PC V2.3 b8 EXP
- Thread starter Hated
- Start date
schwanz9000
Tech. Gameplay Designer & QA
This is in gamestages.xml.
For example, the final stage of the day 7 horde can have 2 zombies alive per player up to a count of 999.
This should keep players busy until morning.
XML:
<gamestage stage="7">
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS4" num="5" maxAlive="5" duration="1" interval="5"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="5" maxAlive="2" duration="1" interval="10"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="5" maxAlive="5" duration="1" interval="5"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="5" maxAlive="2" duration="1" interval="5"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="30" maxAlive="3" duration="1" interval="10"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="5" maxAlive="5" duration="1" interval="5"/>
<spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="999" maxAlive="2"/>
</gamestage>
7daysOfFun
Refugee
the localprefabs directory what does this?
i copied my houses in mods..must i now copy then in localprefabs?
can i game my savegame? or it s done
i copied my houses in mods..must i now copy then in localprefabs?
can i game my savegame? or it s done
Riamus
Hunter
This was something that started to change a few versions ago (I forget which version, but within 1.x). It is up to the POI designer, but the doors can be set to remain unlocked after you unlock them. They changed some, but it seems to require manually changing them and I doubt it is a priority. Also, the POI designer may not want certain doors to close again.
Post automatically merged:
Choose latest experimental. Remember that it is experimental and not stable right now.
Post automatically merged:
Those have two different purposes. Mods are for actual mods (things with a modinfo file), while LocalPrefabs is for "loose" prefabs (prefabs that aren't in a mod).
I don't want 2.3 b, I want 2.3 without the latest patch. Yeah they're working on the game etc but it is so annoying for anyone that uses mods. Maybe just make it 2.4 so we can just stay on the normal 2.3. Instead of 2.2, 2.2 a, 2.2 b, 2.3, 2.3a , 2.3b. <------Dumb right?
ZehMatt
Refugee
Dear TFP, I'm begging you, please just set everything aside and do nothing but profile and optimize for a couple weeks, 60 zombies spawned should not drag my FPS down from 144 to 40. Me and couple other people did use the Unity profiler and we have seen some physics related things, please look into that.
Gosti_FR
Refugee
Greetings and thanks to the incredible 7 Days to Die team. I've been playing a new session with my friends for several days now. We haven't played the game in over two years, and the improvements are incredible! A big thank you for the performance and loot/POI progression, which was a big problem for me in the past!
I'd like to share my latest thoughts on the most frustrating and important points (this isn't meant to hurt your feelings, but to help share constructive feedback).
It would be great if you could provide answers to these points so we can know if any short- or long-term changes are planned, please. Fingers crossed
1- The Blood Moon every 7 days. I know the game is called "7 days to die" and that for online multiplayer pvp/pve servers then it might make sense as a system, but I think it destroys the fun for all solo players or private servers or players who are absent while other players progress in the game. I think the ideal would be a system inspired by the game "Conan Exiles" with purges (which could for example start days 7 of the server) that fill up for each individual player (or on average with the entire team) depending on the progress of the player or the team. For example: When players have reached a certain level/crafted certain items/unlocked challenges/etc... then a purge could be triggered randomly (with an alert message that warns one hour in advance), and then several waves of attacks towards Sleeping Bags or chests or other important items. This would be much more fun. Because unfortunately (and I think I'm not the only one who does this) when playing multiplayer, you have to "Set Time" every day to go back until all players are present to start a Blood Moon (in order to have fun together), which is a frustrating way to do things.
Conan Exiles offers a mechanic that also takes into account a minimum number of players (per team) to be able to trigger a purge, which is really interesting for sharing a rich experience. What do you think? Have you ever discussed this in the past?
2- The main map is great, but travel is too long and frustrating, even with the last three vehicles in the game. Do you have plans to update the helicopter to achieve a very satisfactory speed for fast travel, or to add boosts or other new fast vehicles? Or automatic transport (with a vehicle) between merchants (for a fee)?
I'd also like to point out that learning vehicles is uninteresting (too long to get the first bike and too short to get the last three vehicles: We don't have time to enjoy the vehicles; it should be an exponential progression).
3- It's frustrating to have to navigate between all the inventories for resource management and crafting. Have you planned to detect resources in each nearby chest, allowing you to select resources from the various crafting benches without having to retrieve them each time, but also for vehicles that contain fuel in an inventory, allowing you to simply select "fill" when it detects fuel in the vehicle's inventory?
4- It's a bit frustrating not being able to access the same chests with multiple players and therefore having to wait for the other player to finish. Have you planned anything?
5- It's not interesting to see all the zombies as "dumb" and always following the same path logic, and therefore always observe "meta" from YouTubers who propose "horde bases" that are too easy to defend. It would be interesting to see more intelligent zombie categories (perhaps when wave levels evolve), and then the zombies could detect certain traps (for example, if the first zombies fall or cannot progress along a path for too long). We could imagine that if a minimum number of zombies fall or exceed a long period (30 seconds for example) without progressing along the same path, they will try other paths (or even dig into the ground or break traps). What do you think?
6- In the same vein, it's a shame to be able to abuse defenses, for example, by stacking barricades on top of each other without taking physics/stability into account. Have you planned anything to counter this type of abuse? Or to add more variety to the traps that might make them more believable?
7- Why did you remove the dark nights (very dark)? They added so much atmosphere. Do you plan to bring them back? Or perhaps randomly adapt them each day/time.
8- Finally, for less frustrating elements:
- Not having a search area in our chests
- When we find a magazine and not having an option that specifies we no longer need it because we've already learned everything, but also at the merchant when we want to buy a book and it doesn't indicate whether we've already learned the skill. - Not being able to upgrade our weapons/tools/armor without having to craft new ones
- No image illustrating merchant quests
- Poor transition from land blocks to building blocks (there's a gap, why?) Maybe add a flattening tool
- Missing a mode: Objective = Find and craft a cure (You need laboratory research skills, craft or buy very expensive and rare laboratory tools, take samples from specific locations on the map, capture zombies to conduct tests that last several days and observe the results, and finish by curing a minimum number of zombies).
We can also go further with merchants outside the map who need us to send them food and medicine to heal their cities (there would be a minimum number of cities, for example).
- No elevators in the game (small and large).
So, fingers crossed
And don't forget that you guys are awesome and the game is incredible!! Good dev, and take care
I'd like to share my latest thoughts on the most frustrating and important points (this isn't meant to hurt your feelings, but to help share constructive feedback).
It would be great if you could provide answers to these points so we can know if any short- or long-term changes are planned, please. Fingers crossed
1- The Blood Moon every 7 days. I know the game is called "7 days to die" and that for online multiplayer pvp/pve servers then it might make sense as a system, but I think it destroys the fun for all solo players or private servers or players who are absent while other players progress in the game. I think the ideal would be a system inspired by the game "Conan Exiles" with purges (which could for example start days 7 of the server) that fill up for each individual player (or on average with the entire team) depending on the progress of the player or the team. For example: When players have reached a certain level/crafted certain items/unlocked challenges/etc... then a purge could be triggered randomly (with an alert message that warns one hour in advance), and then several waves of attacks towards Sleeping Bags or chests or other important items. This would be much more fun. Because unfortunately (and I think I'm not the only one who does this) when playing multiplayer, you have to "Set Time" every day to go back until all players are present to start a Blood Moon (in order to have fun together), which is a frustrating way to do things.
Conan Exiles offers a mechanic that also takes into account a minimum number of players (per team) to be able to trigger a purge, which is really interesting for sharing a rich experience. What do you think? Have you ever discussed this in the past?
2- The main map is great, but travel is too long and frustrating, even with the last three vehicles in the game. Do you have plans to update the helicopter to achieve a very satisfactory speed for fast travel, or to add boosts or other new fast vehicles? Or automatic transport (with a vehicle) between merchants (for a fee)?
I'd also like to point out that learning vehicles is uninteresting (too long to get the first bike and too short to get the last three vehicles: We don't have time to enjoy the vehicles; it should be an exponential progression).
3- It's frustrating to have to navigate between all the inventories for resource management and crafting. Have you planned to detect resources in each nearby chest, allowing you to select resources from the various crafting benches without having to retrieve them each time, but also for vehicles that contain fuel in an inventory, allowing you to simply select "fill" when it detects fuel in the vehicle's inventory?
4- It's a bit frustrating not being able to access the same chests with multiple players and therefore having to wait for the other player to finish. Have you planned anything?
5- It's not interesting to see all the zombies as "dumb" and always following the same path logic, and therefore always observe "meta" from YouTubers who propose "horde bases" that are too easy to defend. It would be interesting to see more intelligent zombie categories (perhaps when wave levels evolve), and then the zombies could detect certain traps (for example, if the first zombies fall or cannot progress along a path for too long). We could imagine that if a minimum number of zombies fall or exceed a long period (30 seconds for example) without progressing along the same path, they will try other paths (or even dig into the ground or break traps). What do you think?
6- In the same vein, it's a shame to be able to abuse defenses, for example, by stacking barricades on top of each other without taking physics/stability into account. Have you planned anything to counter this type of abuse? Or to add more variety to the traps that might make them more believable?
7- Why did you remove the dark nights (very dark)? They added so much atmosphere. Do you plan to bring them back? Or perhaps randomly adapt them each day/time.
8- Finally, for less frustrating elements:
- Not having a search area in our chests
- When we find a magazine and not having an option that specifies we no longer need it because we've already learned everything, but also at the merchant when we want to buy a book and it doesn't indicate whether we've already learned the skill. - Not being able to upgrade our weapons/tools/armor without having to craft new ones
- No image illustrating merchant quests
- Poor transition from land blocks to building blocks (there's a gap, why?) Maybe add a flattening tool
- Missing a mode: Objective = Find and craft a cure (You need laboratory research skills, craft or buy very expensive and rare laboratory tools, take samples from specific locations on the map, capture zombies to conduct tests that last several days and observe the results, and finish by curing a minimum number of zombies).
We can also go further with merchants outside the map who need us to send them food and medicine to heal their cities (there would be a minimum number of cities, for example).
- No elevators in the game (small and large).
So, fingers crossed
And don't forget that you guys are awesome and the game is incredible!! Good dev, and take care
Rooster Gold
Refugee
I found an unlock open doors mod on Nexus, not sure if it covers the ones with keys though, but I distinctly remember seeing a YouTuber use something like that before.
bdubyah
Hunter
If you're worried about mods breaking, you shouldn't ever be on the experimental builds.
Running an in progress build that can get updated at any time and break all mods and being surprised things broke. <------Dumb right?
schwanz9000
Tech. Gameplay Designer & QA
1. We have no plans to change the blood moon mechanic at this time.
2. We have several ideas on the table, but nothing coming any time soon.
3. No plans at this time. I hear that there is a mod doing this already you can check out.
4. It has been talked about and would be a huge undertaking to make sure there are no duping issues, but no plans at this time.
5. Zombie pathing AI is always getting tweaks. Bandits will be getting even more AI work in the coming months that might help the zombie AI.
6. I'm honestly not sure what you mean by "barricades". Spikes? Barbed Fence?
7. The defaults are tuned for various reasons, but you can always turn down the brightness in the video options. Anything below the default level drops night time brightness significantly without effecting the day time brightness. I hear that 25% or less makes it fairly dark at night.
8. Maybe, Maybe, WIP, WIP, WIP, IDK, No, There is a very old prototype that needs a lot of work as the player movement is very jerky on it.
Thanks!
Riamus
Hunter
If you choose to play experimental, you have to use the latest version of it or avoid letting Steam update it. Experimental is for testing the changes and new features. It is not intended for normal play, even if a lot of people use it that way. You either accept that it will be changing and there can be multiple new patches during experimental, or you can choose to only play stable. New patches during experimental should NOT change the version beyond just the build.
schwanz9000
Tech. Gameplay Designer & QA
I'm sure faatal has talked about this topic a few times. Several programmers look into this on an almost daily basis.
Optimizations happen every update for a wide variety of issues. V2.3 has several.
If you have VERY specific physics issue(s) you are capturing in a profile, lay it out in another post and tag me in it. I'll be sure to pass it along.
Well auto update is off but when it's unstable it updates. All I was getting at is an option to select different versions, yeah you can do older ones
It shouldn't but it does change it. I can't even load a map I was working on nor connect to my server.
Double G
Survivor
Getting contradicting requests could make one want to pull their hair out, but please consider not making all zombies too intelligent.
Because if they act too clever, they won't feel like zombies anymore.
May I suggest checking out the movies Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (these two movies focus on progressive intelligence over time) and Return of the Living Dead for inspiration on how zombies could be more intelligent?
If you’re able to implement a Physics/Collider LOD system (simpler colliders at distance, full ragdoll only near the player), performance could allow more zombies on screen at once. That way you can have the classic "strength in numbers" threat while still having room to add a few clever zombies to the mix.
PS: for some ideas for "special" zombies...check out Return of the Living Dead 3.
Riamus
Hunter
Steam would have to be set to offline mode to prevent updates, and I can't guarantee it will not update even then. That's why you should not be using experimental for normal play.
And, no. The version doesn't change. The build changes. A version is something like 2.3. The build is something like b8. The build changes but the version does not and should not during experimental. You are always intended to be on the latest build when playing experimental. They aren't going to give options to play other builds. As mentioned, you'd need to play stable if you don't want to deal with the changes in experimental versions. And unless you're specifically testing mods out in experimental, such as if you want to see if your own mods need to be updated, you should normally avoid using any mods during experimental as they may break at any time, as you have seen.
Abnormal Zombie
Refugee
PART 1
(I was limited to 10,000 characters)
Right now 7 Days captivates players with exploration and character development. However, people - especially on consoles - find themselves having near zero peer-to-peer interaction with some exception of personal contacts outside of the game system. Unfortunately, exploration and character development are not enough to sustain or increase attraction for 7 Days to Die.
There needs to be more done.
Interestingly, 7 Days to Die 1.0 was released last year on July 25th, and it still doesn't have a working communication system on the majority of its platforms! I've explained how the faulty controller button system causes this in my post here. Frankly, it is shameful for having come this far. It's the unpolished fundamental features and mechanics like that which I believe are critical to the overall experience and success of the game.
So when I see threads like these, I hope for the best, and I get excited every time, but the zest is still missing.
I'm going to share the direction I think the game should go.
To keep players invested and even multiply the playerbase, there needs to be Quality and Intrigue. Quality would mainly be both an absence of unbalanced features and ease of use. Intrigue can be described as a combination of repeatable creative interactions and interest. People should be exclaiming "clip that!", they should be kept on the edge of their seats - not kept in the grind, and it all should be held together with balanced quantitative game mechanics. MOST importantly, it needs to be easy to do!
These are not things which can be foregone in any online game.
Let me explain these points...
Quality:
What are unbalanced features?
What is ease of use?
Intrigue:
What do repeatable creative interactions require?
I also want to note the importance of prestige. Prestige is the thing people can spend countless hours on for results which mostly impress other players. Being grand is desirable, and it plays a big role keeping interest in top video games. Right now there's character stats and bases, but there could be so much more. Here's some examples:
Sometimes I think I can be stern with my ideas or suggestions, but it has always been in what I believe to be the best interest of 7 Days to Die's success. Part of me thinks the Fun Pimps need a wake-up call, because these updates are not worth celebrating so boldly as people in the comments seem to do. Think about the perspective of most of the people who have played the game, not the few who only have good things to say.
When I see these updates, I ask these questions:
(I was limited to 10,000 characters)
Right now 7 Days captivates players with exploration and character development. However, people - especially on consoles - find themselves having near zero peer-to-peer interaction with some exception of personal contacts outside of the game system. Unfortunately, exploration and character development are not enough to sustain or increase attraction for 7 Days to Die.
There needs to be more done.
Interestingly, 7 Days to Die 1.0 was released last year on July 25th, and it still doesn't have a working communication system on the majority of its platforms! I've explained how the faulty controller button system causes this in my post here. Frankly, it is shameful for having come this far. It's the unpolished fundamental features and mechanics like that which I believe are critical to the overall experience and success of the game.
So when I see threads like these, I hope for the best, and I get excited every time, but the zest is still missing.
I'm going to share the direction I think the game should go.
To keep players invested and even multiply the playerbase, there needs to be Quality and Intrigue. Quality would mainly be both an absence of unbalanced features and ease of use. Intrigue can be described as a combination of repeatable creative interactions and interest. People should be exclaiming "clip that!", they should be kept on the edge of their seats - not kept in the grind, and it all should be held together with balanced quantitative game mechanics. MOST importantly, it needs to be easy to do!
These are not things which can be foregone in any online game.
Let me explain these points...
Quality:
What are unbalanced features?
- Exploits in tricks and strategies used for PvP or PvE
- Yes, there is often a degree of exploits in any game, but there is a degree; they are reduced and managed
- Inadequate zombie pathfinding
- Block shapes & orientations confuse zombie pathfinding
- Trader "camping"
- Unfair character development
- Super corn farms break the entire economy and put players well beyond everybody else
- Double XP with sledgehammer headshot kills with no caveat since it is an ability. So absurd.
- Crafting experience is a crumb on a buffet.
- Useless armour bonuses
- Athletic hat gets better prices on food/water/drugs, but the preacher hat and enforcer sunglasses do everything.
- Ranger gloves increase rifle damage, but commando gloves increase all range damage.
- A 2% gas consumption reduction is silly. By the time you get a gas vehicle you have more important armour.
- Polar powers of some skills
- The instant stun baton recharge. Players on my server say there is no reason to invest in any other skill tree "ever".
- Iron Gut reduces chance of dysentery by 5% at tier 5 while Pack Mule reduces physical damange by HALF
- etc.
- I would mention more, but after hundreds of hours playing the game I haven't had any PvP experience to directly critique
- But I wish I did
What is ease of use?
- Features of importance need to be immediately understandable
- An example of this is the accessibility of the dedicated servers. How many casual players would you think know to select a small globe icon to reveal an entire world of online play? This is also after an intimidating search prompt.
- New players should be able to step into the game and learn all features effortlessly without the guidance of someone else.
- The tutorial does not teach important game mechanics unique to the game.
- Perhaps categories of craftable items can slowly be revealed
- Default gameplay settings should be refined
- Default sensitivities are atrocious, and are a part of every console player's first experience.
- Aim assist is counterproductive with melee weapons.
- Developers or quality assurance playtesters who actively engage on console would know this.
- Button mapping which makes sense
- Why is there a button dedicated to mute yourself? Hardware does that.
- I'd like to bind a button for hotbar slot 1, but extra functionality for button mapping wasn't considered.
- Button map settings reset after rejoining a server. For example, disabling d-pad right to prevent the next issue.
- Button events still trigger while in menus, such as muting yourself while scrapping items. And no red mute icon is displayed.
- Not having to wait on other players for standard actions
- Being able to use containers while somebody else is too. Even trading with traders.
- Being able to link containers to adjacent workstations to save time from getting a stack of duct tape for the 6589134th time.
Intrigue:
What do repeatable creative interactions require?
- Multiplayer immersion with unexpected outcomes from one side or the other
- PvP engagement using tricks and strategies
- Rare random events
- etc.
- Exciting events that can be invoked/done again
- Things like shooting large propane tanks and watching the spectacle of flying debris.
- Other things which could exist, like new aoe effects, tethering, launching, mischievous pyrotechnics, etc.
- Leading hordes to enemy bases
- Accessibility to multiplayer gameplay
- Hampered by zero official servers with scheduled resets
- Hampered by available servers to join, and load times
- Private games often kick you after joining
- Capable of having more than 8 people
- Creative building opportunities
- Hampered by heavy limitations of electronics
- Relays aren't relays and can't turn things OFF when something is triggered ON. Read my suggestion at the bottom of my post here.
- Hampered by heavy limitations of electronics
- Knowing the bizarre is possible
- Encountering a variety of enemies
- More models are seriously needed
- Dynamic zombie generation would be profound. Each zombie type could have body parts, clothes, or textures selected from a pool of options - perhaps accompanied with traits.
- Capability of finding rare, uncraftable items (tools/weapons/armour/mods)
- Capability of pushing the game past the visions of its creators
- Electronics are short of massive potential, and could be the source of amazing viral creations.
- Reason to continue after high levels
- Continuous multiplyer involvement - with balanced interaction
- The meaning of what is next
- The next perk or the next weapon are fun goals to acquire, but armour bonuses scaling should be inverse of what it is now; tiers 5 to 6 should be a fraction of the difference between tiers 1 and 2. Additionally, lower levels are often more challenging to advance.
- Prestigious accomplishments or embellishments (expanded on below)
I also want to note the importance of prestige. Prestige is the thing people can spend countless hours on for results which mostly impress other players. Being grand is desirable, and it plays a big role keeping interest in top video games. Right now there's character stats and bases, but there could be so much more. Here's some examples:
- Silver/gold/diamond can be used for appearance mods, special blocks, or types of weaponry.
- Unlocking new characters, textures, or block shapes with in-game achievements per map OR per account.
- Tier 6 armour could have some prestige instead of being a necessity if it didn't double most special effects from tier 5.
- Acquisition of non-craftable, hard-to-find items.
- Badges for localized accomplishments
Sometimes I think I can be stern with my ideas or suggestions, but it has always been in what I believe to be the best interest of 7 Days to Die's success. Part of me thinks the Fun Pimps need a wake-up call, because these updates are not worth celebrating so boldly as people in the comments seem to do. Think about the perspective of most of the people who have played the game, not the few who only have good things to say.
When I see these updates, I ask these questions:
"How greatly does this impact the experience of the game as a whole?"
"Is this what an average gamer expects to receive?"
"Are there more pressing things needing improvement?"
"Why is it still a game preview?"
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