Mariobelt

First time playing 0.4?  Check out our new getting started guide for LSPDFR 0.4: https://www.lcpdfr.com/wiki/lspdfr/04/getting-started/
 
About a year ago, we announced the development of LSPDFR 0.4.  We said it was big, and we said it was different, but I honestly don't think any of us quite imagined just how big and different it would turn out to be, nor how much of a challenge it would be to take the concepts and ideas that we had and turn them into reality.
 
Still, here we are.  Thousands of changes later, we're here.  Everyone on the team is delighted to announce the first public release of LSPDFR 0.4, available now.
 
LSPDFR 0.4 brings sweeping changes which have been implemented over a number of years, so much so that we're not able to provide full release notes.  Instead, we've put together a number of resources, new to LSPDFR 0.4, including a 'wiki' and a collection of more in-depth guides.
 
Note as well that because of this - the sheer number of things that have changed - there will  be issues.  We've put over two months into testing 0.4, and we've made hundreds of fixes in this time.  Still, there's undoubtedly going to be things that we've missed, or things that simply can't be tested in a controlled environment.  This is a big release, and we wanted to do right by all of you by getting it out as soon as we can.
 
With that being said, I'll shut up now and let the mod speak for itself.
 
LSPDFR 0.4 Page: https://www.lcpdfr.com/lspdfr
LSPDFR 0.4 Wiki: https://www.lcpdfr.com/wiki/lspdfr/04
 
Note that we strongly recommend installing LSPDFR 0.4 for the first time on a clean copy of Grand Theft Auto V with no other mods or plugins. 

Been a while, huh?
 
You know, when we first started making LSPDFR, the whole process was pretty much one big roller-coaster that didn't have any brakes:  there were the obvious highs when we'd finally add in something cool, but the low points were pretty hard as well - the amount of work that went into simply researching how things worked really took its toll as well.  And, of course, while this was all going on there just simply wasn't any stopping, we were a couple of (somewhat) real people who essentially lived in Los Santos for just about all of 2015, spending month after month pushing forward and trying to come up with things that everyone here would like to see.
 
So, of course, the grind and the pace of everything simply just wasn't sustainable and after 0.3, it's no secret that while the numbers and everything for our site are still on the up, month after month, things did slow down quite substantially for the actual mod itself.  But, we can tell you, this wasn't all bad news - it's afforded us the opportunity to take a step back and really look at the mod and figure out where we want to go next with it.  While our approach before was all about cramming as much new stuff as we could into a couple of months of development, we've now been able to look back at many of the original ideas and concepts that we had for LSPDFR and build on them.  Of course, with that being said, there's still a lot of new stuff crammed into 0.4!
 

 
With 0.4, we've taken the time to fix a couple of those "how the hell didn't they add this yet" moments :)
 
Aside from the cool little additions like this, though, the major theme of 0.4 is Character.  Ever since seeing the character system for GTA Online, it was always our goal to implement something similar in LSPDFR.  There's just something that much more personal and immersive about playing a game with your own character, and the possibilities that it offers are staggering too.  And yes, while mods like EUP are fantastic (and awesomely compatible with 0.4!), they still feel somewhat separate or distant.  With 0.4, this separation is gone.
 

 

 
No, these shots aren't taken from GTA Online.  This is our own, fully-featured, LSPDFR Character Creator.
 
Of course, we'll talk more about the new Character features in LSPDFR 0.4 later.  The Character Creator menu shown above is obviously only one part of what's new in this regard, although hopefully it emphasizes the effort that we've gone to.  Thanks to some of the new additions like this, much of 0.4 actually looks and feels like an entirely new mod altogether.
 

 
Officer Ronson and his clones obviously couldn't make it to the flashlight party. 
 
Stay tuned!  We'll be sharing more about 0.4 soon.

As I'm sure everyone will be aware, the single hottest topic recently, throughout the entire GTA community, has been the closure of OpenIV and the controversial statement released by Rockstar Games shortly after.
 
Today, Rockstar Games have released a new statement, answering Are PC Single-Player mods allowed?:
 
 
Obviously, this is fantastic news for everyone, and we're grateful to Rockstar for clarifying the situation.  Furthermore, it's been incredible, just amazing, to see the support from across the gaming community for our cause.
 
Very quickly, let's also say a special thanks to our very own LSPDFR member @t0y, whose petition to save OpenIV amassed a mind blowing 75,000 signatures in the space of a week!  
 
It's been truly awesome to see the outpouring of support from everyone regarding this.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed towards bringing us this very welcome piece of news.

That's an absolute lie - if you had bothered to check our forum thread, you would see that the mod is very much away from "abandoned". Furthermore, team members are very much active in the comment section of the file, helping users with problems. 
 
We are working hard on an update bringing new content and fixes. Stay tuned.