Fred55

So, it's been a while since we've provided an update on LSPDFR 0.4.  As you might've guessed from the title, though, there's a good reason for this...  It has taken us a lot of work to get to this point, and in the last couple of months alone we've made hundreds and hundreds of changes.  Anyway, here we are - who knows how many months late - but we're here.  No riddles, no treasure hunts, no @MSA (at least I'm pretty sure they're not here), but straight to the point!  We can now confirm that we'll be releasing LSPDFR 0.4 in February, 2019.  
 
Anyway... with the scary part out of the way, I wanted to take the opportunity to explain ourselves a little.  No, @LMS wasn't renditioned to an IAA black site, no I didn't fall victim to the Orbital Cannon, and no...  the ghost of @ineseri didn't drive a train into us.  Perfectly plausible scenarios given our silence about 0.4 as of late, but we're actually still alive.  Instead, we've been pretty busy rushing to the finish line as far as 0.4 is concerned, and to complement the big news above, we thought we'd throw in a couple of sweeteners below to show just how much 0.4 is going to change things. 
 
We've talked a lot about our Character system in LSPDFR 0.4.  It's one of the biggest changes to the mod, but we also think it represents an entirely new direction in general.  I say this because, not only does it allow us to have a bunch of really cool stuff natively integrated into the mod, like customizing a character, but it also lets us have a bunch of other really cool stuff natively integrated into the mod!  Having your own character dials up the immersion quite substantially, but we wanted to take things to another level.  We thought, for example, wouldn't it be cool if instead of spawning as Franklin in Franklin's house, you could instead, say, I don't know?  Actually spawn as your own character, in their house.  Or maybe, instead of switching to Trevor and your camera panning down to him being pursued by the LSPD, you could switch to one of your other characters, and "Google Earth" down to them being the LSPD. 
 
LSPDFR 0.4 introduces a fully functional GTA Online Apartment to single-player, complete with transition sequences, working interactions and more Steve Haines than you can handle.
 
It's not just that, though, we really wanted to dial it up.  Having your own character, them having an apartment, switching, customizing, it's all cool, right?  But you might be thinking, what's the point?  These are "multiplayer features".  And sure, LSPDFR is and most likely always will be a single-player mod, but that doesn't mean we can't think outside of the box every once in a while. 
 
Recently, @Cyan, in addition to all of her work on the website, has also been developing an all new framework called LSPDFR Sync.  LSPDFR Sync lets you connect up to your LSPDFR.com account in-game, and you can then synchronize your LSPDFR characters with your LSPDFR.com profile.  To top it off, we've brought back statistics too.  Ever wanted to know how many shots your character has fired?  It's as simple as taking a look at your character's profile on the site - which, we should add, you can actually edit.
 

 

 
LSPDFR Sync provides all-new, seamless connectivity with your LSPDFR.com profile.
 
And frankly, it doesn't even end there.  When I said before that we wanted to dial the immersion up to the max, I guess I lied.  What I actually meant to say was that we'd just ripped the dial clean off the controls, strapped it to a rocket, and sent the damn thing up to the moon.  Not only can you now create a character, customize them, share them, spawn as them...  You can actually do things as them too!  Like, actual game things.  Ever wanted to run the triathalon as your LSPDFR Character?  Now you can.  Or, how about practicing with your sidearm down at the range?  Yep, got that too.  Simply want a can of sprunk from a vending machine?  No problem.
 

 
With the introduction of a new innovative system by @LMS, it's now possible to do many of the single-player minigames while playing as your LSPDFR Character.
 
Of course, with the Character system, and all of the features that come with it, being such a huge part of LSPDFR 0.4 it'd be easy to forget that this is a police mod.  Indeed, I think we almost did given the grotesquely gargantuan amount of work that has gone into it.  Fear not, though, as we have also been working on some incredible new gameplay features too, including massive improvements to interaction with suspects and people that you arrest.
 
LSPDFR 0.4 introduces, in a game-changing way, the ability to take hold of and drag arrested suspects.  Yes, we know that there's some great API mods which have held the fort, and we're grateful for that, but this is something we wanted to get absolutely right, and indeed, we think the result is simply stunning.  The possibilities are pretty far-reaching too and encompass just about everything from shoving suspects up against cruisers, to personally escorting them into their cells.  
 

 

 
No, these aren't cutscenes.  No, they're not edited screenshots.  With 0.4, this is real.

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.

This is the fourth part of our LSPDFR 0.4 Preview Series.  Not caught up yet?  Check out the rest of this series here: https://www.lcpdfr.com/forums/forum/880-news-updates/
 
It's probably the most critical component of the mod, so it follows that with any new version of LSPDFR, you can be pretty confident that the underlying systems which enable police pursuit gameplay will be updated.  LSPDFR 0.4 is, of course, no different in this regard, and following on with the general theme of 0.4's development (which is more less pulling everything out and ripping it to pieces), we've taken the opportunity to revamp much of the pursuit gameplay in the mod.
 
As an aside, we had hoped to publish this preview at an earlier date but unfortunately due to both @LMS and myself being away from home, on various different continents in the past month or so this was a little difficult.  Nonetheless, we hope that you enjoy this preview and that it nicely illustrates just a couple of the changes that we've made to pursuits, as alluded to in our last post about AI improvements.
 
 
Pursuit Interaction Menu
 
Since LSPDFR 0.3, we've had an Interaction Menu, à la GTA Online, which has, as you would expect, facilitated interaction between you as a player and your character and their job as a cop.  While this is cool and all, there's definitely a number of areas where the interaction in LSPDFR falls a little short, with pursuits being perhaps the most obvious.
 
In LCPDFR for GTA IV, there were a couple of toggles available during pursuits - notably the option to force or disable the usage of lethal force.  With 0.4, however, we think we've far surpassed that by introducing a handful of new options which definitely provide more control than ever.  
 

 
The Pursuit Interaction Menu in LSPDFR 0.4 offers advanced controls for the current pursuit, as well as the ability to disengage.
 
The cool thing about the new Interaction options for Pursuits is that it ties in nicely with the new customization options introduced in 0.4, and covered earlier in our previews.  So, not only can you define and configure law enforcement agencies to your liking, but you can also carry this through to pursuits too by designating a specific agency to handle the chase.  If, for example, a pursuit that starts in Los Santos crosses multiple jurisdictions then it's entirely probable that you'll end up with a number of agencies joining, which depending on the circumstances and/or your own preferences, might not be so desirable.  With the new Interaction options, you could simply specify that the initiating agency (i.e. the LSPD in this case) handles the pursuit, leaving the other agencies to mind their own business.
 
Similarly, there's a lot of other practical usefulness be found in these options: we've brought back the ability to force on/off the usage of lethal force against pursuit suspects, and there's also the ability to enable or disable pursuit intervention tactics (more on these below).
 
And of course, for those in search of the ultimate exercise in boredom (I mean, err, realism), then you might find that setting a pursuit into Tracking Mode - where ground units will hang back and follow from a distance, leaving your small air force of helicopters following above to do all the work in true Angeleno fashion - makes you feel so much more at home.
 
 
Pursuit Intervention Techniques
 
As alluded to above, LSPDFR 0.4 also introduces a number of changes to the artificial intelligence in pursuits.  Currently, the main tactic employed by NPCs in GTA V during pursuits is to rather aimlessly ram into the back of the suspect vehicle in the unrealistic belief that this is actually going to help end the pursuit.  Of course, this usually just results in the cop crashing into oblivion, and it looks really, really dumb too. 
 
So, naturally, one of the coolest new additions to LSPDFR 0.4 is the implementation of a working PIT maneuver:
Demonstration of NPC officers bringing a pursuit to a safe conclusion through successful usage of the new PIT maneuver in LSPDFR 0.4
YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiFFFho3hd0
 
 
As cool as this is, we know that NPCs performing PITs may not be to everyone's taste, and that it may not be suitable in every circumstance, so these can easily be enabled or disabled on-the-fly, during a pursuit, through the Interaction menu by changing the Tactics option.  If pursuit Tactics are disabled, pursuing NPCs will not attempt PIT maneuvers, and they will also shy away from most other advanced tactics, like blocking.
 

 
A closer look at the termination of the pursuit, with the suspects surrendering, after a successful usage of the PIT maneuver.
 
 
Air Support
 
Throughout the history of our two mods, air support has always been a touchy subject.  For those of you who played LCPDFR, you will likely still carry with you many terrifying memories of those white and blue flying death machines.  In previous versions of LSPDFR, things generally weren't that much better either - especially when your pilot decides, in a moment of wisdom, that flying through the bridge, rather than over it, is the best course of action.
 
With 0.4, we've taken the time to address some of the most frustrating issues with air support, with a particular focus on dramatically increasing both the usefulness, and lifespan, of our helicopters.  Specifically, you'll notice that helicopters in LSPDFR now fly at a much more realistic height and will properly increase or decrease their altitude as the situation requires, such as when a pursuit is passing through a heavily built up area.  They're also far more competent at actually keeping up with the suspects they are pursuing and will do so with a degree of intelligence, rather than just trying to fly directly above them.
 

 
A watchful LSPD air support unit circles overhead, tracking as a suspect attempts to flee on foot.
 
Furthermore, we've built in special modes for our air units, giving them the ability not only to follow suspects, but also to conduct searches over wide areas - something which is especially useful when ground units have lost visual, or are attempting to locate a target.
 
In addition, our helicopters are also responsive to changes in the conditions of pursuits they follow - such as if a suspect is in a vehicle or not - and will adapt accordingly.  When tracking a suspect on foot, air units won't simply hover above them but will engage in a more realistic flying pattern where the aircraft seeks to maintain continuous movement, while operating varying angles to compensate for possible obstructions like buildings.
 

 
Not a helicopter, but just in case you were wondering what happened to the guy pictured above...
 

 
This, though, definitely is a helicopter.  It's also not flying at street level!
 
As always, stay tuned for more news about LSPDFR 0.4 as we progress towards its completion.

This is the fifth and final part of our LSPDFR 0.4 Preview Series.  Not caught up yet?  Check out the rest of this series here: https://www.lcpdfr.com/forums/forum/880-news-updates/
 
One of the things we like most about developing new versions of LSPDFR is that with each version we have the opportunity not only to work on major new features, but also the smaller details that our mods have come to be known for over the years.  Of course, 0.4 is no different in this regard and a lot has obviously changed since the early days of LSPDFR, offering us with a bunch of new ways to focus our attention to detail.
 
More Realism
 
Getting straight to the point, a significant change that we're making in 0.4 relates to how the player is perceived within the game's world.  Now, while this obviously isn't a sexy, new, video-worthy showstopper of a feature, it is nonetheless an important development behind-the-scenes - one that we think, despite its subtlety, will have a positive impact on your gameplay.
 
In 0.4, you'll notice that while on duty, other characters within the world will treat and react to you differently.  As GTA V was never a game about being a cop, it's easily understandable that when you quite simplistically do become a cop - while keeping the underlying theme of the game - there's going to be things that don't feel quite right.  You might notice, for example, that other characters within the world are overly aggressive towards you, itching for a fight at the slightest confrontation, or sometimes in the absence of any confrontation at all.  Conversely, the opposite is often true where the most banal or routine encounter can send people hurrying away in abject panic.  Both of these reactions are problematic as people generally don't just spontaneously approach a cop and proceed to cuss them out, nor do they begin hysterically fleeing at the sight of a stun gun. 
 

 
Stun gun hysteria and stampedes no longer, LSPDFR 0.4 introduces more 'contemporary' reactions, like everyone summoning their inner videographer.
 
These adjustments to the game's core apply in a number of other cases too, of course.  We thought it was pretty unlikely that the typical reaction to a police officer standing in front of someone's car would be for the driver to flip them off, and then - as if that wasn't enough - to then run them over for good measure.  Likewise, it was always pretty ridiculous that you can't enter another police officer's car as a passenger without them freaking out and thinking that you're trying to steal it.  All of these behaviors have been adjusted, and we think that you'll feel far more like an actual cop within the world - rather than just a retired bank robber dressing up with a badge.
 
And yes, while there are a number of mods out there that can help to mitigate many of the scenarios I've described above, they don't really offer a comprehensive and consistent solution simply due to technical restraints.  Our changes are at a much lower level and offer us a higher degree of control on a per-character basis.  This is great for flexibility and performance, and we think you'll really notice the difference when out and about on patrols.
 
New Interaction Menu
 
Sticking with the topic of small detail, increasing the level of interaction in LSPDFR is something that's very important to us - especially with the new focus on character in LSPDFR 0.4.  Indeed, we previously showed off a number of new interaction options that will be available during vehicle pursuits, but we've also taken the time to make big improvements to the more general Interaction Menu, offering you most of the features currently available in GTA Online, but with an LSPDFR twist.  Among the changes to the Interaction Menu are "quality of life" improvements like being able to quickly waypoint the nearest police station, as well as additions like new dialogue, actions and the ability to set your character's mood.
 
Similarly, you can now also change the way that your character walks, but it doesn't quite stop there as in keeping with the general idea we outlined above of making the game feel more suited towards being a cop, there's a special "Cop" walk style that not only makes your character walk around like an officer, but also completely replaces their generic "idle" animations - subtle movements that your character makes while stationary - with more appropriate police styled ones.
 

 
The more feature-complete Interaction Menu in LSPDFR 0.4 enhances your control, allowing for greater immersion.
 
Additionally, we've carried over this level of detail to the Police Radio options too, replacing the static animation that currently plays in this menu with a number of different options that can be cycled between instead, including a nifty new LAPD style handheld radio (as well as the option to play no animation at all).  Again, this is a small detail, but we hope that the enhanced level of immersion will be welcomed - especially if playing as an FIB Agent and communicating via an earpiece instead of a shoulder mic, for example.
 

 
New technology in LSPDFR 0.4 produces incredibly lifelike scenes - you can freely move while using the police radio without any animation issues like arms being locked in place, etc.
 
Finally, still on the topic of detail, we've topped things off by adding a proper police flashlight to LSPDFR 0.4.  Yes, we know that there's a bunch of ways to use a flashlight currently whether it be the vanilla one that looks like it's straight out of a horror movie, or through other mods which suffer from animation problems, but ours is a little different.
 
Already alluded to in the first preview we gave of LSPDFR 0.4, our flashlight is properly held above the head and can be used both by the player and other NPC officers.  It doesn't affect player movement, and you can freely walk, run, sprint, etc. while still holding the light.  If enabled, equipping it is a seamless process too - simply select the flashlight from the weapon wheel and LSPDFR will take care of the rest.
 

 
The new flashlight in LSPDFR 0.4 tops off our efforts to bring more immersion and realism to the mod.
 
Ambient Crime
 
In our previous post detailing some of the technology behind LSPDFR 0.4, we mentioned that we had added Scenarios to 0.4 - scripted events that could take place during pursuits and traffic stops.  Similarly, we also noted that 0.4 introduces a new Crime System, capable of actually recognizing crimes that take place in the game world and providing functionality for the player to get involved by reporting these.   Expanding upon this idea, we wanted to make sure that we fully realised the ambient world that Grand Theft Auto V provides, and to do this we've manipulated a couple of lesser-used features within the original game.
 
In the normal game, the player will sometimes be confronted by other characters within the world as a result of the agitation system built into the game which allows NPCs to insult or shove the player, for example.  In LSPDFR 0.4, as a result of some research by @LMS,  we've now been able to implement the same system, but for NPCs instead.  This means that NPCs can become agitated with each other, begin trading insults, get into angry shouting matches, or eventually, physical confrontations.  Plus, as these are actually 'legitimate' game events, other characters nearby will react appropriately, which also ties in really nicely with the Crime System and provides the player with something other to do than respond to dispatches or pull over vehicles - there's now hopefully much more actually happening within the world and consequently, more things for the player to notice while on patrol.
 

 
Manipulating the game's agitation system results in a much richer world - seen here are two NPCs engaging in a spontaneous confrontation.
 
Note that screenshots show LSPDFR player and non-player-characters wearing some outfits from EUP - which is entirely optional - special thanks to @Alex_Ashfold for his collaboration with us and for providing a development copy of EUP 8.0.
 
Thanks for reading the preview.  We appreciate your patience as we put the finishing touches on LSPDFR 0.4 and hope to have more news soon.

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.

Let’s hop in our DeLorean, put the pedal to the floor, hit 88 mph, and get ready to travel back to December 12th, 2014!  Join us as we take a look at what was new here on LCPDFR.com during Constitution Day in Russia!

...

Phew, we made it!  Let’s get out and see what we can find…

Site
Ah yes, 2014.  The days of LCPDFR 1.0 and the old website style.  Looking at this brings back memories, and if I’m honest, even more love for the new site.  For those of you that have never seen this layout before, welcome to the old days!
 



Vehicle Textures
If you happened to log into LCPDFR.com on December 12, 2014 and searched for the latest vehicle texture, a brand new pack by @Illusionyary would be the first item in the list!  This pack features textures for multiple popular vehicles, unique license plates, scratch-made decals, and even stealth liveries!



Gallery
Checking the gallery section, you would be greeted by an image from @GCPD that describes a scenario that occurred on Iowa St.  The officers responded “for a vehicle involved in a drive by shooting” where two suspects were taken into custody with no reported injuries.  A good day in LC!
 



Work in Progress Scripts/Audio/Misc
Looking at the work in progress section, we can see a new siren pack being worked on by the legend: @Double Doppler.  This pack includes new Federal Signal SS2000 with true authenticity.  Included in the siren is a new manual tone that makes it all the more realistic!

Leaderboard
Looking at the leaderboard we can see the winner of the day was none other than our fearless leader, @Sam!  Following up close behind are Illusionyary and @ItsTim.


 
The top liked content on this day includes our Work in Progress rumbler siren, a sneak peak image of a new Taurus NYPD interceptor that would soon be released, and another gallery image of the Las Vegas Metro PD on scene at an incident.




I hope you enjoyed our time-travelling adventure, Marty.  This day was a busy day here on LCPDFR.com!

Stay tuned for our next article coming soon!

Links to this Content
Site image: https://web.archive.org/web/20141226182426/https://www.lcpdfr.com/ 
Texture:  https://www.lcpdfr.com/files/file/6741-ppd-lcpd-texture-pack/
Gallery 1: https://www.lcpdfr.com/gallery/image/43124-a-vehicle-involved-in-a-drive-by-shooting/?browse=1
WIP: https://www.lcpdfr.com/forums/topic/42543-nypd-2014-ss2000-rumber-sirens-released/
Leaderboard: https://www.lcpdfr.com/leaderboard/?custom_date_start=1418385599&custom_date_end=1418385599
Icon Background: https://pixabay.com/en/tv-television-vintage-oldschool-2619649/
 

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

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.