Hello Kalcor! (thank you so much for making samp, my favorite mod)
I definitely want the versions to combine into 1 version
because as it is now the players are scattered and that means players are having less fun, right?
I have asked many people on a server im mapping on about 0.3.DL and they are all pleasantly surprised by what it can do,
the custom models are something they want,
some are even willing to start learning Blender just to be able to create custom models for the server.
To me its absolutely amazing how people are willing to learn 3d modelling for SAMP,
I myself am learning level design to better my own maps for SAMP.
Point is, people are so enthusiastic about this mod that they would use their time to learn something new,
so I know this mod is worth the effort.
However no one supports the idea of moving to 0.3.DL
when I mentioned the low player count due to 0.3.DL not being available as the main version here:
https://www.sa-mp.com/
For custom models not being published enough on samp forums I know that one of the reasons for that is definitely:
-that modellers want to create models for their own server theyre passionate about, not necessarily everyone,
its the same way with my maps, I dont publish the codes to my maps on the samp forum
because im making it for the server im working on, not for everyone or for competitors to use xD.
On the topic of SAMP not being downloaded enough:
1. Gta sa not being bought wont prevent players from coming in samp, plenty of my friends got gta sa through torrents, some, like me got the cracked version back when me and my friends were kids and now buy GTA SA out of appreciation
not just for the game but SAMP itself, because many of them enjoyed/are enjoying it.
2. I dont think SAMP will die because of players going onto new games because
theres plenty of indie games that are played, flash games, ******** games (farmville, mafia wars) and older games like Tetris and Flappy bird, games that are generally not appreciated a lot but are still played a lot. Its true that all of those are more accessible but we can make samp more accessible by doing actions to do that (for example):
3. Our server will include a tutorial on how to download SAMP in each of its videos, we believe we will be able to get some players that way, I know thats not enough on its own to increase the amount of players playing on samp, but imagine if more samp servers do this...
If more did that then SAMP would definitely get more players,
your word holds a lot of weight and value behind it (if you dont believe me look at the view count on this thread),
if you asked samp servers to do this I bet a lot more of them would do this as well,
theres lots of other ways to improve SAMP, for example improving the advertisment board on the forum by including a format that samp server owners could follow to explain how fun their server is, organising it all so its all more efficient, more elegant to see...
Personally played this mod since 2010-11, im 23 now and I want to play this mod for as long as its possible, so many times Ive left SAMP only to return to it, the variety it offers with different gamemodes and the fun community in it, I love it, so I dont want it to stop evolving , im a mapper, if I can help in anyway ask me and Ill figure something out if its within my power.