PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

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@faatal Will there be an open listing for players to discover seeds on their own and then submit them to TFP for possible additional pregen worlds, provided they meet your standards? The more the merrier after all.

 
MechanicalLens said:
@faatal Will there be an open listing for players to discover seeds on their own and then submit them to TFP for possible additional pregen worlds, provided they meet your standards? The more the merrier after all.
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Each pregen world adds 300 MB to the install size, so we would probably stick with shipping just 3 for now.

 
faatal said:
Each pregen world adds 300 MB to the install size, so we would probably stick with shipping just 3 for now.
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Perhaps you could remove the alpha channel from biomes.png and splat3.png to save space? Moreover you don't actually need RGB channels for each pixel, do you? I mean, you could encode the same information in just 1 byte per pixel, instead of 3 (or instead of 4 if you use the alpha channel)...

Also I've noticed that the RAW format that you use for the heightmap ('dtm.raw') uses a lot more space than a 16bit png... And png is lossless

What do you think?

 
KingSlayerGM said:
Perhaps you could remove the alpha channel from biomes.png and splat3.png to save space? Moreover you don't actually need RGB channels for each pixel, do you? I mean, you could encode the same information in just 1 byte per pixel, instead of 3 (or instead of 4 if you use the alpha channel)...

Also I've noticed that the RAW format that you use for the heightmap ('dtm.raw') uses a lot more space than a 16bit png... And png is lossless

What do you think?
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Sure, we could do a lot of things, but that is low priority.

 
faatal said:
Sure, we could do a lot of things, but that is low priority.
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I'm sure you don't hear this often, but I'm very thankful that you are part of TFP team. When you are around, features magically pop up . You should be called a "Programming Fairy Sasquatch", 'cause you grant wishes like vehicles, Zd AI and optimization while being a rare breed of methodic worker. I still remember A16 with all the pain it gave to my PC. 

Hell no to the 1 fps hordes. +1 for the future. 

 
Got a pair of questions today,

1: Is Stealth going to get an update at some point?

  • I know having poi triggers for ambushes are important for a good scare, but I also see people with really good stealth loadouts get totally boned by established abmush lines. I've also noticed these same people with a suppressed pistol wake up an entire POI taking one sneak shot. Is that a bug with suppressed pistols? I would think that good stealth skills/gear that you could roll through a POI with a suppressed pistol and wipe out everything Sam Fisher style.


2: Are traps going to be getting a rework/any plans for new traps?

  • Blade traps take a lot resources to make and maintain, and currently break down really fast compared to the upkeep cost. I think a lot of people would like to see some addition trap options as well such as flamer traps or hammer traps (more to push zombies around than damage). I know many players who complain that they don't get xp from spikes (yes I know this is a problem with the ownership of the object because of its block type) but something like powered spike traps (think of the classic trap where the spikes jut out of the ground when walked on) could be a really fun higher tier to the spikes. Wood > Iron > powered could be an interesting track to follow.
That's all I got for today. Looking forward to seeing some more info on A20.

 
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@madmole Question about a specific POI, the Settlement_01 and PiggyBank.

  • What are the chances of us seeing more types of these in the future?
  • Is there any plan of turning the Settlement_01 POI into a central trading hub or as the home-base for "The Duke"/ bandits?



 
@Devs,

Are there any plans to add a game option to control sleeper respawns? For instance similar to the loot respawn where it could be something like every 3 days, 7 days, 15 days, or never.

Many people find the rate at which POIs refill with zombies to be immersion breaking, plus it would add another way of playing the game to be able to set the goal of "clearing" a town... or even the entire map. 

In addition, it makes sense as a companion setting to loot respawn. If you are worried about folks exploiting the setting so the can have the loot respawn and go reboot thing without having to fight again, you could probably make it so that loot respawn is locked to "never" if zombie respawn is set to the same. Maybe make it so the loot respawn time just cant be set to a shorter period than the zombie respawn.

In any case, I feel it's a setting that has been needed for awhile, and it isn't such a niche thing it should just be left to the modders.

Thanks for all your hard work, btw, and looking forward to everything going forward! A20 looks pretty cool.

 
Are there any mods (for vehicles) that are already ready or in development? I would really love to know what mods are planned and how will they work?

Also is there any news about drone and if it's coming to A20?

 
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luki12163 said:
Are there any mods (for vehicles) that are already ready or in development? I would really love to know what mods are planned and how will they work?

Also is there any news about drone and if it's coming to A20?
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These are the planned vehicle mods:

Fuel Saver - Works

Off Road Headlights - Works

Super Charger -  Works

Expanded Seat - TODO

Reserve Fuel Tank - Working on today

None of them are fully done, since they still need icons, schematics and put in loot lists.

Drone should be in a20.

 
faatal said:
These are the planned vehicle mods:

Fuel Saver - Works

Off Road Headlights - Works

Super Charger -  Works

Expanded Seat - TODO

Reserve Fuel Tank - Working on today

None of them are fully done, since they still need icons, schematics and put in loot lists.

Drone should be in a20.
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How about a spikes mod for increased damage against entities? :)

So how will the mod design work exactly? Will there be a progression system where the minibike can hold more mod(s) than a bike, a motorcycle more than the minibike, and so on?

 
Was about to suggestion the same, a vehicle mod to increase damage against zombies so you can at least one hit kill basic zombies would be nice just for the fun of running them over while driving. You could even give bloodmoon zombies a resistance to it if you thought it was OP for horde night, but after the terror of the super horde vultures I doubt anyone still tries to drive around all night. It's mostly just fun to bonk zombies with a car, and then it's kind of sad when you have to back up and do it 20 times to actually kill them lol

 
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I guess that there will be limitation on mods on a single vehicle. Lets say 3 or so, where we could choose a build for our vehicles such as offroad, long roam, team work and so on ? 

 
faatal said:
These are the planned vehicle mods:

Fuel Saver - Works

Off Road Headlights - Works

Super Charger -  Works

Expanded Seat - TODO

Reserve Fuel Tank - Working on today

None of them are fully done, since they still need icons, schematics and put in loot lists.

Drone should be in a20.
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And let's not forget the E.T. mod.  Ya know what it does.

et-in-a-basket-costume-et (1).jpg

 
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