PC Anyone else miss looting zombie corpses?

I think the point I was making wasn't on the duration it took me to get to a "need to restart" point, but the percentage of the map I'd explored. So, my modded inventory, I accept, absolutely makes that point happen sooner in time, but even if I used default inventory, I'd have still only explored about half of a 4k map before there was no point in exploring further.
The only difference with using a standard inventory, is that point would have taken me twice as long, but whether it's day 100 or day 200, I'd have still only just barely needed to explore beyond the first town I started near before I had all the looted I'd ever need.

This is on default settings though (the only thing I've modded is the inventory size, stack sizes and wandering horde sizes).
I did get that from what you were saying. I'll try to simplify what I was saying.

If your inventory is limited, you are likely to be choosy about the loot you grab, grabbing the most important at that time. Little bits of lead, paper, polymers, leather, cloth, and a whole slew of things you will likely leave behind in favor of weapons, ammo, brass, and things that sell well. Unless you are 100% determined to grab these things, you are more likely to use your time hitting another fresh POI rather than waste a trip to return to things you don't really need or don't need often enough to justify it. As a result, you end up exploring more of the map.

I don't think I could sustain my ammo needs late game by staying near home. Even the mining slowly extends out away from home and that travel time takes away from obtaining more ammo. At some point, ammo and the supplies to make it are all I am looking for in POIs and there aren't many POIs in any given town that have higher concentrations of it. So when I hear there's too much loot, I get flashbacks of my never-ending struggles to obtain ammo. Basically, if there is too much loot, why do I need to loot a few POIs daily?

I'm thinking about just forgetting all that from now on. It's too much work, with looting and with mining. It would be easier making a massive coffee farm and take the horde nights to the streets with a baseball bat.

 
I did get that from what you were saying. I'll try to simplify what I was saying.If your inventory is limited, you are likely to be choosy about the loot you grab, grabbing the most important at that time. Little bits of lead, paper, polymers, leather, cloth, and a whole slew of things you will likely leave behind in favor of weapons, ammo, brass, and things that sell well. Unless you are 100% determined to grab these things, you are more likely to use your time hitting another fresh POI rather than waste a trip to return to things you don't really need or don't need often enough to justify it. As a result, you end up exploring more of the map.

I don't think I could sustain my ammo needs late game by staying near home. Even the mining slowly extends out away from home and that travel time takes away from obtaining more ammo. At some point, ammo and the supplies to make it are all I am looking for in POIs and there aren't many POIs in any given town that have higher concentrations of it. So when I hear there's too much loot, I get flashbacks of my never-ending struggles to obtain ammo. Basically, if there is too much loot, why do I need to loot a few POIs daily?

I'm thinking about just forgetting all that from now on. It's too much work, with looting and with mining. It would be easier making a massive coffee farm and take the horde nights to the streets with a baseball bat.
Theres no need to be choosy with loot. Throw three boxes in the street and loot away. You can clear a house of all loot in a day or so and then haul stuff back to your base the next morning in a few trips. POIs are in abundance, storage is super easy to make and if you have a bicycle you can go back and forth to a drop point in seconds.

Im actually going to start looking into smaller maps because 8k is just too much for 2 players. Before you even finish a city or two you will have everything you need and since other towns and pois in them offer zero incentive to find because all loot is the same theres zero need to ride around an 8k map just for kicks.

Im confident a loot pass will happen before long enough. Theres just too much unneeded real estate in the world to justify how much we can gain from a handful of dungeon pois.

EDIT - If you re-read what you wrote you are basically saying the same thing. If not for ammo theres no other reason to go out and loot miles away from your base. Ammo is just right, but everything else is off balance.

 
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Yes.

I miss them so darn much :(

It's a core game mechanic thats been removed and replaced with this dumb system.

Always loved walking around and 'squish' "Eww I stepped in a zombie"

Made bones abundant, but that could have been so extremely easy to just have them harvest rotten bones or something like that to avoid glue making.

It was great to see the sea of deadbodies just waiting there to be looted after a bloodmoon, and wondering if one should risk go out looking where that wight or cop was killed and hopefully find a good gunpart. (which are not a thing, and guns are everywhere now)

And it felt right. Rummage though the pockets of the slain foe to see if it had anything to use. That takes a moment to do.

 
I believe that removing loot from zombie bodies was a stupid shortsighted decision that left the game without another feature that made it interesting.

Soon, 7dtd will be empty as a corpse in A17...

 
The corpse problem could have been solved by despawning after an hour. If you wanted to loot, do so. If you wanted them to disappear and not have to clean up, come back tomorrow. Simple fix to make everyone happy.

BTW, since corpses did not stack in A16, and I could clean up 300+ corpses in 10 minutes, I dont see how the arguement "it took all day" makes any sense. And the loot itself was garbage, the loot table was the same for trash piles. So, no, your loot was not 'delivered' to you.

Oh, one last thing: I dont feel that people who prefer the change are yes-men. I simple dont care what you are. I liked what I liked and have no issue stating it. I want more people who prefered the mechanics I liked to speak up. The overall demographic contains all types of people. But there are hundreds, maybe thousands of zombie loot/shooters out there. 7D2D was in a niche of its own, and is slowly shifting to the gameplay that will make it lose its originality. Thank TFP for bringing books back. I have something to look forward to again with luck.

 
The corpse problem could have been solved by despawning after an hour.
The corpses already did despawn. I remember in A16.4 racing to chop up the corpses after horde night before they despawned on me.

So no clean up was needed if you weren't interested in that aspect.

 
I'm sure they came up with the idea of removing loot just when needed to pull arrows out of bodies.

 
A thousand times no! ;-)
Strictly imho of course, but the new system is massively better than the old one. Infrequent, easily seen, long lasting loot bags that have a higher chance of actually dropping something I want, as opposed to frantically "opening up" every single zombie corpse to loot a stick or a piece of grass is a big gain in my book.
I guess it works for you and not for us. Personally they have intentionally made the game grindier, weighing the game down and bringing certain game mechanical things up. FTP have never been known for really asking the consumer base what they like and that usually ends up with events like the tragic event of the Alpha16 launch.

I havnt been able to really connect peronally and enjoy myself as much since before alpha 16 really..

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I believe that removing loot from zombie bodies was a stupid shortsighted decision that left the game without another feature that made it interesting. Soon, 7dtd will be empty as a corpse in A17...
COuldnt agree more. Like i said in an earlier comment, FTP dont really like asking the consumers what they want and it has severe consequences.

 
Leave loot behind!?!!? That's crazzeee talks!!! hehe
Nah, I take everything, and I do mean everything... hehe (I always play with a modded inventory).
I hear you. Some playthoughs I'm like a swarm of locusts and strip every POI I see down to bare bones. I don't even make it to the trader by the 2nd hordenight sometimes.

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Well, yeah... that is the goal in the end. I don't think this is a fair assessment on the loot because of the modded inventory. Cut your inventory in half and it essentially doubles the time it takes to get to that goal. Most of the time you probably wouldn't make it back to that same POI and just loot another.There are a lot of POIs where you can't possibly get out with everything in one trip in default vanilla. I find it to be part of the struggle.

Here is what I am talking about. This attic alone can build a base. This POI had tons of cement and cobblestone throughout it as well:

Ko3JCmS.jpg
Wow I've never fond that particular attic. Seen some basements similar to that though.

 
I guess it works for you and not for us. Personally they have intentionally made the game grindier, weighing the game down and bringing certain game mechanical things up. FTP have never been known for really asking the consumer base what they like and that usually ends up with events like the tragic event of the Alpha16 launch.
I havnt been able to really connect peronally and enjoy myself as much since before alpha 16 really..

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COuldnt agree more. Like i said in an earlier comment, FTP dont really like asking the consumers what they want and it has severe consequences.
I have to disagree. Fun Pimps totally listen. I see it everyday in their comments on the forums and the changes each Alpha. What you mean to say is they didn't listen to you.

 
It would be nice to get rotten meat out of them...
It is a pretty easy mod, and a good n00b-level project for writing mods. I say that as a total mod-writing n00b myself.

1) Create folder \Mods under the 7D2D install directory (on Windows, usually \program files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die)

2) Create a sub-folder under \Mods called \HarvestZombies (or whatever name you want)

3) Create a sub-folder under \HarvestZombies called \Config

4) Create a file in that \Config folder called entityclasses.xml and paste the following:

Code:
<configs>
<set xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='zombieTemplateMale']/property[@name='TimeStayAfterDeath']/@value">120</set>
<set xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[@name='zombieTemplateMale']/property[@name='DeadBodyHitPoints']/@value">300</set>

<append xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[contains(@name, 'zombie')]">
	<drop event="Harvest" name="foodRawMeat" count="0" tool_category="Butcher"/>
	<drop event="Harvest" name="foodRottingFlesh" tag="allToolsHarvest" count="1"/>
	<drop event="Harvest" name="foodRottingFlesh" tag="butcherHarvest" count="1,2"/> 
	<drop event="Harvest" name="resourceBone" tag="butcherHarvest" count="1,2"/>
	<drop event="Harvest" name="resourcePotassiumNitratePowder" tag="butcherHarvest" count="1,2"/>
</append>
</configs>
  • corpses will have 300hp and will last 120 seconds before despawning
  • ignore the 'foodRawMeat' line - it needs to be there (for the butcher weapon animation I think?), but you won't actually get any raw meat from corpses
  • you will get a tiny bit of rotting flesh no matter what tool you use
  • you will get slightly more flesh, plus bones & nitrate, if using a butcher tool e,g a knife or machete


5) In the \HarvestZombies folder create a file called ModInfo.xml and paste the following into that:

Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xml>
<ModInfo>
	<Name value="Harvestable Zombies" />
	<Description value="Zombies can be harvested for rotten meat, bones, and nitrate." />
	<Author value="SittingDuck" />
	<Version value="1.0" />
</ModInfo>
</xml>
Start your game and go harvest some zombies!

6) (Slightly more advanced) If you also want to nerf the roadkill to add some balance, create 'blocks.xml' in the \Config folder for the mod and paste this into it (it replaces the default flesh/bone/nitrate drop values with slightly lower values):

Code:
<configs>
<!-- slight nerfs to rotting flesh, bone, and nitrate for other harvestables -->
<!-- not touching body bags or cow skulls -->
<!-- animal gore block -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockAnimal']/drop[@name='foodRottingFlesh' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">1,2</set> <!-- default 1,3 -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockAnimal']/drop[@name='resourcePotassiumNitratePowder' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">2,4</set> <!-- default 4,8 -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockAnimal']/drop[@name='resourceBone' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">2,6</set> <!-- default 5,10 -->

<!-- human corpse -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockHumanCorpse']/drop[@name='foodRottingFlesh' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">1</set> <!-- default 1,2 -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockHumanCorpse']/drop[@name='resourcePotassiumNitratePowder' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">2,4</set> <!-- default 4,8 -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockHumanCorpse']/drop[@name='resourceBone' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">2,6</set> <!-- default 5,10 -->

<!-- human bones (do not drop rotting flesh by default) -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockHumanBones']/drop[@name='resourcePotassiumNitratePowder' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">1,2</set> <!-- default 2,4 -->
<set xpath="/blocks/block[@name='goreBlockHumanBones']/drop[@name='resourceBone' and @tag='butcherHarvest']/@count">2,6</set> <!-- default 5,10 -->
</configs>
 
Theres no need to be choosy with loot. Throw three boxes in the street and loot away. You can clear a house of all loot in a day or so and then haul stuff back to your base the next morning in a few trips. POIs are in abundance, storage is super easy to make and if you have a bicycle you can go back and forth to a drop point in seconds.
Im actually going to start looking into smaller maps because 8k is just too much for 2 players. Before you even finish a city or two you will have everything you need and since other towns and pois in them offer zero incentive to find because all loot is the same theres zero need to ride around an 8k map just for kicks.

Im confident a loot pass will happen before long enough. Theres just too much unneeded real estate in the world to justify how much we can gain from a handful of dungeon pois.

EDIT - If you re-read what you wrote you are basically saying the same thing. If not for ammo theres no other reason to go out and loot miles away from your base. Ammo is just right, but everything else is off balance.
But why would I bother doing that? I will never need that stuff. I mean I suppose I could pull everything out into chests just in case I do happen to need that stuff... but if that ever happened, I would just go back in and get it right where I left it. I have yet to play a game where I regret leaving these things behind. For ammo you need it constantly, everything else you only need so much of once.

Yes, I agree ammo is just right. However ammo is loot. Decrease the loot, you decrease the ammo and I can’t have that. All I am asking for is making a distinction when using blanket statements like there is too much loot.

 
There were other ways of handling performance problems...

In A16, i modded the game in a way that allowed to harvest all loot corpses after a horde night.

"All" in that context means:

  • removed all collision except for melee
  • added vertical support (without misusing it, of course, i'm not schizophrenic)
  • minimized dead body despawn time to 10 sec, so performance stays top


Thus, during the horde night, corpses that in vanilla would disintegrate because of another corpse already lying at that position, simply stack on top of each other, while non of that corpses hindered the fight.

Of course, about half of the first layer of corpses usually vanished because of the collapse of the underlying traps (and increased probability of that because of the minimized body despawn time). But since there usually were two to three layers of corpses, the overall harvest amount was incredible huge (should have been around 60% of all enemies).

Despite having a massively increased count of corpses, the result was fun.

I did what i can to keep the hordes coming: I maximized the maxalive to 32 (the limit my PC could handle at horde night while keeping FPS at about 20...30), so horde nights lasted not longer than 2...3 ingame houres, so to have the rest of the night available for looting and repairing. It usually took about 6 ingame houres to clean up the corpses alone at gamestage around 3000.

And despite having the area around the main base cultivated (so no horde spawn in its vicinity), i purposly let at least an angle of 90 degree from the horde base open.

This differs from my playstyle since A17: Since the loot at horde nights is abysmal meager, i usually try to block hordes at all as soon as possible by completely cultivating the area around the bases.

To sum it up: FUN with looting was up to A16.

 
I guess it works for you and not for us. Personally they have intentionally made the game grindier, weighing the game down and bringing certain game mechanical things up. FTP have never been known for really asking the consumer base what they like and that usually ends up with events like the tragic event of the Alpha16 launch.
Whose "us"?

One of the most consistent things I see on both these and the Steam forums, is someone making critical feedback so often uses the pro-noun "us/we" where they ought to have said "I/me"........

 
Whose "us"?
One of the most consistent things I see on both these and the Steam forums, is someone making critical feedback so often uses the pro-noun "us/we" where they ought to have said "I/me"........
This could be the case of someone like me who plays with a group of friends that share the same views of the game, I've been guilty of using 'we' from times to times, but I try my utmost to always specify that I speak for a group of 4-7 people.

 
Only ones I miss looting are the Nurse and the Cop. Being infected or injured and needing medical items to help survive and seeing a Nurse really got my hopes up. The Cop was nice just to see if you would get some more ammo or a gun.

 
While looting was a nice mechanic. I do think the bag drops are alot higher quality and more exciting because I never seen any zombie lore where the survivors are looting zeds

 
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