PC Developer Discussions: Alpha 17

[Lonestarcanuck]

Can I get some details on the attributes?



for example is Stamina /S = Stamina per second? if so is the -0.57 mean my default stamina usage (good) or is it consumption (bad) ?

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Its about a 50/50 chance that I (and anyone else) can start building a reinforced concrete base around early afternoon on Day 1.It depends on the trader having both a forge and mixer in working condition and that happens to me about half the time.

There are a lot of great PIOs. I took over a trailer/wrecked car PIO until I got to level 11 before I started branching out.

so building on Day one? take over a POI or dig a hole get resources, etc. Zombies crush stuff on bloodmoon now days so it would be hard to survive anything you can build (I think) in the early game stages.

 

[Doombringer101]

Can I get some details on the attributes?
View attachment 25523

for example is Stamina /S = Stamina per second? if so is the -0.57 mean my default stamina usage (good) or is it consumption (bad) ?

That's consumption = bad.

Armour tires you out faster essentially.

 

[Blackgryphon]

I've been making games professionally since 1990. When I say "what seems best to make a successful game", I'm not talking about my favorite color or anything else about my choices, but the entirety of the development process and the final product. That encompasses everything including how players will react to features. 20 people can come on these forums and complain about whatever, but they are often not the majority. We are not building a house for one person, but for millions with a million opinions and in the end we do what seems best.

Fine, but why lock the map for servers to a size that is 137 sq. km smaller than A16's default. There are plenty of servers that consistently have 50 players online. And a 64 sq. km map will not do. Why take away options like that?

When 20 people complain, there are a ton more that are silent. So, did anyone complain the map is too big in A16? How many people said "We want a tiny map"? Pretty much the only good thing about this game is the ability to mod it. Every wonder why there are so many mods for the game?

"We are not building a house for one person, but for millions with a million opinions and in the end we do what seems best." No, there are not a million options. This build takes away tons of options.. And if you think millions of people play this game multiplayer, I have news for you. lol

By limiting the size of the map, you are doing nothing but pissing off a good chunk of your player base. Why? What's the point of that? A decent server computer had NO problem running the large maps of A16. My server computer could even run perfectly with maps that where over 300 sq. km. So.. limiting us to 64 sq. km serves what purpose?

 

[Aldranon]

With hindsight, it was a mistake to withhold the general game play direction that A17 was going. Even I was annoyed for a full day and it looks like some were more annoyed and some less.

For some, it was kinda like the joke of the spouse telling her husband she was going to give him a surprise on their wedding night: She was gay.

 

[DaVegaNL]

I have the feeling that the performance in b199 is even worse than in b197.. Anyone else feel the same?

 

[Menace312]

I have the feeling that the performance in b199 is even worse than in b197.. Anyone else feel the same?

Hmm, the game never ran better for me... Weird since I'm still using my old GTX970.

Just lucky I guess.

(Or i turned down the resolution and turned off V-sync).

 

[DaVegaNL]

Hmm, the game never ran better for me... Weird since I'm still using my old GTX970.
Just lucky I guess.

(Or i turned down the resolution and turned off V-sync).

Yeah I turned it down too. But even at 1280x720 I have 10-18 indoors.. I don't want to go to the 800x600 resolution to get an FPS of 30+...

 

[BayouMac]

First time the trader quest worked for me (RWG), but on this restart (RWG too) I got the bug 0.0m to trader location, no quest map icon. Does that mean there was no trader generated on this map?

No. My world had the 0, 0 bug. I stayed in a town near my spawn to level up some. Exploring, I ended up finding a nearby Trader. However, I could not complete the quest, and I wanted the xp. So I used commands to teleport to 0,0 and complete quest and then teleported back to my base. All good now.

 

[Doombringer101]

I have the feeling that the performance in b199 is even worse than in b197.. Anyone else feel the same?

I am not noticing a performance drop, but I have heard a few comments in game from others who are seeing some issues so you are likely correct.

I suspect B199 will soon be gone, so hopefully B200+ fixes those issues you are seeing

The place anything then punch it mechanic needs to go away shortly IMO

 

[FileMachete]

Well, I think the log message you are getting is quite conclusive. If you still don't trust it, ask someone with knowledge of windows how to check a binary if it is 32 or 64 bit. And if you have both binaries around and don't know which is executed, check task manager or move the 32bit version to somewhere else and see if you still can start the game.
In linux it is often as simple as typing "file <filename>" on the command line.

Good point meganoth. Confirmed that the running "7DaysToDie.exe" is 64-bit.

Both 32 & 64 bit versions are automatically installed under;

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\7 Days To Die\ArchSrc then \x86 & \x86_64 directories.

There's also a "7DaysToDie.exe" (64-bit) at: C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\7 Days To Die

Which I'd guess is the one Steam calls.

Honestly not trying to be pedantic, but Back in the day I was involved w troubleshooting more than once where the root cause turned out to be memory address space allocation; 32-bit instead of 64-bit. My local ~3.5 GB mem use & the performance roused those memories & made me wonder. (as a sysadmin/network geek, not a coder)

But I'm not a programmer so no idea if it's even possible in Unity to call a 32-bit library for a 64-bit build and have that cap virtual memory size.

Anyway.. My sister is eating "tofu pups" (I kid you not) for dinner, so I need to go add some sound effects, ha!

 

[madmole]

Re: difficulty
...sincere question.

Do people really want a game where there's little chance of failure?

Do people want a game where there's NO chance of a "crap happens" moment that's out of your control?

Cause those deaths are the best moments for me...

When the challenge doesn't exist I either quit a game or restart over if there is replay value.

 

[Menace312]

Yeah I turned it down too. But even at 1280x720 I have 10-18 indoors.. I don't want to go to the 800x600 resolution to get an FPS of 30+...

Wow that is low... I'm at 1440p using half textures and no Vsync. Everything else is on max. Well except draw distance, it's about 3/4.

Edit:

Generally I'm at 60fps, with drops down to 20-30 when lots are going on...

 

[madmole]

For the love of god.. please don't let the crybabys convince the devs to decrease difficulty.
TURN DOWN THE DIFFICULTY IN SETTINGS!

USE THE LONGEST DAYLIGHT POSSIBLE!

MAKE ZOMBIES ALWAYS WALK!

BE A MAN AND LEARN2PLAY

There are a few extreme cases we're tuning, like boss room of poi difficulty, guns are too weak, tweaking stamina a bit etc but no we're not going to make it easier most people love the new challenge.

 

[BioFringe]

It varies from pc to pc. I'm just saying that the biggest win for a lot of people was lowering the resolution. We are working on optimizations and have a pretty nice one coming.

Please excuse my ignorance but I've never had to lower the resolution for a game to run better (I've been lucky that way) so I'd just like to clarify for my own peace of mind...

1. Should 1920x1080 be dropped to 1280x720? I think that sounds right.

2. Should this be done via the desktop before starting the game AND set in the game to match?

Thanks to anyone that can assist.

 

[SnowDog1942]

There are a few extreme cases we're tuning, like boss room of poi difficulty, guns are too weak, tweaking stamina a bit etc but no we're not going to make it easier most people love the new challenge.

GREAT news, thank you!

 

[madmole]

Be careful what you ask for. The question may shock you. To the core.
And just to be on record with my own thoughts, weird spawning issues aside Im loving every minute of rediscovery in this alpha. Its what I dreamed for. Its WHY I made the mod I did. And I'm proud to say that this alpha has already defeated me several times. Something 16 NEVER could do.

Please do not change a thing. If anything I see areas for increasing difficulty (way too much gun loot, ores in surface boulders) but Im a sadist at times.

Thank you for making me a fan of vanilla again, something i was aching for.

Good to hear you like our work. This is what I wanted 7 days to be all along and thanks to an amazing team we made it happen.

 

[madmole]

Edit the rwgmixer file. Change the 8k number to its 16k equivalent. So... 8192 to 16384?

We disabled it (at least I think we did) because generation of a 16k map was either stalling out or maybe takes longer than we were willing to wait to see (+1 hour)

 

[madmole]

1) Nope. And I personally prefer it that it -is- a learning curve. I'm ok w dying, -if- there's a reasonable chance that I learn from it.
2) Nope. Yet learning should reduce those moments significantly.

I posted earlier about my 1st horde night and that I felt it was too hard for default difficulty.

I stand by that. IMO progression is important & just steamrolling folks on horde night doesn't seem like 'good' progression, to me.

I'm totally ok with the (rough) difficulty other than horde night.

I do hope they work-on/tweak a few things so there's a bit more of a ramp up.

Will admit that I'm worried that the only bases that will stand up to MID-game BMs will have to basically be bristling w -every- kind of turret/trap; and we'll be back to the whole, 'how'm I supposed to make all that damn ammo??' meme.

We honestly don't know what it will take to stop the hordes. Obviously a combination of traps, bullets and base design. I plan on playing a lot of hours this build and get a good grasp on the late game feel and balance. A16 was end game at day 30 or less for me, I built that huge castle and was bored after that because any old roof top was safe.

 

[Royal Deluxe]

We disabled it (at least I think we did) because generation of a 16k map was either stalling out or maybe takes longer than we were willing to wait to see (+1 hour)

Maybe make the option red and add a "WARNING, Takes really long even on Highend PC´s"

i guess there aree enough masochists among the playerbase XD

 

[madmole]

The quest system might have a slight problem: Since you have to go to a trader for quest AND reward A17 will push players even more into setting themselves up near a trader.
Sure, it never is a bad idea to have a trader near you, but this is really stacking a lot of incentive on your choice of location (if you are using bases).

This supposes that traders don't run out of quests, I might be wrong there. But if not, maybe a quests 2.0 should make getting the reward independent of the traders.

You don't have to do quests but it seems to be worth it. HOWEVER.... it can be a lethal distraction as I've found myself loving the quests so much I don't work on a base and then its too late come horde day and my base fails. Time management is always a thing in this game.