[MOD] Friendly Animals - Friendly animals united against the zombie hordes!

[wolffblood]

Not that I know of, but yeah the "downside" about them helping you kill zombies is that they're going to kill some zombies. Sure, you don't always need their help, but there are always more zombies to kill and if you do need their help it's nice to have! How rare they are is another matter that I'll have to take up in spawning.xml modification. As of right now, I think they're usually fairly rare.
But yes, if there was a way to have NPC's "teamed" with you for XP, that would be neat!

Is there a way to make it where they don't spawn near you? That was my issue. A wolf spawned in next to me and started attacking. If they were spawned a little further out, outside of the aggro range, then he wouldn't have killed them.

If anything, look up how xp is shared. Is it through its own variable? Is it through the same variable as party? I'm guessing not since you can be in a party and xp still not be shared. So what if you have this shared xp variable as true for every friendly animal. You're still not in party, but flagged to share xp. So as long as you're in range, xp is shared. Or something like that.

 

[Myrrah]

Is there a way to make it where they don't spawn near you? That was my issue. A wolf spawned in next to me and started attacking. If they were spawned a little further out, outside of the aggro range, then he wouldn't have killed them.
If anything, look up how xp is shared. Is it through its own variable? Is it through the same variable as party? I'm guessing not since you can be in a party and xp still not be shared. So what if you have this shared xp variable as true for every friendly animal. You're still not in party, but flagged to share xp. So as long as you're in range, xp is shared. Or something like that.

this would be cool but their help doesn't bother me much. There are so many zombies i haven't had much issue with xp gain. i think i go up a level every wandering horde and that's with their help-lol (that may be a slight exaggeration but not by much). i am using them as though i would a "pet" in all other games i've played that have pets. As a distraction/tank. Even in the dungeon POI'S. The pathing now is so much better than in A16 that they are surprisingly good at navigating things. Something about the new AI that i'm really impressed with. They have saved my bacon by surprise several times. which makes me go "awww" i get in over my head and theres no where to run and i think "oh crap. i'm dead for sure" (like a couple of bloated guys drop out of the ceiling you were SURE you checked and thought it was safe to loot, so you turn around and they're RIGHT on you and you're in a corner and you're bleeding and your weapon goes "click click"-haha) then i hear wolves attacking. YES!

 

[wolffblood]

this would be cool but their help doesn't bother me much. There are so many zombies i haven't had much issue with xp gain. i think i go up a level every wandering horde and that's with their help-lol (that may be a slight exaggeration but not by much). i am using them as though i would a "pet" in all other games i've played that have pets. As a distraction/tank. Even in the dungeon POI'S. The pathing now is so much better than in A16 that they are surprisingly good at navigating things. Something about the new AI that i'm really impressed with. They have saved my bacon by surprise several times. which makes me go "awww" i get in over my head and theres no where to run and i think "oh crap. i'm dead for sure" (like a couple of bloated guys drop out of the ceiling you were SURE you checked and thought it was safe to loot, so you turn around and they're RIGHT on you and you're in a corner and you're bleeding and your weapon goes "click click"-haha) then i hear wolves attacking. YES!

lol, I had one game that I didn't get a wandering horde till day 4. SP, so it had that lower chance, but to not have 1 till then was odd. As for them in POIs, I've yet to actually have a wolf follow me around even if I am close by, was that something you added? And I've yet to have one spawn near one to help.

As for the AI, yeah, it's much better, but in POIs, I've had them be dumb so many times, sometimes worse than A16.4... like I followed one melee him while he was walking to another room, while still hitting him, he starts banging on a wall, still hitting him, and killed him without ever going for me... was like, wtf? Though that's only happened with sleepers, now if a zombie came in from outside due to noise, they path very well. Wonder if it's a sleeper pathing bug? makes no sense though since they all have same pathing system. I just am an archer/ninja, so can go stealth through POI and 1 shot most things, so not often do I get surprised now. And learned to ALWAYS look up in case of rafters, etc. they could drop from. I almost always walk around looking at a 45 deg angle up after I clear a room from a doorway, lol.

Should at some point get a dedicated for us all to play on at some point. Sadly I can't play too much, though

 

[Myrrah]

lol, I had one game that I didn't get a wandering horde till day 4. SP, so it had that lower chance, but to not have 1 till then was odd. As for them in POIs, I've yet to actually have a wolf follow me around even if I am close by, was that something you added? And I've yet to have one spawn near one to help.
As for the AI, yeah, it's much better, but in POIs, I've had them be dumb so many times, sometimes worse than A16.4... like I followed one melee him while he was walking to another room, while still hitting him, he starts banging on a wall, still hitting him, and killed him without ever going for me... was like, wtf? Though that's only happened with sleepers, now if a zombie came in from outside due to noise, they path very well. Wonder if it's a sleeper pathing bug? makes no sense though since they all have same pathing system. I just am an archer/ninja, so can go stealth through POI and 1 shot most things, so not often do I get surprised now. And learned to ALWAYS look up in case of rafters, etc. they could drop from. I almost always walk around looking at a 45 deg angle up after I clear a room from a doorway, lol.

Should at some point get a dedicated for us all to play on at some point. Sadly I can't play too much, though

ha! i'm an archer ninja too i get into the bad situations due to neglecting my melee levelling (a16) or putting points in (a17). And i only use guns for emergencies. i am cheating to have them help me but i don't really view it as cheating since if they were actual followers as it seems they originally were-they would be with me already. So i spawn one in with me in the dungeon POI's. I noticed the wolves pathing AI is impressive because of that. They find their way all over the place-to an extent that surprises me. The zombies though-yes-lol! They will hit trees or doors while you're standing off to the side looking at them like "uhh...dude. i'm right here"

oh-and i swear that sometimes the zombies actually spawn in on top of you. there have been times i KNOW i checked the ceiling. Nevertheless-there they are

(another "oh" i think they follow "heat". So if you are being stealthy and generating no heat they wouldn't follow you. i have found though that if you make noise-they sort of "meander" towards you all the time. i had one follow me a LONG ways-i think because i was chopping wood/mining boulders as i went. Also the noise of the vehicles seems to attract them

 

[wolffblood]

ha! i'm an archer ninja too i get into the bad situations due to neglecting my melee levelling (a16) or putting points in (a17). And i only use guns for emergencies. i am cheating to have them help me but i don't really view it as cheating since if they were actual followers as it seems they originally were-they would be with me already. So i spawn one in with me in the dungeon POI's. I noticed the wolves pathing AI is impressive because of that. They find their way all over the place-to an extent that surprises me. The zombies though-yes-lol! They will hit trees or doors while you're standing off to the side looking at them like "uhh...dude. i'm right here"

oh, okay, makes sense they are in there if you spawned one in . I try to limit that, actually, haven't actually ever spawned something in the game. and yeah, if they're friendly, I consider them followers as well, and wolves were already the most spawned in animal I've noticed, so I always have to go looking for farms or the like for boars. Bears are rare for me as are deer. Rabbits, hit n miss since they can easily be hidden in brush, so probably ran passed so many and haven't noticed, lol.

 

[Myrrah]

oh, okay, makes sense they are in there if you spawned one in . I try to limit that, actually, haven't actually ever spawned something in the game. and yeah, if they're friendly, I consider them followers as well, and wolves were already the most spawned in animal I've noticed, so I always have to go looking for farms or the like for boars. Bears are rare for me as are deer. Rabbits, hit n miss since they can easily be hidden in brush, so probably ran passed so many and haven't noticed, lol.

yeah! i hardly ever see bears or deer. i figured it was just my map but maybe they're more scarce than they used to be overall. And rabbits. i gave up on rabbits

 

[Swiftpaw]

Is there a way to make it where they don't spawn near you? That was my issue. A wolf spawned in next to me and started attacking. If they were spawned a little further out, outside of the aggro range, then he wouldn't have killed them.
If anything, look up how xp is shared. Is it through its own variable? Is it through the same variable as party? I'm guessing not since you can be in a party and xp still not be shared. So what if you have this shared xp variable as true for every friendly animal. You're still not in party, but flagged to share xp. So as long as you're in range, xp is shared. Or something like that.

Never heard of that, but my guess is perhaps you found a triggered event in a POI. There are loads of POIs now with zombie traps in them. For normal biome spawning, they spawn far away as they don't just want to pop into existence right in front of you so as to not make the game feel cheap and fake.

As for XP, it's not in a config file, it's set in the game because like you said it happens when you team up and only if you want it, so I'm doubting that this can be force set for any entity, but maybe!

I could easily bump up XP from zombies if it was felt that any re-balancing was necessary! Increase the number of zombies, decrease the number of friendlies, change the damage friendlies do, etc. I'm not very convinced it is, though, and think things are quite hard enough as it is! Besides, there's always increasing game difficulty settings if that was desired.

this would be cool but their help doesn't bother me much. There are so many zombies i haven't had much issue with xp gain. i think i go up a level every wandering horde and that's with their help-lol (that may be a slight exaggeration but not by much). i am using them as though i would a "pet" in all other games i've played that have pets. As a distraction/tank. Even in the dungeon POI'S. The pathing now is so much better than in A16 that they are surprisingly good at navigating things. Something about the new AI that i'm really impressed with. They have saved my bacon by surprise several times. which makes me go "awww" i get in over my head and theres no where to run and i think "oh crap. i'm dead for sure" (like a couple of bloated guys drop out of the ceiling you were SURE you checked and thought it was safe to loot, so you turn around and they're RIGHT on you and you're in a corner and you're bleeding and your weapon goes "click click"-haha) then i hear wolves attacking. YES!

Yeah, they did a great job with POI traps. Often there are lots of traps in lots of the POIs, sometimes with some pretty nice rewards if you make it to the end. I've also had huge hordes come towards me while inside complex POIs, only to suddenly find myself trapped as they all slowly came through the maze I made while breaking into the POI and came up behind me! It was so bad one time that I couldn't go back through them, and instead had to run forward through the POI triggering all the remaining sleepers and traps until I found a window to jump out of on the 2nd floor! Then later on in the same POI I had two zombie bears spawn and bust into the POI. No friendlies around to help me at all throughout any of that so I don't think there's any problem with them being too common, but I'll have to spend more time in the current A17 b221 version to find out if that's still the case. :3

 

[Myrrah]

Yeah, they did a great job with POI traps. Often there are lots of traps in lots of the POIs, sometimes with some pretty nice rewards if you make it to the end. I've also had huge hordes come towards me while inside complex POIs, only to suddenly find myself trapped as they all slowly came through the maze I made while breaking into the POI and came up behind me! It was so bad one time that I couldn't go back through them, and instead had to run forward through the POI triggering all the remaining sleepers and traps until I found a window to jump out of on the 2nd floor! Then later on in the same POI I had two zombie bears spawn and bust into the POI. No friendlies around to help me at all throughout any of that so I don't think there's any problem with them being too common, but I'll have to spend more time in the current A17 b221 version to find out if that's still the case. :3

yes! It happens always in the complex ones. And i have been playing using clockwork orange so i think that ups the amount even more. i love the details put into the new POI'S (i understand everyones complaints about them being haunted house-ish but i'm comparing them to before. It finally looks like someone took time and care and thought of "stories" for them similar to many of the player created POI's. So while i get their complaints-i think it's vastly improved) and i am determined to check them out but i do think it was more intended for groups. i'm not a group. i'm all alone in a zombie apocalypse i get that there are all the great players who take pride in doing them solo but for me and my idea of fun-the "I am Legend" scenario makes the wolves a perfect "companion" for taking them on. Really appreciate your making that possible since it's something i've wished for since day 1

edit: in response to your comment about them being common-i haven't found them to be all that common spawning naturally

 

[Swiftpaw]

yes! It happens always in the complex ones. And i have been playing using clockwork orange so i think that ups the amount even more. i love the details put into the new POI'S (i understand everyones complaints about them being haunted house-ish but i'm comparing them to before. It finally looks like someone took time and care and thought of "stories" for them similar to many of the player created POI's. So while i get their complaints-i think it's vastly improved) and i am determined to check them out but i do think it was more intended for groups. i'm not a group. i'm all alone in a zombie apocalypse i get that there are all the great players who take pride in doing them solo but for me and my idea of fun-the "I am Legend" scenario makes the wolves a perfect "companion" for taking them on. Really appreciate your making that possible since it's something i've wished for since day 1
edit: in response to your comment about them being common-i haven't found them to be all that common spawning naturally

Cool, and you're welcome! Yep, making wolves (and other non-zombies) not be mindless mean attacking machines like the zombies are was priority #1 for me from the moment they were added. Sure, everyone needs food to survive, but mindlessly attacking instead of being able to scare someone off or make friends was unacceptable, as was demonizing them, not just because I'm a wolf myself but also because that's both mean as well as silly and unrealistic.

I play with a small mod that I made which just makes human zombie bodies harvestable again, something they removed for A17. It adds a rare chance for fat and meat to drop, too, while most is rotten flesh, bone, etc. A small amount of a zombie being non-rotten meat...kind of makes sense if you want it to? Maybe? Maybe the zombie eat some food and kept part of their muscles healthy? Regardless, it makes it easier to find food, and The Fun Pimps thought it made sense apparently since they half implemented it in the first place. Non-human zombies have meat drops by default in vanilla A17 (and previously), so not being able to get any meat from human zombies is silly. I did a brief search and didn't find any similar mod, so I'll probably put it up somewhere. Sure, you can kill a timid animal for meat too, but this allows you to not have to. Not that the game isn't playable without doing that. I'll have to see if any food re-balancing has been done in b221.

 

[wolffblood]

hm, wonder if you could create a cvar (one of the ones a modder can just add, attach it to wolves and bears, and it triggers to give xp to the player if that friendly kills a zombie, though how to check distances, etc., I wouldn't know. It shouldn't be much of an issue, at least they don't storm into my POIs . And glad I haven't ran into zombie bears yet, usually a new build comes out before I get that far, so restart, heh.

with good meat on zombies, I guess it would depend on why the zombie is a zombie. Virus, bacteria, parasite? Say it is the type of parasite that is real, the one that can take over an animal's brain, makes it go to water, drown itself, then leaves to find other parasites to create more (yes, it's a real parasite, and only goes to the brain, so rest of body is good). Or the other bug (I think it's a bug) that injects a type of neurotoxin that actually allows it to control the other bug by turning it into a zombie state. Being that it took over something living and is still living, I can see it having good meat. Those are actually closest to being able to create a zombie type apocalypse they could ever survive or be strong enough to affect a human. But if it's like the fungal spore bacteria in Last of Us (which surprisingly is the most realistic and probable zombie apocalypse, I would see that you wouldn't want any of the meat since it'd then have that in it and spreads through ingestion, inhalation, etc. That is actually right behind the previous in the realm of possibility. Or even a virus type like majority of zombie movies, I wouldn't want it either. The virus type is very unlikely to happen due to it having to use dead tissue that would decay too fast being that viruses couldn't mutate dead tissue since something has to be living to even be able to mutate. I know, realism, but there's a part of me that has to bring it in for some things since that's just how my mind works, lol.

as for food rebalancing, it's not too bad, at least haven't tried to see how bad it is in RWG since it's mostly broken. In Navezgane, I just go to Bob's Boars, usually a good 10+ in the house, and has Grace as the end boss. Also a few boars in the barn, and boars just east at the farm. That usually lasts me a goooood long while and then find the scarce deer inbetween. I also kill the bears, lol. I know they're friendly, but being a wolf, I'll kill bears too if hungry and desperate enough, lol.

---update---

Anyone notice that in the progressions.xml, that the main attributes actually have code for levels 11-20?

 

[wolffblood]

that face

 

[Myrrah]

What are those faces illustrating Wolffblood?

The wolf conversation made me smile. The movie "Ladyhawke" has been my all time favorite movie since i was just a kid. So subconsciously-i always choose to have a wolf with me in games. i am not ever a wolf myself however. if i were to be something-it would be a hawk. "she flew away"-lol! I often joke that without realizing it-i specifically looked for a wolf to marry and promptly did so when i found one i think it's funny how things that grab you like that when you're a kid last throughout your entire life

 

[Swiftpaw]

What are those faces illustrating Wolffblood? The wolf conversation made me smile. The movie "Ladyhawke" has been my all time favorite movie since i was just a kid. So subconsciously-i always choose to have a wolf with me in games. i am not ever a wolf myself however. if i were to be something-it would be a hawk. "she flew away"-lol! I often joke that without realizing it-i specifically looked for a wolf to marry and promptly did so when i found one i think it's funny how things that grab you like that when you're a kid last throughout your entire life

Lol Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer, how did I never hear of that one, has decent IMDB scores too ^^

Maybe you're a bird furry then! Bird feathery? Whatever! I know a bird, so they're not all that super uncommon. Regardless, thank you for loving us wuffies! <3 ^n.n^

 

[wolffblood]

What are those faces illustrating Wolffblood? The wolf conversation made me smile. The movie "Ladyhawke" has been my all time favorite movie since i was just a kid. So subconsciously-i always choose to have a wolf with me in games. i am not ever a wolf myself however. if i were to be something-it would be a hawk. "she flew away"-lol! I often joke that without realizing it-i specifically looked for a wolf to marry and promptly did so when i found one i think it's funny how things that grab you like that when you're a kid last throughout your entire life

Hm, never heard of it. Gotta love 1980s movies, haha. May have to watch that one day. Also, trying to figure out how the guard knew exactly which side he was on .

 

[wolffblood]

hmmmm. would there be a way to add a cvar to friendlys that give you +1 to all attributes if within so much distance? Or, would it be better to make friendlys come with a buff, that once you get into range, you get this buff, like how things warm you up or etc when in range.

 

[wolffblood]

Or if you could find a pack, and get like a buff "Run with the Pack" and get like 200% move speed increase, hehe.

 

[Myrrah]

run with the pack-lol! how awesome would that be? and yeah-it's become one of those "cult following" kinda movies i think. definately a must see in my book

 

[wolffblood]

Don't see it being hard to at least have the buffs work while in range. Just need to look at the buffs xml I saw. Then have to attach it to wolves/bears... hmmm.

 

[wolffblood]

Update last night. Let's see what it's done... Seems like it's a lot rougher now food wise.

 

[Swiftpaw]

Or if you could find a pack, and get like a buff "Run with the Pack" and get like 200% move speed increase, hehe.

I'm not aware of something triggering on proximity to it, so you'd have to give me an example of such a thing existing in the game or another mod doing it. Cool idea though!