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Geras

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  1. Like
    Geras got a reaction from CaptKaspar in Small but Important Suggestions Thread   
    1143. More foraging zones.
    I find it strange we can't forage i.e. on farmland, or in green areas in towns. I'd be cool if foraging in these places was possible for stones, branches, earth worms, insects, etc.
     
    1144. This one isn't probably a small suggestion, but the fitness system should be reworked. Every exercise, however small, should be beneficial for the player, increasing the damage/carry weight and endurance pool by tiny increments. This way we'd know that however small our workouts are, we get some bonus out of it.
     
    As it is now, there's no point in using the fitness system if you have 6 or more points in strength or endurance - gaining the 7th point would take ingame months to get afaik by mostly exercising and doing little else.
     
    1145. Removing grass should give us grass to use as kindling or to use in composter.
     
    1146. Painting picket fences using different paints and colours.


     
    1147. Cigarettes should spawn in random amounts from 1 to 20 in a pack, not always 20 in a pack.
     
    1148. Traps with bait should have bait visible in the world to know at a glance which traps have bait, and which don't.
     
  2. Spiffo
    Geras got a reaction from OxManZomboid in Small but Important Suggestions Thread   
    1140. It would be cool if houses didn't hold so much heat during winter, so actually having a fire going for the night, or sleeping in warm clothes would have an impact on sleep quality.
  3. Spiffo
    Geras got a reaction from OxManZomboid in Small but Important Suggestions Thread   
    1143. More foraging zones.
    I find it strange we can't forage i.e. on farmland, or in green areas in towns. I'd be cool if foraging in these places was possible for stones, branches, earth worms, insects, etc.
     
    1144. This one isn't probably a small suggestion, but the fitness system should be reworked. Every exercise, however small, should be beneficial for the player, increasing the damage/carry weight and endurance pool by tiny increments. This way we'd know that however small our workouts are, we get some bonus out of it.
     
    As it is now, there's no point in using the fitness system if you have 6 or more points in strength or endurance - gaining the 7th point would take ingame months to get afaik by mostly exercising and doing little else.
     
    1145. Removing grass should give us grass to use as kindling or to use in composter.
     
    1146. Painting picket fences using different paints and colours.


     
    1147. Cigarettes should spawn in random amounts from 1 to 20 in a pack, not always 20 in a pack.
     
    1148. Traps with bait should have bait visible in the world to know at a glance which traps have bait, and which don't.
     
  4. Like
    Geras got a reaction from BoogieMan in I don't like where this game is heading to.   
    Yeah, agreed.
  5. Like
    Geras reacted to nasKo in 2022 and Beyond   
    Howdy survivors! Another crazy week for us, we’re still in a bit of a daze!
     
    Just a few more days until the entire team are back together after the various international holiday periods have all come to an end, and we’re looking exceedingly forward to fixing up a few of the big issues that have come out in the wash since the MP launch. You can read more about them in last week’s blog here.
     
    So the big question, now 41 is out there, and after the remaining MP issues have been fixed up, is what comes next?
     
     
    Two Team Release Schedule
    Going forward, now the behemoth that is Build 41 is increasingly looking to be in our rear-view mirror, we are going to structure the internal game’s development into two distinct teams (With General Arcade continuing in the meantime on improving MP, optimizing the server, increasing the player count and other MP related tech)
     
    First, a little bit of a teaser!
     
     
    (This is a fairly old internal video, created as a working proof-of-concept of various aspects of our NPC tech. It’s also not necessarily canonically accurate anymore. It was built to echo our earliest tech demo, but this might not be the start point we take with narrative in future, even if the characters would still be familiar.)
     
    It’ll have been no surprise to anyone who read the interview in which Lemmy dropped some major Thursdoid spoilers that one of those teams is going to be focusing exclusively on NPC development from this point on. We’ll also be able to talk about it (not necessarily every Thursdoid, but certainly no longer in a vacuum), rather than work away in secret due to our ‘only discuss what’s coming next’ rule we instigated after a few instances of talking far too early about stuff.
     
    Long ago we stated (informally on a forum post) our planned features for future builds, starting with hunting for build 42, and then numerous NPC builds for build 43 and onward.
     
    However, many changed circumstances and much ponderings later, we’ve decided that this is not the best approach to take. First of all, its very clear that human NPCs have long been the most requested feature that is still outstanding, and the source of most of the frustration and bad feeling from those who consider the game to still be incomplete.
     
    Not only this, but in slightly more selfish reasons, a big reason for not being comfortable with hunting and pets being first, is they are still NPCs and would necessarily leverage all the technology we’ve being working on for years at this point.
     
    We have such amazing and peskily talented modders out there, we know fine well that as soon as we released this tech within their grasps, we would end up seeing extremely powerful NPC mods appearing, using our NPC tech heavily, before we had the pleasure of seeing this hard work paid off with our own NPCs.
     
    It may be the initial build still contains hunting and wild animals, they ARE NPCs after all. It may be they drop into a subsequent build or later on in the unstable beta cycle, its not clear yet for reasons we’ll discuss in a bit. But the next BIG thing will be NPCs and we’ll have a dedicated team working toward this goal going forward.
     
    However, NPCs will still, technically, be build 43. This is because we’ll be running a second dev team exclusively on a quicker, less risky yet still super cool content patch before the NPC work is complete, and then ongoing alternately between the other NPC patches to keep the content train going.
     
    Behold this fancy graphic we cooked up! Now that we’ve blown up a bit we need some fancy graphical charts in our Thursdoids!
     
    Hopefully the chart shows that, in very real terms, NPCs will be coming out as quickly as they can, uninterrupted, and the other builds are there to help bridge the gap. No build will ever take as long as Build 41 did, it was a practical rewrite of large portions of the game, but nontheless NPCs will take time to emerge, and we don’t want to leave the community without new content in those waits.
     
     
    Build 42
    There is still a lot of polish and fix work to do on 41, primarily for the MP team but also with a side-salad of bug-fixing issues in both online and solo.
     
    Beyond this, however, is a much ‘smaller’ but still extremely cool update that’ll drop before NPCs, that will release during the push toward an NPC release.
     
    I say ‘smaller’ only because no major functionality or new fundamental systems, and it will be more a balancing and content patch while NPC team’s work is underway. However it will still be pretty beefy in terms of what it brings to the game.
     
    It will serve several important purposes:
     
    1) To balance a lot of the existing mechanics, particularly in relation to traits, professions, skills and other areas of the game that have been neglected or suffered some degradation during the years of development since they were introduced. Balancing traits and professions, medical system, and other stuff where it comes down to essentially tweaking numbers to make more builds viable or close up ‘free points’ exploits in character creation. Loot balancing and anything else that’s an easy balance but will help improve the game also fits in here.
     
    2) To begin the expansion of the ‘tech tree’ of the game significantly to provide a more rich end-game experience. While until NPCs exist, some of this may be slightly less impactful on single player (though we’re sure will still add a lot of potential), it will significantly improve the MP experience by servers being less pressured to wipe or have loot respawning, providing players and communities ability to create more items that at present can only be obtained through looting.
     
    While we may not hit this spot in our first build, our ultimate goal is to provide significantly extra crafting potential to allow players to effectively create a post-apocalypse nu medieval community, to provide plausable alternatives to any of the lootable items in the game that would logically be plausable with the correct skills and resources so players don’t feel pressured to restart the early game repeatedly to get long term fun out of the game. Want to be the person who makes clothes and sells them to a neighbouring settlement? Build brick walls and create something that resembles an actual house? Maybe even build a windmill? Who knows.
     
    These are all examples of things we could do here, and may not all appear in Build 42, but hopefully our intended direction is clear. Ultimately to build up to the point that Alexandria / Hilltop / Kingdom style communities can form years after the apocalypse, giving more incentive to keep playing and building on existing worlds instead of intentionally replaying the early game because there is no real late game.
    All this would be a time sink and require a group effort and wouldn’t be compulsory for those who prefer to just die repeatedly in the early apocalypse days, but the hope is to allow for a much greater level of community building, and facilitate trade and potentially years of stories and rich history from within a single world, be it NPC populated or an MP server, spanning numerous player lives (so it can still be the story of how you died).
     
    These professions and expanded tech trees would be heavily gated and require specialization, often in case of the more complex crafting paths requiring pre-apocalypse skills that while it’s possible, are extremely difficult to attain to high levels after the apocalypse without a character specced toward them. We long ago ‘nerfed’ a metalworking system that was added to the game due to the implausibility of some random survivor crafting spoons and katanas in the apocalypse, however we’ll be expanding this again to include better items available through sufficient mastery and enough plausibility with the character build.
     
    We’ll increase the amount of recipes that’ll be unlockable within the world through books, magazines or VHSs, and try and accurately model more advanced and multi-tier crafting professions to allow survivor communities to thrive and provide much more diverse activities for players who like to stay in the safehouses.
     
    Finally, and vitally, we’ll be introducing the concept of ‘crafting surfaces’ to further restrict where some crafting recipes can be used. Some more complex recipes will require specific tables or equipment, some will just require a table or surface of any kind, while others can be carried out in your hands with no surface at all.
     
    This will add an extra level to the crafting, as making a place suitable for crafting the more complex multi-stage recipes, and potentially upgrading your crafting station and equipment, would become a more fulfilling experience than standing in the field and being able to make a stir fry.
     
    We have many and varied other things we want to inject into the game also – we’re currently working on seated / reclining characters for example, and also want to expand on in-game events and tie them to the map. We also need to do some work to improve guns, and PvP, at some point. It’s not clear when smaller features will start appearing, however, so will report on them in blogs as the year progresses.
     
     
    Build 43
    Worked on concurrently to the balancing and crafting update, as well as discussed and shown within our blogs going forward, will be the first version of NPCs. We’re still deciding what should, could and would be present in the first NPC build. It could include autonomous NPCs that the player can group with, it could primarily include the reintroduction of the story mode, it could have NPC animals, or that could come later.
    We really need to look at what we have, and what’s feasible to deliver in a reasonable amount of time, as well as what we could release as a first build and not have people who’ve waited years for them to appear be disappointed. There’s a lot of plates to spin, decisions to make that require more brain power than we’ve had to spare during B41’s development, so we’re going to take some more time to discuss what would make the most satisfying and manageable first build, and take a stock check of what we have.
     
    We’ve got a LOT of NPC code, lots of cool systems, from Rimworld style priority and jobs system, personality systems, procedural story event systems, combat systems, autonomous survival behaviours, advanced group behaviour systems, vehicle driving systems, and a whole bunch more. While nothing could be described as 100% complete, the vast majority of the hard work has been done, is functional and is extremely cool.
     
    But B41 has taken a huge amount of our time and resources, and also taken some elements of the PZ workings in a different direction to things our NPCs were using, and so they need some time to be reintroduced to the most current build and made MP compatible. And when we do that, we’ll be moving stuff over in stages to release, rather than try and get everything functional and release ready at once.
    A good analogy is we’ve got two rooms, one full to the ceiling of extremely cool and complex circuit boards and wires that we’ve spent years making, one room is empty.
     
    Trying to tidy and assemble everything in the first room will be a nightmare. So we’ll start moving bits into a new room, setting them up, plugging them in together, and making something cool out of them to release. After release we’ll continue bringing in more pieces and attaching them, and so on for perhaps 2 or 3 builds until the first room is empty and our vision of NPCs is complete. It doesn’t mean that’s all we have, far from it, just sorting that entire packed room out would take too long and we want to finally start pushing NPC content out as soon as possible.
     
    We also have some big plans for a gun mechanics rework at some point, to provide a more solid gunplay experience that will make guns not only more interesting to use, require more a player skill element, but also make PVP encounters a lot more interesting for those who enjoy that kind of thing, as our PVP component is still one of the more lacking elements of our multiplayer experience. But for now we are not committing to where this will thread into the release schedule.
     
    The process of moving stuff over will take some time, and so we may be quiet for a couple of Thursdoids until we start getting stuff moving in the current build. As soon as we are though, we’ll be talking about the ongoing NPC development, alongside the concurrent crafting and balance patch, until they drop. Exciting times!
     
    It shouldn’t go unsaid, however, that if a big new feature is not ready then it’s not in our DNA to push it out of the door uncooked. We’re confident that this will be a great year for PZ, and feel we can keep the content pipe flowing, but also won’t be abandoning our accustomed position as the tortoise in the ‘tortoise vs. hare’ race which appears to now be paying dividends for both game and community.
     
     
    Much love,
     
    TIS x
  6. Like
    Geras got a reaction from IdkWtfImDoingHelp in Guns and tools are too fragile!   
    I agree, I'd like to see the durability system reworked at some point.
  7. Like
    Geras reacted to Papa Juliet Whiskey in Brush with Death   
    Gaggle is the word for a group of geese, so I can only interpret this as and interspecies  erotica.
  8. Like
    Geras got a reaction from gabriel rodrigues brandao in Hordes trample over crawlers   
    Yeah, they would have to damage crawler's brain.
  9. Like
    Geras reacted to Blake81 in Search and DeZtroy   
    OH MY GOD! THEY GAVE AN ETA!
     

  10. Like
    Geras reacted to nasKo in IWBUMS 41.56 released   
    NEW
     
    - The containers in the "Move to" controller context sub-menu are disabled if the container can't hold the item to be moved.
    - During "Walk To" or other timed-action movement, allow the player to continue to move while aiming, instead of stopping.
    - Added a radial menu for light sources that is accessed by holding the F key for longer.
    - Added "Pan Camera While Driving" display option. This will move the camera in front of the car to give better vision of things ahead. Please give us some feedback how this feels. Some had issues with this previously, so the option is off by default. 
    - Added recipe.StopOnWalk and recipe.StopOnRun script properties to the codebase to control whether the crafting action is interrupted by walking and running. Currently this is only used to allow inserting/removing batteries in flashlights while walking.
     

    ANIMS AND MODELS
     
    - Made male underpants smaller and to look like briefs.
    - Made female bra strapless.
    - Made the same changes to male and female zombie textures.
    - Adjusted Bikini and Swimsuit texture to fit new female underpants and bras.
     

    NOISEWORKS
     
    - New weapon hit sounds:
     
            Axe, Wood Axe, Stone Axe
            Pick Axe
            Badminton Racket, Tennis Racket
            Hockey Stick, Lacross Stick
            Broom, Fishing Rod, Pool Cue
            Garden Hoe, Rake, Leaf Rake
            Shovel
            Snow Shovel
            Spiked Baseball Bat, Spiked Plank, Spiked Pick Axe Handle
            Baseball Bat
            Canoe Paddle
            Golf Club
            Plank
     
    These also have a new setup where a regular hit sounds different from a hit that causes the attacked zombie to fall and a more impactfull killing blow.
     
    - Added farming-related sounds for plowing, seeding, watering, and harvesting
    - Adjusted the drinking sounds to fit the anims better.
    - Further tweaks to busy sound areas - and especially with engine noise in and around zombie hordes. Please test!
    - Addressed issues of lost / strange sounds during busy periods - such as during rain etc.
    - Tweaked puddle footstep loudness (it was too loud still)
    - Removed seagull sounds from towns
     

    FIXES
     
    - Fixed applying mildew cure to plants being broken.
    - Fixed the player phasing through obstacles after climbing over a tall fence.
    - Fixed Lua error SMetalDrumGlobalObject:update() when it rains.
    - Fixed shoving zombies from behind sometimes causing the zombie to move toward the player.
    - Fixed hitting a zombie that is getting up from lying face down flipping the zombie onto its back.
    - Fixed killing a zombie that is getting up from lying face down creating a corpse on its back.
    - Fixed the player's hit-reaction animation sometimes playing long after the attack happened.
    - Fixed zombies finishing their bumped animation too soon, allowing them to get another attack quickly.
    - Fixed playing two getting-up animations if the movement key is pressed after the animation has started.
    - Fixed vehicle engines not taking damage if the hood is uninstalled.
    - Fixed pan condition not resetting each time at FightStep:KillZombie in tutorial
    - Fixed new pan not spawning if the player somehow does manage to break the pan at FightStep:KillZombie
    - Fixed hiding the Set Alarm dialog due to the player position changing slightly after turning.
    - Fixed highlighting useable parts of vehicles when the player is inside a vehicle.
    - Fixed exception trying to place an item on the same square as a Car Battery Charger (or any object with no sprite).
    - Fixed the controller focus remaining on a context menu after selecting an option with the mouse.
    - Fixed a Lua error after pressing the 'V' key while a game is loading.
    - Fixed not automatically reloading changed animation files.
    - Fixed IndexOutOfBoundsException in JAssImpImporter.GetKeyFrameScale() with a test animation.
    - Fixed "Could not find bone index for node name: "Translation_Data_$AssimpFbx$_Translation"" warning with a test animation.
    - Fixed ISRadialMenu:setSliceTexture() calling setSliceText().
    - Fixed the welding sound not stopping when building metal objects.
    - Fixed zombies opening locked carpentry doors.
  11. Like
    Geras reacted to Von in Towns stay untouched but are randomly placed on map. So you get a different map each time.   
    So you get a random map each time, towns stay the same but placed at different locations.
    Could even add small "monuments" like a random water pump well, or something of value. 

    Would keep the game spicy and encourage an adventure. Instead of encouraging "get to your favorite spot, play defensive until you lose"
     
    Yay / Nay ? 
  12. Like
    Geras reacted to HetCigarr in Replace "Candle" with "Box of candles"   
    Candles are cool. Fits the game atmosphere nicely. Sadly at this current stage candles are just left in the dark, unutilized. Although they kinda suck compared to flashlights, they are extremely rare. After months of looting I end up with having 1-3 of them stored, never to be used, only to be treated like this:


    My suggestion is -  to avoid littering the world with candles - boost their commonness x25 by replacing their spawns with Box of candles, featuring 25 candles. I think that would be completely balanced and realistic.
  13. Like
    Geras got a reaction from Tails in Small but Important Suggestions Thread   
    1143. More foraging zones.
    I find it strange we can't forage i.e. on farmland, or in green areas in towns. I'd be cool if foraging in these places was possible for stones, branches, earth worms, insects, etc.
     
    1144. This one isn't probably a small suggestion, but the fitness system should be reworked. Every exercise, however small, should be beneficial for the player, increasing the damage/carry weight and endurance pool by tiny increments. This way we'd know that however small our workouts are, we get some bonus out of it.
     
    As it is now, there's no point in using the fitness system if you have 6 or more points in strength or endurance - gaining the 7th point would take ingame months to get afaik by mostly exercising and doing little else.
     
    1145. Removing grass should give us grass to use as kindling or to use in composter.
     
    1146. Painting picket fences using different paints and colours.


     
    1147. Cigarettes should spawn in random amounts from 1 to 20 in a pack, not always 20 in a pack.
     
    1148. Traps with bait should have bait visible in the world to know at a glance which traps have bait, and which don't.
     
  14. Like
    Geras reacted to Majorjim in Guns and tools are too fragile!   
    I found an M-14 with full 'condition' and after a few pew pew sessions its down to 1 quarter condition... I own and shoot guns regularly and even my shittiest cheap guns don't just fall apart after a few hundred rounds... Let us manage them by having to clean them ect. Not have the break after 500 rounds...
    Also the axes are hilariously weak. An axe will become blunt looooong before it breaks so let us maintain them first. Make them last longer but require sharpening because at the moment the condition system is unrealistically silly..
  15. Like
    Geras reacted to Mustang in MuniZipal Buildings   
    Tbh the curves are not really curves , the sharp edges are making it looking bad . (the only thing that i didn't like about this patch list) 
  16. Like
    Geras reacted to AJ_Gaming125 in Overgrowth suggestions and some other stuff (edited reposted from my comment on reddit)   
    Go halfway down for a more organized version of this.
     
    Kinda wish Overgrowth got even worse, such as the roads eventually being covered in grass, and maybe after a year trees will start growing on the edges of roads, and eventually cover the road as well.
    Would also be cool if some walls in buildings also started having holes form in them, small enough that you can only see through them, or large enough that you can walk through them.
    (Hell, if there were versions of buildings that had completely collapsed that would be super cool as well)
    Would also be cool if cars left in a grassy area long enough Would get overgrown, and would require some extra maintenance to remove the vines and crap from the car before you could drive it.
    Also we need semi trucks, and an event where a truck is blocking an entire street. That'd be cool too.
    Ah what else.... perhaps also taps should slowly lose the stored water in them, so you can't just get fresh water easily when going to a new area.
    Perhaps maybe even water stored too long could potentially become tainted, specially if it's in an open air container?
    Would also be great if there were more events to make stuff feel a bit more chaotic (of feel like the aftermath of it) such as car wrecks through fences, car buildup behind a police or military line, hell maybe even entire blocks burned down instead of a single house. Maybe even a chance for a street to have a barricade of furniture, of be blocked off with a wire fence with holes in it. (maybe this would have police vehicles behind it too. Idk)
    Oh yeah, power being on in burned out houses needs to be fixed too.
    Would also be neat if eventually metal objects other than vehicles would start rusting (street lights, metal doors, ect) and streetlights also having vines grow on them, however it lining up with the sprite.
     
    If you dont want to read through all of my random giberish
    -Grass can eventually entirely cover a road, and bushes can start growing as well. -Some buildings will have holes form in their outer walls after an extended period of time. This can be prevented by repairing the wall if you want to keep your base secure, however will add more of an apocalytpic feel -Vehicles left in areas where grass or shrubbery is growing will have plants grow over them a bit, which will require you to remove before it can be driven, or you can pull it out of the weeds with a trailer (bit more difficult to pull for a few moments, then the remains of the weeds will need to be removed as well -After a long time (1 or 2 ingame years) trees will start growing on roads (Perhaps they only spawn once a year or something so you have to do the most basic of maintenece once or so a year to keep the roads drivable, but not soo often it becomes a major nuisance.)  - (Not in the original text) vines can grow around objects left outside (trashcans, streetlights, ect.) also, vines should onyl start growing if the house is besides dirt or if grass is growing in the street -(somewhat unrelated) We need some basic mechanics to allow semis/18 wheelers to be added in whether in mods or not. Essentially allowing a hitch point to not be at the complete rear of the vehicle, and restricting certain trailers to certain vehicles. Thats probably all that would be needed before modders could make semis -Water would eventually become tainted and unsafe to drink if left alone long enough (Water from the taps would last longer than boiled water due to chlorine/ect inside of it.) open air containers would get dirty much faster, if sealed containers go bad at all -Some way for global power to not affect certain buildings (burned out houses should not have power) would be neat if the whole power system got a lot more complicated, such as power lines which could be destroyed to cut off power to certain areas faster.(Perhaps could also be used to power larger areas with generators too.) -Vehicle events which have damage to the environment, such as car wrecks through small fences (or even large fences and walls if holes in them are added - Metal objects having rust forming on them after long enough would look good too. - if it would ever be possible buildings collapsing after long enough would be neat (only way I can think of doing this is if its done off-screen with a loud crashing sound, and a copy of the building is made with it collapsed. SOme buildings could even partially collapse. idk.)  
    Heres an example someone made of some overgrowth
    And thats all. I'll probably post ideas here a lot since I now know its here.
  17. Like
    Geras reacted to RyukIsGod in Best weapon   
    The hammer has always been my weapon of choice since starting Zomboid.
    I try some other weapons like the baseball bat or a knife but nothing seems to work well enough with me as the hammer.
     
    Short swing time, knocksdown, can one hit kill and has a pretty good damage/durability ratio.
     
    I miss the days of the invincible butter knife though.... killing a zombie instantly by stabbing under the chin..but now it breaks in a few uses.
  18. Like
    Geras reacted to Irken Empire in Charcoal   
    Since 3D items came it would be really nice and visually enchanting if charcoal spawned in bags like this one for example, instead of a 8kg handful of charcoal.
     
     

  19. Like
    Geras reacted to ProudNoob in IWBUMS 41.54 RELEASED   
    After like 20h of testing different features of 41.54, I would say it is a really impressive update. However, there are some issues that can be addressed easily:
     
    1) Dunno why but vehicles have less power than it used to be. Could be related to sound update? Moreover, vehicles have much more torque if it goes backward which makes sense if the reverse top speed is lower than the 1st gear top speed. Since I was not able to test it cause the automatic transmission, atm it feels weird.
     
    2) Ambient sound setting seems do not work. I tried to lower the ambient volume and it did not make any difference.
     
    3) Vehicle engine sounds are kinda jet turbine. I tried to check the sound files and edit them but failed. I have no exp. on Lua at all. Samples sound good but in-game they are definitely weird.
     
    4) I edited rpm script for VAN, though it did not make huge difference but at least I can keep playing.
     
    5) I changed my mind about combat sounds, they are fine once you get use to them.
     
    6) Vehicle RPM does not work as usual. Normally, it should be go up according to speed. But it is going up regardless the speed of the vehicle atm. It feels like every vehicle has a clutch problem.
     
    Thats all for now, wish u all good day ladies and gentlemen!
  20. Like
    Geras reacted to MGWhiskers in 41.54 QoL feature for 3D placed backpacks/weapons   
    Equip on >   back
                         primary
                         secondary

    can we have it?

  21. Like
    Geras reacted to Papa Juliet Whiskey in snow should only accumulate on grass/vegetation   
    I live in Canada, and when snow falls, and doesn't get plowed, the only way to tell road from not road is if there is a guardrail or something. That's what snow does.
     
    If anything, for the sake of realism, he devs should ad the ability to get your car stuck in the snow. Even with studded or winter tires, the average non 4 wheel drive vic doesn't stand a chance of getting out of a driveway.
     
    And even most 4x4s don't stand a chance, even on a road covered on snow.
     
     
  22. Like
    Geras reacted to Pandorea in Upstairs hotter than downstairs   
    Current implementation of feat inside a building is fairly basic, but there are plans to work on this in the future to make it more realistic. This is not however a priority right now.
  23. Like
    Geras reacted to Blake81 in Zedsommar   
    Say, any chance we can have this for Gas as well? As of right now, we can store water pretty easily on water fountains and rain barrels, but we still gotta store gas by Gas Cans on shelves (which isn't very weight-efficient), so I'd really like to be able to store Gas on Metal Drums. Can we please have the metal drums for Gas?
  24. Like
    Geras reacted to nasKo in Zedsommar   
    Hey all, it’s an MP Strike Force update blog this week – so here’s the latest from the test server.
     
    We now have three coders from General Arcade working on Build 41’s multiplayer – alongside two dedicated QA operatives. Work primarily takes place in GA territory with regular code top-ups from the in-dev 41 codebase, though there’s clearly a lot of communication between our relevant QA and organisational peeps.
     
    First off then, here’s a quick update from someone who has been playing it more than most – multiplayer QA chap Oleg. Welcome to the blog, Oleg!
     
    “Multiplayer is quite solid at the moment. There are no critical errors that would lead to a crash, data loss or anything like that. I’ll be honest, right now it’s far more interesting for me to play in MP than on my own!”
     
    “At this exact moment we’ve got some smaller problems with zombie corpses, synchronization of various animations and many and varied other issues popping up from areas throughout the MP game – so there is certainly still something to work on.”
     
    “The difference between the game that myself and Mikhail started playing two months ago when we started QA and now is pretty big. In terms of the smoothness and synchronization of the movement of the characters, most of the animations, how pvp feels – all this stuff has changed for the better.”

    “Big thanks to Yuri, Andrei and Aleksandr – and of course to TIS’s Sasha who has been a great go-between answering questions and raising issues between the teams!”
     
    So that’s the baseline stuff but, as Jennifer Aniston once said in a commercial that half of the people reading this blog are too young to remember, “here comes the science”. Over to Yuri.
     
    “Our focus this month has been in improving the synchronization of zombies between different players, and also in PvP.”
    “Our QA team has been spotlighting bugs, and right now the majority of them aren’t zombie or player character related – but are in other areas of the game that need polish like throwable weapons/items, vehicles etc.”

    “As such the focus of our next month of work will likely be in turning to these issues and fixing them up to raise the overall playability.”
     
    So, right now, everything seems to be ticking over and on-track. We should have a clearer overall picture when we put out the next MP blog.
    Some of the individual items fixed recently:
     
    Zombies didn’t have the ‘alerted’ animation in MP when they heard a sound, leading to various issues and it not looking as good. Character sync accuracy was increased. The remote character makes less extra movements when turn around. Standing characters are now on the same square on all clients due to setJustMoved and isJustMoved functions being added. Further improvements to positioning through prediction points when players turn around, a new PZMath.roundFromEdges function and the threshold for starting and ending remote character movement being reduced. The algorithm for calculating the forecast of the player’s position has also been changed. Many and varied new debug tools Fixed gunshots happening twice at the end of zed bites.
        Many PvP upgrades and improvements starting with the calculation of damage in PVP – meaning that the game uses BodyDamage instead of Health for player hits now. Addition of sync for falling players in PVP. Fixed clothing on zombies sometimes disappearing after being killed. Fixed issues with bomb devices not causing damage to zombies. Calculation of damage from bombs had to be moved from server to client. Fixed an issue in which some zombies were not visible to the other player. Refactored a loooot of complicated things that the blog writer could not hope to understand.
        Zombies could get up if the remote player hit  the zombie first. Remote clients would see the zombie on the ground in different poses after each hit. Desynchronization when one player enters the an area where certain events caused by another player had already happened – for example if a zombie was on the ground, and a new player appeared the zed wouldn’t be lying down.
       
    41.54


    We are currently finalising 41.54 for a release to the IWBUMS public beta. The biggest items of note in this are the full Noiseworks sound revamp, the new VHS system and the placeable 3D models. You can read the full current changelist here.
     
    Foraging needs some more time in the oven at the moment so that is being put back to a later build we’re afraid, while we are currently at 90% of our available 3D items sized, imported, tested and signed off – with the full range of food items most recently mixed in.
    We’d like the full list of these in-game, and some important bug fixes, to go in before we release. So we’ll see where we have gotten to next week. Fingers crossed it’ll be good to go.
     
    In the meantime here’s a quick vid of a wintry scene to whet your whistle.
     

    Likewise we gave a key to the Noiseworks build to our good friend (and total PZ noob) Dean Cutty in the run up to 41.54’s release, and this is what emerged.
     

    RJ would also like it mentioned that this week he’s also put in a nerf to the current 360 degree shooting from cars, will only allow shooting with one-handed guns when the car is in motion and other such weapons/driving polish.
     
    NEXT BUILD
    Also underway currently is the second phase of our work alongside Noiseworks, the amazing sound team redesigning our soundscape. This work will effectively straddle 41.54, which contains many of the new sounds mentioned below, and 41.55. Over to NW’s Michael Klier for some details on this.
     
    “The next phase of the Zomboid sound overhaul will add new content to many other areas of the game – with our emphasis on the stuff heard most often by players while they play. There’s additional foley for player actions like climbing fences, tripping over obstacles, carrying heavy bags, cooking, smoking, UI sounds for map interactions… the list goes on.”
     

    “We will also be adding new zombie voice sets, and the zombie voices in the context of hordes will be improved upon.”
     
    “On top of this we will be adding even more content for melee weapons when it comes to weapon-specific hits/impacts to further build upon the general/generic melee set that was covered in the phase 1. The same will go for the firearms, which will have more specific weapon sounds for each available firearm as well as additional foley for things like shell drops. We are also currently redesigning some of the current firearms, like the shotgun, from internal tester feedback.”
     
    “Something we want to include and redesign, but which will involve a fair degree more work with the TIS coders, is how sounds are affected by obstacles in the world. We want this to have more realistic behaviour, so sounds get occluded more or less based on the properties of the occluding obstacles.”
     
    “Inside buildings for example, sounds should be occluded differently depending on there is a concrete wall between a zombie or the player or if there’s a wooden wall. In 41.54 the occlusion is a catch-all – if there’s something in between the player the sound is occluded.”
     
    “And last not least the ambiance and music systems will further be improved upon.”
     
    TILL NEXT TIME
    Pat_Bren’s mod blog will return next week spotlighting on the remarkable Daegu map and our amazing Korean community, while in two weeks’ time the dev blog should be covering some of the 41.55 content we’re currently working on including a pretty cool cartographic feature. Till then!

     
     
    A changelist of all IWBUMS patches since the 41 beta was released can be found here. A general list of stuff added to PZ, and vids of features being worked on, is kept here – so you don’t have to plough through endless dev blogs for info. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send you update notifications once builds get released. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too!
  25. Spiffo
    Geras reacted to MadDan in Mod Spotlight: Filibuster Rhymes’ Used Cars   
    Howdy, pardnerz! This time, we’re taking a look at one of the most subscribed Project Zomboid mods of all time: Filibuster Rhymes’ Used Cars (a version of the mod for Build 40 can be found here.) The mod’s description promises a “handful” of new vehicles, but you’d have to have pretty big hands to fit all 90+ new vehicles! 
     

     
    The vehicles all spawn naturally within the base game’s “traffic” and replicate the simple but beautiful graphical style of our existing cars.
    Along with a variety of new sedans, compacts, SUVs, police cars, and pick-up trucks similar to the vehicles we’re used to, the mod adds heavy box trucks and flatbeds, fuel trucks, big yellow school buses, military Humvees, and some more retro cars like rusted pick-ups and a certain famous rear-engined German car from the 1960s. Filibuster even went to the bother of creating fictional lore-friendly names for his vehicles, so they fit even more snugly into our game. 
     

     
    Each of the vehicles have unique handling characteristics and add more options for vehicle strategies. Should you pick the reliable old compact, the speedy sports car, or the huge and roomy but tediously slow truck? (You should choose the nippy Pazuzu truck, objectively the best vehicle in the mod).
     

     

     
    We headed on down to Filibuster’s lot and, after agreeing to a sweet deal on a 3-wheeled Chevalier Dart, got him to answer a few questions for us about himself and his mod.
     
    Filibuster

     
    Hello Filibuster! Who are you in real life?
     
    I’m pretty much just a slacker with a fat diabetic cat. Nothing too exciting, honestly.
     
    How did you first discover PZ? Why do you like it?
     
    I got it way back on Desura. I really like more slow-paced hardcore survival games, stuff where you’ve gotta plan a little bit instead of just going buck wild. I rarely stick with a game for more than a few weeks, but me and my friends played Build 40 multiplayer for like three months straight!
     
    How did you get into PZ modding? Did you have experience making or modding other games previously?
     
    The most experience I had with Blender was smashing together two models like a caveman beating on rocks to add some arms to the gun models in System Shock 2. Most of my modding in other games has been simple stuff like changing weapon damage in config files.
     
    When did you start developing your used car mod? How long have you spent making it? How has it changed and developed over time?
     
    I sometimes get into creative phases that last a while. I used to just waste time in games like Space Engineers or Interstellar Rift, then get disgusted with myself for wasting so much time. When I started modelling a few cars sometime in 2018, I just kinda went wild, ignored my girlfriend for like two months and threw a buncha models together into a pack. I can’t really tell ya how much time’s gone into it all together, but it was definitely a lotta fun.
     
    It all started with a boxy, torn looking model that didn’t even light up and snowballed into 70 or 90 something vehicles and trailers. I’ve lost count! Most other stuff has just been keeping up with the game’s new features. I’m really not looking forward to vehicle interiors and animated doors and stuff, oh man…
     
    Your car mod is one of the most popular PZ mods of all time. Do you have an interest in cars in real life? If so, what’s your dream car?
     
    Man, I never expected the mod to blow up like it did! It’s crazy to think that something like 90k people are using it. 
     
    I used to be super into older muscle cars. I had a 1971 Impala for a good few years. It was beat to shit, had a rusted-through leaky vinyl roof filled with Great Stuff™ foam, no working AC, but I loved it (still do) and wanted to add it to the game. I also had an ‘83 El Camino and a ‘68 Bonneville, but I think I’ve gotten to the point where I prefer the ease and comfort of modern stuff. Old stuff is so much easier to work on, though. (Like, the engine compartment of my Impala was an empty aircraft hangar compared to my Corolla!) 
     
    As for my dream car? I used to really want a 1968 Buick Wildcat or LeSabre convertible. Now I’m thinkin’ I’d like another El Camino.
     
    Do you have a favourite from your own vehicles in the mod? Have players given feedback on their favourites? Or least favourite?
     
    Shoot, that’s kinda a hard choice. I guess I’m more drawn to the Suburban and the Blazer when I’m playing. I’m pretty happy about some of the references I’ve put on stuff, like the moving truck or Pazuzu box trucks. A lot of people seem really thrilled over the military stuff and easter egg vehicles I’ve thrown in there.
     
    How difficult is it for you to model new cars, and keep them consistent with the style of the base game’s graphics? How long does it take you to debug them?
     
    Making new cars has gotten a LOT easier since I first started. I still have to Google half the stuff I’m trying to do on Blender. I’ve never been super artistic, so the texturing was more of a science than an art to me. I tried to copy the vanilla style as much as possible and it worked out somehow. If the game didn’t go for the low poly style, there’s definitely no way I could match it.
     
    Scripting and debugging the vehicles was actually more difficult than modelling them when I first started. You’d have to change a few settings for, like, tire locations, start the game, test, close it, change, start, test, repeat. Thankfully, TIS added some tools to debug mode that make it super simple now!
     
    How have you found the PZ community? How helpful has their feedback been? Is there anyone in the PZ community you would like to give a shout-out/thanks to?
     
    I’m not really the most social dude, but I’ve had lots of helpful bug reports. Sometimes when I add in a buncha stuff, I miss some really small, stupid little thing that screws something big up. It’s definitely nice when someone catches that.
     
    And heck yeah, I’ve got some people to thank! Super early on, Soul Filcher helped me out with getting the models to load. Then Fenris Wolf wrote pretty much ALL the code for the old model loading system and made it super-efficient and simple for even someone like me to understand!
     
    My buddy Blair (Planet Algol) has been helping me with fuel trailers recently. And by helping me out, I mean he literally wrote all the code for it!
     
    Shout-out too to Hurley who helped test the last version, and MrDanny who’s been really nice and helpful to people in my Discord who are learning to mod.
     
    And Charger? You get a shout out just for being Charger.
     
    Finally, an obvious one, but I’d like to thank the devs for everything, ESPECIALLY the debug tools!
     
    What vehicles or vehicle features would you most like to see added to the base game?
     
    Repainting vehicles and customising parts would be great. Like, some having carburettors and others having fuel injection, some having a manual and others having automatic transmission. I think it’s probably already in the works, but being able to add like a luggage rack or big f-off bumper would be awesome too
     
    Other than your own, which mods/maps do you enjoy or find interesting?
     
    Besides testing, I haven’t actually played much in the last few years! Back in Build 40, ORGM was/is a must. Clearing out Fort Redstone was super memorable, too. The hospital there was packed to the brim with zombarinos. We had to go outside because we kept getting sick from all the bodies! Wild times, man.
     
    What’s next in your modding plans? What’s the dream?
     
    Blair and I have a gun mod in the works. It’s mostly modelled and planned out, we’re just waiting for changes to the vanilla game to get a little more stable so he doesn’t have to redo a bunch of code. We’ve had another idea floating around for a long while too, but we’re gonna keep that under wraps for now. It’s not gonna be a roadside picnic, so it might not even pan out. But I gotta admit, my ultimate creative dream is to make my own game!
     
    Thanks to Filibuster for taking time to answer our questions! You can find his car mod here.
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