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(A21) Server Side Zombies PLUS

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Very neat stuff! Combining this mod with artifact drop and Improved Hordes spices vanilla gameplay a lot.

My question is can special glowing effect be added for these new zombies? Glowing red or green light will add a lot of aesthetic and allow players to notice them from further away.

 
ZombieMikeG said:
Very cool idea, and very well done! I love it...but not a fan of zombies shooting me everywhere I go on day 1. It's brutal, and I've survived to day 100+ in most overhauls on nightmare, haha (even War3zuk). Is there a way for me to edit the file to have it start with a progression based on game stage? Or not really feasible? Thanks for any help. 
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Horde night does have progression and that will be regulated for player Game Stage level which is one help. Unfortunately, the biomes do not have Game Stage progression for the biome groups they are added to. It has always been a thing where the first few days can be pretty rough, especially on smaller Worlds or where not so many regions have been opened up. Even though the spawning rate is low, spawning continues to be higher than they are listed. It does calm down in time but that's no consolation for a new World. It is possible to edit the entitygroups.xml to reduce the rate they appear compared to the regular zombies.

ZombiesAll, ZombiesNight, ZombiesForestDowntown, ZombiesForestDowntownNight, ZombiesDowntown, ZombiesWasteland, ZombiesWastelandNight, ZombiesBurntForest, and SnowZombies show something like:

animalZombieBunnyPLUS, .1

Changing that to a lower value such as

animalZombieBunnyPLUS, .05

can impact how often it will appear. Doing that for the most challenging, or even all, of the PLUS zombies can help to contain them.

Razor_ said:
Very neat stuff! Combining this mod with artifact drop and Improved Hordes spices vanilla gameplay a lot.

My question is can special glowing effect be added for these new zombies? Glowing red or green light will add a lot of aesthetic and allow players to notice them from further away.
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There is an entity in this PLUS pack called Radiation Shower Wight. His name in the entityclasses.xml file is zombieWightRadiationShowerPLUS.

He uses a property called:

<property name="ParticleOnSpawn" value="ParticleEffects/RadiatedParticlesOnMesh" param1="SetShapeToMesh0"/>

This is an asset that appears to be experimental and may have been intended for Radiated or a Radiated Plus entity from the game developers. Adding this same line to other entities can give them the same green light particle effect. It is a very clear aesthetic and easy to spot from afar. However, such particle effects can be quite resource heavy and not for every graphics card and set up out there. It's a case by case basis but is there to be tested and used for systems that can handle it. Simply adding this same property line to other entities in the list can get them glowing in the same way. It is the same method used in the Elite Zombies mod and based on an existing 'experimental' asset.

 
arramus said:
<property name="ParticleOnSpawn" value="ParticleEffects/RadiatedParticlesOnMesh" param1="SetShapeToMesh0"/>

This is an asset that appears to be experimental and may have been intended for Radiated or a Radiated Plus entity from the game developers. Adding this same line to other entities can give them the same green light particle effect. It is a very clear aesthetic and easy to spot from afar. However, such particle effects can be quite resource heavy and not for every graphics card and set up out there. It's a case by case basis but is there to be tested and used for systems that can handle it. Simply adding this same property line to other entities in the list can get them glowing in the same way. It is the same method used in the Elite Zombies mod and based on an existing 'experimental' asset.
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Thanks for the answer. I experimented a bit on my own using buffs to add green glowing effect on hands and got decent results.

buffs.xml (green glowing effect)

<buff name="radiation_glow_hands">
            <stack_type value="replace"/>
            <duration value="600"/>

            <effect_group>
                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffStart" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_left" parent_transform="LeftHand" />
                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfEnteredGame" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_left" parent_transform="LeftHand" />

                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffStart" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_right" parent_transform="RightHand" />
                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfEnteredGame" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_right" parent_transform="RightHand" />
            </effect_group>

            <effect_group>
                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffUpdate" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_left" parent_transform="LeftHand">
                    <requirement name="!HasParticle" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_left" />
                </triggered_effect>

                <triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffUpdate" action="AttachParticleEffectToEntity" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_right" parent_transform="RightHand">
                    <requirement name="!HasParticle" particle="p_twitch_zombie_radiation_right" />
                </triggered_effect>
            </effect_group>
        </buff>
Add this line to zombie entity:

<triggered_effect trigger="onSelfFirstSpawn" action="AddBuff" target="self" buff="radiation_glow_hands"/>

Here is the result:

75 vanilla Radiated Zombies - around 44 FPS

75 Radiated Zombies Plus with glowing hands - around 22 FPS

75 Radiated Zombies Plus with RadiatedParticlesOnMesh - around 18 FPS

Special effects do tank performance significantly. It is up for modders to pick the middle ground whether they want more performance or effects that mark special zombies. Personally, I think they deserve differentiation other than their weapons since they are a lot stronger than normal zombies.

 
Razor_ said:
Special effects do tank performance significantly. It is up for modders to pick the middle ground whether they want more performance or effects that mark special zombies. Personally, I think they deserve differentiation other than their weapons since they are a lot stronger than normal zombies.
Click to expand...
I see. That's a clear statement of preference and is very much something you and @RAGE PVE could collaborate on in their community dedicated server. It will be interesting to see how things respond during a Horde Night event with 10+ players and a host of other mods running in the background. Favourable results could warrant a post loading mod to append such additions. The Rage community is certainly dedicated to testing where the boundaries lie with experimental features and customsations specific for their servers.

 
Does this mod conflict with any other modlets to your knowledge. Would love to try it, the variation is so cool.

It works and I changed all 0.1 to 0.05. 

Seems to be good so far!

 
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I think you're going to have a conflict free experience since entity mods are typically the most forgiving because of their dynamic nature. Even if it is removed from a server at a later date, server restart may show a warning in the log for a missing entity but they get purged from play.

The only potential issue is if another mod overwrites the entity groups in a big way, and wipes all of these out. In such a circumstance, renaming this mod by adding the letter Z at the front can allow it to load last based on numerical and alphabetical order and bring them back.

This mod was made to be additive and simply add on to existing default features. Because of that, it is quite harmless to other mods as well. It's been a few years now and the only major posts have been identical to what you have implemented, and how to mellow things a little.

 
arramus said:
I think you're going to have a conflict free experience since entity mods are typically the most forgiving because of their dynamic nature. Even if it is removed from a server at a later date, server restart may show a warning in the log for a missing entity but they get purged from play.

The only potential issue is if another mod overwrites the entity groups in a big way, and wipes all of these out. In such a circumstance, renaming this mod by adding the letter Z at the front can allow it to load last based on numerical and alphabetical order and bring them back.

This mod was made to be additive and simply add on to existing default features. Because of that, it is quite harmless to other mods as well. It's been a few years now and the only major posts have been identical to what you have implemented, and how to mellow things a little.
Click to expand...
Awesome. 

Yeah I'm going to try it for a bit. Seems very good and intense. I usually play insane "RUN day time speed" but maybe have to tone it down. Since these zeds are very strong. But I like the variety. 

 
is it possible to make it possible to disable some zombies, I like this pack, but I can't and don't want to see zombies shooting with weapons

 
Deleting entries in the entitygroups.xml allows them to be removed from their specific biomes, and/or the Horde Night Groups.

Using an application such as Notepad ++ will allow batch deletion since that file has grown from about 750 lines in A20 to just under 10,000 in A21 based on how things are now handled.

 
MrSamuelAdams said:
How do you do that? 😕
Click to expand...
In the first list in the entitygroups.xml you can see how it governs a group called ZombieAll. This is a very general group which spawns out in the Biomes.

Original

<csv xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name='ZombiesAll']/text()" delim="\n" op="add" >
animalZombieBunnyPLUS, .1
animalZombieSnakePLUS, .1
animalZombieChickenPLUS, .1
zombieSMGArlenePLUS, .1
zombieTARifleSoldierPLUS, .1
zombieBatonHazmatPLUS, .1
zombieSteelAxeLumberjackPLUS, .1
zombieMachetePartyGirlPLUS, .1
zombiePistolBusinessManPLUS, .1
zombieNailgunUtilityWorkerPLUS, .1
zombieSniperBoePLUS, .1
zombieChainsawMoePLUS, .1
zombieDesertVultureTomClarkPLUS, .1
zombiePumpShotgunBikerPLUS, .1
zombieBatonFatCopPLUS, .1
zombieSteelClubFemaleFatPLUS, .1
zombieBoltNursePLUS, .1
zombieSteelSledgehammerFatHawaiianPLUS, .1
animalZombieLargePlasmaVulturePLUS, .05
zombieSpiderFeralBomberPLUS, .05
zombieSpiderFeralGliderPLUS, .05
zombieM60DemolitionPLUS, .05
animalBossZombieGracePLUS, .05
zombieWightRadiationShowerPLUS, .05
zombieBogeymanPLUS, .05
zombieCrispyPLUS, .05
zombieScorcherPLUS, .05
</csv>




Edited to remove shooters, not flyers.

Code: 
    <csv xpath="/entitygroups/entitygroup[@name='ZombiesAll']/text()" delim="\n" op="add" >
        animalZombieBunnyPLUS, .1
        animalZombieSnakePLUS, .1
        animalZombieChickenPLUS, .1
        zombieSteelAxeLumberjackPLUS, .1
        zombieChainsawMoePLUS, .1
        zombieBatonFatCopPLUS, .1
        zombieSteelClubFemaleFatPLUS, .1
        zombieSteelSledgehammerFatHawaiianPLUS, .1
        animalZombieLargePlasmaVulturePLUS, .05        
        zombieSpiderFeralBomberPLUS, .05
        zombieSpiderFeralGliderPLUS, .05
        animalBossZombieGracePLUS, .05
        zombieWightRadiationShowerPLUS, .05
        zombieBogeymanPLUS, .05
        zombieCrispyPLUS, .05    
    </csv>
 
MrSamuelAdams said:
Thank you! I'll try this 
Click to expand...
And as you saw (your recent recognition is appreciated), the A21 Server Side Weapons, even in their limited capacity can give players a better fighting chance and are much more available as it's purely based on luck rather than Game Stage. ^^
Instead of removing, it is also possible to lower the ranged type from .1 to something like .025 so they become the rare exception.

 
arramus said:
And as you saw (your recent recognition is appreciated), the A21 Server Side Weapons, even in their limited capacity can give players a better fighting chance and are much more available as it's purely based on luck rather than Game Stage. ^^
Instead of removing, it is also possible to lower the ranged type from .1 to something like .025 so they become the rare exception.
Click to expand...
yeah, I'll have to mess with those. I have like 115 modlets in my game now lol. I already have a few weapon modlets and the Rings mod as well to help bring some buffs. I will relook into that, if I wanted the range ones at .1 do I have to do all of them or just the zombies under ZombiesAll?

 
All I'm afraid...

But, an application like Notepad ++ will allow you to choose one entry and change all that are exactly the same throughout the whole page.

There is a lot of duplication in there even though it's so long. The changes come in batches for the Horde Night entries.

 
I'm not getting this to work correctly. I installed it, and had some of the special zombies. Once I exited and re-entered, they no longer spawn. I also created a new game and still no spawns. Checked in the f6 menu and there are no "+" nexts to any zombies & no new names. It says its loading, no errors or anything on the log menu. Any idea on this?

 
Test on a totally new World using Navezgane with only the Server Side Zombies PLUS mod. If they are spawning or can be seen in the F6 menu it tells us it is loading for you appropriately. Add back in any other mods you are using one by one until you cannot spawn any as explained in the post. It may help show a conflict or a mod that is overwriting the Server Side Zombies. A full copy of the whole logs file uploaded to somewhere like pastebin (as recommended for sharing bugs with the game devs) can share things that don't always show in the console.
https://pastebin.com/

 
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