PC Awful zombie spawn positions

[Biscoitoso]

Zombies hiding inside closets and ceiling are a great imersion for me, I like the feel they were humans hiding before die and turn into zombies.

But I miss the great roaming horders from A-14-15.

 

[Laz Man]

Completely agree about the attack-when-activated volumes. They don't bother me at all. Well, I mean they do bother me what with all the abrasions, lacerations, and broken bones, but as a design element they're fine, given the direction TFP has taken POIs in general.

I'll copy my stuff over into a bug report, good idea. After thinking about it a bit, my guess is the POI designer figured well, you're facing the ladder when climbing (away from the rooftop) and so you'll never see them spawn. But a smart player will just peek his/her head above the roof to see what's in store, and that causes a problem. "Hey guys, the roof is empty and the loot is just sitting there! Let's goooooo! <pop> AAAAHHHHH GET THESE VULTURES OFF MY FACE MY LEG IS BROKEN!"

I think they are a fantastic design tool when used correctly.  Having 1000 zombies attack the player when they enter a very small confined space would probably be frustrating for most players versus having a couple or so come up from behind you from a hidden/believable crawl spaces is more believable and can be overcome.

 

[Solomon]

GTX 750 Ti Memory Specs:
 
2048 MBStandard Memory Config

So no, you don't meet specs. You only have 2 gig.


 
 

Then can you tell me what is this?:

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+750+Ti&id=2815

There are 4gb versions of the GTX 750 Ti series, i know what i bought.

 

[SylenThunder]

Then can you tell me what is this?:

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+750+Ti&id=2815

There are 4gb versions of the GTX 750 Ti series, i know what i bought.

"Max Memory Size" means that it is the max the platform is capable of. It does not mean that is what they shipped with.

According to the manufacturer, that card was only sold default with a 2048MB memory configuration.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/geforce-gtx-750-ti/specifications/

You may have one of the few cards that were built with a 4GB spec, but it is not common. It also doesn't change the fact that the card is a couple of generations behind what is recommended. It sits firmly on the min-spec level for GPU processing power, no matter the amount of VRAM it has. Given the details that we have on your system right now, I can tell you that it will struggle to achieve a steady 60FPS without an SSD and extreme optimization efforts. Your framerates are more likely to hover in the 40-50 range and will tank when you are around larger buildings or any number of torches. Your CPU, RAM, and hard drive will struggle to keep up with loading, so it's no surprise that you are having issues with zeds appearing in front of your face.

 

[Roland]

I think they are a fantastic design tool when used correctly.  Having 1000 zombies attack the player when they enter a very small confined space would probably be frustrating for most players versus having a couple or so come up from behind you from a hidden/believable crawl spaces is more believable and can be overcome.

Not only that but now with the ragdoll stumbling animations zombies don't drop out of the rafters onto their feet and immediately start hitting you before you even have time to react. Now they do face plants on the floor and just splat in various positions that are not only entertaining to see but also give the player a bit of time to react. I love when zombies fall from above because it can get my heart racing when I didn't expect it, there are too many hilarious landings to count, and I usually am able to use that bit of extra time to dispatch them all  or at least retreat into a previous room and set some traps before getting rekt by raining zombies.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

One huge area in Red Mesa and one shooting range where the designers probably wanted to create an arena battle situation and then intermittent rooms in various POIs is too extreme and makes taking stealth pointless? We’ll have to agree to disagree about that. 

I get that not every player would want to play an arena battle and so would hate those POIs but that hardly makes taking stealth pointless. Even having one section in every POI that triggers an immediate attack wouldn’t make taking stealth pointless and those kind of sleeper volumes are not as common as that by a long shot. 
 

My criticism of the system would be to randomize the attack volumes so that they can happen anywhere infrequently so that you can’t memorize when they are going to happen. But making it so that if you take stealth you can always enter every sleeper volume undetected would make exploration too samey. 

That just beeing lazy tbh. They just said, ok we want an arena battle so we just nullify the skill.  At least make us trigger a speaker or something else that wakes them up and can´t be avoided, like a guard zombie with a special skill for detection. But like that it´s just lazy bad design tbh.

A newer player experiencing this will think that there is something wrong when a skill suddenly doesn´t work for no reason. Not the kind of impression you want your customer to have.

If you need to stop a skill from working for no reason to get a certain experience, you have done it wrong. It´s unlogical and bad for the immersion.

 

[Roland]

That just beeing lazy tbh. They just said, ok we want an arena battle so we just nullify the skill.  At least make us trigger a speaker or something else that wakes them up and can´t be avoided, like a guard zombie with a special skill for detection. But like that it´s just lazy bad design tbh.

A newer player experiencing this will think that there is something wrong when a skill suddenly doesn´t work for no reason. Not the kind of impression you want your customer to have.

If you need to stop a skill from working for no reason to get a certain experience, you have done it wrong. It´s unlogical and bad for the immersion.

I agree with you that having some sort of trigger device would be cool....the first time. But then after that you always know about it and never trigger it. You can feel about it however you wish but there is nothing bad design-wise for scripted events to happen no matter what. There can be events in a game that are unavoidable. Now if it was unavoidable AND certain death that would be bad. But it isn't certain death is it? The player can survive it in a different manner than pure stealth and that adds variety to the gameplay. And just like you mentioned, if you don't like the Red Mesa facility then you can avoid it and stealth elsewhere.

You can call it lazy design but that is just what you say instead of "I don't like it". The fact is that there is nothing about an occasional unavoidable event (provided you choose to go there) that forces a different experience upon the player that they must react to in possibly a new and different way than they normally have been reacting. Also I disagree that gamers will think there was a bug and their stealth failed them. I think they will assume that the zombies were already awake and alert in that room and it was not possible to sneak among them and kill them from the shadows in that instance. That is realistic. If I walk into a room full of sleeping people I can easily stealth through that room. But if they are awake and alert and detect me as I enter the door then stealth is impossible.

Sometimes unavoidable bad stuff happens and how you react and adapt means the difference between life and death. Boy, sure seems to fit the survival genre to me. Frankly, I'm surprised you are so against such things. If there were never any bad events beyond the control of the player it would be a very boring and controllable world and the survival aspect of the game would suffer. Is your love of stealth so great that it overwhelms your usual love of anything that bolsters the survival aspect of the game?

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

That might be an acceptable option in a game that is not open world survival. Like in a FPS with certain pathes that you can´t leave or when it is the story line and absolutly necessary for the story, but not at a random POI. And even a siren that goes off no matter what if you enter a certain area is better than just stopping a skill from working. Make it traderlike so it´s not destroyable.

Also no special zombie? They could be well hidden with a certain range of detection.

Heck everything is better than a skill just not working anymore. That is bad design. Pretty much everyone experiencing this for the first time thought it´s a bug or wrongly adjusted sleeper volumes. That alone should tell you that this is obviously not the way to go.

 

[Jugginator]

The skill does say "reduces noise/light", not "this perk makes you soundless and invisible to the zombies when sneaking". If you could sneak around every POI without combat then that would be the holy grail of a perk and a bad game design.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

@Jugginator Like i already said in this thread, no problem with not beeing able to sneak up on everything, everywhere.

But a huge area where suddenly everything wakes up no matter how far away for no reason other than "we want you to have an arena like battle" is bad design. And it´s not even an arena like battle, it´s a few zombies that just wake up. There isn´t even any special event or big fight triggered. It´s just a normal battle, like you have it when you don´t sneak. That makes it even worse.

And i don´t mind the battle. It´s the way it is implented that is bad.

If they want to imply arena like battles or have areas where you can´t sneak they should do something else. Not just having them waking up. And at least trigger an event that is worth beeing called arena like battle if this is what it´s about.

I really don´t see any problem including something like motion sensors linked to any kind of alarm going off, that you can´t destroy or avoid. Or if bandits are implented a hidden scout inside the POI using a camera to spot you entering, that wakes everything up to make it harder for you to loot things that they want for the duke. Something like that.

 

[Laz Man]

Not only that but now with the ragdoll stumbling animations zombies don't drop out of the rafters onto their feet and immediately start hitting you before you even have time to react. Now they do face plants on the floor and just splat in various positions that are not only entertaining to see but also give the player a bit of time to react. I love when zombies fall from above because it can get my heart racing when I didn't expect it, there are too many hilarious landings to count, and I usually am able to use that bit of extra time to dispatch them all  or at least retreat into a previous room and set some traps before getting rekt by raining zombies.

If you haven't tried my A19 Church Prefab, then you should.  Guaranteed heart pumping moments hehehe...

Shameless Plug:

https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/876

 

[Kalen]

The player can survive it in a different manner than pure stealth and that adds variety to the gameplay.

I think its pretty cool that there are areas where stealth isn't an option and you have to fight.   I think it would be equally cool if there were areas were fighting isn't an option and you have to stealth.

 

[Roland]

If you haven't tried my A19 Church Prefab, then you should.  Guaranteed heart pumping moments hehehe...

Shameless Plug:

https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/876

I had your POI in mind when I was talking about it. And @pApA^LeGBa I do agree with you that having some sort of trigger event like a siren or flashing lights would be a better implementation. Could even be disco lights and music that blares like a trap set by the Duke's men.

 

[Laz Man]

I had your POI in mind when I was talking about it. And @pApA^LeGBa I do agree with you that having some sort of trigger event like a siren or flashing lights would be a better implementation. Could even be disco lights and music that blares like a trap set by the Duke's men.

We have the nice combat music when a good number of them are "triggered" and on their way which is a nice enough warning siren for the player.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

@Laz Man Not beeing warned is not what my problem is here.

Other than that, i never have that music on. Not only in 7D, i turn this off in every game. I do prefer my own music or like in 7D none at all.

 

[Solomon]

"Max Memory Size" means that it is the max the platform is capable of. It does not mean that is what they shipped with.

According to the manufacturer, that card was only sold default with a 2048MB memory configuration.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/geforce-gtx-750-ti/specifications/

You may have one of the few cards that were built with a 4GB spec, but it is not common. It also doesn't change the fact that the card is a couple of generations behind what is recommended. It sits firmly on the min-spec level for GPU processing power, no matter the amount of VRAM it has. Given the details that we have on your system right now, I can tell you that it will struggle to achieve a steady 60FPS without an SSD and extreme optimization efforts. Your framerates are more likely to hover in the 40-50 range and will tank when you are around larger buildings or any number of torches. Your CPU, RAM, and hard drive will struggle to keep up with loading, so it's no surprise that you are having issues with zeds appearing in front of your face.

I know its not common, it was hard to find it but it serves me well also your assuption is right im playing between 45-55fps. The main problem is that the info put on the store page says to a lot of people that they have the recommended specs when they are not.

Also just a sidenote but if its possible that this is indeed caused by my hardware not being able to handle the game how can my fathers laptop what runs this game at 10fps not have any problems spawning the zeds in that place? Theres a side window where you can from further away see if the zeds are there or not, in my case most of the time they dont seem to appear but my fathers computer shows that they are always there.

 

[SylenThunder]

Minimum specs is exactly that. It's the minimum PC specs to be able to start the game and play it. The industry standard for min spec would likely be something like 30FPS at 1280x720 (720p). It just means that if you have that level of hardware, the client will be able to run. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will be an enjoyable experience.

Recomended specs on the other hand, are typically the minimum required to achieve 60FPS stable at 1920x1080 (1080p),

And look at how 7 Days' specs compare to those of some other games.


Minimum


7 Days


Rust


Ark


CoD:MW


GTA-V


CPU


2.4Ghz Dual Core


i7-3770

AMD FX-9590



i5-2400

AMD FX-8320



i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300


Core 2 Q6600 @ 2.40GHz


RAM


8 GB


10 GB


8 GB


8GB


4GB


GPU


2 GB Dedicated VRAM


GTX 670 2GB

AMD R9 280



GTX 670 2GB

Radeon HD 7870 2GB



GTX 670 / GTX 1650

AMD Radeon HD 7950 



9800 GT 1GB
AMD HD 4870 1GB




Minimum


7 Days


Rust


Ark


CoD:MW


GTA-V


CPU


3.0 Ghz Quad Core


i7-4790K

AMD R5 1600



Who



i5-2500K

AMD R5 1600X



i5 3470
AMD X8 FX-8350


RAM


8 GB


10 GB


Needs


12 GB


4GB


GPU


4 GB Dedicated VRAM


GTX 980

AMD R9 Fury



Specs?



GTX 970 / GTX 1660

AMD Radeon™ R9 390 / RX 580 



GTX 660 2GB
AMD HD 7870 2GB


And if I'm going to be totally honest here, current min spec should be 4GB dedicated VRAM, and recommended specs for 7 Days should read a CPU 3.8GHz hex core, 16GB+ RAM, and 6GB dedicated VRAM on the GPU. It likely won't be changed though, as there is a lot of optimization that is being worked on which will bring it back down again.

What I can say is that our min specs should read more like Rust and Ark does with the details on the CPU and GPU.  Ark kind of falls short though in that they don't give Recommended specs anywhere.  If I had to guess I would say i7-4770k, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 960.

Also note that I only put GTA-V in here because every single freaking time someone complains about FPS, they use it as a reference for their potato. Never mind that it released as a finished game three years before this one even started development, and it's not even a Voxel game.

 

[Solomon]

Minimum specs is exactly that. It's the minimum PC specs to be able to start the game and play it. The industry standard for min spec would likely be something like 30FPS at 1280x720 (720p). It just means that if you have that level of hardware, the client will be able to run. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will be an enjoyable experience.

Recomended specs on the other hand, are typically the minimum required to achieve 60FPS stable at 1920x1080 (1080p),

And look at how 7 Days' specs compare to those of some other games.


Minimum


7 Days


Rust


Ark


CoD:MW


GTA-V


CPU


2.4Ghz Dual Core


i7-3770

AMD FX-9590



i5-2400

AMD FX-8320



i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300


Core 2 Q6600 @ 2.40GHz


RAM


8 GB


10 GB


8 GB


8GB


4GB


GPU


2 GB Dedicated VRAM


GTX 670 2GB

AMD R9 280



GTX 670 2GB

Radeon HD 7870 2GB



GTX 670 / GTX 1650

AMD Radeon HD 7950 



9800 GT 1GB
AMD HD 4870 1GB




Minimum


7 Days


Rust


Ark


CoD:MW


GTA-V


CPU


3.0 Ghz Quad Core


i7-4790K

AMD R5 1600



Who



i5-2500K

AMD R5 1600X



i5 3470
AMD X8 FX-8350


RAM


8 GB


10 GB


Needs


12 GB


4GB


GPU


4 GB Dedicated VRAM


GTX 980

AMD R9 Fury



Specs?



GTX 970 / GTX 1660

AMD Radeon™ R9 390 / RX 580 



GTX 660 2GB
AMD HD 7870 2GB



And if I'm going to be totally honest here, current min spec should be 4GB dedicated VRAM, and recommended specs for 7 Days should read a CPU 3.8GHz hex core, 16GB+ RAM, and 6GB dedicated VRAM on the GPU. It likely won't be changed though, as there is a lot of optimization that is being worked on which will bring it back down again.

What I can say is that our min specs should read more like Rust and Ark does with the details on the CPU and GPU.  Ark kind of falls short though in that they don't give Recommended specs anywhere.  If I had to guess I would say i7-4770k, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 960.

Also note that I only put GTA-V in here because every single freaking time someone complains about FPS, they use it as a reference for their potato. Never mind that it released as a finished game three years before this one even started development, and it's not even a Voxel game.

I usually use those few horribly unoptimized games as references like Saints Row IV because despite the game being 7 years old now it still stutters and lags at max graphics unless you have a computer what runs 2019 high end AAA games at max graphics.

 

[Boidster]

Theres a side window where you can from further away see if the zeds are there or not, in my case most of the time they dont seem to appear but my fathers computer shows that they are always there.

Assuming identical video quality options, if you follow the exact same path to get to that window, and in one game the sleepers have spawned and in the other game they have not, that should be reported as a bug. If the volume was triggered, the zombies should spawn and be visible (again, assuming the same settings). You can open the POI in the editor to confirm the location of the volumes, and trace your path to the window to see which volumes it touches.

 

[Solomon]

Assuming identical video quality options, if you follow the exact same path to get to that window, and in one game the sleepers have spawned and in the other game they have not, that should be reported as a bug. If the volume was triggered, the zombies should spawn and be visible (again, assuming the same settings). You can open the POI in the editor to confirm the location of the volumes, and trace your path to the window to see which volumes it touches.

Yeah gonna look for that, is there something specific i need to see like yellow/red warnings or just confirm whenever they actually spawn or not?