The Loot

Currently unchangeable, as far as I know, though vehicles added to the police bike group do seem to spawn in those spots. Most likely all things like that are either hardcoded, or contained in map files which can't be edited yet.

In the future, you can always make a modified carvariations entry for the model and add it to one of the DLC files. That will override the original settings and allow you to use the vehicle in any slot without messing up the lights,

That's good cop.

The reason for that is that two peds is hardcoded for any vehicle (besides FBI which is set to four) that is set as a police car type. SWAT car type can have three peds, but only works for the models FBI2 and SHERIFF2.

I'm assuming the system will be pretty similar to ELS IV; no need to reinvent the wheel.

Mod is compatible with LSPDFR, but you'll need to add the new vehicles and peds to the backup customization file for them to show up.

Yep, change the button to RightThumb, and make sure to set OverrideLSPDFRBackup to True. Note: This is only a workaround, done by quickly opening and closing the LSPDFR action menu after the default Backup menu opens to close it and leave only the Custom menu.

All vehicles from the base game have their entries in an encrypted file that can't be read or changed until the OpenIV team works that out and adds that feature to the release. As @Hystery said, just use any DLC meta file and add the correct entry and that will override the original and work just fine.

It'd be a great addition to the EMS script if it ever happened.

Sirens are not separately defined, so there's no way to change a cars siren without changing all the sounds the vehicle uses.

There's a SAHP retexture of the female deputy already out there, and you can just replace the male with a copy of the normal SAHP ped. Various options out there of vehicle models and textures you can replace the normal ones with: Cruiser, Buffalo, and Gresley I believe someone redid the Paleto Bay station as SAHP, and the Davis sheriff station as LSPD.

How are you implementing the vehicle? As a SWATAutomobile type? Only the models CRUSADER, FBI2 and SHERIFF2 are supported by the game's dispatch system for SWAT; every other vehicle has to be done as a PoliceAutomobile type. Ghost vehicles have several causes, that being on of them most likely. The other is simply having too many ped models trying to spawn at the same time.

Yes, it's a visualsettings change, and it affects all vehicles..

If you mean in LSPDFR, the above answer should suffice (though I think there are issues in general where some peds lose their headgear in vehicles). If you mean in general, all settings related to ped prop and component spawning are all most likely locked away in the ped ymt files, which we still cannot modify until the OpenIV team gets past the encryption on the files and pushes that feature out to the community.

I believe it defaults to the Gov plate when there's nothing defined, so just leave the entry blank.

Renaming all four ped files should work, just make sure you have them all in the latest patchday ped archive.

Only the "firetruk" model can be used for fire dispatch (hardcoded or tucked away in still-encrypted files) as far as I know. As for police, just add the new model to the various vehicle sets you want it in, or make a new set and add it to the dispatch sets.

Savage.

Keeps sounding great, looking forward to it.

Forgot some info on the last post I did. Yes, that image set is very nice for choosing colors for things like that. You're also on the right track about the different numbers: primary color, secondary color, overcoat color, wheel color.

You'll have to make new color items in the carvariations entry for the vehicle: those control all the colors a car will naturally spawn with.

All original cars entries are contained in a still-encrypted filetype. As Hystery said, you'll have to add a new entry in a DLC meta file (sirensetting value should be 1, by the way).