Hello everyone!

Winter is just around the corner, and so is the Holiday Season. Would it not be great if you could start them with a fresh "A Year in Recap" post to read, just like the usual?

And surprise, surprise - we have you covered! We have prepared a brief summary of the past year with all the important stuff that happened in 2023 from an MTA fan's perspective. And there is more than just that, so be sure to read the entire post!




There were a few important highlights for us this year.

• Early this year, we have restructured our Moderation team a bit by adding Specializations divisions (such as: Management, Tech and Infrastructure, Social Media). The aim of this was to put extra talents of our Moderators to a better use.
  
  
• At the very beginning of the year, we had unbanned (almost) everyone[forum.multitheftauto.com] who had ever received a *global* MTA ban. A risky move, you might have thought? As it turned out, we were actually quite pleased in how it fared in the end.
  
  
• Next, we had celebrated Multi Theft Auto's 20th Anniversary on 9th of February. Aside from the lengthy feature post with some media, many of our community members also shared their memories with MTA in the celebratory forum post[forum.multitheftauto.com]. You all are also welcome to chip in and post your experiences there[forum.multitheftauto.com].
  
  
• Few days after that, I interviewed IJs - Multi Theft Auto's founder - about his experiences with the project. Feel free to check it out if you have not done so already, as it also featured screenshots from our other projects.
  
  
• One day in April, we had encountered minor disturbances with our perception, but all is fine now. Yllufepoh...
  
  
• Later on, we had opened a beta testing phase for our next major release[forum.multitheftauto.com]. After the testing was over, we had released Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas 1.6 in June. This is still our current stable release, which works best on Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems.
  
  
• It is not just us who had their anniversaries - SAES, a long-time MTA clan/gang were also celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their community[forum.multitheftauto.com]. We are happy to see such long-time communities that have been around for almost as long as MTA itself, and we will be always looking forward to give them the spotlight.
  
  
• This year had also seen some developments regarding the next game in the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar Games was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the creation of their studio[www.rockstargames.com], for which they published the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI in December. The game is planned to launch in 2025 on PlayStation and XBox platforms. The PC version was not announced at this time, but it is possible that it will come out some time after console releases as usual.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBZY2fkU-0
  
  
• We also had some developments of our own. We had improved the Discord integration with MTA:SA client[discord.com] - this was made available for testing in our nightly builds. And recently, we have started featuring your media on our social media outlets, as a part of our Community Spotlights program. Want to be featured too? See one of the announcements on our Discord[discord.com].

MTA SA: The Horror Game - by TEDERIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzxY5jT32b0

MTA | DRIFT MASTERS GRAND PRIX | HANDLING - by Ahmkralq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fKWRZbLeuA

Multi Theft Auto Showcase | Car Shop - by ianny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPXYGwo_zY

Nebla - Mausoleum of King Deshret - by Nakvie Records, map by Nebla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rke-m50kV8A

MTA SA: Simple AI & Pathfinding - by TEDERIs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QdN8mQOP5w

Junky ft. Roxx ft. Nebla - Synthetic Life - by Nakvie Records, map by Junky, Roxx & Nebla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlD10Gedgs





The numbers are lower than in the last year, but there are still many MTA players out there. According to Steam Statistics, the number of players is more or less similar to games like PayDay 2, ARK: Survival Evolved or Garry's Mod.



Also as of 23rd of December, 2023:

• 76,250 members have joined our Discord server[discord.com],
  
• we have got 13,826 followers on X/Twitter,
  
• 58k users follow our Facebook fanpage[www.facebook.com],
  
• and our Steam Community group has 43,115 members.

Not much to report at the moment. Projects like ours depend on the volunteer work and community contributions, so things can get slower at times. We are always looking for new staff members for the project, be it developers, moderators, content creators or managers. If you would like to contribute or test your skills, feel free to reach out to us on our Discord[discord.com] or via forum PMs.
We have a bunch of things kept on our backlogs too, so we might consider re-visiting them in the upcoming year.



We hope that you all will enjoy the Holiday Season and wish you all the best in 2024!

-- MTA Team

Credits for the content submissions: Dutchman101, Haxardous, Nebla, xLive.

(you can find the original post here: https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/142514-2023-a-year-in-recap-and-season-greetings/?do=findComment&comment=1025437 )

Hi there! We've been working hard and today we're proud to announce the release of MTA:SA 1.6. You will receive an automatic update soon, but if you don't have MTA installed, you can get it from the home page.

• This is the 27th 1.x.x release
  
• 623 days of which 553 for beta release
  
• 12 backwards incompatible changes
  
• 26 new functions
  
• 1 new event
  
• 5 deprecations
  
• 289+ bug fixes and changes
  
• 956+ commits (mtasa-blue[github.com]) (mtasa-resources[github.com])
  
• 199 new open GitHub issues (see list[github.com])
  
• 101 resolved GitHub issues (see list[github.com])
  
• 90 closed GitHub issues (see list[github.com])
  
• 44 new open GitHub pull requests (see list[github.com])
  
• 219 merged GitHub pull requests (see list[github.com])
  
• 107 closed GitHub pull requests (see list[github.com])
  
• 39+ contributors of which 11+ are new (see list[github.com])
  
• 100+ total contributors (see list[github.com])
  
• 23 vendor updates

This means that you cannot play on 1.5.9 servers.

If you're a server owner, please take note of the Changes in 1.6[wiki.multitheftauto.com] wiki page, more specifically the Backwards Incompatible Changes. You may need to update your scripts for 1.6.

Servers: binaries are available[linux.multitheftauto.com]
Don't forget to backup and update your default resources[mirror-cdn.multitheftauto.com]


If you are using Windows 7 or 8.x, please upgrade your system to Windows 10 or 11 as soon as possible. Windows 7 and 8.x are no longer supported by Microsoft (since January 2020 and January 2023 respectively) and most software (including Google Chrome and Steam) which means you are running an insecure system. Multi Theft Auto will also eventually drop Windows 7 and 8.x support sometime in the future, so it would be a good idea to start looking at upgrade options right now. Thank you!

CEF in MTA is no longer updated for Windows 7 or 8.x. This is because CEF no longer supports those versions of Windows. This bad for security, so please upgrade to Windows 10+ and MTA to 1.6+

If you feel like getting some of that official MTA swag, check out the merch store on Streamlabs[streamlabs.com] and wear that MTA gang drip at school or work. Our Spreadshirt store has been discontinued in favor of Streamlabs.

amx is a software package that allows the execution of unmodified San Andreas: Multiplayer 0.3.7 gamemodes, filterscripts and plugins on Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas 1.5.8 and higher servers. It is open source, and a prebuilt binary for Windows is available for testing purposes right now[github.com]

The AMX team hopes that more people get involved with the development on GitHub[github.com] as they need some help!

Check out our GitHub repo[github.com] for more information on how to use your SAMP scripts in MTA!

This update is meant to focus on fixes and changes, that were held back for a few releases in the past due to their compatibility-breaking nature, rather than new features, but there are already a lot of features planned for the next release[github.com]!

Here's a list of highlights for this release:

• Many high FPS related inconsistency issues have been fixed by Merlin.
  
• Script support for custom IMG containers, and ability to set model flags. Thanks to TheNormalnij.
  
• A number of graphical effects
  
• Added support for vehicle sun glare effect. Thanks to Nurupo and TheNormalnij.
  
• Added corona rain reflections. Thanks to lopezloo.
  
• Added big sun lens flare effect. Thanks to Nurupo.
  
• Added dynamic ped shadows. Thanks to lopezloo.
  
• Grass should now render correctly. Thanks to TFP-dev.
  
• ARM support for MTA server is here! This support should still considered experimental. Thanks to botder.
  
• Added new Default 2023, GWEN Blue and GWEN Orange GUI skins. Thanks to Haxardous.
  
• Added missing GTA special character skins[wiki.multitheftauto.com]. Thanks to Allerek.
  
• Pictures taken with the camera weapon are now saved in higher quality. Thanks to lopezloo.
  
• Many stability improvements
  
• Many synchronization improvements
  
• Many varying size fixes, quality of life improvements, updates and security enhancements to both core and resources!
  
• Updates to all language translations from our Crowdin[multitheftauto.crowdin.com]

If you are a scripter, you really should wanna dig in to these improvements! Show off your creations on our #showroom channel on our Discord server[discord.com] and have a chance at getting your work featured on our social media pages.

Read the 1.6 release notes[wiki.multitheftauto.com] for a complete set of changes and more information about the improvements listed above. Watch[github.com] or star[github.com] our GitHub repository to keep on top of all the things we're working on.

In this version of MTA there are numerous backwards incompatible changes and refactors that may affect old code.

• Bloodring Banger (504) is now defined as doorless, to fix animations to be consistent with single player, this also causes setVehicleLocked to not lock the vehicle anymore, as entry happens through the window.
  
• callRemote callbacks currently set the error code to nil when there is no error. In 1.6, to be consistent with fetchRemote, the error code reported will be 0. See GitHub #294.
  
• Since July 2016 if you provide an invalid string like "randomstring" when a function expects a number, the string will be treated as 0 and raise a script warning. In 1.6 this will be an error. You will still be able to provide strings containing numbers (e.g. "100" and "12.34"), this change only affects invalid strings. See GitHub #1043.
  
• When providing a width and height of (0, 0) to createBrowser or guiCreateBrowser you will encounter a script error instead of a warning. The warning was introduced Feb 2019. See GitHub #1069.
  
• Some functions expect only unsigned integers (positive numbers), and since Jan 2016 providing negative numbers would be a warning. This will now be an error. See GitHub #1070.
  
• Since Aug 2015, we replaced the custom mtalocal:// URL scheme with http://mta/resourceName/blah.html. This mtalocal:// URL scheme will now be removed. See GitHub #1071.
  
• The previously unused z argument in getElementsWithinRange now calculates elements in 3D space instead of 2D space. See GitHub #1994.
  
• Flamethrower ammo is no longer multiplied by 10. See GitHub #481.
  
• Server-side createBlip now syncs blip size and color regardless of icon ID, previously only icon ID 0 had its size and color synced to clients. See GitHub #1399.
  
• Server-side givePlayerMoney and setPlayerMoney cap has been raised from 99.999.999 (8 digits) to 999.999.999 (9 digits) to match the maximum native UI value. See GitHub #2654.
  
• Players are now synced when exiting vehicle. See GitHub #2084.
  
• Server-side objects that were unbreakable by default, but would have been breakable client-side by default, are now breakable by default also server-side (commit).
  
• Deprecation: Changed getCameraShakeLevel, setCameraShakeLevel to throw a warning on use, please upgrade to getCameraDrunkLevel and setCameraDrunkLevel instead (commit 2651903). You can use the upgrade console command to automatically upgrade your scripts to use the new functions.
  
• Deprecation: Changed givePedJetPack, removePedJetPack and doesPedHaveJetPack to throw a warning on use, please upgrade to setPedWearingJetpack and isPedWearingJetpack instead (commit 804c66b). You can use the upgrade console command to automatically upgrade your scripts to use the new functions.

We already have new features lined up for 1.6.1, and you can find them on our 1.6.1 milestone[github.com] on GitHub.

Multi Theft Auto depends on community input and contributions. To keep a project like MTA going we need LOTS of people. You can help[wiki.multitheftauto.com] in the following areas:

Whenever you encounter a bug or recognise a need for improvement, we can't fix it until you tell us your problem[github.com]!

We're continually working on new features and fixes for MTA, and this always needs testing. Join our Nightly release stream[nightly.multitheftauto.com] and make sure you keep in touch with on Discord and report issues on GitHub.

If you know C++ you may be interested in helping improve Multi Theft Auto's client. Working on open-source software may seem scary, but the best way is to try! Read GitHub's open source guide[opensource.guide], and then find an itch to scratch[github.com], or scratch your own!

Documentation is important, but also time consuming. If you enjoy writing and have some knowledge of English, or you would like to translate the English version to your native language, you’re very welcome to do so. Just head over to our wiki[wiki.multitheftauto.com], create an account, and start editing!

Do you like people? Can you give calm and thought-out responses to users needing help? Then you can spend some time providing support to those who need it. Many answers can be found on our wiki, so make sure to take some time to read it. Then, either join our chat or forums (linked below), or simply help us sort out issues and answer questions on the GitHub repository.

We moved to Crowdin from our old Pootle setup, and people have been actively contributing fixes and new translations. Thank you all! Work is still not over, though, as translations may update in the future or new ones may come along, so keep an eye on Crowdin!

Want to translate MTA to your own language? Awesome! Visit us on Crowdin[multitheftauto.crowdin.com]. As soon as your translation is approved, it will be pushed to our repository for use in future releases.

Keeping the MTA downloads, master server and websites alive costs money! If you want to help us sustain our financial expenses, please donate[multitheftauto.com]!

We are actively looking for new creations on our #showroom[discord.com] channel on Discord, as well as #mtasa on Twitter for content we would like to repost on our social media pages and pin on our annual recap forum post.

Follow us on our social media channels: Twitch[www.twitch.tv], YouTube, Facebook[www.facebook.com], Reddit, LinkedIn[www.linkedin.com].

Thank you to the following communities and community members for their donations[multitheftauto.com] since last release:

Blokker_1999, NEXTRP, MTA DayZ Ultimate, DubaiRP, INCEPTION-MEDIA, Purge Roleplay, Arran, 0xCiBeR, IIYAMA, fransg, Badandy, Nasser Alshahrani, JessePinkman, Complex Roleplay, FoxG, Grand Roleplay, Lopaha, Matrix Network, Platin, San Andreas Roleplay, Scott Malone, ChefaoDev, DonNiko
and 6 others who did not provide a name.
(If your name is missing or you want to change your entry above, please let us know on Discord!)

Thank you very much to the following community members for their work towards this release:

4O4, Addlibs, AGENT_STEELMEAT, Allerek, androksi, Arran, BCG2000, botder, ccw, cleopatra, darkdreamingdan, Dark-Dragon, DarkDrifter, Nacim, Disinterpreter, Dutchman101, efex, Exilepilot, Fernando, Rocha, Haxardous, Inder00, itslewiswatson, JessePinkman, Jusonex, lopezloo, Lpsd, Lvrent, lyncon, Megadreams, MerlinMagic, Mkl, Mvrat, myonlake, NanoBob, Nurupo, pieT, Pirulax, qaisjp, RatajVaver, ricksterhd123, samr46, Santi, Sarrum, se16n, srslyyyy, StrixTEDERIs, TeteX1, TFP-dev, TheNormalnij, Tracer, turret001, vahook, vyn666, Xenius, xLive, Zango
and many others who contributed to our Wiki and helped out with issues.
(If your name is missing or you want to change your entry above, please let us know on Discord!)

Thank you also to our translation contributors on Crowdin:

Khazarli, Vampire, FernandoMTA, Shady, xLive, turret001, markenzy, Danx, Zorgman, Maestro-17, deihim007, pieT, mcak105, Hydra45, efex, NetroX, Megadreams, Citizen, WhiteGren, nitrocat21, Pablo, azzmanfilms, Caram1lo, AzukieGTA, MrBad, acedia, YozoraWolf, kordy, Stoned, mdmnmtasa55, Xocopinho, sorinalex36, Haxardous, djebzer, Abasalt_Yar, Nick026, Hydrogen506, Rataj, amirjfp, RidwanRF, q8X, mbeltowski, antimarte, guillaume.dorczynski, morpp, Derbo, Pawcio, Lachuks, Insigne, raikopajusalu52, phammybear, dronor589, Koizumi, R3L4X, Danial123, lenovoactin, i7amod., Shuubaru, Driver, datuna22, TRtam, Dezash, 0xCiBeR, Nebla, Stickey21, xxxx, PatrikX23

You could be on this list! We're always on the lookout for new contributors. Contribute on GitHub[github.com], translate on Crowdin[multitheftauto.crowdin.com], and chat with us on Discord[discord.com]. We have channels for scripting, general support (bugs), mod development, and many more!

And one more thank you to every member of the MTA staff who helps support this forum and Discord. Without your efforts, this project would not be nearly as successful as it is now. Also a big thank you to the new MTA helpers team who support our users on this forum and Discord!

Finally, please give a 👋 to our newest staff members Vinyard and Zango; newest helpers The_GTA, Reyomin and Vampire; as well as newest contributors androksi, BCG2000, DarkDrifter Nacim, efex, Fernando Rocha, Inder00, JessePinkman, lyncon, MerlinMagic, Mvrat, Nurupo, Santi, TFP-dev, Tracer, turret001, vahook and vyn666

Have a good one!

— MTA Team


(you can find the original post here: MTA Forums[forum.multitheftauto.com])

Our next major build is coming along nicely, so we are keen to let you guys into the action ASAP.


Two of the main exclusive highlights of this release is the script support for custom IMG containers, and ability to set model flags. Big thanks to TheNormalnij for his efforts on making these happen!

There are also numerous other changes such as updated translations and main menu texts, new GTA skins, improved sync, improved GTA camera screenshot quality and many other bug fixes and improvements which you can find on our Wiki page at https://wiki.multitheftauto.com/wiki/Changes_in_1.6.

By having you join us to test 1.6 we can make sure we catch any new bugs and fix them before the full release.


1.6 is not compatible with the older MTA:SA versions (including the most recent release - MTA:SA 1.5.9). This means that you need to connect to a 1.6 server if you wish to test the 1.6 client. There were a bunch of technical reasons for this incompatibility and they were all necessary for us to continue improving the mod.

Currently 1.6 includes 10 backwards incompatible changes which you should be aware of. There may be more incompatible changes to be added during this testing phase. Please check out our preliminary release notes on our Wiki page.


We are hosting a number of official 1.6 public test servers during the 1.6 testing phase for you to try out. Welcome!

After the testing phase is over, our public test servers will be shut down.


We are planning a full release of 1.6 around May–June if testing phase goes well. To guarantee a smooth transition for your server, we recommend that you try out and upgrade your scripts on this new testing version before the full release.

There will be a new announcement once 1.6 is fully released.

In the meantime, please do download and test 1.6! We expect your favorite servers to start launching their own test servers on 1.6 soon.

Visit our forum post for more information and link to download 1.6 beta: https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/140285-multi-theft-auto-san-andreas-16-is-ready-for-testing/

Hello everyone!

We have prepared a special gift for you to celebrate Multi Theft Auto's 20th Anniversary!

We have published an exclusive interview with IJs (also known as IJsVogel), the founder and first developer of the Multi Theft Auto project.

Head over to our forums see his thoughts on the project in retrospective:
https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/139692-20-years-of-the-multi-theft-auto-project/#comment-1019345

Note: more details about Multi Theft Auto's history and timeline can be found on our Wiki article[wiki.multitheftauto.com].

Today is the 20 Year Anniversary of Multi Theft Auto! On the February 9th 2003, a rudimentary GTA3 multiplayer prototype was released by our founder, IJsVogel. It did not take long for contributors to join the effort and turn it into a real multiplayer mod.

The mod IJsVogel created was originally named “GTA3: Alternative Multiplayer”, but soon after it became “GTA3: Multi Theft Auto”. The Multi Theft Auto (MTA) name became the identity of all following projects. As new GTA games were released, new projects were created for GTA3, GTAVC, GTASA and GTAIV. Respectively, the main project names are: GTA3:MTA, MTA:VC, MTA:SA, MTA:IV.

The working experience on GTA3 laid the framework for the second project, MTA:VC. It did not take long after GTA: Vice City for the 1st version of MTA:VC to release. The MTA Team succeeded in creating the basic multiplayer functionality much quicker through past-experience. At this point, MTA was well-known and there were mentions on gaming websites, magazines and even a TV interview on the gaming channel G4TV. Even Rockstar Games developers, the creators of GTA, contacted the MTA Team[forum.multitheftauto.com] from time to time. The MTA:VC mod still offered a hard-coded deathmatch and vehicle stunting game mode that could not be altered. However, it had better synchronization and supported many new features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQHK8h2XAg0

When GTA:SA came out, the contributors to the project were much more seasoned and mature. The 3rd project, MTA:SA, was much more ambitious. Although the first release was restricted to racing in vehicles, it was a proof of concept for a vastly superior framework that empowered users to make their own content. An editor was produced to allow in-game editing for the first time. When the full-featured product began development, a constantly evolving Lua-based scripting system accompanied it. This allowed the user to manipulate game code and modify various settings, elements and added features to create unique servers and game modes. Some added features include: voice chat, custom GUIs, web browser components. The MTA Team had the foresight to release this modification to the public as Open-Source code to attract future developers and embraced many new tools of game development that have become commonplace today such as installers, bug reporting, nightly builds, wiki documentation, anti-cheat, and Steam version support to name a few.

The release of GTA:IV did result in the beginning stages of MTA:IV, but once Rockstar released their official multiplayer, many of MTA’s most seasoned developers and contributors were ready to move on with their professional lives. Providing the same level of quality to GTA:IV would have been an extreme undertaking. It was decided that the best course of action would be to discontinue further projects and continue making MTA:SA better. The MTA:SA project still receives Open-Source contributions and still retains a consistent player base that is large enough to make developers of new games jealous!


We would like to thank everyone who helped and participated over the years: developers, community/clan leaders, moderators, patch contributors, helpers, donators, testers, translators, scripters, mappers, server hosts/owners, streamers, players and fans. There were hundreds of thousands of such people over the years and they all had their place here. Many people have come and gone. Some are still very young and some are quite old now!

Some of us have even developed life careers from our experiences working on this modification. We had the honor of befriending a lot of wonderful people in various stages of the project and many were just as enthusiastic about MTA as we were. Multi Theft Auto would not be here right now, had it not been for their hard work, interest and dedication.

The social aspect has always been strong in MTA. No one knows what the future will bring, but there are things that will remain regardless of anything - and that is the time you all have spent here and your memories. Feel free to share your MTA stories in the comments! Feel free to say hi to us in Discord[forum.multitheftauto.com] as well!


Thank you all past and present MTA staff members, players and fans for sticking with us!

Happy Birthday, Multi Theft Auto! Onwards to the next 20 years or more!

-MTA Team

(you can find the original post here: https://forum.multitheftauto.com/topic/139692-20-years-of-the-multi-theft-auto-project/#comment-1019345 )