I was wondering, in multiplayer, if I want to see the lights of others in my game should I have ELS_AI_MP on or off? According to the user guide

 

"Furthermore, ELS is primarily intended for use within the single player mode of GTAIV. Thus, except for the sirens (the functionalities of which are altered and reduced in multiplayer for compatibility reasons), none of the ELS features are synchronized for other players during online play. This does not mean that ELS cannot be used in multiplayer. However, due once more to the inner-workings of GTAIV, although flash patterns may appear normal to the user, they will appear much slower or not at all for other players. Environmental lighting and other features will not be seen at all by others. A slight workaround is to ensure that the Els_Ai_Mp feature in the ELS.ini is set to on. This will allow ELS to animate the vehicles of other players as it would those of the AI (artificial intelligence) police in single player. Note, however, that these vehicles will only be detected when their sirens are active—therefore vehicles that do not possess sirens will be ignored."

 

Does this mean if ELS_AI_MP is on all lights will show, to me, completely off unless the siren is on? So should I have ELS_AI_MP off so I can see lights of others even when their sirens are not on?

 

Also the guide states that there are n environmental lighting on others in multiplayer. I've seen a video from bayareabuggs where you could see the environmental lighting, patterns, and the lighting even went a little faster that what it usually is.

 

My final question,

Should I have ELS_AI_MP enabled if I want to get the most out of ELS in MP? (and I want to see others lights even when their sirens are off)

 

Thanks,

Chamimnya

No, I think what that means is "if you want ELS to work *at all* in MP, Els_Ai_Mp MUST be on". The issue is a few things:

* Extras sync slowly (I assume), so ELS on the other person's computer won't work to show the lights on your computer. Instead, to get the necessary rapid spawning/despawning of extras, you need to have ELS on your computer detect that they have their lights on, and run the lights on your end. Basically, YOUR ELS needs to turn THEIR lights on.

* Environmental lighting doesn't sync. Again ELS needs to detect that they have the lights running, so it can turn on their lights.

* Syncing in MP is hard; the best you can do here is use the siren, and detect that they have their siren on, and use *that* to know when to turn the lights on.

So, unless you set that option to On, ELS won't really work much at all in MP. If you turn it to On, it still only really works if they have their siren on. Keeping it off won't make ELS work when their lights are on and their sirens off; rather, it will make ELS not work even when their sirens ARE on.

TL;DR: Set that to On if you want ELS to work at all in MP. You can't get "lights working whether or not the siren is on".