Zombies are acting a little strange

[murky water]

i know they like to beat up on "loud" things like if you chop a tree mostly down a zombie might choose to attack the tree instead of you when it gets in range if you arent making noise. i just shrug it off as their eyeballs being goop at this point and them being on auto-pilot with how they interact with the world

 

[theFlu]

i know they like to beat up on "loud" things like if you chop a tree mostly down a zombie might choose to attack the tree instead of you when it gets in range if you arent making noise.

"loud" things, sound sources.. I don't think that's a thing. They'll attack a block that's in their way or a random block nearby if they can't find a path to you. But that's about it. The pathfinding loses its marbles quite often, so they'll attack whatever is around; in a forest that's trees ..

 

[Samcharles]

I don't mind them doing that, gives me a chance to get an easy free shot or two in lol

I like stand there and watch them attack a tree or post when I'm standing right in front of them.

 

[NiteViper]

I like stand there and watch them attack a tree or post when I'm standing right in front of them.

Had one last night walking next to a semi-truck, instead of turning left and walking towards me, it turned right and started smacking a streetlight for no reason lol got a good laugh from that one, I watched him for about 3 minutes until I got bored and killed it lol

 

[Expendable]

Took a long break (1.4 i think) and when I started up a new world (2.2) this issue was bugging the hell out of me. Roamers would path near a POI i was cleaning out and they'd just start bashing the walls to get in when the front door was open. Wandering around town I would constantly hear zombies smacking blocks in the distance. Zombies in untouched POIs would break through loot and then walls trying to get out. Lumberjacks would randomly break down trees while chasing me. The list goes on.

So, after much searching, I think I've found the root of the issue and a fix for anyone interested. I only discovered it by reversing Purefyre's mod "Brain Dead Zed", so thank you to them. At whichever point the devs reduced "structural engineering zombie AI", they changed the default values to " <property name="AIPathCostScale" value=".15, .4"/> ". What I believe is happening is the pathfinding AI will willingly take less efficient route options the lower this value is, making them "break" the path if blocks are in it. I added one line in an entityclasses.xml mod, " <set xpath="/entity_classes/entity_class[contains(@name, 'zombie')]/property[@name='AIPathCostScale']/@value">0.9,1</set> " and all the issues I had stopped. This does make zeds go back to being structural engineers, but I prefer that to randomly destroying POIs and cars. You can also adjust this value to your liking, even using seperate commands for specific zombies if you want certain types to behave dumber or smarter. (Kool-aid man Hawaiians could be a thing)

Anywho, hope this helps someone.

 

[Rotor]

If in fact this is the case, I love the lack of structural engineering.

 

[InfiniteWarrior]

Roamers would path near a POI i was cleaning out and they'd just start bashing the walls to get in when the front door was open.

That, in particular, is "good" zombie behavior from my perspective that they've always displayed because something -- a wall, a mannequin, whatever -- was in their way and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. It's potentially unnerving to be going about your noisy business in a POI knowing that there are roaming zombies trying to get into the building and can potentially sneak up on you. They don't have to come through the door and probably better for that potential unnerving quality that they don't unless they happen to be near an open or closed door.

It was the zombies that strolled right past me to go banging on a light pole or something that I found hilarious. If they were following their noses and wanted to eat your brains, you'd think you'd be the most interesting target in the vacinity. But...no.

That's the behavior that changed between (I think it was) 1.0 and 2.0. There were no obstacles between the player and zombies in the scenarios of which I spoke initially. They just went off and did their own thing. Actually had to bash them in the skull to get their attention at times. I haven't noticed that particular behavior of late, though they will sometimes ignore open doors to bang on the window next to it or something, so maybe that particular issue has been fixed. Your fix might further help curb even more inexplicable zombie behavior.

 

[RipClaw]

It was the zombies that strolled right past me to go banging on a light pole or something that I found hilarious. If they were following their noses and wanted to eat your brains, you'd think you'd be the most interesting target in the vacinity. But...no.

For a moment, put yourself in the zombie's shoes. You see someone wearing armor and carrying weapons. That person could be violent and a bit crazy. This is not exactly the kind of person you would ask if you could eat their brain.

 

[Rotor]

For a moment, put yourself in the zombie's shoes. You see someone wearing armor and carrying weapons. That person could be violent and a bit crazy. This is not exactly the kind of person you would ask if you could eat their brain.

This assumes Zs are rational. But then again, they do have MiT engineering . Really I don't mind them occasionally beating the crap out of something else.