Loot bag despawn timer needs to change.

H

HeroHilley

Refugee
In my search, I couldn’t really find anything specific to this, but I know it has to have been discussed and referred to probably many times before.

I’m not sure what the actual time is for them to despawn, but I’ve heard something like 20 minutes.

There needs to be an adjustment to the time they stay before despawning, because on long stretches like blood moon, if you’re trying to play it safe by hunkering down, it’s almost impossible to get out and get bags efficiently. Especially if you’re playing solo. In a sense, my group and I have found a bit of a better way to try and get them during a blood moon, but even then, you get surrounded and can have trouble, especially if they’re stuck in things like spikes or shrubs or whatever. I’m not sure the reasoning behind the shorter limited time, but I’m guessing it has something to do with resources and efficiency etc. That would just be my guess, but even then, I feel like that should be a priority that’s nonnegotiable. If that’s true, then maybe focus less on grass and leaves blowing around and more on a core part of the game. I don’t know how long would be the sweet spot, but I think at the very least, 30 minutes. Even that seems like it could be an issue during intense blood moons. But either way, despawn timer needs to be longer.
 
The information you want is contained in the entityclasses.xml file:

EntityLootContainerRegular
EntityLootContainerNurse
EntityLootContainerLab
EntityLootContainerUtility
EntityLootContainerSoldier
EntityLootContainerThug
EntityLootContainerStrong
EntityLootContainerBoss

They all have a TimeStayAfterDeath values of 1200 which I think is in seconds, so 20 minutes.

If you're on a PC, you could change these values with a Mod and the details would be something like this which would make them last 60 minutes:

Code: 
<entity_classes>

    <!-- Extend the duration of Zombie Loot Bags to 1 Hour of Real Time -->
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerRegular']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerNurse']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerLab']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerUtility']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerSoldier']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerThug']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerStrong']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>
    <setattribute xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='EntityLootContainerBoss']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']" name="value">3600</setattribute>

</entity_classes>
 
HeroHilley said:
I’m not sure the reasoning behind the shorter limited time, but I’m guessing it has something to do with resources and efficiency etc. That would just be my guess, but even then, I feel like that should be a priority that’s nonnegotiable. If that’s true, then maybe focus less on grass and leaves blowing around and more on a core part of the game. I don’t know how long would be the sweet spot, but I think at the very least, 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

The XML files only contain one value and I'm just going to guess that value is thought to be adequate for a 60-minute day. Perhaps you're playing with longer days? But I too noticed bags disappearing on me and I play with a normal day. If I were to make a quick container and made picking up bags a priority, then it might work, but typically I need to empty my inventory of ammo, meds, etc and my vehicle is not nearby. That's my guess as to the situation and why I also like to give myself more time.

I believe grass/trees blowing around is a function of your computer and I believe your video card, so I don't think changes there are going to relate to whatever might compete with running some timers. I suspect you're really just facing an arbitrary number in the vein of "don't keep them around forever as they take up RAM."
 
zztong said:
The XML files only contain one value and I'm just going to guess that value is thought to be adequate for a 60-minute day. Perhaps you're playing with longer days? But I too noticed bags disappearing on me and I play with a normal day. If I were to make a quick container and made picking up bags a priority, then it might work, but typically I need to empty my inventory of ammo, meds, etc and my vehicle is not nearby. That's my guess as to the situation and why I also like to give myself more time.

I believe grass/trees blowing around is a function of your computer and I believe your video card, so I don't think changes there are going to relate to whatever might compete with running some timers. I suspect you're really just facing an arbitrary number in the vein of "don't keep them around forever as they take up RAM."
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the in depth info you’ve given. I unfortunately am playing on the PS5, so I’m limited in a lot of ways, definitely completely blocked from the modding aspect.
I do utilize a number of the toggles in the options menu when building or continuing a game. I run the longer days (I think it’s 18 hours), and I feel like your assessment is accurate on the 20 minutes because that’s what it’s felt like, and I’ve seen somewhere before that that’s apparently the case.

As far as the textures and animations and all, the extra little things that I definitely like, and makes things look much better, seem to really bog things down drastically when there’s a lot of blocks/items involved. Things like being in a forest you’ve created for wood gathering, and having that, or even a lot of trees in the area of your “base” can really bog things down and start dropping major frames. It also doesn’t help that I have a lot of blocks/items within that “base” area. Things like fencing, a large number of spikes in multiple rows surrounding, and then everything within the structure I’ve had as the living and working quarters, along with the tons of options and items contained within. I’m actually really surprised in thinking how much is in one small area between all the different types of blocks, the animation effects, the colors, everything, actually works as well as it does. Usually it’s pretty smooth; and that feels pretty incredible in some ways that they are able to achieve that in the first place. I guess that extends to all games that are intricate with details, visual quality, and responsiveness.

Anyway, back on topic, I or we do try and get out there and grab bags, and actually have created boxes to mass drop into to sort all out later, but again, in the midst of a hoard that’s coming from multiple sides at different distances, it’s hard to get out and grab them, especially, like I noted before, when they’re inhibited by something else and you have to hit just the right angle while panicking about the Z’s all around you, it just makes things borderline impossible. It would just be nice to be able to have that number be greater to account for those types of situations. Even if it’s a toggle. Just my 2 cents. Again, I really appreciate your info and breaking down the specifics of the coding in the XML and whatnot.
 
LittleNightma said:
I feel like I regurgitate this a lot, but a toggle to set the time before loot bags despawn would be nice. I know more toggles = more clutter, but since consoles can't mod their game it would be nice for everyone.
Click to expand...
I don’t feel like more toggles would be more clutter. I mean, you basically only have to mess with that stuff once, when you’re creating the game. Unless you decide to change things later, but then that’s on you as far as I’m concerned. If someone can’t handle going through the menus for even…5 minutes, which is being ridiculously overdramatized, then they probably shouldn’t be playing this game, or for that matter, probably any other game since their time seems to be something of issue and value.

But yeah, the timer regardless needs to be extended.
 
HeroHilley said:
I unfortunately am playing on the PS5, so I’m limited in a lot of ways, definitely completely blocked from the modding aspect.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes. I had hoped I had a solution for you. I regret I also cannot speak to what affects PS5 performance.

I can certainly +1 on there being more game settings.
 
LittleNightma said:
I feel like I regurgitate this a lot, but a toggle to set the time before loot bags despawn would be nice. I know more toggles = more clutter, but since consoles can't mod their game it would be nice for everyone.
Click to expand...
I dont think they will be able to add a whole lot of options in for this due to the limitation of console and memory requirements. They have already been required to drop 64 spawn to around 30 (yes the 64 option is still there but only 30 spawn) And no im not going to open the optimization can of worms.
 
Charger265 said:
I dont think they will be able to add a whole lot of options in for this due to the limitation of console and memory requirements.
Click to expand...
These are not the options that affect memory consumption. The constant specified in the settings files and the variable set in the menu consume the same amount of memory.
 
Suxar said:
These are not the options that affect memory consumption. The constant specified in the settings files and the variable set in the menu consume the same amount of memory.
Click to expand...
So i assume now that loaded assets that have physics applied dont consume memory/cpu resources?
last time i checked that phenomenon is prohibited by the laws of physics.

I would not be surprised if there is a loot bag limit that has been imposed in some form. Which would allow an option like that. Yes the bags would last longer it just wont spawn anymore than the world limit.
 
Charger265 said:
So i assume now that loaded assets that have physics applied dont consume memory/cpu resources?
Click to expand...
Why should something change? A variable with a value takes up 2 or 4 bytes. What difference does it make whether you fill it from a file or the user enters it? It's the same 2 or 4 bytes. Only the initialization code changes. And the initialization code is unloaded from memory anyway when the game starts, since it becomes unnecessary.
 
I was specifically talking about loot bags and the required processing power to render them in game. Not the menu.
X Box S is only a zen 2 8 core with 10gb shared memory with the GPU
 
Hate it or love it, I still think you should be able to find loot from the bodies of any zombies, as well as getting bones or rotten flesh using the axe or knife on the body, like on A16.
Some guy on a TFP stream asked about if there would be a chance of them adding you becoming a zombie when you die with all your belongings still on your dead character. I seriously hope that don't become a thing.
 
SabinSnake said:
Hate it or love it, I still think you should be able to find loot from the bodies of any zombies, as well as getting bones or rotten flesh using the axe or knife on the body, like on A16.
Click to expand...
If we can get rotten meat and bones from zombies, then the cost of a farm plot ceases to matter, especially early in the game.
 
Suxar said:
If we can get rotten meat and bones from zombies, then the cost of a farm plot ceases to matter, especially early in the game.
Click to expand...
For me, there's not enough rotten flesh to go around to make 20 x 20 farm plots and hobo stew. The only way to get more rotten flesh is if you level hunting, but there's much more important other skills to level up before that. The best way to get more rotten flesh is if you kill zombie bears and dire wolves, which are too hard to kill when you don't have a compound bow or lever action rifle at a reasonable tier.
 
Charger265 said:
I dont think they will be able to add a whole lot of options in for this due to the limitation of console and memory requirements. They have already been required to drop 64 spawn to around 30 (yes the 64 option is still there but only 30 spawn) And no im not going to open the optimization can of worms.
Click to expand...
I have gone through things on my dedicated linux server. the zombie spawn setting is the only really big performance hitter. Tree rendering animations are a big time hitter if you are self hosting on your console. Plus lighting seems to big a performance killer on consoles as well with light ray tracing rendering processing loads.
 
I don't think, colored loot bags need to despawn at all. If players want to get rid of them, they can just loot them. If they want to get rid of stuff, they can just drop it as brown bags (which definitely should keep despawning).
Just make them have no despawn timer (micro optimization), or set the despawn timer to a very large value.
No extra setting needed. Players don't care about when loot bags despawn as long as they don't despawn before they can loot them.
 
Knoxvilles_joker said:
Plus lighting seems to big a performance killer on consoles as well with light ray tracing rendering processing loads.
Click to expand...

That has been an issue on PC: shadows and overlapping light radii. POI developers have be careful. Sometimes players inflict this problem on themselves at their own bases when they place their own lights.
 
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