Leonov

I'm liking what I'm reading. The closer to an episode of Adam-12 we can make this, the better IMO! I mean the DB call will be something interesting (and be neat, especially once Police Helper, or a tool like it is made for LCPDFR 1.0) and could be used to improve realism. Re-introduction of Domestic disturbances as suggested earlier will be a much welcome move (don't get me wrong, I still think that my game gave me more of those than anything in the 0.95 days, but I sorta do feel 1.0 is sorta naked without it!) Speaking of Adam-12, that seemed to have been a running gag in the show, especially in the earlier seasons (if not shown, then mentioned by other officers.) Why stop at burglary at homes? We could add stealing stuff from cars too (an animation of someone going through a trunk of a car could be pretty helpful there.) In the real world, we have aircraft enthusiasts, railfans, Emergency vehicle fans, and Bus fans and the like that will like to hang around places and watch planes, especially parking in places most people wouldn't to get the right view. I guess a call like that, like near FIA or a place in LC where a lot of buses hang out, would be great. People not in that scene might get concerned and call the Police thinking they caught the next great Al-Qaeda mastermind. It would be a suspicious person call where you pull up, check the person (and their parked car) for anything odd, and if nothing shows up, then you can tell them to move along (if they're parked in a place where they shouldn't) or let them go on with their business and let them know to call you if they see anything odd.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken I think the MSP had already upgraded to a new version of the light that replaces that Halogen bulb with a LED module. It still retains the gumball look though, just upgrades it to a more modern set up (and if I read correctly, should help reduce the strain on the batteries. Also count me in with the folks that just absolutely LOVES the look of the MSP cruisers. I hope they continue on with the look.

What are some of the car types that you find yourself pulling over? It can feel they're going slower than they should, but it shouldn't be an issue outside of longer stretches without intersections or random hills, like the many expressways that are modeled in the GTA IV map. In fact, it feels that in those areas, the AI really speeds up and approaches 90, even 100 from personal experience. So chances are that this behavior is more likely coded by the GTA IV itself rather LCPD:FR. The type of car (in other words, how the handling.dat) is laid out will play a part of it I'm sure. But the kind of road it is traveling on might also play a big part too.

It is frustrating when things don't work. But I understand that 1.0 was also rebuilt from the ground up compared with previous versions. That compared with other things above, I think they did a great job keeping problems to a minimum. LCPD:FR seems to get more stable each time I play it. The devs seemed to work hard and fixed up the worst of the problems for most folks (I mean, they got a hotfix out within like what? 2 weeks, maybe less? How many of the big commercial guys are that quick, if they even recognize it as a problem at all, unless it's an F2P MMO, and even then they take forever fixing other bugs irritating bugs.) Just be patient, hotfix will come out to fix your issues eventually if you're having issues. That or give it some time on trying to run it for a week or two, to GTA:IV, it seems like new mods are like new pairs of shoes that it takes a while for it to get comfortable running them for a certain amount of time. Also, I think some of the requirements to actually run the mod now require at least 64 bit Windows 7, like the MS .net framework. There isn't much to be fixed there in terms of LCPD:FR, as that is well outside their control and more to do with Microsoft themselves. So if you're running on 32 bit Windows XP, you'll have issues running the mod, if it even runs at all from my understanding.

You mean like the normal AI, just driving around normally? Or subjects that you're chasing? On the former, I'm not too sure what can be done (albeit with LC being modeled after NYC, the speed limit is 30, but I rarely see cars go faster than 25 myself.) Would be nice to see more drivers going 25+, but that rarely happens outside of divided highways. On the latter, the handling.dat may help there, as the car's behavior will depend on how the car's handling line is laid out. When a random chase begins, sometimes I'm chasing a Beater that's barely able to break 40 MPH, sometimes as I got from one call a couple days ago, a Banshee will spawn and the driver will will be flying down the road at 90+ at times. If going into the handling line makes you feel uncomfortable, the only other things I can think you can do is download a script called Traffic Flow (or something similar) and then put down sportier cars. This script-mod forces up to 20 cars to load. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and has different degrees of satisfaction for others, but it does the job for me, and is one of the best ways to get around the "taxi-cab bug" (in which almost all the traffic apart from other police cruisers will be Taxi cabs, usually caused by higher poly cars that are modded into the game (and that's one of the many reasons to keep a car's file size down in GTA IV)).

Yeah, it is a legal copy, got it through Steam. As I said, more often than not, the game and mod is pretty stable now on my machine with some exceptions, just being told to disregard calls more often than being told to report to calls that I accept. I might start another thread to see if the bouncer ped is causing issues with other folks if I run into it again. I haven't noticed any issues with him lately, but had at least 2 or 3 instances earlier around the time hotpatch came out where it did seem to crash the game, but then again, haven't fired a shot near that club to make him come out shooting lately in the first place.

Wow, that's something that comes as a surprise there. There isn't any sort of special school that they can get sent to either, like the one I described above? Anyways, Expulsion is usually perminent from the school, with the more temporary form being Suspension (and some districts have two forms of it, ISS (In School Suspension) in which students have to show up to school and pretty much do nothing but sit in a classroom, and the more better known Out of School Suspension, which like Expulsion, the student is kicked out, but once the time is up, the students are allow back in (though these are counted as un-excused absences, which at some districts, like my local one I think means a student might fail a year alone based on that alone, even if they did well academically (the number I think is something insanely low, like 10 days of unexcused too, thoguh most suspensions last anywhere between two or three days to 2 weeks, with the most serious ones before expulsion being up to a month.)) Of course, it is nothing like the old days, especially here in FL where the state would force the kids to go to a boarding school (which is what Juvi is more or less), but would find themselves enduring some horrific conditions. Read up on the Doizer school as it was the biggest one in the state. In FL, skipping school and being caught by the PD was enough to warrent beign sent there.

I usually try to aim for 24 game hour shifts. I have had more often than not been capable of doing this lately. Of course, one area I notice crashing is when the bouncer at the strip club in Bohan starts to shoot and you try to detail/kill him (which is troublesome as he seems to respond to any gunshot within a 1000 ft radius of the damn club, and seems to REALLY take it out on your character). It seems to crash the game for me. Other than that, been working fine for me, aside from at least 3/4 of the calls I get going code 4 (being told to "Disregard") when I accept them, which I'm not sure is intended behavior or not. It is FAR better than what I had in 0.95RC2, when the only call I had was the same domestic call along with the ocassional suicide attempt call (which never worked well.) If I have any other issues, I feel it is more related to GTA IV being itself rather than anything else. Another thing I have observed, and it is commonly noted is the more you try using the mod on your game, the more stable the mod's behavior becomes (again, GTA IV being itself.) Of course, I guess there are still quite a few people with issues, so perhaps another hotpatch will be released and that should take care of almost all the cases of random crashing.

I'm not sure how it works out in Sweden. But in the US, these students would be expelled from school most definetly. They will be taken into custody by the Police and taken to a Juvinile Justice Center (aka Juvinile Detention, Juvi, etc), where they'll eventually have their case decided by a judge who will decide if they'll be in in juvi until they're 18 (or however long deemed appropriate, and then transferred to an adult jail for additional time if it appears necessary) or be let go, but be ordered to attend a special school for students who had done some serious offenses (such as this one case of a girl I know that had dropped a guy's pants during PE (supposidly by accident, but she couldn't convince the officials at the school, she got expelled and had to attend that special school instead.)) Either way, if Sweden's Juvi system works ANYTHING like the US's, these students will likely be immediately expelled from the school, and even setting foot on the campus will give them a tresspassing charge. That's sometihng I can say for sure. Since the fire was set on the inside, and because of the properties of smoke, and damage caused by the smoke, I could see a Arson Charge flat out rather an attempted Arson Charge. There could be some endangerment charges of some sort due to the highly toxic nature of burning tires.

Sadly, chronic cases of homeless people tends to be an issue anywhere the average yearly temp is above 70F. I mean, central FL has it pretty bad too across all the towns on this count. Most of here in Florida constantly joke about Miami, especially with it being the hub for the Drug Trade that it is (from what I have been told by folks from there, outside South Beach, it isn't really the nicest place, and Scarface wasn't too far off on how large the drug trade is there, even for a almost 30 year old film.)

Chicago can be like that too. Just drive along Cicero and you'll get the gist of what I mean. Even kids intentionally jumping in front of cars to make trouble. There is also the South Side which I understand is truly dangerous. Down here in Orlando, we also have the Union Park and Pine Hills (usually referred to as Crime Hills.) Those neighborhoods especially have a reputation for some serious crime, and if you drive down SR 50, you'll see tons of OCSO or OPD responding code three in groups to scenes, and not too rarely with helicopter backup. Of course, it isn't nothing like those larger cities listed above. I mean, you can still get through town, just stay on the main roads. Of course, communities can always get better. Parramore still has a reputation for crime, but it isn't anything like before Val Demmings became OPD Chief. Still, not the type of neighborhood you'd wanna be in, especially after dark. Then there is Rio Grande Ave. You just don't drive on that road after night at all, and I mean the whole stretch from Washington St. to Holden Ave. Americana Blvd, which is close by to Rio Grande Ave. on the Holden Ave. Side is a place you also don't wanna find yourself walking around at night too. Tangelo Park is another well known example of a neighborhood you don't wanna be in at all at night. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the Skylake South and Whisper Lakes areas used to be a HUGE hotbed of Latino Gangsters, especially from the NYC area (and the Bronx actually, which Bohan is based off of). I have noticed that it has largely cooled down now though and went back to being the working class neighborhood it was in earlier parts of the 1990s. The town of Sanford north of us is like that too, there is Washington Oaks (once, Sanford PD (whom has a reputation amongst the populace for being rather derpy) ended up re-directing traffic into there and someone got shot to death) and Goldsboro. Both are Primarily Black Neighborhoods, and are particular hotspots for crime. You can't even grow vegetables in Sanford without someone coming up and stealing them. Believe me, I have a few friends who tried. Have a potted Plant or even plants in the ground, and they'll be gone before you know it! Of course, districts like the Bronx, South Central LA (at least in the early 1990s), Detroit, and Chicago's South Side, are exceptions. I mean, you can walk around in the Orlando neighborhoods I described above around the day (well, maybe not Crime Hills and Rio Grande), and be ok for the most part. The most you would likely encounter on a average day is a homeless person asking for money or damn idiot high on his own supply trying to push their product on you!

Yeah, Maszyna can be fairly similar and is my personal favorite of the above. They're always doing updates to it though, and eventually they do updates, like make certain systems behave more realistically, make locomotives behave and sound more realistic, even have things such as coupling done in a more realistic fashion. The graphics don't really kill it too much for me to be honest, and have still come a far way compared with the earliest versions from about 13 years ago. If you have a hard drive that can handle the rather small 1 Gig, and don't have a problem torrenting it (as this is how the current versions are now distributed), it is worth a look, even though there might be a small language barrier as most everything is in Polish. There is a really good site though to reference for meaning of the Signals and signs though. That and I like how the signals seem to have their behavior realistically modeled. There is also another sim from way back then that is also of Polish origin, called Mechanik. It put you in control of a Class EN57, and was fairly decent considering it's age, but Maszyna far outdoes it now. Of course, MSTS runs a very close 2nd in my book, especially as it allows me to replicate a good chunk of the Amtrak Floridian (Chicago-Louisville (Monon-2 route), Waycross-St. Pete (Florida (Folkston) Funnel and the SCL A line beta)), and with a way to get appropriate (or near appropriate) equipment to do it. I thought of another good game one can get off of Steam. IL-2: 1946. It does have a large learning curve, especially if you're going to play online, but it is essentially the Gran Turismo of WWII Aviation (and some mod packs have it go further). Once you find yourself understanding how to actually hit something, the rest comes down to understanding your aircraft and any evasive manouvers (almost impossible in a bomber, but I find flying high and planning around the big combat areas where the fighter jocks are tearing each other apart tend to work best. And even then, there is some issue as some people have found a way to make a cheat radar to find you apparently, as was revieled on the UltraPack mod forum.) Have to say, Steam does have some neat sims, with learning curves ranging from highly watered down (TS2014) to hyper realsitic (DCS sims are a good example here.)

I have played Railworks/Train Simulator 2014. Compared even with it's spiritual predecessor (Microsoft Train Sim), it is a little disappointing from the operations side as a train simulator. What it does have going for it is some of the best graphics around for a Train Sim nonetheless, but that's about it. I guess it's worth it if you can get it and the DLCs you want for cheap, but there isn't much in the way of Freeware for it, and frequent restructuring keeps scaring freeware devs away from it. Train Sims I would recommend: -Microsoft Train Simulator: Plenty of freeware available. Still a community out there that widely uses it. Also a new Open Source development for it being made using it called OpenRails that is supposed to introduce Multiplayer and increase functionality. -Run8: Have friends that use it. Most realistic of all that I know of, as in all the systems are pretty well modeled. Made more for Multiplayer experience, but has DLC even more pricier than Rainworks. Might gett it when the CSX A Line is finished. Only thing stopping me there is how many times that guy has tried to make it between MSTS/TS2012 and now Run8, and the furthest he ever released was a very bare bones beta back in 2002 for MSTS. -Maszyna (formally known as EU07-424): Freeware, it is based more on Polish Railways and the equipment used there. It's a nice step in between MSTS and Run 8 in terms of operational realism. The cabs are pretty nicely modeled too. Only downside it has is that the graphics are not exactly the best out there. Can be gotten from here: www.eu07.pl -Trainz series (preferably 2012 these days). While not my favorite, and some folks have issues with it, I do have an older version I got super cheap on Steam. Not a bad sim, and likely more enjoyable than TS2014, as you can do more with less cash. ___________________________________________________ On other games: KSP is of course a must have for any PC gamer and any professional in the Aerospace industry who likes to have fun on their free time (our whole department here LOVES it.) If you can, I'd also look at the Saints Row series if you haven't already. SR:2 is sorta incomplete since Ultor Exposed can't be released for some reason, but the Gentlemen of the Row mod adds in a LOT of options that otherwise are not there. SR3 and SRIV are great fun, especially if you can get all of it+DLC for cheap when it's on sale! If you're into RTSs, I'd also recommend the Sins of a Solar Empire packages. Had many long LAN parties with that one, and it's a quality product.

That ban actually got lifted last year. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57604956-235/after-13-year-ban-china-to-allow-game-console-sales/ Reading some comments from folks who lived there OTOH, it seemed that ban wasn't very well enforced anyways, and that many electronics malls carried them for a while. Yeah, but they do bitch about being antagonized frequently, just look at that Indiana Jones fan fiction released as a movie a couple years back. I recall they were not pleased with how Russians were depicted as worshipers of Stalin. Of course, it was a known fact that many things the officials banned, even then made their way over there anyways, one way or another, and again, things most of the time, these bans were lightly, if ever enforced. Needless to say, bans of popular media, rarely, if ever work. They did OTOH ban South Park, Family Guy and Simpsons from airing there a couple years back. You know, the usual "For the Children" bull-crap politicians pull when they want to tighten control over what people can and can't do. Not sure how well that ban has actually went through though. I mean, it can't be aired, but I'm sure fans of the show are getting it through some kind of means (Family Guy in particular seemed to have been fairly popular.)

Well, it seems the AI behaves better now, will say if you don't want your chances to turn into re-enactments of the Blues Brothers Chase scene, turning this line down in the LCPDFR.cfg file to a lower number will certainly help: MaximumCopsInPursuit=20 <- This is the default number. Will say, with even 5 or 6, it feels hard to get much moving around with how some of them drive.