Seda
New member
When it comes to lighting up your home in 7 Days to Die I find the choices limited. Torches, candles, campfires and burning barrels; the first sources of light you'll gain. However, the upgrade to electric light bulbs for better base lighting is too far away. You'll have to gain the right perks just to even craft them! So I thought of a way, a mid-tier way, to light up your base. Luckily, the assets for it already exist in the game!
From left to right, you have the green shaded desk lamp, the red lantern, the yellow flashlight, the common table lamp, and the large work light! You may have seen some of these lights before!
These light sources are crucial to any place of interest you decide to enter. They are used as a guide throughout homes, hospitals, gas stations, and even caves! These lights will lead you to the treasure stash that you are looking for. They even highlight potential traps and zombie ambushes!
So I need your help to make my idea a reality! And so I'm here to make a request.
If someone can, make a modlet that allows someone to craft, place, and manage these lights! I'll help you the best I can.
The lights should be able to do as follows for them to function properly.
1. The lights should be craftable via a perk in either Advanced Engineering Tier 1 or be available immediately.
-Here are the crafting recipes as follows. Just look to the right to the object for the recipe! You'll notice that some duct tape is off to the side not-connected to the recipe; that means it could be a an optional component. These components are based upon already existing craftable light sources.
2. The lights should have the basic functions of common light objects.
-They should be able to be picked up while within a claim zone, movable and able to change their orientation, and the ability to turn them off and on. They should act and be defined as OBJECTS, not predefined placements such as candles and torches. Most of this can be accomplished by holding down the ACTION key and selecting from the radial menu.
3. The lights are mid-tier and thus should have appropriate electrical costs.
-The red lantern and yellow flashlight are designed to run on batteries and thus can be used as a light source at all times. The desk lamp, table lamp, and work light could be designed with the WIRE tool, but let's keep this simple and allow those 3 to be also used at all times as well.
4. Light sources should already have their defined light values as default so no change is necessary in their code.
You may be wondering, why not have the ability to pick up all the lanterns and flash lights that you see?
You see, all five of these light sources are coded into the game as set pieces in a POI. (A place of interest.) They read as Lantern (POI) for example. This is the same reason why you can't pick up a torch or a candle in a POI unless you break it; that's how its coded. It could be a simple fix to make these objects pickup-able, but then you would have an easy source of light in the beginning of the game.
That's another important part of these lights sources as well; the pacing within the game. You start out with literally nothing so it makes sense that you can only craft torches, candles, and campfires for your sources of light. After leveling and perks, you can upgrade to the mid-tier lights sources as shown above. And then when you finally invest your perks into electrical wiring you can craft electrical lights and powerful spotlights as high-tier light sources. Upgrading the lighting in your base from primitive candles to modern lanterns would feel like a meaningful sense of progression.
Check out these cool orientations for your base!
You can even color these lights too using the radial menu in Prefab mode!
Now let's talk about some issues regarding these lights.
1. If these light sources don't require a power source, then why would you upgrade to powered lighting?
-Powered lighting is lame in Alpha 17. Most the old light sources were REMOVED; industrial lights, lamp scones, florescent lights and even the old cabin lights were removed. All you have now is a simple light bulb and the garbage can spotlight, and that's no fun at all! Variety is key in base building!
2. Why shouldn't I be able to pick up lanterns and flashlights inside POIs?
-This can go either way. You CAN make it so we can pick them up and use them. They'll be cool sources of light to have early on. However this will destroy a sense of progression in the game. If you can pick them up right away, who needs candles or torches? You start out with nothing and you need these early light sources to actually see at night! The first tense nights barricaded inside an abandoned house with nothing but candle light should be scary!
3. Just like candles, torches, and any other player made sources of light it needs to produce HEAT on the heat map.
-You are indeed right! These light sources should produce heat on the heat map! They should even produce slightly MORE heat too, because they are brighter and more easily seen, especially the yellow work light!
4. Why only pick up in claim zones? Do I really need 5 seconds to pick up little flashlight or a lantern that clearly has an easy to grab handle? Why would I even want to turn it off or on? That makes them too complicated to use!
-7 Days to Die needs more immersive options. The more options you have, the better ideas you can come with, for a lack of better words. Imagine you have all your lanterns on in the night and you're working away on your workbench, cement mixers, and chemistry station. You then hear the shambling masses approach you. You turn off the forge, you extinguish the camp fire, and you run around turning off all the lanterns. In the darkness you pray the feral zombies don't find you. You've reduced your heat map, perhaps the screamer won't call the nearby hordes on to you? The shuffling in the grasses quiet down, you no longer hear the deranged shrills of the screamer. You walk about and carefully turn all the lanterns back on reassured the darkness once again concealed your location. You live another day, just another fun filled day of the zombie apocalypse.
5. Can't you make it work like candles? You can craft a wall candle back into a table candle. When you pick up the table candle, it becomes a wall candle. Couldn't you do the same with just the lanterns and the flashlights?
-WELL WHY NOT? I wanted to make this modlet simple but if you can make a separate crafting recipe that turns the flashlight and the candle into an easily placed and easily PICKED UP source of light just like a candle, that would be amazing! That would make horde night easier set up AND clean up wise!
That's some probable questions that people may ask. Maybe even some ideas too!
Speaking of which, wouldn't it be cool that you could use these the lantern and the yellow flashlight as held items? The lantern would act as an upgraded torch. It would have better light strength and clarity, no more flickering flames! As for the yellow flashlight, you would be able to place it down in case you need to use a tool or to focus on zombies!
Imagine that you're carrying a lantern into a dark cave. You would have the ability to set it down on the floor so you can use your pickaxe on the nearby ore. When you finished mining, you can just pick up the lantern and carry it again. Here's the process.
1. You are carrying the lantern as a held item into a dark cave.
2. You then convert the lantern into an light object by using a crafting recipe, or even by pressing a special craft tab on the lantern information panel.
3. You can now place the lantern as a light object on the floor allowing you to use your pickaxe and still see.
4. You have finished mining, you pick up the lantern object and then convert it back into a held item via a crafting option.
BONUS: You can even do this to the yellow flashlight to allow more focused light!
That would certainly make you more versatile in the wasteland! The process might be longer to craft it into its other forms, but having the early ability to mine in the dark will give you an advantage? You'll need all the advantages you can get if you want to survive! But no, I already hear you say it, "But I can do all of that with a torch much faster, and I don't even need to craft it it another form. Why would I bother with all that?" That's true, it really is easier than all that. But I love the idea of it. I like to be carrying around a modern source of light rather than a primitive torch.
Hey if you made it this far thank you so much for reading! Let me just summarize this up for you!
1. I'm requesting a modlet that allows you to make these 5 sources of light craftable.
2. I've already provided a balanced recipe for you to use and what perk it could require.
3. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want, so long as you...
-Make a craft recipe for each object
-Allow the object to produce light -Changeable orientation a bonus but not required!
-Allow it to be picked up within a claim zone
-You DO NOT have to add complicated radial menu features, when you place it and it lights up that's all it needs right?
Now that you've made this modlet or lines of code, can you publish this onto the forums or on The Nexus Mods website?
You can as long as you give me some credit! The name's Seda if you forgot! I think it would be cool watching people use it. However this is the first time I'm doing an idea I've had, so please be kind and ask me first!
I know that was a lot of text, but thanks so much for giving my idea a read! Forgive me for any spelling errors!
And if you're reading this developers, I hope this gave you some ideas!
From left to right, you have the green shaded desk lamp, the red lantern, the yellow flashlight, the common table lamp, and the large work light! You may have seen some of these lights before!
These light sources are crucial to any place of interest you decide to enter. They are used as a guide throughout homes, hospitals, gas stations, and even caves! These lights will lead you to the treasure stash that you are looking for. They even highlight potential traps and zombie ambushes!
So I need your help to make my idea a reality! And so I'm here to make a request.
If someone can, make a modlet that allows someone to craft, place, and manage these lights! I'll help you the best I can.
The lights should be able to do as follows for them to function properly.
1. The lights should be craftable via a perk in either Advanced Engineering Tier 1 or be available immediately.
-Here are the crafting recipes as follows. Just look to the right to the object for the recipe! You'll notice that some duct tape is off to the side not-connected to the recipe; that means it could be a an optional component. These components are based upon already existing craftable light sources.
2. The lights should have the basic functions of common light objects.
-They should be able to be picked up while within a claim zone, movable and able to change their orientation, and the ability to turn them off and on. They should act and be defined as OBJECTS, not predefined placements such as candles and torches. Most of this can be accomplished by holding down the ACTION key and selecting from the radial menu.
3. The lights are mid-tier and thus should have appropriate electrical costs.
-The red lantern and yellow flashlight are designed to run on batteries and thus can be used as a light source at all times. The desk lamp, table lamp, and work light could be designed with the WIRE tool, but let's keep this simple and allow those 3 to be also used at all times as well.
4. Light sources should already have their defined light values as default so no change is necessary in their code.
You may be wondering, why not have the ability to pick up all the lanterns and flash lights that you see?
You see, all five of these light sources are coded into the game as set pieces in a POI. (A place of interest.) They read as Lantern (POI) for example. This is the same reason why you can't pick up a torch or a candle in a POI unless you break it; that's how its coded. It could be a simple fix to make these objects pickup-able, but then you would have an easy source of light in the beginning of the game.
That's another important part of these lights sources as well; the pacing within the game. You start out with literally nothing so it makes sense that you can only craft torches, candles, and campfires for your sources of light. After leveling and perks, you can upgrade to the mid-tier lights sources as shown above. And then when you finally invest your perks into electrical wiring you can craft electrical lights and powerful spotlights as high-tier light sources. Upgrading the lighting in your base from primitive candles to modern lanterns would feel like a meaningful sense of progression.
Check out these cool orientations for your base!
You can even color these lights too using the radial menu in Prefab mode!
Now let's talk about some issues regarding these lights.
1. If these light sources don't require a power source, then why would you upgrade to powered lighting?
-Powered lighting is lame in Alpha 17. Most the old light sources were REMOVED; industrial lights, lamp scones, florescent lights and even the old cabin lights were removed. All you have now is a simple light bulb and the garbage can spotlight, and that's no fun at all! Variety is key in base building!
2. Why shouldn't I be able to pick up lanterns and flashlights inside POIs?
-This can go either way. You CAN make it so we can pick them up and use them. They'll be cool sources of light to have early on. However this will destroy a sense of progression in the game. If you can pick them up right away, who needs candles or torches? You start out with nothing and you need these early light sources to actually see at night! The first tense nights barricaded inside an abandoned house with nothing but candle light should be scary!
3. Just like candles, torches, and any other player made sources of light it needs to produce HEAT on the heat map.
-You are indeed right! These light sources should produce heat on the heat map! They should even produce slightly MORE heat too, because they are brighter and more easily seen, especially the yellow work light!
4. Why only pick up in claim zones? Do I really need 5 seconds to pick up little flashlight or a lantern that clearly has an easy to grab handle? Why would I even want to turn it off or on? That makes them too complicated to use!
-7 Days to Die needs more immersive options. The more options you have, the better ideas you can come with, for a lack of better words. Imagine you have all your lanterns on in the night and you're working away on your workbench, cement mixers, and chemistry station. You then hear the shambling masses approach you. You turn off the forge, you extinguish the camp fire, and you run around turning off all the lanterns. In the darkness you pray the feral zombies don't find you. You've reduced your heat map, perhaps the screamer won't call the nearby hordes on to you? The shuffling in the grasses quiet down, you no longer hear the deranged shrills of the screamer. You walk about and carefully turn all the lanterns back on reassured the darkness once again concealed your location. You live another day, just another fun filled day of the zombie apocalypse.
5. Can't you make it work like candles? You can craft a wall candle back into a table candle. When you pick up the table candle, it becomes a wall candle. Couldn't you do the same with just the lanterns and the flashlights?
-WELL WHY NOT? I wanted to make this modlet simple but if you can make a separate crafting recipe that turns the flashlight and the candle into an easily placed and easily PICKED UP source of light just like a candle, that would be amazing! That would make horde night easier set up AND clean up wise!
That's some probable questions that people may ask. Maybe even some ideas too!
Speaking of which, wouldn't it be cool that you could use these the lantern and the yellow flashlight as held items? The lantern would act as an upgraded torch. It would have better light strength and clarity, no more flickering flames! As for the yellow flashlight, you would be able to place it down in case you need to use a tool or to focus on zombies!
Imagine that you're carrying a lantern into a dark cave. You would have the ability to set it down on the floor so you can use your pickaxe on the nearby ore. When you finished mining, you can just pick up the lantern and carry it again. Here's the process.
1. You are carrying the lantern as a held item into a dark cave.
2. You then convert the lantern into an light object by using a crafting recipe, or even by pressing a special craft tab on the lantern information panel.
3. You can now place the lantern as a light object on the floor allowing you to use your pickaxe and still see.
4. You have finished mining, you pick up the lantern object and then convert it back into a held item via a crafting option.
BONUS: You can even do this to the yellow flashlight to allow more focused light!
That would certainly make you more versatile in the wasteland! The process might be longer to craft it into its other forms, but having the early ability to mine in the dark will give you an advantage? You'll need all the advantages you can get if you want to survive! But no, I already hear you say it, "But I can do all of that with a torch much faster, and I don't even need to craft it it another form. Why would I bother with all that?" That's true, it really is easier than all that. But I love the idea of it. I like to be carrying around a modern source of light rather than a primitive torch.
Hey if you made it this far thank you so much for reading! Let me just summarize this up for you!
1. I'm requesting a modlet that allows you to make these 5 sources of light craftable.
2. I've already provided a balanced recipe for you to use and what perk it could require.
3. You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want, so long as you...
-Make a craft recipe for each object
-Allow the object to produce light -Changeable orientation a bonus but not required!
-Allow it to be picked up within a claim zone
-You DO NOT have to add complicated radial menu features, when you place it and it lights up that's all it needs right?
Now that you've made this modlet or lines of code, can you publish this onto the forums or on The Nexus Mods website?
You can as long as you give me some credit! The name's Seda if you forgot! I think it would be cool watching people use it. However this is the first time I'm doing an idea I've had, so please be kind and ask me first!
I know that was a lot of text, but thanks so much for giving my idea a read! Forgive me for any spelling errors!
And if you're reading this developers, I hope this gave you some ideas!
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