Disable or reduce NPC traffic and peds in FiveM: density natives

Typical symptoms:

Streets full of NPCs and traffic, low fps in the city, or random police responses nobody asked for.

Population in GTA is controlled by a set of natives that you call on the client. The main trap is that most of them reset every frame. This article shows the natives, the loop they need, the server side option, and the trade-offs of an empty city.

#The one rule: every frame

The density multipliers apply to the current frame only. Call them once at startup and they do nothing a moment later. They must run in a loop with no delay:

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        SetVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(0.0)
        SetPedDensityMultiplierThisFrame(0.0)
        SetRandomVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(0.0)
        SetParkedVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(0.0)
        SetScenarioPedDensityMultiplierThisFrame(0.0, 0.0)
        Wait(0)
    end
end)

A multiplier is between 0.0 (none) and 1.0 (the default amount). Each native controls a different part:

SetScenarioPedDensityMultiplierThisFrame takes two values, one for the interior and one for the exterior.

#Reduce instead of removing

A city with no one in it looks broken, and players notice. Use a value between 0 and 1 to thin it out:

local traffic = 0.3
local peds = 0.4

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        SetVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(traffic)
        SetRandomVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(traffic)
        SetParkedVehicleDensityMultiplierThisFrame(traffic)
        SetPedDensityMultiplierThisFrame(peds)
        SetScenarioPedDensityMultiplierThisFrame(peds, peds)
        Wait(0)
    end
end)

Try 0.3 to 0.5 first, then adjust to your server. Put the values in a config file so you can change them without touching the code.

#Server side: routing buckets

The server can switch the population off for a whole routing bucket, which is useful for an instance like an interior or an event, without a client loop:

-- server
SetRoutingBucketPopulationEnabled(bucketId, false)

With this, no ambient NPCs or traffic spawn for the players in that bucket. Bucket 0 is the default world. Leave it on for the main world and disable it for private instances. See routing buckets for how to put players in one.

#Remove the cops and the dispatch

Setting the density to zero does not stop the police response. Wanted levels and dispatch run on their own systems. To remove them, turn them off one by one:

CreateThread(function()
    SetMaxWantedLevel(0)
    SetCreateRandomCops(false)
    SetCreateRandomCopsNotOnScenarios(false)
    SetCreateRandomCopsOnScenarios(false)

    for service = 1, 15 do
        EnableDispatchService(service, false)
    end
end)

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        if GetPlayerWantedLevel(PlayerId()) > 0 then
            SetPlayerWantedLevel(PlayerId(), 0, false)
            SetPlayerWantedLevelNow(PlayerId(), false)
        end
        Wait(500)
    end
end)

EnableDispatchService takes a service index and a boolean. The loop over 1 to 15 covers the police, helicopter, fire, ambulance and other services the game defines. The wanted level loop catches anything that slips through.

If you keep the police on your server for roleplay, do not disable the services for players who are on duty. Handle that case in your job script.

#Other things you might want off

Population is more than peds and cars. These natives remove a few other sources, each takes a boolean:

SetGarbageTrucks(false)
SetRandomBoats(false)
SetRandomTrains(false)

Call them once at startup, they do not need a per frame loop.

#Performance trade-offs

What you gain. Every ped and vehicle is simulated, drawn and synced. Cutting them cuts the client's cost and the number of entities in the network. On weak PCs this can be a large fps difference. For other fps fixes, see low FPS in FiveM.

What you pay. A loop with Wait(0) runs every frame, so keep it tiny and put the natives in one single thread. A loop of five calls is cheap, but ten different scripts each with their own loop is not. Check that your server does not already set the density, and your resource monitor in resmon.

The atmosphere. A world with no NPCs is lifeless. Reducing traffic and keeping some peds is a better middle ground, and parked cars are cheap to keep since they do not move.

Gameplay. Many scripts rely on peds or cars: a drug sale, a robbery with hostages, a heist with traffic. Test them with your density settings, since a job that needs a passer-by will fail in an empty city.

#Common mistakes

• Calling the multipliers once. They reset every frame, use a loop.
• A long Wait in the loop. With Wait(1000) the density applies one frame per second and the NPCs spawn in the gaps. It must be Wait(0).
• Two scripts with different values. The last call of the frame wins, so you get inconsistent results. Keep one source.
• Forgetting the parked cars. Traffic at zero and parked cars at the default still leaves a street full of cars.
• Expecting the server to remove NPCs it does not own. Ambient population is client side, apart from the routing bucket switch.

#Checklist