PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

Status
Not open for further replies.
pregnable said:
Yeah, strength is really good, and probably does not really need heavy armor, cooking or either the sledge or club, heh. 

Agility is kinda cool, not sure about balance currently, but being able to sneak really well without a base is a nice alternative.  Random dog packs should probably not be able to zero in on  you when you are sneaking though... not sure if they do.  Parkour is amazing. 

Intelligence is really strong, but does not have a starter weapon so its usually a second pick, and charismatic nature could use a change.  I still like putting the last tier of barter as the last rank of charismatic nature. 

Perception is kinda meh, but depending on the balance of the wrench skill it could almost be on par with strength.  If you can harvest enough metal with it while questing, to build a base, you could follow the iron frame path of building.  I tried it once and it was okay, but having to get clay was a little lame.  Depending on the balance of metal pipes and stuff you get though, it could be really good, and wrenches are not bad weapons if you invest in it. 

I am not even sure about fortitude.  Definitely a lot of good stuff, but I usually do not grab much from it.  I used to always rush farming, but now I go intelligence for building second.  It is probably a perfect second choice for a baseless agility build, where you just run on foot all night fighting the horde.  I was going to try a build like that, but too busy playing my str/intel build atm. 
Click to expand...
IMO people are too much into specialization.

That's simply the wrong approach (at least for SP) since to survive you need skills from ALL attribute trees.

Think about it, most useful utility and weapon skills can be raised to Rank 3 pretty quick.

I know, people want to experience the higher levels of their favorite perks as soon as they can ... and that's where they fail to exploit the real potential of the perk system.

My idea is that up to level 30 or so you're supposed to only invest in survival skills and combat skills depending on what weapons/armor you've found.

Then, in mid to late game, when you have all sorts of stuff you've looted, you can choose what specialization you want/like more.

At that point you'll probably have already invested into Rank 3 of most attributes and the next steps would be to decide where to invest deeper.

meganoth said:
It would be quite easy actually. Too easy. At the current damage potential of the zombies they could never breach a double concrete wall if every zombie attacked a different spot. So at a minimum their block damage has to be increased. Much damage all around the walls means that every horde night then needs 2 days of mining and boring repairs afterwards.
Click to expand...
I disagree.

As you may remember currently we have the "stacking" bonus that zombies get when there's more than one bashing on a wall. If you have to defend from too many directions at the same time, especially on later horde nights and/or with higher max-alive settings, you may "skip" (or just not notice in time) some of the zombies destroying part of your wall while you're busy handling the other sides.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jost Amman said:
IMO people are too much into specialization.

That's simply the wrong approach (at least for SP) since to survive you need skills from ALL attribute trees.

Think about it, most useful utility and weapon skills can be raised to Rank 3 pretty quick.

I know, people want to experience the higher levels of their favorite perks as soon as they can ... and that's where they fail to exploit the real potential of the perk system.
Click to expand...


Well I was mostly talking about the attribute balance, and which one to pick first.  Even if you are going 3 in most and snatching up the better skills you are still starting somewhere.  Like I usually always start str, but sometimes switch at 3/3 miner/motherload or 4/4. 

With my str/intel build though I was planning on testing high end building and turrets, so I kinda had to go 10 intel, heh.  Although it is looking like I will be level 60+ before I ever find/buy a good turret or the recipe. 

Advanced engineering gives you like 33% more cement and 50% more steel, so going heavy into str and intel makes sense if you are building like that, and it also lets you power level.  I was getting 2 levels a day until day 22, without actually power gaming.  If I did everything optimal I am sure I could have leveled a lot faster. 

But yeah, I do not really disagree, although you do not really need any skills at all to survive, but certain builds it is probably better to go deep first.  Like baseless agility/fortitude build you might want to go deep agility and then fortitude, because that is all you really need. 

 
Blake_ said:
This is the biggest and fattest fps RARE bump (freezes screen for up to 10 seconds ) AKA The extremely crossable-road elevated- house exception that I showed you in pages 577 and 582 of this thread): 

View attachment 13212
Click to expand...
I already fixed that message showing with the values in your picture.

It now does otherHeight <= -.001f. If you still are seeing it, then I need the new # it is showing.

Blake_ said:
While there are other fps problems (Shown in the other posts  and related to sleepers, loading and unloading of blocks and simultaneous spawns and loading happening)

music is, by far the culprit in a19 and a18(YES, I rolled back to check and damn, when ambience music [[the only one in a18]] started, transitioned and/or ended- the bumps were real. 

So there, if us peasants get a fix for the music handling = butter smooth gaming buttocks .
Click to expand...
I told the programmer who works on music what you noticed.

You can turn music off. I play almost all games with music off, so have not noticed it in 7dtd.

 
An awkward thing I have noticed months ago already but always forgot to mention here:

Everytime you are inside a POI that has some areas outdoors (like a rooftop for example) and you are right before going outside you can hear a single and silent flapping sound of vulture wings if there actually are vultures outisde. It is like a warning that you are about to encounter at least one vulture outside.

Not sure if that is intended or a bug and if that has anybody noticed already.

 
faatal said:
I already fixed that message showing with the values in your picture.

It now does otherHeight <= -.001f. If you still are seeing it, then I need the new # it is showing.
Click to expand...
I remember I got these too - but I haven't seen it within the last days (since b177? dont know...).

I right now checked my logs from yesterday back until 2020-08-05 - there is no warning "Path node otherHeight" in :)

 
LeonBraun said:
View attachment 11103

Oh, that flying drone ... When do you add blaster rifles? I want lightsabers and Sith !!! Just kidding. Seriously, what the hell!?  my friends and I hope this is a temporary solution? These effects ... Jesus ... kill me. This does NOT fit into the world of 7 days. As a solution - make the flying drone attack from 9mm mini-machine guns? Or a drone with a sawn-off shotgun !!! It will be possible to find use for this weapon of 1 shooting range. Treatment is disgusting. What are the red effects? Let .... hmm ... a drone shoots a dart at you or a syringe with an anesthetic (or a blood coagulation drug if the character has bleeding) - a new item that will need to be crafted. You melt metal - you make needles, you melt plastic - you make a shell for a syringe, but from what these or those solutions to make syringes should be made ... One could add a couple of new objects. Which can only be found. A pack of some medications from which you can cook painkillers or hemostatic solutions. Well, you get the idea.
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
AtomicUs5000 said:
I had a zombie dream last night. It was interesting because I pretty much had nothing but melee options available to me, and most were not very effective at all. I remember trying a sledgehammer, but this was way too hard to swing multiple times. A bat was ok, but it wasn't reliable at cracking skulls. They always took a few swings and both wooden and aluminum bats would break pretty easily. 

Axes and tire irons were great, but would get stuck. So I created my own weapon, which was basically a metal spear. I made two round metal plates with holes in the center the diameter of the spear. One of those plates I welded to the spear about 10 inches from the head. Then I slipped on a heavy duty spring, about 8 inches long, and fixed one end to the plate. I slipped on the second plate and fixed that to the top of the spring only. This worked the best for me because I could shove the tip into skulls and the spring would pop it back out. After testing it out, I decided I wanted to make a short, double-sided version for closer encounters... but then I woke up.
Click to expand...
This is great lmao 😂

 
enragedcamel said:
Maybe this is a bit premature but do we know what is in stock for A20?

Vehicle mods?

Bandits?

End-game boss?
Click to expand...
Right now it's mainly quality of life changes and the items below:

1) Tier 0 pipe weapons for all ammo types to replace the Blunderbuss with a Pipe Shotgun, as well as a 9mm Pipe Pistal, 7.62 P:ipe Rifle and a Machine Gun. Also included in the tier 0 pipe weapons will hopefully be a tier 0 intellect weapon.

2) Unification of Traders to the new Game Stage loot system for both quests and inventory to ensure that they will always only provide slightly better then what is found in loot.

3) Random Generation going Gold status with fixes to roads and towns to reduce the distance for trader quests. As well as many other fixes to world generation to where in the future all they need to do is add more POIs.

4) Maybe the Junk Drone.

That is it so far as to what the devs said will be in A20 unless I missed something.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
You guys crack me up.

Gimmie the junk drone!!!  Gimmie the junk drone!!!!  GIVE ME THE JUNK DRONE!!!!!!  NOW!!!!!

(early release of the junk drone ... in experimental version...)

WTF???  We hate the junk drone, you guys suck!!!

SMH.  

 
Adam the Waster said:
also!

sense i am replaying again! my game looks better! even though it on low settings! i can see details instead of Play doe! 

thxs TFP :)
Click to expand...
That was probably from the streaming bug reducing texture mipmaps one extra level, which is why streaming is off now when texture quality is not Full.

 
I don't mind just waiting for A20 to be a surprise. How am I able to wait so patiently you ask? Well let me tell you, I am going to have a corn party with @SolutOdka 

🌽

 
faatal said:
I already fixed that message showing with the values in your picture.

It now does otherHeight <= -.001f. If you still are seeing it, then I need the new # it is showing.

I told the programmer who works on music what you noticed.

You can turn music off. I play almost all games with music off, so have not noticed it in 7dtd.
Click to expand...
Thx! I did not come back to that POI yet so I can't confirm the otherHeight issue fix, But I will. Soon.

Regarding music :  Thx for the heads up, I would like to enjoy it someday. I mean I might not like Zack's COVID-19 haircut, but I DO enjoy his work editing and implementing those creepy tracks. 

After testing a bit:

Turning off the music helped. A LOT. So much that I might be somehow confusing b178 for a stable release  ,  a silent stable release that is.

There are still a few bumbs, but they are not "freezing" enough to get my attention for experimental. I will get to the bottom of them though. I need to test for a few more hours before reporting.

faatal said:
That was probably from the streaming bug reducing texture mipmaps one extra level, which is why streaming is off now when texture quality is not Full.
Click to expand...
A bug that forcefully optimizes the game by lying about "looks" ? Lol. Sounds like a regular Saturday night to me.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Roland said:
When Madmole played his strength build for the first time he didn’t like having to invest in a different attribute to raise cooking.... ;)
Click to expand...
Every tree should have a special cooking recipe that gives boosts relative to that tree.  Can't get any more balanced than that.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top