Sam

I don't know, but none of the 'ranks' really matter. Anyone with more than 10 posts content items can set their rank to whatever they want.

I'll be making a statement on the state of vehicle modifications in GTA V and some changes to our guidelines in the next day or so. To say it again though, I do respect that to lock models is the free choice for the person clicking export to make. If this is something that people want to do, then that's fine and they'll be more than welcome to upload such files to the site.

As the modifications for Grand Theft Auto V keep rolling in, we've been hard at work developing a brand new downloads section to better host, categorize and display the masses of new content on offer. Featuring two entirely homepages, the new Downloads Portal creates the perfect distinction between GTA IV and GTA V content - this makes finding all of the latest files for your chosen game that much easier. Among the other changes are the reintroduction our advanced filtering system, allowing for downloads throughout all categories to be filtered by attributes specific to that category, and a much friendlier interface which emphasises content over clutter. We're excited to be continuing the development of the new Downloads Portal and will be making further updates to it throughout the week. http://www.lcpdfr.com/downloads/

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Probably not.

I would think so. If people want to lock models when they export them, that's their choice. Certainly it is something we're discussing internally, but as of now there are no plans to introduce rules against locked models.

Don't worry, it's coming.

Crime doesn't sleep.

I will just say this. I think it is ridiculous to suggest there is anything wrong with people giving their opinion on a discussion forum. A discussion forum is, perhaps unsurprisingly, built on discussions. People from all sides of the debate have weighed in here with their opinions. When there's pictures of what is likely to be the 'hottest' car model appearing, are you really surprised that there's a bunch of people who want to talk about it? I'm sure many people are of the opinion that it is especially important for such a model to be released unlocked, and they're anxious to make sure their voice is heard - and so they should (just as many modders are making sure their voices are heard on the ZModeler forums). If you want to know why many people are particularly concerned by this, there's one simple reason. In GTA IV, the first Crown Victoria model was restricted to three people for at least half a year! I'm not going to debate the ethics of the actual locking functionality itself - as I said, I believe that if the program used to export the models offers that choice - then that is the choice of the person exporting the model to make. While everyone must accept that this is their choice - the one thing that we should be allowed to debate is whether or not this is the right choice. Honestly, if people feel like 'leaving' LCPDFR because we allow this debate, then I'm not sure I'd want them here in the first place. Many of these same people are doing the exact same thing over on the ZModeler forums where they're arguing for the inclusion of the locking feature. All the talk of models not being released because there is no locking is concerning to many people, especially with all the pictures of Crown Victorias going around, despite the fact nobody knows if they'll even be released.

Well, I'd argue that the reason a very small number of modders don't feel that they are welcome on LCPDFR is because we've refused to tolerate the ridiculous behaviours that this minority have displayed. As such, these people have gone on to make their own websites where they can act as they wish, and that's fine. There's been a long, documented history of a very small number of modders acting in a highly inappropriate way, and I'm sure we can both remember the silly things that some of the people you're referring to did. As far as others are concerned, there really should be no reason for anyone who acts responsibly and conducts themselves in a mature manner to feel as though they're not accepted here. If the problem is model locking, to be absolutely clear, we agree with the sentiment expressed by Stealth above - we think it would be better if more people released more things unlocked, and we'll continue to encourage this, but we won't try to force it, nor will we actively campaign against model locking or anything like that. And yes, I'd actually argue that it was a shame that OpenFormats had model locking. From my experiences with editing ped models for San Andreas, people there were really quite good at sharing their work and giving credit where it was due. It was the accepted way of doing things, and it was a win-win for all involved quite frankly. Perhaps one of the problems here is people have grown too used to model locking and are simply unwilling to give unlocked models a shot? It certainly wasn't as common in San Andreas as it was in GTA IV.

I don't think that was the point anyone was making though. The thing about never showing a mod was in relation to modders teasing people with stuff they're never going to release. It seems most don't really care about the locking stuff anyway. Locked or unlocked, the majority of people don't mind - that was the choice that the person exporting from ZModeler 2 was able to make. This isn't an option now, and I think most people are just disappointed by the attitude of certain modders who have pledged never to release unlocked work because of this. It seems more spiteful than anything else - people that make ped model, texture, audio, script and data file modifications have been releasing their work 'unlocked' for years now.

This is honestly one of the most backward beliefs that someone around here can have. Sure, I cringe a bit when I see a video of LSPDFR where the person playing hasn't read the guides and has absolutely no idea what they're doing, but it isn't exactly something to lose sleep over. Attitudes like this are the reason that many people think modders are just on one big ego trip.

Nobody is forcing anyone to do anything right now.

I will say though, it is a sad state of affairs when there exists such a rift between people who make things and the people that make making things worthwhile. At the end of the day, modding should be a mutually beneficial type of thing. I can't say I'd get too excited about the prospect of spending 1000 hours playing GTA V during the development of the first couple of versions of LSPDFR if it was only going to be me and a couple of friends playing the end result of that effort. It is indescribably more worthwhile, though, when you can transform those thousand hours into thousands of smiles. I get that somebody will make the argument that we have nothing to worry about as LSPDFR isn't open source. This isn't an entirely fair criticism, though, as LCPDFR could be easily decompiled into source code all the way until LCPDFR 0.95. That possibility sure as hell never stopped any of us. You can bet that we will, because that's simply what we do.

At this point, I'd say our focus will be more on encouraging and supporting GTA V modding the best we can, regardless of the debate about locked models. Personally though, I am pleased that we at least have the chance to try something different here with ZModeler 3. Of course, there's always going to be some turbulence to start with, but if going forward this (models being unlocked) is how things are going to be, then I think we should stay the course and give it a try. Unfortunately it will never be to everyone's taste, I get that, but for those that are willing to give it a go - let's do this. Learning from our experiences with GTA IV, we'll be doing everything we can to make modding for GTA V better. This isn't going to involve not so well thought through status updates, but will start with concrete action instead, like the awesome changes to our downloads section that we're making and the introduction of a proper resource that the community can not only use, but add to, covering LCPDFR, LSPDFR and modding in general.

I had no idea :(

It is, yes. As you can probably work out from the trailer/screenshots, this is something that was planned but cut due to time constraints. Indeed, interestingly enough, the scene from the second trailer is actually an NPC officer making the arrest.