STEVETHEGAMER

Hot off the release of LSPDFR 0.4 a couple of months ago, we're upping the ante with another update which brings not only sweeping improvements to the LSPDFR 0.4 API, but also some unique features which have long been requested.
 
Originally, the plan was merely to release 0.4.2 as a quick follow-up to 0.4 and 0.4.1 - just simple fixes and changes, plus the API improvements to help developers make the most of 0.4.  Necessary changes, but not really cool enough, right?  So, with that in mind we took a little time to dig back into the archives of LSPDFR and revisit some of our old concepts and ideas.  Now, while some of these are actually in the mod - they're most likely either tucked away as 'easter eggs' or just disabled because they weren't quite right.
 
If you're a connoisseur of traffic stops, for example, you might've noticed that occasionally the unexpected and oh so demoralizing experience of pulling over a federal agent hits you right in the feels as they arrogantly flash their shiny badge, tell you where to stick your comparatively less shiny badge, and drive off.  (If you haven't seen this before, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNOxZR2ak0M)
 
Originally the plan was to add this as a feature for players to use, but it just didn't quite fit in with 0.3, and we had some trouble with the animation not being quite as fluid as we'd like.  That was then, though, and given that you now play as your own character both on and off duty, we thought it'd be a bit of a must-have now, so we've tidied it up and are introducing it as a player action in 0.4.2.
 

 
With one quick glance at the shimmering shield, her problems are suddenly your problems.  (Note, a custom badge model is shown instead of the default FIB one - you will be able to define custom models to use on a per-agency basis)
 
Now, not only does this look exceedingly awesome, but it serves a practical purpose too.  Available both on and off-duty, showing your badge will clear any wanted level and may also instill the fear of the law in nearby citizens, potentially de-escalating the otherwise unavoidable confrontations that flare when you walk around Mirror Park without the latest iFruit phone, for example!
 
Of course, that's not all.  Continuing with the idea of adding things that are just generally cool, we know that people have wanted a ballistic shield feature in LSPDFR for quite some time.  Sure, you can spawn one with a trainer or download another mod, but it's just not quite the same is it? 
 
We thought it'd be particularly sweet to have it at your fingertips instead, fully integrated with LSPDFR, ready to kick some butt.
 

 
As if being Frank Tenpenny isn't cool enough...
 
Our ballistic shield, accessed from the Interaction Menu, uses our new animation system in 0.4.2 which we think looks absolutely gorgeous.  There's also the freedom to switch between Stealth and Action mode which will vary your pose accordingly, compatibility with most weapons and the potential for future AI support.
 
Oh yeah, did we mention you can actually arrest people at gunpoint while holding a freaking shield?!
 
Keep your eyes open for LSPDFR 0.4.2, coming soon.
 

What up Steve?!

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

Thank you so much 

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. 

Thank you so much for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

Now, this is what I've been waiting for, thank you for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

Thank you so much for the updates

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.

Now, this is what I've been waiting for, thank you for the updates

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
 
Units patrolling without the need for extra mods?
 
I can now have Los Santos County Sheriff and LSPD?
 
and both patrolling at the same time?
 
Character customization, including a custom character, without Skin Control and EUP?
 
SOMEONE PINCH ME!

This is the second 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
 
With LSPDFR 0.3, we got the ball rolling with backup customization, letting players configure their own backup units, giving players the ability to have four separate agencies in their game, each able to cover a different part of the map.
 
Now, back then, this was a pretty cool system - car mods weren't even a thing when we released LSPDFR 0.1, and even by 0.3, the modding scene was nowhere near as massive as it is now.   Obviously, there's a whole lot more available to players in terms of content now, especially with popular mods like RDE and EUP which add multiple new ped models, vehicle models, and even entire police agencies.  As such, we wanted to find a way to bring these in to LSPDFR.
 
So, forget just rolling the ball.  With 0.4, we're hoping to hit it clean out of the park...
 

 
LSPDFR 0.4 gives you the ability to add your own custom law enforcement agencies, each with their own officers, outfits, inventories, vehicles, police stations and patrol areas. 
 
 
Custom Agencies
 
One of the coolest new capabilities in 0.4 is our new approach to dealing with the various police agencies in the game.  LSPDFR has always had a collection of pre-defined agencies, and you've been able to choose from them while going on-duty and you've seen them respond as backup units, but you've never really been able to properly configure them to your liking.  Perhaps you've always wanted to set up Rockford Hills as an independent city with its own department, or maybe you've longed for the full, authentic Southern Californian experience of having way, way more cops than you could ever know what to do with?
 
LSPDFR 0.4 now gives you complete control over every agency in the game that we've already added (so the defaults that you're familiar with since 0.1, like the LSPD), but it also lets you define entirely new ones too.
 
The possibilities of this system are extensive: you can even have multiple agencies assigned to share one jurisdiction, and there's no pre-set limits for how many different agencies you can add.
 
 
Patrol Areas
 
Of course, what good are a bunch of custom agencies if you don't actually see them?  0.4 also expands on our existing backup customization capabilities, now letting you define your own patrol areas.  With this system, you can assign any number of agencies to a particular zone in the game (like Strawberry or Del Perro), and you can combine these areas together into wider groups which can be used in-place of individual zones, making things much easier to manage.
 
Likewise, in LSPDFR 0.3, it was called Backup Customization for a reason - the only time you'd really see any of your customizations was when calling for backup.  Again, this has been revamped in 0.4, and similarly, we're calling them Patrol Areas for good reason too.  You'll now see your agencies actually patrolling in their designated areas.
 

 
Kiss goodbye to pesky data file edits - LSPDFR 0.4 actually puts cops on the beat.  And not just any cops... your cops!
 
 
Police Stations
 
In light of the way in which we approach police agencies and backup areas, we've also taken the time to rework the various police stations in LSPDFR.  Now, in 0.4, each police station is also configurable, and in similar fashion to Agencies and Patrol Areas, this system is also fully expandable, meaning you can define your own police stations too.
 
Aside from the various options like choosing where vehicles will spawn, you can also choose which agency each station belongs to and LSPDFR will configure things accordingly so that you'll actually see vehicles and officers belonging to the specific agency situated around it.
 
This system is pretty powerful in its own right as well, to the extent that even if you defined a police station at a random office building, you'd still see parked cars outside belonging to the agency.  Plus, there's also extensive customization options for this too, meaning that you could choose a very specific vehicle model (like a special car with a recruitment livery) to be visible outside a specific police station, without it ever being used as part of the core backup system (i.e. you wouldn't have recruitment vehicles arriving at shots fired).
 

 
The Davis Sheriff's Station, all grown up...  It looks a lot better now with the right people outside! 
 
 
Outfits & Inventories
 
For the first time, 0.4 also introduces full support for multiplayer freemode characters (like those that you'll be familiar with from EUP), meaning that not only can you now play as a custom character in LSPDFR (through our new Character systems, which we'll talk about later), but you can also make it so that all the cops around don't look like clones anymore too!
 
If you add freemode characters to your Agency definitions, LSPDFR will automatically handle all of the nuances that they typically bring, generating everything from unique faces to head overlays and props.
 
And, to top things off - we've included a comprehensive system for managing outfits for multiplayer characters, meaning that LSPDFR 0.4 is fully compatible with EUP, both for player characters and non-player characters.  With this, adding all of your favorite custom outfits is a breeze and there's also support for templating - meaning that you can define one complete outfit as a template, which can then be used as a base for other similar outfits - like having the same uniform with both short sleeves and long sleeves.
 
It doesn't stop there, either, because we've also included support for each Agency (and for each different type of officer within that agency) to have their own Inventories too - this handles everything relating to weapons, including attachments, and also supports the MK 2 weapons added in recent GTA Online updates, like pistols with hollow-point ammunition.
 
 
Putting it all together
 
We've really gone the extra mile in making sure that all of these systems join together, forming what we think is one amazingly powerful platform which will give everyone the freedom to play LSPDFR exactly as they like, with as much or as little additional content as they desire. 
 
To give just one example, there's been a lot of thought into the structure behind this, and we've devised a system similar to that of the 'mods' folder in OpenIV, meaning that in most cases all of your customizations will be seamlessly merged together, eliminating the burden that comes with maintaining huge XML files that contain everything and drastically simplifying the process of installing customizations made by others.
 
There's a lot of great mods out there already like Custom Backup by @PNWParksFan, Emergency Uniforms Pack by @Alex_Ashfold, and Realism Dispatch Enhanced by @dilapidated that have done a fantastic job in demonstrating the potential that GTA V has for adding new content and giving players much greater control of their games, and we're really excited to be taking things to a whole new level in 0.4.
 
Finally, I'd like to say a special thanks to @SuperStumpje from the RDE team for his efforts behind the scenes in helping to refine many of the features shown above.
 
We hope that you're all as excited about LSPDFR 0.4 as we are, and we're looking forward to sharing more about 0.4 soon!
 

 
Customizations to LSPDFR are still made using simple XML files, and can also be split-up and neatly arranged on a per-agency basis.
 

 
No smart captions here - we just thought this looked cool ;]
 
Note that many of the pictures shown in this post contain a number of vehicle and character modifications (mainly EUP), simply to demonstrate their compatibility with 0.4.