Vehicle Dealership Update

[Pazz]

As it stands, the car dealership script is one of, if not the oldest script in existence on the server, and while the buying menu has once received an update to its UI, to be similar to the general store buying menu, nothing else has been adjusted beyond trucker fees being added. It needs updating, both to positively impact the general buying experience (even if it's so ingrained that no one pays it much mind), but also the "backend" of management and how imports and pricing functions.

Did you know the credit store UI design was created for a vehicle dealership update, which was then scrapped, long before it was added to the credit store? Yeah, crazy. In 2018 or 2019, we were apologized to by the founders for the update taking so long, only for it to actually be scrapped entirely. I think it's long overdue, especially now that it is so painstakingly outdated and the long-standing issues can impact the early-stage economy for newer players.

This can be applied to every dealership type, so cars, helicopters and planes, and boats. 

 

DEALERSHIP MANAGEMENT UI

• Update to use a combination of the gun store management UI and the faction vehicle management UI. 
• All vehicle images, statistics, and information are already collected and used in the server through the credit store and faction management UIs; they can be reused.
• Allow dealership owners to make orders similar to how gun stores can build an order of different items and import them all at once.
• For vehicles, list the import price & the trucker fee ahead of time, under the vehicle; currently, the trucker fee is unknown until you enter a fee that is too low, and the script tells you the minimum fee.
• Adjust the script to save the custom price set for vehicles, instead of them resetting upon import; this causes owners to have to wait out deliveries and adjust their prices fast, only to prevent players from snatching a vehicle for import prices and forcing a loss on the business owner, despite it being out of their control.

 

DEALERSHIP CUSTOMER UI & PURCHASING EXPERIENCE

• Reuse the way vehicles are browsed, inspected, and purchased in the credit store, and change the credit prices listed to the in-game price of the vehicle set by the dealership.
• Vehicle previews should be similar to the credit store, letting you rotate the car in the air; this solves the problem of any dealerships with buildings too small to inspect larger vehicles, such as trucks, properly.
• Allow players purchasing a car to choose a different color out of the collection of classic paint colors.
  • This shouldn’t take anything away from mechanics; changing the base (classic) paint color from solid white to a different solid color doesn’t take away the need to go to a mechanic to get a different, better-looking paint job, or any other visual or performance mods.
  • Players who would not adjust the color after the fact are likely the same players who already leave their car the standard white.
• Go through every dealership and review their purchased vehicle spawn location. For example, in Motorsports, you cannot buy a truck without the truck colliding with the building, and the player requiring admin assistance to recover it.
• Implement a test drive script, where a player can opt to test drive any dealership vehicle for 2-5 minutes.
  • Test drives should be placed in a different dimension, so that the script cannot be abused in chases or other applicable instances (which, frankly, it would be).
  • Once the timer is up, return the player to the business marker in the original dimension.

 

DEALERSHIP ORDERS & TRUCKING

• Allow dealership owners to submit bulk orders, limited to 5 vehicles per order (or however many cars are on the vehicle transport trailer in-game).
  • Player-made orders do not give trucking XP, and the trucking fee for cheap cars is set so low that players are less inclined to take them over a higher-paying scripted order that also gives them XP to level up. Dealership owners can’t raise this trucking fee without ramifications of price hikes on cheap starter cars, which in turn impacts newer players.
  • The import fee for bulk orders should be calculated through the simple addition of all five vehicles’ import fees into one. This way, even if there is no XP, at least the order is more likely to get picked up, even for cheap cars, as the payout would be $5,000 minimum.
     

[NotMattch]

+1 To this suggestion and honestly extend it to all the businesses.  The general store's, fuel station, dealerships ordering UI is horrid; the only decent one is Gun Stores.  It makes no sense why Gun Stores have a decent UI and extra features (adding managers etc) whereas all the rest, Gen Stores, Fuel Stations etc etc are on a totally different UI without these features.

 

 

[Trevor Zelias]

1 hour ago, NotMattch said:

+1 To this suggestion and honestly extend it to all the businesses.  The general store's, fuel station, dealerships ordering UI is horrid; the only decent one is Gun Stores.  It makes no sense why Gun Stores have a decent UI and extra features (adding managers etc) whereas all the rest, Gen Stores, Fuel Stations etc etc are on a totally different UI without these features.

 

 

When you looking for food and scroll past it in store 30 times and get a annoyed with yourself cus u saw it

 

 

So big +1 on this post and update i guess it cant be too hard to implement credit vehicle store info into a car dealership and change some numbers and text. And add a test drive at another dimension and airport for 30 seconds for every car. Will help with future car releases and see if you like them

[Asbo]

+1 man big up @Eriksen

 

[NotMattch]

3 hours ago, Trevor Zelias said:

When you looking for food and scroll past it in store 30 times and get a annoyed with yourself cus u saw it

The most annoying change to this as well is the fact that out-of-stock items are hidden;  just leave it showing as "out-of-stock" so I don't scroll up and down 20 times going crazy trying to spot something that doesn't exist

[SneakySniper]

+1 Alot of the ui for reg stores and dealerships is so outdated, its got huge potential to be something better. Huge +1

[sherbert]

+1 

[Pancake]

+1 for an update on general stores to be like gun stores

[Pazz]

1 hour ago, NotMattch said:

The most annoying change to this as well is the fact that out-of-stock items are hidden;  just leave it showing as "out-of-stock" so I don't scroll up and down 20 times going crazy trying to spot something that doesn't exist

I didn't really intend to dog on the development of businesses, but the fact that multiple store types have their own type of jank after all these years is crazy to me.

General store ordering is so inconvenient because of the stock thing you mentioned, but also the fact that you have to type in ITEM_WHATEVER and BEVERAGE_WATER or whatever it is to even order an item in the first place. Dealerships are obnoxiously long lists but manageable, but whenever stock sells out, the price defaults back to import, meaning if you're not there to watch people deliver your order, which can take HOURS, they can buy it for import price and you operate at a loss at no fault of your own. Finance companies have been driven into the ground by server management's direction of their refunds and in-game legislation.

For systems that are so integral to the gameplay cycle of the server, it really should not have taken this long to make all business more manageable for those who own them, and easier to browse, and with better QoL for those who use them. 

[Eliza]

It would be really cool to add a test driving feature where it puts you into your own dimension to test a car out

 

Edit: I didn’t see it was already in the suggestion, but +1 nonetheless

Edited April 4 by Eliza

[NotMattch]

3 hours ago, Pazz said:

Finance companies have been driven into the ground by server management's direction of their refunds and in-game legislation.

Gonna be solid,  I've been on the server since 2017 since then I can tell you that I've seen like, 3 Loan Companies actually advertise and tehy all died within a month despite the fact theres supposedly 4 or 5 of them on the server.  I'm fairly confident that the vast vast majority of the server doesn't even know they exist

[Spizor]

I agree with this. This topic from Shurples presents some strong ideas about what a well-functioning system should look like, at least for General Stores.

 

[Pazz]

8 hours ago, NotMattch said:

Gonna be solid,  I've been on the server since 2017 since then I can tell you that I've seen like, 3 Loan Companies actually advertise and tehy all died within a month despite the fact theres supposedly 4 or 5 of them on the server.  I'm fairly confident that the vast vast majority of the server doesn't even know they exist

To be fair, I owned a finance company in 2017, the support was lackluster when they went unpaid, debt didn't exist, and refunds took months because it was a founder-level review. Once that changed, players found a way to make them relevant and profitable. Now, to my knowledge, IC legislation forbids you from selling collateral or 'seized' assets for a profit (literally, what?) and refunds are OOC & return 85% of the base loan to you, so you're operating at a loss. There's then no real point in advertising them or making their existence widely known again, since they're just glorified office buildings now for most players who own them.

I digress, though, finance companies were driven into the ground not by a lack of development, but by overzealous action to curb a wildly profitable business. A mile taken instead of an inch, or so to say.

Either way, I don't really want to keep derailing the topic, which is primarily about the vehicle dealership UI & management aspects, and hopefully, in turn, an overhaul on a grander scale for all businesses that didn't get the gun store treatment, though I'm skeptical about those odds at best.

Edited April 5 by Pazz

[NotMattch]

9 hours ago, Pazz said:

*Snip*

Oh 100% the entire thing needs a revamp, it goes to show how bad of a state they're in when there's an entire scripted business section thats bascially unused!

Back to the topic at hadn though, as I said above, 100% yes to everything, hopefully can be expanded out to all the other scripted businesses to

[thrax]

Big +1