V2.5 Survival Revival Dev Diary

Crater Creator

Crater Creator

Community Moderator
Hey survivors,

Version 2.5 will not be your typical point release! With so many new and updated features, the Survival Revival update is more like a reboot of Version 2. It’s poised to be the update many players have been waiting for.

In light of this ambitious scope, I decided V2.5 deserves its own dedicated Developer Diary. Here you'll find a compilation of confirmed features and content for the Survival Revival update. Fun Pimp devs may occasionally post updates here on what they're working on, answer questions, and give us sneak peeks into the future of 7 Days to Die.

Like in previous diaries, we want this thread to stay focused on discussing the following features and content, and other things TFP devs want to discuss. Below is a description of all the confirmed features and content. Please limit discussion in this thread to these topics, so that the diary doesn’t become bloated. Chatter not pertaining to V2.5 or later V2.x updates may be moved or removed.

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Target Release Dates:
V2.5 Experimental “soon”
V2.5 Stable (all platforms) “before the holidays”

The V2.5 Survival Revival Experimental Update will be out soon! This feature-rich update focuses on community feedback and the return of some long awaited features. The Stable update for all platforms will be out before the holidays. The update includes:
  • Improved Water Survival with Empty Jars
  • Vehicle storage improvements and mods
  • The new Lore Friendly Rancher Zombie (Replaces the Plague Spitter)
  • The new Lore Friendly Chuck Zombie (Replaces the Frost Claw)
  • A brand a new Smell System with some great surprises
  • Distant storm rendering
  • Updated Biome Hazards, Storms, Temperature & Protective Clothing
  • A new Apiary Station to produce Honey
  • New Honey inspired recipes
  • Third Person Camera support (Toggleable In-Game)
  • Turret Ammo Improvements
  • Quest Improvements
  • A new character window rendering
  • New Free Cosmetic Skins
  • New Trader Jen Model
Warning to players before upgrading to V2.5

With changes made to the workstation progression, if a player is in the middle of crafting a workbench, the update may remove that recipe unlock and clear the crafting queue. This will NOT refund the crafting ingredients back to the player. Be sure to clear all crafting queues before updating to V2.5.

Please note that we have adjusted the default controller layout to accommodate some new and reworked controller inputs. The first time starting the game after updating all input bindings will be reset to their new defaults.
 
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2.5 Survival Revival Release Notes

Improved Water Survival (Empty Jars)

We know this is a topic of great interest to the community, and we have taken extra care to listen and read hundreds of posts and polls. What stood out the most is that people liked the old empty jar system for the immersive feeling of rummaging through loot to find an empty jar, locating a water source, filling the jar, and boiling it to drink it safely.

With that in mind, we combined the best of the old and new systems and made it balanced. Here’s how it works:
  • In the early game, you scavenge for jars and fill them with murky water from natural lakes, rivers and ditches, or from other man-made bodies of water. Murky water is boiled for use as normal. Toilets, sinks, and other water fixtures are all dried up.
  • Early to mid-game, you can choose to craft dew collectors or continue only to use the jars that you find.
  • To balance gameplay, jars are one-time use, not refunded and are not craftable. The dew collector unlocks at Workstation Crafting level 16, is now crafted on the workbench, and additional resources are required for crafting. Murky water and other drinks still have a chance to be found in loot.
Update to the 2.5 Jars: Jars can be crafted once you have a forge and a crucible. With no perks, the recipe will be 31 sand and 6 clay. With Advanced Engineering 5/5, the recipe gets reduced to 25 sand and 5 clay

Update 12/10/25: Users can decide how often the empty jar is returned after drinking via a slider, from 0% (jar always disappears) to 100% (empty jar is always returned to the inventory)

Vehicle Storage Improvements & Mods

Each vehicle by default will now support one additional storage column for more storage slots:
  • Bicycle: 1 extra storage slot
  • Minibike: 3 extra storage slots
  • Motorcycle: 4 extra storage slots
  • Gyrocopter: 5 extra storage slots
  • 4X4 Truck : 9 extra storage slots
We are adding vehicle storage mods that will increase any vehicle’s storage capacity by 1 row which will increase a vehicle’s storage capacity by 10 slots. Each vehicle can hold up to two vehicle storage mods for a total increased storage capacity of 20 storage slots. When you install a vehicle storage mod you will see your vehicle visibly change. For example: you would see new saddlebags on a bicycle when a vehicle storage mod is installed.

The New Rancher Zombie

The 2.0 Plague Spitter model has been replaced with ‘The Rancher’ who looks more grounded to the Navezgane Arizona desert game lore. The Rancher still has the swarm spitting attack.

The New Chuck Zombie

The 2.0 Frost Claw model has been replaced with the new ‘Chuck’ zombie which looks more grounded to the Navezgane Arizona snowy mountains game lore. Chuck still has the boulder throwing attack.

Smell System

We have added a new smell system to the game with some great improvements from the classic smell system.
  • Having 5 or more Raw Meat in your inventory will create a smell.
  • There is a 10 second grace period before the smell begins to smell, giving the player an opportunity to store or package the raw meat.
  • Raw Meat smells have a distance in meters they travel which will be displayed on a left HUD buff popout with a Nose Icon on it. The distance number on the buff HUD will grow over time until it reaches a maximum distance. The more Raw Meat you’re carrying the longer the smell distance.
  • Once a smell has reached its maximum distance it will linger in the air for a short time period represented by a slowly decreasing HUD number until the smell dissipates and the number decreases at a faster rate.
  • There are several ways you can prevent Raw Meat from smelling including:
    • Packaging the Raw Meat in bundles of 5 using paper and plant fibers.
    • Storing the Raw Meat in a vehicle or storage container
  • Consuming food now causes smell so you need to be careful when and what you eat. Many consumables now have a Smell Distance stat.
  • Consuming multiple items in a row will cause a combined smell distance.
  • The flatulence the player makes from Dysentery will cause a smell.
  • Smells combined have a maximum cumulative distance of 100 meters.
  • Smells do not travel as far when indoors or sheltered and are reduced to 20% of their full distance and will dynamically shrink or grow when you go inside or outside.
  • Your current smell can be cleared by submerging yourself in water.
  • When smells reach zombies they will randomly detect the smell, move in that direction and at the desired smell run speed setting in the game options under smell mode which defaults to run.
  • Smells will also add to the Stealth Meter value.
  • Animal carcasses can now be smelled from farther away so you may have to defend the carcass from more zombies.
  • There is a new game option AI Smell Mode which can be set to Off, Walk, Jog, Run, Sprint and Nightmare, but defaults to Run. You can disable player smells by setting it to Off.
Distant Storm Rendering

A new system has been added that will render storm clouds in neighboring biomes. This early warning indicator will help players prepare before they enter the area. Each biome has its own unique VFX particle system.

Biome Hazards, Storms, Temperature & Protective Clothing

The Biome Hazards, Storms, Temperature and Protective Clothing now all act independently, creating a more dynamic and unpredictable struggle against the elements. Here are the changes and additions:
  • The Biome Hazards
    • The biome hazards and progression have been reworked with new belt messages, icons and item descriptions to reflect the more immersive face covering gear and the protection provide against airborne hazards including:
      • Burnt Biome – Smoke and Ash
      • Desert Biome – Sand and Dust
      • Snow Biome – Brutal cold air
      • Wasteland Biome – Toxic Fallout
  • Storms
    • Storms have been reworked to allow a longer grace period based on clothing worn
    • Without clothing, the player gets 30 seconds to leave the biome or take shelter
    • Gathering and wearing the protective clothing described below increases the players time to leave the biome or find shelter
    • Taking shelter starts a recovery timer that ramps up at 3x the rate of the grace timer
    • Reworked the storm buff icons to clearly show a difference between biome themes
    • Zombies become aggressive and will be more active during storms
    • Zombies have a higher chance of dropping loot during storms
  • Temperature
    • Added back a more intuitive implementation of the older temperature system
    • Time of day, shelter, shade, weather conditions, wetness, and other factors play a role in the player’s core temperature
    • Holding a torch, standing by a campfire, or consuming items will boost a player’s cold resistance
    • Gathering and wearing the protective clothing (described below) increases the player’s hot and cold resistance which absorbs the various conditions to offset the player’s core temperature
    • Hot debuffs have 2 levels of severity:
      • Hot
        • Increased water consumption to recover stamina by 300%
        • All movement types reduced by 10%
      • Sweltering
        • Increased water consumption to recover stamina by 600%
        • All movement types reduced by 20%
    • Cold debuffs have 2 levels of severity:
      • Cold
        • Increased food consumption over time by 100%
        • Increased food consumption to recover stamina by 30%
        • All movement types reduced by 10%
      • Freezing
        • Increased food consumption over time by 200%
        • Increased food consumption to recover stamina by 60%
        • All movement types reduced by 20%
  • Protective Clothing
    • There are four clothing insulation item groups that can be found and worn to increase the player’s hot and cold resistance and protection time against storms including: Socks, Cap liners, Long Underwear and Glove Liners
    • The clothing insulation items come in three tiers: Tattered (Tier 1), Patchwork (Tier 2) and ThermalCore (Tier 3).
    • Wearing all four of the highest tier insulated clothing items provides the longest protection time against storms and best hot and cold resistance against extreme temperatures
    • Clothing has quality, but no degradation so you can keep looting to get better gear.
    • We’ve added three levels of progressive armor insulation mods as well to augment your hot and cold resistance even further
 
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2.5 Survival Revival Release Notes (continued)

New Apiary Workstation

We have added a new Apiary workstation to the game that will allow the player to produce honey and here’s how it works.
  • Apiary Workstation crafting is unlocked at Tier 3 workstations crafting level 30
  • Once unlocked, the player can craft the Apiary Workstation recipe by gathering the following ingredients
    • 5 Beeswax (Harvested in tree stumps or found in loot drops from the new ‘Rancher Zombie’ formally the Plague Spitter.
    • 100 Wood
    • 50 nails
    • 10 Forged Iron
    • 8 Duct Tape
  • Once the player crafts the Apiary Workstation it needs to be fueled by 10 Chrysanthemum, 10 Goldenrod, or 10 Cotton.
  • The Apiary Workstation will output one honey every 2 game days
  • Opening the Apiary has a small chance of spawning an angry bee swarm.
  • The Apiary Workstation can be upgraded with three tool slot mod upgrades including:
    • Apiary Smoker: Removes the chance to spawn an angry bee swarm.
    • Apiary Brood Box: Doubles how much honey can be stored.
    • Apiary Extractor: Doubles how fast honey is produced.
New Recipes

Along with the Apiary Workstation that produces honey we have have added some new honey-centric recipes to the game that offer some honey healing benefits including:
  • Honey Tea. Not only does it hydrate, it cures infection!
  • Honey Glazed Sham. Your new favorite meat substitute just got better!
  • Honey Brisket. The ultimate survivor food offers a whopping 150 food points and heals your infections!
3rd Person Camera

Full third-person camera support has been added to the game! You can now seamlessly toggle between first-person and third-person views during gameplay using a quick-toggle keybind. This highly requested feature provides a new perspective on your character and surroundings, especially useful for appreciating your gear customization, navigating complex terrain, and experiencing combat from a different viewpoint.

A number of settings have been added to customize the 3rd person camera. These can be found in the Video > Display settings menu:
  • Default Camera Mode: Choose if you prefer to start games in 1st or 3rd person. You can also toggle this in game at any time, unless the server you’re playing is restricted to a specific camera mode.
  • 3rd Person Field of View: Separated from the 1st person FOV slider.
  • 3rd Person Camera Distance: Can be adjusted here or can be adjusted in game by holding the camera change or quick action menu buttons and using the mouse wheel or controller triggers.
  • 3rd Person Camera Mode: Choose whether you want a freely orbiting camera or one that’s locked behind the character. A third option will only lock the camera when holding a ranged weapon.
A game setting and server config has been added allowing hosts to restrict the camera mode for all players in the game. This can be found in the Advanced tab of the game setting. By default all players are allowed to change their camera mode freely but this setting can be used to force all players to use either 1st or 3rd person camera modes.

Key Binding Changes & Improvements
  • Quick Actions Menu: Hold this button to bring up a radial menu of various actions, including changing the camera perspective, dropping your weapon, as well as a place to access all of your toggleable items and equipment attachments. You can also choose the default behaviour of tapping this button; changing camera mode or toggling your first attachment. Additionally, holding this button allows you to adjust the 3rd person camera distance, or zoom it right in to switch back to 1st person.
  • Swap Camera Side / Scope Zoom Level: Use this button in third person to swap which side of your character the camera is positioned over. Handy when peeking out of cover or over the side of a building. This button also provides an alternative method of adjusting a scope’s zoom level by cycling through the scope levels in steps.
Gamepad & Console Changes & Improvements
  • Additional bindings for individual toolbelt slots and menu shortcuts have been added. These are left unbound by default but are there should you want to use them in your custom controller layouts.You can find them in the “Toolbelt” and “Menus” tabs of the Controller Settings window.
  • The scope zoom in/ zoom out bindings have been removed in favor of the Swap Camera Side / Scope Zoom Level action. This cuts down on the number of inputs scope zooming takes up on a controller.
Please note that we have adjusted the default controller layout to accommodate these new and reworked inputs. The first time starting the game after updating all input bindings will be reset to their new defaults.

Turret Ammo Improvements

Turret systems have been significantly enhanced for more flexible base defense:
  • Universal Ammo Compatibility: Turrets now accept all ammunition tiers, giving you more flexibility in managing your defensive resources. Use standard ammo for regular threats and save premium ammunition for horde nights.
  • Entity Piercing: Advanced entity piercing mechanics for high-tier ammunition are currently work-in-progress and will be refined in upcoming updates.
  • Ammo Type Benefits: Different ammunition types now provide distinct advantages, armor-piercing rounds for tough enemies, hollow points for standard zombies, and more.
Quest Improvements

We have updated the quest system, improving which traders are selected in the world and the criteria for how their quest lists are selected.
  • The starter quest and the opening trader routes quests will only direct players to traders that have the highest number of nearby quest locations by them or near cites.
  • The traders will now show up to 7 Quests in each Tiers list and will offer them in a new algorithm that picks 3 near distance, 3 medium distance and 1 far distance giving more variety to the quest offerings and improving the odds for higher tier quest offerings.
New Character Window Rendering

We have added a new rendering system to the in-game character windows. The characters are now rendered in a perspective camera view with 4 point lighting and a rotatable character

New Free Cosmetic Skins
  • Free Original Survivors Pack: A free cosmetic content pack featuring the original male and female 7 Days Survivors. Note: You will be able to browse the in-game DLC menu to redeem it once 2.5 is stable
  • Free Holiday Santa Hat: A free cosmetic Santa hat you can find in loot during the holidays
New Trader Jen Model

We added a brand new Trader Jen model coming to your Apocalypse. Note: This may come in a bug fix patch after 2.5 stable.
 
Oh! Please add a food rotting mechanic. This will prevent cooked (or raw) food from accumulating in containers.
If it's not eaten, it starts to smell strongly and attracts zombies.
And rotten food can be processed into fertilizer for the farm (for example, it boosts growth speed or production).
So, cooked food smells from N meters away, while rotten food smells from x2 meters away.
And the more food there is in the container, the further the distance.
P.S. I used Google Translate.
 
A lot of this looks great! Expandable vehicle mods are going to be top tier for basically every vehicle.

To balance gameplay, jars are one-time use, not refunded and are not craftable
Click to expand...
Well, I'll give it a try but that's really just looting water with extra steps.

In all seriousness, why does water need to be this scarce? When I started playing in the Alphas the threat and thing that was being survived was the zombies. Food, water and environment where there too of course, but it was a zombie survival game. When I died, it was to a zombie. With the increased focus on other survival elements 7D2D feels more like a regular survival game that just happens to have zombies in it. Do I have the wrong expectation here?
 
"All they had to do is to just bring back empty jars of A16 with no jar recipe and without touching anything else in it (which is 1 day of work), players could ballance them how they want, while devs would do other job! This whole balancing of jars and creating problems where they are completely unnecessary, is such complete nonsense, my God.
1765301382175.png
 
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Mr. Perfect said:
A lot of this looks great! Expandable vehicle mods are going to be top tier for basically every vehicle.


Well, I'll give it a try but that's really just looting water with extra steps.

In all seriousness, why does water need to be this scarce? When I started playing in the Alphas the threat and thing that was being survived was the zombies. Food, water and environment where there too of course, but it was a zombie survival game. When I died, it was to a zombie. With the increased focus on other survival elements 7D2D feels more like a regular survival game that just happens to have zombies in it. Do I have the wrong expectation here?
Click to expand...
I just think water should be harder to clean that's it
 
Reaplay said:
Oh! Please add a food rotting mechanic. This will prevent cooked (or raw) food from accumulating in containers.
If it's not eaten, it starts to smell strongly and attracts zombies.
And rotten food can be processed into fertilizer for the farm (for example, it boosts growth speed or production).
So, cooked food smells from N meters away, while rotten food smells from x2 meters away.
And the more food there is in the container, the further the distance.
P.S. I used Google Translate.
Click to expand...

+ a fridge/freezer to keep it for longer :whistle:
 
I don't get comments "like why does water need to be this scarce" It isn't, you craft a few dew collectors and you have infinite water pretty much. Water in the current state of the game is too easy to get. I'm glad there is a few extra steps to getting a good supply of drinkable water coming in the update.

I'm guessing this will be hated, but I also feel like we get way to much scrap iron from scrapping items. I can't remember the last time I needed to go on a good mining session or build myself a little hobbit hole mineshaft. Same with vending machines and end of poi loot rooms, I'd personally love to see them removed.

My biggest gripe since 1.0 is the game became to arcadey and just throws everything you need right at you in the early game. It's a zombie survival game that lost it's survival aspects, I'm very happy these are slowly adding survival aspects back into the game. I'm really looking forward to the direction 2.5 is taking and hope it continues.
 
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