05.11.2019, 15:03
I noticed that Kalcor said that old servers often don't have the resources to hire modders and enhance the gameplay experience, therefore he wishes to discontinue 0.3DL entirely.
I hope you read this Kalcor, because you should NOT discontinue 0.3DL. And SA-MP is not dying either.
I have been playing SA-MP since 2009 but I was only 8 years old at the time. I've played throughout the years and I believe SA-MP is still far from dead. GTA: San Andreas is one of the best games of all time and continues to be a famous game. It is meme-d everywhere on the internet. (Reddit especially) New YouTube videos and Twitch streams still attract a lot of traffic. I still love this game and this mod and intend to be here for many more years.
Some of the issues that cause SA-MP to be declining:
1. Game versions.
Rockstar Games keeps releasing piteous "remastered" versions of the game which all just make the game worse and make 1.0 less accessible, whilst 1.0 is required to play SA-MP. (1.0 is also generally speaking the best version of the game.)
2. SAMP 0.3.7 and 0.3.DL.
Multiple SA-MP versions should be avoided completely since Rockstar Games already makes it hard enough on us by releasing so many different game versions. The community is divided because there are two different clients. 0.3.DL is not in a fair position because 0.3.7 is considered to be the "official latest release". This makes 0.3.DL look obsolete, but it is not.
3. GTA V & MTA.
GTA V and MTA obviously cut into SA-MP's community because both are similar and GTA 5 is the new generation.
4. Lack of guidance.
The entire SA-MP community is happy to call the platform dying and nobody is publicly protecting SA-MP or guiding anyone in whatever process they want to do that involves SA-MP.
Potential solutions to above described issues:
1. Game versions.
There needs to be a clear, quick and easy to follow guide that gets 1.0 up and running after you buy and install either the Steam or Rockstar Launcher version of the game. This guide should be on sa-mp.com and other popular GTA SA sites and be very obvious to spot and to the point. Why downgrade to 1.0? How to downgrade to 1.0? Those should be the central points and purposes of those pages. There is one on YouTube that is really good, but you have to be aware of its existence. That's not how it should be.
2. SAMP 0.3.7 and 0.3.DL.
Merge 0.3DL and 0.3.7 when releasing 0.3.9. Doing so will forge the community back together. Old servers don't have the resources? They do. Last year, when SA-MP was already "dying" according to the community, I decided to create my own server after SARP's demise. To this day I still haven't launched, but that is solely because I procrastinate and work on it only for a few days and then take breaks for a month.
I have learnt PAWN, MySQL, HTML, CSS, PHP and 3D modelling in Blender with no background in coding or modelling whatsoever. All I did was create maps for SARP throughout 2015-2018. I am currently 19 years old. Any server has the resources. Blender 2.8 has an amazing .dff tool that can be combined with KDFF GUI to work very, very well. All of this is free. If you are willing to learn, you can do it. However, it could be a lot easier. Nobody told me KDFF GUI existed. Nobody told me you could use Blender with a .dff addon. No one. You need guides for stuff like this. Up to date guides.
SA-MP has to release 0.3.9 and keep the custom skins and objects. If possible, expand into custom vehicles and weapons as well. If you don't merge, that would be a huge, huge shame since I and many others invested a lot of time into modelling. Just because some servers that are dear to your heart "don't have the resources to compete" doesn't mean we all should suffer from the fact that they aren't willing to invest time into learning. This is one of SA-MP's greatest features and if you look at the images below you can see I've made some open interiors with the custom object functionality.
https://imgur.com/a/fg4YfJn
3. GTA V & MTA.
There is nothing we can do about this, except for reaching out to MTA and advertising each other's platforms. If you have GTA SA, there is no reason not to play both. Just like how Minecraft and Terraria advertised for each other. GTA 5 is new but still too new. You need a good PC, you can't have a lot of server slots without requiring high performance, and the scripts aren't super advanced. It is also not convenient to launch, but it is more convenient to install compared to SA-MP. Since for SA-MP, you have to downgrade your GTA installation.
4. Lack of guidance.
SA-MP shouldn't be open source. The community however, should be very open to new players and developers. Support people that want to make a server. Don't tell them it is a waste of time, create effective, up to date and easy to understand guides. I usually have to spend hours on one single issue just because everything is either outdated or you're left to figure it out yourself. This goes for scripting, mapping, modelling and even downgrading to 1.0 in order to play SA-MP. Share resources. Got cool custom skins or objects? Don't limit them to your server. People download them when they join anyway. If they try hard enough, they'll get them.
I believe I nailed a few of SA-MP's core issues at the moment. I don't believe these take that much time at all to work on either, especially considering we have so many people still that are willing to help. Go address these issues. I'll help where I can, like so many others. Just ask us.
I hope you read this Kalcor, because you should NOT discontinue 0.3DL. And SA-MP is not dying either.
I have been playing SA-MP since 2009 but I was only 8 years old at the time. I've played throughout the years and I believe SA-MP is still far from dead. GTA: San Andreas is one of the best games of all time and continues to be a famous game. It is meme-d everywhere on the internet. (Reddit especially) New YouTube videos and Twitch streams still attract a lot of traffic. I still love this game and this mod and intend to be here for many more years.
Some of the issues that cause SA-MP to be declining:
1. Game versions.
Rockstar Games keeps releasing piteous "remastered" versions of the game which all just make the game worse and make 1.0 less accessible, whilst 1.0 is required to play SA-MP. (1.0 is also generally speaking the best version of the game.)
2. SAMP 0.3.7 and 0.3.DL.
Multiple SA-MP versions should be avoided completely since Rockstar Games already makes it hard enough on us by releasing so many different game versions. The community is divided because there are two different clients. 0.3.DL is not in a fair position because 0.3.7 is considered to be the "official latest release". This makes 0.3.DL look obsolete, but it is not.
3. GTA V & MTA.
GTA V and MTA obviously cut into SA-MP's community because both are similar and GTA 5 is the new generation.
4. Lack of guidance.
The entire SA-MP community is happy to call the platform dying and nobody is publicly protecting SA-MP or guiding anyone in whatever process they want to do that involves SA-MP.
Potential solutions to above described issues:
1. Game versions.
There needs to be a clear, quick and easy to follow guide that gets 1.0 up and running after you buy and install either the Steam or Rockstar Launcher version of the game. This guide should be on sa-mp.com and other popular GTA SA sites and be very obvious to spot and to the point. Why downgrade to 1.0? How to downgrade to 1.0? Those should be the central points and purposes of those pages. There is one on YouTube that is really good, but you have to be aware of its existence. That's not how it should be.
2. SAMP 0.3.7 and 0.3.DL.
Merge 0.3DL and 0.3.7 when releasing 0.3.9. Doing so will forge the community back together. Old servers don't have the resources? They do. Last year, when SA-MP was already "dying" according to the community, I decided to create my own server after SARP's demise. To this day I still haven't launched, but that is solely because I procrastinate and work on it only for a few days and then take breaks for a month.
I have learnt PAWN, MySQL, HTML, CSS, PHP and 3D modelling in Blender with no background in coding or modelling whatsoever. All I did was create maps for SARP throughout 2015-2018. I am currently 19 years old. Any server has the resources. Blender 2.8 has an amazing .dff tool that can be combined with KDFF GUI to work very, very well. All of this is free. If you are willing to learn, you can do it. However, it could be a lot easier. Nobody told me KDFF GUI existed. Nobody told me you could use Blender with a .dff addon. No one. You need guides for stuff like this. Up to date guides.
SA-MP has to release 0.3.9 and keep the custom skins and objects. If possible, expand into custom vehicles and weapons as well. If you don't merge, that would be a huge, huge shame since I and many others invested a lot of time into modelling. Just because some servers that are dear to your heart "don't have the resources to compete" doesn't mean we all should suffer from the fact that they aren't willing to invest time into learning. This is one of SA-MP's greatest features and if you look at the images below you can see I've made some open interiors with the custom object functionality.
https://imgur.com/a/fg4YfJn
3. GTA V & MTA.
There is nothing we can do about this, except for reaching out to MTA and advertising each other's platforms. If you have GTA SA, there is no reason not to play both. Just like how Minecraft and Terraria advertised for each other. GTA 5 is new but still too new. You need a good PC, you can't have a lot of server slots without requiring high performance, and the scripts aren't super advanced. It is also not convenient to launch, but it is more convenient to install compared to SA-MP. Since for SA-MP, you have to downgrade your GTA installation.
4. Lack of guidance.
SA-MP shouldn't be open source. The community however, should be very open to new players and developers. Support people that want to make a server. Don't tell them it is a waste of time, create effective, up to date and easy to understand guides. I usually have to spend hours on one single issue just because everything is either outdated or you're left to figure it out yourself. This goes for scripting, mapping, modelling and even downgrading to 1.0 in order to play SA-MP. Share resources. Got cool custom skins or objects? Don't limit them to your server. People download them when they join anyway. If they try hard enough, they'll get them.
I believe I nailed a few of SA-MP's core issues at the moment. I don't believe these take that much time at all to work on either, especially considering we have so many people still that are willing to help. Go address these issues. I'll help where I can, like so many others. Just ask us.