      A special thanks to Russian modder Klarnetist for giving me the permission to
    include his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two door hard top mod with this package.
    Klarnetist took a mod by Viewpoint DataLabs and converted to "Vice City" with
    some nice additional details.
      klarnetist@mail.ru
      http://gta.com.ua/klarny/
      http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/author/806-klarnetist/creations/
      http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/author/806-klarnetist/collaborations/

      I have a special feeling for this mod because it's a replica of the car that
    was my Dad's family car when I was little.  His car had an Inca Silver body with
    an Imperial Ivory roof, which is one of the color combinations included in my
    modded carcols.dat file.  Like my Dad's car, the hoods for the engine and trunk
    have a stylized V which indicates it has the type of V8 engine called the Chev-
    rolet small-block engine.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_small-block_engine

      Klarnetist did some fine detail work.  I've seen versions for "Mafia" and "San
    Andreas" based on it but which couldn't include all the details owing to the
    different file structures used for those games.  Klarnetist's version has locks
    for the doors and trunk, etc., a higher polygon count than the standard VC vehi-
    cles, and the chrome is nice and shiny.

      Press F1 to create an instant replay then return to the regular game to cause
    the Chevy to have either a pizza box on the back seat, a pair of red dice hang-
    ing from the rear view mirror, or a green gas can in the truck.

      The oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files supplied in the 1957ChevoletBelAir fold-
    er are his original mod.  The oceanic57PA.txd and oceanic86FLA.txd files are my
    updates with original '57 Chevy colors, radio, lights, gauges, etc.  The files
    for the "Vice City" Oceanic are in the "OriginalFiles" folder.

      Instructions for installing the files, and tutorials for modding them your-
    self, are given below.  I only give eight pairs of the '57 Chevy colors in my
    modded carcols.dat file because the game only lets you pick eight pairs (body
    and roof), so see the section below on colors to help you pick your favorites.

    ****

      Update Feb.2, 2012: I raised the Hermes to be more like a stock 1949 Mercury
    (I know it's supposed to be a lead sled, but in Vice City that means the under-
    side hits curbs, etc., if it goes fast) and improved the handling for it for the
    handling file in the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder.  I added colors for it to
    the carcols.dat file in the "1957Colors" folder.

      Update Jan.5, 2012: I perked up the handling of the Hermes a bit for
    the handling file in the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder and made the wheels for
    it a bit bigger for the default.ide file in the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder.  I
    positioned the Chevy emblem a bit better on the grill of the '57 Chevy mod.

      (P.S.: a permanent spawn spot for the Hermes is by an apartment building on
    the east side of the block of the south Pay 'n' Spray of the east island.)

      Update Dec.2, 2011: I improved the installation instructions.

      Update Nov.28, 2011: I improved the accuracy of Coronado Yellow and made Onyx
    Black a bit lighter.

      Update Nov.11, 2011: I updated the two .txd files I'd modified (oceanic57-
    PA.txd and oceanic86FLA.txd), updated the carcols.dat file in the "1957Colors"
    folder to provide the original 1957 colors for the '57 Chevy and substituted
    Onyx Black for one of the colors for the Hermes, and made a few changes to this
    ReadMe file.

      I used Internet photos to replace the Chevy emblem with a higher resolution
    example, used photos of authentic '57 Chevy items to replace the tail lights,
    head lights, brake lights, parking lights (clear, not amber), speedometer, clock
    (quartz), radio (Wonder Bar), and a combination of photos and Microsoft Paint to
    create the gauges for gasoline and temperature.  I added the 1957 Chevy colors
    I'd left out before and improved the accuracy of the ones I had.

      Update April 3, 2011: the "1957Colors" folder has a carcols.dat file you can
    use to have the Chevy appear in some of the colors it appeared with in 1957, I
    replaced some colors for the Sentinel, I added school bus yellow to the colors
    for the Bus, and I added a few details to my instructions here and there.

      Update Sept.27, 2010: I added a couple of optional oceanic.txd files.  I used
    Microsoft Paint for both to give the 1957 Chevy red and red-speckled black
    seats.  (The black part should have a "cloud" pattern of gray and black, but the
    .dff file blurs the section for the seats on the .txd file.  I settled for red
    specks indicating the seats are a bit worn.)  One has a 1957 Pennsylvania li-
    cense plate and the other has a 1986 Dade county (the county Miami is in) Flori-
    da license plate.

    ****

      Request for help:

      Thanks to OnePiece for the advice about using Zmodeler, but I'm inexperienced
    with it.  I could use someone's help to change the .dff file to reduce the glare
    (specular lighting?) of the exterior, make the colors for the engine and exhaust
    pipes more realistic, and to move the dummy for the driver's position so their
    hands are closer to the steering wheel.

      - The exterior is too bright--the side that faces a nearby light source looks
    bleached out with glare.  For example, the side facing the light source in the
    Hyman Condo at night looks white.

      Colors used for the interior are depicted with too much saturation.

      - I'd like the pale blue of the engine/exhaust pipes changed to silver/light
    gray,

      the yellow of the engine changed to medium gray,

      and the black of the engine changed to dark gray.

      - The dummy for the position of the driver should be moved a bit toward the
    driver's door so their hands are at the steering wheel.

      Less important:

      - The steering wheel/steering wheel post colors should be able to be deter-
    mined by a color in the .txd file.

      - There should be thin horizontal pinstripes of chrome on the off-white sec-
    tion (that features the Bel Air logo) of each tail fin.

      PS: I came up with a '57 dash trim plate of metal with little square black
    dots on it for the tekstura part of the .txd file, but the game takes a bit of
    it and expands it in a blurry way, so I couldn't use it and settled for plain
    silver grey.  I had a similar problem with the way the game renders my depiction
    of the seats.  Let me know if anyone can fix it.  I've enclosed a 1957ChevyDash-
    Trim.bmp file, 5 x regular size (because I'd work on the tekstura file at that
    size then would reduce it back to regular size), of that section of the tekstura
    part of the .txd file.

      RanxeroX' guess about the blurriness: "It's probably happening due to the way
    the textures are being mapped onto the model.  From what you're saying, it
    sounds like the textures are UV-mapped using tiling to fill the area.  To fix
    it, it would require loading the model into a 3d editor and changing the mapping
    to another type and possibly having to create a new texture bitmap that has the
    full detail that you're after.  This sort of thing opens up another can (or
    more!) of worms though...cuz you'd have to import the original, make changes,
    export the model and then, if you want to release it as part of your mod, get
    permission from the original creator."
      http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?act=ST&f=51&t=488320

      (GTW note: thanks again to Klarnetist for giving me permission to distribute
    his Chevy mods, and he liked the changes I've come up with so far.  But he's
    taken his work files and VC off his computer and isn't modding for it anymore.)

    ****

      1957 Chevrolet Bel Air installation instuctions

      Before changing a file in a folder of the main game folder, un-check the
    "Read-only" box for that folder first.

      For example, if you want to change a file in the data folder:

      Right click the Grand Theft Auto Vice City > data folder, click "Properties,"
    and a "data Properties" menu appears.  Un-check the box for "Read-only (Only ap-
    plies to files in folder)," click "Apply," and a "Confirm Attribute Changes"
    menu appears with "Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files" checked--
    click "OK" and the menu disappears.  Wait for the operation to finish (which
    should only take a moment for the data folder).  Click "OK" and the "data Prop-
    erties" menu disappears.

      You can then use CyQ's GXT Editor v.1.2 or Notepad, depending on the case, to
    change a file of that folder.

      If you want to use Notepad to change a file of the data folder, open the data
    folder with Notepad.  A menu appears with a drop down box in the lower right
    corner.  Click the arrow at the right side of it, click "All Files (".")," and
    open the file (such as default.dat, carcols.dat, etc.).

    ****

      How to replace the Oceanic with Klarnetist's 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two door
    hard top

      You don't have to make copies of the files you're going to change because I've
    supplied copies of them in the "OriginalFiles" folder.

      Un-check the "Read-only" box for the models folder as described above.

      Download the IMG Tool.
      http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=63

      Use "Run as administrator" to open the IMG Tool, click File, Open, direct the
    IMG Tool to the models folder of your main game folder, and open gta3.img.  The
    menu fills with names of files.

      (Ordinarily, you'd use Commands > Extract to extract the original oceanic.dff
    and oceanic.txd files to a location to save them, but I've supplied copies in
    the "OriginalFiles" folder.)

      If you want to use either oceanic57PA.txd (1957 Pennsylvania license plate) or
    oceanic86FLA.txd (1986 Dade County Florida license plate) for the '57 Chevy,
    Copy and Paste it somewhere and Rename it oceanic.txd.

      Use Commands > Delete to delete the oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files,
      then use Commands > Add to add the modded oceanic.dff and oceanic.txd files.

      Use Commands > Rebuild Archive and wait for it to finish.  Close the IMG Tool.

      Go to the main game folder.

      Copy default.dat and default.ide files and Paste them in the data folder--
    click to Replace when asked.

      Copy either

      - the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it uses
    different VC game colors than are usually used for the Oceanic for the '57
    Chevy)

      or

      - the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors" folder (recommended: it
    uses the original '57 Chevy colors for the '57 Chevy and adds a few other
    colors for the Sentinel, Bus, and Hermes),

      and Paste it in the data folder--click to Replace when asked.

      (See the section below on how I changed the carcols.dat files.  Since the game
    only uses eight of the pairs of original '57 Chevy colors I supplied, you might
    change the choices I made for the modded carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors"
    folder to use the colors you prefer.  See the "NewestScreenshots" folder for
    screenshots of the '57 Chevy mod in each of those colors.)

      Delete handling.cfg from the data folder.

      Copy

      the Orighandling.cfg file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it's a copy
    of the original handlng.cfg file),

      the Chevyhandling.cfg file from the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder (it mods the
    handlng for the '57 Chevy),

      and

      the ChevyAndModdedhandling.cfg file from the "ModdedAndChevyHandling" folder
    (it mods the handlng for the '57 Chevy, Sentinel, RC Bandit, Angel, and Hermes)

      and Paste them in the data folder.

      Rename one of those handling.cfg files to remove the preface from the
    handling.cfg file you want to use.  Afterward, you can restore the preface to
    that file and remove the preface from a different handling.cfg file if you'd
    rather use that one.

      (For example, I recommend the original handling.cfg file for the Vigilante
    mission to avoid the chance of criminals getting a super vehicle, and I recom-
    mend you don't use the ChevyAndModdedhandling.cfg file for "Alloy Wheels of
    Steel"--if you use it, the race competitors won't wreck.  The super Sentinel it
    provides can be helpful for "The Driver," the Sunshine Auto races, "Death Row,"
    and other missions, though.)

      Copy nowheel.DFF and Paste it in the models > generic folder.

      Done.

      If you want to change what's written in the bottom right corner of the screen
    from "Oceanic" to "1957 Chevrolet Bel Air" when Tommy enters the car:

      Un-check the "Read-only" box for the TEXT folder as you did for the data fold-
    er.

      Download CyQ's GXT Editor v.1.2
      http://www.thegtaplace.com/downloads/f566
      http://www.gta-downloads.com/en/gta-vice-city/tools/1637-vice-city-gxt-editor.html

      Run it as Administrator, put

      C:Program FilesRockstar GamesGrand Theft Auto Vice CityTEXTamerican.gxt

      in the bar along the top, and click "Load."

      The two vertical panels below fill with names.  Click "MAIN," the top entry in
    the panel on the left, to highlight it if it isn't already highlighted.  The
    right panel fills with names, including those of vehicles.

      Click the name of the vehicle you want to change the name of: "OCEANIC."  It
    appears in the bottom panel.

      Click "Clear" in the bottom left corner to cause "OCEANIC" to disappear from
    the bottom panel.  Type

      1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

      in the bottom panel and highlight the phrase.

      Click "Apply" and "Save."

    ****
    ****

      This is a more detailed description of what I did:

      I un-checked the "Read-only" box for the data folder as described above.

      I used DMagic1's Wheel Mod:
      http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=6212
      http://www.planetgrandtheftauto.com/gtavc/modtools/

      - In default.dat, below the line
       MODELFILE MODELSGENERICwheels.dff.

       I added

       MODELFILE MODELSGENERICnowheel.DFF

      - In default.ide, I changed the line
       # wheels: 250-257

       to

       # wheels: 250-257, 249

      - I added the nowheel.DFF file to the modelsGeneric folder

      - In default.ide, below the line
        256, wheel_smallcar, generic, 2, 20, 70, 0

        I added

        249, wheel_lightmod, generic, 2, 20, 70, 0

    ****

      In default.ide, I changed the end of line 197 for the Oceanic from

      null,	ignore,	10, 	7,	0,	253, 0.7

      to

      null,	normal,	10,	7,	0,	249, 0.85

      I changed the last number of line 204 for the Hermes from

      0.7

      to

      0.73

    ****

      In handling.cfg, I changed the line for the Oceanic to:

      A       B      C   D   E   F   G    H     I  J    K    L    M N     O    P

      OCEANIC 1900.0 1.9 5.0 1.7 0.0 0.0 -0.27 -1  1.00 0.96 0.52 5 260.0 27.0 R

      Q R     S    T U     V    W    X    Y    Z     aa    ab   ac   ae

      P 5.0   0.50 0 30.0  1.0  0.1  0.28 0.10 90000 0.35 -0.17 0.5  0.5

                    ad              AE AF   af ag

    		208102		2  1    1  1

      For turning traction, I had to compromise between the sensitivity of the
    steering and how much a car made a bit into a super car drifts for turns, so the
    steering is a little sensitive.  But once you get used to it, you'll have an
    easier time navigating through traffic.

      I changed the flags, column ae, from 200002 to 208102 to use halogen lights
    and a double exhaust.  The look of the Chevy headlights per se, which weren't
    halogen lights originally, isn't changed by the halogen lights flag.  The only
    difference it makes that I noticed is that the unrealistic translucent box of
    light at the front of each headlight is less noticeable when the headlights are
    on.

      I changed the line for the Hermes to:

      A       B      C   D   E   F   G    H     I  J    K    L    M N     O    P

      HERMES  1950.0 2.0 5.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 -0.05 -1  1.00 0.82 0.51 5 250.0 24.0 F

      Q R     S    T U     V    W    X    Y    Z     aa    ab   ac   ae

      P 3.5   0.60 0 28.0  1.9  0.20 0.36 0.27 19000 0.28 -0.27 0.5  0.0

      Raise the height of a car by lowering the suspension upper limit, aa, and
    suspension lower limit, ab, identically to keep the same suspension qualities
    otherwise.
      http://projectcerbera.com/gta/vc/tutorials/handling
      http://projectcerbera.com/gta/3-vc/tutorials/suspension
      http://projectcerbera.com/gta/3-vc/tutorials/faq

      How to change the flags

      See the section about flags in handling.cfg and further descriptions at the
    sites at the next links.
      http://projectcerbera.com/gta/vc/tutorials/handling
      http://www.gtamodding.com/index.php?title=Handling.cfg

      There are seven categories so seven possible numbers.  Pick the number of the
    trait you want in each category.  Use a zero if you don't want anything in the
    category.

      If you want more than one trait in a category, use the sum of those numbers
    for the category.  (For example, if you want category seven to provide both fat
    rear wheels and traction that's good in sand, add 1 + 4 to get 5 and use 5 for
    that category.)

      If your number for a category is higher than nine, use one of these letters:

      10  A
      11  B
      12  C
      13  D
      14  E
      15  F

      Reading your number from left to right, drop any zeros after the last number
    above zero (for example, change 2018000 to 2018.)  Then reverse the numbers (for
    example, change 201802 to 208102.)

      Use that number in column ae.

    ****

      For the carcols.dat file supplied in the main folder of this mod, I changed
    the line for the Oceanic to

    oceanic, 46,1, 3,1, 71,1, 5,1, 37,1, 24,1, 25,1, 76,1

      carcols.dat color chart
      http://www.gtamodding.com/index.php?title=Carcols.dat

      Update, Nov., 2011:

      You can use the carcols.dat file from the "1957Colors" folder if you want to
    have the Chevy appear in the colors it appeared with in 1957.  Since my April,
    2011 update, I've added the rest of the colors and improved the accuracy of the
    ones I had.

      I found the color choices at the site at the next link, but I used various
    pictures from the Internet to try to figure out what the original colors were.
    I'm not supplying the links for those photos because the links may stop working
    soon (photos of cars for sale, recent car show contest winners, etc.).

      1957 Chevrolet Bel Air body colors
      http://57classicchevy.com/body-colors.html

      These are the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air colors I added:

    171,46,51                       # 95 Matador Red         red  orange tint
    162,104,100                     # 96 Canyon Coral        grey orange-pink
    114,170,184                     # 97 Larkspur Blue       light grey-blue
    150,150,150                     # 98 Inca Silver         grey-silver
    24,130,141                      # 99 Tropical Turquoise  green-blue
    30,115,109                      # 100 Highland Green     dark blue-green
    120,177,166                     # 101 Surf Green         light blue-green
    172,168,125                     # 102 Coronado Yellow    grey orange-yellow
    210,210,210                     # 103 Imperial Ivory     very light grey
    34,34,34                        # 104 Onyx Black         very dark grey
    143,129,137                     # 105 Dusk Pearl         grey-violet
    133,72,44                       # 106 Sierra Gold        grey-orange brown
    188,180,163                     # 107 Adobe Beige        light beige
    185,193,136                     # 108 Colonial Cream     light green-yellow
    23,91,138                       # 109 Harbor Blue        dark blue
    116,118,65                      # 110 Laurel Green       grey-yellow-green
    210,211,201                     # 111 India Ivory        very light grey-yellow
    226,64,75                       # 112 My Chevy interior  red  orange tint

      Examples of the '57 Chevy colors can be found in the screenshots in the
    "NewestScreenshots" folder, which is in the "1957ChevroletBelAir" folder.  Lark-
    spur Blue on the roof of the first Harbor Blue/Larkspur Blue car screenshot is a
    bit green compared to what I settled on, but I just added that screenshot be-
    cause I liked it.  Imperial Ivory and India Ivory are hard to represent because
    the car exterior has too much glare, so I just used those colors for roofs.

      The 1957 Chevy Bel Air could be in any one color for both body and roof except
    India Ivory (and you could probably have ordered that).

      1957 Chevrolet Bel Air two tone combinations

      Body                Roof

      Sierra Gold         Adobe Beige
      Highland Green      Surf Green
      Laurel Green        Colonial Cream
      Harbor Blue         Larkspur Blue

      India Ivory         Onyx Black
      Colonial Cream      Onyx Black

      Inca Silver         Imperial Ivory
      Dusk Pearl          Imperial Ivory

      Tropical Turquoise  India Ivory
      Matador Red         India Ivory
      Coronado Yellow     India Ivory
      Canyon Coral        India Ivory
      Larkspur Blue       India Ivory
      Surf Green          India Ivory
      Colonial Cream      India Ivory

      Here are some of the possible pairs of colors for the Oceanic/Chevy for the
    carcols.dat file:

    oceanic, 95,111, 96,111, 97,97, 98,1, 99,103, 100,101, 101,101, 102,111,
    104,104, 105,103, 106,107, 107,107, 109,97, 110,108

      Pick your favorite eight pairs because the game will only use eight pairs of
    them.

      Beyond the Oceanic/'57 Chevy colors you choose in carcols.dat, the game always
    adds a ninth pair--for a yellow body with a white roof--to the Oceanic/'57 Chevy
    in front of the Ocean View Apartments and a Chevy which may appear at the south
    side of the Hyman Stadium.  The game sometimes adds a tenth pair to make a grey-
    blue Chevy with a white roof appear across the street to the south of the front
    of the Ocean View Apartments.

      I've seen Chevys with eleventh through thirteenth body colors, dark red,
    green, and purple, appear elsewhere randomly in parking spaces.  The game seems
    to be adding three of the colors I added to the carcols.dat file for the Sentin-
    el--113 dark red, 114 dark purple, and 115 dark olive green--to the Chevy.  I
    think I saw a '57 Chevy appear with a fourteenth color, a different blue than
    the ones given above, too.  So you get the most for your '57 Chevy color dollar
    with this.

      I chose these eight pairs for the carcols.dat file supplied:

    oceanic, 95,111, 98,103, 99,111, 100,101, 105,103, 106,107, 109,97, 110,108

      An option to using the whites I created is to use 1, which is white.  The .dff
    file will still make the roof off-white.  (The .dff file also does that for the
    section of each tail fin that contains the Chevrolet logo.)

      I also changed the colors for the VC Sentinel, including by adding Sierra Gold
    and some of the darker colors I came up with for "GTA III,"

      replaced yellow with #104 Onyx Black for the Hermes to have one color for it
    make it look like James Dean's '49 Mercury Coupe (except with a chopped roof) in
    "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955),
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Without_a_Cause

      and changed the colors for the Bus--I added School Bus Yellow and Sunglow.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_bus_yellow
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunglow#Sunglow

    129,10,16                       # 113 dark red
    56,28,64                        # 114 dark purple
    38,51,23                        # 115 dark olive green
    255,216,0                       # 116 School Bus Yellow  Official color
    255,204,51                      # 117 Sunglow            yellow-orange

    bus, 3,82, 95,82, 98,82, 104,82, 106,82, 116,82, 117,82
    hermes, 2,2, 16,16, 17,17, 21,21, 38,38, 43,43, 60,60, 104,104
    sentinel, 70,0, 98,0, 100,0, 106,98, 113,0, 114,0, 115,0

      Update, Feb.2, 2012:

      I added these colors for the Hermes:

    50,14,16                        # 118 Hermes red         dark Matador Red
    62,4,7                          # 119 Hermes dark red    dark red
    50,31,18	                # 120 Hermes dark orange dark Sierra Gold
    11,40,60                        # 121 Hermes dark blue   dark Harbor Blue
    44,22,50                        # 122 Hermes dark purple dark purple

      I changed the carcols.dat line for the Hermes to:

    hermes, 75,75, 104,104, 115,115, 118,118, 119,119, 120,120, 121,121, 122,122

      How to create colors the way I did

      Open a picture or screenshot, or a .bmp file extracted from a .txd file (see
    below for how to extract one), in Microsoft Paint.  Click "Colors" > "Edit Col-
    ors..." to make the "Edit Colors" box appear, then click "Define Custom Col-
    ors>>."  You can change the numbers in the boxes for Red, Green and Blue direct-
    ly or by using your cursor to move the reticle-looking thing around on the rain-
    bow-hued box and move the slider up and down by the box to the right of that.

      To change color while maintaining the same degree of darkness (luminesence)
    and grey level (saturation), change the number for Hue.  This moves the cursor
    horizontally across the spectrum box.

      To keep the same color--keep the cursor in the same spot on the color spectrum
    box--except to lighten or darken the color, change Lum(inescence).  It does the
    same thing as moving the slider to the right of the color spectrum box.  To
    darken the color, lower Lum.

      To raise or lower the grey level, change Sat(uration).  A higher saturated
    color has less grey.  This moves the cursor vertically on the color spectrum box.

      When you've created a color you like, un-check the "Read-only" box for the
    data folder as described above.

      Use Notepad to open the data folder.  A menu appears with a drop down box in
    the lower right corner.  Click the arrow at the right side of it, click "All
    Files (".")," and open carcols.dat.

      Add the numbers for Red, Green and Blue to the end of the list of colors in
    the upper section of the carcols.dat file.  Give your color a number (# 95,
    etc.).  To the right of that, you can give your color a brief description.

      You can use the number of your color to replace the primary or secondary color
    number of the vehicles listed in the lower section of the file.  Close the file
    and Save your work.

      To match a car color with the color of a car in an Internet photo you've
    saved, use Microsoft Paint to paint on the part of the photo that best repre-
    sents the color and adjust the Paint color till it's the same.  Use the RGB num-
    bers for the car color in carcols.dat and take screen shots of the lighted sides
    of the car in mid-day on a sunny day in VC.  The color probably looks different
    than in the photo and needs to be changed.  Adjust it as needed toward matching
    the color in the photo and repeat till you have a match.

      There's a lot of variety in the '57 Chevy colors shown by a Google image
    search.  I recommend looking for '57 Chevy photos that seem to have accurate
    color reproduction, that show the car outdoors in the sun, and that show cars
    that won car show contests.  Some contests had a "Survivor" category for cars
    that best represented the original car, so I might put "1957 Matador Red survi-
    vor" or "Chevy Matador Red survivor" or such in the search box.

      RGB colors are emphasized differently than in the one shown in Microsoft
    Paint, and the game light doesn't just go through shades of grey--yellow then
    red are emphasized from around 5 to 7 pm, for example.  I was mainly concerned
    with how the color looked on a sunny day from around 11 am to 2 pm.  If the
    paint for one car showed different hues in different lighting conditions, I
    wanted the VC color to show those during different times of a VC day.

      A good point about paint color (which also serves as an excuse for me) is that
    one of the causes of the emphasis of red to orange, etc., in paint can be due to
    the color of the paint used beneath it.  For example, you can bring out the
    green in the green-blue of Tropical Turquoise better with an undercoat of a
    creamy white like India Ivory, white with a bit of yellow, than a stark white
    like Imperial Ivory, white with a bit of grey, which will produce more of a
    plain blue.  On the other hand, I might prefer Imperial Ivory under Matador Red
    to minimize the orange in the red.

      So if someone thinks a color is a shade off, I can say mine used a different
    undercoat.

      Variations in grey level, luminescence, the ratio of violet to purple, orange
    to yellow, blue to green, etc., might also be due to personal customization,
    paint company guesses of what the original color was, or varying degrees of ac-
    curacy in the color reproduction of photographs.  One end of a '57 Chevy might
    emphasize one or another of a pair of colors depending on the type of light
    (sunlight or artificial light) it's in and which end was facing that light in a
    photo.

      The more modern metallic paints are pretty but create a range of reflections
    beyond what I can create in VC.  Such a Highland Green, for example, shows a
    variety of greens and blues, Sierra Gold might show extremes of yellow-gold and
    dark brown, and Dusk Pearl looks pretty cool.

      That's beyond what VC will do with a car color, but, as I mentioned above,
    some of that variety of hues appears because the game lighting alters colors
    over the course of a Vice City day.

      The most difficult '57 Chevy color for me to match was Dusk Pearl.  It's a
    light metallic shade of a grey violet color.  A good photograph of a fresh coat
    of paint with a modern metallic finish looks pretty cool: like a pearl, it re-
    flects different shades of blue-violet and red-violet.

      There's so much variation on the color on the Internet that it was hard to be
    sure of the authenticity of whatever I came up with.  The shade I decided had
    the best case for being true to the original is light enough to seem metallic in
    the game, and the violet is grey-pink-violet in mid-day.  But if you look at it
    at different times of the day and night, you'll see it go through red-violet and
    blue-violet colors.

      Chevrolet used Tropical Turquoise in 1956 and 1957.  Variations in Internet
    photo colors run from sky blue to a very green blueish-green.  The variation in
    the amount of green in Tropical Turquoise may be due to the kind of undercoat
    used (explained above), and the range might be expanded by some people using
    1955 Regal Turquoise or the darker 1956 Twilight Turquoise.  Some paint jobs
    were lighter or darker, and using a larger more modern metallic flake on the
    paint makes some look shinier.

      I chose a somewhat shiny, moderately darker blue with just enough green to be
    noticeable in the shaded parts and at night.  But it's easy to season to taste:
    use Microsoft Paint or such to change G, green, the middle number of the three
    for it, to adjust the amount of green in it, and change luminosity to make it
    lighter or darker.  You can lessen saturation to add grey and make it less
    shiny.  (If I were to change anything, it might be to make it a couple points
    greener or darker.)

      For Matador Red, I copied car photos with a relatively smaller amount of
    orange.  If you want a greater degree of orange, reduce the number for B, blue,
    from 51 to 50 or 49.  You can reduce the amount of orange by making B 52.

      According to Internet pictures by car owners, a variety of colors have been
    called Canyon Coral--a dark grey orange-red with a light to medium luminescence.
    Even paint supply company samples differ--I used Microsoft Paint to match the
    Internet paint sample by Eckler's, which gives it a hue of about 8, and the
    paint sample by Danchuck's, which gives it a hue of about 0.

      But the color in the car photos I chose has a hue of 3.  And, like Dusk Pearl,
    it goes through most of the other colors I saw for Canyon Coral at different
    times of the day.  You can use use Microsoft Paint if you want to change the
    number for hue.

      Sierra Gold can either have more grey and look dark brown or have less grey
    (and a metallic finish) and be a little more like a shiny honey golden brown,
    and I used the latter.  Use Microsoft Paint and decrease saturation/add grey if
    you like a flat dark brown better.

      I made Adobe Beige (off-white) a bit darker than normal to compensate for the
    excessive glare of the exterior, so you might try it as a color for both the
    roof and body.

      Likewise, I made Surf Green a bit darker than shown on some cars shown in
    photos but it glares if it's lighter.

      Chevrolet didn't use Laurel Green very long because it wasn't popular, and it
    used Limefire Green for a bit in Canada.  (Limefire was also used by Pontiac.)
    There seems to be some confusion about it on the Internet, but the consesus
    seems to be that Laurel Green is a grey yellow green and Limefire Green has more
    yellow and less grey.

      I only found a few Internet pictues of fresh-looking coats of Laurel Green
    (but wasn't he good in "Bonanza"?) paint in pictures that had good color repro-
    duction, a couple of paint company samples, and a couple of old Chevrolet ads or
    brochures, and each was different.  So I acted on the description I read of it
    being less yellow and more grey than Limefire Green, which I found photos of,
    and which made it look the Chevy in a painting in an old Chevy brochure.
      http://www.tocmp.com/pix/Chevrolet/images/57Chev1.jpg

      If you'd rather have Limefire, or possibly a more metallic Laurel Green, use
    Microsoft Paint to make it more saturated/less grey, and for Limefire change the
    hue a bit toward yellow.

      Colonial Cream is a light yellow, something like canary yellow, which leans
    more toward green yellow in some photographs and orange yellow in others.  I
    chose a light green yellow (the game lighting may make more green-yellow from
    about 7 to 9 am and orange-yellow for a bit in the evening).  Change the number
    for hue if you prefer a more orange yellow.

      (I read on a '57 Chevy site message board that Canada not only had some colors
    not used in the USA but had different hues for a few of the same-name colors.
    My guess is that explains the difference in colors shown, even by paint com-
    panies, for Tropical Turquoise, Canyon Coral, and Colonial Cream.)

      Like Adobe Beige and Surf Green, Colonial Cream is a light color that's diffi-
    cult to render correctly on a car mod with so much glare.  If I added enough
    grey to compensate for the glare, it would create the wrong balance of grey with
    the rest of the color: you'd get a grey car with the intended color as a tint.
    So I added enough grey to reduce some of the glare and let the car glare a bit
    to keep the color about right.

      If you add enough grey to reduce the glare of the exterior to try to create
    off-whites like Imperial Ivory or India Ivory, the car looks like it has light
    Inca Silver (grey) paint that glares too much.  So I made those colors dark
    enough to compensate for some glare and recommend just using them to suggest
    those colors for the roof.

      Fortunately, the roof will still be a bit off-white because the .dff file for
    the Chevy makes the roof (and the white section of each tail fender) a bit off-
    white.  My intention was to have each Chevy white suggested in the areas of the
    roof that don't glare.

      An option is to use the carcols.dat number 1, which is white.

      Use Microsoft Paint as described above if you want to season the colors to
    taste, and send me photos if you can help clarify a color.

      Help request again:

      I need someone to mod the .dff file to reduce the glare (specular lighting?)
    of the exterior of the car.

      The .dff file also causes the .txd file color for the interior to look differ-
    ent in the game.  When I tried Matador Red for the interior, a medium grey-
    orange-red on the .txd file appeared as a very saturated orange in the car.  I
    settled for a similar orange-red with a enough grey to subdue some of the satur-
    ation.

      If someone can mod the .dff file turn down the glare a bit for me, the car
    would look a lot cooler and I'd sure appreciate it.

    ****

      This is how I modded Klarnetist's oceanic.txd file to give the 1957 Chevy red
    and red-speckled black seats, red dash and ceiling, etc., and how I gave one
    copy a 1957 Pennsylvania license plate and another copy a 1986 Dade county Flor-
    ida license plate.

      To mod the oceanic.txd file, I made three copies of it--one to keep as the
    original and two to mod.  I put one in a folder named "teksturaOriginal," one in
    a folder called "tekstura1957PA," and one in a folder called
    "tekstura1986DadeFla."

      I opened Spookie's "Vice TXD Tool."  (I used Vista so I right-clicked "Vice
    TXD Tool" and clicked "Run as administrator.)
      http://www.thegtaplace.com/downloads/file.php?id=42

      I clicked File > Open and went to a copy of the oceanic.txd file.  A menu
    appeared with the words "Read beyond end of file"--I clicked "OK" and the menu
    disappeared.

      In the "Dictionary" window, I highlighted the only entry, "oceanic.txd," and
    in the "Texture" window the names of various parts of oceanic.txd appeared--I
    highlighted the name "tekstura" and it appeared in the window on the right.  I
    clicked "Texture" > "Export" > "Texture (*.bmp)" and sent a copy of "tekstura"
    to the "teksturaOriginal" folder.

      I put a .bmp file copy of "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA" folder, right-
    clicked that "tekstura," clicked "Open With >," and clicked "Paint."

      The file has various pictures on it--dials, a speedometer, etc.,--including
    gray car seats and a red license plate with the word "BELAIR."  All the pic-
    tures are upside-down.

      To make the file easier to paint with, I clicked "Image" > "Resize/Skew" and a
    "Resize/Skew" menu appeared--the boxes beside "Horizontal" and "Vertical" each
    had "100" for percent.  I changed each to "500" and clicked "OK" to make the
    file appear five times bigger then saved it.

      I used the Brush and Line tools--usually the larger size for each--and the
    colors red and several shades of gray to paint the "1957PA" car seat.  To draw a
    line, click the cursor where you want the line to start and hold down the LMB
    while you move the cursor to where you want the line to end.  It assists you in
    making a straight line--when the line isn't jaggy, you have a straight line.

      If you want to adjust your color, click "Colors" > "Edit Colors..." to make an
    "Edit Colors" menu appear then click "Define Custom Colors."  The menu becomes
    twice as big and you can adjust a slider to make your color lighter or darker--
    your changes appear in a "Color/Solid" window.  (You can also click on a window
    with a spectrum of colors to change your color but I didn't do that this time.)
    Once it's the color you want, click "Add to Custom Colors" then "OK."

      The black part should have a "cloud" pattern of gray and black, but the .dff
    file blurs the section for the seats on the .txd file.  I settled for red specks
    indicating the seats are a bit worn.

      According to 67SS427 at the chevytalk.org site, "There was only one red paint
    on the inside and the outside of a 57, Matador Red, which is an orange-looking
    red.  My PPG paint interchange book shows 70673 as the match for Matador red.  I
    don't know how accurate it is.  The black cloth on the red interiors will have
    what they call a red 'cloud' pattern in it.  The seat back buttons and the pip-
    ing on the seams around the black cloth inserts are silver."
      http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/102133/

      The RGB numbers I have for Matador Red are 171,46,51, but the .dff file causes
    the interior colors to have a different hue than when used as an exterior color.
    And just as the .dff file gives the exterior too much glare, it gives the .txd
    file > tekstura.bmp colors for the dash and seats too much saturation.  I used
    226,64,75 to paint the second rectangle from the top on the left side of the
    tekstura.bmp file to give the Chevy a red dash, ceiling, etc.

      I'm already pushing the limit for the size of a save game package at some web
    sites, so I can't provide a .txd file for each of the '57 Chevy interior and
    seat colors that correspond to each exterior color.  Fortunately, it's easy to
    use the method I described to color the interior and seats yourself.
      http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/57index.htm
      http://www.1957chevyforsale.com/57-chevy-colors/57-chevy-interior-convertible-
    top-color-combinations/

      I used 190,22,31 for the seats.

      Once I finished painting the car seats, etc., I saved the file in the
    "tekstura1957PA" folder and put a copy of it in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" fold-
    er.

      To change Klarnetist's license plate, I went to Google and saved several
    images of 1957 Pennsylvania license plates intending to use the best one.

      You need a .bmp file image for this.  If it isn't a .bmp file, open it with
    Paint, click "File" > Save As..." and use the "Save as type:" drop down box to
    select "24-bit Bitmap" then save it.)

      (If you do something like that and the license plate or whatever object you
    want an image of is part of a larger image, open the image with Microsoft Paint.
    One of the two things at the top of the left margin is the Select tool--a square
    composed of dots: click it.  Click at one corner of the object.  Hold down the
    LMB and drag the cursor to the opposing corner of the object to create a rectan-
    gle composed of dots around the object.  The rectangle remains when you release
    the LMB--if you didn't size it right, click somewhere on the image beyond the
    rectangle and to make it disappear and try again.  Then click "Image > "Crop"
    and all that remains is what you outlined.)

      Once I found the image of a license plate I liked, I opened it with Paint and
    "tekstura" from the "teksturaOriginal" folder with Paint and moved the image of
    a Pennsylvania plate beside the one on "tekstura" to resize the Pennsylvania
    plate to be the same size as the one on "tekstura."  I saved the image of a
    Pennsylvania license plate in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.

      With "tekstura" still opened with Paint, I clicked "Edit" > "Paste From..."
    and a "Paste From..." menu appeared.  I went to the Pennsylvania license plate
    and clicked it and "Open"--it appeared surrounded by dots on "tekstura."  I
    dragged it with the cursor to cover the old license plate then clicked outside
    the rectangle of dots to make the dots disappear and fix the position of the
    Pennsylvania license plate.

      I used the same method to replace the headlight, brake light, parking light,
    speedometer, radio, clock, and Chevrolet emblem.  I touched up a few things with
    Paint, such as putting an orange-red needle on the radio.

      I couldn't find pictures with the temperature and gasoline gauges directly
    facing the camera, so I cropped pictures of the gauges minus the lenses, used
    "Edit" > "Paste From..." to insert them into pictures of the lenses, and touched
    them up with Paint.

      I Painted the upper left square, which represents the color seen in two spots
    below each of the back parking lights, dark grey.

      I made a .bmp file for the dash trim, which should be chrome with lots of
    little black rectangles on it, out of an Internet picture of the Hermann grid
    illusion, which I recolored and reproduced over and over.  But the .dff file
    causes a small part of it to appear expanded and blurry in the game, so I set-
    tled for Painting that section light grey.  I've enclosed the .bmp file if any-
    one wants to use Zmodeler or such to make it appear correctly (please let me
    know if you do!).  It's five times regular size because I worked on the .txd
    file at that size.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_illusion

      I saved the altered "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.

      I did the same with the copy of "tekstura"  from the "tekstura1986DadeFla"
    folder and a .bmp image of 1986 Dade Florida license plate and saved it as
    "tekstura" in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" folder.

      I opened one of my modded "tekstura" files with "Paint" and clicked "Image" >
    "Resize/ Skew" to make the "Resize/Skew" menu appear--the boxes beside "Horizon-
    tal" and "Vertical" each had "100" for percent.  I changed each to "20" and
    clicked "OK."  After the file appeared five times smaller--the original size--I
    saved it.  I did the same with my other modded "tekstura" file.

      I ran the "Vice TXD Tool" again as administrator.  I clicked File > Open and
    went to the oceanic.txd file in the "tekstura1957PA" folder.  A menu appeared
    with the words "Read beyond end of file"--I clicked "OK" and the menu disap-
    peared.

      I highlighted the name "tekstura" and it appeared in the window on the right.
    I clicked "Texture" > "Replace" and a "Replace Texture" menu appeared.  I
    clicked "Browse" and went to the copy of "tekstura" in the "tekstura1957PA"
    folder.  I clicked "Replace" so my modded "tekstura" file replaced the original
    then I saved the file.  I did the same with the copy of oceanic.txd and the
    "tekstura" file in the "tekstura1986DadeFla" folder and saved it.  I closed
    the "Vice TXD Tool."

      I un-checked the "Read-only" box for the models folder as described above.

      I used Spookie's "IMG Tool v.2" as described above to delete the original
    oceanic.txd and add a new one.
      http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=63
      http://www.moddb.com/games/grand-theft-auto-san-andreas/downloads/img-tool-20

    ****

      Related information

      See the sites at the next links for many of the features of an original 1957
    Chevrolet.  For example, the trifive forum was helpful in letting me know the
    original '57 Chevy had clear, not amber, parking lights, that the '56 turquoise
    exterior color was blue-green but emphasized blue more for '57, etc.
      http://www.trifive.com/forums/
      http://www.angelfire.com/in/EMARKAY/joutline.html
      http://www.trifive.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-45753.html
      http://www.amazon.com/Original-Chevrolet-1955-1956-1957/dp/0760315485
      http://books.google.com/books?id=lIz0Do9gvOMC&pg=PA62&dq=1957+chevy+original
    &hl=en&ei=C3BtTsPWCofX0QGM6KSGBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0C
    DMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=1957%20chevy%20original&f=false

      1957 Chevrolet owners' manual
      http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1957_Chevrolet/1957_
    Chevrolet_Owners_Manual/dirindex.html

      1957 Chevrolet Stock Car Competition Guide
      http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1957_Chevrolet/1957_
    Chevrolet_Stock_Car_Guide/dirindex.html

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Laurel
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Larkspur
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torero
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire
      http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/coronado.php
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Highlands
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onyx
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise
      Canyon Coral
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuchera_hirsutissima
      Sierra Gold
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush

      Below are links to sites for paint companies with the '57 Chevy colors.  Not
    only do Internet photos differ over colors but so do they.  I mainly relied on
    Internet photos with relatively reliable color reproduction of cars with fresh-
    looking coats of paint seen outdoors in the light on sunny days.

      http://www.classicchevy.com/
      http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/models/paintcodes.htm
      http://pc.dupont.com/hcl/servlet/com.dpc.hcl.search.HclSearchServlet?browse
    Path=Domestic+Cars%2FGM%2FGm+1954-1960&Operation=102&carRegion=2&carType=GM
      http://www.paintscratch.com/touch_up_paint/Chevrolet/1957-Chevrolet-All-Other-
    Models.html
      http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipcreate.cgi?year=1957&manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet
      http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipdisplay.cgi?year=1957&manuf=GM&smodel=
    Chevrolet&info=&page=3
      http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=GM&model=Chevrolet&
    year=1957
      http://67.199.121.184/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?year=1957&sort=manuf&
    model=Chevrolet&rows=50