing file
  distantlights.dat binary file
  entityFx.dat
  explosionFx.dat
    fistfite.dat Contains information for melee attacks
    flight*.dat Defines path data for all airborne NPC aircraft
fonts.dat Contains information about the fonts used in the game The fonts are split up into sprites. Fonts themselves are located in the .\models\fonts.txd texture dictionary.
  frontend.dat
  furnitur.dat This file is unused and can be left blank, but it must not be deleted since the game tries to parse it. It originally contains information about furniture which was planned to be used for automatically generating different furniture in interiors. However, this file and the interior models/collision files are not used by the game engine, and other required files are missing. Present in GTA IV but unused?
  gridref.dat Defines responsibilities of certain map areas and their owners for Rockstar's internal bug tracking system called Bugstar. Leftover from San Andreas development stage, apparently not required by the game.
gta.dat General map listing file called gta3.dat for GTA 3 and gta-vc.dat for Vice City
  gta_quick.dat
  handling.dat Contains the attributes of all vehicles in the game (handling.cfg from previous games)
  hud.dat Contains initial display settings for each HUD component
  hudcolor.dat Contains RGB colour values that the game uses
  loadingscreens*.dat Contains the animation of static loading screen images
  map*.dat located in the .\data\maps directory, unused
  materialFx.dat
  materials.dat
  melee.dat Present in GTA IV but unused?
  meleeAnims.dat Specifies all anims available to the melee system
  moveblend.dat Contains some parameters for blended ped animation
  nav.dat This file is read in to initialise the "CPathServer" pathfinding class
  navprecalc.dat binary file
  networktest.dat
  numplate.dat Present in GTA IV and GTA V but unused.
object.dat Defines additional object information for dynamic objects
ped.dat Contains information about pedtypes and their relationships
  pedProps.dat
pedgrp.dat Contains information about default spawned characters for each zone
  pedpersonality.dat
  pedpopulation.dat binary file
      pedstats.dat Specifies properties of characters
  plants.dat
  polydensity.dat
  popcycle.dat
  procobj.dat
  scenarios.dat
  shopping.dat Describes additional shopping information for various features (like car modifications or clothes). It defines their price just as their influence on different statistics. All information of this file can be requested by the script where it gets processed.
  statdisp.dat
      surface.dat Contains friction multipliers for all surfaces
  surfaud.dat
  surfinfo.dat
timecyc.dat Controls the weather and the game's appearance
  timecycp.dat Controls the weather and the game's appearance
      tracks*.dat located in the .\data\paths directory
  train.dat, train2.dat Stores fixed train camera nodes Present in Vice City but unused
  visualSettings.dat (IV) Stores initial values for configuration of in game elements
water.dat Controls sea level and water maps
  water1.dat
    waterpro.dat
weapon.dat Controls weapon properties

See also

  • CFG, the extension for configuration files