[41.65][Multiplayer]Zombies deleted from hordes following you while still in sight

[Paytonian556]

	• Version 41.65
	• Multiplayer?
	• Host
	• Modded: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2731337048 
	• Reproduction steps:
            1. Join game
            2. Make noise
            3. Have zombies follow you
            4. Kite/train the zombies for a while
            5. Voila, the zombies will start disappearing from the horde right before your very eyes

     I've noticed this ever since multiplayer released and I'm going to assume that it is a bug due to no comment on zombie culling being a thing (especially this dramatic) in any of the official patch notes/thursdoids, and The Indie Stone have in the past usually been really good at being transparent on changes to the fundamental gameplay mechanics. The way zombies are just deleted from hordes with impunity while "out of sight" completely messes up the previously extremely persistent zombies that are in the world, before MP update you could do something like go into town, find a car with a siren on one side of town, set it off and go loot the other side of town while all the zombies are drawn away and they will all stay/congregate at the location of the noise for a while, but now as soon as you're pretty much out of sight of any large noises they will pretty much be ignored by zombies and they will then either be deleted or immediately start moving away from the sound source to balance out the population density in that area (pretty much returning to where they came from). Pre MP update that would work, zombies would be a lot more prevalent in said area for days or maybe even weeks depending on other meta noises or you being in the area, but now it feels like the world is barely affected zombie population and density wise, since everything will just revert back as soon as you leave the cell, and that's not even covering if you have no respawn on and the game just decides to delete "excess" zombies, meaning all you need to do is run through a town screaming and you'll reduce its population by half. It's sad that this is just potentially a non-solution to optimization in MP, sacrificing the persistence of the zombies and the world around you (a major part of what makes this game special and different from every other zombie sandbox game out there) for some extra frames/stability. Also, this just gets rid of an entire style of gameplay, closing off stealth and redirection of zombies and just leaving the option to kill every zombie in sight or die (or cheese the game and just walk around until they all delete themselves).

Yes, I have mods installed on this specific instance, but this has mainly been an issue on non modded servers for me and highly reproduceable, and I always get much better footage of this stuff happening when I'm just playing the game how I like instead of loading up a completely unmodded debug server and just trying to force things to happen.

TL:DR Zombies delete themselves in large numbers when out of direct sight, making zombie gathering in a contained/small area with persistence impossible.  Pretty much closes off entire gameplay style of distracting zombies and makes playing without respawn unplayable (in a "makes the game too easy" sense when all the zombies are just deleted). I just want to know if this is permanent or if the game will go back to the way it was

 

 

Videos of my magic zombies:
https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/8Zhhnzqx64no0/d1337ekaGG0X?invite=cr-MSxUSlosMjgxMzAzMTks
https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/8ZhEJvtYOtuno/d1337NoWLDuw?invite=cr-MSxaSG8sMjgxMzAzMTks
https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/8Zi1wiEARToLU/d1337Ymg1g6v?invite=cr-MSxEelMsMjgxMzAzMTks

https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/8ZinQQYPEXsfV/d1337029aOAz?invite=cr-MSxaYWQsMjgxMzAzMTks

https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/8ZiB7HpHRJT_z/d1337dsC4JtO?invite=cr-MSxVdmosMjgxMzAzMTks

Magic Zombies pre-release[41.61]:
https://medal.tv/games/project-zomboid/clips/5icmuCDPj6-H-/d1337jf5n9Ja?invite=cr-MSw5OGssMjgxMzAzMTks

 

 

logs.zip

[tdac]

ive had this issue as well except they load back in after a certain time, and they will 100% load back in directly on top of my character at times

[Valinra]

This is a major issue that absolutely breaks the game on MP games even without all the mods this still happens. From what I can gather this is intentional on the Dev.'s end. Please give us like a slider and let us ruin our MP game on our own terms. Performance is optimal, yes, but roleplaying is necessary and this is ruining it for many.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Valinra
I noticed they had mods listed and I don't want to just open another forum and waste everyone's time.