AShadowbox

6 minutes ago, mcflame1 said:

Mod creators should be glad that their work is being used in other mods. Very few people in the EM4 Modding Community are anywhere close to the levels of Itchboy's skill. And creating mods takes a really long time anyway. So using stuff from another mod will help get the mod out sooner and make the mod better overall. Look at GTA 5. There are a ton of assets released that vehicle developers can use instead of having to create new ones. Sometimes. You got to put your ego behind and think what is best for the community. Just don't get me started on the whole paid mods shit for GTA 5/FiveM.

"Mod creators should be glad that their work is being used in other mods."

Unfortunately you don't get to tell people how to feel.  And I do agree with being against paid mods but that's neither here nor there.  For what it's worth I do agree that something like a "vehicle pack" or "basic scripts pack" would be hugely beneficial to the community but it's also not my place to try and force mod authors - who again do this in their own free time - to make one.  In the end it's about respecting people's time and choices and being thankful for what we do have.

17 hours ago, mcflame1 said:

I have kept this to myself for the past couple of years. But I believe it is time to share my thoughts on the whole EM4 Modding Community. The community is in a bad place due to both people who create mods for the game and the people that play those mods. And the reason for that is for 2 reasons. Mod creators either keeping their mods private for no real reason besides they can. And for mod creators who release mods but then forbid people from using stuff from that mod (looking at you Itchboy). And they both affect the community the same way. They keep people from creating and releasing mods that they are proud of. Not everyone that can work on a mod have the skills that other people do. Plus mod creators need to start somewhere and usually that is with a reskin of a current mod. Forbidding people from using your stuff in a mod and releasing it. And throwing a hissy fit when someone does is hurting the community. Because again. It limits how good a mod is because they aren't as good as others. The only reason a mod should be kept private is if it is either a work-in-progress (WIP) or it is unstable. But other than that. Mods should be made public when they are finished or close to finish and need bug testing that more than a couple people can do. The modding community can't really grow as much as it can if we keep making mods private or forbidding people from using things from one mod and putting it in another. Have I wanted mods like River Falls? Yes. Will we get them? No. Why? Because the mod creators are selfish and want to keep the mods private. I wonder how many mods have died because the mod developers couldn't use stuff from another mod? All that should be required for a mod to be released is everything that you did not create gets credit to the people who did create it.

That is enough on the mod creators being selfish and restricting the modding community.
Do I understand that the player base for Emergency 4 can be annoying? Yes. And I can somewhat understand why. People begging for mods can be easily solved by releasing your mod to the public once it is done. But what happens if it is still a WIP? Then you just say that the mod is still a work-in-progress and will be released when it is done. As for people asking for release dates. What we have done on here is enough to keep it to a minimum. Will there still be people asking for release dates? Yes. Why? 9/10 times. It will be because they did not read the TOS for the site. Are there other annoyances with the community? Yes. Can I think of it off the top of my head. Not right now.

Can the community be helped and Emergency 4 can have an amazing modding community? Hell Yeah. But it has to come down to people like Itchboy who needs to let people use their stuff in other mods or using their mod as a base. And people to stop needlessly keeping mods private. Those 2 things hurt the community the most. And restrict the creativity of mods as I know people want to make mods as realistic as possible.

Asset restrictions are born from a place of people using other people's work (or even profiting from other people's work) and not giving due credit to the source.  Private mods come from a user base that whines and complains constantly when they don't have something and then continues to whine and complain that it's not good enough when they do get it (see the current Montana release for an example). I can see why it would be easier to just release a mod to your friends and people you want to play with instead of to the wider community. ESPECIALLY when the work they put in is done in their free time and for free. It's not like they're selling you DLC. You should know this as a modder yourself.

If the EM4 community is to become more active like it was in its heyday, people need to be honest and grateful instead of shady and entitled.  That's all there is to it really.  But now we are getting into entire societal problems not limited to just our community. You can see this in almost every modding community to be honest, ours is just relatively small so it's felt extra hard.

And, honestly I think the blame for this ultimately lands on SixteenTons Entertainment for failing to put any ToS regarding modding in their game's ToS. Other games do this to specify what exactly can be changed and what access must be provided to the community.  As it is we are left to "police" ourselves and disagreements about what's best for the community are frequent.

Thanks for the re-up.  This was (and still is) one of my favorite LA submods!

I don't think this really fits under the "small mod" category anymore XD

Has the download been removed? Not seeing a link or button anywhere.

On 7/2/2021 at 7:28 PM, n00bingtarget said:

AShadowbox, I think I've mostly done what you said, called out the ARFF.  But I also start switching FF w/SCBA going in and rotating them thru Decon, and Medics.  Needed to get them in to rescue the civilians.  My biggest problem is always getting enough cops setup to keep the wandering civilians from entering the area / contaminated civilians from leaving the area, without the cops getting contaminated themselves.

Yeah I think I'm gonna try just throwing people at the problem and rotating them out (like you suggest) next time I get this call. Probably a little more realistic if you consider it from a rehab perspective (even if the toxic damage aspect isn't the greatest).

Hey all,

So for the HAZMAT callout on the northern border of the map (gas explosion) the only solution I have come up with is ARFF trucks dumping "foam" on the fire while HAZMAT firefighters round up civilians for decon. Since the HAZMAT firefighters only get a fire extinguisher, and SCBA firefighters take HAZMAT damage, long range foam cannons are the only thing I can come up with.

Have you guys/gals/pals found any other solution for this call?

Side note/tangent: One of my pet peeves in Emergency 4 is firefighters in SCBA and bunker gear taking HAZMAT damage. IRL bunker gear with SCBA is considered Level B protection and would be fine for HAZMAT firefighting, provided you decon when you doff your turnouts. Pretty much the only way a firefighter in turnouts is going to be harmed by non-explosive HAZMAT is if they are full body dipped in corrosive liquid.  IMO the mod that addresses this best is Harbor City v5, where firefighters can put on "firefighting hazmat" suits which just look like yellow bunker gear, and get the ability to carry hoses and extinguish the fire. I wish more mods implemented this or similar solutions.

Looking forward to your input

-AShadowbox

Man, y'all mod authors are something else let me tell ya what. Looking really good so far Phantom!

On 3/8/2021 at 2:08 PM, TTBL225 said:

No. All ambulances will be ALS. In my opinion, much like in real life, there isn’t much room for BLS anymore. 

Most EMS, even 911, is BLS.  I'm not saying you should change your plans for the mod because that's entirely up to you (and in the game you really do need ALS more often).  Just saying IRL BLS is still the most common form of ambulance even in large cities. It's really only smaller to medium sized cities that can afford to require all of their firefighters or ems staff to be paramedic qualified.

Source: am a smoky bandaid-boi and worked in a variety of places (U.S.)

This is one of my most anticipated mods.  Looking forward to it's continued development!

On 6/23/2021 at 1:42 AM, itchboy said:

I am still making playable cars. This one's another chief vehicle added to the 80's set.

That split lightbar tho. That looks so good!

9 hours ago, stockboy8 said:

Thank you so much for the photo, I guess I just wasn't looking hard enough but that bus is almost exactly what I was looking for. As for the album, It's an amazing thing to flip through but unfortunately many of the vehicles fall outside my intended timeframe. Still, it should keep me busy for a few days.

An update for all of you, since many of you complained about a lack of variety within the police department, so I decided to add some state troopers. I took a look at a few different state trooper vehicles from different states Hill Street Blues was based on, and decided on New York for a setting. I completed two vehicles to fill the CHP slots. Both are Itchboy's Ford LTD with EmC_Unit's Aerodynic lightbar

 

Wow, those liveries are sharp! Looks really good on those cars.

9 hours ago, More Than said:

Such a shame a good mod goes to waste.

I wouldn't say it goes to waste, because it is used to make sure his other mods are released working well.

I agree that watching videos of it (like from The Northern Alex) definitely make me want to play it, but we have to check our entitlement and realize if itchboy for whatever reason doesn't want to release it then he doesn't have to (and he probably has a very good reason not to).

I only recently started posting but I have been a lurker in this community for a long time. I have learned that patience is a virtue and the best things are worth waiting for (example: Miami Mod).

13 hours ago, stockboy8 said:

Thank you so much for your feedback, and thank you even more for playing my mod! I'd like to take a moment to respond to each of your bug reports and suggestions.

-The traffic vest bug is simply because I have not swapped the models for officers with the vest. I will be removing the command to change in the next version
-The M4 icon is a symptom of something I meant to fix but never got around to. I'll do my best to have it all ready for the next version, by having SWAT officers able to grab M4s (or in the context of this mod, M16 most likely)
-EMS will be getting a full rework in the next version as I'm not happy with as it is right now. I have some new models on the way,
-I tested this and swat officers ARE able to grab flash grenades, I have no idea why you were unable to grab them.
-I've thought about having an MCU but I've been unable to find any reference pictures that fit the era. If you or anyone else has some, please post them here or DM me.
-Parking script will most likely never come as I doubt I'd get proper permissions, but a water supply script may come, just not in the next update.

For the SWAT thing, it may be a case that I just completely didn't see the button, in which case, my bad!

MCU are most often just converted city buses.  Since you are making a fictional mod anyway, my suggestion would be to use any city bus from that era instead of a purpose-built unit (only areas with the highest budgets have those). Here is an example of a unit from the late 70s/early 80s: 

Also as a side note, the whole album that came from might be of some interest to you, though it is NYC centric. https://www.flickriver.com/photos/44700898@N02/popular-interesting/

I recently played this mod at the suggestion of Itchboy. Some key takeaways I had:

• This mod is incredibly fun!
• The fire department and police units look amazing.
• I love that it's set in the 80s, it gives it a very "action-movie" feel to it.
• There are a couple of callouts that I don't remember ever seeing before, which keeps things interesting!

This mod is a GOOD mod. However, I do have two bugs to report and a couple suggestions that can make it even better than it already is.

• BUG: When instructing a PD officer to put on a traffic vest, they revert to LA mod models
• POSSIBLE BUG? : The M4 icon for SWAT officers appears a little glitchy. I didn't click on it for fear of potentially crashing my game though.

• SUGGESTION: A little more detail in the EMS vehicle livery would go a long way (but it's also good as-is).
• SUGGESTION: SWAT Officers granted access to flash-bangs for the hostage callouts. As is, it ends in a shootout almost every time.
• SUGGESTION: A mass-casualty unit would be ideal for a couple of the callouts (specifically the large MVC on the east side).
• SUGGESTION: Implementation of a parking script and/or water tank script would make this mod even more fun than it already is! (Admittedly I don't know how easy or hard it is to implement this, and what kind of permissions are required from other authors)

Thank you Stockboy8 and CanadianFrog for a great mod, it will stay in my lineup for a long time! (And thank you to itchboy for suggesting this mod to me.)

14 hours ago, itchboy said:

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Either me or Ibarra has to make them from scratch. We hand draw the lines, windows etc.

Send over your model. Even if we already have a Tahoe, I could still use another one for fun or we can include it into another mod like Montana.

I do have a concern to share with everyone: Should the update be released without helicopters and civilian cars? I feel like this next update can stand on it's own without needing the extra content, but I also don't want to not deliver on my promises.

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There's still plenty of cars to be done. Here's another one.

And another one sitting unfinished at the moment:

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For what it's worth, I think the best things are worth waiting for so I voted to wait.  If you'd like feedback on where your mod stands right now though, it might be worth releasing it for testing (and I'd be willing to help with that if you would like me to).