That's right. Where the map is concerned, it's all about optimization and fixing at this point. The map is on a “feature-freeze” and over the last month X-Seti and the mapping team have taken steps to simply repair problems and optimize the models, in order to deliver a higher frames-per-second rate than ever before experienced in State of Liberty!

Shortly after State of Liberty and Vice City Online got together in April 2010, a decision was made to remove all the game's LODs, in the hopes of speeding up engine performance. The pros were supposed to outweigh the cons, but the reality is, they didn't, and now the focus is shifting towards being on optimization, and the LODs are making a comeback!

However…well…it will take a little bit more time to get them quite right! Given a short amount of time they will be fixed and fps improvements will be quite evident due to a lesser need of a stupidly high draw-distance to be set on the regular models. In addition, the custom areas of the map (Liberty Main / Mainland Liberty, etc.) will be introduced to LODs for the first-time ever! So that means those of you with CPUs and GPUs dating back to 2004/5 should be better able to play the game.

For more info, visit : Official Site Official Forums Facebook YouTube

The team behind GTA: State of Liberty Online (SOL-O) have released the Second Alpha Test Video for the mod.

This video focuses on melee and player damage state synchronizations. They are now both comparable to fighting pedestrians in single-player mode, but are implemented in a multi-player environment. The possibility to decapitate other players has now been implemented, along with instant death (instagib) when the players are shot or chopped in critical-hit body parts (the legs, arms, and head). Thus, if you feel compelled, you are now able to shoot a player's limbs one by one!

Additionally, swinging weapons are now working properly on both a local (internal) and synchronized level. Essentially, this means that you are not only able to damage other players with swinging weapons, but are also able to be damaged by them!

Furthermore, the name tag system has been re-done, both in code and in aesthetics, and is now up to the industry's standards. Notice how the name tags follow the player animations, are not able to be seen through objects (clipping) , and are also dependent on the internal player's camera position. These factors allow for perfect stealth modes, those of which are foreign to Vice City's multi-player scene. The weapons that are featured in this video are fists, sniper rifles, M4s, katanas, chainsaws, golf clubs, hammers, baseball bats, and machetes.

This video was shot on 25th November 2011.

GTA SOL Online - Second Alpha Test Video - Melee & Player Damage (PC) Download MP4 720p : 30.3mb MP4 360p : 8.61mb Embed

For more info, visit : Official Site Official Forums Facebook YouTube

The creative team of GTA: SOL Online have announced today that the first release of GTA: SOL Online has been completed. The announcement comes just as the enters its sixth year of development since it started in 2005, and that the first release will include both single player and multiplayer content.

GTA: SOL Online has already shown off video footage of many features for the game itself including the newly implemented ability to swim an gameplay across many of the islands. The game itself features all of Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, as well as features taken from Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. GTA: SOL Online for PC is scheduled to be released online for free on 6th May 2011.

Check out the press release below :

We, the GTA: SOL team are happy to announce the much anticipated first release for the PC mod of GTA: Vice City titled Grand Theft Auto: State of Liberty Online®, this game is scheduled to be released online for free on the 6th May 2011. Now, fans of the Grand Theft Auto saga will have the opportunity to join with other gamers and play online across all of the islands featured in the last generation of Grand Theft Auto games, including Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, along with many new islands and features including swimming, climbing and over 200 vehicles. The action packed PC mod for GTA: Vice City® will also include its own unique story mode that will see events taking place from Liberty City to Vice City and even San Andreas. Please check out http://www.gtasolonline.com/ for more news over the coming months.

UPDATE : Yes this is an April Fools Joke, sorry if we got your hopes up, GTA: SOL Online hasn't been given a release date yet, its still pegged as Summer 2011! I hope you all enjoyed it, and had fun searching the internet for information about this elusive news.

GTA: State Of Liberty Online - Swim-Off Video
Welcome to the SOL-O Swim-Off!

SOL-O has is now developing the only real swimming engine for Vice City, so we're putting the new work-in-progress SOL-O swimming engine up against what we believe may be called the 'No Sink Mod' available here, which is the modification closest to enabling swimming in Vice City up to now.

Let's get this swim-off started!

The 'No Sink Mod' footage used was taken from :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh92PmRE6Ds

Intro motion graphics by Demo-Graphics

GTA SOL Online - Swim-Off Video (PC) Download MP4 1080p : 48.5mb MP4 720p : 25.3mb MP4 480p : 13.6mb MP4 360p : 13.3mb Embed

The creative team of GTA: SOL Online have just released six new screenshots for the mod, these are all labelled as "Alpha Testing Screen Shots" and show off more of the new wimming feature that has been implemented into the mod. I'll keep you all updated on all further information about GTA: SOL Online (SOL-O) including a potential release date when its announced.

Check out the five new screenshots below :

For more info, visit : Official Site Official Forums Facebook YouTube

GTA: State Of Liberty Online - First Alpha Test Video
This video is a quick showcasing of one of our early weapon synchronization alpha tests and represents a build-up to the second development video, which will be released soon. Weapon accuracy will have increased even further by then, in part due to the test session shown in this video.

The accuracy-based flaws in this video have been ironed out since then, and we look forward to showing you all the progress to-date in the next development video. Stay tuned!

This video was filmed on 15th January 2011.

GTA SOL Online - First Alpha Test Video - Weapon Synchronization (PC) Download MP4 1080p : 100mb MP4 720p : 50.2mb MP4 480p : 26.7mb MP4 360p : 26.2mb Embed

GTA: State Of Liberty Online - Second Development Video
We are pleased to announce the second GTA: State of Liberty Online (SOL-O) development video edition. This edition, in line with the last one, focuses on synchronization.

Motorcycle synchronization is demonstrated in this video, a key vehicle type that was omitted from the first development video due to the system not being completed. Using a similar system as for cars, you can see that bikes are silky smooth. We further demonstrated this by showcasing wheelies and stoppies.

Weapon synchronization is must. Enabling the players' ability deathmatch like any other commercial online game has always been a goal for SOL-O. While the system has a way to go before it can be considered done, we showcased progress done to-date. Working in tandem with the new player synchronization system that has recently been implemented (also a work-in-progress), we have even today managed to surpass many other GTA multi-player modification in terms of weapon accuracy.

Last but not least, there is a small (big) surprise shown. We won't go into detail about it here, but let's just say it's a feature that has never been accomplished with the Vice City engine before now. Watch the video the whole way through, and we promise that you will not be disappointed!

This video was filmed on 5th February 2011. At no point in the video was the filmer driving.

Intro motion graphics by Demo-Graphics Filmed and edited by DECEiFER

GTA SOL Online - Second Development Video (PC) Download MP4 1080p : 272mb MP4 720p : 138mb MP4 480p : 68.2mb MP4 360p : 67.7mb Embed

For more info, visit : Official Site Official Forums Facebook YouTube