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AceFromSpace

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  1. I am not sure to which dev I should come with this suggestion but here goes: 517. Add Foraging to some "forgotten" areas. For example I always loved the area of "Lake Village" but found it hard to play there since I have to rely on foraging for many things but the area is not configured for such a thing. Today, I went there with my sister (we play in MP) to show her the place only to find out that the Foraging had yet to be added. Now I will not be so picky as to demand every piece of deep forest to work with Foraging immediately, but a few areas like "Lake Village" which are interesting to explore and were introduced ages ago should probably be survival-ready. On that note: 518. Adding a fridge in any house in Lake Village (and I suppose in many other "cabins in the woods") will make the fridge work. Are we sure we want electricity from the grid in such abandoned areas? Seems a bit anti-thematic. Attaching relevant image of the place for your reference. General location: Eastern of the "Trailer Area" (the one between MD and WP). Or wait, if WP is West then it is North. Oh whatever...
  2. I can confirm the above statement. Turning on lights on a house and then leaving the area will have you find the lights turned off when you come back. Almost creepy, if I didn't know I was the only survivor left I would be freaked out I also played at West Point, and this happened on the House by the Lake, so if it is just an area bug, it covers the entire West Point at least. Additionally, is there a chance that sheets/curtains don't work as intended when you turn on the lights? I have not played yet as much in 38.4 but an incident like this occured once. It could be a coincidence so I am just checking up with everyone before I dare call it a bug.
  3. From what I see all types of sheds seem to glitch. I got another one on coords: 11117,6708,0 on West Point. Will keep updating on any new findings.
  4. Well the original idea was to be able to select the initial value (Abundant, Rare, Extremely Rare etc.) like it is now, and then also select the timeframe during which supplies will be decreased to a minimum value (be it 0 or just something below extremely rare), f.e. Abundant to Extremely Rare over 2 months. That would enable players to simulate each scenario according to their needs. Now if that is not an option, I would start on Normal on Initial Infection and go up to Extremely Rare over 1 Month. After that, I would just mess with the ratio of completely empty houses vs houses with Extremely Rare loot in. But that is just a personal preference that other people might not like. The standard formula for this should be an input of Initial Value, Minimum Value, Decrease Period, and after the decrease period a standard reduction pace for the ratio of empty/with loot places. The spawn ratio of Annotated Maps should go upwards in reverse, while the loot of Survivor's Houses should remain on Initial Value or even see a periodical increase. Unfortunately I am not a modder but anyone else that might want to try and work their magic, I will be happy to help in any way I can.
  5. That is exactly why I proposed the counter-measure of Annotated Maps and hidden stashes. The loot does not vanish, you simply search for it in other places from where it used to be early in the game. This suggestion is not intended to make a player's life miserable, just to add a little more diversity in gameplay. On a side note, two months in the apocalypse, I believe most players would hardly rely on looting anymore, they would already have a stable base of operations, all the needed tools, and their food and water supply guaranteed. However, for a scenario situation (e.g. 6 months in) I can see it being frustrating and increasing difficulty, so that is where Hidden Stashes come in handy. Yes gameplay could be a bit harder because you have to fight your way into good looting, but then again, you chose to play further in the apocalypse without a hideout, tools, food etc. It is supposed to be harder anyway. Thank you both for your hard work on investigating this situation. Any other ways you can think of that this suggestion could not be achievable? If not, what does it take to convince a dev to give it a shot?
  6. That is exactly why I proposed the counter-measure of Annotated Maps and hidden stashes. The loot does not vanish, you simply search for it in other places from where it used to be early in the game. This suggestion is not intended to make a player's life miserable, just to add a little more diversity in gameplay. On a side note, two months in the apocalypse, I believe most players would hardly rely on looting anymore, they would already have a stable base of operations, all the needed tools, and their food and water supply guaranteed. However, for a scenario situation (e.g. 6 months in) I can see it being frustrating and increasing difficulty, so that is where Hidden Stashes come in handy. Yes gameplay could be a bit harder because you have to fight your way into good looting, but then again, you chose to play further in the apocalypse without a hideout, tools, food etc. It is supposed to be harder anyway.
  7. Just did, was surprised with how many ideas the community has suggested for the next build. That could easily be an option. I feel your pain because I have walked miles upon miles just to try and find a sledgehammer as it is. But maybe on the other hand, a sledgehammer (or an axe, or any vital tool for the matter) might become easier to find by following Annotated Maps, instead of just trying to breach half-empty warehouses. Why search for it when you can steal it?
  8. 447. Attaching the following after encouragement from another member:
  9. Transfering the idea I posted in the Vehicle Test Build, since it was not all that related to vehicles anyway, and could be a standalone feature. How about a game engine that manipulates Loot Rarity depending on how far in the apocalypse you are. Realistically speaking, the more days that pass in the apocalypse, the more the chanses other survivors will loot some places before you, thus making loot more rare. So what I propose, is a function that takes into account the amount of days you are in the apocalypse, and decrease the ammount of loot in places you have not recently visited (So your base stays intact, but other lootable places would have their resources decreased, even places you have visited before and decided not to empty them). Additionally, this could work in reverse with the spawn ratio of Annotated Maps (more survivors gather supplies on their bases, so the loot can now be found there instead of e.g. a Hardware Store), which could also force players into more zombie killing action instead of just avoiding fights. I believe it would add a lot of realism to the game, provide players with a new challenge, and also make them feel survivors are actually there in the apocalypse, without actual Survivors being added to the game yet (despite meta events serving the same purpose, sometimes I cannot shake the feeling that I am all alone in a vast map in Single Player, and it is sometimes a horryfying feeling) It would simply serve as a Sandbox option (an extension of Loot Rarity), where you could choose the initial loot rarity and if you want it reduced by this engine, and even to what amount and over how many days you would want it reduced. Additionally, it seems relatively easy to implement, unless all Loot is decided on the map upon game creation, that would make this a lot harder and could (possibly) requite a full redesigning of the Loot Spawning Engine. Bonus feature: When Survivors are actually in the game, we could make the chances of them raiding your base for supplies higher as days go by (because their supplies are running out ) Awaiting your thoughts on this.
  10. Wow, talk about a new challenge. Meeting large hordes of Zombies would probably mean your certain doom, as maneuvering would get very hard. Please try and find a way for this mod to work without replacing files so it can be toggled on/off easily. Not that I complain, switching back and forth is a relatively easy task, but I know many people like me (that get anxious when messing with game files) would appreciate it. For some reason, I imagined a guy in the middle of the street, running on a gym treadmill and zombies getting away from him. Now that would be clearing streets in style
  11. @steiger No offence taken on my part, as reading through that quoted part of my post again made me realise that my poor choice of words made it sound completely different from what I originally intended (me being a bragging child instead of making a point/suggestion about a new feature of PZ). As a matter or fact, I hope I did not offend you or any other user of this forum, and I ask that you give me a chance to redeem myself by doing it right this time. To begin with, it was my mistake to try and refer to the whole process of stealing gas as "easy/hard". What I meant to say is that it is not (at least where I come from) "common knowledge". Both in real life and PZ, there are a few things that are considered as common knowledge. Everyone knows (or at least can assume) that boiling vegetables in a pot of water will give you a soup without having any cooking skill, or that hitting a nail with a hammer on a plank allows you to barricade, even if you are not a carpenter. Those are things that can be easily figured out by anyone, and that is why PZ allows you to do them without any particular skill. My intended suggestion was that "stealing gas" should not be considered "common knowledge", as a responce to those who believe that having an abundance of gas through cars could be bad for the game. To be honest you are absolutely right that the process of "stealing gas" is an easy and rather simple one, but allow me to elaborate a bit on how not making it "common knowledge" has some realism into it. It could be because we come from different parts of the globe, but from where I am from, a vast majority of people do not know how to perform this process. Not because it is hard, but because they never needed to have this knowledge. I would assume that the people you refer to, were actually taught this process by somebody else, or simply searched the internet for a tutorial, but only because they needed to actually use this knowledge (or in our case, simply being fans of the whole apocalyptic background). That is what made me believe that the average survivor in Knox County would not necessarily know how to do it and it could justify limiting this knowledge to specific professions/traits. Now, lets say we do not consider this process a "common knowledge" (at least in PZ). I think you would agree that realism demands this process to be achievable by two categories of people: 1) Those who knew the process already, because they were taught by either another person or the internet (the people you refered to) and 2) Those who had a knowledge of the basic principals behind the process, which would allow them to figure the process out. What I originally meant to say (which made me sound like bragging) is that (almost) being an engineer, I feel pretty confident I could figure the process out if needed, without any previous knowledge of it, which led me to my suggestion of the Engineer profession being one of those falling under the second category. To propose a different example, the ablity to "hot-wire" a car in PZ could be achievable by two professions: 1. The Burglar, because they would have the knowledge of the process, as it is a part of their "job" and 2. The Electrician, as they would have enough theoretical background to figure the process out of needed. Additionally, if you specifically look at the Engineer profession in PZ, it seems that the developers also share the same ideas. Being an Engineer in PZ allows you to make bombs and ways to detonate them. This is not because engineers in real life already know how to make bombs (although if such a class existed in universities it would be... interesting to say the least), but rather because their background of knowledge in physics and chemistry allows them to figure the process out. To return to my suggestion about "stealing gas", what I meant to say was that I believe the process should be made available to the Engineer profession (which falls in the category of background knowledge), and to anyone who read the appropriate magazine (which covers the category of directly learning the process, in lack an appropriate profession/trait/hobby in the character creation, as the Burglar does not feel right for this one). To sum up my thoughts, I never intended to say that "stealing gas" was a process for the people intelligent enough, all I meant to say was that if for any reason PZ would be hurt by the abundance of gasoline in all those abandoned cars, the devs could limit the process of "stealing gas" to a single profession and a corresponding magazine and the game still feel realistic. I hope I did better this time, again sorry for any offence I caused. Keep up the good work!
  12. Hey there guys, amazing work on the feedback and the productive discussions so far. Before I start I sjould inform you that I have not yet tried the Vehicle Test Build but I follow your discussion daily trying to stay updated on this amazing new feature. Without any apparent coherence, let me share a few thoughts with you. Apologies in beforehand for a possibly long text. 1. On the noise of cars: One thing we should always keep in mind is that a modern city suffers from "noise pollution". Be it cars, electricity, talking, or any kind of sound you commonly find in urban areas, even the slightest sound can travel in a very far distance because of the air. The reason we don't hear them is mostly because we are used to it (a repeated sound will eventually be treated by your brain as non-existant as it is now considered part of the general environment and the brain mostly informs us of odd things and not common ones) As a result, I believe this constant "noise pollution" affects our hearing, making us less sensitive to something as a car engine sound (both because we are used to it and because it is "drowned" in the general urban noise). My point is, after the apocalypse, the city gets akwardly silent, people are now dead, electricity stops and cars are not driven all the time. As a result, a hyper-sensitivity of zombies to engine sounds could be justified in the context of them no longer being part of the general environment but rather an odd sound disturbance. On that note of course, the same hyper-sensitivity could be applied to all kinds of sounds in PZ, so a slight decrease in the attention the engines draw could be made, so it does not feel too out of place in comparison to other forms of sounds. 2. On the vast supply of gas affecting the balance: I don't really understand why an abundance of a certain supply can be a bad thing at the start of a PZ run (e.g. Initial Infection). Even with the settings of loot rarity on extremely rare, looting Cotman Medical can get me adequate medical supplies, looting a couple Grocery Stores can secure me enough food for weeks, looting a Hardware Store secures me all tools needed to do the needed barricading plus more. Realistically speaking, the first days of the apocalypse are always the easiest ones if you know what to do (excluding the chaos of day 1 probably), no matter where you go, you will always find some kind of loot. So I do not understand why an abundance of a (allow me to say) "relatively useless" supply such as gasoline (nobody needs generators, molotovs are not all that great plus are dangerous, and running a car requires having one that works) is a bad thing. We live in a consumer era, with tons of supplies in every house, and suddenly most of the population is dead, so all that is to be expected. Like you guys already said, the problem with supplies becoming rare as the game progresses, is other survivors beating you to the looting of a specific place. Personally, I think that inmplementing an engine that affects the Loot Rarity based on which day you are on would be a fun addition (even if only an optional one in sandbox) and it also does not seem all that hard to implement (unless every single location on the map desides its loot at the very beggining of each save, that would require a whole re-designing of the loot engine, whoops ) That could affect all possible supplies, including ratio of cars with emtied/filled tanks, and could dynamically change areas you have already visited before (better get those supplies or tomorrow they might not even be there). Also that could work relative to the amount of annotated maps and hidden stashes (loot is progressively gathered in survivor's houses) Best thing about this engine is it does not even need the Survivors to be implemented in the game, although it if happens in the future, making the Meta event frequency of Survivors attacking your base to steal the loot higher as the game progresses, would also be a fun and realistic touch. 3. Cars and existing professions: Starting from where I left things on the paragraph 2, what makes you think that stealing gas from a car tank is an easy (and better yet, commonly known) task? As an Engineering student, I must admit I had a general idea over the principals of tank-to-tank liquid transfusion, but it was not until further investigation that I became familiar on how to actually make it work in cars. My point is, not everyone knows how to do it, so why should it be so easy to steal gasoline from tanks in the first place, at least without some knowledge over the matter? That plus the gas losing efficiancy as time goes by (losing octanes like somebody suggested) should be a good enough balancing (if needed). On that note, please make Engineers be able to get the gasoline initially, we engineers are not just bomb makers Now that we mentioned it, Burglars and Electricians hot-wiring cars, awesome idea! About excluding certain professions/players from the cars in PZ, I totally agree this should not happen. Like we can cook without a cooking background, barricade without being carpenters, fish without being fishermen and so on, cars should be accessible from all players in PZ regardless of profession. I will develop further on this matter below, but for now, giving the ability of gas transfusion to engineers, or the hot wiring to electricians, does not exclude any players from using cars (you can still find keys and get gas from gas stations), it only makes it easier for players of a certain background AND could make some very underrated professions very useful both in single and MP. How that will affect balance of the game can be adjusted by the profession's negative value during character building. Additionally, hobbies that provide the same knowledge, or magazines, could make this more fair. 4. Mechanic profession: I totally agree with the implementation of a Mechanic profession. Much like with the Metalworker, for non-profession players, the needed knowledge for basic repairs could be given to all players (with smaller chances of success, or higher ones of actually damaging the vehicle possibly), and some operations that would require a hardcore mechanical knowledge could be supplemented from magazines. For a fan of vehicles and the whole repairing process, I believe it is enough content to justify investing on the profession, while for others it could just be neglected (and focusing their attentions of finding a healthy car). Like I already said (and I believe you would agree) no profession or skill is "needed" to survive in PZ and it should not be in the future, but all could be interesting and fun for a player to use them (I play a Lumberjack because I like navigating through forests fast, but there is nothing wrong with taking the conventional roads) 5. Balance of cars: Taking the obvious out of the way first, cars are not "needed" to survive in PZ. We existed before them (and we shall do so after they are gone, lol ) In my opinion (and probably on yours too from what I read in the posts) the problem with the balance of cars (except running over zeds like it is nothing, which I believe will be fixed soon) if the fact that you can travel long diastances easier, loot faster and more (because of car storage) and that would make a survivor's life much easier, and lead to quick depleting of resources in mass MP servers. On that note I have already noticed a few great (and realistic) suggestions, like the battery of most cars would die if left without operation for about a week, which could render healthy cars more hard to find. Additionally, as I already mentioned in number 2, with an engine that reduces supplies in lootable areas would force the player to get down to some zombie killing action and hunt those annotated maps in order to find adequate loot. When they do, getting there in a couple hours or a couple of days should make no difference (at least after power/water is down and max zombie population is achieved all days are the same), plus nobody would find 20 annotated maps in one day and loot all of the spots. Additional balance of cars could be tied not only to mechanical failure, but the chances of malfunctions while on the road, eventually leading to being stuck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Zs, being badly wounded, or even instant death after a terrible crush where your breakes did not work as intended (Am I the only one who supports the possibility of a car crush killing you instantly?) That could discourage players from taking the risk of a car or highlight the professions that can perform basic maintenance on them. Of course this is going too far into the future, but this is a WIP game in general, so I feel we should speak with the "end result" in mind and not just how we will play in IWBUMS for a few months. Finally, there is another thing about cars, the apocalypse and the first day of horror and panic. Everyone tries to leave using their car. This would create huge traffic jams on a few streets, making it virtually impossible to get passed them later on (assuming the owners abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the road). This alone limits a few areas of the map in which the car cannot reach, making them less "omnipotent". And yes, I know we have the traffic accidents to serve that role and I am a huge fan of them, but traffic jams serve a slightly different purpose. The cars could be "healthy", but most of them would be impossible to free from the jam and actually use. Of course, a workaround could exist for that, but it would require a lot of physical labor like pushing all nearby cars to the side so you can free your vehicle, maybe breaking a few car glasses to get in there and free the handbreak, or encounter some zombified drivers still on their cars. Found a car? The driver is inside and zombified? You kill him and get the keys? Okay, good luck freeing the car from the jam now. Oh you did? Then you earned the car, congrats. I think this could further limit the number of "useful" cars in PZ without breaking the realistic barrier of "everybody having a car or two nowadays" Apologies again for the long post, awaiting your thoughts.
  13. I can confirm the Lights/Curtains bug in Multiplayer. Happened to us twice yesterday (in 2 different sessions of 2 different people hosting 2 different servers). No connection issues/packet loss were spotted whatsoever. Imagine our surprise when we all went on a looting mission yesterday and came back in our base to find lights and curtains open
  14. Greetings Had the same problem during Build 35 of IWBUMS, there is really nothing to be panicked about. Simply remove Microsoft Windows Redistributables 2015 from your Control Panel and Re-install it from the official Microsoft Website. Remember to perform a Restart on your PC in EVERY step of the way (before uninstalling, after uninstalling and after re-installing), in my case it was only fixed until I did so, and I believe the same happened with some other users as well. ~Ace
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