How-To for zombie editor v0.87 - Adding static spawns to POIs on a map
This instructions will be updated soon when I update the editor. It's complicated at the moment but will soon be simplified.^^
1. You need a map. Either generate one using Nitrogen or the ingame RWG or use an existing map
2. You need a valid nitrogen prefab list that contains all POIs used on the map. Make an empty text file prefablist.txt (its name doesn't matter)
3. Start the zombie editor
4. Click 'Extras' -> 'Nitro List Creator...'
5. Click at the checkbox 'Overwrite prefablist.txt'
6. Click 'Select Nitrogen POI List...' and select your empty textfile prefablist.txt.
7. Click 'Select Prefab directory...' and select the prefab directory of the game (default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Prefabs). Make sure that all POIs used for the map are present in the prefab directory. That should always be the case anyway, unless you use relative paths to store your prefabs in the mods folder.
8. Click 'Create POI List (this may take a while)'
You don't have to generate the prefablist.txt everytime you're adding static spawn to a map. It's only necessary if the 'prefabs.xml' in the folder of the map contains new POIs that are not listed in prefablist.txt.
9. Open the prefab directory of the game (default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Prefabs) in the windows explorer (Linux guys should know what to do)
10. Now you have to decide to which prefabs the entities should be assigned to. Let say you want to add spawns to house_modern_01.
11. Make a copy of all files that belong to house_modern_01 (probably you only need a copy of the tts file, the blocks.nim file and the xml but I am not entirely sure atm.^^).
12. Rename the copy adding the string '_poi_map' to the names. So you should have the files house_modern_01_poi_map.tts, house_modern_01_poi_map.blocks.nim, house_modern_01_poi_map.xml etc.
13. Open the copy using the ingame editor or the zombie editor.
14. Now you should place 1-block small player-made signs (block name playerSignWood1x1). The signs represent the static spawns. So if you add a sign in front of the fridge, the original prefab (house_modern_01) will also get a spawn point in front of the fridge.
15. You can define the spawn by writing text on the sign.
Example text of player sign:
spawn,5,animalChicken
That should spawn 5 chickens at the location of the sign. If you omit the number you'll get only 1 chicken:
spawn,animalChicken
You can use all entity names mentioned in the entityclasses.xml or in the corresponding modded xml. So it's 100% compatible with Mods if you use the correct names of the entities. Note upper and lower case!
16. The rotation of the statically spawned entities should be tied to the rotation of the signs (might be somewhat buggy but will be fixed soon). Only 90° rotations work at the moment.
17. When you have added all the signs you want and set their texts, save the POI.
18. The static spawns are stored in small 1x1x1 prefabs which have to be created first. Go to the tab 'System' in the zombie editor (you should see a black console with green text) and enter 'staticSpawnPOI animalChicken' in the text field below (without the ' ' ) and press the button 'Ok'. This will create the POI which holds the entity data for animalChicken.
Either the prefab is be generated in the directory of the editor due to a bug or in the prefab directory of the game (default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Prefabs). The console output should tell you where to find it. If it's in the editor directory, then you have to copy all files to the prefab directory of the game. The generated POI is name static_spawn_* (so for the animalChicken you have to copy the files static_spawn_animalChicken.blocks.nim, static_spawn_animalChicken.tts and static_spawn_animalChicken.xml). Note: This step (18) only needs to be executed once per entity name. It does not need to be executed every time you want to add entities to another map.
19. Next step is to insert the 1x1x1 prefabs to the map. Click 'Extras' -> 'Edit Map...'
20. Click 'Select map directory...' and select a map.
Example: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/7 Days To Die/Data/Worlds/TopMinders Map 12k
21. Click 'Select Prefab directory...' and select the prefab directory of the game (see step 7)
22. Click 'Select Nitrogen list...' and select your previously created textfile 'prefablist.txt'
23. Click 'Add static entity spawns to prefabs' (might take a while)
Now you're done. You can check the prefabs.xml of the map for the string 'static_spawn_'. In my example there should be some entries for static_spawn_animalChicken. BTW. if your map already had static spawns they will be deleted (in step 23).
I am not quite sure if this instruction is complete and entirely correct, so feedback is welcome.
Uhh and patchnotes will be ready soon.