FREE TOOL · EMERGENCY LIGHTS

FiveM carcols siren editor

A carcols siren setting is twenty lamps, each carrying a 32-bit flash pattern stored as a decimal number, and you cannot tell what one of those numbers looks like by reading it. So this runs it. Tick the beats, watch the bar flash, and when the rhythm is right take the carcols.meta away — plus the carvariations line that makes a vehicle use it, and a check on the id so it does not collide with the pack you installed last week.

20 siren slots · 32 beats per pattern · 30 documented fields, 13 of them marked as community-understood rather than documented. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

LIVE PREVIEW · SEQUENCER RUNNING

Beat 1 of 32 · 200 bpm × 1 = 3.3 beats a second

Each row is one of the 20 sirens, each column is one of the 32 beats of its flashiness sequencer, and the bright column is where the playhead is now. 8 of 20 lamps are switched on. The preview reads the pattern most significant bit first, which is the convention the community guides use when they call the value a 32-digit binary string with one digit per beat; the game's own read order is not documented anywhere official.

Siren ID checker

Carcols ids are a flat global namespace, so two resources claiming the same number give you a car whose lights do not work and no error anywhere. Paste the ids you already have — a whole carcols.meta works, and so does a plain list of numbers — and this tells you what is free.

Search for free ids from

Highest id you can use255 without the SirenSetting Limit Adjuster installed

0ids read from your pastenothing yet

0duplicated in your own listnone — good

200the id this file claimsfree as far as this list goes

100next free id from 100100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111

0, 255, 65535 are reserved and are never offered. This check only knows about the ids you paste — the base game's own emergency vehicles occupy low numbers you have not listed, which is why the search starts at 100 rather than at 1.

Take it away

Vehicle for the carvariations snippet

carcols.meta

Goes in your resource's data folder with a data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' line pointing at it. All 20 siren slots are written, because the game expects 20.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<CVehicleModelInfoVarGlobal>
  <Sirens>
    <Item>
      <id value="200" />
      <name>mylightbar</name>
      <timeMultiplier value="1.00000000" />
      <lightFalloffMax value="70.00000000" />
      <lightFalloffExponent value="10.00000000" />
      <lightInnerConeAngle value="2.29061000" />
      <lightOuterConeAngle value="70.00000000" />
      <lightOffset value="0.00000000" />
      <textureName>VehicleLight_sirenlight</textureName>
      <sequencerBpm value="200" />
      <leftHeadLight>
        <sequencer value="0" />
      </leftHeadLight>
      <rightHeadLight>
        <sequencer value="0" />
      </rightHeadLight>
      <leftTailLight>
        <sequencer value="1431655765" />
      </leftTailLight>
      <rightTailLight>
        <sequencer value="2863311530" />
      </rightTailLight>
      <leftHeadLightMultiples value="1" />
      <rightHeadLightMultiples value="1" />
      <leftTailLightMultiples value="2" />
      <rightTailLightMultiples value="2" />
      <useRealLights value="true" />
      <sirens>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="1431655765" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="2863311530" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="1431655765" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="2863311530" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="1431655765" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
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            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
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            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="1431655765" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
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            <sequencer value="2863311530" />
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            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="true" />
          <light value="true" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
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          <flashiness>
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            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
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          </corona>
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          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
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          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
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          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
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          </corona>
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          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
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          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
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            <multiples value="3" />
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          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
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            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
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          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
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          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
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          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
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          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
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          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
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          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
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        <Item>
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          <flashiness>
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          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
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          <flashiness>
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          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
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            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFFFF0300" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
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          <flashiness>
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            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
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            <pull value="0.15000000" />
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          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
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          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
        <Item>
          <rotation>
            <delta value="0.00000000" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="3.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="4294967295" />
            <multiples value="1" />
            <direction value="false" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </rotation>
          <flashiness>
            <delta value="3.14159300" />
            <start value="0.00000000" />
            <speed value="0.00000000" />
            <sequencer value="0" />
            <multiples value="3" />
            <direction value="true" />
            <syncToBpm value="true" />
          </flashiness>
          <corona>
            <intensity value="50.00000000" />
            <size value="1.10000000" />
            <pull value="0.15000000" />
            <faceCamera value="false" />
          </corona>
          <color value="0xFF000AFF" />
          <intensity value="1.00000000" />
          <lightGroup value="1" />
          <rotate value="false" />
          <scale value="true" />
          <scaleFactor value="100" />
          <flash value="false" />
          <light value="false" />
          <spotLight value="false" />
          <castShadows value="false" />
        </Item>
      </sirens>
    </Item>
  </Sirens>
</CVehicleModelInfoVarGlobal>

The carvariations.meta line that points at it

Without this the siren setting exists and nothing uses it. The number here and the id above have to match exactly.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<CVehicleModelInfoVariation>
  <variationData>
    <Item>
      <modelName>police</modelName>
      <sirenSettings value="200" />
    </Item>
  </variationData>
</CVehicleModelInfoVariation>

HOW TO USE IT

From a pattern to a flashing car

Five steps. Two of them are the ones people skip, and both of them produce a vehicle with lights that silently do nothing.

Check the id before you build anything. Paste every carcols.meta id already on your server into the checker and take a free number. Doing this first costs a minute; doing it after you have shipped the pack costs you an evening of people telling you the lights are broken on one car and fine on another.
Switch on only the lamps your model has bones for. Lamp 1 drives the bone named siren1, lamp 2 drives siren2, and so on. A lamp with no bone behind it is invisible — it is not an error, it is just nothing. If you are unsure, start with eight and work up.
Build the pattern on one lamp, then alternate. Get the rhythm you want on lamp 1, copy it across, then flip the even lamps to the inverse pattern. That is all a left-right lightbar is. The button for it is in the lamp panel.
Set the speed last. sequencerBpm is the master clock and timeMultiplier scales it, so changing either rescales every pattern at once. Get the shape right at a speed you can see, then speed it up.
Export both files and declare both. carcols.meta holds the siren setting; carvariations.meta is what points a vehicle at it. The siren setting on its own is inert, and this is the single most common reason a correct carcols.meta appears to do nothing.

fxmanifest.lua — both files, both data_file lines

A files entry makes the file available to the client. The data_file entry tells the game what it is. Four lines, and missing any one of them breaks it quietly.

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'

files {
    'data/carcols.meta',
    'data/carvariations.meta'
}

data_file 'CARCOLS_FILE' 'data/carcols.meta'
data_file 'CARVARIATIONS_FILE' 'data/carvariations.meta'

What those sequencer numbers mean

The same four values you will see in every carcols.meta on the internet, written out as the bit patterns they are. Once you can read them, the numbers stop being magic.

1431655765  =  01010101010101010101010101010101
2863311530  =  10101010101010101010101010101010
4294967295  =  11111111111111111111111111111111
3435973836  =  11001100110011001100110011001100

PATTERNS

The sequencer values worth knowing

Every pattern in the editor is one of these, or something you built by ticking beats. They are just 32-bit words.

Pattern	Value	As bits	What it reads as
Always on	4294967295	11111111111111111111111111111111	Every one of the 32 beats set. The light never goes out.
Alternate A	1431655765	01010101010101010101010101010101	Odd beats. Pairs with Alternate B for a left-right flash.
Alternate B	2863311530	10101010101010101010101010101010	Even beats. The exact inverse of Alternate A.
Double flash A	3435973836	11001100110011001100110011001100	Two beats on, two off. Reads as a quick double blink.
Double flash B	858993459	00110011001100110011001100110011	The inverse of Double flash A.
Quad burst	4042322160	11110000111100001111000011110000	Four on, four off. A slower, heavier strobe.
Triple pulse	3758030335	11011111111111101111110111111111	Three short bursts then a long hold.
Off	0	00000000000000000000000000000000	No beats set. The light stays dark.

REFERENCE

Every field in a siren setting

There is no carcols.meta page on docs.fivem.net, so the element names here come from a Sirens block as the game accepts it and the effects come from community research. Rows where that research is thin say so.

Per-vehicle, once per setting

Element	What it does	Source
Siren setting ID	The number a vehicle points at with sirenSettings in carvariations.meta. Two packs claiming the same id is the single most common cause of broken emergency lights.	established
Name	A label for humans. The game does not look vehicles up by it.	established
timeMultiplier	Scales how fast the whole light package runs. 1.0 is as authored; higher is faster.	community-understood
lightFalloffMax	How far the emitted light reaches before it has faded out.	community-understood
lightFalloffExponent	The curve the light fades along over that distance. Higher concentrates it near the lamp.	community-understood
lightInnerConeAngle	The hot centre of the cone, in degrees.	community-understood
lightOuterConeAngle	The outer edge of the cone, in degrees.	community-understood
lightOffset	Pushes the light source away from the bone it sits on.	community-understood
textureName	The corona texture. VehicleLight_sirenlight is what the game’s own emergency vehicles use.	established
sequencerBpm	Beats per minute for the sequencer. One beat is one bit of every 32-bit pattern, so this is the master speed of the whole package.	established
leftHeadLight / rightHeadLight	A 32-bit sequencer each for the headlight flash. Leave at 0 for no headlight wig-wag.	established
leftTailLight / rightTailLight	The same for the tail lights.	established
The four Multiples fields	How many times the matching head or tail light sequence repeats across the sequence.	community-understood
useRealLights	Whether the head and tail flash drives the vehicle’s actual light bones rather than extra emitters.	community-understood

Per lamp, twenty times over

Element	What it does	Source
rotation	The rotation block: delta is the angle in radians, start is the starting angle, speed is how fast it turns, and the sequencer gates when it turns at all. 3.14159 is half a turn.	established
flashiness	The same block shape driving brightness instead of angle. This is the one that carries the flash pattern on a normal lightbar.	established
sequencer	A 32-bit word written as a decimal number. Read as binary, each digit is one beat: 1 lights the lamp, 0 leaves it dark.	established
multiples	How many times this lamp’s pattern repeats within the sequence.	community-understood
direction	Reverses the sweep or the pattern direction.	community-understood
syncToBpm	Ties this block to sequencerBpm instead of running on its own speed value.	community-understood
corona	The glow drawn over the lamp: intensity, size, pull towards the camera, and whether it always faces the camera.	established
color	The lamp colour as 0xAARRGGBB. Alpha first, then red, green, blue.	established
intensity	Brightness multiplier for this lamp.	established
lightGroup	Which group the lamp belongs to, so a script or a secondary pattern can drive a subset of the bar.	community-understood
rotate	Turns the rotation block on. A rotating beacon rather than a strobe.	established
scale / scaleFactor	Whether the corona scales, and by how much. 100 is what Rockstar’s own front bar lamps use.	community-understood
flash	Turns the flashiness block on, which is what makes the sequencer pattern visible.	established
light	Whether this lamp casts actual light into the world rather than only drawing a corona.	established
spotLight	Makes the emitted light a cone instead of a point.	established
castShadows	Whether the lamp’s light casts shadows. Expensive, and off on every stock vehicle.	established

Element names and their order come from a carcols.meta Sirens block as the game accepts it — a real Sirens block, twenty items per setting, read field by field — so the XML this page writes is shaped exactly like one the game already loads. The id clash problem and its fix are described in Cfx.re — Fix broken lights and sirens, which is also where the rule about keeping carcols and carvariations in step comes from. The 255 id ceiling and the reserved values 0, 255, 65535 are stated by SirenSetting Limit Adjuster, the mod that raises the limit. Colour values are 0xAARRGGBB, the same byte order the FiveM docs — vehicle colors reference uses. Where a field only has a name and no established behaviour, the table above says community-understood rather than filling in a guess.

QUESTIONS

About carcols and sirens

Why do my sirens not work after installing a vehicle pack?

Almost always a siren ID clash. The sirenSettings id in carcols.meta is a single global namespace across every resource on the server, so two packs that both claim 437 do not merge — one wins and the other vehicle gets lights that do nothing. There is no error in the console for it, which is why it takes so long to find. The checker on this page exists for exactly that: paste every carcols.meta id you have and it tells you what is still free.

What is the sequencer number actually doing?

It is a 32-bit word stored as a plain decimal integer. Read it as binary and each of the 32 digits is one beat of the pattern: 1 lights the lamp, 0 leaves it dark. That is why the two values you see everywhere are 1431655765 and 2863311530 — as binary they are alternating ones and zeroes, exact inverses of each other, which is what makes the left and right halves of a lightbar flash against one another. The speed the beats run at is sequencerBpm, scaled by timeMultiplier.

How many siren lights can one setting have?

Twenty, and the block always contains twenty whether you use them or not — that is how the game's own carcols siren blocks are written, so this tool always writes 20 items. A lamp you are not using is simply one with flash and light switched off and its sequencer at 0. The lamps map onto the vehicle's siren bones in order, so siren 1 is the bone named siren1, and a lamp with no matching bone on the model does nothing at all.

What do rotation and flashiness do differently?

They are the same block shape — delta, start, speed, sequencer, multiples, direction, syncToBpm — pointed at two different things. Rotation drives the angle, so it is what you use for a turning beacon, and delta is in radians, which is why 3.14159 keeps showing up: that is half a turn. Flashiness drives brightness, so it is what carries the strobe pattern on a modern lightbar. Each has its own sequencer, and the rotate and flash booleans on the lamp decide which of the two is actually read.

What is a safe siren ID to pick?

Something well above the base game. The published limit without the SirenSetting Limit Adjuster is 255, and 0, 255, 65535 are reserved, so a stock setup gives you roughly 1 to 254 with the game's own emergency vehicles already sitting in the low numbers. In practice pick high inside that range and keep a list, or install the adjuster and work in the thousands — which is what packs using ids like 5401 have done. The checker here defaults to searching from 100 for that reason.

Does the preview match what I will see in game?

The pattern does; the look does not. The timing, the on and off beats, the inversion between lamps and the effect of sequencerBpm and timeMultiplier are all read straight out of the values you are editing, so if the pattern looks wrong here it will be wrong in game. What it cannot show you is the corona texture, the falloff on real geometry, how the light lands on wet tarmac, or whether your model even has a siren bone in that slot. Judge the rhythm here, then look at the car.

Other vehicle tools

handling.meta editor

The game's own handling values for a vehicle as a starting point, every field explained with the range Rockstar actually ships, and a runtime Lua export so you can tune a car while sitting in it.

fxmanifest.lua generator

The manifest that declares carcols.meta and carvariations.meta, with the data_file types taken from the published list.

All the free tools

Generators, calculators and the reference tables.

ALSO FREE