So, 2.5 things to find out here:

1. Can I change ped spawn distance?
2. Can I change car spawn distance?
3. Can I change or toggle the setting which makes cars low poly when they spawn and fill in when they are closer?

Thanks for any help.

Hi. Is this possible? Obviously it was something the developers selected. 

AsaSK said Boz tree editor could do it. But all I see in an occluder is dimensional and positional data. Maybe it's in game.exe or something.

Hi, I'm Hunter. You probably don't know me, I joined lostheaven.co.uk in 2003.

Anyway, um, has anyone heard of this modder guy? I don't quite remember the name. Was it AGM or something? I don't know if he published mods or what. IIRC he helped me with some nice game.exe hex edits. And I just wanted to credit him properly. 

We always had a nice community until some fool wrecked it. Keep Chris Kempson away from your server, folks.