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Hello all! Afraid this will be a more hastily put together than usual Thursdoid, usual Thursdoid writer is away this week, and we originally planned to do a stable release today. Last minute, however, literally a couple of hours ago in fact, we concluded that this would be a bad idea not only in the middle of the Steam Survival Sale, but also a big week long and rather huge Spanish streamer event (go check it out!) that heralded some of our biggest Twitch numbers ever (thanks again to Silithur for organizing it!). Stable releases are always nerve-wracking, but doubled up with the zombie respawn issues that we’ve been struggling with on unstable it just felt like a bad time to throw any dice. We believe those issues are fixed, and have done significant internal testing, however throwing it in front of a huge number of players on stable we can’t be absolutely sure it won’t still cause problems, particularly with mods, so doing a release today under these circumstances seemed a risky endeavour with so many new people being exposed to the game. As such, we will likely wait until the coming Monday to flip the switch. This gives us a few more days to see if the zombie spawning reports on the unstable branch start to disappear after the fix went live and is probably the safer option, as eager as we are to see the update out and free up the team for bigger commits toward the next update. 41.73 So for those who haven’t dipped their toe into unstable, here’s a few highlights of what to expect: Optionally see other players from your safehouse / faction on the map. Lots of extra security and anti-cheat to MP Lots of improvements to recipes, new foodstuffs, improved containers, expanded recipes. Improved error reporting for diagnosing mod errors or conflicts. Lots of map polish, bug fixes, improvements. Improved MP Admin tools. About ten gazillion bug fixes. ADAPTIVE MUSIC Since Formosa UK (formerly Noiseworks) added the adaptive, reactive action music it went down really well. Making the music react to what’s happening on-screen makes a big difference to immersing yourself into what’s going on. The next stage of this plan is being put into place now, which will involve creating reactive versions of all the other tracks in the game. Not just action ones, but also all the various tracks and ambiences that currently exist. The idea is to allow for the non-action music to change in intensity from background ambient, to how it currently is now, to a more intense version, depending on what the player is doing. Do they leave their house after being in their house for some time? Maybe the ambient music bumps up a notch. Get into your car in the morning to go out on a looting run? Enter a house to loot? Find a rare item? There are countless little game moments we can tie into a music change, that will just help to make the music feel like its telling part of the story and provide much more variety in the music tracks through play. B42 CRAFTING We’ve got a couple of sexy flowcharts from lead crafting crafter Turbo detailing some of the new post-apocalyptic professions that readers can pour over to get an idea of what’s coming in Build 42. We intended to save this stuff until you could see it in-game, but it doesn’t hurt to have a sneak peak. As shown with the liquid system a few weeks back, actual code-side work on the crafting is still mostly foundational. Getting and expanding systems in there to cater for different ingredients used for the new crafting and make them expandable and more in-depth, adding new properties and new systems to items to allow them to track more detail than just ‘condition’, but also quality and other parameters that will impact how they are used and what the results of their usage is. Allowing more nuance in spawning items so for example bottles of beer in a convenience store will likely be full, where a bottle in a house may be half empty, empty, or even contain another liquid entirely. Items in general will have more nuanced conditions and qualities, the crafting system being able to operate on nearby crafting stations which affect the results and also what recipes are available to the player. Also allowing for multi-tile ‘machines’ that will operate as single objects, and allowing for tiles to be connected to cooperate with each other. A ton of foundational stuff that needs to be in place before the trees that have been designed are implemented, and progress has been good however there is still more to do, which limits what can be shown in videos at this point. At the moment we have about ten post-apocalypse professions, each with their own crafting tree, various multi tile workstations that are upgradable, and each with many produce that often includes ingredients from other professions, or can feed into other professions. This image does not expand for spoiler purposes, but is just to give an idea of how in-depth the crafting design is at this point — these trees are only part of the full picture, and we’re still far from done with it: If we look at, for example, the stone working profession you will see the level of detail we are going into with the new crafting. (please note these are early designs, and will likely be incomplete, and also we still need to balance and figure out the ‘right level of detail’ from playtesting, as we want crafting to be in-depth, cooperative, but not drawn out and too grindy to be enjoyable) Below is an overview of the stonecutting profession. As stated before, the goal with the crafting is to be able to produce anything that it would be realistically feasible for characters with those skills to produce, to dip our toe a bit more into the ‘rebuild society’ than we previously did, for the sake of providing a better long-term MP (and SP with NPCs) experience for those who don’t die screaming within the first week. Players will not be building computers or nuclear reactors, but any of the more primitive to medieval technology that makes sense we hope to be an option. It should be possible to spawn on a blank map with just wilderness and natural resources and have an engaging crafting and community building game, and adding the towns, cities and zombies to the mix will only make that more interesting. Here’s another example, the bowyer: As you can see, the goal is that each profession will be involved enough, with enough variety, and also enough interaction with other professions, to make it an interesting experience that a player can focus on within a community. We need to find the right balance between ‘involved’ and ‘not too drawn out’, and also provide mechanisms for SP players to be able to use sandbox to allow them to dabble in professions alone, prior to NPCs, without running into a wall of specialisation limit meaning they can’t function in all the professions required to create any items. And also not make the process of crafting an item so drawn out as to be discouraging players from taking part. We’ll go into more detail on the professions when they are starting to be implemented, and we’re more sure on the designs working out within the game. It’s a hard balance to find, and we’ll know more once these recipes and crafting trees get into the game once the systems are in place to accommodate them, and once these go out to the community we can get further feedback to balance the satisfaction vs grind balance of the depth of them. FUTURE MP WORK Checking in with the multiplayer team, they have been working on a big refactor of the MP codebase in their ongoing work for moving player inventories to the server. This will pretty much eliminate all inventory cheating. In addition, they have been working on character creation being moved to the server too, which will forbid clients from cheating with character inventory, skills and perks before the character is added to the server’s database. We’re also going to be looking into a real anti cheat solution that should reduce the occurrences of cheaters significantly. While anti-cheat can be circumnavigated and its unlikely to get rid of any cheating whatsoever, as we are not a competitive FPS, we hope that there won’t be quite the market for selling cheats for the cheat developers to be as willing to fight in the arms race required, and it will push cheat development above the skill level of most casual cheat makers. The MP team have also been making further improvements to vehicle syncing in MP, improving collisions and avoiding vehicles clipping into each other.

We've pushed an update reverting (i.e. removing) the following part from the last hotfix: - Prevent Corpses and other very heavy/large things (Item Weight/Encumberance of 5 and above) from being put in backpacks. It made its way into the build unintentionally. It will be fleshed out a little more and likely find its way into 41.74, instead, in more refined form.

HOTFIX August 2nd - Added a new volume slider to the Audio options which affects the jump-scare sound. - Prevent Corpses and other very heavy/large things (Item Weight/Encumberance of 5 and above) from being put in backpacks. - Fixed a redundant/duplicate exclusive trait definition in MainCreationMethods.lua that could allow the Obese trait to be taken twice under some circumstances. - Fixed BuildingDef.calculateMetaID() and RoomDef.calculateMetaID() possibly creating the same ID for different buildings or rooms. This was why zombies would respawn in some already-seen rooms.

We've updated Unstable with another hotfix: - Increased allowed map_meta.bin and map_zone.bin file size from 20MB to 50MB in multiplayer. Community translations were also updated, alongside Radio translations (<3) Barring any reports of things somehow breaking catastrophically with this, this is likely the build that will be pushed to Stable soon. Thanks for any reports of possible showstoppers

We’re big fans of ZA/UM’s brilliant narrative RPG Disco Elysium here at the towering headquarters of TIS, and were delighted to learn a user named Gabester has recreated much of DE’s world in a custom Project Zomboid map called Elysium Island. Other than the isometric perspective, there aren’t a lot of obvious similarities between the two games. DE goes deep into the psyche of the main character, alcoholic detective Harry Du Bois, as he investigates a murder with his long-suffering partner, Kim Kitsuragi. Harry’s investigation takes him not just through the seedy district of Martinaise in Revachol, but on a journey through his own mind, as disparate parts of Harry’s inner self have conversations with each other and with Harry. It’s a bit like if PZ’s moodles could talk. And yet, despite the differences, DE’s map looks and works surprisingly well in PZ, especially if you have the complementary clothing pack, also by Gabester. Loot the Whirling-in-Rags for booze to disinfect your wounds (or chase the blues away in the spirit of Harry), hole up in a run-down apartment, and pick your way through the shipping containers of the harbour without that pesky Measurehead to stop you. Both games have a similar mood of despair and decay though admittedly, even on Harry’s most destructive benders, he probably never caved in a zombie’s head with a frying pan. We put on our talking necktie, plastered a frozen grin on our face, and stumbled our way through [EASY] skill checks as we spoke to the map’s creator Gabester about his creation and himself! GABESTER Who are you in real life? Tell us a little about yourself. “[PRESS Q BY ACCIDENT: Success] HEY! I’m Gabe and my secret plan to survive the zombie apocalypse is to move to a lighthouse… although I can’t fish and don’t have a boat so there are a few small issues that’ll need to be worked out on the day.” “Aside from making plans about hypothetical situations, I work in the graphics industry, enjoy long walks, chill Attenborough documentaries and (it seems) video games about reanimated corpses.” How did you first discover Project Zomboid? Why do you like it? “I bought Project Zomboid in 2014 after seeing it on the Youtube channel Node, and also I was a big fan of The Walking Dead at the time. I remember not surviving very long, and the height of my achievements was building a wall to secure the isolated house in Muldraugh.” “The multiplayer update has really transformed the game for me. The freedom and stories that the game encourages, combined with other people wandering the world, make it a very unique game compared to anything else out there.” How did you get into mapping for PZ? Have you made mods or maps for other games before? “I’d never created mods for other games before but I was really impressed with the Steam workshop for PZ! Like others I ended up downloading a few hundred mods and eventually came across Daddy Dirkie Dirk’s mapping tutorials on Youtube and thought, why not!” “The first map mod I made was a recreation of Howard’s bunker from the film 12 Cloverfield Lane. It’s a great film and I thought it’d be the perfect small scale map that would fit into Kentucky.” “Overfield Lane got a really positive response from the community and that helped encourage me to create a second map mod: McCoy’s Bunker, a fictional bunker that the CEO of the McCoy Logging Company had built in preparation for nuclear annihilation (or perhaps a zombie outbreak).” Tell us about your experiences with Disco Elysium. How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t played it? What do you like about it? Are there any similarities between it and PZ? “Disco Elysium is a masterpiece with an amazing soundtrack and unique story. In short you’re a detective who has to solve a murder. It’s a game that focuses on character interaction as opposed to conflict and action. You also have a kickass partner in Kim Kitsuragi. Seriously, who doesn’t like Kim?” “They’re both isometric in visual style and both Zomboid and Disco Elysium are games that focus on the human experience, from small moments to the grandiose, in different ways.” How long did your map take to make, in total? What was the most difficult part of translating Disco Elysium’s world into a PZ map? Was it hard to make PZ’s tiles fit into the look of DE’s world? “I’d finished playing Disco Elysium about a year earlier, and it had really stuck with me. I was curious whether I could recreate one of the main locations – a hostel called the ‘Whirling-in-Rags’. It turned out really well and I was able to add extra details using custom tile packs created by other members of the modding community (TK, Dylan, Dirkie & ExtraNoise).” “It gave me confidence to continue recreating more of the map from Disco Elysium, which eventually ended with creating Elysium Island. The map was made over the duration of a month, adding to it a few evenings a week. I’ve always been someone who listens to music I really like (such as Antonello Venditti’s Grazie Roma) on repeat. Time flew by!” What do Disco Elysium fans think of the map? Has your map inspired anyone to take a look at DE who hadn’t before? “I don’t know if there’s been a huge impact on PZ people checking out Disco Elysium, but I know they’ll enjoy it if they do! Also, it was a fun surprise to see PC Gamer write an article about the mod. So thanks to them for that!” Where would you like to take your map in the future (additional locations, features etc.)? “I feel Elysium Island has a good blend of both Disco Elysium and Project Zomboid and I think players who don’t know about Disco Elysium can still enjoy the mod as just another addition to the vanilla map. But for now Elysium Island is finished. Plus I’m working on a few new maps at the moment…” What other locations do you think would be interesting to see the community create in PZ? “When the height limit is extended I’d love to see skyscrapers, and a colosseum when animals are implemented. Also great would be a nuclear bunker with a war room, botanical gardens, a Kowloon City map, and a Spiffo theme park!” Is there anyone in the PZ community (or beyond) you would like to give a shout-out to? Which mods or maps by other users do you enjoy or find interesting? “There are a few really exciting maps being made by fellow map creators such as a Cyberpunk City, Liberty City, Park Rangers Outpost and Dirkville. The Zomboid community has a lot to look forward to in the near future, map-wise.” “Firstly, shout out to Dylan! A great guy and mod creator who’s stepping back at the moment from modding, but who’s been a real credit to the modding community!” “Shoutout also to Zlobenia, Bendy, Dirkie, Perto, Moeki, Try Honesty, Dive, Myl0o… (Oscar exit music begins to play)… TK, Spongie, BigZombieMonkey, Skizot, Aza, Mereel, Jonhalo and everyone else in the Zomboid Discord.” What’s next in your modding plans? What’s the dream? “I just finished creating a mod which adds Twinkies into the game, a reference to the film Zombieland. I had help from some other members of the modding community, so thanks to Dogy and Konijima! I’d also like to make a waxwork museum in Zomboid, similar to Madame Tussaud’s, which would be a really creepy and surreal location.” “Currently I’m working on a museum map mod. It’s got quite a way to go till release. If anyone wants to collaborate, come find me in the Zomboid mapping Discord channel! In the meantime, here are a few work-in-progress screenshots. The entrance hall is inspired by the Natural History Museum in London, and there’s a World War 1 exhibit with custom waxwork figures.” Thanks to Gabester for answering our questions! You can find the Elysium Island map here.

HOTFIX: - Fixed updates to the map causing zombies to spawn inside previously cleared buildings. [NOTE: If your savegame was already updated to 41.73 prior to this hotfix, this fix might not apply to your savegame. Be aware. Backup your savegame.] - Disabled the transfer of media items (CDs) when installing/uninstalling vehicle radios, as the current method causes issues in MP. Should be resolved for the next unstable release - Re-added previously removed IGUI_PlayerText_CanNotExitFromMovingCar string - Removed the -Xss1280k stack-size JVM parameter from Linux ProjectZomboid.json files. - Increased Linux and Mac -Xmx=2048m to -Xmx=3072m max-heap JVM parameter to match Windows. - Fixed NullPointerException in IsoGameCharacter.Eat().

Better late than never Somehow I disabled getting emails when someone posts to this topic.

Haylo survivors. 41.73 STABLE We have the next patch to the stable branch primed and ready to go, however an issue that our fantastic Unstable beta testers have flagged is keeping it held in its pen for a little longer. Players reported that some houses they’d cleared were spawning zeds upon booting up the new build, which alerted us to a snag in our map export process not dealing with map boundaries changing with map expansions. All previous map expansions came along with forced save incompatibility so this crept through unnoticed until now. While it’s an aggravation rather than a save-breaker, we didn’t want to send a build with a known issue out to the masses – and have spent the last few days setting up a fix. This will need some testing, after which we’ll be looking to pump out the latest version next week. If you’re interested in the changelist, or want to jump in to try it out, then you can find the unstable release notes for 41.72 and 41.73 behind the hotlinks. 42 CONTENT One of the focus points of Build 42 is on extended survival in the months and years beyond the initial Knox Event outbreak. For this, we are revamping our crafting system – and Turbo’s role has been in laying new foundations for a set-up that allows for: crafted items that have more RPG-like variable attributes based on the crafter’s skill, stats of input items that are reflected in the attributes of a final output item, and the ability of the game itself to recognise all these different attributes when an item is being passed between all of its various different locations and systems. The next stage of this work, meanwhile, has been in taking this same sort of mentality to the liquids in the game – and also making them ever more interesting in our new crafting set-up. WET STUFF Let’s start with a video, and then move into some explanation. So what exactly does this mean for the water, paint, gas, alcohol, washing detergent and bleach of the Knox Event? Essentially all fluids will be defined and stored in a global registry, which is where we as devs can add new vanilla liquids – but also will make the system very moddable. Each definition will store basic info such as ID, name, colour etc – then has different categories it can belong to like Beverage, Alcoholic, Fuel, Flammable and such. Beyond that we also tie in properties per litre of this particular fluid: for example Carbs, Proteins, Alcohol percentage or Energy if it’s a flammable fuel. Liquids that are hazardous or poisonous can also have modifiers that configure the maximum poison effect, and how the effect behaves when mixed. So yes, we’re going to have the most realistic bleach-drinking ever seen in gaming. CONTAINERS Containers are the coding class that actually store the fluids, and are the way in which the game code interacts with the above definitions. Inventory items, objects found in the world and vehicles will all have a fluid container – which will allow them to store and use the liquids/fuels/whatever that they contain. Each container also has information stored with it that shows what particular fluids have been mixed in, and their content percentages relative to each other. The system calculates and caches the summary of all the containing fluids properties based on their percentages. So, if you add 80% Soda and 20% pure alcohol the mixture fluid in the container will have 80% of the soda’s carbs, proteins etc and 20% alcohol. Then, when transferred again, the right ratios will still be maintained. USAGE Finally, we hear you cry, cocktail mixing will be a part of the apocalypse! Yes, but also consider the applications this will bring to post-apocalyptic crafting – as well as to more basic stuff like mixing paints to create different colours, providing different fuels and different ways to tamper with said fuels. Certain versions of our planned workstations, say one for brewing, could have one or more ‘fluidcontainers’ attached – while also allowing other ingredients as item inputs. Likewise we can have recipes that require more precise mixing and concentrations should we desire it. The system does retain some control over your George’s Marvellous Medicine creations. We can put limits around what can, and cannot, be mixed – however we’re not 100% on how many limitations we will put on things right now. This will probably come through testing later down the line. Unrestricted mixing would mean, for example, that any Fluid can be mixed with Fuel, which would mean that the energy value property per litre would go down when mixed, and that anything using the fuel such as a car or generator would have its operation and potential damage governed by the sort of fuel that had been put in. The ability to recognise tampered fuel, poison etc. would (as usual) be gated behind the game’s professions – so a mechanic might smell something suspicious with watered down gas, or a chef might spot something odd with a mild concentration of something nasty in a bottle of juice. When it comes to poisonous liquids, each has a maximum effect (mild, medium, severe, deadly etc) and control parameters such as a minimum volume and mix ratio. So, if a poison has max effect ‘deadly’ and the minimum amount required for death is 200ml – and you have 100ml mixed into a bottle – then the final effect when drinking will most likely be a medium poisoning. The new system will also add new depth to such things as filling up a vehicle with gas, or siphoning gas from a car’s tank – but we’ll also retain the game’s current quick context options like “fill bottle from tap” to keep things speedy. HUTCHES Domestic and wild animals, albeit with fairly basic AI brains, will also be a part of Build 42 – and we have already shown our cows, sheep and deer. A fairly realistic take on poultry-keeping will also be part of this. Please note the following UI is super WIP! We may well end up with icons instead of the 3D chickens. Based on our own experiences with keeping chickens – if you have a henhouse you will have to close its door every night after your brood have gone in to roost. Otherwise there’s a very real chance of Fantastic Mister Fox paying a visit and stealing a few, and potentially leave others dead in their pen. You’d be advised not to forget to let your hens back out in the morning either – for fear of them losing their condition, and adding to the mess in the henhouse that will need cleaning out. Hens will also enter the nesting boxes within the henhouse to lay their eggs, and from which you’ll have to collect the eggs on a regular basis – if you haven’t collected recently then hens will choose to lay outside in their pen instead, where there’s an added risk of them being eaten by wild animals or going bad. OTHER STUFF While we’re going in DEEP (as is generally our way) on stuff like the above – Build 42 will also feature all manner of other improvements to the game engine, MP systems and general zombie survival and early game stuff too. So don’t fret too much if aspects of the above don’t exactly match your own play-style. It should also be said that it’s still some ways off – partly because of dev illness (and recovery!) that we’ve discussed before, and partly because a proportion of the team are still maintaining and improving Build 41. From now on you’ll likely notice the changelist of 41 patches shrink a little, as team members are taken off 41 and plugged into work on features within the 42 matrix. JOB AD AGAIN We are back on the hunt for an Animations Engineer / Technical Wizard – most likely someone from the AAA game development space who has pines for joining a close-knit team of indie devs. If this is you, or someone you know, then our job page lives here! This week’s forlorn firemen from OtakuYazawa. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too. Experienced games dev and want to work with us? Details here.

Today we are releasing version 41.72 to the Unstable beta. If you need directions to this, then here’s a handy gif! As always with the Unstable beta – be aware that some mods might break. We don’t anticipate a huge amount of disruption with 41.72, but should any of your workshop mods become non-operational then please inform the relevant creators – and be patient while they find the time to update their wares. They have jobs / families / lives too! So what’s in 41.72? Well the changelist can be found here on our forums, and there’s a lot of small tweaks and fixes to scroll through, but we’ll detail the main stuff here also. It’s always HUGELY helpful for us when people, and server owners, jump over to the unstable beta – so please dive in and let us know how you find it. 41.72 Lots of general stability and security work has gone into MP – and specifically work on vehicles when you are driving alongside (or are a passenger sitting next to) players with far higher or lower pings than your good self. The first of several layers of polish to the game’s food and recipes. New foodstuffs, improved containers, expanded recipes and all manner of different things to put together to feed yourself and your doomed friends. Various elements of balance too and, as mentioned before, no more footballs that can be jammed into a toaster. Fellow co-op, faction and safehouse member positions can now be seen on your in-game map should you choose to enable it. An improvement to the way in which mod errors are reported. A list of mods has been added to the pause menu, and whenever one is erroring out then it’ll be flagged within the list. This is going in alongside an improved lua error log that shows whether any files reported in call stacks are being overridden by mods. This should help modders and our support teams no end. The game’s foraging system will now understand polygonal foraging zones on the map, rather than rely on its former basic rectangular brain. This should help with decreasing the amount of non-forageable spaces on the map. A slight tweak to zed pathfinding, which means zombies targeting players have a higher priority in the game code than those shambling around more aimlessly. The final large map export that we’ll be doing before Build 42, most likely. This is primarily to fix user reported map bugs, but also contains improved farmsteads, scarecrows (that might be bugged and appear as mannequins currently – sorry) and improved Louisville upper class districts. Alongside the above there are various new tiles going into the game: including baby cribs, heavy factory machinery, standing floor lamps, farm related tiles, ATM machines, heavy safes, medical related tiles, and car wash tiles. For MP: new admin powers and tools – for example a brush tool that will allow server chiefs to create tiles, walls, fire, smoke, water etc. in-game. Also: a thunder trigger, better synced health panels, improved vehicle/trailer spawning, player weight changing and heightened control over zombie movement, zed spawning and locked doors. New loot maps for Louisville – which previously didn’t have any. There are nine different maps in all, due to the size of LV, which all unlock the area they show in your in-game map – alongside a wide range of different survivor ‘treasure map’ annotations. A smidgen of improvement to corpses. More of these will now be ‘fake dead’ zombies, alongside improvement to their rotting – such as the chance of spawning maggots in their inventory and on the floor around them. Handy for fishing! Polish to player emotes and idles. Better representation of weapon-part upgrades. Generator/battery improvements. New action music track. Fixed blood appearing on destroyed objects, and about a million other fixes – best to check the changelist! JOBZ While we have your attention: another quick flag to the fact that we are back on the hunt for an Animations Engineer / Technical Wizard. This will most likely be someone from the AAA game development space who has pines for joining a close-knit team of indie devs. If this is you, or someone you know, then our job page lives here! This week’s exciting and no doubt doom-laden story-via-map from Athiuk! A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too. Experienced games dev and want to work with us? Details here. Oh, and Spanish-speaking community! Be aware of a biiiig PZ streaming event on Twitch starting this Sunday, hosted by @EscocesSL. Spiffo hopes everyone has fun!

Hello survivors! Today marks the beginning of one of the most significant and important periods in the modern world’s social and religious calendar: the Steam Summer Sale! Because of this, all you existing survivors will no doubt get a little swamped with all the fresh meat turning up for the PZ grinder. The Zomboid community has always been amazing in terms of supporting new players, and this time won’t be any different, but our tech and support teams will be working flat-out – most likely. As such we just thought we’d say that (entirely fictitious and non-existent) bonus Spiffo points will be available for those who jump into threads to give advice or survival tips to survivors fresh to the Knox Event. Likewise if you are one of the aforementioned noobs: hello! This is a dev blog we do every two weeks. PATCH 41.72 We are still working on the next update to Build 41, which we are hoping to release to an Unstable beta as soon as we possibly can. The hold-up (we were originally planning to put this out two weeks ago) is due to us wanting to smoothen out MP issues that arise when driving alongside (or in the same car as) players with a far higher or lower ping than yourself. It becomes very stop-start, and quite unplayable. These are essentially the edge-case ramifications of the necessary decision we made to remove physics-calculations from the server, but there are a lot of people playing PZ these days so edge-cases aren’t an inconsiderable number of players. The MP team have put a LOT of work into improving this over the past two weeks, and as soon as we’ve had a successful internal test with their latest changes we will feel in a position to punt the build out into unstable. A top line of major changes in 41.72 includes: fellow players optionally visible on the in-game map, new loot maps, new SFX and a new music track, polished emotes and a new way for players to be able to identify exactly which mods are misbehaving when they throw errors. Also an admin brush tool letting server chiefs paint items and walls etc. onto an ongoing game, and reams of small issue bug fixes. Additions that have gone in over the last two weeks also include: A huge amount of polish to the game’s food and recipes from BlairAlgol: filling in illogical gaps, expanding recipes, making foodstuffs previously absent from food crafting part of the system and making sure that you can no longer store a football in a toaster. Also a fair amount of food-related balance and common sense additions. An improvement beneath the hood to foraging – meaning that the game will be able to recognise polygonal foraging zones on the map, rather than the more inaccurate squares and rectangles it currently works from. The map team are also currently gearing up to do a final export of the current Build 41 map ready for the 41.72 unstable release. This will contain all the polish recently mixed into the main map, after which the team will turn to concentrate purely on mapping new areas beyond the current boundaries. There’s nothing huge in this map update, we are primarily releasing it so that all the map bugs the community have been reporting are fixed up before the team moves onto Build 42 content, but there are a few treats: Improved farms and farmsteads in readiness for 42’s animals, these include scarecrows that can be dressed up in the same way as shop mannequins. Improved rich district houses in Louisville Various new tiles like baby cribs, heavy factory machinery, standing floor lamps, farm related tiles, atm machines, heavy safes, medical related tiles, and new car wash tiles. [And no, baby cribs are not a harbinger of baby zeds] We are now at a point at which it’s increasingly becoming a pain keeping 41 and 42 content separate on our internal build. We won’t be calling time on 41 patches any time super-soon, we’ll leave it polished and stable, but we’re certainly now well on the way the flipping the switch and working purely on Build 42 content. (Clearly we will still be able to return to implement super-important fixes and changes though) 42 CONTENT We haven’t spotlit much from Build 42 recently – partly because one of its primary coders had been seriously ill (now recovered), and partly because a lot of what’s been done recently isn’t super visual yet. However, if you’ll forgive the primarily textual blog, here’s a few updates on what’s been happening. First from our newly-healthy Turbo, who is responsible for our crafting update. CRAFTING IMPROVEMENTS “Hello! This is Turbo! As mentioned in earlier blogs, the new craft update introduces a good bunch of new professions, new items, crafting tree and profession work stations etc as well as some other changes to how the game code ‘creates’ and records things.” “To explain what I’m currently working on and why, I’ll focus on a few aspects of the update:” A) Crafted items that have more RPG-like variable attributes that are based on the crafter’s skill. B) Stats of input items that may also influence the attributes of a final output item. C) The fact that a newly crafted item will be able to be placed as what we call a worldobject, then picked up again to item form – with all its attributes transferred in the game code between the two.” “As an example, we are currently working on crafting that will occur deep into the apocalypse: so a blacksmith may be making a hammer which requires a wooden tool handle and a hammerhead as the input. The wooden tool handle may have a ‘quality’ and ‘condition’ attribute with values that are based on the skill of carpenter who made it, and perhaps for the ‘quality’ of the wood used by them. Likewise, the hammerhead may have similar attributes – based on the skills of the blacksmith who made it, and the attributes of the ore/iron used in the craft.” “Mixed into this we also have to take into account aspects such as the skill levels of the crafter – and also take in a random factor so that not everything produced is of a uniform quality.” “The attribute system I’m currently working on should help with these kind of things, and it will not only be used for the new stuff in 42’s crafting update – but we will also be able to refactor things currently in the game’s existing crafting systems to work with it all really easily.” “Lastly, a simple use case example. (And this is an example – not a promise of item inclusion!)” Consider a shotgun item that can be crafted with attributes like damage, range and condition – based on the skills of the player who has been upgrading, improving and caring for it. The shotgun is then crafted into a new shotgun trap item, where the attributes of the original shotgun are copied over. The trap item is placed on the world as what we call an IsoObject – and the attributes are once again carried over to it. The range and damage attributes are now being used for the trap’s code. The trap gets triggered a few times – lowering the condition attribute. Another player decides to disassemble the trap to retrieve the shotgun from it, and the newly instanced shotgun item copies the attributes from the trap – and we end up with the correct damage and range values as it was originally crafted with. However, it now also has a lowered condition due to its activity while it was being used in the trap.” “With the new system I’m coding, this daisychain of steps can be achieved with very minimal additional coding required.” LES ANIMAUX “Hello everyone! RJ here.” “Okay, so everything that’s outside of your current surroundings in PZ doesn’t really exist. It exists as ‘meta’ – it isn’t streamed in, and the game calculates hordes moving around in distant places.” “For animals, however – this needs to change somewhat. You need to be able to travel the distance of the map, but for the game to still remember things about them that don’t matter for shambling zombies. Animals need to age, eat and drink – if you leave them too long they can’t be in perfect condition when you get back. They, most likely, need to be dead.” “Not only are there lots of things to consider with animal, but there could also be a LOT of them on the map – although we’re current not 100% on our final list we have models for rats, squirrels, larger birds, deer and domesticated animals. So, even though the game knows everything about them and their movement – there’s a risk that when they’re properly streamed it might get too intensive for the CPU.” “To avoid this I have coded it so that their stats (hunger, thirst, age etc) are updated every in-game hour. Realistically you’ll likely only have one or two cows, but if you want to breed rats for… some inexplicable reason you could end up with a ton of them. We don’t want players with 100+ animals having their stats updated every tick, or things could melt.” “As such, animals won’t be updated real-time while they are off-screen (except for animals in a migration path, more on that below) but they will update themselves once you (or anyone else) returns to them. So be sure to fill up their feeding trough before you head out on loot run!” LA MIGRATION DES ANIMAUX “We don’t want wild animals to always spawn in the same place. So for creatures like deer, we need to have them follow a set path – as they usually do in real life. This is being done through additions that Tim has made to WorldZed – and where we can ‘simply’ draw all the paths that animals could take – with nodes all along it where they can eat, drink, etc.” “It’ll be up to the player to try to understand and learn these paths, so you’ll know where you could find your animals to hunt. We can also perhaps provide lootable items that can mark up rough hunting trails on your in-game map too.” “This aspect of animals will be updated in the meta though, as animals need to always be on the move and some animal paths will cross with others – meaning that a group of deer could decide to change its path if it chooses to.” “A deer group will contain all relevant members of the deer family. If you kill the buck in a deer group, they won’t have fawns for quite some time – until they find another buck to add into their group. As such, it will be important for players to recognise what animals they should kill: which are still too young, which might be pregnant etc.” “It’s not done for B42 yet, but we are planning tracking to an extent via the deer excrement they leave behind and its freshness – all discovered via the foraging system. This way you’ll start to know on your server/game, what are the path animals are currently on, and could quite easily track back to them to “collect” your meat. Again, this aspect isn’t 100% up for inclusion yet – but hopefully shines a light on our plans.” JOB AD MK II Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances we are back on the hunt for an Animations Engineer / Technical Wizard – most likely someone from the AAA game development space who has pines for joining a close-knit team of indie devs. If this is you, or someone you know, then our job page lives here! Today’s Rosewood base from Poffie_was_here. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too. Experienced games dev and want to work with us? Details here.

Hey all, here’s a quick update on what we are all up to. Our initial plan was to release our next 41.72 patch to the Unstable beta today, but annoyingly last night’s internal playtest had too many niggles with vehicle gameplay for us to comfortably let you loose on it. This is slightly annoying in terms of today’s blog, but probably not quite as annoying as you happily downloading the new version only for MP passengers to be stuck revving on the tarmac while their drivers whizz off towards Louisville. Still, once the MP Strike Force have checked everything out and we’ve had another (more successful) test then this is some of the stuff that will be punted out for you to try out: As mentioned last week, the opt-in ability to see fellow MP players in your faction or safehouse on your in-game map. A huge range of new and improved admin powers that should breathe a little more life into online play. First and foremost of these is a brush tool that will allow admins to create tiles, walls, fire, smoke, water etc. in-game. There’s also the ability to easily trigger thunder, a more synced health panel, improved spawning of vehicles and trailers and the ability to change player weights. Also, also are more zombie-attracting options, improved zed spawns and some powers over whether doors are locked or not. Here’s a quick video Aiteron has made to show it all off: Another more minor, but quite pleasant all the same, addition from Aiteron is the possibility of adding icons to the context menu. As seen here. New loot maps. Previously we didn’t have any loot maps for Louisville, but Tim has now integrated a bunch from the hand of Pat_Bren into the loot table. There are nine different maps in all, which means that as well as the usual ‘treasure map’ aspects you will be able to reveal a ninth of the Louisville map upon reading them. Also of note in .72 is an improvement to the way in which mod errors are reported. We have added a list of mods to the pause menu, and if one of them is causing errors and ‘the red box of doom’ then the culprit will be highlighted within the list. Perhaps of greater import to mod authors and our tech support team, however, is the improved lua error log that goes with the above: this will show if any files reported in call stacks are overridden by mods. We hope that this will allow modders, players and our own community liaison peeps to easier find mod conflicts and other issues. SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF While it’s not exactly excitement dynamite, we know, this week we hit a point at which our internal tasklist board got a bit… silly. When you have been making a game for as long as we have there is a tendency for minor tasks, small bug fixes and ‘easy win’ suggestions to stack up, and up, and up… The boards were just clogged, and it was hard to see the wood for the trees – and as such we pulled some coders from their features to blitz through and give our testing and production staff some temporary relief. Not sexy: we know, but also necessary for the sanity of some of our team. This sort of stuff: Having made a sizable dent in this sort of bug, everyone is now back at their usual post – but ‘Enforced Small Task Clearance Week’ also culminated in an event that will hopefully mean that we don’t have to have one of these mandated periods again in future. Prolific modder Blair Algol has joined the team, and his role will be clearing out as many of the remaining hundreds (!) of these minor (but sometimes time-consuming) issues as he can. Blair’s many mods touch so many different areas of the game that it seemed like a very natural fit for such a duty, while he also, of course, comes packaged with many ideas of how to make modding life easier for others in the community too. Once the boards have been cleared, and Blair has a firmer grip on the codebase, it’s also our hope that he will be able to bring some of his own ideas and ingenuity into the game proper. SOUND PHASE III Much like the Marvel movies, our soundscape improvement operations have worked in phases – and we recently had the meeting that kicked off Phase 3. The following are Noiseworks/Formosa’s next primary missions: Improvements to how the sound system deals with multiplayer characters and sound priorities. Primary work here is to try and solve the issues where sounds drop out due to clashes in sound priorities and limits when multiple players are around. Expand the reactive music beyond action moments. The ultimate goal is to allow the other non-action tracks to evolve and change: triggered by walking into buildings, looting a container, or any other little action that may trigger a change in the track that’s playing. Likewise making sure that they all also blend more organically between each other. Gameplay related sound effects, like modelling the realistic effects of using firearms in enclosed spaces without ear protectors. Also: improved noises for large crowds of zeds, sprinters and bullet world impacts if the coding team can provide their support for implementation. OTHER STUFF We are currently debating whether to release the map team’s current work (fixes, polish, improved farm buildings and agricultural areas, more defined Louisville upper class suburbs) in a 41 patch, or whether to outright say that the next export will be for 42 later down the line – alongside some sizable planned expansion into other towns and conurbations that would be beyond the edges of our current area. More on that, and where we are taking the Knox Event location-wise, in future blogs. As we mentioned last time, we’re coming off the back of Turbo’s serious illness currently – so it’s been something of a month of consolidation rather than massive exciting strides ahead. That said, sometimes strides ahead come in the form of things that will pay off in the far-flung future. Ever since the success of the 41 release we have had a lot more resources at our command, and have been able to invest it in both middleware that could bring PZ to new heights – and the talent to integrate it with our codebase. As we all know, one of the weakest things about PZ is the UI. We all get on with it fine, but let’s face it: it aint a looker, and it can be a bit clunky, fiddly and slow. We’ve always said we’d give it an overhaul, but it’s always been a daunting prospect. Since March, alongside our friends at General Arcade, we have been experimenting with some super fancy AAA high-end UI tech middleware that will make this process easier, and will make the end result better. For the past few months we’ve been making sure that it’s compatible with the game, doesn’t negatively impact performance and will still allow for lua UI for our modders – and it has been this week that we feel comfortable enough to say out loud to each other that it’s going to work, and is safe to proceed. So next time you see someone moaning that the PZ UI isn’t exactly glamorous – just tell them ‘they know, and it’ll take a while – but they’re working on it’. It’ll be some considerable time till we talk about this again, but we just wanted to let you know that this is another iron that we have in the fire. Today’s pile-up campfire from Mr.Crab763. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too. Want to work with us? Details here.

https://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/54395-vanilla-buildings-pool/

Hey all, here’s a Thursday round-up. We released version 41.71 last Thursday. We’re big on Thursdays around here. 41.71 contained a huge range of stuff, but topline features included: new and improved dynamic action music, a raft of improvements for Steam Deck players, new items, scarecrows, less wobbly and less performance-costly 3D items on your safehouse floor, loads of MP improvements under the hood, the fabled one-watch VHS video fix, new ambient and shutdown noises, modding improvements and tons more. Better to read the forum release post than a long paragraph in the blog, I guess, if you are in need of a catch-up. Since last week we hotfixed some issues with sound cut-outs on busy servers and with rapid-fire weapons, and so now we find ourselves moving onto… 41.72 Seeing as we already have a fair amount of MP changes, fixes and balance in the pot for .72 at the moment it feels like it won’t be too long until we move it into the Unstable beta – unless of course a more disruptive feature comes to the boil over the next week or so and requires added internal testing. The current changelist for what we have in this patch can be seen here if you are interested. Primary items of note involve a lot of fixes and polish to radio use in-game, improvements to the representation of weapon-part upgrades in 3D models, and various issues with generators and batteries. Also in the patch will be the opt-in ability for fellow faction and safehouse members to be visible on your in-game map. And also some support for our colour-blind survivors, who will now be able to choose their favoured new text colours instead of BAD RED and GOOD GREEN. Thanks to Fox for this one. BEYOND There are many advantages of having a tight small team when making a game like PZ. However, one of the biggest disadvantages is that when serious ‘irl’ stuff happens to any of us it makes aspects of development difficult. We’ve never really mentioned it before, and still won’t go into any detail, but this was one of the reasons that Build 41 itself took a long time to come to complete fruition. The reason we are bringing this up is because one of the primary architects of the revamped B42 crafting system, Turbo, has been very ill (and often hospitalized) for much of the last three-four months. Turbs said it was okay to let you all know this, as it clearly has meant that while RJ’s work on domestic animals and some roaming beasts has been rocketing on ahead – Turbo’s own work on the post-apoc crafting, tech-trees and recipes has had to be on hold. We are so, so relieved and happy that Turbo’s treatment led up to an operation and a complete return to health – to the extent that he has been back working with us again this week. It’s been awesome having him about the place again. We don’t yet know how much this will impact on build content, timings etc, and will be working out what’s what in the week or two ahead – tho B43 stuff is being worked on in parallel, so it hasn’t been detrimental to that. Sorry if this has been a bit of a ‘too much info’ update, it’s probably not something you’d catch in a Call of Duty blog, but with Turbo’s permission, we thought it would give everyone a more accurate insight into where we’re at with things. We also hope that everyone will join us in wishing Turbs continued good health – a phrase for which the Dutch probably have their own term for and that we will google later on. To circle back around to more developmental matters-at-hand, here’s an image from RJ and Tim’s work on ways in which our non-domestic animals will roam the map. These are AnimalZone paths that share points, and allow for both long paths that cross cell boundaries and branching paths too. MAPPING We love seeing the maps our community produces – each with their own flavours, design and challenge. To support all our mappers today we are releasing almost 1500 buildings and associated assets of our own in-game housing, garages, sheds and patio sets for use in community maps. These should help map-builders flesh out their worlds without having to rely purely on their own constructed (and shared community) houses, flats and outbuildings. If you are a mapper then you can find the released assets here. We are not releasing ‘special’ and governmental/military buildings – but there are many, many houses, apartments, sheds, shacks, shops and restaurants here for folks to use in their own apocalyptic zombie nightmares. In terms of our own future map improvement and expansion, meanwhile, check out what Ayrton has been doing to our Louisville rich districts. “To bring more diversity to some locations of Louisville, I am converting some streets or blocks into Victorian-style districts, it should enable us to add a new layer of complexity to the urban plan with areas that are more/less wealthy, ancient, etc. Those new tiles are also being added across existing relevant buildings.” Elsewhere Aiteron is playing around with his improved fishing system to mix in some added ‘fun quota’ alongside the improved anims/visuals we showed last time round. Long-term work on server-side items and timed actions for MP continues, and the Noiseworks/Formosa soundscape revolution continues with their next missions due to be discussed in the coming week. Pat_Bren is also, meanwhile, crafting a bunch more annotated survivor maps to bolster our current stock – and also to cover Louisville and other newer areas of the Knox Event map. JOB AD AGAIN Following the success of Build 41, we find ourselves in a position where we can hunt down other experienced Games Programmers to join the Project Zomboid team. We are looking for coders willing and able to refresh some of our older systems, polish the existing ones and then to delve further into the features that will be part of the Knox Event’s exciting future. Interested applicants should check our jobs page, but we should underline that we currently don’t have any entry-level positions available. You will need to have a fair amount of experience we are afraid. This week’s touching crime scene from hp.tf. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.

HOTFIX: - Added maxInstancesPerEmitter property to sound scripts. This is used by "M16Shoot" to fade out the oldest instances when starting a new one. - Updated soundbanks to include two more tracks for the new dynamic music system.

Hotfix released for 41.71 on Unstable branch: - Added maxInstancesPerEmitter property to sound scripts. This is used by "M16Shoot" to fade out the oldest instances when starting a new one.

Changelog includes changes since the last stable update, from 41.69 to 41.71: HOTFIX 24th of May: - Added maxInstancesPerEmitter property to sound scripts. This is used by "M16Shoot" to fade out the oldest instances when starting a new one. - Updated soundbanks to include to more tracks for the new dynamic music system. NEW - New action music system Instead of switching between tracks mid-combat, the music is reactive and can increase and decrease in intensity during combat and other dramatic moments. - Added "Stubble" checkboxes to the Hair and Beard sections in the character-creation ui. - Added new items + updated 3D models - Added new forage items - Added the skeleton mannequin and scarecrow. - Added additional item categories and addressed some blunders - Added compilation of new hair types - Added option to "add all" to partially full Thread, Duct Tape, Twine etc - Added media/scripts/mannequins.txt which describes the model/texture/animation/etc for different mannequins. - Added BackupsOnVersionChange server option. - Added a second set of translations to the Survival Guide that are displayed when using a controller. - Added <JOYPAD:XXX> formatting to rich text, where XXX is the name of a Joypad.Texture.XXX texture. - Device options can now be opened when radio is on floor, in loot window or when radio just dropped from inventory - Added methods Texture.saveToCurrentSavefileDirectory(filename) and Texture.saveToZomboidDirectory(filename). The filename may contain folder names, but not "..", to prevent saving to arbitrary locations. These methods replace the broken Texture.save(filename) method. - Clicking and holding the left mouse button when placing items now locks the item to the clicked square. - Added XBOX_Menu.png and XBOX_View.png controller icons. - Added autouse new sack of gravel/sand/etc when pouring it on ground - Renamed Skill books so that they are easier to categorise. - ISClothingExtraAction now sets the item's job type to "Wear" and displays the progress of the action in the inventory window. - Updated credits - Updated community translations. - 3D items now shown as textures instead of models. They shouldn't slide around as much when the player moves. This helps a lot with framerates when there are 100 nails on the ground, for example. In debug mode, holding the HOME key will disable the item atlas and render models as before. - Added IsoSprite.ItemHeight and IsoSprite.Surface debug options to display a rectangle around surfaces that items can be placed on. - Changed some ItemHeight and Surface tile properties. - Added a title bar to the mini-map window which allows the mini-map to be repositioned. The title bar and bottom row of buttons are hidden unless the mouse is over the mini-map. - Changed setHaveConstruction to apply only when constructing and placing objects MODELS/ANIMS - Changed Diamond Pattern Sweater Vest and V-neck Sweater Vest to use Sweater body location - Changed High Viz vest to use Sweater body location - Added a different animation played when destroying floors with a sledgehammer. MP - Removed vehicle physics from server (not client) to address some of the vehicular weirdness sometimes seen online - do not apply impulses to static / kinematic vehicles - limit changes of linear and angular velocities - Passengers no longer allowed to exit the car while moving - Enable packet processing on the server - MultiplayerSeeNonPvpZones debug only option is added - Local admin check is delayed after set-access-level command - Player update replay is commented out - Check for local admin kick is improved - Turn on player teleport logs on the server - Admin is not kickable from safehouse - Burnt or smashed vehicle check is added for dismantle vehicle command - Car wreck is removed via new "dismantle" vehicle command - Only admin can delete vehicle via "remove" vehicle command - Add vehicle UI allows creation of burnt and smashed car wrecks - Anti-cheat: fixed kick local admin issue - Cancel auth ticket on client shutdown - Toggle timer is disabled in non-pvp area - MultiplayerLightAmbient debug option is removed - Refactored SafetySystem - Server option process cycles for SafetySystemManager are simplified - PVP safety is now set to true when PVP is disabled on server - Set the default Host server memory to 4GB on 64-bit systems. This is the value displayed in the "Server memory" combobox which is saved in Zomboid/Lua/host.ini. - Don't create a backup of the server savefile in Zomboid/backups/version if BackupsOnStart=false. This backup is created when a new version of the game is released, but only for the first server that is launched. - Hide the black overlay when the sleeping players are killed Improvements to how the MP game handles dead player bodies - DeadBody creation is moved to the server - DeadBody ID is added (World version 192) - Client does not allocate dead body ID - Fixed player death animations - Fixed desaturation being set for dead player - Fixed reanimation delay timer starting immediately without 10 seconds delay - Fixed reanimation delay of 0-30 seconds - Fixed player death final animation - Fixed possible null point exception when zombie bites dead player - Fixed dead body grabbing breaking reanimation - Fixed dead body id not changing when added to world - Fixed desync of safety cooldown timer - Fixed sleeping player not being woken up in case of kick from safehouse - Fixed PVP icon being located over the map - Fixed players who could be kicked when admin removes that player from safehouse - Fixed when a non-owner player quits a safe house, other players also getting kicked. - Fixed when safehouse owner goes offline, the non-safehouse-members get teleported immediately - Fixed PVP button becoming inactive for each player across the map if Admin shot\got shot by a player" - Fixed player being kicked when admin creates or removes PVP zone - Fixed SyncNonPvpZone packet send/receive loop - Fixed newly connected player not having all the non PVP zones - Fixed possible nullpointer in checkForNearbyRadios - Fixed zed texture 4 being used for player texture 5 instead of random index - Fixed reanimated player corpse disappearing - Fixed being able to turn pvp on when server option PVP set to false. - Fixed BufferUnderflowException on the server in SneezeCough packet processing - Fixed possible NullPointerException in ClientPlayerDB.getAllSavedPlayers(). - Fixed player appearance sync in multiplayer with greater than 32 connections. - Fixed erosion growth not being suppressed when building floors or digging graves in multiplayer. - Fixed radio sync in MP - Fixed players outside the Non-PVP zone being able to kill a player with a bomb located in that zone - Fixed player being able to remove PVP button cooldown in non-PVP zone - Fixed unexpected anti-cheat kick just after leaving non-PVP zone - Fixed being able to turn pvp on when server option PVP is set to false. - Fixed player being able to remove PVP button cooldown when in a non-PVP zone. (Safety cooldown timer is now stored/restored when player enters/leaves non-pvp-zone) VHS Fix - Fixed listened-to media lines being saved globally instead of for each player. This could add over 200KB to each player's saved data if every line is listened to. - Fixed ClientPlayerDB handling of WorldVersion. - Transfer known media lines from recorded_media.bin to the player on the first load. - Check for null arguments to RecordedMedia.hasListenedToAll(). A mod seems to pass null for the IsoPlayer argument, which was ok when listened-to lines were stored globally instead of per-player. The mod file is es.info.books.main.lua. MODDER WARNING: This could break any mods that modify ISRadioInteractions.lua or are using the OnDeviceText event (which gained a new parameter). MODDING - Fixed mod animations not being loaded if they aren't in a subdirectory of anims_X, or aren't in a subdirectory registered in animations_meshes.txt. Any such animations are added to the MaleBody model by default. Item tagging changes MODDERS: PLEASE READ ADDENDUM DOCUMENTATION FOR INFO - Added new tags to some items: BlowTorch, Fork, GasMask, Glue, HazmatSuit, Knife, Razor, Scissors, Sledgehammer, Spoon, StartFire, WeldingMask. These tags are used in multiple places instead of looking for specific item types. - Added methods ItemContainer.getBestConditionEvalArg() and ItemContainer.getBestConditionEvalArgRecurse(). - Script properties item.staticModel and item.worldStaticModel are set to the fully-qualified "module.type" after loading scripts. This is to fix mod items not finding "model" scripts that aren't in the Base module. - Added a new item-script property ReplaceTypes which supersedes ReplaceOnUseOn (which is still supported). The format is "ReplaceTypes=Key1 Type1;Key2 Type2;..." where each key is some string (such as WaterSource) and each type is an item type. ReplaceTypes allows specifying different replacement item types for different uses of an item, for example, filling an empty item with water and/or with gasoline. It is used for the same thing as ReplaceOnUseOn, but allows multiple key/type mappings instead of only one. These new methods were added to both Item and InventoryItem classes: String getReplaceType() HashMap<String,String> getReplaceTypes() String getReplaceType(String key) boolean hasReplaceType(String key) The existing ReplaceOnUseOn lines in items.txt add a new value to the item's ReplaceTypes HashMap. SOUND CHANGES - Added global parameters Electricity, RoomType, and Water. - Added a new tile property named "AmbientSound" to support custom ambient sounds from objects. Current values assigned to some tiles are: FactoryMachineAmbiance HotdogMachineAmbiance PayPhoneAmbiance StreetLightAmbiance NeonLightAmbiance NeonSignAmbiance JukeboxAmbiance ControlStationAmbiance ClockAmbiance GasPumpAmbiance LightBulbAmbiance - The FMOD global parameter "Electricity" is set to 0.0 when the new WorldEventElectricityShutdown event passes the "ElectricityOff" timeline marker. - Added FMOD parameter value RoomType=Factory. - Changed debugSetRoomType() to accept an integer instead of the name of an enum value. - Added sounds: ArcadeMachineAmbiance CanisterAddFuelFromGasPump CanisterAddFuelSiphon VehicleAddFuelFromCanister VehicleAddFuelFromGasPump VehicleHeadlightsOn VehicleHeadlightsOff VehicleWindowHandleOpen VehicleWindowHandleClose VehicleWindowElectricOpen VehicleWindowElectricClose - Synchronize room lights and other objects losing power with the ElectricityOff timeline marker. - Added PlaceOneSound and PlaceMultipleSound item script properties. These are played when placing items using the "Place Item" command. The default sound played if these aren't defined is PutItemInBag (the same sound played when dropping items). - Added BoxOfRoundsOpenOne and BoxOfShellsOpenOne sounds to some recipes. Increased the time of these recipes to allow the sound to play. The time is still quite short (was 5 ticks, now 15 ticks). Probably nobody will die waiting. - Added FountainBigAmbiance sound played to the multi-tile water fountain. The sound doesn't seem to loop and stops after several seconds. - Added RepairWithWrench sound played when plumbing sinks and for the moveables Wrench tool sound. - Added value MetalGate to the FenceTypeLow and TripObstacleType parameters. - Added sounds: BBQPropaneTankInsert BBQPropaneTankRemove BBQPropaneRunning BBQRegularAddFuel BBQRegularLight BBQRegularRunning CampfireAddFuel CampfireRunning CampfireLight CampfireBuild FireplaceAddFuel FireplaceRunning FireplaceLight ZombieTrip ZombieThumpGarageDoor - Added EquippedBaggageContainer FMOD parameter. - Added "SoundParameter = Name Value" item-script property. - Added FMOD parameter SinkType=Generic|Ceramic|Metallic which affects the WaterDrip sound. - Hitting trees with weapons and bare hands plays the weapon's HitSound instead of ChopTree. - A melee weapon's SwingSound is now played via animation events instead of at the start of SwipeStatePlayer. This allows using different sounds for different attack animations. Currently this is used to play a different sound for spear stab versus spear slash attacks. - Play the WorldEventElectricityShutdown event from the nearest square in a building when outdoors. - Set the FMOD parameter "RoomType" using RoomType objects added in WorldEd. - Changed how ambient sounds are played from doors and windows. Instead of choosing random objects, only the nearest exterior objects will play sound. Different sounds are played depending on whether the door or window is open or closed. This will be used for playing rain and wind sounds when the player is inside. - Fixed the BurningFlesh sound not stopping in multiplayer after a player dies. - Fixed the barbecue and fireplace extinguish sounds stopping instead of being triggered to fade out. - Play an animation when turning a propane barbecue on and off. - Fixed crouching when extinguishing a charcoal barbecue. - Fixed SFX and music cutting out in busy situations (often seen on MP servers) - Reimplemented ZombieVocalsManager to limit zombie voice events to the nearest 20 zombies. - Optimized sorting objects in DoorAndWindowEmitters and ZombieVocalsManager. - Changed handling of object ambient sounds so they only play from the nearest 20 objects. This includes doors, fridges, trees, windows and any sprite with the AmbientSound property set. - Removed DoorAndWindowEmitters. This is combined with ObjectAmbientEmitters. - Fixed ZombieVocalsManager not actually stopping vocal events when one of the 20 slots was reassigned to a different zombie. CONTROLLER / STEAMDECK IMPROVEMENTS - ProjectZomboid64.exe will disable the -XX:+UseZGC option if a required function is undefined in Kernel32.dll. Steam Proton does not define the MapViewOfFile3() function, which prevents the Windows version of the game starting on the Steam Deck. Conveniently, MapViewOfFile3() is only available on Windows 10 1803, the same version ZGC requires. - When options.ini doesn't exist on startup, set the display to fullscreen desktop resolution. - When options.ini doesn't exist on startup on Steam Deck, call Core.setOptionActiveController() to enable the controller. - Allow precise positioning when placing items using a controller. This is done by holding the Y button and using either D-pad or the left joystick to move the item around the square. When there is more than one surface, it can be changed by pressing the right shoulder button while the Y button is held down. - Enabled the on-screen keyboard in CoopUserName.lua. - Leave room for two lines of tooltip text at the bottom of the character-creation profession ui. - Several panels in the main menu can be scrolled using the right joystick. - The Start/Menu button will display the main menu in single-player, or resume normal game speed. This is instead of pressing once to pause the game and double-pressing to display the main menu. The game can still be paused using the Back/View button radial menu. - Added controller navigation in the Workshop ui (for submitting Workshop items). NOTE: The controller doesn't work in the Steam overlay, which some buttons display. - Allow mouse clicks etc in the inventory and loot windows when a controller is active. - Added controller navigation to the Temperature tab of the character info window. - Made the selection in the Health panel easier to see. - Made the character-info window more opaque. - Made CharacterCreationMain wider at lower resolutions to avoid overlap. - Added a button to the on-screen keyboard to hide and show password text. - Enabled controller navigation in the server browser ui. - Enabled controller navigation in the server-settings editor. - Put the inventory and loot windows in their default positions if the controller is disconnected and "Use Keyboard and Mouse" is selected. - When placing items, the inventory and loot windows are collapsed if they aren't pinned open. - When placing items, mouse clicks on world objects are ignored to prevent the loot window popping open. - Set the width of ISEquippedItem to match its buttons. This fixes the wider invisible area blocking mouse clicks. - Set the texture compression option to be on by default. - Fixed navigation in the Multiplayer tab in the options. - Fixed editing server spawn regions with a controller. - Fixed the filter checkboxes going outside the ui on small screens. - Fixed being unable to navigate to the filter checkboxes and some other buttons. - Fixed controller focus when creating a splitscreen player. - Fixed toggling the mod under the mouse pointer when pressing the controller A button. - Fixed several cases of improper controller focus after clicking buttons with the mouse. - Fixed Lua error in MapSpawnSelect when the filename entry is hidden. - Fixed LoadingQueueState disconnecting immediately due to the A button being pressed, after pressing it in the last character-creation panel. - Fixed ISGameLoadingUI not receiving the controller focus when an unexpected error occurred while loading. - Fixed BootstrapConnectPopup, ServerConnectPopup and ServerWorkshopItemScreen not working with a controller. - Fixed Build 41 popup and DebugScenarios ui appearing overtop BootstrapConnectPopup. - Fixed cancellation in ServerWorkshopItemScreen throwing an exception in ConnectToServerState due to GameClient.connection being null. - Fixed using the controller X button to "Toggle Vision Info" in the foraging ui. - Fixed rendering the post-death ui for split-screen players 3 and 4 in the top half of the screen. - Fixed a Lua error pressing the Y button when moving furniture when the player isn't on a square. BALANCE - Added BedType property to the Pizza-Whirled seats which fixes pizza spawning on them. - Added amount of bait items to Fishing UI - Added dismantling cameras for scrap/skill points - Plastic bags and paper money can now be used as tinder. - Doors broken by zombies now give unusable wood instead of planks. - Container items now grouped together into their type in the context menu, so you can 'fill all' of a certain container. - Players now able to stack and unstack logs on the ground - Cars now remember their cruise control setting - Breaking vehicle windows now produces broken glass - Decrease zed attraction volume of “remove broken glass action" - Updated and fixed item categorizations - Updated evolvedrecipes.txt and items_food.txt. - Removed Cookable:true from the Burger evolved recipe. - Added the "|Cooked" flag to Burger ingredients in farming.txt. - Updated distributions Lua files - Muffins produced by the "Get 6 Muffins" recipe have the name of the ingredient added to the muffins, if any, such as "Apple Muffin". - Muffins produced by the "Get 6 Muffins" recipe are marked "Cooked", so the hunger-reduction bonus due to being cooked is applied. - Fixed adding a spice to a stale Taco increases boredom and unhappiness. - Added new methods to the Food class (to fix the above issue): getBoredomChangeUnmodified() getEnduranceChangeUnmodified() getStressChangeUnmodified() getThirstChangeUnmodified() getUnhappyChangeUnmodified() - Higher level carpentry crates now have more space. - Can now move empty composter. - Can now move military crates. DEBUG - Updated Debug context menu. - Updated Debug Menu UI. - Added Z param to teleport. - Added change vehicle skin option to debug. - Added Sync for changing color, blood and skin of vehicles. - Refactored "Remove Item"-tool UI. - Added option to the F11 UI: Disable Welcome message (Works only in debug mode). - Added Reload Lua button to main screen (only in debug mode). - Added Cheats Panel in debug menu. Updated cheat list (merged in options from Admin and F11 menu). - Added fast move cheat (Controls: Arrow keys, Page Up/Down) (Debug and Admin panel). - Added Admin context menu options (some options from debug). - Added cheat Spawn Key door - Added LootZed tool - Added LootZed tool cheat (Check what can spawn in a container with what chance) - Added remove items tools - Added Remove items tools in Debug mode (Option for remove items from container menu and option in Debug UI for remove items in area) - Added options to the "[DEBUG] Objects" menu to: 1) Change a mannequin's script. 2) Create a Moveable item in the player's inventory for a chosen mannequin script. - Changes to the debug Items List UI: - Don't recreate the ui each time it is displayed, because it's slow. - Keyboard focus is set to the "Type" text-entry box each time the ui is displayed. - Pressing the Tab key switches focus between the "Type" and "Name" text-entry boxes when either one has the focus. FIXES - Fixed the player's head being semi-transparent where hair and beard stubble appears. This also fixes semi-transparency that has always been there around the edges of holes in clothing. - Fixed the controller tooltip text in the character-creation profession ui not displaying. - Fixed the overly-long delay before changing the volume of a cd player or television when using a controller. - Fixed spam messages about CDplayer's invalid world sprite. - Fixed the player not running when moving too slowly to sprint. - Fixed the character-creation Add Trait button being covered by the controller tooltip text. - Fixed placing multiple items locking the items to the first square that is clicked. - Fixed controller focus not being set to the "Check back cover" ui. - Fixed exploit holding down the Escape key before starting certain actions. - Fixed taking damage when walking down stairs while faster-forwarding. - Fixed a NullPointerException in InventoryItem.update() when an item's ReplaceOnUseOn refers to an invalid item type. - Fixed the post-death ui appearing in the main menu in multiplayer, if the player dies while the main menu is displayed. - Fixed use of an undefined variable in SPlantGlobalObject.stateToIsoObject(). - Fixed buggy player rendering in the in-game map when the player is attacked. - Fixed "Decaying Corpse Health Impact" health reduction for "Low" and "High" both being less than "Normal". - Fixed some duplications and formatting in MainCreationMethods.lua. - Fixed custom Sandbox floats displaying too many decimals in the tooltip. - Fixed walls in Fire station in LV remaining cutaway for no reason. - Fixed character being able to rest on seats seen through some windows. - Fixed siren and light bar shutting off once you get a certain distance away from the vehicle. Now even when you go over 1000 blocks away and come back, the lights and sirens on cars are still going off. - Fixed not being able to attach sheet ropes at certain locations. - Fixed cars not remembering their cruise control setting. - Fixed "Place item on ground" ignoring item's favourite status when placing items. - Fixed being able to interact with rain collectors through the wall. - Fixed player-built doors inside houses being transparent at any angle of view. - Fixed Walkie-Talkies not showing new "equipped" weight when equipped. - Fixed Metalwork locker container name being "Crate" in the loot window. - Fixed a spawned bowl of pasta or rice not being edible. - Fixed Painted Crates becoming white after Pick up / Place down. - Fixed Rotten food showing in right click menu as (Fresh) when newly spawned. - Fixed Applying Disinfectant to an un-infected wound making that body part immune to infection. - Fixed player-built walls cutting away completely when built inside of another building. - Fixed typo in AdjacentFreeTileFinder.lua. - Fixed "Cake Preparation" not spawning rotten in 6 Months Later scenario. - Fixed Dish Towel having option to "dry self" even if char is dry. - Fixed Hair/Beard types grow back to their dyed colour, instead of their natural colour. - Fixed Coffee / coffee beverage fatigue reduction values not saving on quit / restart. - Fixed replacing disassembled floors with dirt tiles above ground level. - Fixed clock Size option not being changable while in game. - Fixed nil variable in ISWorldObjectContextMenu.doSleepOption() when tired enough to sleep on the ground. - Fixed disassmbling floors playing the standing animation instead of crouching. - Fixed saved Radio Stations being removed when a radio is removed and reinstalled. - Fixed Foundation Makeup requiring a mirror when it already comes with one. - Fixed characters not using a Knive that was equipped or in main inventory when crafting while a better Knive was in a nearby container. - Fixed ISPaintMenu error when near a placed radio. - Fixed weirdness installing and uninstalling radios in vehicles. - Fixed NullPointerException in ParameterInside. - Fixed Composters not having a container icon and title. - Fixed blank VHS Home tapes spawning. They are now replaced with a random Retail VHS when spawning loot. - Fixed an occasional exception in ISInventoryPane.sortItemsByTypeAndWeight() caused by a bad item-sorting comparison function. - Fixed parts of weather effects not being rendered sometimes. This resulted in some clouds not being rendered at different zoom levels, causing the scene color to change when zooming in/out, for example. - Fixed items replaced by their ReplaceOnCooked type not being synced in multiplayer correctly. - Fixed Lua error when the mini-map doesn't exist. - Fixed jumbo item-atlas textures being drawn the first time models are loaded. - Fixed mannequins that spawn in containers being invisible when placing them the first time. - Fixed being unable to transfer the same item between containers until a timeout expires, if the first attempt was interrupted. This happened in multiplayer only. - Fixed item models being drawn jumbo-sized for one frame when they are still loading, when using the old way of rendering 3D items. - Fixed item-atlas textures being drawn in the incorrect position sometimes. - Fixed items floating in air or remaining on the ground after removing or placing furniture. - Fixed items on furniture being visible through walls. Item alpha is set to match that of the furniture it is placed on. - Fixed not setting the keyboard focus on the debug Items List ui the first time it is displayed. - Fixed the character-creation profession screen displaying controller icons after activating mods in the New Game ui, when no controller is active. - Fixed building Wallframe using two planks but giving three when disassembled - Fixed cooking an egg showing the progress bar twice - Fixed shirts and other clothing items getting auto-removed from the world when they shouldn't be. - Fixed the character-creation profession screen displaying controller icons after activating mods in the New Game ui, when no controller is active. - Fixed ISMap.canWrite() and ISMap:canErase() not using the Write and Eraser tags. - Fixed support pillars for stairs not being created on the server or other clients. - Fixed inability to burn corpses in MP - Fixed Millipede and Millepede2 in forageDefinitions.lua both using type=Base.Centipede. - Fixed forageSystem.modifyItemDef() incorrect use of _itemDef.type. - Fixed forageSystem.removeItemDef() possibly using a nil _itemDef variable when printing a warning. - Fixed HumanVisual.naturalBeardColor possibly being uninitialized before being copied in HumanVisual.copyFrom(). - Fixed OldBrake1 VehicleType being 3 instead of 1. - Fixed the "Enable left joystick radial menu" option not being saved. - Fixed a Lua error pressing the Toggle Search Mode key before starting a game. - Fixed the Toggle Search Mode key getting in the way when the game is paused. - Fixed crafted radios getting less maximum range at higher Electricity levels. - Fixed crafted Ham Radios weighing 1.5-3 pounds instead of 20. UPDATES AND BALANCE TO ITEMS_FOOD.TXT Reformatted file layout: - Standardized tab/space usage. - Sorted item script variables by group/function for improved legibility. Removed AlwaysWelcomeGift' entries from item scripts: - 'AlwaysWelcomeGift' was used in versions of the game and is likely no longer functional. Changes made to evolvedRecipe Burger in evolvedrecipes: - Removed 'Cookable' property to match with sandwiches, tortillas, and burritos. - Added '|Cooked' requirement to cookable items that have Burger in their EvolvedRecipe list. Changes made to 'Egg': - Removed Sandwich/Baguette/Burger/Salad EvolvedRecipes due to requiring cooked version of item. - Since this item uses ReplaceOnCooked, 'EggBoiled' is used as a stand-in for its cooked version. Changes made to 'EggBoiled': - Restricted EvolvedRecipes to Sandwich, Sandwich Baguette, Burger, and Salad. Changes made to 'BurgerRecipe': - Nutrition stats were double-defined. Fixed. Changes made to 'Dough', 'DoughRolled', and 'BakingTrayBread': - 'ThirstChange' and 'UnhappyChange' were double defined. Fixed. Changes made to 'NoodleSoup' - Added 'CustomContextMenu' and 'CustomEatSound' options, same as 'SoupBowl'. - Changed 'EatType' from '2hand' to '2handbowl'. Changes made to 'TVDinner': - 'UnhappyChange' was double-defined. Fixed. Changes made to 'FrogMeat': - Added cooked specification to Salad EvolvedRecipe. Changes made to 'FishFried': - EvolvedRecipes called for cooked versions of food. Food is already cooked. Fixed. Changes made to 'Pepperoni': - Removed Burger/Burrito/Taco EvolvedRecipes. - Added Sandwich/Baguette EvolvedRecipes. Changes made to 'Salami': - Added same EvolvedRecipe list as 'Pepperoni'. Changes made to 'MincedMeat': - Added Sandwich/Baguette EvolvedRecipes. Made the following foods non-cookable/pre-cooked: - Marhsmallows (Item 'Smore' can't be crafted/cooked) - EggBoiled (Placed by ReplaceOnUse in container after item 'Egg' is fully cooked) - EggPoached (Non-craftable. Icon shows cooked version) - GrilledCheese (Non-craftable. Icon shows cooked version) - Pepperoni (Is cured/salted. Didn't have MinutesToCook/MinutesToBurn defined) - NoodleSoup (Non-craftable. Used in themed restaurants as pre-cooked food, like 'MeatDumpling' and 'MeatSteamBun') Added Taco/Burrito EvolvedRecipes to: - Chicken - FishFillet - Steak Added Soup/Stew EvolvedRecipes to: - Crackers - Biscuit - Cornbread Made the following foods non-perishable: - Pretzels (These are 'packaged' pretzels, similar to 'TortillaChips') Made the following foods perishable (DaysFresh/DaysTotallyRotten): - BakingTrayBread (3/6) - Biscuit (3/5) - CookieChocolateChip (7/30) - CookieJelly (7/30) - CookiesChocolate (7/30) - CookiesOatmeal (7/30) - CookiesShortbread (7/30) - Cornbread (3/5) - Croissant (3/5) - Cupcake (4/8) - DoughnutChocolate (3/5) - DoughnutFrosted (3/5) - DoughnutJelly (3/5) - DoughnutPlain (3/5) - Guacamole (4/8) - RefriedBeans (4/8) - Wasabi (4/8) Changes made to DaysFresh/DaysTotallyRotten values: - BreadSlices (1/2) > (3/6) [Age is derived from base item-- non-rotten bread could produce rotten slices] - BreadDough (4/9) > (3/6) - EggBoiled (14/21) > (3/6) - EggPoached (14/21) > (3/6) - EggOmelette (14/21) > (3/6) - EggScrambled (14/21) > (3/6) - OmeletteRecipe (3/10) > (3/6) Changes made to MinutesToCook/MinutesToBurn values: - BakingTrayBread (40/80) > (20/50) Changes made to HungerChange values: - GrilledCheese: -80 > -20 Added 'JamFruit' and 'JamMarmalade' to EvolvedRecipes. - Can be used in Sandwiches, Pancakes, Waffles, and Muffins. Removed 'UseDelta' from 'Sugar' due to not being Drainables. Changes made to 'Grapefruit': - Changed DisplayName from 'Grape fruit' to 'Grapefruit'. Changes made to 'Honey': - Is now considered a Spice. - Can be added to Fruit Salads, Hot Drinks, Sandwiches, Waffles, and Pancakes. Changes made to hunger values: - Centipede2: -13 > -5 - Centipede: -13 > -5 - CheeseSandwich: 50 > 15 - Cockroach: -11 > -5 - Cricket: -6 > -5 - Grasshopper: -7 > -5 - Millipede: -13 > -5 - Millipede: -13 > -5 - PeanutButterSandwich: 40 > 17 - Slug2: -10 > -5 - Slug: -10 > -5 - Snail: -10 > -5 - Sugar: 6 > 30 - SugarBrown: 6 > 30 Changes made to item weights: - CannedCarrots2: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedCarrotsOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedCorn: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedCornOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedFruitCocktail: 0.3 > 0.8 - CannedFruitCocktailOpen: 1 > 0.8 - CannedMushroomSoup: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedMushroomSoupOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedPeaches: 0.3 > 0.8 - CannedPeachesOpen: 1 > 0.8 - CannedPeas: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedPeasOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedPineapple: 0.3 > 0.8 - CannedPineappleOpen: 1 > 0.8 - CannedPotato2: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedPotatoOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedSardines: 0.7 > 0.3 - CannedSardinesOpen: 0.7 > 0.3 - CannedTomato2: 0.7 > 0.8 - CannedTomatoOpen: 0.7 > 0.8 - Dogfood: 1 > 0.8 - DogfoodOpen: 1 > 0.8 - Lettuce: 0.7 > 0.2 Added 3D Models to the following items: - Lobster - Nettles Added 'DisplayCategory' entries to the following items: - BagelPlain - BagelPoppy - BagelSesame - Baguette - BakingTray_Muffin - BakingTray_Muffin_Recipe - Baloney - Biscuit - Blackbeans - Burrito - BurritoRecipe - CakeBlackForest - CakeCarrot - CakeCheeseCake - CakeChocolate - CakeRedVelvet - CakeStrawberryShortcake - ChickenFoot - ChocolateChips - CocoaPowder - CookiesChocolate - CookiesOatmeal - CookiesShortbread - Cornbread - Crackers - Crayfish - Croissant - Daikon - DoughnutChocolate - DoughnutFrosted - DoughnutJelly - DoughnutPlain - Edamame - EggBoiled - EggOmelette - EggPoached - EggScrambled - FishFried - FishRoe - FriedOnionRings - FriedOnionRingsCraft - GingerPickled - GingerRoot - GrahamCrackers - Grapefruit - Gravy - Gum - Hotsauce - Icing - JamFruit - JamMarmalade - Lime - Lobster - Maki - MapleSyrup - Marshmallows - MeatDumpling - MeatSteamBun - MincedMeat - MuffinFruit - MuffinGeneric - NoodleSoup - OilOlive - OilVegetable - OmeletteRecipe - Onigiri - OnionRings - Oysters - OystersFried - PancakesRecipe - Pear - Pepperoni - RefriedBeans - RicePaper - RiceVinegar - Salami - Sausage - Seaweed - Shrimp - ShrimpDumpling - ShrimpFried - ShrimpFriedCraft - Smore - Soysauce - Springroll - Squid - SquidCalamari - SugarBrown - SushiEgg - SushiFish - Taco - TacoRecipe - TacoShell - TofuFried - Tortilla - TortillaChips - WafflesRecipe - Wasabi

For our last blog we released the new unstable beta version of Build 41 – which was 41.69 (nice). Today we are releasing 41.71, which follows last Thursday’s 41.70. These have generally been iterative patches, polishing the unstable beta up to a standard that we hope to be ready for a wider stable release next week. This week’s primary task has been our Sound Team and coder brains fixing out some nasty total sound cut-outs that had been cropping up on busy servers. Another primary thing we’ve been adding patch-by-patch is our new approach to action music. Instead of switching between tracks mid-combat, the music is reactive and can increase and decrease in intensity during combat and other dramatic moments. The familiar tune can cross-fade into a high action version, essentially. So far we’ve been getting a very positive reaction from players on the beta. With 41.71 we will have ten out of the fourteen action tracks working in this way, so let us know what you think! Otherwise in these patches we’ve been fixing lots of different longstanding niggles with the game, so have a peek at the changelists – and jump in if you fancy on the unstable beta to let us know whether you think the build is ready for wider public consumption. Finally, if you notice that the Unstable beta is misbehaving with your favourite mods, then please let your favourite mod authors know – though please also be patient with them as they all exist in the real world with real lives/jobs/families/pets/TV shows to watch. Finally finally+ a reminder that we will be removing some legacy builds from the Steam betas once the latest unstable beta goes stable. If you are playing on an older Build 41 beta, then please return to the mainline if at all possible. NEXT Meanwhile, new stuff continues to build for future updates to Build 41. The MP team continue their long-term work on having all items operate server-side to prevent item-spawn cheating, while also providing improvements to 41’s more iterative patches. At the moment there’s also MP work in the can on stuff like vehicle radios now receiving radio stations, VOIP and radio chat messages in bubble text over the car. Likewise improvements have been made to your client predicting where your friends are falling/dying which is resulting in resulting in far less corpse placement weirdness. Work is also currently going into the smoothness of vehicles being controlled by other folks on the server – especially when they are moving at high speed. On the TIS side, meanwhile, EP has been integrating a new feature into the in-game map system that will be of great interest to admins and server owners: the ability to see where individual players are on Build 41’s in-game map. Server operators will also have the option of allowing members of safehouses or factions be able to see each other on their own map, if that suits their playstyle more than the usual default of having absolute no idea where your friends are. While it’s still not imminent, Aiteron is also integrating new animations into his fishing system that are starting to look really cool. This is super WIP and will get a lot of polish, but this is what it looked like this morning. Please note that in the vid the character is following the cursor: the cursor doesn’t represent fish placement. Gameplay hasn’t been fully tied to the anims yet. We are also looking for feedback and local knowledge from PZ players from Kentucky (and nearby surrounding regions) who enjoy fishing themselves. If this means you, then please check out the questions on this Google form. Massive thanks to those who previously emailed and have already given us some direction also! NEW HIRE Avid TIS followers will know that for a while we have been on the hunt for an Animation Engine Specialist to join the Project Zomboid team, and we are delighted to welcome one Howard Smith to our ranks. Howard is a big PZ fan, and also has big brains that have previously worked on the likes of Call of Duty, Halo and (wait for it) Left 4 Dead. Truth be told, in the big push for MP our work on our animations tech stalled somewhat – and there’s still many, many aspects of PZ combat and movement that we want to streamline and improve, and likewise many complex systems we’d dearly love to integrate in the future. Howard has a tasklist a mile long covering areas in which our animator has been logjammed recently, and as such will be something of a busy boy. Something else, meanwhile, that this gets us back on track with is work towards a release of our internal AnimZed animation tools to the community. This won’t be an imminent thing, but part of Howard’s work while getting bedded down in our code will be in building documentation and making some improvements both for us and the modding community. MORE NEW HIRE? Following the success of Build 41, we also find ourselves in a position where we can hunt down other experienced Games Programmers to join the Project Zomboid team. We are looking for coders willing and able to refresh some of our older systems, polish the existing ones and then to delve further into the features that will be part of the Knox Event’s exciting future. Interested applicants should check our jobs page, but we should underline that we currently don’t have any entry-level positions available. You will need to have a fair amount of experience we are afraid. TILL NEXT TIME That’s all the major news for this blog, but tomorrow we will have a surprise treat for denizens of the PZ subreddit. Pat_Bren has tracked down and interviewed a community hero, which has finally allowed us to say… This week’s arboreal scene from a S1ngle Man. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.

One of the mods currently causing this is Improved Hair Menu

We've hotfixed a file mismatch. Small update should be coming through the Steam pipes shortly. GOG Galaxy within the hour

Heya everyone, so today we’re pushing the 41.69 patch out into the Unstable beta. This is a the first release of a wide-ranging version that touches many parts of the codebase – including some fairly foundational stuff to improve the smooth running of MP, some handy new hooks for modders and many and various different fixes and improvements. The full and unexpurgated changelist is pretty vast, but a quick topline run-through of its contents will now follow: In MP: improvements to car physics, admin improvements, anti-cheat fixes, better handling of dead bodies, PvP and safehouse fixes, fixed grass growing through safehouse floors and much much more. VHS fix – an end to the peril of one-time-use video tapes on servers. A raft of Steamdeck compatibility improvements. New items, new forage finds, updated 3D models, new hair types and more. Scarecrows and Lab Skeleton ‘mannequins’ that can be kitted out in player clothes. Quality of life features: renamed Skill books, better item placing, movable minimap and many and various other things. 3D items now shown as textures rather than models. As such they now slide around less when the player moves, and have far less of a performance impact when all piled up. New/improved tag system for modders, and other general mod-side improvements. Added ambiance noise for different areas on the map tied to particular buildings and items, such as a little bit of mall muzak. Relevant ‘power down’ noises for the above-mentioned sounds to flag the power/water cutting out. New sounds for arcade machines, gas pumping, vehicle headlights and car window opening (both via handle and electric windows). Also BBQ noises, campfire sounds, fireplaces and more zed trip/thump stuff. Improved treatment of inside/outside sounds depending on whether doors and windows are open or closed. Loads of UI and controller improvements that are universally handy, but have primarily been put in for (you lucky!) Steamdeck users. 41.68 works okay with the new handheld device, but 41.69 should provide some vast improvements. Lots of general balance, including a spotlight on foods and recipes. A shitload of general fixes. We would be hugely grateful if players could move over to 41.69 and report any oddness or hiccups, and likewise to inform the creators of any mods that have been broken. We have done our best to bypass disruption, but in such a wide-ranging patch there will always be mod toes that the code has unavoidably trodden upon. (Creators of radio/TV-related mods should especially pay attention to the MP VHS fix, as it may cause some issues.) OTHER STUFF Elsewhere work continues on Build 42 and 43 content continues, with RJ still focusing on farm animals, and also the introduction of some basic AI versions of wild beasts also. Please consider these WIP! Also coming to you today with a WIP tag (as we are working on far better player directional ‘strain and lean’ animations rather than a repeated ‘pull animation’) is a video from Aiteron showing his current work on the fishing update. A lot of work these past few weeks has also been into making it work online, and our testers have been having some impromptu fishing competitions already. Here, also, you can see: Water splashes (visuals WIP) to show placement of groups of fish, ultimately we plan to move to a more constant surface disturbance to show the positions of fish at any given time, as well as use the current splashes instead when the fish is struggling on the line. Lines and hooks that can be changed on the fishing rod that have an impact on your fishing. A fishing net you can catch items in, and a new ‘generic trash’ item that can also become snared up in your tackle and provide you with a random item (not always a shoe!) In the land of MP meanwhile the Strike Force are currently working on vehicle smoothness, and rare strange physics during and after vehicle collisions. They also have some imminent plans for better hit-fall position prediction, which should make corpse placement much closer to how it looks in SP. We are also partway through a longer term process of making the inventory system completely server side (or rather authenticated server side) to avoid any kind of item spawning cheats. This is something we really need to do to close up the potential for item hacks on MP servers. It will not likely appear for a while, most like coming in a major build rather than an iterative patch as it is a major piece of work and will also come with the potential for mod breakage for mods that spawn items directly on the client. (We’ll make sure to keep it unstable a good period to give mod authors a chance to fix when it rolls around, and will provide some method for modders to legitimately spawn items recognized by the server when needed.) This week’s stand-off from Viиicius. A changelist of all our pre-release and post-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.

Welcome back to the mod blog for the latest scoop from the Knox Event! This time, we look at two extremely popular mods from Authentic Peach, namely Authentic Z and AuthenticAnimations. If you’ve seen a PZ character lying in bed or sitting on a chair there’s a chance that you have Authentic Peach to thank for it… AuthenticAnimations activates some of the unactivatable placeholder animations created by TIS’ resident animator Martin, which aren’t quite ready for our base game. Sit on chairs, lie on couches, and tremble in fear by finding the new options on the emote menu. There’s even a set of animations for someone being smothered. We wonder what future purpose those could serve… Authentic Z, meanwhile, adds hundreds of new clothing items from clown noses to stovepipe hats to military webbing, and over a hundred new zombie outfits that spawn in the appropriate locations, like ice cream workers, fishermen, and dozens of unique zombies inspired by other media such as Resident Evil, Shaun of the Dead, and Left 4 Dead to be hunted down. It also adds new versions of existing items like football jerseys, t-shirts, wedding dresses, bulletproof vests and backpacks, along with some goodies like a flare gun, glowsticks and smoke grenades. A major feature of the mod is the ability to modify backpacks with extra “slots” or pouches which visibly show attached items on your character. This allows you to carry water bottles, tools, and even a Spiffo teddy on your back, saving you space while looking cool (and/or cute). Now it’s time to take out our reporter’s microphone, track down the unique character known as “Authentic Peach”, and activate our “ask questions” animation! AUTHENTIC PEACH Who are you in real life? Tell us a little about yourself. “I’m a college student studying computer engineering and a part-time computer repair technician.” How did you first discover Project Zomboid? Why do you like it? “My friend Clerkius recommended Zomboid to me about eight years ago. I picked it up in mid-2014, back before nolanritchie’s car mod, when only Westpoint and Muldraugh existed. I loved the base-building aspect of the game and especially the elements of base customization! If you look at the zombie game genre, these two aspects are either underdeveloped or non-existent in the grand majority of games.” How did you get into PZ modding? Have you made mods or maps for other games? “I haven’t modded any other game. I was inspired to begin when the clothing and animations update of Build 41 was announced.” You collaborated with Ravenim, and previous mod blog star Azakaela on your AuthenticAnimations mod, and Michael Chickson on Authentic Z. How did you first come into contact with them? Which parts of the mods did they help with? “It is a funny and wholesome story with AuthenticAnimations. At the time, Azakaela already had a few significant mods under her belt whereas Ravenim and I were just beginner modders trying to tie things together with strings and rubber bands.” “One day, we were looking through the game’s file directory and found loads of animations that were unused. This was before the game’s vanilla emote wheel was implemented. Ravenim and I figured out how to link these raw animations with framework files to have them work in the game. Azakaela then took up the torch and had them initiated with the recipe system. It was a fun, tag-team group project. Sometime after the emote-wheel was implemented, I updated the mod to fit the theme and added some custom art.” “AuthenticZ has been my personal project since late 2020. At first I solely used base game assets to make new outfits, but once I learned 3D modeling, the sky was the limit! 3D modeling was my Covid Project. I learned how to do it with two months of watching Youtube videos. It just goes to show that you do not have to go to school to learn these art-based skills.” “I had Michael Chickson join the project earlier this year since I noticed we had similar interests and prospects. He has contributed a few outfits worth, such as the cultist zombies. However, he has had to step away from modding, unfortunately.” Can you tell us more about your Authentic Z mod? How many items does it add to the game? How does it change the experience? “AuthenticZ adds clothing for zombies and players, with appropriate placement and rarity, and more functionality and customization to items. It adds a ton of stuff that only can be found on certain zombies.” “If I was to count the number of items, it would be 808, but that would be including different item states. 600 is a more meaningful number. Prior to modding, I loved to ‘cherry pick’ special zombies in a horde. It’s an extreme case of loot-lust where you would kill the zombie wearing the rare clothing item, and doing it in a way where it doesn’t damage the item. I find this mini-game extremely addictive and I especially flush it out in Authentic Z.” Authentic Z also features some unique zombie spawns, with many references to popular culture. Do you have a favourite unique zombie? Any tips for players wanting to track them down? “With about 150 outfits made, at this point, I no longer have a favorite. Some of my favorite zombies include the Ghostbusters, cheerleaders, and clown zombies. I also have made five types of clown zombie outfits. I suggest looking at the hitlists that you may find at the libraries or bookshelves. The screenshots have distinct hints of where they may be located. If you are totally stumped on finding a particular outfit, try looking at the Crossroads Mall or Grand Ohio Mall, where the spawns are randomized by the mod.” Authentic Z features a lot of new items and clothing like bulletproof vests, a more advanced backpack system, wearable lights etc. What are some “loadouts” of your items you would recommend for different activities like exploration, zombie combat, PvP play? And which would be your coolest and most fashionable outfit, regardless of how practical it is in the zombie apocalypse? “Definitely try out the tactical webbing for its attachment slots. Wearing it with a military flashlight will give you the edge during nighttime combat situations. I, myself, usually wear impractical outfits whenever I can. I feel that the meta for outfits, typically, is the full military gear getup. So I definitely recommend mixing it up.” “Having your character wear a special/ridiculous/silly outfit gives them a unique sense of personality! For female characters, I usually choose one of the cheerleader outfits or the female Mime. For male characters, I like to dress as Ghost Face from Scream or as a clown.” AuthenticAnimations allows the player to activate some of our hidden placeholder animations. Which of these animations would you most like to see in the game itself? “We made the mod because we did not want to wait years on end to see these animations in action [editor’s note: watch it, mate]. We made it to give content creators a toolset to express whatever creative work they have in mind. iBrRus’s True Actions mod has implemented the sitting, laying down, and sleeping anims quite well. I would like to see the vomit and crawling/prone anims implemented since these will flush out new aspects of the game.” Is there anyone else in the PZ community (or beyond) you would like to give a shout-out to? Which mods or maps by other users do you enjoy or find interesting? “I always play with the mods made by iBrRus and his team, and Shark and Chuck’s Expanded Helicopter mod. I encourage anyone to escape Raven Creek with the Autotsar Motorclub mod with a high vehicle spawn – the most fun I ever had in Zomboid!” “Special thanks to Scavenger and Shark for continually pushing me to the next level. I would also like to give a shout-out to Lizardman who did the new artwork for AuthenticZ. I would also like to thank all the Twitch streamers who motivated me and gave me meaningful feedback and ideas.” “I would also like to thank the dev team for making the game as moddable as it is, and working with modders to free up code and create more ways to mod. One of the phrases I live by is ‘Show me the tools, I will show you what I will make with them.’” What’s next in your mapping and modding plans? What’s the dream? “I have a finite amount of ideas that I want to burn through with Authentic Z, such as tackling dismemberment and fat zombies, then afterwards I will do a lot more with animations. I have been working on my own dancing mod with the goal to make it more silly and rambunctious than the True Actions Dancing mod (also one of my favorites). I livestream on the weekends if anyone wants to tune in and follow the journey. I try, whenever I can, to teach people how to mod Zomboid. I also plan on writing up more documentation on various modding techniques to help accelerate prospective modders’ projects. So far, I have made a 3D modeling to Zomboid guide which can be found here.” “Everyone has their own interests and unique perspectives. If everyone knew how to use the tools and the various modding methodologies, we would see a huge wave of creativity!” Thanks to Authentic Peach for taking time to answer our questions! You can find all his mods here.

Hello! The last couple of weeks has had an unusually high number of absentees, by coincidental combinations of gaming conference attendees, long planned family visits, and even an unforeseen emergency hospital stay (that turned out fine, don’t worry) meaning we’ve been running on a somewhat diminished team of late, but that should be sorted out by next week and we’ll be running at full steam again! – so unfortunately, there aren’t any sexy vids or pics to show off. However still we have some super interesting stuff to talk about! However, it’ll likely take the form of ‘lotsa text’ so prepare yourself for that! 41.69 First, 41.69 (nice) build is still in progress, we’re testing a bunch of changes at the moment and are eager to get it out there, but are still weighing up the cost of disrupting the MP servers with the benefit of the goodies within, and making the call on when we’ll push to unstable and start the release process. We’ll let you know when we know more. Here’s the changelist of 41.69 thus far! https://pastebin.com/ZhRhKVZi NPC Narratives We figured a good way to give people something real tasty to sink their teeth into regardless of the lack of fancy vids or pics, would be to show off the text results of our Narrative NPC system that we discussed a few weeks back planned for Build 43. As we detailed in our first NPC ‘meta’ system explanation, we have a powerful narrative event system that can be used to add context driven ‘storylets’ together into a somewhat convincing narrative for NPCs when they are away from the streamed-in world. These would define the goals of the NPCs, as well as evolve their situation so that when the player runs into them they have a convincing backstory, or events can transpire to affect those groups when they are not around for the player to witness. They will also drive events with npcs while the player IS present, leading to interesting generated story events for the player to interact with. These events set flags on characters, move their virtual presence along road networks and between houses of which all the rooms on the entire map are accessible even when the tiles themselves have not been streamed in. We can add extra data and tags that change the NPCs states and allow them to experience simplified narrative events that will branch and trigger randomly, and each of these events can have numerous outcomes of which we can attach a line of dialogue recounting the event later, so the characters will be able to sit around a campfire and let the rest know their story, or group members can recount the events of an eventful trip the player wasn’t part of, or what transpired at the safehouse while the player was away. Context sensitive text scripting is used to modify these lines of dialogue to fit the situation. For example, a tag for a character’s name in the dialogue can be substituted with ‘my mother-in-law, X’ or ‘my nephew, Y’ tracking the relationship between the two characters, or even between the character being spoken about and a third character (‘X’s brother, Y’). Other things such as a town location can be substituted where necessary, and there can be variant lines which are picked based on the characters, their flags, or other environmental conditions. Or just raw RNG, to mix things up a bit. Pat_Bren has been busy coming up with a whole metric ton of varied events and mini narratives, and Lemmy has been integrating these into the event system. There’s a lot more to add yet, but its starting to yield some cool results. Here’s a few narrative outputs. Full disclosure: some massaging of the results has taken place here, it’s somewhat curated as the system is still capable of some very odd results and the pool is not yet large enough to avoid ‘arrow to the knee’ situations, if we just threw in the first 10 results it’d probably not be so impressive at this stage, so we’ve picked ones with the least overlap — though you’ll likely notice a few repeated statements (in most cases this also demonstrates the variants or alternate paths we have there to mix it up) – our goal is, ultimately, with progressive builds, to widen the library of narrative events and lines to the point where each story feels completely unique (easier to do without voiced dialogue, but we apologise profusely to our translators). Please be aware these are still work in progress, and we still need to do some work to make these flow as naturally as possible as if recounted later to another character — rather than as a straight log of events that can seem a bit terse and unnatural, so none of the text is remotely final and we still need to figure out a good balance of information that would feel natural to share to a third party potentially weeks later… (It’s very important to note that, at present, these narratives are limited mainly to the meta, and while we talk about how they will impact characters the player witnesses, there is still a lot of work to do in that department. This is all very super work-in-progress, and while a metric ton of work has been done across the NPC codebase, it's still a big job to piece it all together to work as one.) Breakdown of a narrative Let’s pick one of them and break down how it works: As is probably clear, this is all too self-consistent to be completely random. This isn’t just a bunch of random disconnected events triggering one after another, but rather a mini-narrative that is comprised of several related events, each of which has various ways they can pan out and also conditions that can lead to them triggering in the first place, leading to a whole host of other outcomes that will affect the group in different ways. To show this, you’ll see another branching version of this same narrative in the list of outputs above, starting with ‘Just before the shit hit the fan, Joe got sick’. Though it sharing the specific phrase ‘shit hit the fan’ text was a coincidence, it could have equally started with ‘Just before things got really bad’ or ‘Before all of this’. Narratives have natural end points that can end that narrative, or instead they potentially lead naturally into another if relevant. In other cases they can set flags on characters or groups that will lead to other events, or even other narratives, having a chance of triggering on them in future. This is the way the narratives can ultimately serve as larger building blocks to make longer character stories that flow into each other convincingly. So back to this demo narrative above: “Just before the shit hit the fan, my sister Annie got sick.” As detailed before, we generate the starting NPC groups from various families, with some other elements to mix things up. In the first event of this narrative, we pick an appropriate member of the household to ‘get sick’. This will set the first constant within this narrative that will be referenced and used throughout. Then the second event in the narrative is thus… “We tried to take her to the hospital… but the highway was blocked with traffic.” This event will trigger the characters of the group (however it was generated) including the unfortunate Annie, to set a goal to travel to the Louisville hospital. Wherever they are in the world, a path will be generated along roads to that location. Even though the characters, nor a vehicle, are streamed into the world, and they exist virtually in the ‘meta’, we can randomly assign them an appropriate car and start them moving at approximately car speed along the roads enroute to Louisville. If the player were to cross paths with this virtual ‘radar blip’ of these characters, it would spawn in the car with them inside, moving in the correct direction at the appropriate speed, and the more direct vehicle controlling AI would take over with the same destination in mind. This event can play out in various ways, hitting the military blockade, crashing the car, getting stuck amongst a group of zombies. Getting stuck in traffic has various outcomes, including for example a car-jacking attempt, or the person being carried turning in the car. Some of these may lead to more generic events or narratives, or may continue the main mini-narrative to a further conclusion. Assuming all this carries on within the virtual meta world, they will make their way until they hit one of the traffic jam zones on the highway, which in this case causes it to trigger the next event in the narrative. “By that time we realised it was too late, the car was blocked in, there was no way out. We had to abandon the car and make our way on foot.” Alternatively, it could be they managed to drive back home, or get through the jam and onto the next problem. But, in this case the narrative branches to this outcome. We flag they have lost their car, and are now on foot. We set their goal to still be heading toward Louisville hospital, however now they are flagged as on foot and the group’s ‘radar blip’ move at a much slower rate along the road. If a player intersected with their journey, we’d spawn the characters all on foot, and the AI would take over from there with the same pathing goal. Now they are on foot, this opens the door for other events linked to this narrative to fire that wouldn’t be possible within a vehicle. One such event that can randomly trigger is a worsening of the health condition of whomever was chosen to be the sick one, which is what happens next. “Annie was real bad, her fever was getting worse. Bryan, her husband, had to carry her.” True, at this time we don’t have any way to ‘make this real’ should the player happen upon this group, since we don’t have support for characters carrying others at the moment. We hope to add this, and should we do this, then when we spawn the characters in the flesh we would set them up as appropriate to the event – but regardless, at the moment these narratives in particular take place way too early for players to actually intersect with, so we can take a few liberties in these particular narratives anyway. Notice Bryan is referred to as ‘her husband’, which is automatically generated using Annie as the context character, and the code examining the closest relationship between these two characters. We could instead have an alternate line of dialogue using the speaking character (Annie’s sibling) as the context and it would instead read ‘my brother-in-law, Bryan’, finding the shortest link between the speaking character and Bryan was through Annie. We plan for this to be expanded in future to automatically modify based on all manner of things, such as character opinion, and/or character’s traits (My idiot brother-in-law, Bryan, for example) though this may not be present in the first iterations of the system. So now, we have flagged that the ‘illperson’ is being carried, and is being carried by Bryan. This opens up the potential for new events to be triggered, and indeed that is what happens. Poor Bryan. Again, some choices, what they do with the zombie Annie and Bryan, there could be a third victim in attempting to put them down. These branches are, relatively, painless to write, and can be expanded on far into the future. It means we can have many small narrative threads, ones that last days, or ones that last months, that thread in appropriate events to steer the story in believable directions, with written or designed outcomes that make sense and feel like a real story, in a manageable and expandable way. The ‘quests’ that we have with our story generation will likely fit in line with this above narrative system. Is a character split from their loved ones, on their way to another town to find them? Maybe you can help? We’re hoping for a more organic structure of interaction and transaction with NPCs that emerges from this narrative system and leads to some really cool and believable stories being told with our NPCs. Header Image pilfered from a previous blog out of laziness, sorry! Centralized Block of Text has nothing more to say today, bye bye!

This is a regularly occurring issue on Twitch, not just with PZ but other games too. Sometimes it's copyright trolls who provide sounds that would regularly occur anywhere on Youtube, or Twitch (often in games), gaming automated content matching systems that would pick sounds that are "close enough" as matches. There is not really anything we can do about it, as we have all the required licenses. Content creators would have to push back in instances like this, citing TIS as having the relevant licenses and remove the mute or any sort of copyright infringement "count" that might come with it. Twitch has a form you can use to appeal muted audio: https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/how-to-appeal-flagged-content?language=en_US A streamer safe option is not in the cards for this, this isn't music being falsely flagged, it's a police siren sound that we have all the required licenses for as well.

How do, all. Let’s visit a few different PZ departments to see what’s cooking. 41 PATCHING We are currently partway through the journey to the 41.69 patch. Planned patches to Build 41 are intended to be, generally, not feature-led and instead focus on balance, QOL, fixes and polish. The current contents of 41.69 includes: New items and 3D models New foraging discoveries. Many improvements for controller and Steamdeck play Many improvements to the MP experience in areas such as: the sometimes weird vehicle physics, the PvP safety system, the PvP cooldown timer, safehouse bugs, sleeping and radio/VHS sync. There’s a lot more incoming next week, but we intend to keep this patch relatively short and sharp if we can – though of course will also need to be sure of MP stability before any release (even to unstable) as there’s still quite a lot of large adjustments to the MP code going into the pot. FISHING AND LOCKPICKING Although it’s not clear where it will land in terms of a build release yet, this week Aiteron’s new fishing system had its first internal test. This was largely a bug-chasing exercise, especially in terms of MP, but the testers had fun. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we will need better and more appropriate anims to really sell how it works, but the current mission statement is to get it all working – so we can then add some polish. We also need to bring the mechanics closer to realism, through exploring what is caught (and how) in Kentucky – and what different types of lines, hooks, lures, bait and catch options we should include to increase/decrease your chances of catching a particular sort of fish. Likewise, clearly stuff like your location, the weather, the time of day and your fishing skill will all come into play. We won’t go into detail, as it’s still distant, but something else that’s in the design phase while Aiteron implements fishing is bringing elements of his lockpicking mod over into the main game – in a new and improved package to boot. Locks will vary in type and challenge, and the tools required may differ. Through this, stashes with useful loot will be added to the map – hidden behind locked doors. This will also enable locked doors within houses, chests, locked gun cabinets etc. MAP WORK The map team’s ongoing mission to improve the Knox Event map continues. Amidst other tasks focussing on the Many Years Later challenge map, converting and building new farms to fit in with our animal plans, and plotting for future expansion… here’s a few extra fun things that will be appearing in an exclusion zone near you. New tiles to improve the appearance of existing locations. Some older, and very distinguished, buildings for the richfolk of the area. MUSIC On top of the gameplay improvements mentioned last time, the guys at Formosa UK (formerly Noiseworks) are working on a first draft of a rework of the action music. Instead of switching between tracks mid-fight, the plan is to cross-fade between different intensity levels of the same track. The base intensity will be the regular track that you are used to, but then there will also be a high action version that has been beefed up a bit. When the action subsides, or the number of zombies you’re fighting declines, the music will enter a low state and eventually fade out. FARM ANIMALS Work on the introduction of farmed animals continues for their planned introduction in Build 42. All the following information and videos are SUPER WORK IN PROGRESS and will improve a bunch as we move forward. Please don’t worry/complain/laugh/faint/query/weep about ‘em. (Usual caveats apply basically!) Some bullet points on the current integration! All animals are defined in lua definition tables, which will allow for maximum modding possibilities: it’s via these definitions that you can essentially adjust animal behaviour. When in their pen farm animals will wander around, ‘emote’ by flapping wings or rootling for food on the ground, sit, rest, lie down etc. Relevant animals can graze grass, which then regrows after an appropriate amount of time – which can be defined in a new sandbox option. Animals will eat from a trough, which is something you’ll either construct or loot from a farm. Animals all have different growth stages – for example calves become cows/bulls, and grow in size. Their growth will be guided by various parameters – like their hunger, thirst, general health and the size of their enclosure. Baby animals will stick by their mother’s side, and even take milk directly from the udder. The bigger the animal size, the more meat it will produce when it is butchered. There will be various breeds in-game – so you could have a “meat breed” (Angus) or a “milk” breed (Holstein) – and maybe even something in between like a Simmental. Growth rates will be realistic, so a cow will take two full years to be at its full size, but this will be modifiable via sandbox options. Cows will generate milk for a certain period after delivering a calf. The more you continue to milk the cow, the more milk you’ll get each day. Leaving a cow with a full udder, however, will cause issues and a decrease in lactation. Sheep grow wool that you can retrieve with a shear, and also have a milking system if you enjoy sheep milk. Hens can lay eggs. If a henhouse is present they’ll lay eggs in it, otherwise they’ll do it on the ground. They can be fertilized by a rooster, so if left for a time can hatch out chicks. You will need to shut the door to the henhouse every night, and open it back up every morning, or will you risk visits from Mister Fox – and see the resulting bloodstains to boot. ANIMAL BREEDING What’s currently being added to the above systems are some ways to encourage the breeding of animals – to improve your herd, and that of your friends and neighbours, as the apocalypse draws on. It sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite easy for us to generate animals with a ‘full’ (for our purposes) genome – again all defined in lua definition tables for easy modding. Each animal type will have a set of abstracted genes that each contain two ‘alleles’ inherited from parents, from “milk quantity”, to “life expectancy”, “strength”, “appearance” genes and a lot more in-between. We’ve gone for a somewhat realistic, yet still gamified, genetics system to make it feel somewhat accurate. We want to have some of the interesting consequences of genetics, and also to have them present clear enough results for players to engage with in cross breeding projects. When breeding animals, characters with appropriate skills will be able to inspect the animal and get an idea of its various health-related attributes (aka genes) – while others such as egg laying, fertility or milk production will be observed in the animal during its lifespan. Higher skills will also, most likely, make this more apparent/obvious to experienced breeders. The gameplay loop of animal breeding will involve trying to pick the correct pairings/groupings of your animals to pass along the best genes into their offspring. Over successive generations you will be able to improve your stock with better milk production, egg production etc – or help you to focus on producing animals with more meat for slaughter. Finding new animals to breed to diversify and improve your stock’s gene pool will be a prime reason for farmer players to interact with other groups, or go hunting around the farms on the map. Likewise, this will zero in on the concept of a ‘prize bull’ that you might grow an emotional bond with, and really, really not want to get ill – or perhaps even get stolen in MP. The science will be that each animal will carry two sets of alleles in their genome, one contributed randomly from each parent. You have dominant and recessive alleles, and this will mean that you definitely have to be careful about in-breeding, as base generated animals may have recessive gene timebombs in the forms of genetic illnesses of varying types, waiting to ruin your prize bull and your entire stock if you’ve inbred your animals too much. We’re sure there’ll be mods that will allow players to observe the genes more directly, but in the base game we’re expecting a tad more ‘art than science’ approach and using informed guesses and examination and observation to improve your stock. There’s plenty more to this system, but we’ll leave it there for now. All animals will use this genetic system, and we’re sure at some point we’ll look into expanding it into the plant system too, however that’s not a priority right now and almost certainly in the worlds beyond Build 42. This week’s cool arcade base from Damien. A changelist of all our pre-release patches since the 41 beta began can be found here. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.

Greetings, zombesties! The mod blog returns with a look at the varied and incredibly jam-packed mods of Azakaela, creator of the popular Survivor Radio mod which adds multiple new radio stations feature voice acting and real music, the dusty, desert-set Coyote County Araxas map, and many more besides. As well as answering our questions below, Azakaela has kindly listed five of her mods for us to take an in-depth look at. Survivor Radio An incredibly stuffed mod, Survivor Radio adds ten new radio and four new TV stations to the world of PZ. It includes not just thousands of words of new content, but a large amount of voice acting and real music too. Some stations provide new lore, others a mix of DJ dialogue and music, and there’s even a channel that will play your own custom music. You can listen to a sermon by Reverend Dan, hear a tarot reader give your day’s prediction, “watch” fictional movies or extracts from real ones on television, and listen to real music by the author themselves or recorded by other local bands. Coyote County Araxas A work-in-progress map with a unique visual style and clever use of terrain tiles, Coyote County Araxas brings wonderful dusty, run-down vibes to PZ. Looking almost post-apocalyptic even before all the zombies, Coyote County contains trailer parks and desolate, graffiti-and-trash-covered small towns, rocky red elevated terrain, sandy desert terrain, custom plants including cacti and wildflowers, and even a cave system. Get your cowboy hat, your six-shooter and your Playable Guitar for those authentic Wild West (or New Vegas) vibes. Just don’t get lost in that huge desert. You can’t make soup from sand. Playable Guitar Exactly what it sounds like, Playable Guitar makes our Acoustic Guitar item playable using your keyboard. Belt out your favourite ballad, write a song to capture the horror and sadness of the apocalypse, or simply pluck a few strings to make those lonely nights go by quicker. Aza’s Posters Aza’s Posters adds over a hundred, you guessed it, posters to decorate your base with. It includes some appropriate for our game period (Nirvana and X-Files), others which are less time-appropriate but still entertaining (internet references, memes, and even some Rickrolling), references to the author herself, movie posters, and at least one featuring a beautiful pupper named Batman. Project Voice Another mod of Azakaela’s which adds voices to our text-based characters, Project Voice focuses on the gameplay itself. You can choose from five voice sets including spoiled Valley girl Vallie Kallie, the bumpkin Good Ole Boy, and the downbeat Whatever Wilma, with each giving you a different flavour of dialogue barks to use as you play our game. By holding Q to open a radial menu, you’ll be able to hear your character say hello or curse, call out enemies or supplies, or even say sorry to all those innocent zombies you’re mindlessly murdering. The apocalypse is no reason to lose your manners. And now we head to Azakaela’s fortified and heavily defended recording studio to ask the author herself a few questions! AZAKAELA Who are you in real life? Tell us a little about yourself. “In real life? Or just fantasy? [Pat_Bren note: Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality…] I’m a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass, keys, vocals and composes music digitally under my artist/middle name ‘Azakaela’ which means ‘the crown of poison flowers’.” “I also play in two bands, a punk/grunge one named Halley’s Return, and a stoner-doom-metal band named Kannabyss. I adore writing and any form of creative expression I can get my hands on. On the weekends I volunteer my time running lights at the The Gallatin Underground and I also co-host a Youtube show there where we interview local musicians to help promote them.” “I’m happily married and I have a nice life in Montana with my pets, Bunny the cat and Batman the Corgi. I’m usually spending all my time working on my own game these days.” How did you first discover Project Zomboid? Why do you like it? “I remember when it was just the short story of Bob and Kate, and I thought: “Damn! This game is awesome and dark as hell”. And then I thought “This is how I died…”” “I got distracted with life but got back into the game a few years later. I played on roleplaying multiplayer servers like Gateway Roleplay (I think it was called New Dawn back then). Really, the experience of playing a long-lasting character there kinda changed my life a bit, at least in the way that it helped me come to terms with my identity. I even took my first name Erin after the name of a character I had played. I don’t think any other video game I had ever played before gave you so much power to create a story for yourself that could be so impactful.” “Hands down, what I like most about Zomboid is that it’s something that’s constantly being improved, it’s a labor of love. You really feel that when you play the game, that there’s so much that has been thought through. It became a ritual for me to check the most recent Thursdoid to see what’s new with my favorite game. As of right now I have nearly 4K hours in the game, and another 2K-ish in the mapping tools alone.” How did you get into PZ modding/mapping? Have you made mods or maps for other games? “I think it kinda happened gradually. Back when I used to parade around on the TIS Forums as CzarUltra I would occasionally post mod ideas (eg. “what if the zombies were filled with bees?!”), and then quickly realized the fastest way to get something made is to do it yourself.” “I learned it bit by bit over the course of a few years, studying the file structure of the game and making tweaks where I could without breaking the game. I made silly mods that replaced the color of the blood, or made all the zombies sound like Macho Man Randy Savage. But where I really got into modding was when I learned how to use WordZed. From there things just fell into place. I took an interest in mapping as well and made several really bad maps after Envy Demongave me a hands-on tutorial on how the mapping tools worked! (Thanks Envy!)” “As for other games, I haven’t done much, only a map or two for Hotline Miami 2. (I think the best one was Hospice, which takes place in a hospital hostage situation).” In the description of your guitar mod, you say your grandfather taught you how to play, and your Survivor Radio mod features some of your own songs. Can you tell us more about your interest in music? “I’ve loved music ever since I was a little kid. My grandpa had several acoustic guitars and stuff like tape recorders lying around and I used to visit him all the time. I remember one time he gave me a Casio keyboard and I fell in love with it. It wasn’t until I was around 14 that I decided I wanted him to teach me how to play guitar because my cousin was learning and, out of spite, I wanted to be better than him!” “I played the guitar till my fingers bled and eventually joined a band in high school. Without music in my life, I wouldn’t have met any of the people that I currently know and love, and I think without it, I wouldn’t have anything interesting going on! I seriously owe a huge gratitude to music, because I basically think in music – everything always starts with a melody for me.” Your Survivor Radio and Project Voice mods feature significant amounts of writing and voice acting. How much new text does your Survivor Radio mod add? Did you write all the text yourself? How difficult was it to find and cast voice actors and get their audio in-game? “I’ve never measured it as it would drive me insane but it’s literally thousands and thousands of words. I had some help with the writing, especially the station Classical for the Dead, entirely written by the fabulous Mumbler. Whenever I listen to that station’s end broadcast I get goosebumps. Additionally, the KBS channel and a myriad of other writing in the mod was done by Fie, Jade and Goosesalesman of Hamburg. There used to be even more, but unfortunately I had a falling out with some people and their work was removed from the mod on request.” “But all that being said, I did do a shit ton of writing myself. At times it was a very lonely experience, wondering if anyone would ever get to experience the broadcasts I was spending all of my time perfecting – but I think it was worth it.” “Finding cast for some of the stations was an arduous process, but other times it was just as simple as putting out a call and receiving auditions. Scarlet, the voice of Erin Fontaine in Naturally Mortal radio, I met when I first thought about adding voices, and she’s stuck around to help ever since.” “Now, getting the audio in the game was seemingly an easy enough process, but ensuring that the text lined up with the audio was a nightmare! Basically for every 5 seconds the text would have to be split up with something called duration codes that look like this: ${t:5.00}. I’d spend literally days getting just one five-minute broadcast in! Duration codes are the bane of my existence.” “When it comes to the voice actors on Project Voice, I basically told Udo, a fellow modder of mine, and he brought his army of experienced and talented voice actors to come in and just have fun with it. I think Project Voice is gonna be great because of everyone bringing their unique voices to it.” Coyote County Araxas has a unique look and feel – a dusty desert filled with run-down towns, but also some beautiful nature like wildflowers and cacti. What inspired the map? How long have you spent making it? “A long time ago I took a trip out through the Arizona desert and I was enamored by its beauty. I thought deserts were just sand and empty space, but I realized there was so much more to them. What really inspired it was my wish to make a different experience entirely to Kentucky. Someone asked me if I could replicate a place called Mentone, Texas, which I wound up building by looking at screenshots from Google Maps and Street View at first, and then just spent forever tweaking the vegetation. I realized that since the vegetation was based on the Sonoran desert that it didn’t make sense to put the map in Texas, so I made a fictional state called Araxas, which exists between Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.” “I’ve spent a great deal of time working on it by myself at first (about six months), and I thought I was never going to finish it because of how large it was – but I have some help with it now so I can focus on building the mountains and other unique areas while the town of Garden City and other building projects is now being done by Fantasiado, another mapper and good friend of mine. Now that we’re working on it together, we hope we can get it to a complete state sometime before the end of summer.” Is there anyone else in the PZ community (or beyond) you would like to give a shout-out to? Which maps or mods by other users do you enjoy or find interesting? “I’d like to give a shout out to the following PZ peeps: Authentic Peach, Shark, Fantasiado, Browser8, Jade, Mindgate, EnvyDemon, Mumbler, Udo and Buffy. If I missed anyone sorry. Also, gotta thank my wife, Brooke for being amazing and putting up with me.” “I’d also like to take this opportunity to plug my friend’s company I do work for on the weekends, The Gallatin Underground!” “In fact, as a celebration for this Mod Spotlight, “I’ve gotten about 700 royalty free tracks that we recorded at the studio that I’m going to be making a new radio mod similar to Survivor Radio with – so keep an eye out for that, especially if you’re a streamer and want to avoid DMCA stuff and listen to real life indie music while you play!” “Other mods I like? I gotta say, hands down, the Dancing Mod is one of my favorites, along with Authentic Z for all the cool clothes and zombies, and finally Fantasiado’s St Bernards Hill is epic.” What’s next in your mapping and modding plans? What’s the dream? “I’d really like to add more and more to Project Voice, as well as get Coyote County to a finished state. But beyond that? I think I’ve done everything that I ever wanted to do and I can’t believe I’m actually here right now! What I really wanna do is make a game of my own someday. I’ve even started a project already with the working title ‘Shadow Ocean’. Anyway, I think Project Zomboid will always have a special place in my heart and mind.” Thanks to Azakaela for taking time to answer our questions! You can find all her mods here.