PC Zombie spawning, definitive answer?

M

MacFeely

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm a relatively new console player and this game has gotten me hooked on the crafting and building aspects of the game. I've been reading forums and watching videos, but something still has yet to be answered (at least that I've seen), and that's where can zombies spawn and not spawn? Can we please get a Dev to answer this?

I've seen several different answers: Either they can spawn on any uncovered "block" on the map, regardless of whether it was user created or randomly generated; OR they can only spawn on not user created blocks.

My main problem is that I wanted to create a castle with nice tall walls to protect my keep, while having space outside for a garden and a garage for my minibikes. I was upgrading my walls last night, and had zombies spawning inside the walls! Granted, it's a fairly large space that's walled in (about 75x75), but does that mean I have to lay down blocks on the entire ground to prevent zombies from spawning there?

Thanks,

-Mac

 
Im obviously not 100% sure, but i always thought that to stop a spawn happening you'ld have to replace a block on the map with a block of your own. For my castle this works fine as i have to replace the ground anyway but havent been able to test it to see if anything spawns on it yet.

 
Zombies can spawn on almost anything. There are only three blocks coded to prevent spawns. Fertile farmland is the most common of the three that you can actually create.

The idea they they can not spawn on player placed blocks is not true. It has never been a thing in the console, and it has not been a thing in the PC version for at least three years.

If you lay the ground with dirt and fertilize it, that should prevent spawning on the ground. They can still spawn in the structures outside of the bedroll protection though.

It is not reasonably possible to 100% prevent spawns in an area that large.

 
There was a big discussion about this very problem amongst the A16 PC players. IMO, 7D2D needs to adopt a system like Minecraft's: zombies won't spawn in lighted areas. Probably it would need to be player-placed lights only, since they can spawn during the day after all. But if you torch up your castle, the zombies should not be able to spawn there.

Either that, or they need to make the bedroll area larger, so we can build bigger bases and be "safe".

The root problem is that it's very computationally expensive for the game to calculate "could a zombie get into this castle?" and then enable or disable spawns. The game has no idea, really, that you've built a huge contiguous wall surrounding a 37-block radius area and therefore zombies shouldn't be able to get "inside". So it has to fake it with "bedroll protection area" or non-spawnable blocks like fertilized soil or water.

Alternatively, just assume that spiders climb your walls, tie ropes on, and let the other zombies in, all while you're away looting. So when you get back home...surprise guests!

 
Suddenly i dont feel so safe behind huge walls :p
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Stick with high ground and no ladders. 5 blocks high and plenty of ammo. Its like shooting ducks in a barrel. But they don't like coming around when your waiting for them. They like to come around when your on the ground working your base. Keep your eyes peeled if working alone. I usually do a 360 every now and then while working to look around. I cant wait to build a couple hundred landmines. I'll stick them in my dugout trench around my base. I need to dig my trench wider. Night time runners can get over the trench. Bloaters can punch their way out.

http://xboxclips.com/GRAW2ROBZ/9a61a776-d437-4a29-9af9-bbd04ffa0ebc

Me in my tree stand bridge path way between two buildings in green area of "general stores".

 
I neglected to get a screenshot last night, but it was Horde night 91, and afterwards my buddy and I went exploring.

But I'm going to try a mixture of a stone courtyard and fertilizing the remaining space. When we first started the base my buddy dug a trench close to the house and put log spikes in it, and that's what tipped me off about zombies being in there. My draw bridge was up on the outer wall, yet there were zombies in the inner spike trench. I'm going to expand that one to make it two blocks wide, and maybe 6 or 7 blocks tall.

The outer trench is 3 blocks wide with log spikes, then I have 4 rows of spikes mounted on the vertical face of the wall (facing out, not up). The wall is about another 8 blocks tall, and even taller around the property as the terrain changes. I did measure the long side of the wall at 86 blocks. The short side is probably around 65-70. Currently the wall is only 1 block thick (above grade), but that will eventually get to 3 layers thick with more buildings and a taller integrated keep planned.

I'll see how it goes once I've finished and let you know, and maybe throw a screenshot of my build in here, but I know those go in a different thread, thanks all!

 
I need to dig my trench wider as well. Its only 1 square wide. Runners can get over it. Bloaters punch dirt to ramp and get out. No spikes in the trench. I was debating to put land mines in it. Maybe few gas barrels and some tnt. Let the dominoes fall.

 
I need to dig my trench wider as well. Its only 1 square wide. Runners can get over it. Bloaters punch dirt to ramp and get out. No spikes in the trench. I was debating to put land mines in it. Maybe few gas barrels and some tnt. Let the dominoes fall.
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Unless you want to rebuild your walls every night, I would stay away from land mines and dynamite. I went 3 blocks wide with log spikes, the zombies just keep crawling until they die.

 
And we watching you !
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From on high, I presume... :-)

294px-PCMR.png


 
So it's been a couple of days (in game 2 weeks), and I haven't had a zombie spawn inside the walls yet. I haven't finished the inner courtyard, but I have been fertilizing all the ground inside the wall. Had to wait for the fog to lift before I could get some good screenshots.Base trench.jpg

Inside base.jpg

 
Not sure how the bed roll protection works I'm assuming it's only on your active one so you can't place multiple but if other players bedroll protection remain active even when their offline you could have people join put them where you want. Just a passing thought probably doesn't work if they are not on the game at the time anyone know whether this is the case?

 
Not sure how the bed roll protection works I'm assuming it's only on your active one so you can't place multiple but if other players bedroll protection remain active even when their offline you could have people join put them where you want. Just a passing thought probably doesn't work if they are not on the game at the time anyone know whether this is the case?
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If the player isn't online it doesn't count. It just reads it as a empty bed roll. At least for now unless they want to change it or something. The easiest way to change this would be to just expand the bed roll radius then what it is now. In my opinion anyway.

 
Or add a zombie repeller item to be crafted. It should be pretty freakin' expensive to build, but confer a 50x50 square (bedrock to sky) protection zone. Cannot be wrenched up, only destroyed. And only the most-recently-placed one counts, like with the bedroll.

Maybe 2 or 3 levels of repeller - 50x50, 75x75, and 100x100. Need to be seriously expensive, though, so even the smallest one is a mid-game target, not something you can get on day 4.

 
Or add a zombie repeller item to be crafted. It should be pretty freakin' expensive to build, but confer a 50x50 square (bedrock to sky) protection zone. Cannot be wrenched up, only destroyed. And only the most-recently-placed one counts, like with the bedroll.
Maybe 2 or 3 levels of repeller - 50x50, 75x75, and 100x100. Need to be seriously expensive, though, so even the smallest one is a mid-game target, not something you can get on day 4.
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It doesn't have to be expensive to make. It could be expensive to run and maintain. The only downside is, the can then drop the bed roll protection in place of said item's protection.

 
It doesn't have to be expensive to make. It could be expensive to run and maintain.
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That's an interesting idea. So like maybe it requires an engine and you have to feed it gas? That would be an interesting way to let the player have multiple "active" repellers, but only the ones that are running (and consuming gas) are really working.

I was thinking that they'd work just like the bedroll, only bigger. I figured they should be expensive to build so that a) you can't get one in the early game and b) you will have an incentive to not place one down until you're sure of your base's location. Maybe that's too restrictive though. If only the most-recently-placed one works (like the bedroll), then I guess they could be wrenchable so you can pick 'em up and move to a new base.

The only downside is, the can then drop the bed roll protection in place of said item's protection.
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I was thinking that the bedroll is the early-game zombie repeller, just like now. It's enough to protect a small-ish base, but if you want to go building castles, you're going to have to grind for non-trivial amounts of rare components to build a repeller.

 
That's an interesting idea. So like maybe it requires an engine and you have to feed it gas? That would be an interesting way to let the player have multiple "active" repellers, but only the ones that are running (and consuming gas) are really working.
I was thinking that they'd work just like the bedroll, only bigger. I figured they should be expensive to build so that a) you can't get one in the early game and b) you will have an incentive to not place one down until you're sure of your base's location. Maybe that's too restrictive though. If only the most-recently-placed one works (like the bedroll), then I guess they could be wrenchable so you can pick 'em up and move to a new base.
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Making a running maintenance thing in my opinion makes it more "realistic". I use quotes because how realistic can we get within a zombie game?

And it could be hidden either behind a skill like a work bench, or in a book. Either way I could see it attached to science. With the ranges tied to the overall quality of the machine. Since science is one of the more ignored skills, and harder to level because of that, I could see balance in that. And it keeps them for sure fro. Spawning t her, but also deters wander hordes. Horde night is free game, and there could be special zombies that show up in the horde with the purpose of tracking to that object to destroy it.

I was thinking that the bedroll is the early-game zombie repeller, just like now. It's enough to protect a small-ish base, but if you want to go building castles, you're going to have to grind for non-trivial amounts of rare components to build a repeller.
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On one hand I think that is not a terrible idea, on another, it defeats the purpose of building a base for them to just spawn inside the walls. I do understand limitations of the console and so if you don't give the system the space to spawn outside the vase then ok sure. Let them spawn in.

Mini rant aside, you do need a safe place so a bed roll indicating that is not a bad idea.

 
Zombies can spawn on almost anything. There are only three blocks coded to prevent spawns. Fertile farmland is the most common of the three that you can actually create.
The idea they they can not spawn on player placed blocks is not true. It has never been a thing in the console, and it has not been a thing in the PC version for at least three years.

If you lay the ground with dirt and fertilize it, that should prevent spawning on the ground. They can still spawn in the structures outside of the bedroll protection though.

It is not reasonably possible to 100% prevent spawns in an area that large.
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That's not strictly true. Tonight I had to kill a number of zombies right on top of my fertile farm land and within 15 minutes they were back. Some months ago I had one spurn right on top of my sleeping bag! Another spurned on my land claim block! I am getting sick of it all! I honestly can't believe what I read about what zombies can and can't do. And now they are spurning on my roof dis-trying my solar panels.

 
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