Ohbal

I'm completely against stuff like tripping, passing out and other random stuff happing to a character when he\she is in perfect condition but I really don't understand this "Don't punish the player" thing.

In PZ the character can enter many states where doing things is ill advised, dumb and should be punished. Seriously, tell me that running with a broken leg is a good idea. Moving around a lot with stitches is a good idea. Running around the map when very tired is a good idea.

Without punishment there are also no rewards for doing things right. Why should I care if my charatcer has a broken leg, is overburdened and very tired if it has little effect on actual gameplay, if I can't fail because of things that should increase my chance of failure. Why should I pack a tent when going on a long scavenging trip if I know I won't pass out?

Having some forms of punishment for not properly taking care of the character would add a need to make plans, think about every action, stop from time to time and rest. It would make surviving much more rewarding in the long run, put an incentive on taking care of all those useless moodles we have.

And it's not artificial difficulty if the player through his own (in)actions ends up with an exhausted character in the middle of the forest, passes out and get's eaten by zombies, that's difficulty the player brought upon himself.

Not to mention the fact that currently the game doesn't really punish for anything at all, other than maybe opening a door to a bathroom.

How about just letting the devs do their thing, add whatever they want to add and then see if it's completely broken? The game IS in Early Access, if there is ever a time to put in questionable features it is now. We'll just give feedback.

I will admit though, tripping and getting bit would be extremely cheap way to die. That being said, PZ is incapable of killing me as-is unless I go stupid and I got better at that too, my recent berserker fit left me without a scratch with about 50 dead zombies at my feet and I'm using my Weapon Nerf mod.

I can see tripping working but only if the player puts himself in a position where it can happen, ex. get shitfaced and go killing zombies. Or walking back, swinging his baseball bat while ultra panicked, trying to run while severely exhausted or tired.

Basically, I'm good with it as long as it is an effect of my ignorance and my inability to take care of my character. Like Being tired really has zero gameplay effects atm but I always sleep anyway, I do want my character to pass out, it will be my own fault for getting lost in the woods without being prepared, I want consequences for my inactions.

I want an Incentive to give a crap about my character rather than ignoring 75% of all moodles because I can. Tripping, Passing Out, it all can work very, very nicely if you ask me, if implemented correctly. Let's not hate a feature we have not even seen yet.

I recall laughing at the incapabilities of strangers stumbling several times through out my life.  When not paying attention to where I'm placing my feet; even walking forward; there were moments (like a section of concrete on the sidewalk that is an inch taller than the other) where I've stumbled... not necessarily tripped and fell but had a temporary imbalance.  I've fell when running to catch a football only to have stepped on a sprinkler head and twist my ankle.  Watch a few episodes of Americas Funniest Home Videos, sometimes people fall from what appears to be no reason at all.  Sometimes the most capable people have misfortunate moments, which you can see by googling 'sports or gymnastics fails'. 
 When imagining a hypothetical situation of how balanced we would be if we were actually really dealing with a sudden zombie looming before us, most would like to assume they'd be that infaluable badass.  Most would not be.  
In real life, people don't intend to trip... they don't control their falling down.  It happens unexpectedly and can happen at the most inappropriate times. 
 
Personally, I would enjoy something like tripping.  Though there should be more combat mechanics added for prone fighting, like kicking and wrestling off unwated zombies.  (Would be pretty f'n cool to fall back on the ground, have a zombie fall on top of you... Then successfully wrestle the zombie so you're on top and stab a knife through it's skull.  Get back up on your feet and spin around to one stab kill the next closest approaching zombie before preparing to make another escape from the hoard.)  or (You open a door and a zombie lunges instantly, you step back and fall on your ass... So you kick and push the zombie back into the room it came, regain your footing to either shut the door and gtfo of there or ready your weapon as it lunges a second time.)
 
I'm all for adding shock value through a series of misfortunate events caused by a players lack of good judgement.  So long as you can fight for your life while in a prone position.   

The crawling/scrambling along the ground makes this a tolerable game mechanic for me. Will have to reserve final judgement for when I've seen it for myself, but if it works like I'm thinking it'll work than I can put up with it. It might even be enjoyable once I get used to it.
 
So long as tripping doesn't arrest forward movement completely, I am content.
 
I would love to see a zombie fall on top of or otherwise tackle a prone survivor, though. Could add in some struggling animations where the survivor tries to fight off the zombie on top of them. Would be so awesome and could add some really tense moments.

idk, make a little experiment : walk backward or sideways for some distances while keeping your eyes on something else than your direction of movement, see how many times you trip   Also don't forget to spin around from time to time.Weeeee

They're Crawling Out! PZ Mod v 0.1
 
Killed all zombies in the area? 
Happy with your impenetrable fortress? 
Bored with living in a backwater all your life, cultivating carrots and daisies?
(grim laughter)
The forces of darkness have risen coprses lying for many years below ground.
The dead and buried come to life.
They are emerging from under the ground, crawling out, searching for the only survivor, smelling fresh meat!
The deeper their grave is, the longer their way out from down below, and the stronger they are.
 
-------------------------
 
Well, enough pathetics
 
The purpose of this mod is to vary the late game a bit. After some days of gameplay (their number can be modified in settings) new zombies start to appear not far from the player. Because they can't appear out of nowhere, I've decided that they should appear from under the ground, cause it's the only place (in theory) where corpses can be found after you cleared the area (yeah, I know, it's dragged in by the head and shoulders, but .. why not?). So be careful, they can appear inside your fortress. Anyway, they can't break through house floor or asphalt road. If there's much asphalt/floor/water in the area, it would be unlikely for a zombie to find the way out. The plants also stay intact (because the soil was digged up already and no corpses were found).
The time between zombie appearances can be modified in mod settings. New zombies walk towards player position. 
As time goes by, new zombies become more tough (this can also be turned on/off in settings).
 
A little bonus: as the groung becomes digged up while zombie is crawling out, sometimes a worm or two can be found near..
 
 
Installation:
Unpack into \Users\<Username>\Zomboid\mods\
 
Settings:
Mod settings are kept in file "settings.ini" in mod folder. 
 
Notes:
As it's my first mod and I spent only a couple of days making it, it's a bit ugly and must have some bugs. So be careful with your long-played-games. Anyway, it works for me.
As i play only single player, I have no idea how it'll work in MP.
As I'm using VirtualZombieManager, the zeds are not permanent. If someone could help me making them permanent on the map and/or modifying their stats (except health), that would be very much appreciated
 
Download:
Latest version v0.3 is here.
 
Thanks:
To all modders & devs, I learned a lot from their source code

I still have a strong feeling that in the end some scripting may be necessary. 
 
But ideally, it whould be an organic system. What you do should affect the visibility of your camp. If I've spent three hours chopping trees, I would expect to draw some attention to my area. If I'm shooting near my safe-house, or making a campfire, or barricading, or... you get the point. Also, something that has been mentioned a gazillion times, is the "follow the leader" effect that is mentioned in WWZ and TWD for example: it would be great if zombies would keep on going and following other moving zombies, creating a chain effect that could "lead them" to your base.

Heh, if you ask me, the further I am from those smelly meat grinders, the better

Axes are definitely the best all out melee weapon in the game, and they are hard to acquire and harder to keep maintained, with repairs being a slippery slope that renders an axe useless within about 10 repairs. You can keep repairing it but you have diminishing returns where the amount of wood glue required to fix it a small amount makes it not very worthwhile.
 
What I would like to see, is rebuildable axes.
In real life, the axe handle would deteriorate and get chewed out, but the axe head should remain servicable forever.
 
So if an item were added, maybe just a spawn but with a high enough carpentry skill could be crafted. Axe handles. On their own they could be used as a blunt weapon, and with the addition of an axe head, become an axe. That way when you break an axe, you could either repair the axe as normal if you don't have another handle, or add a new handle which would bring the axe back up to 100% servicability.
 
You could also make the axe head deteriorate or 'blunten' over time, which would reduce damage, and require sharpening using a grindstone (another item, possibly crafted by foraging a rock? or ingame spawn), The higher your blade maintenance skill, the sharper you can make your axe, increasing its damage.
 
I'd love to see this I think it would add another dimension of reality to the game, and make axes even more awesome.

Build 31.11
Fixed infinite batteries from "Remove Battery > All" action. Prevent racking on Hardcore reloading when the left mouse button is held down. (Issue #001524) Fixed scratches from broken windows sometimes not showing bleeding. Remove stitches when scratched by a weapon. Log multiplayer object addition/removal to Logs/*_map.txt to make it easier to catch griefers. Fixed cutting a cooked fish fillet into infinite pieces. (Issue #001541) Don't allow checking/removing fishing net from > 5 tiles away. (Issue #001538) Round LastStand item repair cost up to the nearest integer. (Issue #001539) Fixed player's XP level going up twice when a new level was reached. (Issue #001533) Fixed chat window resize behavior. (Issue #001552) Fixed removing bandage/stitch multiple times by click-spamming. (Issue #001555) Preload some sounds to avoid hitching the first time they are loaded. Food items use the burnt/cooked/rotten texture when on the ground. (Issue #001535) Fixed campfire light radius being wrong when first lit. Added Hook.AutoDrink so modders can disable automatic drinking. Added coop PVP.  Pressing the multiplayer "Toggle Safety" key toggles coop PVP. Build 31.12
Added translations for most of "House In The Woods 2" challenge. Fixed "Trousers" not being translated in character creation. Fixed exception with shirtless Last Stand players. Added server commandline option "-port" which overrides the .ini option "DefaultPort". (Issue #001578) Fixed NullPointException when opening doors when there was no square on the other side. Fixed map corruption in multiplayer caused by reading + writing the same file from different threads. (Issue #001486) Build 31.13
Fixed "House in the Woods 2" font glitch with some languages. Sledgehammer destroys entire staircases instead of one tile at a time. Disallow destroying the floor tile at the top of a staircase.  The floor tile will get destroyed if the stairs are destroyed and the floor tile is not adjacent to other floor tiles. Added translation for "Are you sure you want to delete that player?" in Challenges. Client deletes chunk files it has that the server does not have, this prevents loading obsolete chunk files. The player is moved down to solid floor when joining a server if the thing they were standing on was destroyed while they were logged out. Server performance fix: server creates zip files to send to clients off the main thread. Fixed "Lighting updates" option not selecting the 45 or 60 values after loading. (Issue #001582) /grantadmin and /banuser give more informative message when the user is not in the whitelist. (Issue #001579) Automatically climb down a sheetrope if there is no floor to stand on at the top. Fixed water tiles running out of water. Fixed drinking directly from a tainted-water tile not increasing food poisoning. Fixed being able to sledgehammer sheetropes. Fixed exception with the chat window if the mouse button was never clicked. Fixed equipped flashlight not being unequipped when building Lamp on Pillar. (Issue #001588) Fixed food sometimes not rotting in multiplayer. Made /teleport multiplayer admin command faster. Fixed multiplayer map corruption caused by a static variable being used from different threads. (Issue #001486) Limit the number of blood splats saved.  The client limits the number of splats when rendering, but the server never did.

I figured I would start a thread on this. I posted this video of my wife and I on reddit playing and losing the safe house... My wife obviously can't keep it together in the heat of battle. Enjoy ...
 

Spent the weekend trying to fix the map-corruption bug in multiplayer.  Zeek's server was running for 10 hours today without any "blam" files being created or corrupted chunks, so fingers crossed it is actually fixed.
Added translations for most of "House In The Woods 2" challenge. Fixed "Trousers" not being translated in character creation. Fixed exception with shirtless Last Stand players. Added server commandline option "-port" which overrides the .ini option "DefaultPort". (Issue #001578) Fixed NullPointException when opening doors when there was no square on the other side. Fixed map corruption in multiplayer caused by reading + writing the same file from different threads. (Issue #001486)

But you can't draw zombies that don't exist. And zombies don't exist outside the streamed area. Ie. they have to be spawned.
 
I think it could be a case of:
do action that makes noise/smoke etc. or have a meta event
have a "dice roll" defining the chance of random amount of zombies "hearing" that, perhaps depending on your location
wait
spawn said amount of zombies on the edge of the streamed area and move them in a certain direction depending what caused them to be there.
 
 
This is what I've always imagined should happen with zombie migration:
 
Best case scenario would be if there could be code that'd draw the zombie spawn map according to meta events that happen in that map. I have no idea how cpu intensive that is or would be, but it would be the most realistic choice as well as practical as far as I understand. However I think it'd need a hellish amount of code, way over my understandings... That would result in zombies seemingly moving around the map. But also the problem again would be player built areas... so basically meh.

I would really love some system in place that simulated hordes randomly migrating around  the map. This could be as crude as a system that keeps track of a number n, that is on coordinate x,y and traveling in a certain direction v. Once a horde reaches a coordinate that corresponds with the part of the map that "exists" around the player, the game would spawn a horde of n zombies that travel in direction v in that location This could send the horde on a collision course with you and/or your base, but more likely it would miss it, walk "off" the simulated part of the map and become a set of numbers again. Unless you give them a reason to investigate of course.
 
So when you wake up there could be a massive horde passing by just out of sight, and when you decide to read a book on trapping you will never know, but if you, however, decide to chop you some wood, it will be a very, very bad day a la TWD season 2 finale

I don't know what to say, man. Once you clear out the surrounding area enough, you'll never come under attack because there aren't any zombies close enough to hear/see/smell/have any reason to come looking at all. There are ways to give them reasons to come by (just randomly wandering around, happened to pick up your scent on the breeze and wandered in the direction the breeze was coming from, meta events luring them to the area around you etc.) but few of them are readily visible and most of them would feel, to the player, like a cheap trick to get a horde spawned outside your base. At some point you just gotta suspend your disbelief and go "Hey, it's a zombie game. Zombies do that from time to time. Attacking safe houses and ripping down barricades is their thing."
 
As I said before, I'd be perfectly fine with my base randomly coming under assault by zombies on a semi-regular basis. From the lone zed, to packs of five or six, all the way up to medium sized hordes of two to four dozen, getting a visit from them would surely test my survival skills and base planning. Maybe lower the attack frequency if you're in an isolated area and/or keeping a low sound and sight profile. Maybe raise the frequency if you're in an urban or populated area and you're making lots of noise and/or constantly being seen because you're engaging in an active construction project outside or you just like to run laps around your base. Either way, though, you should still be getting attacked at least occasionally. What's the point of a zombie game if you're not going to be fighting any zombies past the point of self sufficiency?

here is my last... close to the mall
 
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=344874647
 
I'm going minimal lately, as I've spent the winter scavenging and needed small outpost to leave the loot. 

I still have a strong feeling that in the end some scripting may be necessary. 
 
But ideally, it whould be an organic system. What you do should affect the visibility of your camp. If I've spent three hours chopping trees, I would expect to draw some attention to my area. If I'm shooting near my safe-house, or making a campfire, or barricading, or... you get the point. Also, something that has been mentioned a gazillion times, is the "follow the leader" effect that is mentioned in WWZ and TWD for example: it would be great if zombies would keep on going and following other moving zombies, creating a chain effect that could "lead them" to your base.

Hey, I was just adding more to my single player house, and I had a thought. It would be nice if I could right click and saw ALL of the logs in my inventory without having to manually pick each one.
 

Ragequit.

I used to do the suicide run, but I prefer to try and shake it off, keeping fed and resting. On multiplayer servers, I'll jot down a madmans last ravings or drop my journals in places that people can find and read them.

On the exertion topic:
 
I consider myself an active person. I practice sport 4-5 days a week, and while I cannot run a marathon, I am in a relative good shape. 
 
Have a look at what your character is doing and the time spent doing so, and then tell us again why its not realistic. As its right now, even at level zero, our characters are way above the human average. 
 
At the moment you can run for 4-5 hours a day (obviously not straight, with breaks in between). You can kill 30-50 zeds easily. This implies launching around 50-100 axe blows (with intention, aka applying a considerable strenght), and you do this while moving, running, dodging... That's a hell of a workout!
 
Your example of marathon is also a bit unrealistic, since most of the runners who participate in these races need months to recover. The medical consensous about this is that is not healthy to run in more than two marathons every year. The fact that some people run a marathon every week means nothing else that those guys are crazy
 
The game is not by far realistic at the moment. Its being quite nice on the fitness department. I wouldn't want it to be realistic either, as this would indeed tune down the gameplay and make it less fun. However, the previous system just made us brutal killing machines, and that's something that doesn't fit the scenario. 
 
I think we are somewhere in between realism and gamey that works quite well. 

This will be changing . . .

When you least expect it.

I REALLY don't like fire in this game
 
For Zombies... they're zombies... if you try to burn them then you just end up with flaming zombies... an even bigger problem then regular zombies.
 
If burned, a zombie's skin and muscles may get completely charred(and once eating away all the surface flammable material, then proceed to burn itself out), but even that shouldn't kill them, only destroying, a technically brain dead, reanimated brain works.
 
If fire starts in a closed room, then the smoke and fire should -- eventually -- use up all the oxygen and smother itself out. Eating through a wall seems extremely unlikely
 
 
And don't even get me started on fire burning on bricks, snow, and even snow

** Tested on build 30.16, NOT backwards compatible with build 29 **
 
I play games like Project Zomboid because I like the semi-realistic scenario and challenges to survive. No other mod has given me the realism I've wanted when it comes to food preservation and most specifically, canning. Ultimately, for a game that strikes to immerse the player into the game world, canning food for prolonged preservation shouldn't be as easy as simply putting food in a jar and sealing it. So I decided to make this mod to enhance my own gameplay and that of those that seek more realism from food preservation.
This mod adds new mechanisms so that survival still remains challenging and food preservation doesn't become a thought of the past. The implementation of everything you can can is based off real life canning. Each canning option closely resembles how that food item would be canned in real life; skipping a few steps and/or details here and there to keep things fun and not overly complicated.
 
___________________
CURRENT FEATURES
___________________
Pickling Canning Options: Pickles, Broccoli, Cabbage, Leek, Carrots, Bell Pepper, Radish. Open Kettle Canning Options: Strawberry Jam. Water Bath Canning Options: Strawberry Jam. Pressure Canning Options: Rabbit, Rodent (Rat, Mouse, Squirrel), Bird, Fish(All types except bait fish). Extend your food's lifespan with the Pickling Method. The simplest and fastest way to get into canning. Simply cook up some brine, have your vegetables ready and put it all in a jar, seal it, and you're all done! The food might taste a little salty though, but hey now your food will gain a preservation span of 7 days. Extend your food's lifespan with the Open Kettle Method. You can cook and prepare the food that you wish to can in a kettle, pour it in a jar, seal, and that's it! Food processed this way will gain a preservation span of 15 days. Extend your food's lifespan by using the Water Bath Method.You can cook and prepare the food that you wish to can in a regular pot, pour it in a jar, seal, and then place up to 5 sealed jars in a water bath canner to get a tight seal. Food processed this way will gain a preservation span of 30 days. Extend your food's lifespan with the Pressure Canning Method. You can cook and prepare the food that you wish to can in a regular pot, pour it in a jar, seal, and then place up to 5 sealed jars in a pressure canner to get a tight seal and make sure the food is fully cooked. Food processed this way will gain a preservation span of 60 days. Inspect your canned food to see how many more days left it has until it spoils.  
Download 
[HERE]
How to install:
 
 
GUIDE
- Instructions / Recipes for Canning 101 -

 
 
Changelog:

 
 
TEST THE MOD: if you'd like to see how the mod works without having to collect everything and test it out; press the 'HOME' key to enable the testing feature, instructions will appear in your console that runs along with Project Zomboid. Press the 'END' key if the instructions don't show up after pressing the 'home' key. Keep in mind each time you spawn a set of items for testing the testing feature is disabled. This is as to avoid having you accidentally spawn items without wanting to do so.
P.S: There might be an error where you press HOME and then another key to spawn items and won't work; try about 3 times and it should work.
 
 
Q&A:
I would love to get some feedback on this mod. if you have any questions, comments, suggestions,...etc. Go ahead and post . Also if you think the mod is too complicated or challenging, let me know how you would scale it down to make it more fun.