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Mmartin

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  1. Mmartin

    July Update

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey everyone,
     
    I'd like to update you on what's been going on the last few weeks. We've resumed development in a limited capacity after I had to take some time off due to personal issues and boy we've got a lot to talk about. As promised, it's July 13th so we're bringing you more information on the release timeline.
     
    When does LS-RP come out?
    Given the scope of remaining work & testing, we're currently targeting to release in August. Vast majority of features are either finished or in final stages of development. All features will be re-tested in the coming weeks in case our latest work messed with anything made previously. Concrete date will be given at least 7 days prior to release. This is to ensure that in case we encounter an abnormal amount of hiccups, we don't have to postpone. I know you'd rather a number to look forward to, but I'm sure you'd rather not have to see another delay announcement. I know I don't want to write one.
     
    Where are the snippets?
    The hype we had built for the February release date was something that'll be hard to replicate. Or at least so I thought until we hit a record number of attendees on our first staff meeting back (over 50 at one point!). Some of the activities such as development streams will be left out for the time being to maximize productivity; however as a part of our release campaign to build up interest and hype again we'll be posting a new snippet every day — Starting today. Some snippets, such as today's one, will be accompanied by a short description to give you more insight into our thought process.
     
    So join us on Discord at discord.gg/ls-rp so you don't miss any of them.
     
    Patreon
    As of July, we've paused our Patreon billing cycle. We've raised enough funds to get us off the ground and any further funding will have to be secured through a product/credit purchase in our web store, after we launch. As a token of appreciation and an apology for the extended delay, we'll also be adding 20% credits on top to every patron who supported us (example; 10 EUR tier * 6 months = 120 EUR * 120% = 144 EUR worth of credits).

    In conclusion, the next few weeks will be us wrapping up, merging finished features into the main codebase and getting ready for the big day. Once again thank you for your patience, feedback and enthusiasm. Hope you're enjoying summertime; see you around on Discord
     
    Martin
     
  2. Mmartin
    Hey everyone,
     
    Hope everyone's doing well and getting ready for the holiday season. December was always special around LS-RP, I remember all the treasure hunts and winter/Christmas events we used to hold. I'm looking forward to seeing something like that in-game again as we celebrate the season... next year.
     
    It's been quite challenging over the last few months to keep track of the remaining work. Trying to keep tabs on all the features in my brain has proven quite inefficient, so instead of trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing and which features are left to develop or test, we made a list. This list itemized every single outstanding feature or activity we've yet to complete before the server is launch-ready.
     
    As I was compiling this list a few weeks ago I realized that even that isn't enough. Really, is the trucking system the same as a phone call? Much different; so we started adding estimates to everything. 4 hours to finish phone calls, 16 hours to finish trucking, 2 hours here 4 there and so on. I've done estimations on an enterprise level in the past and it's a known secret that at the start of the project, unless you have a thorough specification, they're just made up numbers. Nobody knows and everyone's guess is meaningless, you're just working in a ballpark.
     
    Since we're nearing the end of the initial development, we're in a different position and it's much easier for us to list out all the things we've yet to do. So we've done that, and estimated how much it'll take. Based on these numbers, we realized that we've underestimated the amount of work remaining when we scheduled the release for Q4 2021. With the rest of the leadership, we were facing the following options:
     
    Option 1: Release in Q4 2021. 
    We release in Q4 2021, as late as possible, but still meet the deadline. This gives us the pros of keeping up on our promise and taking advantage of the hype the LS-RP project currently has. The downside of this option is that we'd be releasing a game mode without a lot of important features and with a lot of potential bugs, since we'd have to be adding new features all the way to the launch date. Lacking features and bugs will result in a disappointed community and a potential loss of players.
     
    Option 2: Postpone the release for the 2nd time.
    We delay the release a bit. This allows us to work on features we deem essential but didn't manage to complete just yet. We have enough time to properly test these features (shoutout to our staff by the way - you've done amazing job testing so far). The dreaded disadvantage of going with this option is that we won't deliver on our promise that we'd release Q4, which can lead to the community being disappointed, leading to a potential loss of players.
     
    Which one would you choose? Let me know. 
     
    Since we started deliberating postponing again, I had to go back and read my statement when we had to postpone to Q4. Here's a quote from that post:
     
    As I'm reading that I realize that we're in the very same situation now - how come though? Did nothing change since September? There's been no major inactivity for any of the devs or leads, or any "major roadblocks" I could think of that'd cause this delay. I tried to identify the reasons why we're delaying again and this is what I got:
     
    - We underestimated the amount of work remaining. The estimate that we should be done by Q4 was not backed by any real numbers, but rather a "gut feeling".
    - We've added new things to the scope for release. Those things were usually features which we deemed essential but forgot about them early on; or were only made aware of them now.
    - We spent a lot of time focusing on detail and polish of existing features.
    - Personal and professional obligations of the team, although this one was kept to a surprising minimum during Q4.
     
    After hours of deliberation, we chose option 2.
     
    We've taken several steps to make sure this is the last date we give you. We wanted to work towards a concrete date instead of a vague time range ("summer", "q4").
    - As mentioned previously, we made an itemized of all remaining features and activities until we're release-ready.
    - We've added a estimate in hours to every remaining item or activity.
    - We're accounting for a % of risk dedicated to fixing bugs and unforeseen difficulties. This risk is currently set to 10%.
    - We've created metrics to monitor whether we're ahead of, or behind schedule. This allows us to play with the scope and reevaluate our current assignments if we're falling behind schedule.
     
    Based on these steps and metrics, we came up with the official release date of LS-RP:V on February 24th, 2022.
     
    Community Involvement
    With the release being postponed by just a bit over month and a half, we're looking for ways to keep the community engaged with what we're doing. Here's some milestones you can look forward to in the near future:
    - Character Customization made available ahead of launch, first for Patrons and later for the general public.
    - Character Applications made available ahead of launch to the general public.
    - Staff Reinstatements opening ahead to get ready for launch.
     
    The concrete dates of each will be announced separately at one point or another; but we're aiming to release the character customization server this week. There's a few more things we've up our sleeves to keep the community engaged, but I don't want to announce them just yet as they're not as thought through as the rest. If you have any ideas yourself, my inbox is always open.
     
     
    Progress Update
    I'll try to include a progress update where it makes sense when I write these posts. This should give you the idea of where we are in terms of the schedule and how much work is remaining in different parts of the code. Here's the current status:
     

     
    I've been on a mission to be as transparent as reasonably possible during the development of LS-RP:V. I had a lot to learn from the SA-MP days and I sincerely hope that the information we give you is keeping you excited during the wait; whether it's snippets, blog posts or just random talks on Discord. It's hard at times as we don't want to give away too much for several reasons. Sharing this progress update is yet another step in trying to balance out communication, element of surprise and competitive advantage.
     
    Closing Statement
    I understand any and all feelings of frustration at the announcement today. It's not fun news, but at the same time it's good news. It allows us to work on delivering what we've initially set out to make. I'd like to express my gratitude to the entire staff team who has been actively engaging in improving the server's features and standing behind the project the whole time; to the patrons who keep our infrastructure bills on time and to the community for believing in the project. Thank you for being understanding.
     
    If you'd like to be closer to the action, consider joining our discord at https://discord.gg/ls-rp, where we post snippets of our work.
     
    Kind regards and happy holiday season,
    Mmartin
    on behalf of LS-RP Staff
  3. Mmartin

    Release Update

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello,
     
    As I mentioned on Discord already, due to reasons out of our control we are unable to release on the 24th as originally planned. This is due to real life circumstances and an attempted break-in into my apartment because of which I had to spend the last week and some change making sure my family and I are safe. Although I've gotten some of my time back to focus on the finalizing work I would've been doing, I'm still not 100% back and won't be for the next few days as it's an evolving situation & ongoing police investigation. 
     
    Can't say this pleases me, since we were going to be able to make it on the 24th but shit happens. Server will come out very soon. We'll post 24 hours in advance once we're ready so you can adjust your schedule. During the time I've been dealing with this mess, the rest of the team was hard at work getting what they can ready & tested. Huge shout-out dev team, leads & the entire staff team. Shoutout to our Discord too which is growing RAPIDLY - love to see all the activity there.
     
    You'll see things rolling out this week, such as faction threads being open, new features on the UCP, & other parts of the server before the game server itself opens.
     
    Thank you for understanding & your continued support — appreciate you all. It'll be worth it in the long run and I know you know.
     
    - Martin
  4. Mmartin

    Clothing System Preview

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello,
     
    We're still hard at work and today I'd like to give you a few development updates so you can see what we've been cooking up. Before anything though - I KNOW! You want to see some of that juicy illegal faction action. Drogas, gats, theft, all of that. Well sorry but not today.
     
    The Faction Team + some other members of our team have been hard at work preparing a thought-through bullet proof scheme to give our illegal scene the attention it deserves. LS-RP prides itself on being home to the most legendary factions of any online Roleplay community and we want to be sure we're doing things right before we start parading them around. So shoutout to all of you and I promise I'll show you some stuff you're going to love soonTM
     
    For the time being, let's talk about our clothing system. Which is your favorite hoodie? Is it Drawable 92, texture 12? Or Drawable 200, texture 0? You know... the yellow looking o-- forget about it. Forget about sliders and arrow buttons to click through every clothing item out there.
     
    Highlights
     
    The system is entirely integrated and you will never have to think about an undershirt again. If a shirt has an undershirt counterpart, the system detects it and uses it. There are no concepts of "undershirts" visible to the player. You can see a preview of any clothing item in your inventory, or in a store - without even trying it on. Some items have alternative states (hoodies with hoods on, unzipped jackets, etc). You can switch between those & the system will match your perfect undershirt for it. Just make sure it's compatible, or you'll be walking about with your belly button out. Clothing items are inventory item entities, which means you can store them in furniture (drawers, closets). They can be placed in bags, given to other players, stolen, etc. Different stores will hold different types of clothing items. Don't go looking for a fancy suit in Sub Urban. We're adding custom models for clothing. We aren't decided yet whether to use IRL brands or not. Let me know what you think about that.  
    TL;DR, show me the video
     
     
    Besides that, there's still a lot of work going on behind the scenes. We're preparing electronics stores, character applications (which should open soon for our Patreon supporters), Kane's cooking up a great damage & death system and much more.
     
    It's been great to see the community engagement since we've opened the forums up. Love seeing new and old faces around. Thanks for all the support, can't wait for you all to play!
     
    Kind regards,
    Mmartin
     
  5. Mmartin

    Applications Open

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello,

    As of this moment, registrations and character applications are open for everyone for up to three characters. Head over to https://ucp.ls-rp.com/ and create a character. The character creation server remains locked for our Patreon supporters until the 20th of February, when it becomes available for everyone. Please be patient with us tonight in case there's any issues — we'll try to iron them out as soon as we can.
     
    Also, everyone gets to take a quiz to get a refresher on our rules and general RP etiquette!
     
     
    Please note we don't currently offer a path to account recovery. If you've lost access to an account you've had in the past, we aren't able to help you. You can try resetting your password, or making a new account.
     
    See ya IG soon,
    - Martin
     
  6. Mmartin

    December 1st Development Update

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello everyone,
     
    As we enter December (already?? time flies when you're having fun), I'm eager to share some of the development and general progress updates. The last few weeks were once again very productive and even though there's still a lot of work and polish to be done, we're inching closer to an MVP every day.
     
    One of the major achievements over the last two months was that we were able to put together a final list of features for release, including detailed blueprints of how these features will work. This allows us to focus on development only as an overwhelming majority of the brainstorming is already done. If everything goes according to plan, we should be ready to announce a concrete release date within a week. The release date depends on how many issues we encounter during testing, how busy I'll be with work and how smoothly our final infrastructure deployment goes.
     
    Let me highlight some of the features we've worked on recently to hopefully satisfy your hunger for the new LS-RP.
     
    Drug System
    One of the most difficult systems for me to approach was the drug system. Every drug on the server will be unique in the effects it provides. These effects are divided into three categories - Visual, Positive and Negative. It's almost an art to find a way to balance the three aspects of each drug, while keeping them unique and desirable. We're launching with a handful of drugs only, but we already have plans for the near future to expand the system with more and more substances.
     
    Visual Effects
    Some of the drugs will have visual effects that affect the player's graphics and camera. With every drug, visual effects start as barely noticeable to mild for small and regular doses. The effects get more pronounced and wonky the more high you get, so it's up to you how much of the visual experience you want.
     
    Positive & Negative Effects
    While no drug will make you a superhuman, some of them tie into the damage system to give you an edge one way or another. The type and-or scale of the effect is different for each drug. It's worth noting that it also depends on the dose you take, in case of overdoing it, you might be overwhelmed by the negative effects more than helped by the positive ones. This paragraph is intentionally vague to encourage exploration after launch 🙂
     
    Other interesting aspects of the system include an overdose script, which is different for alcohol, stimulants and opiates. Make sure to keep a Narcan handy!
     
     
        
     

     
     
    MDC
     
    The MDC on LS-RP was light years ahead of any other SA-MP server and we're aiming to achieve the same on GTA V as well. The UI is a simulated old Windows-like OS, complete with a window management system, process system and different programs for Legal tasks. The MDC will be available to the PD, SD, FD and GOV to handle their duties. We aim to move as much game-related functionality and record keeping into the game, instead of using external tools.

     

     

     
    In Conclusion
    Once again I'd like to say that your support and patience has been great. It's rewarding to see the interest and hype surrounding this project and I can't wait to jump in game with all of you to Roleplay in Los Santos again. Big thanks to everyone on our Discord and forums for keeping the community active, and everyone on Patreon for making the launch of this project possible. Exciting stuff, can't wait to show you everything else we've been cooking up 🙂
     
    If you'd like to join us on Discord, come over at https://discord.gg/ls-rp - check out the #snippets channel for exclusive content!
    If you'd like to support the project, please consider a pledge on our Patreon, over at https://patreon.com/lsrpcom
     
    Kind regards,
    Martin
     
  7. Mmartin

    Forum Launch, Character Applications

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,
     
    As we announced earlier this month, we're opening up the Community Forums to everyone tonight! We did our best to set up all boards that are necessary for now, if you feel like something's missing then you can share your thoughts in the General Discussion topic on forum improvements. We did stress-test the forum, but nothing really compares to real-life traffic, so please bare with us in case of any issues, we'll resolve them as soon as we can.
     
    Character Applications
    I'm sure you're wondering if you're going to be able to create a character before the server launch and the answer is - yes of course! We're already working on a new and improved application system. The applications are set to launch in advance before the server opens for you to get your character ready. In order to not overwhelm our team with handling applications, we're going to open Early Access Applications on the 19th of October, for everyone who's a "Early Supporter #2" or higher tier on Patreon at the time of submitting their application. This perk is also a replacement for the Community Forum Early Access perk, which becomes invalid tonight.  
     
    We don't currently have a date for when the applications open for everyone, but I'll make sure to let you know in advance.
     
    Kind regards,
    Martin
  8. Mmartin

    We're done.

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,
     
    If you've been following along on Discord you've probably seen the great amount of progress we've been able to accomplish lately. I'm happy to say that after overcoming more hurdles than I was ready for, we're now done with feature development for the release.
     
    Over the last month especially, we've been pushing hard to bring the last necessary features through the finish line. We decided to include more than initially planned because we felt like the server just couldn't launch without them. As much as all you really need to roleplay is a little more than /me, /do and IC chat; we're determined to start with a foundation that allows us to build the next big thing in the GTA V RP scene.
     
    As of tonight, we're starting the feature freeze and enter the very last phase of development, the final testing. During this phase we'll focus on fixing the bugs we caught along the way, and any new ones that come up from the recently introduced features. We currently stand at 7 critical and 18 major bugs that we have to deal with before launch. Like I mentioned, this number may grow a bit before it all falls near zero. 
     
    To help us accomplish this, we've appointed @jack as our head of quality assurance and recently took @Duco on board into the development team; welcome! They, along with the rest of the development & staff team have been very helpful in that final push just ahead of the finish line. Since we'll go full ham on re-testing everything now, we should have a clear picture about the amount of work we still need to do to fix & prepare everything and should have a release date ready very soon.
     
    I want to thank you all once again for the incredible patience you've had while we create something we can honestly be proud of. Our test server has been open to the early supporters for a few weeks now and it's been incredible to see dozens of players ingame on the gamemode that I've played solo or with just a few staff members for what feels like forever now. If you are an early supporter and haven't joined the test server yet you should; it's a lot of fun and I can't wait for it to be open to everyone.
     
    In an effort to increase transparency, we also made the #test-git channel on Discord available for everyone a while back. You can see real time changes being pushed to our codebases there and see what's being worked on. So if you haven't yet, join our Discord for updates as soon as changes happen.
     
    See you all IG soon!
  9. Mmartin

    Future of LS-RP

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello,
     
    Big news today. Never thought I'd be announcing this in a million years, but here goes. Due to popular demand, we'll be re-opening our San Andreas Multiplayer server. Normally, I wouldn't consider this decision because all of our primary focus goes into developing our RageMP game mode, however due to things being a bit quiet lately we've concluded that it won't do us any harm run both servers side by side for the time being.
     
    We'll be releasing the SA-MP server in pretty much the same state as it was last turned off in 2021. We won't be deleting any characters or assets. We'll have to do some database cleanup at least, but it'll be very minimal.
     
    This of course opens a whole new sets of challenges, both personal and technical. I'll try to answer some of the more pertinent ones right off the bat, and the rest will be clarified as we go:
    We'll continue to use this forum and create new sections that are necessary. The old forums will remain available as an archive as they are now. Staff members will be staff on both game servers. Reinstatements into the staff team will be available, even for members who only want to play on SA-MP. We don't want to set any expectations in regards of longevity of the SA-MP server. If there's reasonable interest in it, players want to play it, and it'll support itself financially, this can be more than a limited time experiment "nostalgic blast from the past". Most legal factions will, at least for the time being, remain with shared boards and leadership across both game modes. Reinstatements will be possible, even for players who only want to join on SA-MP. Technicalities of this implementation will be made available later on. Factions will be fully supported by the IFT.  
    We're also going to facilitate some form of asset transfer (cash) from SA-MP to V. This will of course have its restrictions to avoid just massively flooding the RageMP server with hundreds of millions; however with our pending economy overhaul on RageMP, assets will be much easier to come by regardless.
     
    As far as the timeline goes, the main technical challenge why we can't just turn it on now is that some functionality on the SA-MP server heavily relied on the old UCP (spawn change, skin change, etc). We need to re-add this functionality to our current UCP, and adjust our infrastructure to support the new (old?) server. There's also a bunch of small tidbits that aren't compatible with our current database structure (bans and such) that we need to adapt. This won't take too long, but given our track record with release dates, I'll save it for when we really know. But since I can't help it, my current estimate is 3-6 weeks from now we should be open for business!
     
    Keep in mind that some of the information above may change, if it does, you'll know.
     
    I'm sure you're wondering what exactly this means for our RageMP server. The way I see it, opening the SA-MP server up will help us with our current goal to reach the players we've left behind one way or another throughout months since launch. We hope that by engaging players in our community and platform, we'll be able to show you all the incredible progress we've made on both our game mode and process since launching last year. Our primary development focus will remain on RageMP and improving on the already great game mode we've created for you. We've a new defined set of priorities that we want to follow, and most of our focus will be going towards customization, ease of access to assets and features with a non-restrictive economy, and support for illegal factions. Check our Roadmap to see what we're working on right now as a part of 2.0 update, which includes long-awaited features such as Burglary, Social Media, Blackjack (yes, I know), further character customization and more. We're on a good track here, with both Burglary and Blackjack going into testing next week.
     
    All of this was announced earlier today on our Community Meeting. I believe that essentially stopping doing these after launch was unfortunate, however hindsight is 20/20 and with the constant chaos going on, it was easy to forget why they were so important. You can expect these to return on a semi-regular, roughly bi-weekly basis. 
     
    I'd like to close this post by pleading to those who left our community because they were unhappy with the direction, or features we launched with. Now that the chaos of initial months are over, we're steady building on the solid foundation we laid out. Over the months, we've released many great features such as Graffiti, Pets, Purchasing properties, Drug packages, Cinematic mode, Startshift, Turf map, Facial expressions, thousands of clothing, animation and furniture mods, Second hand car dealerships, Spawning multiple cars at once,  Hair ties, Paintball, Modshop, new Makeup script, Scratch off lottery, and many, many more. We've fixed hundreds of bugs and hosted around 40 official events.
     
    And we're going to keep doing that and more. Our sole motivation for doing so, and keeping on even when times are tough and the player base isn't what we'd have hoped it to be, is that we want to bring you, the community, a fun place to play. So consider (re-)joining a faction or creating a one, or joining the staff team. If you believe you can make LS-RP better, reach out to me directly and if it's in the best interest of the server, I'm sure we'll find a way for you to be involved. If you've unresolved grievances that stop you from returning, reach out to me directly as well. I'm here to hear you out.
     
    Martin
    on behalf of LS-RP Leadership
     
  10. Mmartin
    Hey everyone,
     
    We're now just a little over two weeks before our scheduled release and new features are getting added into our game mode left and right. There's still a lot of work remaining and we're going full steam ahead, though I can really tell it's all slowly coming together. Allow me to give you a few updates on the upcoming two weeks so you know what to expect.
     
    Character Applications
    Everyone will be able to submit a character application starting February 14th. Until then the applications remain locked for our Patrons only. We anticipate a large amount of applications, so if you want to be 100% sure yours gets handled in time for the release, I suggest you submit it before the 14th.
     
    Similar story goes for the character creation server, which will become available to the public on February 20th. You will be able to customize your character however many times you wish before the server launch. After launch, you won't be able to alter an existing character appearance - just set it once and it's done.
     
    Staff Reinstatements
    We've decided on all staff reinstatements submitted and will be announcing & processing them on February 14th along with public character applications.
     
    Development Updates
    Due to the sheer amount of updates that are happening recently and how close we are to release, I won't bore you with paragraphs; here's some screenshots instead.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    Etc. If you've been keeping up with #snippets on our Discord, you've probably seen some of these already.
     
    On a personal note ...
    Today also marks a special occasion for me personally — it's exactly ten years since I got accepted into LS-RP and started roleplaying. It's been a wild ride and what excites me the most is that it's nowhere near over. The opposite actually, we're inching closer and closer to the next chapter for the community and I can already tell it's going to be awesome. The sheer amount of energy, effort and dedication from everyone starts to show and despite any hurdles we may encounter during launch, I'm certain we've got something great on our hands. Anyway, I'll save the speech for later; just wanted to thank you for keeping me entertained for the past ten years, and letting me create cool shit for you to enjoy for most of them.
     
    Stay posted & Keep in touch

    - Mm
     
    https://discord.gg/ls-rp
    https://www.patreon.com/lsrpcom
    https://twitter.com/lsrp_official/
    https://www.youtube.com/c/LosSantosRoleplay
    https://twitch.tv/mmartin_
     
     
  11. Mmartin

    We need to talk ...

    By Mmartin,


    Community Updates
    Hey everyone,
     
    The last dozen or so posts we've made have been more or less pragmatic, to inform everyone about updates & what to expect next. It's been a while since I made a post about the server and its direction in general. I want to open a honest dialogue about where the server currently stands, and how we can move onwards and upwards from here. 
     
    There's no sugar coating it — we're in a tough position right now, from multiple angles. The player base has been stable for quite a while, but took a major hit in the recent week or two. We had a day and a half of downtime recently caused by network issues and a DDOS attack, and after bringing the server back up we're seeing peak numbers that are lower than we had during the premium only pre-release. Saying it's sub optimal is putting it mildly. I will do my best to avoid any excuses and focus on facts, problems and solutions.
     
    If you ask ten people, you'll get ten reasons why the player base has declined. I'll dive into details of some of the issues we currently face. We've solutions for some of those problems, but I'd like to extend the discussion of how to handle some of these issues to you, the community, as well. 
     
    Failure to manage expectations
    I feel that one of the issues we had from the beginning was our failure to manage the expectations. Handful of us worked on the gamemode for roughly two years, in the spare time we had when we felt like it and weren't working or otherwise busy. The aim from the beginning was to create a barebones MVP, which we could then expand on. I feel that I failed to communicate that, and as a result of that, a lot of the community expected us to be an equal competitor from day one. This led to a massive spike in interest initially, with the player base dwindling over time once more people realized that the experience we offer isn't as complete as they might need. Other players seeing the decline in player base could be another contributing factor to further decline.
     
    I feel like there isn't a simple solution for mismanaged expectations after the fact. I will use this as a much needed learning experience.
     
    Development not keeping up
    Another major contributor to the decline in morale and by proxy in player base is the way development progressed after release. We simply aren't doing enough to measure up. Initially, our main focus was on ensuring stability of the server and fixing critical issues post-release. We got some much-requested features out, but we haven't had more than a handful of completely new features come out since release. That's a major problem.
     
    With only a few exceptions (big shout out to Imperium, who has been carrying the team for the past month or so), the majority of our Development Team either became increasingly busy with work after release, or simply burned out. This was my case as well, as I started a new job in May and had to do a lot of adjusting and some travel; the time I had left was mostly spent on maintenance, handling technical issues, legal/biz aspect and managing the server as a whole. The timing was unfortunate, because we all knew that the real work begins post-launch to make sure the needs of our community are met. While some aspects of this can't be affected by me, I still came short — I failed to keep the development team motivated and to make sure people don't burn out. 
     
    This, in the end, lead to some promises left behind, which is something I really wanted to leave in the SA-MP era. Unfortunate.
     
    There's several solutions that can be applied here. We'll be once again taking in more developers in the coming days to help us with the amount of work that needs to be done. I'll also look for a way to offload my work with managing the system infrastructure, so even fewer things are reliant solely on me and can be handled by another developer as well.
     
    Leadership & Communication
    I feel that a significant chunk of us in the core team (leadership, team leads and devs) switched to a coasting mode too quickly. We got comfortable and complacent. I believe that motivation and strength comes from top to bottom, and we as the leadership must do better to innovate, push forward, show face and communicate everything with the community. This became harder in the recent weeks and there's no other way about it, we simply must do better.
     
     
    Of course the list above isn't exhaustive. We're aware of the frequent shootouts, abundance of weapons in the server, frequent shootouts, jobs becoming stale, etcetera. We put together a two-week plan of action of things we'd like to accomplish. I'll share it with you, but please take it with a grain of salt as it may change and some things may be added, or taken out.
     
    Immediate (today/tomorrow)
    - Communicate the current state of the server (this post)
    - Add more developers to the team
    - Reach out to player-owned companies and factions to make sure they've everything they need 
    - Reach out to admins regarding long report times, and not answering difficult reports
     
    Week 1
    - Fix vehicle loan payments, and transfervehicle after paying off loan
    - Ability to "trade in" a leased vehicle, with the ability to get a % of your principal back
    - Add more clothing mods
    - Make Horsepower affect vehicle performance
    - Level requirement for equipping a weapon (across all characters) to curb DM
    - Add interior presets & interior change
    - Add separate group for /setprop access, so property reports aren't reliant on Leads
    - Adjust mechanic / vehicle part prices (wheels, etc)
     
    Week 2
    - Some gambling script (even if just slots, lotto or blackjack)
    - Graffiti
    - Add more vehicles, whether existing GTA ones to pdm, or modded
    - More trucking routes
    - Investment into marketing
    - Schedule another community meeting
     
    To reiterate, we probably won't be able to do all of these, but these are some of the things we've identified need immediate attention.
     
    Despite the admittedly grim situation with the player base right now, I believe we can turn things around. The entire situation is very humbling and has been a big reality check and a learning experience for me. We've a lot going for us — we've a great staff team, a lot of knowledgeable and dedicated folk on our side, other major servers providing us assistance whenever we need it. But most importantly, we've fostered an awesome community which is what I focus on when it's time to push forward no matter what. I'm sorry I let some of you down, it hurts especially because I know a lot of people really believe in the project and want it to do well.
     
    This is where I'll turn the post towards you. If you're good at something and want to use your skill to help us make the server better, please reach out. If you've opinions you want to share, please do so below. I welcome opinions of anyone with the best interest of the server at heart.
     
    Martin
     
  12. Mmartin
    Hey everyone,
     
    Today we're launching character customization for those who already have an accepted character and are a member of our staff, insider program or an active1 patron. To find out if you're eligible, simply log in on ucp.ls-rp.com and you will see a prompt:
     

     
    After whitelisting your IP, give it a few minutes and you'll be able to connect to server.ls-rp.com using your RageMP client, where you log in with the same details as into the UCP. After that, you'll be prompted to choose a character and customize it. 
     
    You can customize your character as many times as you want pre-launch. If you don't like where you left off, you can return another day and change it entirely. This is something that won't be available after launch - key features of a character won't be adjustable with a few minor exceptions. We're working on adding more outfits, especially female ones, so you'll be able to go back and change it as well.
     
    If you face any issues with the character creator tool, please reach out to our staff team on Discord and they'll be able to guide you, or forward your issue to our development team. RageMp released an update today to a core system we're using in the character creator; so we anticipate there may be some issues. Last thing worth noting is that we've heard you and we'll be increasing the character slots to 2 pre-launch, probably sometime next week.
     
    TL;DR
    Make sure you have an accepted character and are insider, staff, or active patron Whitelist yourself on ucp.ls-rp.com Wait a few minutes for the whitelist to refresh Connect to server.ls-rp.com on RageMP ??? Profit  
    Kind regards,
    Martin
     
     
     
    1 We've chosen for "active" patrons only to provide a new incentive for folks who keep supporting the project even after creating their character. If you aren't an active patron anymore, you will be able to customize your character once, a day or two before launch.
     
  13. Mmartin

    Nostalgia

    By Mmartin,


    Community Updates
    Hey all,
     
    Hope you're ready for a trip down memory lane because as of now, our legacy forums are available to be viewed again. They've been transformed into a read-only mode, you won't be able to make, or edit any posts or send messages. So head on to check out the history of LS-RP and grab whatever you were missing over the years.
     
    We've also made a thread in General Discussion to share cool finds.
     
    Please note that the forums come with zero warranty or support. If you can't log in, lost access, or anything similar, you're out of luck. We'll make sure they go back up should the forums crash, but we don't currently have any resources to provide any support at all. Also please keep in mind that the forums are over 10 years old, filled with data and running on outdated software. They will be slow, especially from the beginning as the cache populates. Big shoutout to @Ben who took the time to prepare the forum for release.
     
    Happy browsing! 
     
     
  14. Mmartin

    Inventory, Legal Factions, Release Date

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,
     
    We've been hard at work this past week and I'd like to show you some of the progress we've made. From the development perspective, we brainstormed and created one of the core features for our RageMP gamemode - the Inventory System. All items (with a couple exceptions) will be in one centralized inventory instead of having your character's belongings scattered across different systems and commands. You'll be able to access your weapons, drugs, accessories and more in a simple, user-friendly UI. In-fact, instead of reading about it, have a look at the preview we made.
     
     
    Factions
    During the last week we also held a few staff-wide sessions to discuss the shape of both legal and illegal factions on the server. We went over a lot, so I'll only go over the few most important points:
    We will start the server with the following legal factions: Police Department, Sheriff's Department, Fire Department, DOJ (courts), GOV (city & state). PD and SD will have a lot of shared responsibility, with the prison and rescue tasks falling under SD's jurisdiction. We will have the same structure for LSGOV boards as we did on SA-MP. We acknowledged some issues the previous lsgov forums were facing and found ways to address them. We will use a phpbb theme which is regularly updated and maintained, so we can easily upgrade our phpbb version as they get released. Faction leaders will be able to upload custom content for ranks, avatars and such themselves. Two factor verification will be enforced on users with sensitive access. Reinstatements into legal factions will open on the day of server's launch. Factions have a deadline of 14 days after the server's launch to open recruitment. The Legal Faction Council will consist of the Head of Legal Factions (IC Governor) and the Leadership. HOLF will serve as a liaison between Legal Faction Leaders and the Leadership.  
    For the illegal side, we mainly focused on figuring out the flow of weapons on the server. We went over everything from how the weapons get into the server to the hands of suppliers all the way to the end user. We came up with a system where a Supplier will be able to fill out a OOC form with a list of weapons they want to buy, and pay for them with IC cash and OOC points.
    Supplier can either be a faction, or an individual. Official factions will have the best rates and most points to spend on weapons. Unofficial factions and individuals will be more limited. This is designed to encourage building relationships with larger suppliers if you want cheaper weapons, but doesn't restrict you if you aren't on good terms with anyone. We also try to get rid of the need of OOC connections to acquire weapons. Legal weapons will be harder to acquire and hard limits will be put in place to avoid stockpiling and sale of legal weapons.  Simple forensics will be available for the police to investigate crimes. Players won't be able to park their cars if there's too many weapons in them. This is done to get rid of the stash car meta.  
    I'll make sure to post more information once the weapon system is actually created, as some things are still subject to change. These systems are designed by dozens of people with years of experience in all aspects of roleplay and we actively try to get ideas from people of different backgrounds.
     
    Release Date
    At this stage we're unable to fulfill our original self imposed deadline for release of "Summer 2021". This is due to a series of reasons, but they all boil down to the fact that we don't want to release something we feel wouldn't have the standards we're trying to achieve. We're working hard to deliver a server which shake the RageMP scene to the core, and we can only do that with a rock-solid foundation. That being said, we're currently aiming to release in Q4 of 2021. Unless we encounter major roadblocks, we should all see each other in-game this year.
     
    Registrations
    We're getting our new community suite ready so you can join as soon as possible. We've had many messages from you about creating faction threads early, reserving your names, etcetera. We hear you and we'll open the registration on the following dates:
    15th of September for our supporters on Patreon (thank you!) 1st of October for everyone  
    I hope this update gave you some clarity regarding what we're working on right now. Improving communication with our player base is something we're continuously trying to improve - I'll try to do these updates at least once a week to keep you all in the loop. In the mean time, if you'd like teasers while they're still hot, make sure you join our Discord server. We're posting stuff that's work-in-progress in #snippets now and then.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Martin
  15. Mmartin

    Internet & Updates

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,
     
    As another week went by we're back to give you an update on what we've been up to. The week was very productive in terms of infrastructure setup, but we've also got some visual things to show so let's get into it.
     
    Community
    Last Wednesday we opened our community forums to all of our Patreon supporters. We're slowly getting the forum, and the entire community suite into a state where we feel happy inviting everyone soon (October 1st) - it looks better every day. Out of nowhere, our Discord actually reached Level 3 boost thanks to your support, which is just great to see. We've also recruited a few new members into our Faction, Modding and Mapping teams; this puts us into a position where we now have an expert for every area of the server that we could think of. Overall the activity's been amazing and I'm very thrilled to see all of us working towards a common goal.
     
    Development
    Although the main focus of this week's game mode development was bug fixing, small features and improvements as we take a deep breath before diving into yet another advanced feature after Inventory, there's still some progress to show as far as new features go. We've had the idea of an In Character internet for a while and the prototype's been done for months now, but we pretty much finished the feature this week. Our goal is to have an enclosed, In Character internet which integrates into many of our script features. Not only that, but companies, factions, businesses or even individuals will be able to create a website to reach their audience better. See for yourself:
     
     
    On the other front of Development, the Modding Team has been working hard to create and collect mods to use on the server. The main focus this week have been liveries for IC agencies and assets for a wide spectrum of players (leo, illegal, prison). A discussion has been started in the Mapping Team, in collaboration with the SD and Faction Team as to how we want to make the prison work.
     
    Factions
    The Faction Team Council has agreed upon and presented a schedule for the Faction Team to work through over the course of the next 4 weeks, this consists of:
    Rules of Engagement & Faction Reports Distribution Schemes & Turf Map Official Illegal Factions & Illegal Systems Faction Properties & Leasing  
    The team is currently focusing on week 1 and has started reviewing the current Rules of Engagement, as well as the way Faction Reports are handled. With the Rules of Engagement being LS-RP's core function for the Illegal Roleplaying scene, members within the faction team are consulting and editing what they deem would fit LS-RP's GTA:V server.
     
    At the end of each week, the Faction Team will be holding a meeting to provide a general overview and agree on what should be implemented. You can expect a more detailed post after conclusions have been made. 
     
    Legal Faction Boards
    We successfully set up all legal factions with their new forums. The structure isn't all that different from what we've had previously on lsgov, but before setting them up we polled all legal faction leaders to see what challenges they faced with the previous setup, so we can improve in these areas. We've taken steps to make sure the new forums can be easily maintained, the software is always up-to-date and faction leaders have access to uploading custom content (ranks/images) without the assistance of a Developer.
     
    I hope this post gives you some insight on what's currently going on. We've some exciting projects in our sights for the next week, so don't forget to check back as we announce these. If you aren't a member of our Discord, come chat with us and check out cool snippets before they hit the website or YouTube.
     
    https://discord.gg/ls-rp
     
    Kind regards,
    Mmartin
    on behalf the LS-RP Staff
  16. Mmartin
    Hey all,
     
    Yet another week has gone by and we're excited to share our progress. There's been a lot done behind the scenes, so if you're a fan of fancy visuals this one might not be for you but they're very important updates nonetheless.
     
    Development
    You've probably already seen the major feature preview of Radio Systems of the week. What the video doesn't highlight as much is the progress on the backend of our inventory system. We've completed scripting interactive items, placing items from your inventory into the world and a bunch of setup code that'll enable us to have a feature-rich, scalable and powerful inventory down the line. The Radio feature also showcased the first result of the collaboration between the Modding team and Devs, where objects made by @Mario were put into the main gamemode and integrated into the Inventory and Radio systems.
     
    Going on, @Kane created a Notes app for the phone (Link to Discord snippet) and a couple small improvements to the gamemode code. We've also built up our infrastructure more, some of our static game content is now hosted on a CDN for faster and more reliable and streamlined delivery.
     
    With that in mind, we've also welcomed two developers into our team - @Drew and @Smally whose sole focus for the time being will be web development and development of standalone applications. This should accelerate our development significantly.
     
    Under the umbrella of the Development Team, we've established a Designer Team to help us create fitting bits of graphic for our forums and some aspect of the gamemode. The founding members of the team are @Will, @elgreco and Rr
     
    Exciting news ahead is that we're targeting to launch the community forums for the general public on October 1st if everything goes according to a plan. If you'd like to make an account before, you can by becoming one of our Early Supporters over at Patreon. This gets you some more cool perks depending on the tier and directly supports the development of the server.
     
    Factions
    The Faction Team continues with its efforts in providing an ideal rule set for the server to abide by - this week, the topic revolved around Distribution Schemes and Turf Maps.
     
    The Turf Map has always played a major role alongside the Rules of Engagement to provide factions with a form of establishment and to create a roleplaying environment for their faction through properties, businesses, garages, complexes, etc.
     
    Many suggestions were made such as:
    •  Do Organized Crime Groups really need turf?
    •  Should we consider taking a different dynamic with Turf Maps?
    •  Should Factions be forced into war if they plan on expanding on already owned turf?
     
    With Distribution Schemes (Weapon & Drugs), the Faction Team noticed that throughout the last couple of years on LS:RP there was an overall lack of diversity. Factions had no real need to interact amongst each other as there was nothing that they couldn’t acquire by themselves. To tackle this, we aim to introduce some exclusivity to what weapons and drugs some factions may acquire in the future.
     
    The Faction Team does plan on introducing a new scheme which they’re very excited about. White Collar Crimes/Fraud Scheme, which will entail skimming, fake IDs, use of scam sites, and possibly more. A lot has been addressed and a lot more will be discussed in the upcoming weeks regarding Distribution Schemes and Turf Maps and we are yet to have anything set in stone.
    - Writeup by @Ten
     
    Legal Factions
    The Los Santos City Government faction is looking for new ideas and suggestions to bring more interaction and involvement between the government and the community, as well as more interesting and immersive roleplay. We're open to all sorts of ideas, blue sky thinking is appreciated as well. If you have any suggestions, please PM @Maxim
     
    The Sheriff's Department has detailed their plan for reinstatements into the faction:
     
     
    The Police department has detailed their plan for reinstatements as well:
     
     
    - Writeup by @Imperium
     
    A lot of productive discussion happened overall within the staff team just this week. We've some exciting stuff planned for both script and community development in the coming weeks, so make sure you don't miss our updates. The best way to stay close to the action is to join our Discord for the quick-bits, or to follow us on Twitter and YouTube, to immediately see major previews as we release them.
     
    Kind regards,
    Martin
     
    Cover photo credits: u/Mr-Habanero on Reddit
     
     
  18. Mmartin

    ATM Preview

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,
     
    This is the first post I'm making in 2022 so I'd wish you a happy new year and all that, but I feel we're all over that already given it's the 20th. That being said, there's no doubt 2022 will be the year of LS-RP. To kick the showcase off for the year, I'd like to show you what I've been working on for the past few days on and off - the ATM feature. The video is pretty self explanatory so I'll skip right to the chase.
     
     
     
    We created a part of this system LIVE on Twitch. If you'd like to see more development streams, let me know in the replies; also let me know which feature you'd like to see being developed! (Visual ones, such as the ATM interface are easier to do live).
     
    I'll try to bring you more updates in the form of posts and videos in the coming days as we finalize some cool features; in the meantime you can check out #snippets on Discord for the odd tease here and there.
     
    Thank you all for the continued support, whether it's here on forums, Discord, my DM's, or directly on Patreon. Let me know what you'd like to see next.
     
    Yours truly,
    Martin
     
     
     
  19. Mmartin

    We're on Patreon

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey everyone,
     
    We've hit the point in our project where we're setting up infrastructure that our future server will run on. This means we suddenly have monthly costs with no source of income for the server, as you can't currently purchase a premium account. The costs include dedicated servers, cloud service fees, software licenses and so on.
     
    This is why we decided to launch a LS-RP Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lsrpcom
     
    By supporting the LS-RP V project before release (Q4 2021 - more on that later in tomorrow's blog post), you don't only help us cover the costs that otherwise we have to pay out of our pockets, you also get a variety of perks which include
    Credits to your LS-RP account to spend on premium features after launch, twice the size of your pledged amount Premium Member Discord Role Early access to our Community Platform (this site). This perk will open up on 15th of September 2021 Special Early Supporter badge on our Community Platform (and in-game) Access to weekly staff meetings to be among the first to see demos of new features. Join the discussions with your ideas! Lifetime premium membership of the highest tier sold out  
    * Some perks are be restricted to individual tiers
     
    Thank you for considering supporting our project, we've spent thousands of hours brainstorming, developing and testing, and we're doing our best to get it to you as soon as we can.
     
    Please stay tuned as we have more news to come out tomorrow - make sure to give it a look as well!
     
    Kind regards,
    Mmartin
    on behalf of the LS-RP Leadership
  20. Mmartin

    One Week Later

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hey all,   it's now been over a week that the SA-MP server opened its doors to everyone again. I want to reflect a bit on what's been happening, and provide my thoughts on where we’re at.   It’s fun.
    I almost forgot how much fun our SA-MP server is. Not just from the perspective of a player, but also from the perspective of a staff member and developer. It’s been an absolutely hilariously hectic week full of rollercoasters, ups and downs and all. The creative aspect of our community has been blooming even this early on, whether in game or out of it. It’s good to see factions finding their place again and providing players a great roleplay experience. Lots of you have been making videos from LS-RP as well already, which is great to see. I feel our strength as a community is off to a great start.
    What really surprised me that according to our metrics it appears about 1/4 to 1/3 of the players who join our SA-MP server have never played LS-RP before. So welcome everyone, make yourself at home and I hope you'll enjoy playing with us.    Just to give a quick shoutout to a few channels posting LS-RP content:   Big Tank - YouTube Cycool100 - YouTube BlackAngellify RP - YouTube Neezoo The Cursed - YouTube   Honorary mention to LSRP: Grand Reopening 2024 (youtube.com)   We’ve also been posting a lot of content on our socials - see Los Santos Roleplay (@lsrpgta) • Instagram photos and videos and ls-rp (@lsrpgaming) | TikTok - show us some love there.   It’s a challenge.
    From about all ends. The launch day itself went very smooth, but we were soon met with a crowd of seventeen year old skeletons clacking their way out of the closet right onto the doorstep of the Development and Staff team. Although not all of the technical difficulties we’ve faced were within our reach to fix (looking at you, pesky network providers), the ones that were within our power, we’ve managed to fix. That’s not to say it’s fully smooth sailing from here on out, we’ve much work to do still in regards to stabilization and optimization, but despite an odd crash due to the obscure issues that running a SA-MP server brings, we’re trying to make the experience better every day. Be assured that the moment any technical difficulties arise, our entire team is all hands on deck working on a solution.   To stay on topic of infrastructure a bit longer, we’re currently considering switching to a US East Coast based datacenter. As much as I enjoy low ping, I acknowledge that a major chunk of our player base is from the US, and a significant portion is also from Asia, Australia and Oceania. The latter three suffer the most, since the routes from their countries to Europe are much less optimal than to US. We’re still yet to do some research into this to find the best option, and are waiting to see if GCORE perhaps creates a L7 layer for SA-MP to match our current Path offering, but the switch to US-E is something I’m planning to do, so please hand on tight for now.   The last week has also been a massive test of our staff’s strength. Just since pre-release (and majority of it since around 17th), our team has handled over 4000 character applications, over 17200 helpmes, over 11200 in-game reports, and over 600 discord support tickets, most of which were related to account recovery. Those numbers are nothing short of insane and a big shoutout goes to our staff teams who are holding the line. Worry not, reinforcements to our team are coming EOM, as we’ve received around 50 reinstatement requests by now.  It’s about you.
    To make meaningful progress forward with feature development, we require you to get involved. The suggestion board is open: Suggestions - Los Santos Roleplay (ls-rp.com) and we’re looking for your input on where to go from here. Now that we’re slowly resolving all the infrastructure and administrative issues that degrade player and staff experience, we want to shift a significant part of our focus onto feature development. Please get involved in discussing submitted suggestions.    I guess this would be a good place to congratulate the community on reaching an astonishing 10k members on our Discord server - https://discord.gg/ls-rp.    It’s great to see the server thriving,  It could be you.
    We’re always looking for modders, mappers and developers to join our team. Please send me an application if you’re interested in any of those. In a few weeks we’ll be opening up the tester applications to strengthen our ranks even more, so if you’re looking to apply, now is a good time to show your activity within the community, whether in game, on Discord or forums. By getting directly involved as a staff member, you get to contribute to making the LS-RP experience better for everyone.   Keep it real, keep it close, and I’ll see you in game.   Martin
  21. Mmartin

    it's up

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Servers open, more info here: SA-MP Pre-release - Los Santos Roleplay (ls-rp.com). testing the waters today, official pre-release launch tomorrow
     
    server.ls-rp.com:7777, pay to play rn (support the server by buying premium or wait a week for full availability)
     
    if you lost your account or don't remember password wait a day or two and maybe we'll help maybe not
  22. Mmartin
    Hello,
     
    I've got some exciting news for you today — from all angles! We're releasing the Major Update 2.0 for our RageMP server and have some news on the timeline and remaining work for relaunching our SA-MP server.
     
    RageMP Major Update 2.0
     
    The 2.0 update has been in the works for quite a while and as the stars aligned, it includes several sought after features once again. It includes bangers such as Burglary System, Blackjack, In-Game Social Media, Character Export to Menyoo, and other features and fixes. The full changelog is as follows:
     
    [Major Update 2.0] - Adds Blackjack - Adds Burglary features - Adds /addcontact [phone number] [contact name] as a shortcut to add contacts - Adds /delcontact [contact name] as a shortcut to delete contacts - Adds /faceinvader (aliased /fi) to access Faceinvader while in-game - Adds the ability to export appearances into Menyoo XML format via the UCP - Adds placing items (such as weapons) inside of properties - Adds a non emergency hotline (991) - Adds ability to toggle furniture item collisions - Fixes certain appearance features' opacity not loading correctly - Changed the DMV practical test to automatically set /limiter - Changed the DMV knowledge test to increase the timer from 5 minutes to 10 minutes - Changed the DMV knowledge test to remove the long fade transitions - Changed the UCP character application process to only be necessary for your first character  
    Blackjack
    It is now possible to play blackjack on any furniture item of the 'ch_prop_casino_blackjack_01a' model. You don't need to be in a casino to play it, all you need is a property which you can furnish, or access to one. You can manage the settings of the table with /bjtable. The table settings also support a "Practice mode", which lets you play without deducting your money at all, making the game available to you even if you're strapped for IG cash. Make sure to enable the table and put some money in the till so you're able to play.
     

     
    The game supports up to 4 players + an NPC dealer. Hitting, standing, splitting, doubling and surrendering are all supported. If you're unsure how to play, or want to check the table's rules / settings, you can view the rules via the "Info" option when approaching a seat, or by clicking the rule book icon in the Blackjack UI. 
     
    Quick note, we haven't added crowbars and lockpicks to the stores yet to give players a chance to upgrade their home security systems. 
     
    You can read more about this feature in its documentation here: 
     
     
    Burglary System
    An important part of roleplaying is finally getting the attention it needs. Gone are the days when you forgot if you locked your property's door or you feared that anybody could just break into your apartment and steal your hard-earned drugs & cash. With the new Burglary & Property Security system, we're offering opportunities for legal and illegal roleplayers alike.
     
    You can read more about this feature here: 
     
     
    SA-MP Relaunch Milestones
    With our 2.0 release out of the way, our major point of focus for the upcoming weeks will be preparing the SA-MP server for launch. We added a SA-MP section to our roadmap which you can find here: SA-MP Roadmap · LS-RP Roadmap (github.com).
     
    We're currently targeting three milestones:
    - Staff release: Open the server for the staff team to begin testing its integration to our current systems. We estimate this milestone to be completed in less than one week from now.
    - Pre-release: Open the server for our valued donators who've the premium membership activated. During this phase we'll give our infrastructure a rigorous test and finish work which is necessary for the release. We estimate this milestone to be completed in 1-2 weeks from now.
    - Release: Open the server for everyone. We estimate this milestone to be completed in 2-3 weeks from now.
     
    We offer the aforementioned estimates in good faith and are working hard to meet them, or even deliver earlier. If anything changes or we encounter any hiccups along the way, we'll be sure to inform you ahead of time and explain what's happening.
     
    In the last two weeks, we've done a lot of work behind the scenes ranging from preparing our infrastructure, migrating processes and consulting our teams on how to make the relaunch go as well as it can. Some core takeaways are:
     
    Focus
    Key focus for all teams will be in-game activity and providing support for business openings and factions, so everyone has the tools they need to roleplay. If you own a business on SA-MP and are planning to open, contact Commerce & Estates. Business auctions will take place after the first two weeks, assessing business activity. Community engagement will be focusing on promotion of both the SA-MP and RageMP server (graphics, videos, ads). Events team will be focusing on an initial launch event, and aiming for one event per week. Our eventual goal is to host two events every week, one for the RageMP server, one for the SA-MP server. 
     
    Official Factions
    Factions which were official from one year prior to closure of the SA-MP server will be able to apply for an official faction status.
     
    Schemes
    Illegal faction schemes will work slightly differently, more info to be released in a few days. We are assessing the current situation of stockpiled weapons and such.
     
    In other news, we've closed both tester applications and staff reinstatements. Both are now being reviewed and we thank everyone who's applied, the results will be revealed by the end of the month. We want to make sure that come release, we're equipped to handle supporting both servers.
     
    This and much more was premiered today on Discord during our Community Meeting. Join our Discord community to stay at the forefront of breaking news and updates from your friendly neighborhood roleplay server.
     
    Love,
    Martin
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  23. Mmartin

    June Update

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello everyone,   Today we bring you an action packed update covering all floors of LS-RP, from the musky basements of development to the 24 carat gold-plated ivory towers of leadership. Our teams have been working tirelessly, and we have exciting progress to share from each area. A big thank you to everyone involved; your dedication is truly appreciated. Read on to find out more.   Development
    I’m happy to say we’ve made tremendous progress in work that was long overdue. We’ve significantly improved our gamemode’s stability, anti-cheat and ban evasion detection, so the in-game experience is much smoother now. This leaves us with a lot more time we can dedicate to feature development, which we’ve already begun to do. A small update will be released likely tomorrow to address some intermittent issues and changes as we work on feature development. We brought three new developers to help us this month, so a warm welcome to - Noble, KUnderwood and Koky. Which brings me to!   We’re teaming up with Koky’s Deathmatch
    That’s right, we’re now working with Koky’s Deathmatch to establish an official LS-RP Deathmatch server. I’ll save the details for a separate announcement when the server relaunches for SA-MP, but we’re going to be including some of the features you know from LS-RP in the DM game mode, such as our damage system, skin models, maps and more - so you can let the frustration out and train your shooting skills without leaving 17 corpses behind in Idlewood. The DM server being interlinked with LS-RP’s database and systems, I’m super excited for this unique venture and I’m sure it’ll fill the void that’s in the space right now. Stay tuned as we update you with more information.     Factions Team: (From Badhbh, Spectre, Kev, Spanion)
    We’d like to start off our announcement by properly congratulating The Valenti Crime Family on their return to the server yet again as an official faction. One of our longest-running factions to date, who've held official status throughout the ages. Welcome back!

    The month of May has been extremely busy as the team has had all hands on deck getting our Drug Schemes, Prison, and Weapon Schemes in order, and we are happy to announce that these schemes are once again open for applications. This includes both factions and solo roleplayers wishing to get involved in our Solo Schemes! The links to the scheme applications can be found here - Please pay attention to the tagged Illegal Faction Team member, as they are head of their respective schemes. Applications are now also open for the turf map, please click here to find out more. 

    We have kept our ears to the ground and have been listening to concerns raised around deathmatch mentality and escalation of beef between factions. We, as FTC, want to assure the server that this is not the precedent we want to push for factions to view as normal to do. As we monitor what’s happening in-game, we will be rolling out changes to the Rules of Engagement to make the faction scene more enjoyable for everyone.

    Finally, as always, if you'd like to make your voice heard, suggest changes or simply partake in formative discussions surrounding the server's illegal roleplay, please send an expression of interest to @Kev in order to join our public team.   Commerce & Estate: (From Superb)
    In-game Auctions: In-game auctions have been a hit! We are now preparing to launch business auctions, allowing players to bid on a variety of businesses. Stay tuned for specific dates and details. Apartment Complex System: We are setting up an apartment complex system, enabling players to own and manage apartment complexes in-game. This will add new dimensions to roleplay and economic interaction. More details coming soon.
    Business Leasing Success: Our business leasing initiative has been a tremendous success, ensuring greater accessibility to businesses and ensuring that there are plenty of places open at any given time. 
    Exclusive & Exotic Vehicles: We have also now started auctioning off exclusive and exotic vehicles for players to bid on and own!
     
    Community Engagement Team: (From Roze) 
    The Community Outreach team has been busy since we've launched. We are now posting regular content to our social media platforms, which have gained some decent traction. We are still looking for more video submissions to use on our social media, so if you have anything that you would like to submit, please send it to @ROZE
     
    We are also in initial talks with the OpenMP team, to see what sort of opportunities they can offer us for exposure. The first thing we are trying to achieve is a spot on the partnerships tab.
    Beyond this, we aim to market LS-RP within a variety of SAMP and GTA Roleplay forums
    Mapping: (From Caledonite)
    Since the re-opening of the SA-MP servers, I've been focusing on revamping the mapping team structure to address neglected areas. This process is taking some time. I'm thrilled by the interest in joining the mapping team. Applications have been forwarded for review, and you'll be notified of your status soon. Currently, there are no showcases due to the ongoing revamp and limited mappers. Once the revamp is complete, showcases will resume for both LS-RP and SA-MP. Here are the current plans:
    SA-MP: Add new objects and textures to the furniture system. Revamp the server map, reviving dead areas and removing outdated mapping.  
    LS-RP:V: Re-structure and prioritize pending projects. Fix furniture objects that can't be spawned by default. A survey will be sent out to gather player and staff feedback on mapping. Look for the announcement on Discord in #team-announcements.
    We are still looking for new mappers! The application is open indefinitely, and you can apply to focus on SA-MP, LS-RP, or both. No portfolio? No problem. Apply, and I'll guide you through the process. Feel free to message me on the forum or Discord with any questions. I may not reply immediately, but your messages won't go unnoticed. Suggestions & Improvements: (From Sal)
    We're pleased to be updating our Suggestions process with efficiency, transparency, and player agency in mind. Your input is invaluable in helping us create a better experience for everyone. Here’s how the updated process works:
    Submit Your Suggestion: Post your suggestion in the designated forum with the appropriate tag in the title. Community Discussion: Engage with other community members to discuss and improve the suggestion. Staff Review: Our staff team will review suggestions regularly. Promising suggestions will be moved to the "Forwarded Suggestions" forum for more in-depth review. Decision Making: The Head of Project will decide whether suggestions move forward to the development pipeline. Operational changes will be forwarded to the relevant staff team. Feature Voting: Significant features will be put to a vote using the Feature Voting option on the User Control Panel (UCP). Roadmap Integration: Approved suggestions will be added to our development roadmap based on community votes and priorities.
    Notes:
    We may need to modify suggestions to align with our technical capabilities, particularly given SA-MP's older codebase. Operational changes will be implemented by the relevant staff team based on the forwarded suggestions.  
    We look forward to seeing your suggestions, so be sure to head on over to the forums and get your ideas in!
    Staff Update (From Nature)
    May has been a busy month for us! Team admin responded to 16,158 reports, and team tester responded to 23,187 help requests! A massive thank you for your patience as we tackled the large influx of requests in-game, on Discord, and the forums. 

    Thank you to everyone for submitting your reinstatements. We've received over 70 since we re-launched our SA-MP server!
     
     
    Congratulations to our newly promoted staff members ...
     
     
    Lead Admin
    Izumi (Assistant Head of Operations)
     
    Senior Admin
    Spectre - Caledonite - risen

    Game Admin
    leo - Xanakin - Este - axez - badhbh 
    ScubaStef - Duco

    Trainee Admin
    celestine - Conor - Draxxler

    Welcome back to our returning staff members ...
     


    Game Admin
    Amine - gus 

    Junior Admin
    Cashew - Joey - Shaikh - JesterJr (Mood)
    Eren - Ace

    Trainee Admin
    luca. - Zaw

    Senior Tester
    matical - Eagle - LaMarcus_Boone 

    Tester
    Caleb410 - kaibr - Maxolino - Christian - PrOxyy
    amity - RyanW - Hanky


    Junior Tester
    trewen - zeeksteezy - Connor_Don - BO. - Tadija - Consistency
    Allik - Kelav_Kiro - rancor - ic3squid
     
     
     
     
     
    This list is not final and subject to change. @accursed will reach out to Team Tester in the following days to begin your onboarding process. Team Admin will be contacted by @jack. Thank you to everyone who showed interest. If you were not selected during this cycle, we encourage you to try again next time.
     
    So, to conclude, we're really pleased to see that so many are enjoying the SA-MP server and hopefully not just for nostalgic reasons; our goal here is to ensure that it remains a competitive and entertaining form of escapism that everyone genuinely enjoys playing.
     
    Thank you for reading, and for your ongoing support, we're looking forward to another month of RP both on RageMP and SA-MP!
  24. Mmartin

    Happy birthday, LS-RP

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello everyone,
     
    we've now reopened the SA-MP server for everyone again. This is a very poetic way to celebrate LS-RP's 17th birthday. Normally I'd get all into it teary and sentimental, but I just want to go ingame. To join:
    Make an account on our User Control Panel Fill out a character application (or just create a character if you already have one and want another) Download SA-MP 0.3.DL-R1 Connect to server.ls-rp.com:7777 using your account name ("UCP name")  
    This is a very exciting evening, and I've to say that tonight is gonna be a real stress test for the server. Both from a technical and staffing OPV. We'll monitor for any issues and try to fix or mitigate them as soon as they occur. Please keep this in mind and I'm sure we'll iron out any major nuisances over the weekend.
     
    Can't wait to see you all in game!
     
    You have all the assets on your characters that you've had when the server closed. If you're missing a property or business, it's probably because it was sold for inactivity before the server closed. Also keep in mind we'll be extra vigilant re. poor reasons to kill and DM. You may want to hold off on any major conflicts, because punishments for any DM/PRTK in the days after launch will be ban.
     
    Notice re. PF licenses:
     
     
     
    Let's go gamers!
  25. Mmartin

    Game Update 13.3.11

    By Mmartin,


    General
    Hello,
     
    With today's game update we're adding the ability to cut your drugs with dilutants and a set of furniture items to enhance your trap house interiors. We've also done tweaks to the algorithm for businesses accepting trucking cargo & fixing crashes related to that. We're also actively working with the community to revamp trucking route rewards to be more balanced.
     
    [Game Update 13.3.11] - Added ingredients - /myingr, /buyingr, /giveingr, /dropingr - Added drug cutting - /cutdrug - Added new furniture category Miscellaneous > Trap House - Fixed /hq and /togfam not showing properly - Edited the /givepropkey warning to include information re. furniture access - Fixed businesses buying cargo within TPDA, the calculation now takes into account the amount of storage space and how much they can afford  
     
    Cutting Drugs
    You can use an ingredient to cut some drugs, which will increase their amount but decrease their strength. This will then have effect on some of the effects the drugs have. Only some drugs can be cut, and they can't all be cut with the same dilutants. I won't give you a full breakdown with the numbers as to let you experiment and figure the system out with trial & error. We're looking to expand this ingredient system with more features in the future.
     
    Trap House Furniture
    Just a few screenshots to give you inspiration for your living room remodeling:
     

     

     

     
    Also quick update from the mapping team, we're working on redoing the area of the old PD GFU to replace the building with a new area suitable for faction roleplay.
     
    Happy gaming!

Los Santos Roleplay

Los Santos Roleplay is a text-based heavy roleplay community on GTA, providing gamers a creative space to play since 2007

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