This is a bit of a rant, but I feel like it's something that needs to be said for anyone who uploads models or scripts.

 

I want to point out that our community guidelines encourage constructive criticism. This means comments on how to improve a vehicle or script, not hateful comments such as "this is shit." If you don't want comments that you think are mean (when they are really pointing out problems with it), then put effort into your uploads.

 

I asked a number of people from both sides of modding, and these are common issues listed:

 

Models:

-Big one: Complete lack of credits. More people worked on the parts used than just "you". All files should have every credit listed from the parts you used to create your content. That's even in the community guidelines.

-The credits section is included on the file page for a reason. It should be more than just "Included." It takes 5 seconds to copy and paste them.

-If you don't know who made something, find out or don't include that part. "Unknown" isn't acceptable.

-Stolen parts. If someone just gives you a part on discord with no credits and he isn't the original author, it's probably stolen.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE- It's not the job of the community to handle those issues, it's the job of moderators. If you see it, report it and move on to prevent drama

 

-Throwing a lightbar on a car and releasing.

-Way out of scale lights and other equipment, such as laptops, spotlights, etc

-No LODs, meaning the added parts disappear more than a few feet away from the car

-Lack of any additional equipment. Police cars have more than just a lightbar and pushbars. Partitions, weapons, center consoles, lighting control systems, laptops, etc. A vast majority of police cars have that and it ruins realism if a car only has lights.

-No VCF being included. Properly setup VCF's are needed for the ELS coronas to be the correct color at a distance.

-Miscolored textures. If a pushbar is green or purple, fix it.

-Clipping equipment. Nothing should be sticking through the windshield.

-Multiple radios and siren controllers. Those are extremely rare if ever used.

-Red and Blue DRL's. Not physically possible in real life.

-Super basic flash patterns that have no effort put into them.

-Calling it a real life agency when it looks nothing like it. If some one searches for that agency, they already have what they want in their mind. Putting "Fictional" in the title doesn't fix that.
 

 

Problems on scripts:

-The exact same stolen vehicle callouts across 50 files, and especially scripts that only contain those. Mainly when it is copied exactly from tutorials and the only difference is the type of car.

-People committing crimes while standing in the middle of the street.

-Outlandish events that never happen day to day, ie: Major shootouts, stolen monster trucks, tanks, emergency vehicles, etc. Even pursuits are fairly rare for most officers.

-Stolen code from others

-Callouts riddled with errors

-Unrealistic premises. For example, a mugging should be over in a few seconds and shouldn't be called in until after it's over. You shouldn't get the call, respond for 2 minutes and still find the suspect holding someone at gun point.

 

There's dozens of discords of talented people who would be happy to help. Don't be afraid to ask them. Modding is a learning process. You're not going to be good over night, it takes time and most importantly, you can always improve. Picasso didn't sell his first drawing he did in grade school, you should probably not release your first ever model or plugin either.

 

Mainly, take some time to objectively ask yourself if you would download it if you didn't make it or if you didn't have a bias towards that agency.

 

This leads me into the topic title. Just because "It's his first time" doesn't make some one immune to criticism. People should be encouraged to improve. I spent hundreds of hours on my first vehicle uploads. I sought the guidance of people with way more experience than me who I trusted. If some one points out issues to the car or script, they aren't a "hater". They aren't a "shithead who would struggle to put 2 match sticks together". They actually do care that some one can improve. I personally want to see as much quality stuff put into the downloads section as possible. But that means actually taking time on something, which is something very few people have been willing to do over the last year.

9 minutes ago, c13 said:

There's dozens of discords of talented people who would be happy to help. Don't be afraid to ask them. Modding is a learning process. You're not going to be good over night, it takes time and most importantly, you can always improve.

 

I want to emphasize how important this is. I always say I am walking in the footsteps of giants; my work has only been improved by putting it to the talented folks who came before me and asking for feedback. Kind feedback has given me confidence, and critical confidence has taught me how to be more critical of myself. This is how we improve. As I continue to hone my skill, I look forward to when I might return the favor.

16 minutes ago, c13 said:

-Red and Blue DRL's. Not physically possible in real life.

@BlueGhost, you should take @c13's advice here.

 

Edited June 24, 20196 yr by TexasDesigns
less passive agressive

Totally agree with this, I hope people take this as a guide and not an attack to new people trying to model or make scripts. Began modelling myself 4-5 months ago and I still haven't released a thing since I want to take time on my cars. I don't want to release something that's complete trash and I'm not happy with. It'd be nice to see more people taking this stance in taking pride in what they make. Thanks for starting this topic.

One point I'd like to add to this that I think seriously needs addressing as well is the quality of criticism and feedback itself. 

 

It's far too often that I see reviews on files that are like 3/5 stars with the only reason given being something along the lines of "it's not the lightbar I like so I could only give 3/5 stars."

Or the total opposite of that, where a file is riddled with bugs or is sloppily thrown together and it's getting 5/5 because "OMG I LOVE THIS AGENCY/LIGHTBAR/etc."

Note that neither of these examples have any actual feedback at all, which is the entire point and definition of a review.

 

Does the file live up to its description? Is it a quality product? Are things scaled properly? Are they accurate to the prototype or were creative liberties taken? Does everything work as it should? These are things that should be addressed via the review system. Objective reasoning, not a wishlist.
Please, in the future, rate and review files based on what they are, not what you want them to be.

yes.

Like @Xander6478 said I totally agree with this, people always seem to take criticism as an attack. I myself made a model once  just to try it asked for help and got it, I made something that was ehh and not the greatest so I didn't release it because I knew it need work and didn't wanna just throw it out there. Honestly I hope people don't freak out about this topic and we can get some actual good discussion out of it.

10 minutes ago, CG Blaze said:

One point I'd like to add to this that I think seriously needs addressing as well is the quality of criticism and feedback itself. 

 

It's far too often that I see reviews on files that are like 3/5 stars with the only reason given being something along the lines of "it's not the lightbar I like so I could only give 3/5 stars."

Or the total opposite of that, where a file is riddled with bugs or is sloppily thrown together and it's getting 5/5 because "OMG I LOVE THIS AGENCY/LIGHTBAR/etc."

Note that neither of these examples have any actual feedback at all, which is the entire point and definition of a review.

 

Does the file live up to its description? Is it a quality product? Are things scaled properly? Are they accurate to the prototype or were creative liberties taken? Does everything work as it should? These are things that should be addressed via the review system. Objective reasoning, not a wishlist.
Please, in the future, rate and review files based on what they are, not what you want them to be.

I completely agree with this. Another issue related to this is reviews such as "Screw the haters, this is 5/5 stars!" on models with major issues that people are pointing out. The review system is meant for the quality of a mod, not a counter review for ones that may be negative.

Like @Xander6478 and @Pacific Pig said. I totally agree with this. I don't understand why people always take criticism as an attack on their work and just brushing it off their shoulder like it's nothing when it's actually an issue. I don't know how many times a vehicle with issues has been released and the author just says "Your hating" or like "Stop hating" and it's ridiculous.

56 minutes ago, TexasDesigns said:

@BlueGhost, you should take @c13's advice here.

 

Given the subject matter of this topic, I'm gonna say that I disagree with the statement that colored daytime running lamps are impossible. My reasoning is that there are aftermarket kits to alter the color of a vehicles DRLs, ergo I see no issue with it, and I honestly believe that it has a practical police application. I only do flashing DRLs on standalone vehicles, anyway. If I'm doing a pack based on real life agencies, they are not included. Unless they actually use them, in that case, I implement them. I do agree that I do them pretty frequently, so I'll yield to your suggestion. After the Durango I have, I'll put the colored DRLs to rest for a bit. 

 

Aside from that, I concur with everything else. I used to take it personally when someone would critique my work. I take it in strides. I always have to bite my tongue when an author lazily puts "included" in their Credits section. I won't bother dropping names because I'm above that 🙄

 

I'd also like to add:

 

Archive Structure

Meaning that as the author, you are obligated to provide the players with an archive that includes all files your mod has and uses. 

 

Sloppy and Poor Grammar

Pretty self explanatory. If you fail to capitalize, punctuate, or use proper diction, you really should consider implementing a dictionary or a thesaurus during your process. This shit gives me an aneurysm. 

 

I'm sure there are other practices that infuriate me that I'm forgetting, but I digress.

Edited June 24, 20196 yr by BlueGhost
decided to not be a dick and listened to a suggestion

In general, when leaving criticism for mods, I really wish reviews for the scripts addressed the imperfections with them, because not only does it help the downloaders know what to expect out of the script, but also gives out help to the script authors, let them know if their scripts are unbalanced or if they can be exploited in a way. There's a reason criticism should come from third parties rather than your own; because you are easily colored by your own perception and biases and a third party eliminates this.

 

I absolutely hate when people leave out negative reviews just to be a dick or that "it doesn't work" because they improperly installed it. It doesn't help anyone, it demeans the person who worked hard, used up their free time, on making the script, and it serves to clog up other good faith reviews. Praise for a script is something that is something I'd be more lenient on, as multiple praise for your work feels great and it's awesome that people get to enjoy your mod. Still I think the best feedback are honest, detailed ones that aim to be helpful, ones who love your scripts to death, but they know it has problems to lay back on too...and this is in hopes the authors take note of it and consider it when fixing their plugins.

 

Of course, reviews are going to have some level of subjectivity in them. That's the nature of them. I might love the occasional weirdo bizarre callouts like taking down tanks or other ridiculous vehicles, as my world of GTA V is a bizarre and ridiculous, filled with raining people, occasional tornadoes, and Mario ads everywhere. That's just me. However, that doesn't mean that just because a mod caters to you, doesn't mean you should turn a blind eye to its fault. It helps everyone everywhere to note those down while you're writing for review, and at the end, still say that you loved their mod because only the most passionate people write the best, problem-pointing out reviews. We all love LSPDFR and GTA V, that's why we're here after all. 🙂

Well said @c13

 

I've been around since 2011. This was a problem then and it  always will be. Hopefully this will shed some more light on the obvious.

 

As much as I love looking at everyone's gallery posts that inspire me to launch my game, once I get in, I'm bored. It's the same thing over and over and over. I limit myself to the calls I take in game because they're truly boring as hell. My favorite call is a random callout pack where you respond to a domestic, arrive on scene, and both parties agree to leave the property. It's realistic, and it doesn't require 438 keybinds to get the job done.

I would also like to add something to this because this happens way too often

 

Know how to install mods before reviewing:

This is kinda important because I get users complaining they don't know how to install mods and yet leave a 1/5 star review just because they can't read the readme file. Unless you followed the readme file or know how to install mods don't whine and say the mod sucks when all you need to do was diffuse the glass tint on the lightbars in vehicles.meta. README EXISTS FOR A REASON! If there is something wrong with the procedure installing the mods

I would put it in the comment section outlining the issue. Modders should always document how users install the mods with a README file. 

Edited June 25, 20196 yr by SCPDUnit23