Hello, I'm a beginner to coding. But I don't seem to understand mod development for GTA 5, it's something I've wanted to start but I have no real idea how. What kind of software should I use? Which tool should I start with (Scripthook, ragehook,)? I was really hoping the mod community here could help me!

Visual Studio Community 2013 is one of the best IDEs to use. I'd recommend starting with Rage Plugin Hook, as the recommended language for it is C#. If you don't know C#, you're going to want to look up some tutorials on it.

Honestly, don't bother with Script Hook V. If you want to do anything LSPDFR or police related, stick to Rage Plugin Hook.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, things get easier.

As FtDLulz said, download Visual Studio Community 2013. Its free, and it is "straight from the horse's mouth", so to speak. Its a Microsoft tool, and Microsoft makes the .NET Framework, which is what all these plugins are developed on. The Community edition does not have all the tools that the professionals use in the Premium and Ultimate versions, but honestly, it doesn't matter. Community has more than enough built into it...take it from someone who is a .NET Developer for a living. I make money and pay my bills doing this stuff, and I use Visual Studio Premium at work. I find that Community is more than enough for stuff I want to do with LSPDFR scripts.

Now, all that said...DON'T LOOK AT ANY RAGE/LSPDFR CODE YET!!

Don't do it! I know you're looking at LukeD's Example API project in the other thread...its tempting, isn't it?

Well, don't download it! I'm watching you...

Okay, seriously...I would strongly suggest looking up some tutorials online on how to code in C#. Learn about the basic concepts...learn what a function is, what a variable is, what a loop is, etc. Start by making a program in C# that opens a Command Prompt (DOS) window and writes "Hello World!". You can do that one in about 5 minutes...literally.

Hint:

Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");

Once you're done that, and you're comfortable using Visual Studio, then follow the Rage Plugin Hook Getting Started guide in the Rage Documentation. And you'll be off and running! 

At that point, download LukeD's example API project from this subforum. If you take even just one or two days to learn some basic C# concepts, then you'll be far better off, and you'll be able to read and actually understand the example code that Luke has written. (Keep in mind that Luke's example is for developing an LSPDFR callout plugin...the guide in the Rage Documentation is for developing a script mod for GTA V...two different things!)

Feel free to post in this forum if you need help.

Good luck!

-epic post snip-

And don't be overwhelmed by all of it. If you're dedicated enough and use some good tutorials you can learn it pretty quickly. In fact, two weeks before my first plugin I had no idea how to do any C#. If you've never programmed before there's going to be a bigger learning curve, but stick with it and I'm sure you can do it. This is the tutorial I used, if you're looking to start off.