Khlowd

Two cats were saved tonight ! no more cats dying lets release 0.4 😄

Perhaps instead of bundling a certain version, the auto-installer could fetch the current version and install that?

If this isn't published by next year I will shut down the Los Santos Government!

Something tells me you aren't actually a LEO because my god is your spelling and grammar terrible. 

As LSPDFR 0.4 nears completion, we hope this topic will help in providing some clarification for developers who make use of our API about what the changes in 0.4 mean for them and their work.
 
Firstly, the significance of the changes to LSPDFR that 0.4 brings can't be overstated.  LSPDFR 0.4 introduces changes to almost every aspect of the mod and will take a little getting used to.  We think that the overall experience is much improved from 0.3, and a lot of the features that we introduced in 0.3, or earlier versions, have been dramatically changed, expanded upon or entirely re-worked.  It's important to keep this in mind as such drastic changes will unavoidably have the potential to cause issues across the board.
 
In regards to our current approach, our main priority at this time is to release a public version of LSPDFR 0.4 as soon as is possible.  In short, this means that our focus is and has been very much on the core experience of the mod.  As a result, while we will still ship the first public release of LSPDFR 0.4 with a functioning API, it will not be substantially different from the current LSPDFR 0.3 API.  Additionally, we are committed to ensuring that custom callout plugins remain compatible with LSPDFR 0.4.
 
We understand that this approach might cause some initial disappointment, but we think it is the most sustainable way of doing things both in terms of people being able to play 0.4 as soon as possible (which obviously is very important), but also from an API and development perspective.  As said above, a lot has changed in 0.4 and we want developers to have the opportunity to properly familiarise themselves with the new version and get a feel for what sort of content they'd like to create and what sort of things they'd like to change.  
 
Just like with previous versions of LSPDFR, we are committed to pushing post-release updates and hotfixes for 0.4, with a view to following up with a minor 0.4.1 version, which will focus primarily on extended API functionality.  During this process, we will work with developers to incorporate their suggestions and requests for the 0.4.1 API, and will also provide development builds of 0.4.1 to developers for testing.

We aren't owed anything. We never paid for LSPDFR. Don't you think the developers of LSPDFR deserve our respect and patience for them working in the free time their IRL jobs allow?

With all the talk about LSPDFR 0.4, it's been a little while since we've provided a general update on our community.  Of course, LSPDFR 0.4 is our main priority at the moment and we'll have more to say about it shortly, but we thought it important to also address and announce a couple of things regarding our community.
 
What our Community stands for
 
Before anything else, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on who we are, as people that run this website, and as a community.
 
LCPDFR was founded, back in 2009, simply because I thought it'd be a fun thing to do.  To play as the police in GTA IV.  It was an idea, ambitious for its time, and nothing more.  I worked on LCPDFR because it was fun, I published it because I thought others might also enjoy it.  LCPDFR has come a long way since then, it has evolved from one person's topic on a forum, to its own website, to its own forum, to its own community.  We've spanned two games, our reach has grown massively, our community is approaching 300,000 registered members.  The amount of work that goes into developing LSPDFR alone is staggering - the time that we've spent on it is measured not in days, weeks or months, but years.  Likewise, the effort required to keep our website online is vastly underestimated - in the past month we've served around 30 terabytes of download traffic alone, and have done all of this despite persistent, targeted denial of service and hacking attacks against us.  To put this in context, if you were to serve 30 terabytes of data through Amazon Web Services, it'd cost you $3,000 a month - and that's just one month of download traffic. 
 
Why do we do this?  Because it's fun.  We love developing our community, we love developing our mod, and we love that other people - complete strangers, from all over the world, from countries you've probably never heard of, from all walks of life... we love that they love LSPDFR.  Our community has achieved incredible things: we've created an entire gaming phenomenon and we've developed things that nobody ever thought would be possible.  Our members have done more than simply play games or make mods: we've fought hand-in-hand against corporate giants (and won), we've transformed peoples' entire lives by sparking new careers and we've been covered everywhere from massive YouTube channels to mainstream media publications.  Heck, we've even triggered out of touch government ministers in Australia.
 
That's not the whole story, though.  Sometimes we are the story.  Sometimes we make mistakes.  We've had catastrophes, like the time where we had a hyped countdown on the website only to reveal a private testing version of LCPDFR that nobody could access.   Our first ever livestream had to be rescued by Steve and Jeff after it started with Prophet driving a train around Los Santos and infamously stating "this is not the preview for LSPDFR 0.3" while our community manager could do nothing but watch helplessly after being accidentally disconnected.  We've messed up releases, we've announced things too quickly, and sometimes we've not announced things at all.   
 
Yet, despite all of this.  Nine years later, we're still here.  We're still making mods, we're still developing this community, and we've stuck true to our principles the entire time:
Our community is open to all. We treat members equally regardless of their status. Everything is completely free of charge, with no catches.  
Why?  It's not about fame, it's not about money, it's not about status.  It's about love.  We love LCPDFR, we love LSPDFR, and we love our community.  We don't think that modding should be hidden in private Discord servers.  We don't think that modding should be something people pay for.  We don't think that modding should be an ego boost.
 
We just think that modding should be fun.  It should be open, and it should be free.  That's what we stand for, and that's what we do.
 
How you can get involved
 
Last year, we opened up applications to join our Community Team for the first time.  This resulted in a couple of new faces joining our moderation team and upon reflection, we think it's a good change in approach from previously handpicking staff members ourselves.  We've decided to open these applications again, and would invite anyone who is interested in volunteering some of their free time to moderating our community to apply by following the link below.  Our volunteer Community Moderators are a vital part of everything that we do, and it wouldn't be possible to maintain the community without them.
 
To find out more and to submit an application, please visit: http://lcpd.fr/staffapp

I appreciate you taking the time to write up a lengthy post like this and I think it's healthy for people to be able to express and share their concerns.  With that being said, it looks like some of your criticism is directed towards us as it relates to staff and development.  I'd be happy to provide a response to this if that's what you're looking for.  Otherwise, I can only hope that you'll understand it simply isn't possible for us to police every single thing that happens both on our website and especially on other communities and Discord servers.  In fact, doing so would likely just make things worse as our judgement isn't going to be 100% all of the time, and it's important to keep things as open as possible.
 
I feel like the points you raise about some people being rude, disrespectful and overly dramatic are perfectly valid, but I strongly believe that this isn't something which is specific to LSPDFR, and can be seen throughout the entirety of the GTA community (especially in multiplayer communities), and indeed throughout the rest of the internet too (especially given the rise of Discord).  I understand if you feel like we should do more to counter this, perhaps through more aggressive moderation, but as I noted above I don't think this is the solution and I suppose you might also agree considering your concerns about the staff too.
 
In any event, I don't want to hijack your topic, although I thought it important to convey those two points of my own.  If this is something that you'd like to discuss further then my message box is always open, or if you'd rather keep things public I'd be happy to respond here as well.  Otherwise, it's sad to see you go and I can only join the others who've posted here in wishing you the best and hoping that you'll come back one day.

Hey guys if you have been having an issue like I have of RagePluginHook going to the main menu instead of launching the game with the plugins here is a fix I found if you have Discord. You need to disable the in game overlay feature in discord settings so Rage can hook into the game. I don't know why this is but it either crashes, goes to main menu or runs multiple instances. Disabling this made rage work like a charm 😉

What a load of horseshit. Democrats never supporting law enforcement. What fucking world do you live on? Do you know how expensive it is to outfit every unit with M4's? Shotguns will do just fine in urban areas. There's a hell of a lot of cops in LA. Cali is already in a lot of debt, it kinda makes it hard when communities have a bad outlook on cops, it makes it hard to raise taxes to help the officers.
 
Anyway, OriginalLight is correct. LAPD holds on to cars until they cannot physically run. They destroy cars with how hard they run them. As far as I'm aware, there's still some late '90s and early 2000s vehicles still in their fleet. They'll probably be one of the last departments to hold onto their Vics. They really dug the Vic platform, it makes it harder to get rid of them. From the LAPD standpoint, they still use the cars until they can't anymore, so they still had LTDs and boxy Caprice's when the North Hollywood shootout happened, and that was in '98 if I remember correctly. I've seen a few recent pics of early 2000s vics still being used by the LAPD. So they're definitely out there.

Does this mean I can finally see CHP/SAHP motor units patrolling the freeways?! Excellent!

For real, this game needs proper LAPD vehicles. Thankfully the Police Interceptor Utility is covered by Desmond98, but we still need the CVPI and the Charger.

Transport has been reworked completely so that should hopefully not happen anymore. Same with pursuits, completely rewritten and that issue is no longer present. There are some other tricks we employ now to keep the roads a little less busy together with some density adjustments (those can be configured if you don't want it). Far away cops are freed, yes.  Could you elaborate on that, what do you mean by appropriate areas?  
 
This is definitely a very interesting idea which we have also investigated many months ago with a prototype. It will not be part of 0.4 but is something we are still strongly considering (scope tbd).

Will we be able to see a video preview of the new pursuit AI in action or will it just be screenshots? Looking forward to see how much the AI has changed in this version, a competent AI will be a game changer for sure.

Weird coincidence that the country drowning in guns has a lot of awful mass shootings.

Mental health will never be properly addressed, 'cause no one gives a shit about the mentality ill. The government doesn't care, so why should the people?
 
 
No, no it shouldn't ring alarm bells.  It's a coat that is meant to be worn.  If he had insisted on wearing full face masks/ski masks every day, that might be suspicious, but a coat?  What next, is anyone wearing a hoody with a hood up the next shooter as well?  Saying someone's clothes are a bad thing or an indication of ill intent is laughable.
 
 
That's the thing, most bad things in life can be prevented, yet no one tries to.  Then again, could this really of been prevented?  No.  If someone wants to do something like this, they will find a way.  No amount of restrictions/laws can stop someone who is on a mission.

It'd be interesting to know if since the AI is being reworked, if they'll be able to utilize all those alleyways and such that are in the city. I've always wanted suspects to really feel like they're trying to ditch me, rather than drive around the same block 100,000 times.

Thanks for giving us some insight into the technical and API enhancements you're working on! Looking forward to using these as a developer and a player. 

This is the third part of our LSPDFR 0.4 Preview Series.  Not caught up yet?  Check out the initial announcement here: https://www.lcpdfr.com/forums/topic/81745-lspdfr-04-announcement-first-preview
 
So, this article is a little bit different than most.  Recently, a number of people have expressed an interest in hearing some more details about the technology behind LSPDFR 0.4, including some of the developments that we've made with respect to artificial intelligence in the mod and also perhaps some more information about the ways in which LSPDFR 0.4 can be customized through code.  While exact details like this are a little difficult to provide as plans can, and often do, change - we've gathered together a number of new systems and features to present here which we think both developers and players alike will be looking forward to.
 
 
The Crime System
 
To start with, one of the new systems that we've introduced in LSPDFR 0.4 is the not-very-originally-named Crime System.  The Crime System was originally developed as an expansion of what we had previously done in LCPDFR 1.0 where players could press ALT + E to 'call in' things that had happened, with the key example being a suspect taking off from a traffic stop - units wouldn't respond until it had been called in.
 
This is back in LSPDFR 0.4, but with a big twist.  The Crime System recognises a number of different events which could take place in-game (called Crime Events), such as a person firing a weapon, a car being stolen or somebody being run over.  Each time one of these things (and a couple of others) happens in-game, it's picked up by LSPDFR so that our systems can react to it.  This gives us similar functionality to LCPDFR 1.0, where if you're attacked by a criminal then you're able to report this and the criminal will be targeted properly by other units, but it also opens up some new possibilities that we've added for LSPDFR, including the ability for nearby civilians to actually call 911 if they witness a crime.
 

 
The Crime System allows for far greater interaction with GTA V's rich environment, providing a more dynamic experience during patrols.
 
The cool thing about this is that since GTA V is a very rich game in terms of the ambient environment, it's actually quite possible that crimes like this can take place in the game and we think it makes things a whole lot more immersive when you can actually react to them with the full support of LSPDFR behind you, rather than having to engage in a mad dash after someone in the vain hope that you'll catch up before they turn a corner and disappear! 
 
Plus, the Crime System will be available in the API for LSPDFR 0.4, easily allowing developers to add new Crime Events by specifying the crime, victim and suspect.  This could be useful, for example, in a drunk driver callout where the player searches for the offending vehicle.  Once they've found it, they'll be able to report this to dispatch and trigger a pursuit, without the need for any additional code - a lot more convenient than having to handle this manually.
 
 
Scenarios
 
Sticking with the topic of improvements to a lot of the technology that powers LSPDFR, we've added all new functionality throughout the mod for custom Scenarios.  In general, we like to think of Scenarios as short ambient sequences which can just spontaneously happen within the world.  In addition to this, though, we also support Scenarios across a couple of our other systems, like both pursuits and traffic stops.  This opens up a bunch of new opportunities for gameplay as just like in real life, there's now so much more that could happen during a traffic stop.  Perhaps they exit their vehicle while you're approaching?  Do they have a weapon, or are they just angry and complaining?
 

 
From 'routine' traffic stops gone totally wrong to suspects ditching their cars and bailing, Scenarios add all new depth to LSPDFR.
 
The best bit about Scenarios, though, is that we've also added them to the LSPDFR 0.4 API, and while we've come up with a few of our own, we know that there's many developers who will knock it out of the park in their attempts to find new and interesting ways of enhancing the experience with Scenarios.   Be it by creating new situations that can happen during traffic stops, devising new ways that pursuit suspects will attempt to elude officers, or even by taking advantage of some of the other additions to 0.4, like the Crime System for example, to add a bunch of new ambient crimes throughout the game, we think that the new Scenario system will add much more depth and variety to LSPDFR.
 

 
The scene after an escaped pursuit suspect's burned out vehicle was located.
 
 
Artificial Intelligence
 
Finally, in 0.4, we've re-worked a lot of our artificial intelligence.  We'll be sharing more details about these improvements, particularly as it relates to the overhauled pursuit system, in the near future but for now here's a taste of things to come, with some technical explanation, from our very own @LMS
 
 
Stay tuned for more news about 0.4, coming soon.

Does this mean I can finally see CHP/SAHP motor units patrolling the freeways?! Excellent!

We aren't owed anything. We never paid for LSPDFR. Don't you think the developers of LSPDFR deserve our respect and patience for them working in the free time their IRL jobs allow?

Does this mean I can finally see CHP/SAHP motor units patrolling the freeways?! Excellent!

Does this mean I can finally see CHP/SAHP motor units patrolling the freeways?! Excellent!

No comment on all the allegations and whatnot, but just want to add another voice saying yes, we'd very much like to hear about the AI improvements. Get technical! Sure, not everybody cares about the details (just like not everybody cares about new character integration), but some of us really do. And, showing a bit of the technical complexity behind the new developments might actually give the average user a better appreciation for all the effort that goes into the mod.
 
LSPDFR's AI is definitely much better than default GTA V AI. It's also got a whole lot of shortcomings. Shortcomings which take time to address - I don't think 1.5 years is actually that long for a hobby project involving this level of complexity for the AI stuff. But it is a long time for the community to be waiting without any information, and it's a very long time for developers in the community to be waiting with no API updates for issues that were reported literally years ago. More communication about the progress of LSPDFR development would definitely help keep people invested in the mod and the community. Take your time, but keep us in the loop, ya know? 

Well, we will of course showcase some of the new AI developments but we're not going to lump that into a post about the new customization options.  With 0.3, we posted a series of previews focusing on different areas and with 0.4 it's much the same.  We've simply not gotten to those parts yet.
 
Regarding some of your other points, I'm aware that there's issues with toxicity and staff.  For the former - this is really something that's in your hands.  Be the change that you want to see.  As for us, we've tried for a long, long time to make the community friendlier and more accessible.  It's pretty much what gave birth to our website.  Before LCPDFR, you had GTAPoliceMods.com where you could be banned for being from a "foreign" country, or for posting a mod that an admin didn't like.  I think we've come a long way.
 
About staff, I admit that there's a couple of problems, but let me just say that we've had a number of incredibly dedicated staff members over the years, and there's people who have literally given large chunks of their lives to this community.  Our team have gone above and beyond on so many different occasions - whether it's being disturbed on Christmas to deal with trolls filling up the site with porn, or persevering through death threats and constant, daily doses of personal abuse.  On the whole, when you actually look at the sheer volume of work - they do handle an incredible amount of stuff.
 
But honestly, t0y, I understand the general sentiment behind your post and we'd be sad to see you leave.