Happy New Year!
I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and had lots of fun. I'm starting off 2018 by introducing a system that the server has most definitely been lacking up until now. There has been plenty of demand for a GPS system of sorts and with the addition of street names (albeit some time ago), the need for this has only increased. In this update, I'm introducing San Andreas Maps (/samaps). I decided not to dub the feature a "GPS" as in this day and age, it's very easy to get similar (and more advanced) functionality out of mobile devices and I don't want to restrict it to vehicular use - so think of this some as sort of Google Maps equivalent. With this update, I'm also giving business owners the ability to mark their businesses as open with a /openbiz command. This should give businesses a much needed boost and I hope that it'll encourage more people to roleplay around them. You can find out how it ties in to this feature below.
Let me give you the run down.
Find Street
There are a number of scenarios where you may find yourself looking for a specific street on the server. At present, there isn't a feature that allows for this and the lack of street signs (something that is definitely on the cards, FYI) makes things even more unintuitive. The "Find Street" feature lets you enter either a full street name or a partial one (e.g. Ferndale Avenue or Fern). If there's an exact match for your input then the street will just be marked on your map. If there is not an exact match then the script will look for any possible results and offer suggestions. If there is only one suggestion (e.g. the case of "Fern" only matching up with Ferndale Avenue), then it will just be marked on your map. If not, then as long as your search isn't too broad (< 10 possible results), you will be shown the suggestion in the original search dialogue.
Find Property
As long as you know a property's number and street, you will be able to find it with San Andreas Maps. This, unlike the "Find Street" feature, relies on an exact match when entering a street name. You are unable to locate specific apartments with this, only complexes.
Find Nearest Gas Station
No gas? No problem. Use this to find the nearest open gas station.
Find Nearest 24/7
It does what it says on the tin. Use this to find the nearest 24/7 store - San Andreas Maps even checks its opening hours to ensure you're not wasting your precious time.
Find Nearest Bar/Club
Remember how I said that business owners will be able to use /openbiz? This is where it comes into play. If you're looking for some roleplay, you can use this to find the nearest open player-owned bar/club. Administrators will be able to keep tabs on the list and close any businesses that are erroneously marked as open.
Find Nearest Fast Food
Again, self-explanatory. Find somewhere to grab a bite to eat (and yes, it must be open).
All Businesses
This will return every business that is currently marked as open by a player through /openbiz. This is a great way to identify where there's activity and should hopefully help roleplay thrive around smaller businesses with less dependency on /cad spam. You can just hit enter on the one you want to mark on your map.
Modified Street Names
Version 10.6.4 will be deployed to the main server on January 9th 2018 (time TBA). There will be a period of downtime whilst some maintenance is performed. This should last no longer than thirty minutes.Surreal wrote:A list of what's changing, loosely titled by area of Los Santos:
North
Vinewood Boulevard —> Mulholland Drive
Star Street —> Vinewood Boulevard
East
East Beach Boulevard —> Saints Boulevard
Saint Arbutus Street —> Arbutus Street
East Side Freeway —> Idlewood Highway
South
Ocean Boulevard —> Santa Maria Boulevard
West
Pico Boulevard —> Alameda Street
Kingsley Drive —> Via Rodeo
Central
Southbridge Avenue —> Ganton Boulevard
Alondra Street —> Willowfield Avenue
Seaside Boulevard —> Willowfield Avenue
Enjoy,
otter