PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

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Before the AI update to the current system a half-block had half the HP of a full block.  The new pathfinding system required a half-block to have the same HP as a full block.  Now you have a situation where a thin pillar of something is the same HP as a full cubic metre of it.  Block HP is part of the SI calculation if memory serves.

Ideally a half-block should have half the HP of a full block but it was necessary to change this for pathfinding.  How do I know this?  I questioned the sanity of it when it was implemented and, if I remember correctly, you were here at the time.
No, the pathing system looks at the health of pairs of blocks to determine path cost. We have lots of blocks with different health values.

SI is based on distance not health and there is a block glue value for collapse calc.

Yep, though I think going for the doors was something from way-pre-A17(?) when pathing had changed a lot?
Yes, the old pathing favored doors, which made sense, so I added that to the current system.

 
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Quick question:

Is the random vehicle teleporting bug fixed with 20.1?

I have searched the 20.1 change log for "vehicle" and "teleport" but could not find anything related unfortunately.

 
Quick question:

Is the random vehicle teleporting bug fixed with 20.1?

I have searched the 20.1 change log for "vehicle" and "teleport" but could not find anything related unfortunately.


Thank you for the attempted search.  I thought faatal had said something related recently so I selected his name (you seem to visit somewhat frequently, and I thought I would share with you another way that might help.  It's an easy way to scan some recent topics by TFP persons.) and did find this:  (select the arrow in top right corner).




 
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Of all people I would have expected _you_ to remember their Clarkisms.  🙂

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

Arthur C. Clarke

re:  the post above


The equation goes both ways: It doesn't really matter whether we explain something by magic or "sufficiently advanced tech" aka tech that nobody on this world could reasonably have and it isn't even predictable whether it will ever be possible. It is the same pot, because then it is magical as well and everything is explainable.

"There's this device that just teleports zombies produced in an sufficiently advanced biotech zombie factory on the moon to earth. The zombies get their energy from nanobots with nano-fusionreactors. But see, it is not magic, it is tech!!" 😉

 
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So how do the brain stimulating devices replicate themselves and move over to the next guy bitten by a zombie? What is their energy source? I don't doubt that brain stimulating devices are possible, but I don't really see how they would explain zombies, neither Romero's nor the ones in 7D2D, without resorting to some form of magic.


"Some form of magic". Ah yes, when people couldn't explain the storms, they came up with a simple "magic" explanation: God's anger... I'm simply trying to give reasonable narrative to the whole thing, you on the other hand are simply dismissing obvious gaps by "magic". Have you even thought of what would be the reason for zombies to eat human flesh and brains in the first place? Reason why I ask is pragmatic, as the same explanation may apply to question "what is their energy source". If zombies need to eat human flesh and brains to keep the virus alive, why wouldn't it make sense if chemicals produced by the virus as a byproduct of processing such "food" eaten by zombie served as the source of energy for nano device inside the body that would control the "thinking" of the zombies? You already got the answer to question how would they replicate. You seem open minded about the virus spreading simply by bites, and yet you can't imagine how would nano robots replicate themselves and move over to the bitten person? How about this: the virus itself is a carrier of nano materials and instructions to build the nano robot encoded in its genetic information? Have you considered that? Destroy the device itself, it would be built again, kill the virus, there will be nothing left with the instructions to rebuild the "thinking" device.

 
So how do the brain stimulating devices replicate themselves and move over to the next guy bitten by a zombie? What is their energy source? I don't doubt that brain stimulating devices are possible, but I don't really see how they would explain zombies, neither Romero's nor the ones in 7D2D, without resorting to some form of magic.
It doesn't even need to be that complicated since your gut bacteria already can and does affect your mood, thoughts, mental health, brain development, alter your dna expression etc. and there's a whole host of parasitic infections that do the same.  There are bacteria that literally eat radioactive materials for energy, others that get it from sunlight, others that collect and deposit metals... I mean we're just a few random mutations away from being zombies already. 

Wear a mask and don't try and bite me.

 
"Some form of magic". Ah yes, when people couldn't explain the storms, they came up with a simple "magic" explanation: God's anger... I'm simply trying to give reasonable narrative to the whole thing, you on the other hand are simply dismissing obvious gaps by "magic". Have you even thought of what would be the reason for zombies to eat human flesh and brains in the first place? Reason why I ask is pragmatic, as the same explanation may apply to question "what is their energy source". If zombies need to eat human flesh and brains to keep the virus alive, why wouldn't it make sense if chemicals produced by the virus as a byproduct of processing such "food" eaten by zombie served as the source of energy for nano device inside the body that would control the "thinking" of the zombies? You already got the answer to question how would they replicate. You seem open minded about the virus spreading simply by bites, and yet you can't imagine how would nano robots replicate themselves and move over to the bitten person? How about this: the virus itself is a carrier of nano materials and instructions to build the nano robot encoded in its genetic information? Have you considered that? Destroy the device itself, it would be built again, kill the virus, there will be nothing left with the instructions to rebuild the "thinking" device.


Very good idea to explain zombies, as good or better than my "explanation". But ...

it uses nano-bots similar to the level of Stargate's replicators, wouldn't you say? Lets see what current tech nano-bots can do: For example changing their shape slighty to administer a drug stored inside it when an external electromagnetic field is applied.

To put it into perspective, it would be similar if we were in 1000 B.C. with wooden carts being high tech and someone built a space shuttle. Sure, maybe nanobots like that are in our future, but first of all today and in the near future they are magic independent of the label you put on them and even in 2500 they may or may not still be magic.

Just like the technobabble on star trek that has no meaning but is just some handwaving to mean their magic is supposedly done by advanced tech that can do ANYTHING provided the writers deem it necessary. Store Scotty for a hundred years in a teleporter wave? Sure can do, it is tech. Time travel? No problem, it isn't magic it is tech.

It doesn't even need to be that complicated since your gut bacteria already can and does affect your mood, thoughts, mental health, brain development, alter your dna expression etc. and there's a whole host of parasitic infections that do the same.  There are bacteria that literally eat radioactive materials for energy, others that get it from sunlight, others that collect and deposit metals... I mean we're just a few random mutations away from being zombies already. 

Wear a mask and don't try and bite me.


Careful, I'm getting hungry this moment. 😉

 
Anyone else getting these Ghost Blocks.  Ghost being visible but you can walk through it, and in some instances depending on which way you are looking it will disappear.

Find them often in random POIs (i.e. not always in the same spot)

We only play on a dedicated server so not sure if its happening in single player, but the glitch shows for all on the server, not just an individual.

EDIT:

Fresh Generated map with A20.1 Exp.

Also weird but we are getting feral in the city and that started on day 2 ... quite a few.

VxUP783.jpg


 
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Anyone else getting these Ghost Blocks.
I never had in 8 runs in A20B238.  (Or I didn't see them when they happened.) I had my first a few hours ago in A20.1 EXP. (a few mods and not default settings)  It only lasted about a second.  I did not recognized the area that popped in.  It was in a industrial district.  I could not get it to come back.  Am hoping it will happen again so I can do more testing.

 
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So how do the brain stimulating devices replicate themselves and move over to the next guy bitten by a zombie? What is their energy source? I don't doubt that brain stimulating devices are possible, but I don't really see how they would explain zombies, neither Romero's nor the ones in 7D2D, without resorting to some form of magic.


It's drugs. Brain enhancing evolution drugs.

Here is the circumstantial evidence: Cops are more mutated than nurses. If it was a disease, then the nurses would have been exposed first, and would have more mutations. However, based on gameplay and what we see: Cops are mutated, feral wrights now look suspiciously like thugs, as do spider zombies. The party girls also seem to be more infectious than the hazmat, and the hazmat guys look more like the meth clean up squad than bio hazard people. The people that are mutated, are the people that would most likely be exposed to people on drugs before the first responders. 

These are not sick zombies, these are stoned zombies, dangerous stoned zombies on the really good stuff. The drugs really did rot their brains. 

 
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@faatal

Since dynamic mesh now directly affects load distance can we get more options for the distance settings, instead of 100, 500, 1000 ect maybe 100, 200, 300 and so on? or maybe a slider?

 
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