The Unwanted CAD
A CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system has been suggested again and again in the suggestions section of the forum. But it has always been denied mainly due to the fact that: it would be too difficult for new officers to learn, this is a Semi-Serious RP server, we already tried it with state and it didn't work, and it would cause the server to lag.
I will be addressing all of these issues with a CAD system with a solution.
I will start off by saying that I have already started development on a CAD system which addresses and solves these issues. I do understand that I will have a bit of community persuasion to do if and when I finish this project and that it may not be green-lit by SMT. I understand that even if this system is not implemented into the server, I will still be happy with the project as it gave me something to work on and gave me more experience with software development.
This project all started when I began researching why all these suggestions were denied and the main reason, above all others, was that there were only around 1 option that would be feasible: Sauce CAD. This inspired me to make another option for the Gaming Light Police RP Community to choose from.
My main goal for the CAD is for it to be simplistic, which means, for now, it will only be used by the Active Dispatcher. This in my eyes would actually give the Dispatch Department a larger reason to exist as right now, it seems as if they are mainly used for radio educate. Since the dispatch job is limited in their abilities, it causes dispatch to be boring and painstakingly inefficient for the department in my opinion. As a dispatcher, I tried to make the dispatch job useful to the department, but that failed as the only resource I had to manage units was a google spreadsheet.
This spreadsheet required me to log every time a unit disappeared or appeared on the in-game player list, and also made it pain-staking to assign units to situations or log 10-38's. The system I have devised so far would automatically account for players becoming 10-7 or 10-8, allow dispatch to assign certain units to a situation, and more. Since this system would be on dispatch's end, it wouldn't cause a larger learning curve for players than what currently exists as players just have to understand how to communicate over the radio.
Even though this is a Semi-Serious server, a CAD system won't automatically make it a Serious RP server, it will just allow for the Police Department (which is supposed to be professional by default) to be more organized and efficient therefore, making the Police Department more professional. Another reason why people argue that this will make the server into a Serious RP server is because the current viable options, are overwhelmingly complex for the small map (comparative to GTA Police RP) of True North. Some complexities that Sauce CAD brings in is records for each individual playing on the server. This in my opinion would change the server to a Serious RP server and since that isn't wanted by the community, the CAD I am developing will only be in control of Police units. Sauce CAD is overwhelmingly complex for the needs we currently have and therefor, if we are going to make government agencies more professional, we would need an alternative to which I am creating.
The argument that state tried it and it didn't work is invalid in this context as they were most likely using Sauce CAD which has unneeded complexities and/or they used a spreadsheet?
The argument that a CAD system would lag the server is also an invalid argument in this context. The plan I have for the CAD network so far is for the server to update player information every 15 seconds to a SQL DB (doesn't require that much processing power) which would cause an unrecognizable performance shift in the server. For example: 80 players are currently online, for every player, the servers player information would be sent to the player every milliseconds or so (I don't know the exact timing), if you multiply the data that the server is sending to one player every couple milliseconds or so by 80 and than compare that to one network request every 15 seconds, you can tell that the performance will not be affected.
I truly believe that this would be beneficial to the server, I will continue development of this CAD regardless of whether the Gaming Light Community wants to use it or not, but please keep an open mind, I am open to suggestions at any hour and if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me @ICon#3706 on discord.
For now, this CAD system will be closed source until version 1.0.0 which than I will allow the project to be open-source on GitHub and allow outside input into the project. Please don't bash this post for being a denied suggestion multiple times, and think of the possibilities.
This thread will be kept updated with any plans/developments with the project. Once again, if you have any suggestions/ideas please contact me @ICon#3706 on discord. Keep in mind that if you want to contribute with this project, let me know.
Keep in mind, I am writing this late at night so please ignore any confusing writing, I will be re-editing this post in a couple days with a more concise posting.
Links:
Follow Development here:
Development Features
Development Bugs
Additional Links:
Currently Offline Website
Unpublished GitHub Repository
Curious on what a CAD is?
Check out this video (the CAD I am creating will be an extremely simplified version of this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y84NOszJROk
