LilCuteli

Thanks for taking the time and effort to supply the forums with a guide like this! I've moved it to a more fitting subforum :).

Creating custom sirens for GTA 5 can be tedious, but with the right workflow, you can get perfectly looping, loud, and high-quality tones in-game. This guide covers everything from sourcing the audio to editing loops, maximizing volume, importing via OpenIV, and making it work for FiveM.

Prerequisites & Golden Rules

Tools Required:
Audacity (for audio editing)
OpenIV (for GTA 5 archive modding)
ArchiveFix (only required if you are porting this to FiveM)

Golden Rule: Always create backups of your game files and strictly use the mods folder in OpenIV. Make sure Edit Mode is clicked ON in OpenIV before starting.
Organization: Create a dedicated project folder on your PC. Keep your original downloaded videos/audio separated from your edited files and final game-ready exports.


Phase 1: Sourcing the Perfect Audio

The foundation of a great siren is a clean source file.

Find Clean Audio: Search YouTube (or other sources) for clips of the siren you want. Look for videos with the absolute minimum amount of background noise.
Avoid the Doppler Effect: Find a clip where the emergency vehicle is stationary or moving very slowly. The Doppler effect alters both the pitch and speed of the sound as the vehicle passes, which is incredibly difficult to fix later.
Download: Use an audio downloader website (like NoTube) to rip the audio from the video.


Phase 2: Audacity - Creating the Perfect Loop
This is the most meticulous part of the process. You want the siren to loop seamlessly without any clicking or popping.
Isolate the Tone: Right click on your downloaded sound and open with Audacity, go to Mix>Resample>Mix Stereo Down to Mono. Find the cleanest single cycle of the siren.
Trim the Fat: Click and drag to highlight the section you want to keep. Copy, click on an empty area down and paste it there and delete the old one by selecting and pressing Backspace.
The Zero-Crossing Method (Fixing Pops): If the start and end of your audio clip don't align perfectly, you will hear a "pop" every time it loops.
Zoom all the way into the audio track usingCtrl + Mouse Wheel until you can see the individual dots on the waveform line.
Let Audacity do the hard work for you: Highlight your clip and press Z on your keyboard (or go to Select > At Zero Crossings). This snaps your selection edges perfectly to the horizontal center line (zero amplitude).
Test the Loop: Use Shift + Space to play the selection in a continuous loop.
Save Your Project: Go to File > Save Project > Save Project. The hardest part is done, lock in this progress before altering the volume.


Phase 3: Audacity - The "Flat Volume" Method

To ensure your siren sounds consistently loud and powerful in-game without volume fluctuations, flatten its dynamic range.
1. Compression and Limiting Highlight your audio, then navigate to Effect > Volume and Compression > Compressor
Threshold: -20 dB to -25 dB
Make Up Target: 0 dB
Knee Width: 0 dB
Ratio: 10.1
Lookahead: 1.0 ms
Attack/Release: 0.1 ms
2. Forced Amplification (Optional) If it still needs more punch, force it right to the edge of clipping:
Go to Effect > Volume and Compression > Amplify...
Check the box for "Allow clipping" and increase the New Peak Amplitude by a few dB.
3. Export the File: When you are done, go to File > Export Audio... * Format: WAV (Microsoft)
Encoding: Signed 16-bit PCM 32000hz
Name the file exactly as the siren you intend to replace (look into the box at the end of this guide to see the siren names).


Phase 4: OpenIV - Injecting the Audio (vehicles.awc)

Now you need to get your new .wav file into the game's audio archive.
Locate the File: In OpenIV, navigate to mods/x64/audio/sfx/RESIDENT.rpf.
Export to openFormats: Scroll down to find vehicles.awc. Right-click on it and select Export to openFormats (.oac). Choose a location on your desktop.
Replace the Audio: Go to your desktop. You will now see a file named vehicles.oac and a folder paired with it named vehicles. Open that vehicles folder. Find the original siren .wav file, delete it, and drag in your new custom .wav file (ensure it has the exact same name as the one you deleted).
Import Back to OpenIV: Go back to OpenIV. Either Right-click in empty space and select Import openFormats, or simply drag and drop the vehicles.oac file directly into the OpenIV window. It will automatically recompile the .awc file with your new siren inside.
Tip: Keep your loops short! GTA 5 has a strict file size limit for the vehicles.awc archive. If you exceed it, your game will crash or audio will mute. If you need to save space, download "dead air" (silent) audio files to replace obscure, unused vehicle sounds in the archive.


Phase 5: FiveM Specific Step (ArchiveFix)
If you are only playing Single Player LCPDFR, skip this step.
FiveM requires custom .rpf files to be encrypted properly, otherwise the server will crash or reject the files.
After you have successfully imported your .oac back into OpenIV, close OpenIV.
Locate the physical RESIDENT.rpf file on your computer (the one you just modified inside your mods/x64/audio/sfx/ folder).
Drag and drop the entire RESIDENT.rpf file directly onto your ArchiveFix.exe application.
A command prompt window will briefly pop up to confirm it has been encrypted/fixed. Your file is now ready to be streamed to your FiveM server.


[TheHC09] ELS Siren Strings Reference
After extensive research, I have finally found the siren strings for ELS, and all but two siren tones are now working in-game!
They seem to correspond to the OpenIV assigned names, but they have the beginning part of the string added. These were all found by me personally through research and experimenting, so you're welcome (also would appreciate this being a pinned topic for others to find). From what I gather, the string is basically referring to the location of the siren file in the game's archive ('RESIDENT' being the RESIDENT.rpf and 'VEHICLES' being vehicles.awc, followed by the siren name).

LSPD Main Police Siren:

"VEHICLES_HORNS_SIREN_1" - Police Primary (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_PA20A_WAIL" doesn't work for some reason)

"VEHICLES_HORNS_SIREN_2" - Police Secondary (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_2" doesn't work for some reason)

Firetruck Siren:

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_FIRETRUCK_WAIL_01" - Firetruck Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_FIRETRUCK_QUICK_01" - Firetruck Secondary
Police Bike Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_03" - Police Bike Primary

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_03" - Police Bike Secondary

FIB Siren:

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_02" - FIB Primary

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_02" - FIB Secondary

Ambulance Siren:

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_01" - Ambulance Primary

"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_01" - Ambulance Secondary

Siren Warning/Priority Tones:

"VEHICLES_HORNS_POLICE_WARNING" - Police Warning (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_POLICE_WARNING" doesn't work)

"VEHICLES_HORNS_AMBULANCE_WARNING" - Ambulance Warning (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_AMBULANCE_WARNING" doesn't work)

Siren Horns:

"SIRENS_AIRHORN" - Airhorn (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_AIRHORN_EQD" doesn't work)

"VEHICLES_HORNS_FIRETRUCK_WARNING" - Firetruck Horn (Note: "RESIDENT_VEHICLES_FIRE_TRUCK_HORN" doesn't work)
[TastyFlavour] Update: Sheriff (Granger) Sirens Fix
While the standard Granger strings (RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_04 and QUICK_04) do not work for some reason, I have found the Granger Sirens that DO work correctly with ELS:
Granger Wail: sirens_slow_dir4
Granger Yelp: fast_9oghrv1

[Nazdravi412] Siren file names
Airhorn
AIRHORN_EQD - Generic Bullhorn
 
Police Bike
SIREN_WAIL_03 - PoliceB Main
SIREN_QUICK_03 - PoliceB Secondary
 
FIB
SIREN_WAIL_02 - FIB Primary
SIREN_QUICK_02 - FIB Secondary
 
Police
SIREN_PA20A_WAIL - Police Primary
SIREN_2 - Police Secondary
POLICE_WARNING     - Police Warning

Sheriff Granger
SIREN_WAIL_03 - Sheriff Granger Primary
SIREN_QUICK_03 - Sheriff Granger Secondary
  
Ambulance
SIREN_WAIL_01 - Ambulance Primary
SIREN_QUICK_01 - Ambulance Secondary
AMBULANCE_WARNING - Ambulance Warning

Fire Trucks
FIRE_TRUCK_HORN - Fire Horn
SIREN_FIRETRUCK_WAIL_01 - Fire Primary
SIREN_FIRETRUCK_QUICK_01 - Fire Secondary

This post is old as hell, however, I have found the Granger Sirens that DO work with ELS
Wail = sirens_slow_dir4 Yelp = fast_9oghrv1

How the file should look
vv

After extensive research I have finally found the siren strings for ELS and all but two siren tones are now working in-game!
 
They seem correspond to the OpenIV assigned names but they have the beginning part of the string added. These were all found by me personally through research and experimenting, so you're welcome (also would appreciate this being a pinned topic for others to find). From what I gather the string is basically referring to the location of the siren file in the game's archive ('RESIDENT' being the RESIDENT.rpf and 'VEHICLES' being vehicles.awc, followed by the siren name). Strangely, the siren names identified by OpenIV for the main LSPD tones and the Sheriff Granger tones don't work so I will need help with that. Anyway, enjoy!
 
 
LSPD Main Police Siren:
"VEHICLES_HORNS_SIREN_1" - Police Primary
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_PA20A_WAIL" doesn't work for some reason)
"VEHICLES_HORNS_SIREN_2" - Police Secondary
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_2" doesn't work for some reason)

Firetruck Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_FIRETRUCK_WAIL_01" - Firetruck Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_FIRETRUCK_QUICK_01" - Firetruck Secondary

Police Bike Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_03" - Police Bike Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_03" - Police Bike Secondary

Sheriff (Granger) Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_04" - Sheriff (Granger) Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_04" - Sheriff (Granger) Secondary
^ These two aren't working for some reason

FIB Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_02" - FIB Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_02" - FIB Secondary

Ambulance Siren:
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_WAIL_01" - Ambulance Primary
"RESIDENT_VEHICLES_SIREN_QUICK_01" - Ambulance Secondary

Siren Warning/Priority Tones:
"VEHICLES_HORNS_POLICE_WARNING" - Police Warning
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_POLICE_WARNING" doesn't work for some reason)
"VEHICLES_HORNS_AMBULANCE_WARNING" - Ambulance Warning
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_AMBULANCE_WARNING" doesn't work for some reason)

Siren Horns:
"SIRENS_AIRHORN" - Airhorn
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_AIRHORN_EQD" doesn't work for some reason)
"VEHICLES_HORNS_FIRETRUCK_WARNING" - Firetruck Horn
("RESIDENT_VEHICLES_FIRE_TRUCK_HORN" doesn't work for some reason)
 
 
My three requests are:
1. Why are a few of them not working, particuarly the Sheriff Granger ones? Could someone with knowledge help?
2. Can we get an AI Sirens mod that makes the AI change siren tones based on the vehicle's VCF siren setup?
3. Is there any way to remove the pitch filters that are applied to some of the sirens? (e.g. the ambulance and fire truck sirens in-game are lower pitched than the actual file itself)
 
 
Cheers everyone.

I figured it out, just like sirensettings controls the lightbars, lightsettings controls all the vehicles exterior lighting (headlights, interior lights, taillights, reverse, etc)

You can actually specify those settings with an id value inside of the carcols file.

 
<Item> <id value="75"/> <indicator> <intensity value="0.37500000"/> <falloffMax value="2.50000000"/> <falloffExponent value="8.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="20.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="50.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFF7300"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </indicator> <rearIndicatorCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </rearIndicatorCorona> <frontIndicatorCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </frontIndicatorCorona> <tailLight> <intensity value="0.25000000"/> <falloffMax value="4.00000000"/> <falloffExponent value="16.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="45.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="90.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFF0000"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </tailLight> <tailLightCorona> <size value="1.20000000"/> <size_far value="2.50000000"/> <intensity value="5.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="1.00000000"/> <color value="0xFFFF0F05"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </tailLightCorona> <tailLightMiddleCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </tailLightMiddleCorona> <headLight> <intensity value="1.50000000"/> <falloffMax value="35.00000000"/> <falloffExponent value="16.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="0.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="60.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFF7FA7E3"/> <textureName>VehicleLight_car_LED1</textureName> <mirrorTexture value="false"/> </headLight> <headLightCorona> <size value="0.10000000"/> <size_far value="7.00000000"/> <intensity value="7.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="5.00000000"/> <color value="0xFF61A5FF"/> <numCoronas value="2"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="32"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="68"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.18221200"/> <zRotation value="0.58433600"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </headLightCorona> <reversingLight> <intensity value="0.50000000"/> <falloffMax value="7.20000000"/> <falloffExponent value="32.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="20.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="78.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFFFFFF"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </reversingLight> <reversingLightCorona> <size value="0.80000000"/> <size_far value="2.00000000"/> <intensity value="1.50000000"/> <intensity_far value="1.00000000"/> <color value="0x00F7F7F7"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </reversingLightCorona> <name>fugitive</name> </Item>

There's an example, the fugitive has lightsettings 75!

So if you apply lightsettings="75" in carvariations, to any vehicle, it will use those settings. (theoretically)
CARCOLS.YMT
<Item> <id value="3"/> <indicator> <intensity value="0.37500000"/> <falloffMax value="2.50000000"/> <falloffExponent value="8.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="30.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="80.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFF8000"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </indicator> <rearIndicatorCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </rearIndicatorCorona> <frontIndicatorCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </frontIndicatorCorona> <tailLight> <intensity value="1.00000000"/> <falloffMax value="4.00000000"/> <falloffExponent value="8.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="45.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="90.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFF0000"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </tailLight> <tailLightCorona> <size value="0.15000000"/> <size_far value="0.75000000"/> <intensity value="1.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="5.00000000"/> <color value="0xFFFF1A00"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </tailLightCorona> <tailLightMiddleCorona> <size value="0.00000000"/> <size_far value="0.00000000"/> <intensity value="0.00000000"/> <intensity_far value="0.00000000"/> <color value="0x00000000"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </tailLightMiddleCorona> <headLight> <intensity value="4.00000000"/> <falloffMax value="40.00000000"/> <falloffExponent value="160.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="15.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="70.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFFE894"/> <textureName>VehicleLight_misc_searchlight</textureName> <mirrorTexture value="false"/> </headLight> <headLightCorona> <size value="8.00000000"/> <size_far value="1.80000000"/> <intensity value="2.80000000"/> <intensity_far value="10.00000000"/> <color value="0xFFFFFFFF"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </headLightCorona> <reversingLight> <intensity value="0.50000000"/> <falloffMax value="4.00000000"/> <falloffExponent value="32.00000000"/> <innerConeAngle value="45.00000000"/> <outerConeAngle value="90.00000000"/> <emmissiveBoost value="false"/> <color value="0xFFFFFFFF"/> <textureName/> <mirrorTexture value="true"/> </reversingLight> <reversingLightCorona> <size value="0.80000000"/> <size_far value="2.00000000"/> <intensity value="1.50000000"/> <intensity_far value="1.00000000"/> <color value="0x00F7F7F7"/> <numCoronas value="1"/> <distBetweenCoronas value="128"/> <distBetweenCoronas_far value="255"/> <xRotation value="0.00000000"/> <yRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zRotation value="0.00000000"/> <zBias value="0.25000000"/> <pullCoronaIn value="false"/> </reversingLightCorona> <name>Submersible</name>  
CARVARIATIONS.META
 
<variationData> <Item> <modelName>submersible2</modelName> <colors> <Item> <indices content="char_array"> 132 0 122 156 </indices> <liveries> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> <Item value="false" /> </liveries> </Item> </colors> <kits /> <windowsWithExposedEdges /> <plateProbabilities> <Probabilities /> </plateProbabilities> <lightSettings value="3" /> <sirenSettings value="0" /> </Item> Submersible2 [Lightsettings=3]

Hi there everyone,
After countless hours of searching for solutions and testing today I have finally decided to ask for help since none of the other solutions are working for me.
 
To sum up the problem I am facing:
I pull up behind a car and press LShift I see the red blip on the map indicating that the car has been "marked" I press E as indicated by the prompt to initiate the traffic stop but the car just honks and nothing happens (Only with ELS vehicles) *It's important to note that this only happens with ELS vehicles - I tested with vanila police vehicles and the traffic stop worked like a charm. I also noticed that nobody moves out of the way when I go full blast lights and sirens.
 
From what I have read is that you need to have FLAG_LAW_ENFORCEMENT and FLAG_EMERGENCY_SERVICE in your vehicles.meta file in order for the traffic stop functionality to work.
I have double checked and the mentioned flags are present in the vehicles.meta
I also read that you should change this setting in ELS.ini in order to stop the vehicles from driving in a straight line and just crashing (ElsTrafCtrlOn = false)
 
I have not been playing for about two years so my installation is fresh and I have the following mods/files installed:
LSPD First Response 0.4.9 (Build 8747) ScriptHook V (v1.0.3095.0) Gameconfig.xml for LML or manual install by RDE Team 3095 HeapAdjuster PackfileLimitAdjuster Emergency Lighting System 1.05 OpenIV BMW M5! [NON-ELS]-[ELS] [Add-on / Replace | FiveM-Ready] Non els Version  
The BMW M5 is installed as an Add-on not a replacement using the ELS variant.
I tried installing it via dlcpacks which worked (without the ability to perform a traffic stop) and then I tried installing the Modding DLC Pack V 1.2.0.0 way, but the problem still remains.
I have tried it with another vehicle just to double check but I still have the same problem - unable to initiate a traffic stop.
 
Am I missing something important or am I doing it incorrectly?
 
UPDATE: 
 
I decided to test something else and it worked.
 
In the carvariations.meta file I changed the sirenSetting from
<sirenSettings value="0" /> to
<sirenSettings value="1" />  
This fixed the issue and I can now pull vehicles over and they register when I go full blast lights and sirens

Hello everyone,
I was wondering if there is a way to set the ELS cruise lights always on for the npc patrol cars of lspdfr, so that when they spawn around the map they have the steady cruise lights activated as happens in the reality in my country.
I tried to search in the ELS user guide or other forums but I didn't find anything.
 
Thanks in advance to all those who will help me!