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I agree with all three of these comments. Reverse engineering is a great idea. I'm estimating 200+ hours of gametime to get to steel, probably more unless you drop the level gate. Finally, I also cant bring myself to continue playing the mod knowing a new version is coming. Glad your starting on it soon.

I'm with Spider on this one, as much as I like the UMA models they really kill game performance unless used sparingly. I'd rather have a much larger MAX alive than a few UMAs in game. 8-10 max alive makes for a pretty weak apocalypse, and UMA only makes that worse. - - - Updated - - - @Spider - I thought zombie hand damage bonus was by material, not item. If you can do that it is certainly worth a go.

Or perhaps a combination of your starting zone idea and your zombie copy idea. The harder wood block might not be enough alone as the current zombies chew through cobblestone fast enough, but it would certainly help slow them down. I like to play an active defense rather than sitting up in a POI waiting for daytime, but in this mod that seemed to be my only survival option (I refuse to hide underground like a rat) in the early game. Thanks for considering this change!

I second the comment that we don't want an easier mod. IMO, changes beyond new functionality should be focused on making game-play "smoother"; that is, fewer "gotcha" gates that artificially slow down progression. The worst feeling I experienced playing this through was buying a perk, expecting to actually get that new functionality, then find there was a gate I had not yet gotten through that allows the perk to be used. I think in some cases that could be lessened by adding more information in the perk description, but I know there are limits to how much text you can use there. After a play through you come to know what skill levels you need for different things, but on the first time through it is confusing. I would also like you to consider making the wood era more interesting, where building wood bases are actually useful. Right now Z's chew through wood forts like butter in early game, so your forced into POIs made of stone or better. It would be interesting if you only spawned zombies that do low block damage, so you could build a small wood defense and hold it in the first weeks. Over game time, say when you expect someone to have moved into the stone phase, ramp this up by spawning Z's with higher block damage during the blood-moon. That way someone who likes to build bases to survive has a meaningful progression. I think you cant change the block damage spawn during the day, only during the bloodmoons or by zone, so thats why I suggest only increasing the block damage during the bloodmoon. I think this works because thats the only time I really ever had a significant attack on my bases anyway unless I forced on by generating lots of heat to attract Z's. Anyway, its just a suggestion. It always bothered me that in most mods a wood fort is useless, and since we spend so much time in the wood phase here, its especially so. Thanks.

I went to github and pulled down your latest master, and the mismatch still exists.

My bad, new to modding this game. To be clear then, the icons for tenderloinsteak and hoof do not show up in game. The icon for tenderloin steak is missing, and there is a capitalization mismatch on the hoof. The icon is hoof.png and the item is Hoof. I just assumed the customicon setting was how you made sure mismatches didnt matter. I changed hoof.png to Hoof.png and it appears in game now.

Sad to see the nice exp on Knives go, as well as my ramps, but oh well... The hoof and venison steak icons are in the folder now but don't show up in game as you left off the custom icon code line in the items.xml file. Thanks for another great update!

I think that is intentional for multi player purposes, as naming it incorrectly prevents the item from appearing in your pack when disassembled. That way it cannot be moved. In single player I edited those lines so i can move them.

Started as engineer, found wrench, gathered scrap iron, crafted a forge and anvil, then made hunting knives that level skill crazy fast. This way I have several 500+ spear that make quick work of any Z's bothering me. 1. Ok, I get what I missed on leveling wood. Didn't know breaking down planks into sticks leveled wood. I may write a starter guide to help people unlearn things common to other mods. 2. I can't seem to smelt scrapsteel. Or maybe it just takes forever, which ties up a slot and so isn't practical. 3. Ran 2 forges at full blast on the floor of a second story POI all night and it didnt attract Z's. Nice! Will try three next. 4. Scraping file cabinets and shopping carts with a wrench takes forever, unlike desks and everything else in and around houses. Things to consider: There are a few things found in other mods that would make nice additions here. First is specific recipe icons for each specific workbench. Valmod has these and its real helpful figuring out what goes with what. Classes might be better (especially in SP) if it started with a class specific item. What cops wouldn't start the apocalypse with his sidearm? Engineer without a wrench or hammer, doctor without a medical bag etc. Without a better starter weapon in the other classes it makes no sense to start out in SP with anything other than an engineer or maybe a farmer. I want a follower dog to spawn near me on day 1. I miss my dog. Maybe make a special tool that only upgrades wood, and maybe one for stone too, then make the wrench metal only upgrades. Alternatively, let each special tool upgrade the material type at and below it, but make the higher material tools rare in loot and harder to craft. Thanks again for listening to these ideas. Still loving the mod.

You can make Cobble ramps (and all the shapes) at Wood Level 20 but why bother as you need wood level 55 to make a cobblestone. If you want a ramp, the truss ramp is easy to make once you setup a forge (which seems the easiest workbench to craft). I use the truss ramp to extend the roof of a POI out far enough and just sit and shot down on bloodmoon nights as well. Heck, you can build a better base just with that 1 block than you can with wood or stone.

Understood. I think if that's the model (and its a good one) you should consider opening up the full wood block range and a tool to upgrade wood blocks earlier so its worth building something. Building with wood frames and old wood blocks isn't worth the time. I built those and burned them in the campfire and still am only L30 in wood at Level 20, but I'm L58 in Iron in just a few nights. Early on, I spent much of my time deconstructing houses at night just to get some nails for ladders. Without a hammer I can't really do much with wood. It would be much more fun to really have what you need to run with wood for 55 levels. That said, I'm new to this mod so maybe I have not discovered another tool besides the hammer to upgrade wood. ----> Update: OK, duh, the wrench can be used to upgrade wood blocks. Guess I missed this as it took me forever to find one (quality 7 no less) so I saved it for moving my forge and never tested it as an upgrade tool.

I understand, makes sense really. I guess the main issue I am running into is raising stone skill without having to grind stone axes. Cobblestones are still locked at Level 20 for me, I thought since I could make cobblestone frames, I could do something useful and bild a cobblestone base to raise the skill but since its locked (despite having high wood and iron skills) I think i'm forced to grind axes instead of playing the game. Am I missing a useful task to raise stone skill?

Per your post: Changed Tech Material Progression Wood Working lv55 to get to Cobblestone Stone Working lv55 to get Scrap Iron Building Stone Working lv65 to get Rebar Frames and Iron Crafting Iron Working lv75 to get Steel Ok, I'm wondering why stone skill is the prerequisite for Forged iron rather than iron skill? If anything, woodworking skills are more related to metalworking than masonry is. This might make more sense: Stone Working lv55 to get Cobblestone Wood Working lvxx to get to Scrap Iron Building Wood Working lvxx to get Rebar Frames and Iron Crafting Iron Working lv75 to get Steel

Generally seems to be working as intended, and I like the new material based progression. 1. No icon for the Hoof 2. Wounds definitely happening more often. I'm not sure about the Bandage changing code though. Twice I had a bandage on a wound that was timing down towards "dirty" then at zero time it never went to dirty, but inflicted a sprained leg etc. ---> Update: I got another bite and bandaged it, waited for it to time down and it switched to dirty bandage as it is supposed to. Not sure what happened before but this time I tested in controlled conditions so maybe something else happened like a Z in the grass hitting me or something like that.

I have not played far enough to be much help (Just made my first anvil on a forge that I moved with a wrench cause hey, it's SP and no one will object) and it seems you are optimizing for MP, which is understandable. I will mention just a few things I noticed that might be candidates for changes though. 1. I couldn't tell when crops were ready to be punched for harvest. I punched them a few days when they seemed done but nothing looted so I guess I was too early. I know the pick tool-tip isn't used because of how you need to harvest, but I hope there is a better way to tell than just ruining the crop. 2. Full bikes in boxes seem more plentiful than wrenches, or maybe that's just my strange luck. 3. You get to build a block wood frame for free, but need to spend points to get the rest of the shapes. Is that intended? 4. Can you find a grill in loot, or do you have to wait for a running forge? I have never seen one drop. 5. Getting 75 in stone working seems high before you can forge iron bars. I have about 3 points in it now at L11, and have a running forge making knives and nails. 75 seems like it will be a full-time grind for weeks making and repairing axes. Is that also intended? 6. Followers seem to freeze up and not fight more often than not, even ones with clubs, just waiting to be beat down. Is that a bug or intended? Seems to happen following a few punches, but that may not be whats causing it. 7. Zombies are not worth looting, and you explained why, which I agree with. However, is there a strong correlation between container and loot type? For example, looting dressers might most often give clothing, kitchen cabinets food and utensils, trash, well, trash loot, etc. If I'm freezing, I think i'd run around looking in bedroom closets and dressers for clothing, not in other locations. There seems to be some correlation, just not very strong in my limited experience so far. 8. As for raising medicine, how about limited exp for crafting aloe cream? Maybe add a fragile scalpel and if you use it to destroy Z corpses it raises medicine a bit. 9. The range on the spear seems good in SP, I still get hit when using it on the real fast Z's. Might be my technique. I run through them when using a club but it seems more accurate to backpedal while aiming above their heads. 10. I mentioned the no safezone in SP already, which I guess you can't fix. It makes starting in SP a real B.... I just had an idea though. This may only happen when you start with a land claim block in your inventory. That seems to be one difference between this mod and others that still provide a safe spawn area. I might try editing out that and try a new startup, once I find the xml file that holds the starting loot (probably in the professions) -Tested it, no impact because the area spawn happens before class selection.

That was it, the engine had a worn out part, so I built the second bike and tore down its engine for parts. All fueled up now. Thanks.

Question: I was fortunate enough to find 2 (seriously - 2) Bikes in a box in a basement when I was level 1. I stashed them cause I found a nice town that has gotten me to level 10 with few issues. My question is I can't seem to refuel the assembled bike. I have gas cans in both my pack and in the bike basket. I bought the gas perk. I read the dummies book. I have used bikes in other mods and know how to refuel, so I'm clearly missing something here. Knowing Spider he requires a very rare funnel that can only be found on Feral Z's...... ;-)

You can modify that setting in the biomes.xml Per the xml file: Description of Options: Temperature Values are in fahrenheit and subtract the temperature in this biome from the global temperature. Fog Values are between 0 and 100. The result is used to determine whether or not to use the "Foggy" Environment spectrums for lighting and fog intensities. If there is a Spectrum Condition defined in the WeatherManager prefab that checks for a "Fog" condition, the result of this Weather Control will be checked against for the biome. CloudThickness Values are between 0 and 100. 0 restricts any clouds from showing up in the sky. 100 allows for the thickest clouds in the sky. Precipitation Values are between 0 and 100. Values restrict a biome to allow the min and max intensity of rain in the biome. BUT!!! The result is dependant on CloudThickness as well. Clouds must be above 70 thickness in order for rain to be possible in the biome. Wind Values are between 0 and 100. 0 restricts the biome to no possible wind, and 100 allows the windiest conditions in the biome.

SP player safezone setting In the recommended settings for MP, it provides a 12 hour safe zone if the player is under L10. In SP, you are typically attacked at your spawn location in the first hour, so this setting doesn't seem to be set in SP. Do you know what file manages that function in SP?

Thanks for all the good advice, especially the food combos. I like the slow pace actually, and I prefer to play dead is dead, so I'm really cautious. I took about 10 starts to stay alive until day 15, but I admit I turn up loot % and lowered difficultly a notch on that one. I tend to quit when I feel overpowered, which usually happens when I had a sniper rifle and bike. I can see that time is a long time off. This mod is hard when you have to restart every death. @ Spider - Thanks for the recommendations.... @BD - Yeah, finding a small town is a smart move. In my current run I sat on the third floor of a gas station POI and never saw a single mob. Of course i made it so they fell through the floor each level up. and got nothing for exp, but I'm alive....

First, let me say I really love what you have created in this mod. I had lots of hours in on Vanilla, then the Valmods, then finally found this. I have only gotten to day 15 on my first real play through, but I wanted to post a few thoughts as I wait for UPS to deliver my new gaming rig that arrives in a few hours. Perfect time to restart a second play though. First, Can you make some recommended settings for single player? Reading through the forum, it seems somethings like day length, loot %, loot respawn time etc. have recommended settings for the experience to play out as you intended. It would be great if you could list those on the mods first page. Second, The game is almost too hard until you unlearn some vanilla established behaviors. For example, in vanilla you are safe to gather for a while i'm your spawn area. Not so in this mod. I had Z's spawn behind me while selecting my class and had to haul butt for a while. It seems a better idea to just run till you find a few buildings as without a decent lootable area your survivability is very low. A beginners tips sticky written by a veteran would be very helpful. Finally, some minor stuff. No timer on snowberry poisoning, no apparent indication when crops are ready for harvest, Iron ore hardness seems equal to solid iron, making getting that first anvil a grind (unless Im missing an easy route that would be a nice addition to the tips sticky), no warning of the inability to move a forge with a wrench like in vanilla (found one in a POI and was quite shocked when it broke under the wrench!), and the spawn rate on the crazed zombie animals seems too high at low level (1-5) when you only have a wood club to defend. All that said, this is an amazing mod. I look forward to the next playthough!

Really enjoying your mod. Glad to see the above fix, just hit that and it didn't make any sense to me.