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How do I...
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...make sense of all these numbers in the .cfg?
Answer: This how-to may help a little. A few things are fairly simple,
like the ped/vehicle density tables. The spawn and despawn range stuff is
a bit more complex and will require plenty of trial-and-error but it can
bring forth very satsfying results if one bothers to dive into it.



 TAXI DRIVER mission (IMPORTANT!)
 -------------------
...fix this taxi mission glitch that I am experiencing?
Answer: v0921 introduces a fix for a taxi mission glitch that occured due to the
increased ranges. Due to opcode 02DD choosing potential passengers irrespective
of range from player taxi there has been a glitch in taxi missions, as opcode 00FD/80FD
removes the potential taxi passenger again beyond range 90.0f 90.0f 20.0f. As a result the
game would start to eventually flicker between two potential taxi passengers. v0.9.2.1
does fix that by limiting would-be passengers to the same ranges; these have been hard-coded
into the vc_traffic.asi (that is 90.0f 90.0f 20.0f). Now if you use different (greater) ranges
in your own .scm for opcode 00FD in connection with 02DD, this bug might occur again. In that
case you need to recompile the mod with the minimum of your own ranges in each component. Just
so you know. :-) In that case that could happen, don't forget about this issue (that's why
I made it the top section in this how-to).



 Misc section
 ---------------
 
...make vehicles capable of travelling at faster speeds?
Answer: You increase the top speed multiplier <A> in the VC:Traffic Globals
section. This will effectively increase the reachable top speed of *all
vehicles*. To make effective use of that you might want to try to increase
the acceleration value of some/all vehicles by a similar or higher order of
magnitude, although this might introduce handling problems.
 
...increase the number of actual peds and/or vehicles moving around in the 
game?
Answer: For peds, increase the parameters <A> and/or <B> in the Ped Despawn 
Data section accordingly. For Vehicles use entry <A> in the Vehicle Various
Data section. Please note that the maximum available slots for peds is #140
and for vehicles is #110. You can increase these values through the VC Limit
Adjuster (search gtaforums.com for it) but in any case you should keep well
below them - remember the game needs available slots for mission characters
and vehicles too. 
Please note that increasing the above mentioned entries in the .cfg does not
have an impact in the game itself. You must also increase the ped density to
achieve the desired affect. There's two ways to do with: you either increase
the general density level through the opcodes 03DE (for peds) and 01EB (for
vehicles) *or* you raise the daytime density values for peds/vehicles in the
.cfg throughout by a certain factor of your own choosing.
Summary: adjust the limits in .cfg, keeping them below the maximum allowed
values, and then increase ped density level as outlined.



 Pedestrians
 -----------
 
...keep peds from disappearing so quickly when out of sight?
Answer: You increase the values <H> and <I> in the Ped Despawn Data section.
You can also increase the range <F> in the same section and that will have 
the effect that those peds who are within that distance to the player and
offscreen will not get removed from the game. However by increasing this 
value you also cause the game to spawn new peds (initially) out of sight
within the same range, remember this.

...make peds appear and remain in-game at greater distances?
Answer: A number of values have to be changed for that one. You must make
sure that the peds get spawned at greater distances. You do that by 
increasing the value <B> of the Ped Spawn/Render Data section for models
in the facing of the game camera and <F> of the Ped Despawn Data section
for offscreen models.
Then you will have to increase the ranges <D> and <E> in the Ped Despawn Data
section or else peds will get spawned at higher ranges but will get removed
right away again because they are too far away from the player.
Finally you will have to increase draw distance entry <A> of the Ped 
Spawn/Render Data section or otherwise the peds will be existent at a distance
but be out of sight.
Note: increasing the ranges can be great fun but remember that great ranges
can cause the available peds to be spread too thinly across the map. You may
be able to counter that by increasing the peds in-game as outlined further
above.



 Vehicles
 --------
 
...keep vehicles from disappearing so quickly when out of sight?
Answer: Try increasing <D> in the Vehicle Various Data section. It it is the
distance from the player beyond which offscreen vehicles get removed. It is
*also* the range within which vehiclesmay be spawned offscreen.

...make vehicles appear and remain in-game at greater distances?
Answer: Just like for peds multiple ranges need to be increased; in this case
these would be (mostly analogously) the ranges <C> to <G> in the Vehicle 
Various Data section. See the above section on increasing ped ranges for
an explanation on why multiple ranges need to be increased. In the case of
vehicles you do not increase the visibility range of the vehicles themselves
though but at which range the game makes use of a less defined model and at 
which range wheels do not get rendered anymore.



 General Traffic
 ---------------
 
...create rush hours or barren streets at night?
Answer: The Ped/Vehicle Daytime Density Multiplier data section are perfect
for just that. Remember that to create busy streets you might have to increase
ped/vehicle limits as detailed further up. Also remember that the above
discussed ranges can have a great impact on *perceived* density too, for many
peds may be around but out of sight because a line of houses in blocking
sight.

...determine which speed limit a certain street has?
Answer: You set the approriate speed value in the paths.ipl file for all path
nodes in that street. Documentation for paths.ipl can be found on 
gtaforums.com and explanations for how the speed flag works can be found in 
the Vehicle Node Speeds section in the config file.
If for example you find that traffic moves in the "slow" streets *too slow*, 
change the value for speed level "0" from 0.5 to 0.666 or 0.75.

...create highways?
Answer: For example by giving the relevant paths in paths.ipl a speed value 
of "3" *and* setting speed multiplier for speed value 3 to a relatively 
high value, like 4.0. Remember that vehicles will not drive faster than their
vehicle will allow though (which can be influenced through the general vehicle
top speed multiplier, see above).



 Gangs
 -----

...make gangs spawned in larger or smaller groups?
Answer: Gang Data section, parameters <A> and <B>. However, to create 
individual gang members walking on their own, the preferred method is
through setting the probability in parameter to >0. Therefore the value <A>
should always be greater than 1.

...determine whether they chat or walk around after spawning?
Answer: Use the entries <C> to <E> in the Gang Data section.

 Drivers
 -------
 
...make peds/certain peds/gangers drive faster?
Answer: Well, by increasing the node speeds as described under "General 
Traffic" above, you have some influence over driver speeds. But you can 
further "fine tune" that by assigning differing speed ranges to different 
types of peds. The speed node multplier then gets applied to that.
This can be adjusted through entries <A> and <B> in the Driver Behaviour
section. But too be able to fine tune things even further, there is a section
on car classes in the .cfg, applying yet another multiplier on individual 
speed, this time based on the type of vehicle. The default values in the .cfg
represent a fairly precise approcimation that the Vice engine uses.

...make drivers rush through traffic?
Answer: Study entries <C> and <D> of the Driver Behaviour section. Just for
your information: the speed increase through <D> comes after the multiplying
the driver's personal speed (<A>/<B>) with the car class multiplier but
before multplication with the current node speed.

...make sense of the Flee Mode stuff in the Driver Behaviour section?
Answer: "Flee Mode" is what happens at times when a vehicle is beign shot at.
In original Vice that results in an increase in speed and the panicked
driver not trying to drive around other traffic but right through it, while 
in GTA3 tried to get *around*. The speed that the driver chooses with that 
is independent of personal speed, current node speed and such but is a 
seperate speed. With <E> you can adjust that speed to your liking. With <F>, 
<G> and <H> you can adjust, depending on vehicle mass(!), how likely drivers 
will try to drive around traffic instead of right through it. In short you use
it like this:
-determine which vehicle should have a 50-50 chance of going either drive-thru
 or driver-around. Use the mass of that vehicle as value <F>. If you want
 all vehicles to go drive-thru when fleeing, use 0 as value <F>, 0 as value
 <G> and 1.0 as <H>. If you want all to go drive-around use 0 as value <H>,
 the others are irrelvent.
-next you consider which be the maximum mass that should have *no chance* of
 going drive-thru (like the mass of a Banshee or a BF Injection). Calculate
 the difference to the base mass and then divide 0.5 by the difference.
 Use the result as value <G>.
-if you don't want drivers in very heavy vehicles to automatically go 
 drive-thru you can set an upper limit to that probability with entry <H>.
 
...make drivers going frenzy (for example after blowing a friendly vehicle up)
go faster?
Answer: Value <I> in the Driver Behaviour section. The frenzy speed is 
likewise independent of personal speed, car class or node speed. It depends
entirely on handling attributes of the vehicle.

...make drivers/passengers bail out once their car catches fire?
Answer: You can set the probability in entry <K> to your liking.

...customize driver's reaction to being fired upon?
Answer: There's a whole section dedicated to that in the config. It extends
the previous available reactions, which were a 50-50 between "Escape From
Car" and "Flee(100%Drive-Thru)", and is based on pedtype too. Note that unlike
in Vice once a driver as determined a reaction he'll stick to that (in Vice
you could shoot a fleeing vehicle out of Flee Mode).
Other than the values having have to add up to 1000, the section seems to be
pretty straightforward.