Help / Frequently Asked Questions

While quite a few subjects are covered on other parts of our website, there obviously will be questions left to answer. This page will list the most frequently asked questions, each with a clear answer associated with them.

General Questions

How can I play on Las Venturas Playground?
Before you can play, you need to have GTA San Andreas v1.0. Later versions can be downgraded to v1.0. You also need need the San Andreas Multiplayer (SA-MP) client, which can be downloaded from the official SA-MP website. After the installation, start the client and change your player name. Add our server to your favorites (via the menu: Servers > Add Server) and add: play.sa-mp.nl:7777 in the input box. Simply double-click on the server and the client will start GTA: San Andreas to connect to our server. More information can be found here.

Can I become a crew member of Las Venturas Playground?
Absolutely not. Just by reading this text your chance of becoming a crew member dropped 50%. Asking to become a crew member means an instant, and often final, no. The Las Venturas Playground Staff is hand-picked by the Management based on their performance and behaviour on our community as a whole.

What is karma?
Karma levels were introduced when we first changed to this website layout. While other servers, as well as former Las Venturas Playground versions, ranked users based on their kills, deaths, online time, or ratio, we chose to create a calculation which combines all your statistics into one number. This means that the amount of kills and deaths will influence your Karma, as well as the number of vehicles you export, posts you make on the forum, keys in WhatPulse, and messages on IRC. In total, about sixty different statistics are taken into account.

The exact formulas which are used to calculate your Karma level are private—no one but the Management has access to them, and only two of whom actually understand them. It might take up to six hours for your Karma level to update after you have been in-game! If you cannot wait, it's possible to request an immediate update on your profile's homepage after logging in.

Website-related Questions

The country/continent statistics seem to be inaccurate. Why is this?
These statistics are being gathered based on the IP address someone uses to join the server. While our location databases generally are up-to-date, there is a chance of American IP addresses ending up in an entirely different continent. Our experience shows that the data is correct around 95% of the time.

Financial Questions

How can I earn money in-game?
There are various ways of earning money. One of the simplest things to do is play, and win, minigames. You can start various types of minigames via the /minigames command. For those interested in role play, we have also the ability to buy buildings and earn money with them. See the Properties FAQ for more information. Below are some helpful tips for making money!

  • Kill the Most Wanted players on LVP (see /wanted in-game)!
  • Become a Bounty Hunter by killing those with bounties (see /bounties in-game)!
  • Play (and win!) various minigames (see /minigames in-game)!
  • Buy properties!
  • Export vehicles (see /export in-game)!
  • Deliver the wanted vehicle to the GTA merchant!
  • Crush your vehicle (directly north of the Las Venturas Stadium)!

How can I spend my money?
After you have some well-earned money, it's time to spend it! Here are just a few possibilities out of the hundreds:

  • Buy spawn weapons!
  • Buy properties!
  • Visit a few vending machines, restaurants, bars, and casinos!
  • Use public transportation (taxi, train, airplane)!
  • Sign up for minigames!
  • Place a bounty on a player (/hitman)!
  • Give it to other players (/givecash)!
  • Be a miser and save it (/bank & /balance)!
  • Open a Premier account at the bank (/account)
  • Place a bomb in your vehicle at the bomb shop (north of the Fight Club)!

How does Las Venturas Playground's banking system work?
There are various banks (ATMs) spread across San Andreas—most of them are within 24/7 stores, but there are also plenty of ATMs outside! Every registered player can store $400.000.000 ($400 million) in their personal bank account, but his limit can be extended under one condition: you need to open a Premier account. The differences between the two accounts can be found in the table below.

  Normal Account Premier Account
Requirements none 100 in-game hours
Opening Costs none $150.000.000
Default Limit $400.000.000 $2.000.000.000
Access bank on the fly No (use ATMs) Yes

Again, please keep in mind that all bank accounts require you to have a registered account!

Properties

What is a property?
Properties are basically purchasable buildings (or areas, walls, pieces of grass, etc.). There are various price ranges, categorized by low-, mid-, and high-priced properties. Each property will give you money (earnings) every minute. The earnings are a certain percentage of the purchase price with every price range having its own percentage. We won't tell you the exact percentages, but we can tell you that, as with real life, the highest price range isn't always the best choice!

When you buy a property, it cannot be bought by another player for 10 minutes. After this period, other players are able to buy them. Due to the difference in earning percentage, some properties make owners a large profit within 10 minutes, whereas other properties may need 20 minutes or more before any profit is made. It is therefore important to choose your properties wisely, as you could very well lose more money then you earn.

When you disconnect from the server (e.g., you quit or crash) and reconnect within 10 minutes, your properties are restored.

Where can I find properties?
Almost everywhere. There are hundreds of properties in-game. Some are clearly visible while others are harder to reach. Most properties are outside, but don't forget to check interiors as well! You can recognize a property by its hovering, twirling green house icon!

What exactly can I do with a property?
Most properties have no extra benefits and only generate a steady cashflow for the owner. However, a select few will provide an extra feature! "Like what?" Try and find out! A few examples:

  • Recovering a small amount of health every few seconds!
  • Setting the taxi price!
  • Controling the airport customs tax!
  • And more...

Cheating

Can I use cheats?
May this be very clear: NO! Cheaters will be awarded with a ban from Las Venturas Playground!

Can I use modifications?
Yes and no. For example, let's take vehicle modifications. Certain vehicle modifications also adjust the vehicle properties, which often results in a higher obtainable speed or much better handling. If the modification modifies only the vehicle's appearance, its usage is permissable. The same applies to any aesthetic modification—so long as it affects only the appearance, its usage is permitted. Any other modification will be classified as a cheat!

How do I report cheaters?
Via the in-game command: /report player [ID/name] [reason]

  • DO NOT report possible cheaters in the main chat!
  • DO NOT PM the possible cheater that you are reporting them!
  • DO NOT expect immediate answers from the crew! You may not be the only player asking for assistance!

DO NOT report possible cheaters on the forum! We will not ban after the fact! If no crew members are in-game, the best course of action is to report the suspected cheater (/report) and attempt to get the attention of a crew member by visiting us on IRC.

I'm banned! What now?
Bans are enforced for various reasons ranging from spamming and using abusive language to cheating. They can be discussed either via IRC or by creating a topic in the Ban Zone.

Weapons

Where can I buy weapons?
Just like single-player, you can buy weapons at any Ammu-Nation. There are various locations scattered across San Andreas (marked with a pistol icon on your minimap)!

What are spawn weapons?
We have two types of weapons available: regular weapons and spawn weapons. Regular weapons are cheaper than spawn weapons and do not spawn with you when you perish, whereas spawn weapons do.

Are spawn weapons saved between sessions?
No. Most players have a full bank, utilizing their funds only for various weaponry. Purchasing weapons continues to be one of the driving forces behind the Las Venturas Playground economy.

When you disconnect from the server (e.g., you quit or crash) and reconnect within 10 minutes, your weapons are restored.

Other LVP Services

TeamSpeak
Las Venturas Playground hosts its own TeamSpeak server for voice communications. If you are familiar with TeamSpeak already, use the following address to connect: ts.sa-mp.nl:9987. For more detailed assistance, please read the TeamSpeak help page.

IRC
The IRC chat is provided and hosted by GTANet. Las Venturas Playground has no influence on these third party services. You can use our webchat and read the IRC help page if you would prefer to use an IRC client.