[Q] File changes have no effect in game

[Erem]

Warning: long and rambling post ahead!

 

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on various problems I'm having with the game ignoring changes I make to the game files - but not always.

 

Pedgrp.dat, pedpersonality.dat and Relationships.dat:

Changes I make to these files mostly stopped having an effect after I patched my game to v1.0.0.4 (or it may have been v1.0.4.0 - in any case, it was working fine in v1.0.0.3).

 

Pedpersonality.dat:

I used to be able to alter peds' bravery by editing this file. but the changes I make no longer seem to make any difference in game.

 

Pedgrp.dat:

Most of the popcycle groups in my current pedgrp.dat have a single entry which is the easily-spotted F_Y_StripperC01*. This should mean that almost every ped I encounter in the game is a stripper, yet I still only see them in the strip clubs. I've tried starting a new game in case the unmodified pedgrp.dat information was being read in from the save file that loads at start-up, but still all peds look as they did when I first got the game.

*I should add that this is for testing purposes only, not because I'm obsessed with strippers!

 

Relationships.dat:

I have CIVMALE set to hate CIVFEMALE and vice versa. This stopped working after patching to v1.0.0.4 (or possibly v1.0.4.0). Prior to that, it caused chaos on the streets of Liberty City with running battles between the sexes everywhere Niko went. Now here's the weird bit: one day, long after the settings had stopped having any effect, I started the game as normal, autoloading the same save game file I always use, exited the Albany safehouse, and was greeted by a full-scale riot. For some reason, after months of ignoring Relationships.dat, the game had decided to take notice of what it said! The next time I started the game, everything was back to normal; males and females were back on speaking terms again and have been ever since.

 

Water.dat:

I tried raising and lowering the water level by both small and large amounts using KiLLerBoy_001's Water Height Editor but, despite water.dat being replaced with a much smaller single-line file (which is apparently what should happen), all the water in the game (Middle Park, swimming pools, the ocean etc.) was completely unaffected, both in terms of water level and whether or not there were waves.

 

(I think I even tried removing or renaming water.dat and there was still water in the game - but that may just be my memory playing tricks on me.)

 

Componentpeds.img: (SOLVED)

In OpenIV (v0.9.202), I replaced head_diff_000_c_lat in f_y_hooker_03.wtd with the head_diff_000_a_chi from f_y_cdress_01.wtd, saved the changes - a command prompt window opened and showed that the file was being rewritten - and exited OpenIV. The Date Modifed of componentpeds.img in pc\models\cdimages had changed, confirming that the file had been rewritten, yet there was absolutely no change in game. All three original face textures for the white hooker were there, including the one I'd supposedly replaced. Again I tried starting a new game, but still no difference.

 

Next I reloaded OpenIV to check that my changes had in fact saved and, sure enough, it showed that f_y_hooker_03/head_diff_000_c_lat was a young Chinese woman, not the manky-looking woman with the black eye that I was seeing in game. This would suggest that the game no longer refers to componentpeds.img and that the models and textures are now all hard-coded, but I know that can't be the case as I've previously (with my current game version) successfully run Switch Designs' Miss Officer mod which involves replacing m_y_cop.wtd, m_y_cop.wft and m_y_cop.wdd in componentpeds.img.

 

Congratulations if you've read this far, and thanks. So, long story short, I'm completely baffled. What's going on?

 

Ideally, I'm looking for a solution that doesn't involve patching beyond v1.0.0.4 as I need to have a game version that's compatible with Alice (although switching to Gompie may be a viable alternative).

 

Offtopic: Why does Ambient.dat exclude the (non-existent?) model F_Y_COP from so many ambient animations when there aren't any female cops in the game anyway? Were there female cops in previous GTA games and this is a leftover, or do they appear in DLC/EFLC?

 

EDIT: It occured to me that the game might somehow be reading the backup I'd taken of componentpeds.img which was in the same folder and called componentpeds.img.ORIGINAL, so I moved both the original file and the modified one to the desktop and tried running the game without any componentpeds.img at all. Surpisingly, it didn't crash. Less surprisingly, there were no peds, cops or traffic, but at least I'd proven to myself that the game does look at the file.

 

Next I moved the modified file back and ran the game again. The first thing I noticed was how slow it was running, about 1 frame per second initially. Peds were back again, as expected, but so was the original texture for the hooker that should have been replaced! I don't get it.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Erem

[kudoboi]

ur using IV or EFLC? also why the f*ck did u edit so many files at 1 shot?

[Erem]

 

ur using IV or EFLC? also why the f*ck did u edit so many files at 1 shot?

I'm running IV (shop-bought) patched to v1.0.0.4 on Vista Home Premium Service Pack 2.

 

Those files weren't all edited at once, although I admit it does sound like that from my post. It's actually an issue that's been bugging me for the last 6 months. I just listed them together as it seems like there must be a common reason why the game ignores the changes I make.

 

I did however edit pedgrp.dat, pedpersonality.dat and Relationships.dat at the same time as part of a mod that was progressing quite well until I patched my game back in February. After that the game ran as if I still had the original files so I turned to scripting instead.

 

I recently thought I'd have a go at replacing textures and that's when I hit the same problem again of the game not taking any notice of the modified files and I decided it was time to ask for help.

[Eckle]

rename pc/data/filelist.pak

 

although in my experience it was only in effect from 1.2 and lower

still, worth a shot if you haven't had a go at it already

[GhostRider3332]

wait have u patched the files so that you can mod???

[Spider-Vice]

That's not needed anymore. filelist.pak is the key.

[Erem]

Thanks everyone. It's mostly working now. The game still doesn't appear to be taking any notice of the relationships I set in Relationships.dat, but that's not a major issue as I can achieve the same results with a script.

 

 

rename pc/data/filelist.pak

 

although in my experience it was only in effect from 1.2 and lower

That's what I thought too, but it turns out that it was filelist.pak causing most of my problems.