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Damien Darkside

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Posts posted by Damien Darkside

  1. I do see Fallagorn's point. However I think it is best that the two stay separate, and that the system we have now is better. I am just now looking through the systems they've overhauled or made feature complete, and they're very, very in-depth. Despite some of my posts may be a bit hard on TIS, I will always give them the leeway because they do deliver in the end. Vehicles are super in-depth, the animations and clothing systems are crazy cool. I don't see why they won't focus more on crafting content in a future update.

    If they spend an update adding a ton of content (such as my "Let us build furniture we find" to flesh out the carpentry more) and other things, those categories are going to be FULL. This is more to your comments about First Aid, Farming, and Fishing being "the same", because I can EASILY see TIS taking time to really develop the first aid in the game. Especially with creating  

    Also survival crafting is different from normal crafting. Crafting is like "Lets put all the pens in this box" and more using manufactured goods to create something. Survival is more like "I'm going to use this stick and this log to make a fire" and improvised crafted items. Plus again, they can easily add a ton.

    I say this because mods have made excellent use of their crafting system. Plus TIS has a great "Filter All" that is a godsend. This system seems to be more "we have a good working concept" and now it's really going to ramp up.

    Plus they can still do a bit of what you said, trapping and foraging can totally be combined into a group called "Wilderness Crafting" or "Hunting" and throw Survivalist in there. It's all Wood-sy. So your point isn't crap, but I do feel like TIS is really going to add like, 25+ recipes to each category with some of these updates and we just got the framework here.

  2. If there is some sort of interest in this, I will gladly inflate this to the point where we have 50 different buildings of various sizes in the pack. I'm not joking, I find this to be fun and I don't mind cranking out several sheds.

  3. I'm wondering if there are people who would be interested in a building pack for modding maps? I just spent a bit in TileZ and I am enjoying making houses, I whipped this one up in a bit while learning the tools. I'd just make a .zip of building files, since that is how I see this working.

    Although I don't mind coding, it isn't my interest anymore. However I do want to contribute to Project Zomboid, I genuinely do enjoy the game (why I'm sometimes too hard on it), and although I can't give you guys a new game feature, I rather would do what I enjoy doing best: adding on. I really like building houses more in the SIMs than actually playing the game, and in Project Zomboid I love taking over houses and decorating them. I like checking out maps people have made to decorate and build what they have done.

    This can easily me one of my "I wanna work on something" kind of projects, whipping up houses and buildings for people to use. Would map makers want a small resource of houses, sheds, shacks, kiosks, and additions? I'd only want credit and a link to my House Stash or something.

     

    Feel free to give me ideas for what you'd like guys. I'm probably going to eventually make a map cell once I've cranked out a few houses and buildings for people to enjoy. Hopefully one day you will find, loot, barricade, live, siege, and die in one of my homes!

    Example.png

  4. Sorry, small item large post because I think it will genuinely make the game better.

    I've noticed zombies have items stuck in them, and that items are being rendered in hands (I haven't played since 2017) a lot better. I have my infections turned off in Sandbox. This has allowed me to play with the medical system a lot, which has been great because with Infection Enabled, I rarely used it at all because I rarely got hurt. Now I take more risks and get into combat, requiring me to stop bleeding and lacerations, and to make sure those aren't infected (like, septic) or I die.

     

    So my question is this: Can zombies attack with items, and throw punches? I mean in the Romero sense of Zombies holding onto objects reflexively, and throw punch being "I got hit but it wasn't a scratch". With a Police Zombie for instance holding a nightstick, and when he attacks I get hit with the nightstick instead of a scratch. A repairman zombie might be holding a screwdriver, or a Spiffo Zombie might be holding a knife, and now I have to deal with a laceration. Bum Zombie hits me with a broken glass bottle, now I finally have a reason to use tweezers to get glass out of my shoulder.

    The reason why I suggest this is because you've CLEARLY put a lot of time into the medical system, and it is very in-depth. I just have nothing to... heal. You have already made good steps in fleshing out the system, I noticed running through the forest without a proper shirt causes arm injuries, and walking without shoes can cause bleeding as well. I realize with NPCs that they will be able to attack you, however realistically the chances of me using those tweezers to extract bullets is going to be pretty low isn't it? I'm sure we won't be going MGS3 with bullet damage to the player, and more Zomboid.

    Also I am suggesting a only a small part of the population have an item equipped. Out of a crowd of zombies, one or two has an item and it is relatable to their profession. We clearly have sets for businessmen, police, chefs etc, so some of them holding a hammer, knife or baseball bat would be fine. Clearly there are loot chances as well, so just have any weapon that spawns in a zombie's inventory have a small chance to be equipped. Any zombie holding something that isn't their profession is either a zombified survivor, a layman using the tool (normal people hold hammers) or is plainclothes/day off. 

    Now people might say "that isn't zombies, they can't use items" to which I say "they aren't using a screwdriver, they're attacking with an object in their hands and they're hitting you with it, even toddlers do this and hundreds of animals". There are sandbox options for "navigate" and "navigate use doors" and I think it would be between the two (so if people want to turn it off you can have "item use" or something). I fully believe zombies would be capable of smacking you with something if they had it in their hands. Also popular media has shown hundreds of times of zombies at least HOLDING an item, so it won't be jarring to players. Games like Dead Island, Dying Light, and Dead Rising also have the "zombie holds something and flails at you with it to do other damage than "bite/rawr" type of attack that players are also used to.

     

    I feel like a zombie with a knife will provide the same threat as a zombie alone, but with a different angle. Also you can use the scratch/bite resistances for blade/blunt, since biting is like tearing and scratching is like hitting.

    As a side note: does having bloody clothes increase the chances of "normal" need-antibiotics-infection? With a zombie hitting you with a knife, that would also increase need for sterilization and looting bottles of disinfectant.

  5. Do not assume I have an idealistic view of programming, I know very much what the limitations are. The base idea of having only 8 level or not planning for underground areas is completely fault of the devs. The problem isn't "rooftop garden" it's "Why did you stop at 8" or simply "why do you even have a system like this in the first place?". If it's about drawing and rendering, then it's a problem if how the entire thing was setup in the first place. Period.

  6. Limits in programming are completely different from the limits of life. Limits in programming come from failing to plan. Plain as that.

     

    That being said, in the long run it won't drastically impact the game but it's still disappointing that we WON'T be able to build rooftop gardens simply because it doesn't do more layers. Plus it isn't just Copy/Paste, it's people spending the time to make something like Bedford Falls, the map I'm looking at with several districts that could definitely benefit from several more floors, or a few of the buildings having roof access.

  7. Two options for the sandbox menu I'd love to see

    Water Shutoff: Never
    Electricity Shutoff: Never

    It doesn't have to be "never" in the code, just 99999 days. I always play with the 0-5 years setting for sandbox, but now I have this thing were it's still "it going to shut off tomorrow or three years from now".

    I hate playing this game without electricity or water. At that point its just "drink bleach start new character this file is ruined", since it doesn't allow me to live in my customized house that I spent hours in. Nights for me become very boring. Gameplay becomes way more limited. The game isn't fun anymore past the lights going out. I get that you guys want a realistic game, but if you can give me 0-5 years range on Sandbox Options, we should have a "never" option for shutoffs. I can already turn off zombie infections, this is the one last thing preventing me from fully enjoying and investing in Zomboid, the lingering fear of "instead of a zombie horde overwhelming you on a supply run, the light and water turns off and you don't want to play anymore".

     

  8. Can we have recipes added for the furniture already in the game?

    It can be added over time, but there is no reason that I as a carpenter can't make a good looking dining chair at level 6 that I see in a house, or copy a door. Having these would also drastically flesh out carpentry and metalworking. Having sheets, bars for metal would allow metalworking to build shelving units or metal shelves on the wall. It allows us to have an alternative to running to a house, grabbing a chair and running out.

    You got the sprites already, you got materials already, you have a crafting system already, just casually link the two up with ways to build them. No adding extra sprites, just use what you have. Electrical can craft different lights and lamps once they get higher in skill. 

    When you craft them, just give the item you use when we do the pick-up/place option. Then we can Place from our inventory. 

    Like I said, over time. Add a chunk of chairs or whatever whenever, but this would really allow us to customize our bases. You can add lootable mags if you'd like.

  9. 7D2D has the "heat" effect being a representation of how much noise and activity an area has. They have their own mechanics for when "heat" gets too high, but something like that for Zomboid can be a thing. A Zombie going towards a loud noise will eventually go towards another very loud noise, even if it is an hour later unless distracted. Eventually it will come closer and closer to the sound before it knows more and more when it's coming from.

    Not saying HUGE HORDES... unless of course you attracted a horde to come near your base while you are putting up walls. Then adding more defenses like small Punji sticks for zombies to step on, spike walls and barricades to cripple and slow zombies to help deal with them would be great. You can just add a sprite, and then add an effect that damages legs. Player-placed doesn't harm the player. 

  10. This doesn't address the current issue: We don't have a plan to deal with underground levels. These are a real-life thing, and should absolutely be considered. 

    People are going to want to recreate a ton of their cities once the game is released. Seven floors is not enough. It creates artificial limits in terms of "why can't I?" followed by a response of "The Devs didn't make it that way" to which there is no other response than "that sucks!".

    I will not mind if this was the "Oh we will address this issue once NPCs are done and out" kind of issue, because I believe there is a ton of dividends that aren't exactly tied to the game directly, such as the ability for modders to spend time making Chicago for Multiplayer servers, causing people to want to join up and buy Zomboid. That's why "After 1.0" should definitely be a thing.

  11. Honestly the gun mechanics of this game are hot garbage, and I love this game.

     

    Wasn't there some video of a circle that would form when being aimed and it would shrink when your character held the gun up? It would shrink down to show where the bullet would go and moving or being panicked would increase the size while standing still would decrease the size. That was way better than what we have now.

     

    Plus why would I use guns in this game? The aiming is random and isn't intuitive, the noise attracts every zed in a country-wide radius and honestly there are absolutely no positives to having them. Game mechanics like this should have a positive/negative use instead of pure negative, otherwise players won't use them at all. You want a player to say "I don't use guns because of the risk of zombies being attracted to my location, even though with enough skill I can take them out" instead of "I don't use guns because I don't understand how they work" or "I don't use guns because they get me killed every time I use them".

  12. The "stellar" tutorial was a few scripted events with a few sprites that had basic routines and that's it. There was no AI, the characters didn't make decisions nor deducted anything. You have way overvalued what the NPCs had in there.

    First major change was the change from sprite-based textures to 3D models. The devs realized that if you wanted to add in an items, you needed to add multiple sprites for every single animation. You wanted to add a shirt? You gotta draw every single shirt piece in all the frames. It was madness, so they switched over. They need to do it once more because guess what? Development isn't easy and things pop up. The animation system is being worked on and has had multiple videos on it.

    The map was another thing. We knew it was going to be big, just not this big and that is a good thing. It was surely a lot emptier before but with cars the world is a lot smaller when a one-day trip is easily achievable now and the devs saw that coming.

    Lastly is NPC AI. They aren't planning your run-of-the-mill NPCs from a AA studio. These NPCs aren't going to be like Fallout 4 settlement NPCs with small amounts of commands and little to no real decision making skills. No, these NPCs are going to be able to make decisions to actually survive and thrive in the apocalypse. They will interact with each other and they will make the world feel alive. You won't just click on them and they do "Oh Hi! Welcome to ___" or spout out 20 different lines before repeating.

    These NPCs are going to be just as valuable as anything else and you will depend on them just as much as they depend on you. That unfortunately takes time and learning.

    This game, despite all it's setbacks, is doing pretty well.

  13. Okay so others will tell you the parts of modding in terms of code and resources to make mods.

    Make sure though that you have a PLAN of EXACTLY what you want to do before you start doing anything on a computer. Take it from an ex-programmer, if you don't have some sort of plan down before you start, you're just throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks and it falls apart.

     

    As for items, make sure you make a list of all the stats, perks affecting it, crafting, where it is in the world, loot tables and sprites. If this is all or mostly planned, you won't miss out on it later.

  14. Baseball bats are usually lightweight, dense woods that aren't reinforced in any way. Just a good ol' hunk of wood. So they can only take so many blows before stress fractures start appearing on the surface or in the wood itself. Also with baseballs, there is a major physics difference between:

    Baseball: Fabric covered ball made of cork or rubber where when you smack it, the ball compresses and absorbs the shock of the blow before being sent off. Not to mention that a ball is light, and doesn't have anything attached to it. When you smack a 5.25oz/142gr baseball, you don't have to worry about destroying a bat.

     

    Human Skull: Bone that is stronger than steel in the same amount of mass, made and evolved to protect the most vulnerable and important area of the human body. When you crack a bat against it, the skull doesn't compress from the shock, and the energy is transferred back into the baseball bat which damages it. You get that "buzzing" feeling of the vibrations being sent up the bat, like thwacking a stick (or a bat) against a tree. When you crack a human skull, you are smacking a 11 pound/5kg object. That's like hitting around a bowling ball (of which funnily enough, a normal adult human head is the average weight of). Also the skull it attached to a spine like a cord to a super heavy 150-200 pound body of rotting flesh. In fact I would definitely say wear gloves to prevent the shock going into your hands and messing up your arms.

     

    The problem here is the force applied to the mass of an object. In terms of that baseball, the kinetic energy flings it off into the distance. In case of the skull, the kinetic energy gets somewhat rebounded into the baseball bat, which causes fracturing or a break. If the blow is enough to fracture the wood, it will eventually get worse and worse until it breaks. You will notice a lot of medieval weapons have iron rings around the handles of clubs and hammers, or that modern tools have springs or something for shock absorption. The iron/steel rings on weaponry is to avoid fracturing and splitting of the wooden handle. The springs, wires or other things for modern tools are to absorb the energy of impact when you either miss the object entirely or to avoid harming the user.


    I would be surprised if a baseball bat would last you ten heads in a zombie apocalypse. That's why puncturing weapons like ice picks and things that can pierce the skull in a small point (like a bullet) to crack a head open is a lot more efficient than a blunt object. The benefit of blunt objects is that you don't have to sharpen them and they won't get stuck.

    If I was going for blunt, even a metal baseball bat wouldn't be the best, they aren't completely metal. Definitely would use a crowbar made from titanium (for durability) or steel (for weight, which helps crack skulls) and for sure would make a handle for them or wear gloves.

    Also fun hint for an apocalypse, you know the point at the back of a fire axe? Use that instead of the broad head. You'll avoid glancing blows.

  15. I think a food prep menu like yours should be used, with context.

     

    First is "on hand" food prep. You are carrying a pot and some food in your backpack. "Prepare Food" in this sense is what is in your backpack as well as your hands. 

    A "Food Prep Station" would be very nice, assigning a hard counter surface that allows you to keep knives, pots, pans and the like. When preparing food here, it takes in consideration all the items in the food station as well as on your person (like carrying meat to the station). I kind of do this in my house builds but it would be great with assignable stations. You just end up with ingredients that were in your inventory, not a mish-mash of everything you touched.

    If those who have played Minecraft with the "Pam's Harvestcraft" and "Cooking for Blockheads" mods installed know what I am talking about, a dedicated system like that would be great.

     

     

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