Hello everyone, I wanted to write this post to inform the LSPDFR community about some misconceptions regarding DLS as a lighting system and addon cars.

I first want to talk about addon cars. This part is mainly for new players, but if you didn't already know this then it is good information to have. Firstly, there is this stigma that addon cars can't be used with backup. As a matter of fact, they can. Whether you are using PR or UB, or editing the agency.xml for ambient backup, all you need to do is put the name of the car from the addon and you are good to go. Another aspect of addon cars that is beneficial compared to replace is that you are not limited to certain slots. For example, you only get police, police2, police3, sheriff, sheriff2, FBI, FBI2, and a few others. But that's about it. Addon cars allow your department to have as many cars as you want. This is a big plus for those who want to base their game off IRL departments. It is still a benefit if you make your game lore friendly.

The second thing I would like to talk about is DLS. There is also a stigma where people mistake DLS for being "complicated" or "difficult" to use. This is also far from the truth. Installing DLS is a simple drag and drop of the plugins folder into the main game directory and that is it. the default control for lights is just J. Then there are other cool things like I for switching TA's and PageUp and PageDown for alleys and takedowns (these things are also configurable to your liking).

Additionally, I understand that ELS has been around since almost the beginning of LSPDFR's lifetime. However, players are being left behind with these old ELS cars, and a plugin that is quite performance intensive. DLS is arguably not as popular (hopefully until now) because on the grand scale of things, content creators only do tutorials for ELS. Think about it this way, majority of car developers have MOVED ON from ELS and switched to making DLS/Non ELS cars. Why are content creators stuck in the past, which evidently causes new LSPDFR and some current players to be also be stuck in the past? Car developers switched to making DLS/Non ELS cars because it provided more benefits to them in terms of lighting customization. For players who are looking to have cars based off IRL departments or cars inspired by them, you can roughly get about 70%-80% of the lighting correct with DLS/Non-ELS. In some cases, even 100%. This is insanely difficult with ELS because ELS patterns are premade by the plugin and you are limited to 12 extras for lights. Non ELS on the other hand, is limited to 32 sirens for lights, which is more than what ELS cars can do and the patterns aren't made by the plugin. The pattern is what the car dev or even YOU can make. For those who like LAPD, LASD, and CHP, you will get more out of DLS than ELS. For example, CHP cars have what you call corner lightbar kills. This is when the emergency lights are on, and when the driver or passenger door is open, the corner of the lightbar turns off. This isn't achievable with ELS. Furthermore, with how much CHP and those departments use Traffic Advisors irl, DLS allows you to switch TA's on the fly. In ELS, you got to scroll through then thousand patterns just to be able to find TA left.

Overall, when you see an addon car remember that everything in the metas (handling, vehicle, carcols, and carvariation) are all taken care of for you. Backups can use addon cars, and your departments can use as many cars as you want.

If you see a DLS car pack, do not get discouraged or be driven away because its DLS. The plugin has amazing emergency light functionality that makes your car feels more unique, and overall fun to patrol in. I will post some of my recommendations for DLS cars and car developers who make DLS vehicles. Give it a try and I think you will enjoy it :). Plus, you can use both DLS and ELS. I just don't want to see players being left behind with these old and outdated cars that are not even up to today's standards just because some content creators are still using ELS cars. There is a brand-new horizon that DLS/Non ELS cars can provide the players with an amazing game experience.

**Note: DLS is the lighting system for NON-ELS cars. Meaning ALL Non ELS cars can be use with it (meaning full lighting stages) as long as someone or you made a config for it. Yes this means you can convert FiveM ULC cars to LSPDFR and use DLS with it as well. If you want to use FiveM cars in your game with DLS you need to remove ELS completely and make sure ExtraPatch is set to true (this is true by default) in the DLS.ini. This is because FiveM cars have sirens attached to extras, and ELS can mess with FiveM car lighting as a result.

DLS Cars:
https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53731-dlsaddon-redmond-police-department-pack/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53763-non-elsdlsv2-2020-california-highway-patrol-fpiu-add-onfivem/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53383-2023-los-santos-transit-police-k9-tahoe/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/52188-san-andreas-dlsv2-starter-pack/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/50199-non-elsdlsv2-2023-california-highway-patrol-dodge-charger-add-onfivem/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53924-2026-chandler-police-pack-n-els-dlsv2-addon/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53960-dlsadd-on-2018-dodge-charger-ppv-chumash-police-dept/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53970-non-elsdlsv2-chp-bmw-r1200rt-p-addonfivem/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/53926-non-elsdlsv2-lapd-bmw-r1200rt-p-addonfivem/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/54025-non-elsdlsv2-generic-bmw-r1200rt-p-addonfivem/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/54421-dls-csp-slicktop-and-unmarked-2018-charger/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/54528-blaine-county-sheriff-department-dls-v2reflectiveaddon/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/40254-2010-ford-crown-victoria-police-interceptor-blaine-county-sheriff-bcso/

https://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/gta5mods/vehiclemodels/54526-2010-ford-crown-victoria-police-interceptor-bcso-slicktop-and-unmarked/

[DLS/Add-On] Paleto Bay Township Police Pack (Small Town PA Themed) - Vehicle Models - LCPDFR.com

2020 LAPD FPIU Traffic Unit [DLS V2] [Addon] - Vehicle Models - LCPDFR.com

Contra Costa Mini-Pack [Non-ELS] [32Sirens] - Vehicle Models - LCPDFR.com

[Non-ELS] [DLS] Pomona Police Dept. Pack - Vehicle Models - LCPDFR.com

Car Devs who make DLS/Non ELS Cars:
APE Modifications
Scoprionfam
The Pine Barrens
The Oxygen Tank (Air or Oxygen)
Nuk3
Nathan Modifications (Fivem Car dev but has DLS configs for his cars)
Varical (Fivem Car dev but has DLS configs for his cars)
Sheppy Development (Fivem Car dev but has DLS configs for his cars)
All the Kars
Sparky Development
Jank Modding

Edited July 8Jul 8 by BunBoHue

very good read.
making a very good point.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by Daniel2504

Thanks for taking the time to create this post. I hope this will encourage some (new and returning players) to at least have a try with DLS.

 

This topic has been moved to the appropriate forum. Please post in the correct location in the future.

The problem with anything new against the 'established ways' of doing things is we're too far into the game's lifecycle at this point.
Enhanced is superior to Legacy, for example, and our LSPDFR Enhanced player numbers are still vastly below Legacy - the ecosystem just isn't there. DLS may be superior to ELS, but it will struggle to complete with the decade of content, tutorials and creator videos of ELS. LML experiences the same issues.

And we're too close (potentially) to GTA VI on PC for new things to gain a real foothold, in my opinion.

7 hours ago, Cyan said:

The problem with anything new against the 'established ways' of doing things is we're too far into the game's lifecycle at this point.
Enhanced is superior to Legacy, for example, and our LSPDFR Enhanced player numbers are still vastly below Legacy - the ecosystem just isn't there. DLS may be superior to ELS, but it will struggle to complete with the decade of content, tutorials and creator videos of ELS. LML experiences the same issues.

And we're too close (potentially) to GTA VI on PC for new things to gain a real foothold, in my opinion.

You make a very good point. I think with enhance the process of modding and some restrictions on EUP and custom cars might be a factor in why people might not want to switch. But if I am wrong then please do correct me.

As for the DLS situation, it is quite late to really make any big switch or change as you mentioned. But I hope at least by posting something, some people will at least give it a try and see the benefits it has. Thank you for engaging with my post I really appreciate it.