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Official Build 32 Zombie Population Feedback Thread


Batsphinx

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 In the future these settings will be in the Sandbox options.

 

 

Thank you! If I get it right these might be the solution to satisfy any and all zombie needs. I find this exceptionally important in repopulating a cleared area:

 

# The number of hours that must pass before zombies migrate to empty parts of the same cell.

# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0

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Alright, so I've spent a while fiddling with zombie settings (until I realized that I have to delete zpop.bin files after each edit, oh well!), And currently I'm on a great run. Finally stopped using knives and dying constantly, because they're currently bugged and don't do the jaw stab kills on specific zombies.

 

So far I'm playing with these zombies.ini settings :

# Same as the sandbox "Zombie Count" setting.# 4.0 = Insane, 2.0 = High, 1.0 = Normal, 0.35 = Low, 0.0 = None.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.0PopulationMultiplier=1.0# Adjusts the desired population at the start of the game.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=0.8PopulationStartMultiplier=1.0# Adjusts the desired population on the peak day.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.2PopulationPeakMultiplier=3.0# The day when the population reaches it's peak.# Minimum=1 Maximum=365 Default=28PopulationPeakDay=28# The number of hours that must pass before zombies may respawn in a cell.# If zero, spawning is disabled.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=24.0RespawnHours=72.0# The number of hours that a chunk must be unseen before zombies may respawn in it.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RespawnUnseenHours=16.0# The fraction of a cell's desired population that may respawn every RespawnHours.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=1.0 Default=0.1RespawnMultiplier=0.1# The number of hours that must pass before zombies migrate to empty parts of the same cell.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RedistributeHours=12.0# The distance a virtual zombie will try to walk towards the last sound it heard.# Minimum=10 Maximum=1000 Default=100FollowSoundDistance=1000# The distance real zombies travel to form groups when idle.# Minimum=5 Maximum=50 Default=20RallyDistance=50# The size of groups real zombies form when idle. Zero means zombies don't form groups.# Minimum=0 Maximum=1000 Default=20RallyGroupSize=500# The duration in minutes of a zombie rally-point.# The longer this is, the less often groups form.# Minimum=5 Maximum=1440 Default=10RallyDurationMinutes=10 

 

A few explanations as to why the numbers are like these :

 

- PopulationMultiplier=1.0 because the survival should start with normal zombie numbers.

- PopulationStartMultiplier=1.0 instead of 0.8 because of the reason above. The game should start with the already "normal" numbers in mind.

- PopulationPeakMultiplier=3.0 Because when the population reaches the peak day, I want the zombie numbers to be somewhere between "Insane" and "High". Zombies reach the peak of their population at day 28.

Why? Because usually at day 28 experienced players have played enough of the game to gather all the essentials they need for base building and securing of perimeter. If, by that time, the random meta events (<3) don't eradicate their safehouses already, going outside would essentially mean running into a lot of zombies and potentially bringing them back. Also, at around day 28 it is fair for the game to have a spike in difficulty, which either comes -before- the electricity/water shutoff, -after- or -along- with it. Also, high zombie numbers constantly moved around by meta-events and near-constant onslaught of zombie hordes on their base will eventually force players to relocate out in the wilderness (which, honestly, they should have already done by now).

- RespawnHours=72.0, RespawnUnseenHours=16.0 and RespawnMultiplier=0.1 . Now these settings I'm really confident with, they are good enough for zombies to never "visibly" spawn in a cleared out area EVEN if you are using the zombie spawn map to track the zombie migration. What those three settings in unison do, basically, is they make 10% of an overall cell population respawn each 3 days, and you have to not see the specific area for 16 in game hours for them to spawn in that chunk. These settings make sure that zombies never "respawn" in your cell if all you do is sit inside your safehouse, eating away at your reserves and occasionally clean the perimeter of zombies. The only zombies that will show up are those that migrated from other cells by meta-events or when they are occupying an empty area. However, if you leave the area (let's say for a long loot run), and don't return in about 16 in game hours, the zombies will start spawning (10% per 3 days) around your safehouse. The system in place, as I'll repeat again, ensures that zombies don't "visibly" spawn in a cleared area, but still fill it up if you don't visit it for a while.

- RedistributeHours=12.0 Twice a day, overly huge, clumped hordes in an unloaded area will start moving around and occupy empty spaces. Sometimes they will cross cells, sometimes they will flood the area where your safehouse is (which has happened to me). It's quite fair for it to happen like this.

- RallyDistance=50, RallyGroupSize=500 and RallyDurationMinutes=10 I wasn't quite sure how it worked. I specifically put the rally group size at half the maximum amount, rally distance at max and rally duration at near minimum to see how big the hordes would form, but all it did, essentially, was make them clump around a single spot and travel from 1 edge of loaded spot to the other just to join another group (Which looked pretty good for me, simulated hordes moving on it's own!)

 

 

Now, to my experiences.

 

My usual favorite safehouse (here) did not work out as a safehouse anymore. The sheer number of zombies accompanied with very little neighboring houses to loot essentially made it near impossible to secure properly, before first meta-game noises started flooding the area. Of course, since I was testing the game, I used the dynamic zombie map to see which area had the least amount of zombies assigned for a single cell (For the sake of fun, I won't include which house I took place in). The cell, on normal zombie population, only had 15 zombies assigned to it's total population, and had about 4-5 neighboring houses to loot in. Granted, it was very open, and the houses were 1 floor high, but the meta-noises only were dangerous if there was a high influx of zombies on the north/west, and the gunshot sounded from the south/east. ONLY due to having dynamic zombie map on me, I was certain that I had no reason to worry about zombies flooding in from either east or north.

 

I've killed those little zombies that left of the total of 15 (remaining were already long pulled away by metagame noises) and barricaded the house, using planks from broken doors and as much as mere 5 nails that I've found in a cupboard.

 

Days went by, overly-mega-overpopulated neighboring cells (I'm talking about 900-600 kind of overpopulated) to the north constantly exchanged zombies with each other with never stopping gunshots. I took my time to gather some sticks and sharp stones from the nearby forest line to the east, cutting down nearby trees and setting up log walls around the windows.

 

The first attack happened when the gunshot brought the high influx of zombies from the north. Zombies started pouring in all over the place, some hordes passing by, and some "sticking" to my house and bashing on my defenses. In a mere night the 0/15 cell became 230/15. Due to high range of rally point, almost every zombie within loaded cell clumped together into 1, big mega-zombie-clump, consisting of maybe 50-90 zombies. And they all were standing outside my safehouse, a single "Hey you!" away from fucking up my entire place. I loaded all the canned food and a few essentials into a big hiking bag and just kept waiting for another meta-event to drive them away, ready in case they decide to all bash down into my house at once. I was thrilled about the idea that the horde may just randomly walk into my direction, eradicating my hideout.

 

But it took too long, and the clump ever so slowly moved into the direction of my safehouse. I decided to make a move and lure them away.

 

I stopped playing after luring the horde around the cell and leaving it behind quite a distance away. meta-game noise drove them away, but a few days later another, HUGE horde arrived at my cell because of another meta-noise.

 

tl;dr - I LOVE IT.

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So build 32.5 3 survival months in i just woke up from a loot run no zombie in the area. Goto bed wake up tend to the farm go to look around the base and i see this.

 

ppPWZvS.jpg

 

Safe house is located here: http://pzmap.crash-override.net/?#0.7858100018330376,0.1418222274795575,114.47545997288273 Its a great place as the zombies cannot enter at all and it has a trailer in it.

 

The area has been pretty dead. Well it was untell today any way. Its not a huge deal i can kill them though the chain link fence but damn :)

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Here's some feedback from 32.6 First, Zombie.ini

# Same as the sandbox "Zombie Count" setting.# 4.0 = Insane, 2.0 = High, 1.0 = Normal, 0.35 = Low, 0.0 = None.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.0PopulationMultiplier=1.0# Adjusts the desired population at the start of the game.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=0.8PopulationStartMultiplier=0.35# Adjusts the desired population on the peak day.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.2PopulationPeakMultiplier=2.0# The day when the population reaches it's peak.# Minimum=1 Maximum=365 Default=28PopulationPeakDay=100# The number of hours that must pass before zombies may respawn in a cell.# If zero, spawning is disabled.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=24.0RespawnHours=72.0# The number of hours that a chunk must be unseen before zombies may respawn in it.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RespawnUnseenHours=6.0# The fraction of a cell's desired population that may respawn every RespawnHours.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=1.0 Default=0.1RespawnMultiplier=0.3# The number of hours that must pass before zombies migrate to empty parts of the same cell.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RedistributeHours=12.0# The distance a virtual zombie will try to walk towards the last sound it heard.# Minimum=10 Maximum=1000 Default=100FollowSoundDistance=250# The distance real zombies travel to form groups when idle.# Minimum=5 Maximum=50 Default=20RallyDistance=30# The size of groups real zombies form when idle. Zero means zombies don't form groups.# Minimum=0 Maximum=1000 Default=20RallyGroupSize=100# The duration in minutes of a zombie rally-point.# The longer this is, the less often groups form.# Minimum=5 Maximum=1440 Default=10RallyDurationMinutes=60



Like LeoIvanov I'll first explain why I have those settings like they are.

Start and peak multiplier are 0.35 and 2.0 because I wanted to check how it works, It's nice to have an increasing difficulty but I shouldn't have started with 0.35, 0.70 would have been fine. It gave me some breathing room at the beginning and the game is now getting harder. Peak day is 100 days because I just felt like surviving for at the very least three months.

Areas need to be unseen for 3 days just because I wanted to have cleared areas stay clear for more than a few minutes.

Follow sound distance is about right, zombies come pouring in when something happens and I like that, keeps me on my toes when breaking in to new houses.

I also wanted to have big hordes but not too often so I tweaked the grouping settings a bit, it feels about right too, those are the kinds of groups I won't try to touch but also they won't kill my performance.
------------------------------------ Now for surviving --------------------------------
I survived for almost two months and I am still going, the easy beginning allowed to me to establish a base and gather some supplies, about enough to survive for a month if rationed properly.

First month was quiet, a few lone wanderers here and there, some knocked at my door and head their brains knocked out for their trouble, nothing I couldn't handle.

After the 1 month mark zombies started to travel from place to place in numbers, I could see various sized groups moving from the roof of my base (20-40 size hordes) very few tried to attack but then again, I was quiet at the time.

Eventually I think some meta sound played over my base because I had 5 zombies at every barricaded entry point, I managed to take them out but got scratched twice (No infection, luckily).

Just now I had a horde of 50-60 just standing outside doing nothing, I tried hard not to aggro them because that would be the end of me, they eventually moved away and I was very relieved when they did.

I'm loving it so far, I think I found the perfect settings at my first try. Number of zombies keeps increasing and watching them move makes me really feel un-safe, I'm one or two meta sounds away from evacuation (which will not happen because I broke my leg and have slow healer so it's been healing for a month now and will likely take another one)

Can't wait to have those settings as proper sandbox options for easier tweaks.

Edit: Other settings: 15 Min Days, Very Rare Food, Normal Weapons, Abundant Other, No Utilities, Default Lore. I also play with Weapon Nerf mod, without it I could handle much bigger groups of zombies with ease, as it is, I only take on 5 at a time MAX and even that is risky as hell.

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Since TIS asked that we give feedback on the zombie repopulation system, here it is :

 

IT IS TOO DAMN HIGH !!

 

Look, I don't have any problem withs zeds, I killed 7.5k of them, but even though my safehouse is heavily protected (in survival mode), I am under constant attack by zombies from all sides. It ranges from a group of 4-8 to waves of dozens ! All the time ! All I'm doing is patrolling my perimeter wall pushing them back, burning through my stock of melee weapons !

 

Don't get me wrong, this system is one of the best thing that happenned to PZ in a while IMO but it needs to be tweaked somehow. I don't know how it's working, I haven't seen it on any mondoid but please tone it down a little it's getting impossible to do anything other than patrolling your base.

 

EDIT : Sorry I misplaced this thread in the first place, I promise I looked around before I posted

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Since TIS asked that we give feedback on the zombie repopulation system, here it is :

 

IT IS TOO DAMN HIGH !!

 

Look, I don't have any problem withs zeds, I killed 7.5k of them, but even though my safehouse is heavily protected (in survival mode), I am under constant attack by zombies from all sides. It ranges from a group of 4-8 to waves of dozens ! All the time ! All I'm doing is patrolling my perimeter wall pushing them back, burning through my stock of melee weapons !

 

Don't get me wrong, this system is one of the best thing that happenned to PZ in a while IMO but it needs to be tweaked somehow. I don't know how it's working, I haven't seen it on any mondoid but please tone it down a little it's getting impossible to do anything other than patrolling your base.

I agree. At first the zombies are too overpopulated but late game it does become better due to the amount you need to kill early on. I feel this should be the opposite due to how the infection would go. More zombies infected with a few killed. Well instead it seems there is millions to start and then they all just... sorta... poof. Not entirely just "poof" but they disperse and become manageable.

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I disagree.

 

As someone who has spent a lot of his time inside a single safehouse instead of constantly running from house to house in the early game, I could say that zombies do anything but "spawn around", but it might be the zombies.ini settings that I've been using throughout the playthroughs.

 

Upon inspecting how zombies behave, it was very clear to me that rarely any of these zombies in surrounding cells actually "spawn" anymore. An overwhelming majority of zombies are ACTUALLY moved around by either meta-game noise, or they disperse and move by themselves once in a while, if the cell is overpopulated and there's big clusters of them in a single spot. Sometimes, If there are, for example, 3 overpopulated cells neighboring 1 underpopulated (3 cells with 500/100 zombies neighboring 1 cell with 15/25), the zombie clusters from those overpopulated zones will move in into underpopulated one.

 

All I'm trying to say is that "spawning" of zombies is the least of your issues, and when they do actually spawn, they do it in such a way that you would never notice if they actually "spawned" in or "moved in" from the random gunshot, or to "populate an empty space".

 

The settings I'm currently playing with (Those seem to be near-best):

 

# Same as the sandbox "Zombie Count" setting.# 4.0 = Insane, 2.0 = High, 1.0 = Normal, 0.35 = Low, 0.0 = None.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.0PopulationMultiplier=1.0# Adjusts the desired population at the start of the game.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=0.8PopulationStartMultiplier=1.0# Adjusts the desired population on the peak day.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=4.0 Default=1.2PopulationPeakMultiplier=3.0# The day when the population reaches it's peak.# Minimum=1 Maximum=365 Default=28PopulationPeakDay=28# The number of hours that must pass before zombies may respawn in a cell.# If zero, spawning is disabled.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=24.0RespawnHours=72.0# The number of hours that a chunk must be unseen before zombies may respawn in it.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RespawnUnseenHours=16.0# The fraction of a cell's desired population that may respawn every RespawnHours.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=1.0 Default=0.1RespawnMultiplier=0.1# The number of hours that must pass before zombies migrate to empty parts of the same cell.# Minimum=0.0 Maximum=8760.0 Default=6.0RedistributeHours=12.0# The distance a virtual zombie will try to walk towards the last sound it heard.# Minimum=10 Maximum=1000 Default=100FollowSoundDistance=1000# The distance real zombies travel to form groups when idle.# Minimum=5 Maximum=50 Default=20RallyDistance=15# The size of groups real zombies form when idle. Zero means zombies don't form groups.# Minimum=0 Maximum=1000 Default=20RallyGroupSize=50# The duration in minutes of a zombie rally-point.# The longer this is, the less often groups form.# Minimum=5 Maximum=1440 Default=10RallyDurationMinutes=50 

 

 

The only thing in those settings I'm still conflicted about is the peak day. I'm not sure if 28 days for zombies to reach near-insane amount of zombies is fair and works well with "slowly crawling up dynamic difficulty" that the game already offers. But so far - so good, if you are careful in the early-game, use construction and foraging to your advantage to get the barricades, set your base in small populated area with as little zombies as possible (Out in the suburbs, for example), then you'd have no trouble clearing the perimeter and staying alive for well over the month with these settings. But meta-noises and zombie migration, sooner or later, will bring HORDES to your doorstep, and you'll either have to fight an unwinnable battle, relocate or die there. And THAT is good. Zombies SHOULD force you to relocate, no matter how many you think you can kill.

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I agree with you on the last part : that zombies are meant to cause you big trouble. And not only am I super grateful for this system which makes the game a hundred fold better but I actually asked for it fr a long time now.

 

The problem is that I went from "not a single zombie in a 2 km radius" to "killing 1000 zombies in 1 irl afternoon"

 

My days in PZ look all the same : waking up late because spent too much time piling up corpses for when burning them will be available, going back to sleep and spend the whole day patolling the perimeter wall killing packs of zeds and then piling tem up again...

 

And I'm saying all this while having a badass character with 8K kills and a stronghold for safehouse

 

I don't find time to tend my garden and check my traps (which are also overwhelmed by zombies). Or make runs to clear paths or whatever...

 

I'll do more testing and see if it settles down after a while but I really doublt it because I played a good deal and the area around my safehouse used to be squeaky clean..

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Survival, 32.6

I finally found a saw :) Zombies now tend to spawn in small groups near my current forest base, as they should. Made me make a log wall around (that and unwilling to waste nails for carpentry :P) Not sure if I'm entirely content with how many there are in town... Probably my weak laptop which likes to lag when I sprint between two hordes closing in on me :D

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Update to my last report:

I now made it to 3 month mark, zombie population very visibly increased and my safehouse is getting attacked much more frequently but there wasn't any attack I couldn't handle with some skill (although I might have to move soon). Going out to loot is much, much harder however.

To sum things up, I like what I did with zombies.ini settings, dieing from boredom doesn't seem to be the case any longer (Usually I got on berserk trips after 2-3 months because I got bored to tears) Having a fortified safehouse is now an essential part of survival.

I'd say all issues with zombies and difficulty are well on their way to be officially fixed. We just need some limited randomness to all of the settings so it's all less predictable.

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Hell no !

 

I left my house for a couple of minutes and when I'm back there are zeds inside my house??? This is not acceptable.

 

I know the zombie generation system is in early stage but this is a deal breaker, so it has to be fixed quickly cause I'm not playing PZ if the only safe place you have is not safe anymore.

 

wxtirKR.pngModerator Warning

This is a thread for feedback, not saying something is "unacceptable" or threatening to not play because you don't agree with something. You are one person, and your feedback is not any more important than anyone else's.

To add to this, you agreed to the following:

 

"I will not get angry or complain of any bugs, or remark that 'this build is more buggy than the last one!' or similar - That is the entire reason it's on this branch."

 

We need feedback, but not in a "destructive" expression. Consider not playing the IWBUMS build if it is that frustrating to you. If you continue posting like this you will be given a break from the forums.

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Update: Got run off from my base by a pretty big horde, I was right when I said I'd have to move soon. I had just enough time to grab some tools, seeds, water and food, I'm now moving away from civilization to lead a quiet life of a farmer somewhere in the forest.

I kinda hope I won't see another zombie for a while, and that's a nice thing to say in PZ.

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Hell no !

 

I left my house for a couple of minutes and when I'm back there are zeds inside my house??? This is not acceptable.

 

I know the zombie generation system is in early stage but this is a deal breaker, so it has to be fixed quickly cause I'm not playing PZ if the only safe place you have is not safe anymore.

 

Did you happen to notice if they had a specific entry point? Because zombies, as they stand now, have a tendency to break into random houses, even if there's nobody inside. 

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Did you happen to notice if they had a specific entry point? Because zombies, as they stand now, have a tendency to break into random houses, even if there's nobody inside. 

 

Of course not, I'm patrolling the area every single morning and the thing is a damn fortress ! I can't believe this crap. There were 4 of them banging against the doors inside the very house, which was closed btw

 

EDIT : I modified the "zombie" file of my save hoping to lower their numbers but them spawning inside safeplace is just a deal breaker

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-snip-

I kinda hope I won't see another zombie for a while, and that's a nice thing to say in PZ.

 

For a while, yes. For a longer while - no.

 

The 'move zombies to empty space' system works like pouring water on a flat surface - water will expand in all directions and that's exaclty what zombies do at the moment.

They'll move to an empty space where there is not enough zombies and then zombies in 'back row' will move to where those have left from. Then those zombies in 'front line' will move further etc etc. Rinse and repeat. I had a nice and quite forest house for a bit. It ain't quiet anymore. Just killed about 300 zombies in a few days. Those damn rifle shot meta-sounds...

 

EDIT: and good luck with foraging :) Forests are not safe anymore :P

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-snip-

I kinda hope I won't see another zombie for a while, and that's a nice thing to say in PZ.

 

For a while, yes. For a longer while - no.

 

The 'move zombies to empty space' system works like pouring water on a flat surface - water will expand in all directions and that's exaclty what zombies do at the moment.

 

Oh, I'm counting on it. It'd be dull if my forest safehouse stayed safe for very long but a week or two of peace after losing 3 months of looting and building would be acceptable. Especially since I'll need to make some runs for loot anyway.

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Did you happen to notice if they had a specific entry point? Because zombies, as they stand now, have a tendency to break into random houses, even if there's nobody inside. 

 

Of course not, I'm patrolling the area every single morning and the thing is a damn fortress ! I can't believe this crap. There were 4 of them banging against the doors inside the very house, which was closed btw

 

EDIT : I modified the "zombie" file of my save hoping to lower their numbers but them spawning inside safeplace is just a deal breaker

 

I do believe that when you leave a cell, the Z's #'s are taken note of, but not their position. So that when you re-open the cell, the Z's spawn (randomly?) based on your settings. I think it's pretty annoying, but when I explain how that happens on my server to my family that plays w/ me, I explain it like this:

Some guy came over while we were gone and died in the bathroom. Or that some bandit trapped some Z's in there for kicks.

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I do believe that when you leave a cell, the Z's #'s are taken note of, but not their position. So that when you re-open the cell, the Z's spawn (randomly?) based on your settings. I think it's pretty annoying, but when I explain how that happens on my server to my family that plays w/ me, I explain it like this:

 

Some guy came over while we were gone and died in the bathroom. Or that some bandit trapped some Z's in there for kicks.

 

Zombies' position is actually saved along with their numbers when you leave the cell, the times when they "change" positions happen depending if they're tightly grouped up together - then every X hours, depending on your zombies.ini, zombies will occupy the empty space and "spread out" in the cell. New zombies also come from surrounding cells if meta-noise draws them towards it. New zombies "spawn" around only when you leave the cell for a certain amount of time (a day for example), and only if the population of the cell is lower than "desired".

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Survival, 32.6

I managed to survive for 8 months now, can bring a proof if needed. I have a feeling that if I get a couple of certain resources, build a right kind of structure in a right place, that'd make me invincible and 100% self-sustainable. What I realised is this game doesn't need to increase zed spawn numbers only, it also must have them break through almost any furniture which stands between them and player and is normally destructible (e.g. crates) That and nerfing of some game mechanics.

Edit: typos, typos

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