[Server Tools]

ST has been updated again. It is now at 12.94 for Alpha 17.2 and 12.72 for Alpha 17.1.

 

Linux users, you will find a fix provided to get servertools working for you. Please follow the provided instructions found inside the zip file.

[Server Tools]

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?77267-Servertools-updated-to-5-5

 

Please post questions and requests to this thread instead. It has more up to date information posted.

 

You can join the discord channel as well. https://discord.gg/6G8VZQg

 

ST 12+ is for A17. A17 is a mess between the experimental versions and now finally the "stable".

 

ST 11.8 will work for those using A16. Do not downgrade ST, it will not work. You must clear it out and reinstall it if you are downgrading to a previous version.

 

There is no official support for linux if that is what you are using. It does work if you know how to strip the source files. A linux compatible version is being made that strips sqlite from the load process for you.

 

ST requires an sql database operating for data saves. Linux user should use MySQL but most users need sqlite stripped from the load process first or they will receive errors.

 

After installing the files from the zip file located on the ST github releases section, you must start your server. After it has finished loading, shut it down. Check your output log for any reported errors and that ST loaded the required dll properly. If no errors were reported by ST and the dll loaded, you can locate your world save directory where you will now find a Servertools folder with a few xml files inside. The config file allows you to set the majority of the setting for ST. When a tool is enabled, some of them will create a new xml file.

 

The HowToSetup.xml is not up to date. This will be updated in the future but for now we are working on bugs, not instruction manuals.

 

Every single console command is shown in the list with a prefix so you know if it is from ST. Typing help command will give you information about that particular command and how to use it.

[Server Tools]

This tool has been merged with another author, myself. You can find more info and support at

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?77267-Servertools-updated-to-5-5

 

It is still called ServerTools but its up to version 10.4 now. No known bugs at this time.

[Server Tools]

This mod has been updated to 5.6 and has a new author working on the project, me.

 

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?77267-Servertools-updated-to-5-5

["The PvP Update"]

I would like to see the EAC system implement silent screenshots of the players screens and then sent to the server hosts. EAC has this capacity so it would be a great step into long term cheat prevention. With so many players still cheating and finding exploits, it can be a great tool for PVP when trying to catch someone.

["The PvP Update"]

I guess I should chime in here at some point.

 

PVP is an interesting beast. The reasons for a player enjoying PVP are broader than PVE players. They are adding an entirely new enemy to their strategies and new dynamics for failure.

 

With that in mind, PVP should be nothing like PVE. The current stats, boosts, perks, health on zombies, they are all oriented towards the PVE end of the game.

 

I am a little surprised the perks and skill are done as they are in general. I would like to see a skill go to 100 such as pistols but at a much slower rate and only from use. You should not be able to put points into certain skills, you have to achieve them. Most skills would be better if discovered through use or reading schematics and books. Your character should learn the perk or skill, not buy it with points. After traveling certain distances, you get a small reduction in the chance to break legs from fall damage. Every 1000km it reduces chances by 1% up to 15%.

 

The entire perk/skill system needs to be looked at. It is not that PVP needs its own mode, it is that the PVE is a biased system not made for anything BUT PVE.

 

Back to the example of pistol skill. Have a pistol be a generic pistol, shots do 12-15 damage or whatever you find appropriate but someone with a higher skill in pistols gets reduced reload time or better accuracy, but slight. Up to 15% difference. The same pistol used by another player with lower pistol skill still does the base damage but none of the bonus as the skills of handling pistols have not improved yet. Adding direct damage is the issue. You have a pistol do 15 damage and a sniper rifle does over 70. Then if you take into account the head shot bonus, it gets a little absurd. Even if both players were level 1, the range in damage of the high end sniper vs low end pistol is staggering. This is where you can see it was setup for PVE but even then the range is far too big.

 

Another example of a skill/perk with a different system is this. Healing from med kits should be defined by your medicine skill up to 100. The higher your skill, the more it heals. The same kit used by a player not leveled up would only heal a base amount of 25. Add a cooking skill that allows you to craft the base item but with stat boosts based on a skill out of 100. If someone else grabbed that food after being cooked, it would still have that boost when used.

 

Base items could also be crated with better base stats depending on the crafting level but it should be small. A top level player vs a low level should only see a spread of 20-30% at max between effectiveness of the same actions.

 

You get the reward of having a better character and working towards something but not over powering other players to the point they can not do anything to you. It keeps everyone feeling a very real danger.

 

With that in mind, the numbers used can not just be out of thin air. Working on some balances on paper are necessary. Take into consideration materials used in recipes and the time to acquire some mats. I would like to see the number of completed guns go down and only be found in a gun safe. Maybe a pistol in a toilet but lower chances please. Parts are more interesting as you have to collect them and assemble. It leaves the possibility of finding a low end part and high end part to get a mish mash in between BUT this comes in to the entire balance problem. Look at the range of durability or damage on some items currently and compare them across the board.

 

Upon comparison you will see there is no base ground that everything works around. Blocks that break down in tiers are insanely high in hit points when you work out the totals. This requires tools to have excessively large values and that inflates the difference between high and low end as you are using modifiers that are also too high on the perks.

 

Many players work out the best set of skills and fastest route to go so as to get ahead of others and hopefully out pace them. This is a good strategy but as stated, it inflates as it goes further. If a high end player was 30% stronger in their base abilities, a low level player has a chance. What you need is a configurable option to what that gap range is. Is the low end to high end 30% or 70% better. When you have that base line for the base game, it can be applied to all items and skills as a whole which would allow skills to go through usage in a fluid manner versus unlocking them with points. A more interesting path would be to force players to choose between specific skills at certain stages.

 

Level 50 gives you the option of unlocking two new skills. Whatever you want and they are all out of 100 and defined by usage, not pts put into them. you can still have some require others just as it is but getting rid of a set amount of points and instead rewarding an amount of skills or perks makes more sense to me for PVP, but really PVE as well.