What is vehiclelayouts.meta?

The root element is CVehicleMetadataMgr. The file is a set of cross-referenced lists rather than one entry per car:

• Layout infos: the named layouts themselves, such as LAYOUT_STANDARD or LAYOUT_LOW, each listing its seats and entry points.
• Seat infos and seat animation infos: what each seat is (driver, front passenger, rear) and which animation sets a character uses while sitting, steering and looking around.
• Entry point infos and entry animation infos: which door serves which seat and which animations play when opening the door, getting in, getting out or being pulled out.
• Drive-by infos: which weapons can be used from each seat and through what angles.
• Cover and camera data: offsets for taking cover against the vehicle and for the first-person view.

A vehicle chooses one layout by name with the <layout> tag in vehicles.meta. The layout has to suit the model's proportions: a low supercar, a tall SUV and a van place the character differently relative to the door and the seat.

Most add-on cars point at a stock layout and ship no vehiclelayouts.meta at all. That is correct and nothing is missing. A custom file is only needed when no stock layout fits, for example:

• A seat count or door arrangement the base game does not have.
• A model whose seating position is far from any stock vehicle, so characters clip through the roof or float above the seat.
• A custom first-person camera position.
• Vehicles ported with their own layout names by the author.

If the <layout> tag names a custom layout, the file that defines it must be loaded. Otherwise the vehicle refers to a layout that does not exist.

files {
    'data/vehiclelayouts.meta',
    'data/vehicles.meta',
}

data_file 'VEHICLE_LAYOUTS_FILE' 'data/vehiclelayouts.meta'
data_file 'VEHICLE_METADATA_FILE' 'data/vehicles.meta'

As with every meta, the file must appear both under files and in a data_file line. The FXManifest Generator produces these lines for the metas you tick.

• Players cannot enter the car, or enter with broken animations: the layout named in vehicles.meta is not defined. Load the mod's vehiclelayouts.meta, or change <layout> to a stock layout of a similar vehicle.
• Character sits too high, too low or through the door: the layout does not suit the model. Try the layout of a stock car with similar proportions.
• First-person view is inside the headrest or the roof: the camera offsets belong to a different body shape; a different layout or a custom first-person entry fixes it.
• Works in single player but not on the server: the mod's layouts were in its dlc.rpf and were not carried over during conversion. Check the mod's content.xml for a layouts file; see dlc.rpf.