Vehicle conversion

To use a vehicle with ControlPaneel V3, its emergency lighting must be set up as vehicle extras in the model. This guide walks you through the process.

What Are Extras?

Vehicle extras are optional visual components defined in the vehicle's model. In GTA V, they can be toggled on and off. The controlpanel uses extras to control individual lighting groups.

For example:

• Extra 1 = Front lightbar blue flashers
• Extra 2 = Rear lightbar blue flashers
• Extra 3 = Grille flashers
• Extra 4 = Left arrow indicator
• Extra 5 = Right arrow indicator
• Extra 6 = Scene lights

Conversion Steps

1. 1

   Plan Your Extras

   Before opening ZModeler, plan which lighting functions you need and group them logically:

   Function	Extras	Notes
   Blue lights	1, 2, 3	All blue flashers that should activate together
   Traffic adviser left	4	Left-pointing arrow pattern
   Traffic adviser right	5	Right-pointing arrow pattern
   Traffic adviser center	6	Center/warning pattern
   Cruise lights	7	Low-profile steady blues
   Work lights	8	Scene illumination
   Beacon	9	Roof-mount magnetic beacon
   Sirene flashers	10	Extra flashers only active with siren

   Group by function, not by position. All extras that should activate together when "blue lights" are toggled should be in the same group (e.g., front bar + rear bar + grille = all in blauw).

2. 2

   Set Up in ZModeler

   1. Open your vehicle model in ZModeler 3
   2. Create your emissive lighting meshes (https://docs.dwnstr.com/tutorials/workflow)
   3. Assign each lighting group to an extra slot
   4. Make sure the extras are properly named and indexed
3. 3

   Set Vehicle Class

   In the vehicle's vehicles.meta, ensure the vehicle class is set to emergency:

   <vehicleClass>VC_EMERGENCY</vehicleClass>
   

   The control panel only recognizes vehicles with class 18 (emergency).

4. 4

   Create the Config

   Create a config file in the configs/ folder matching your vehicle's spawn name. Map each extra to the appropriate function:

   configData[spawnVoertuig] = {
       blauw = {1, 2, 3},
       directLinks = {4},
       directRechts = {5},
       directCenter = {6},
       steadyBlue = {7},
       steadyWhite = {8},
       pitje = {9},
       sf = {10},
       sirene = 'hoog',
       Dualsirene = 'MPcall',
       excludeSiren = {'pitje', 'steadyBlue', 'steadyWhite'},
       unique = {
           directLinks = {5,6},
           directRechts = {4,6},
           directCenter = {4,5},
       }
   }
   

5. 5

   Test

   1. Spawn the vehicle in-game
   2. Use /debugConfig to verify the model hash and loaded config
   3. Test each button on the control panel
   4. Verify extras toggle correctly
   5. Check sync by having another player observe

Tips

• Keep extra count reasonable - GTA V supports extras 1–12. Plan your groups efficiently.
• Test each extra individually - Before creating the config, use a trainer or command to toggle each extra and verify it shows the correct lights.
• Use excludeSiren - For any lighting that shouldn't trigger the native GTA siren glow effect (work lights, beacons, cruise lights).
• Emissive materials - Make sure your lighting meshes use emissive materials so they actually glow in-game.