Aniketos

The process for installing the dedicated server on either platform is very similar. "The server won't let me connect to it" is a very vague description of the issue you are experiencing - add the symptoms that indicate why you're unable to connect, including any errors output to the game client, the game client's console, and whatever the server console records regarding the connection. You only need one Steam account to play on your server. You should have installed the game via SteamCMD using the "anonymous" user, as detailed in the server setup guide.

Thanks for reporting back with some pointers

You may want to give the aptly named Linux Game Server Managers a shot.

It's an interesting idea! I answered your .bat/debug flag question here. The specific weapon property you'll be wanting to play with is MinAngle which (expressed as a decimal) appears to reflect the percentage of the character's rotation that the weapon cannot hit. For illustrative purposes, you can use the following equation to convert to the angle of the arc (in degrees) which the game will select targets within (note this is just something I came up with through observation - I haven't actually read through the game's actual implementation): TargetAngle° = ( 1 - weapon.MinAngle ) * 360So, for instance, the shotgun has a MinAngle of 0.75: ShotgunTargetAngle° = ( 1 - 0.75 ) * 360 = 90Therefore the shotgun can hit/will select targets in a 90° arc centered at the front of the character. So, to decrease the angle of the target arc, you increase the weapon's MinAngle. A MinAngle of .97 would reduce a weapon's target angle to 10.8°. Two other seemingly relevant properties that may need modifying: AimingPerkMinAngleModifier - this describes how MinAngle is decreased based on a character's aiming skill.AngleFalloff - no clue, but sounds like it could be important given the small angles you'll be working with Ultimately, you may also need to adjust hit-chance and crit-chance properties to achieve a balanced effect. Weapon properties are defined in the file ProjectZomboid/media/scripts/items.txt - though you could also adjust these properties on-the-fly with LUA. You might also want to adjust the weapon modifiers listed in ProjectZomboid/media/scripts/newitems.txt as they will likely produce some unintended results with the modified weapons.

This seems useful but then again there are 100s of bat files. Can you be more specific? There are 7 .bat files. The two RCON .bat files are used to send server commands remotely (and are tucked away in a sub-directory, anyway). The other 5 are all pretty self-descriptive: ProjectZomboid64 - Launcher.bat - executes the game launcher.ProjectZomboid - Translation Debug.bat - starts the game with features to aid string translation.ProjectZomboidServer.bat - starts the packaged server.ProjectZomboid32.bat - starts the game with support for 32-bit architectures.ProjectZomboid64.bat - starts the game with support for 64-bit architectures.-Ddebug is a run-time flag - add it to the other flags in the .bat file you will use to start the game (i.e. ProjectZomboid64.bat or ProjectZomboid32.bat). Alternately, if you are using Steam, right click Project Zomboid in your library, open the Properties panel, click the "Set Launch Options" button, and the flag there. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but in build 32 you additionally had to press and hold the left shift key as soon as the game console appeared until the main menu rendered in order to boot the game into debug mode.

I don't think the targeting system was designed with assault-rifles in mind, as it will continuously select new targets and wreck everything... Though I'd argue that that's an issue with the mods that add such weapons rather than the targeting system itself. A near-term compromise could be to reduce the hit-chance of such weapons and cap it well below 1.0 - it wouldn't be a reflection of real-life by any means, but it would compensate for spray-to-win by increasing ammo consumption, somewhat... [...] Guns don't aim properly and you can't have skill with it. It's all based on your character's traits, levels, current moodles and whether or not the game wants to let you hit each shot.. So you have a situation where your gun takes 1 - 5 shots to kill, while attracting 1 - 50+ zombies per shot. In this game, guns are a useless piece of junk... That is entirely the point of a roleplaying game, is it not? It seems entirely rational to me that your performance with a firearm is determined by your character's abilities and status. PZ is not intended to be an action/shooter game, it would seem counter-intuitive to base the majority of gameplay on your character's skills and experience and then assert "but firearm performance is based on how well you personally handle your keyboard and mouse." "Whether or not the game wants to let you hit each shot" is directly representative of your character's ability to handle firearms, and the RNG accounts for real-world variables that aren't programmed into the game (wind direction, firing into sunlight/other visual obstructions, the variance between firing a cold weapon vs. one that has unloaded several rounds, etc.). Ultimately, there is skill involved that is delegated to player responsibility - it's not direct weapon handling, but rather in weapon selection and application (like many other elements of RPG games). Don't expect to rack up kills with a hunting rifle if your character's background dictates they're entirely inexperienced with firearms. If you have a situation where your gun takes 1 - 5 shots to kill while attracting 1 - 50+ zombies per shot, you failed to apply the requisite player skill by choosing a bad weapon for your character's skill level, and then again by discharging that firearm in such a dire situation (though attracting 1 - 50+ zombies per shot can also be a massive advantage and aide you many times more than actually killing any zombie would, if applied skillfully). I think this would ruin the RPG vibe. Maybe not at higher firearm skill-levels, but there's no way a character who just picked up their first firearm yesterday could accurately assess their chances of hitting a target. In striving to maintain the roleplaying aspect of PZ, you could apply a percentage RNG to the estimated hit chance, perhaps, and increase the accuracy of the hit-chance estimate as character skill improves... but otherwise I feel it would convey information that your character couldn't possibly "know". I don't see how this is any different from the current system - if you place your cursor on a zombie you are aiming at it. Doesn't mean you'll hit it, but you're firing in it's direction. This already works for every firearm at every distance... Of course, they always miss if you're firing a weapon beyond it's maximum distance - but how would someone picking up a shotgun for the first time know the maximum distance of a weapon through anything other than trial and error or book-knowledge? If anyone wants to quickly gain knowledge about which weapon to use in what circumstance without all the trial and error, do this, for now - it gives you a nice visualization of weapon range and arc as it corresponds to your character's current skill level, so you can also visualize how they change as a character's skills improve. It also has a nice target-selection visualization; in my experience closer targets within the weapon's min/max range span seem to take priority over more distant ones or those outside of it. You can also read the weapon definitions, which will additionally give you an idea of relative hit chances and how they improve with skill gains, which is probably the primary statistic for selecting an appropriate weapon. I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be an easier way to absorb this knowledge, but in my mind trial and error seems sufficient - just as trial and error tends to be the primary way you would familiarize yourself with weapons and appropriate selection in action/shooter games like CoD. Given that the debugging UI provides such visualizations and weapon data is readily available in the LUA, I can't imagine it would be terribly difficult to add such visualization data displays by way of mod!

In general, most servers do a "hard-reset" or "hard-wipe" every so often that restores the entire map to it's original state. Not at all trying to dissuade you from starting your own server if you feel so inclined, of course

No need to be rude, man, or subject our community to blanket assertions KOS is permitted (so arguing against KOSers tends to be a fruitless debate), but it is most certainly not "the rules to KOS people". Nor is it a rule that KOSers must lay down their arms when someone complains. The vast majority of players don't KOS, regardless of your experience. I and many of our players don't enjoy PvP either - rather I tend to find it quite stressful and do what I can to avoid it - but I do believe it adds a lot to the game. I never claimed that you would be a murdering bandit in a real apocalypse, nor anyone else - I only meant to imply that it's probable they would exist, as virtually all related lore and media tends to support. I find our server interesting because it strikes what I perceive as a good balance between play-styles - we are neither a constant deathmatch nor farmville-esque (though motivated players seem to be able to secure either of those extreme experiences nonetheless). It is, in my eyes, what the PZ experience should be. I'm not at all claiming that you or anyone else must agree with my notion of the ideal experience - on the contrary, I'm glad you found a server that offers the experience that you were after - that is why we're all here, in the end! Cheers and game on, Striker. ADDENDUM: You've added some more, since my reply: We most certainly do appreciate honest feedback! I was only frustrated by the formatting of your opinions as undisputed truth. The parts that perturbed me were "it's in the rules to KOS" (whether said by you or another player), "everyone there just shoots on sight" and "eventually with free range KOS it always ends up kill or be killed" - those are "all-or-nothing" blanket assertions that simply are not true, as evidenced by the facts that's it's not in the rules to KOS, everyone on our server most certainly does not shoot on sight, and all servers who permit KOS definitely do not eventually devolve into strictly "kill or be killed" death-matches. I've been with Zeek's for 6 months and never found inspiration to consider it such a thing, and would wager that our regulars who have been with us just as long would not think to, either. Clearly your experience in those few days was different - I don't dispute that - but I do dispute your choice of phrasing. While I felt the blanket assertions were generally unfair, the explicitly rude bit in my eyes was "so good luck with your killfest server i have moved on to better things." - that was neither feedback nor constructive in any way. Rather more an insult, in my eyes - you called our community names and imply it is bad instead of simply saying "it was not what I was looking for," as you returned later to imply with your edit. "i think this server is a lost cause if you want to actually play with other players" - I provided you with the means to see that our server was not quite as you describe it in my last post - and how I saw you respond was "I don't care, your server and everyone on it sucks." It was kind of hard not to take offense. Ultimately it's all water under-the-bridge . But I implore you to keep these things in mind next time you leave some feedback on a server/community - the admins and members would undoubtedly appreciate it.

I'm sorry you've had such an unfortunate experience, Striker! But I assure you not everyone's is the same. Many non-"sociopathic murders" play together just fine on our server, and actually have always seemed to be the majority by a large margin - there are almost always a few groups of 2-6 players, and sometimes even larger. Most of them don't tend to run bravely through the city without backup, though - they stay cautious, and tend to build their bases and safe-houses in nondescript locations. I myself played a character I kept alive for somewhere between 30 and 50 hours of game-time. Gradually meeting strangers, he lived in a community that grew to a fairly robust size of 10 or 11 players, before it collapsed in on itself for becoming unmanageable. We formed relationships with other factions, some fairly tightly knit, others uncertain enough that we would not disclose the location of our bases to eachother - and trading was a daily activity. In all that time, I only encountered 5 true KOS bandits (not counting whatever those players are who chase everyone with a rolling pin - I don't know what to call them, but they hardly seem dangerous), but had scuffles with but 2 - I managed to kill both, but trusted the second a little too much and bled out. Sure, I had a profound sense of loss, for an hour or so - but it's all a part of the game, in my eyes. The game would have been much less interesting had I not become so attached to that character, and handled him so carefully as I did. I think it would be a bummer to place a blanket-ban on KOS behavior because I think it brings a needed element of danger to the server. It is most certainly a manageable threat - just take it slow! I implore you to give us another run, sometime. Westpoint is kind of renown for hosting a larger concentration of apocalyptic scum, and is the home of a number of resident bandits. So stick around Muldraugh to start with. bandits wander over sometimes, but they're far less common. Keep a low profile - stick to the shadows, set up camp outside of the city. Watch global chat and take note of who's killing who to get an idea of anyone you need be weary of should they appear on your screen. If you want to group up with people, you can ask in global - but keep in mind that you're essentially communicating over an open radio channel - bandits may try to lure you to your demise, and friendlies are often hesitant to disclose their location; just as one might imagine would occur in a real apocalypse. If you want to get started with a group, give a shout out over at our forums - there are usually a couple openly recruiting, and you can get a feel for their members and mitigate the risk of falling in with players intending you harm. If not, drop a message saying you'd like to find some people to play with either as a post or in the shoutbox - most people seem to get hits and invitations within a day or two. You might be kind of surprised to hear that the well-known bandits don't tend to be treated any differently than anyone else in our community. Interacting with them in the forums, it's quite clear that they're not "sociopathic murderers" at all - they're normal players all the same, and it's largely accepted that they just prefer to play bandit-like characters. On multiple occasions I've seen a bandit react to a heavily disgruntled victim by choosing to lay off them and offering them loot in their next life - in a couple instances I've seen them offer to take the peeved player into their own base and give them a safe haven to build their skills, and offer game-tips and advice all the while. Maybe KOSers enjoy annoying players, maybe they do it for a competitive kill-count - but I think it's pretty rare that they're out with the explicit intent to ruin someone's day!

Nope - vanilla slash-commands only support awarding skill XP. However it's entirely possible with LUA, so such a command/feature could be added via mod.

If it does prove to be something that you can't modify using LUA, it may still be possible with some creativity... Say, an invisible, weightless container item in the player's inventory (or perhaps referenced only in the player's modData?) along with an associated clothing item that has the invisible container's contents' weight attributed to it. When the clothing item is equipped, equip the container as well, and adjust the clothing item's weight to reflect the container's weight reduction factor. When the clothing item is removed, unequip the container and update the clothing item to remove the weight reduction factor adjustment. Of course, you'd have to adjust the clothing item's weight every time items are moved in and out of the invisible container, as well. I'm not sure if this exact approach is plausible, just giving an example of a creative solution

We've been throwing around a similar idea over at Zeek's Haven. I think it could work really in multiplayer as a series of admin-backed events. The ideas in that thread were created before mods were a viable option for servers - I'm sure mods could do a lot to improve the experience for both players as well as admins. In any scenario, physical utilities structures could be a neat addition - though certainly in the context of single-player and NPCs, I agree it should be ridiculously difficult to restart disabled utilities, likely requiring an/multiple engineers as well as a non-trivial amount of time.

DNS is the protocol and infrastructure that maps domain names to IP addresses. Dynamic DNS is a method of automatically updating the IP address that a domain points to as needed. So a dynamic DNS service will provide you with a domain name and potentially a piece of software to run on your computer, then make sure that that domain name always points to your network, even if your IP address changes. Instead of giving players an IP address to connect to, they will enter the domain name in the IP field.

I too disagree with this. Maybe an option to allow server admins to more easily specify a playable region for their server - but limiting the actual default map would be a bummer. The decision to use a smaller map should rest solely in the hands of the server-operator, as it already does - even mods remaining the only way to choose a smaller map seems an acceptable compromise, and will no doubt become a smoother process with more options in time. In my eyes Project Zomboid has a strong edge over the vast majority of other early access games I have played, in that the Project Zomboid engine has more depth and detail and flexibility than most games offer. Even at this early juncture it seems entirely plausible to create ridiculously disparate games with mods... I believe that when 1.0 hits, the promise of stability will see an insurgence of new creations, and the PZ ranks will swell with players who come for the release, but stick around for the large variety of experiences offered by the game and community - I should imagine we'll see a few that have nothing to do with zombies, even.

Well... given that your console reports a connectivity error, I'd say it's worth making doubly-sure you do in fact have a direct internet connection, as a such a thing is exceedingly uncommon these days. Bring up the command prompt: hit Windows Key + R, type "cmd.exe" and hit Enter. On the command line, enter "ipconfig" and hit Enter once more. Look for entries regarding ethernet adapters - usually denoted by Ethernet, LAN, or ethX (where "X" is a number). Look for any that list a Default Gateway address - what are the first two octals (the period-delimited numbers from 0 to 255) of those Default Gateway IPs, as well as the first two octals of IPv4 Addresses associated with those adapters?

I've made good progress towards that end this weekend. I'm trying to solve the problem with a Node.js server, a couple shell daemons, and the RCON client packaged with PZ. Powershell 2 scripts for Windows servers, and Bash for *NIX-based servers. I think I should have something to show in about 10 days or so is there a steam-web-api for the workshop, to check if a mod updated ? had the same idea, but i can't find the API-GET parameter for Workshop when you use nodeJS , then you don't need the rcon package from client. https://github.com/randunel/node-srcds-rcon https://github.com/pushrax/node-rcon alternative with PHP https://github.com/xPaw/PHP-Source-Query It's actually a POST request to the ISteamRemoteStorage/GetPublishedFileDetails method, strange as that might seem. I've designed my solution for ease of use, with no additional installations or API registrations and minimum configuration required. Neither Node.js nor PHP will be required on the game-server's machine... I'm inclined to use the PZ Java RCON client through the loopback adapter as it is portable, platform independent, designed to work with PZ, and requires no additional dependencies beyond those which it is packaged with. More details when I share the thing

I've made good progress towards that end this weekend. I'm trying to solve the problem with a Node.js server, a couple shell daemons, and the RCON client packaged with PZ. Powershell 2 scripts for Windows servers, and Bash for *NIX-based servers. I think I should have something to show in about 10 days or so

I'm working on Bash and Powershell scripts to locally automate some administrative tasks for the Project Zomboid dedicated server using the RCON service in the interest of platform-independence. Instead of writing my own platform-independent RCON client or borrowing another, I would be like to use the one packaged with Project Zomboid proper (zombie.rcon.Main) - but as of build 33.20 the RCON client does not seem to be distributed with the dedicated server. Would it be possible to distribute this client with the dedicated server? I think this would be a sensible decision, since the RCON client provides the most direct means to achieve programmatic server administration. If not, is it permissible for me to distribute the client along with my shell scripts? I think the Ts and Cs would allow it, but wanted to double-check. Admittedly, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to roll my own - but It'd be cool to not reinvent the wheel. Especially if TIS is already maintaining a client that's pretty much guaranteed to remain compatible with the game

It's beautiful, maaaaaaaaan! I like the style of the page - clean, direct, very readable. Pragmatic, as a code reference should be. My only suggestions would be to alphabetize the events and perhaps use the true Java class name for all of the callback parameter types (i.e. "IsoPlayer" instead of "Player", etc.) Thanks for the work you put into this =]

There is another plausible solution I've been considering for a while, but I haven't had the time get real serious about it, yet. I believe it's entirely manageable, though. I understand that the PZ Steam server updates workshop mods while starting up, so a solution could be to check a server's workshop items for updates periodically and restart the server on changes. This could be implemented using shell scripts (or a small application) that parses the server's configuration file and creates a list of Workshop IDs. Then at intervals, either by sleeping or a scheduled task/cron-job, it can test those IDs against the ISteamRemoteStorage/GetPublishedFileDetails method of the Steam Web API to retrieve the details for every relevant mod in a single request. For illustration, querying Hydrocraft's Workshop ID produces the following details: "publishedfileid": "498441420","result": 1,"creator": "76561198030783658","creator_app_id": 108600,"consumer_app_id": 108600,"filename": "","file_size": 11927128,"file_url": "","hcontent_file": "8159595350093461476","preview_url": "http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/431570695393475814/131E2D763E58760CFCDF915DD2CD5FEA2C40AE24/","hcontent_preview": "431570695393475814","title": "Hydrocraft","description": "Hydrocraft is a mod based around crafting and filling in the empty world of zomboid with more stuff. It is inspired by survival crafting games like Haven and Hearth. It is very much a WIP and will be tweaked and added onto. Please try it out and let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions/ideas.\n\nFor more details go here ...\n\nhttp://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/11557-hydrocraft-mod/","time_created": 1439367179,"time_updated": 1443769385,"visibility": 0,"banned": 0,"ban_reason": "","subscriptions": 8690,"favorited": 233,"lifetime_subscriptions": 9039,"lifetime_favorited": 237,"views": 17349,"tags": [ { "tag": "Mod" }]The shell scripts/application would record the "time_updated" field, and when it differs from the previous record, send commands to the server console or RCON to warn users that the server's about to go down for an update, then shut it down safely and reboot it. This method does require an API key, though - so as per the API ToS each server would either have to acquire it's own API key, or a Steam API proxy server could be created to host a map of Workshop IDs/update timestamps for everyone. I'm hoping to start playing with the idea this coming week, if time allows.

In two months of operation, we've accrued 275 members and 1,936 posts on our forums (that averages to more than 4 new members and 30 posts per day) - clearly some fraction significantly greater than 1% of our player-base uses the platform. We desire and actively ask for our player-base to help us improve upon the community experience - this is why the community forums exist in the first place! We will not argue with you regarding the merits of your rudely-phrased opinions and hyperbolic arguments when the rest of the community is already having a civil discussion about the same topics elsewhere. If you don't want to use our forums, then don't, but your thoughts would have had a lot more weight in the designated section of the official, advertised Zeek's Haven community forums (where our players are actually already going to discuss the settings and systems of our forums and servers) rather than this meta-thread in the PZ Multiplayer Server List (where I feel people mostly come just to find reviews and general details of the server - and most of our members will never see it), never mind your profanity-strewn in-game assertions (which never actually influenced anyone). Instead of sharing with us what you don't like about our "crappy forums" and how you think they might be improved, you've chosen to constantly denounce and insult them both in-game, and here. If you're not going to be heard where it matters and you're not willing to actually discuss your suggestions with others, why bother being vocal at all? I think you're not interested in being constructive at all, but rather destructive. You've clearly made an effort to flaunt that you're subverting your ban (again). To do what - needlessly agitate us? You've spent a lot of time really driving home exactly how much you despise our server, our staff, and our community - yet you are evidently insistent on returning. As stated before - you can appeal your ban if you wish to return to Zeek's. However, we're nowhere so inclined welcome you back when you refuse to appeal, subvert your ban, and then post here to little more than troll and provoke us. You are the only person I've heard actually complain about us having forums, for which you've never actually provided us any feedback whatsoever - all I've ever heard you say is that they're garbage. I have no idea why you're so ridiculously insistent that no one uses them, either.. really hard to say when you haven't logged in since May, I would think. If people choose not to use the forums, that is by all means their right, and we won't hold it against them - but since we are a public server, with forums offering public membership - there is no unfair advantage for any part of our player-base. The server is a part of the community, and the community is a part of the server - restricting yourself to the game or the forums alone is to only experience a fraction of what is Zeek's Haven. Choosing not to participate in the forums will prevent you from using some of our community's features like our currency, group forums, and polls and discussions. But in a game that's impossible to "win," I think it's hard to call any of these things an "unfair advantage" - and you will almost certainly still experience the full multiplayer Project Zomboid extravaganza as it's intended - but everyone is welcome to join the forums and enjoy and help us build and improve upon the features we are striving to enrich our server and community with. If you really think the forum members have an unfair advantage, spend two minutes registering an account on our forums - problem solved! We wish we could change that so that even those who choose not to engage the forums could enjoy our economy, have access to all the static content and engage in large-scale discussions in a meaningful, lasting manner in-game, but it simply isn't possible - we're doing the best we can with what we have. In-game economies remain susceptible to hacker abuse as our server has witnessed, and live chat is not suited to share lore, guides, list the current server settings, link to map locations, provide full descriptions of events, share suggestions for and feedback on settings and systems, etc. etc. etc... If you don't like the way the server operates and are unwilling to vie for change where it actually matters - the obvious solution is to stop interacting with the server. Despite constantly emphasizing it to be dirt, and asserting that it's populated and administered by people that you've made it abundantly clear that you despise, you keep coming back. You'd think if you enjoyed a server enough to keep sneaking past bans and regularly appearing to rudely make suggestions on how it functions that you could be bothered to show a little respect for the people who make it possible - but why start now, right? If a restaurant consistently serves you a dish that you absolutely despise regardless of what you order, would you also refuse to talk to the manager and continue visiting the establishment just to spite yourself? Would you hang around the front door day after day to publicly slander the outlet and it's employees before walking in to place your order? We're trying to offer you a service - free of charge, and largely malleable to fit our community's desires. Is it really necessary to spit in our face at every little turn? A Personal Note Nothing more need be said. I hope you find a community you truly enjoy - because as far as anyone can tell, for the many tens of hours you've spent on our server (I'm thinking close to, if not greater than 100 hours) you haven't enjoyed a single minute of it. Goodbye, Suede.

The majority of voiced opinions has been to the opposite - our player-base has enjoyed the experiment, and many people reversed their previously negative opinions. If you would like changes to the way we operate the server to be made, rejoin the forums, state your opinion in the proper channels, and bolster community support for your proposal. If it seems like something that a considerable representation of the community is interested in, there's a good chance that we'll make the change, or at least trial it - the utilities experiment was initiated by a majority opinion rising out of a community-made poll and discussion, after all. In this particular instance - there is already a poll and a discussion on the topic of re-enabling the utilities, which currently rests at more than 80% against ending the experiment. There are also two additional proposals for ways in which the utilities' states would toggle dynamically. All of this has been facilitated by our "crappy forum." Alternately, if you still would like us to ignore our player base and make all of our decisions based on your whims, it may be time to host your own server! Or join one of the many others that already uses the settings you seek. We will not modify our server's experience to suite any single player (particularly one who consistently berates and insults the server, community, and administration team) - but we will engage in discussions regarding the merits and plausible outcomes of changes. You can persuade the administration team with empathy, community support, and grounded arguments, but dishing orders and insults and making demands will get you nowhere.

"Didn't work" still isn't a description of a problem - it's hard to offer help when we have no idea what what you're experiencing. Try to eliminate generalizations and be as specific as possible.

Could you describe your situation beyond "nothing works?" What were you trying to do? What are the symptoms of a problem? Why do you think you need to "reset [the] world" - and what do you mean by that?