Thanks to Au{R}oN's determination and to the SA-MP team's consensus, GTA-Series.com is happy to offer an exclusive interview of sixteen questions and answers about what the multiplayer mod of the SanAndreas MultiPlayer team is and what it will be.
This is an exclusive interview given to GTA-Series.com, therefore we ask you to avoid partial or complete copying but you can pubblish/write down the link to this page. Thanks.

After reading the interview don't forget to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a completely new modality under construction for the SA-MP multiplayer mod.

• Question: How many people are there in the team?
• Answer: There are 6 people on the team. We have 2 C++ coders, 2 scripters, 1 webmaster/scripter, 1 documentation writer/tester.

• Q: Do you think the stability of SA-MP will be better than the stability of VC-MP?
• A: We learnt alot from the creation of VC-MP. So far, we haven't encountered half the number of crashes that we did in Vice City. We also rushed VC-MP to release, mainly because we wanted to get back to SA-MP development. SA-MP will go through a much longer testing phase and we're currently organising a beta team to take care of this task.

• Q: Have all the available weapons been syncronized?
• A: Most have. We've been having some issues with the first person weapons, such as the rocket launcher and sniper, but that will probably be resolved at some point.

• Q: Will SA-MP offer particular mods or simple team/deathmatch? If yes, will it be possibile to add on to the list personalized mods?
• A: We're intending to create a fairly pure deathmatch for the first release. The server has SMALL/PAWN scripting language capabilities, which will allow different types of deathmatch modes to be programmed. We have already implemented simple gamemodes like capture the car using the scripting.

• Q: Together with the mod, will you release also the SDK and/or source code?
• A: It's not our intention to develop an SDK. It's possible the source will be released at some point. We did release the VC-MP source code (SA-MP's predecessor), and although there wasn't alot of interest from people wanting to help maintain the VC-MP source, I feel it has helped to futher the understanding of how multiplayer mods for GTA are written.

• Q: How will the anti-cheat system work? Will it be controlled by the client or by the server?
• A: There will be both client and server anti-cheat. I think the great thing about our new scripting system is that anti-cheat can now be coded and distributed in the form of scripts. This means that people won't have to wait for a new release to see the end of a particular hack.

• Q: Will you be able to personalize the server with a .INI file like VC-MP?
• A: The ini system is completely replaced by the server-side scripting in the SMALL/PAWN language. All of the features of the ini are still there, but extended to include programmable gameplay.

• Q: Have all the character animations been syncronized (run, jump, climb, crouch, etc.)?
• A: Yes, all the player animations are synchronised to some degree.

• Q: Will the first release be a beta version or will we have the SA-MP 1.0 version?
• A: The first version will be a beta. It's likely it will be version 0.1. The reason we use these version numbers is because we feel 1.0 should represent something comparable to a production quality multiplayer game, something that is very difficult for us to attain.

• Q: Will it be possibile to administer the server by Rcon?
• A: We have a basic RCON system for server admins both externally and ingame. I'm sure the scripting could also be used to make many different types of administration tools.

• Q: Will the client be integrated only on San Andreas or will there also be an external client?
• A: Currently we have an external launcher that contains an editable server list. It's possible we could write an integrated menu system into San Andreas, but most of the team are generally of the opinion that this isn't a top priority feature.

• Q: Are you using the internal resources of San Andreas or are you modifying the main.scm?
• A: We're taking advantage of every resource available to us. So, we do make use of the scm for parts of the mod that aren't network-centric. Mostly we use the internal resources and functions of the GTA engine.

• Q: In SA-MP will the game area include all the SA territory or will the administrator choose where to play?
• A: Our intention is to release one script for each city in San Andreas. So there will be a Las Venturas, San Fierro and Los Santos script plus some other little mini scripts for game modes. You're free to travel to any part of San Andreas during the game, but each script will encourage you to stay within a particular city. We may not have all the cities in the first release, since they will all include different gameplay elements. For example, Las Venturas is all about fast cars, money, gambling. Los Santos is about gangs and cops etc.

• Q: For the future, are you projecting other modes like co-op or race mod?
• A: At one point we intended to make a co-op, but we found this was going to be extremely difficult. A large amount of people also expressed to us that they'd prefer San Andreas to be a deathmatch.

• Q: Will there be a maximum numbers of players? If yes, how many?
• A: We want to get as many players in as possible. And this is only dictated by the stability of our system. We have no problem controlling bandwidth. There's nothing firm decided at this point, we'll only know after the mod has been put through a long testing phase. As far as bandwidth is concerned we've had 11-12 people hosted on a single ADSL connection.

• Q: In SA-MP will the driveby be available? If yes, will targeting be automatic like in VC-MP?
• A: You can do ordinary drivebys as a driver, like in VC-MP. Also, the passenger can now enter a mode which allows them to driveby using free aiming.

But the information given by the SanAndreas MultiPlayer Team aren't finished with this interview, we also received seven screenshots of a new modality not yet finished and so far kept secret.

Kyeman, the leader of the SA-MP team, didn't give us much information beside the name of this modality "Cops and Gangs" but, thanks to the screenshots, it is easy to understand the way this modality works. The player will be divided into differently coloured groups, for example, green for the OGF players and blue for the Police players. It's a team game that allows a better vision of the players thanks to the coloured icons in the radar map and on the players' heads.

The interview and news end here. A special thanks goes to Au{R}oN for work and to Kyeman and the SanAndreas MultiPlayer team for their work that will allows us to play online with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.