Alpha 18 Dev Diary!!

[Quantum Blue]

I can confirm what was previously posted about antisotropic filtering. On my beast of a potato ,gtx 670m, I'm getting 15 to 20 frames more with antistropic filtering turned off in Nvidia control panel using application controlled settings.

 

I can now run the game at my a17 framerates outdoors. Indoors is better than a17. The game is on low settings and doesn't look nice but I'm used to that. Gameplay is enough for now.

 

I have 2 Gigabyte OC'd NVidia GTX 980+'s (not SLI for THIS game), and run at 3440x1440 and can also report that I am getting ~30%FPS boost by disabling, and not much harm to video.

[sinkler]

We'll probably use random event system instead for dig quests, you may or may not get a visit from a game staged something.

 

Nodes are fine, some seeds takes 5 miles of walking to find what you want, others you are tripping over them, and its not meant to be hard, its meant to be a time sink which it is. Also with multiplayer to consider other people need their own private mines.

 

ok sounds cool, thx for the reply.

 

im using pregen02, mb I just got unlucky with a really absurd amount and other seeds are indeed fine as you say. i rather have less and work hard to find them. will wait until we have generation options near/after gold to be able to set the amount. not a big deal, but i want them to be a rare find. would be great to be excited when you find a node while exploring, and put some effort into it.

 

btw, performance are better for me now. 50-60 at all times. and everything looks and feel better.

Its the first 7d2d experimental alpha i`ve played without encountering an annoying bug during the first few hours. love the new music. love the new icons. love the zed rage. LOVE the spear. IN LOVE with the new shapes menu. already played more in one sitting than i did during a17 life cycle.

great job.

[betam4x]

Protip: Vulkan works, but is buggy, at least on my configuration. It may work better for others. Try it. I got better performance. You can always switch back. You can switch in the game launcher.

 

This alpha is a SOLID update. Here are the things I like:

 

1) Books and schematics aren't super rare, so adventuring into buildings to loot doesn't feel grindy at all. You are almost always guaranteed to get a book or schematic of some kind if you search 1-2 houses. They are random as well, so you can end up having a chance of becoming slightly OP early game. This applies to gear as well. One of my first items was an in helmet water purifier. I built a helmet and put it in: no more dysentery from water.

 

2) The changes to the sleepers helps a TON. I got tired of having 20-30 sleepers spawn in Alpha 17 so I eventually just disabled them, however I felt no need whatsoever to do that in alpha 18. So far it feels more balanced.

 

3) I don't feel as desperate to spend skill points. Finding and looting books means what points I do spend, I tend to spend on stuff like healing factor or iron gut. Often I have 4-5 extra skill points to dump into skills if I find I need it.

 

4) Food poisoning isn't as big of an issue as I thought. I've gotten it once. It goes away. Still have yet to get a cooking pot though.

 

5) Combat in this update is incredible. Barely swiping a zombie (or two or 3) feels very fluid.

 

6) I don't know if those are dogs or another animal in the desert, but it's cool how they attack, and then run away when you hit them. Feels very immersive (so does the desert in general)

 

8) The grind of Alpha 16 and 17 are gone IMO. I felt like everything was an adventure. Even chopping trees down didn't feel like a grind. Finding little ore nodes and harvesting them was satisfying.

 

9) The repair kit changes help the early game without speeding it up. Nothing more annoying than a wrench you can't repair because it's gated. Finding iron/steel items no longer means you can't use them.

 

Here are a few showstoppers IMO that should be fixed before experimental ends:

 

1) The floaty mouse movement is likely the cause of the vsync issue, and it is ANNOYING as hell to deal with, even with vsync off. It is a mouse issue in general: Under Linux, enabling vsync and gsync, then switching to vulkan causes it to rear it's ugly head the most. Input events appear to get backed up, even on the main menu. Rapidly move your mouse around and the game will freeze for quite a while until it catches up. They need to fix that. Even under DX 11 it's an issue in game. There is a definite latency between moving the mouse left or right and your character moving left or right. I even wrote and ran a little on screen overlay showing mouse direction and coords. My overlay picked up on movement before the game did, sometimes up to 3 seconds that is regardless of the API and the OS.

 

2) Antibiotics of any kind (including honey) are near impossible to find and the whole infection system seems wildly unbalanced. In Alpha 17 you had a chance for infection to go away. In Alpha 18 it ticks up graudally. With infection gradually ticking up, it starts to interfere with dexterity, which makes it even HARDER to find antibiotics. They really need a perk to counter-act this. Antibiotics should also be a bit easier to find. I've looted over a dozen buildings, chopped down several tree stumps, checked the trader. No honey, herbal antibiotics, or antibiotics. The counter started at 0.9% and has ticked up to 25%, interfering with continuing looting efforts. It almost makes more sense to die and take the XP hit.

 

3) Food is far too scarce early game. I have been living meal to meal. I don't know if it is RWG or what, but I haven't found a cooking pot and have barely been able to buy food from the vending machine and the trader. Eggs are damn near impossible to find (not that I could use them) and I just found a grill 4 hours in. The forge in my trader was destroyed, so I can't craft a cooking pot. I managed to find a grill, so I can make grilled meet, but meet was slightly nerfed and animals are a bit harder to kill because they run a lot more. If I hadn't been playing this game like a pro since the beginning, I would have died multiple times from food and water.

 

Some tips for those who haven't quite gotten this game down based on what I saw from inexperienced streamers (even the bearded guys, who I watch quite a bit):

 

1) Don't destroy loot containers if look re-spawn is enabled. Less loot to loot if the loot re-spawns.

2) Throw away nothing. If you can't carry it, either put it in a loot container and mark it on the map, or place a chest and put your look in there, then mark it on the map. Even stuff like rotten flesh and sham sandwiches have a use.

3) Clean out buildings when possible. Sometimes I'll put a chest outside every building, clean out a ton of buildings, then consolidate, take back the most important stuff first, and come back later for the rest.

4) Keep a strict eye on food/water so you don't get hit with a stamina debuff.

5) Break open doors to POIs and try to lure zombies out, then beat them with clubs. Don't use guns except in emergencies.

6) Day 1 start working on a defensible base. Setting up in a POI means you are going to die or lose valuable loot.

7) Find a water source ASAP.

8) Resist the urge to scrap most items. They smelt for more in the forge, and scrapping cans can hurt you early game.

9) Find a desert, harvest aloe vera, and start collecting yucca. You'll need aloe vera for first aid stuff, and yucca for more advanced recipes.

10) Before venturing out, make sure you have close to your max food/water (150 at start), but don't waste food/water.

11) Regulate your body temperature. People don't get this. Being too hot or too cold makes you hungry/thirsty quicker. Food is important.

I could go on, but that covers pretty much most of the streamers I've seen.

12) Make a separate horde base from your main base. Make sure it's marked on map. This ensures your main base doesn't get wiped out and your supplies ruined.

13) Carry a bow and plenty of arrows with you, even mid-end game. It's the only somewhat free ranged weapon in the game. I usually carry a club of some kind, bow, gun, bandages, and maybe tools in my tool belt.

14) Don't be afraid to take half a day to break open a gun safe with a stone axe. The risk vs reward is worth it usually.

15) Don't sell Ammo unless necessary, you will need it later.

16) Duct tape is the easiest item in the game to acquire, you just have to use your head and mine skulls, remains, etc. 2 hours in I had a few hundred bones. Next to a desert so as soon as that forge gets going, I'll have glass jars. Also have a water source nearby for the water.

17) Get a farm started early. Crops take time to grow.

 

That's all for now. I may think of others in the mean time.

 

Overall, this game has sucked me in. If they get the graphical issues straightened out, it will be the best release yet.

[Laz Man]

We're experimenting with full swings, but it might be OP af with glancing blows allowing you to bowl over 3+ guys with a sloppy attack.

 

Apply it only to sledges and then turn down swing speed or increase stamina cost to balance it. 😎👍

[DUST2DEATH]

How on earth have you made AF so taxing?

 

How does Anti Aliasing compare to Anisotropic Filtering?

 

AF comparison below. Essentially how good the textures look into the distance.

 

 

AA = reduction of stair stepping on straight lines (jaggies)

 

[fragtzack]

Fun Pimps, you trolls. I legit thought this was a trader on the edge of town, until I got a good look at it. (Note: I took this several in-game days ago.)

 

 

No doubt, I had the same exact thoughts when I seen that POI for the first time. Had to get up close. So was the trick intentional is the question..

[Laz Man]

You dont waste already read books, you get skillpoints instead (afaik).

 

Exp, not SP.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I've been highly critical in the past regarding the development arc of 7Days with A17 being a low point (i stopped playing months ago). A18* is a cracking return to form and a massive improvement, it can't be stated enough. The fun is back for sure and the team have done a fantastic job!

 

*Performance issues are clearly being dealt as a priority so all good

 

Of course **** up A19 and i'll be back to moan again

 

Glad you are dedicated to dishing it out. 😅

[Sam_Neill]

Exp, not SP.

Yeah right, did think about the right thing and typed wrong ^^

[WhatAKatana]

Hey Madmole and Co., just wanted to pop in and say that Alpha 18 has been a massive amount of fun so far and I love the variety that the game has in terms of weapons and skills now. I also feel like the game finally feels relatively complete in terms of major features (Except for maybe adding some bandits some day). I'm hope this allows the upcoming alphas more room for polishing and expanding the current systems and balancing the boatload of skills/buffs present already in there.

 

I did have one general question about the design philosophy of the weapon tiers vs. the weapon quality. Between the 6 quality levels and the 3 tiers of many weapons/tools, that's 18 variations on each main piece of equipment. Since the quality is back to affecting the damage (as it should), there is less of an incentive to get the resources required to make certain iron/steel tools. I was just wondering if the steel tier tools/weapons might eventually have a special perk to offset their higher resource cost? Thanks again for all the hard work on making 7dtd super fun again.

[Singlre]

Quick question, did you get rid of the large storage boxes in alpha 18? If not, where do I craft them? Thank you!!

 

 

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(edit added comment by QA Tester-unholyjoe)

open your crafting window - type in furniture and choose wooden -- its now inside of the multi-selection block

 

 

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[Infected226]

They've always been a pain. I found that I like to use a spear on the snakes now. They are still hard to hit, but jabbing with the spear is pretty quick and not so stamina draining and misses don't contribute to frustration as much. Crouching and jabbing when the snake is moving toward you might increase the chances of hitting the hit box, but I haven't tried that yet.

 

To be fair try shooting a snake in real life.

[Laz Man]

not making fun but here is my thinking.... an open book can be read but a closed book needs to be opened first.

 

Lol, are you quoting a famous quote because if your not I'm lost. Since unification is a good thing, I think the green icon used for mods would be a good option.

[Star69]

Running game on Asus gaming laptop, I7-4710 @2.5ghz; Nvidia 980M; 24 gigs RAM. By turning off AF, textures are full, 1920x1080 resolution, FPS does not budge off of 60 which is screen resolution(vsync on), streaming textures on, occlusion off. Before turning off AF, I had to have textures at 1/8, texture quality low, resolution 1400x900 and could only manage 25-30 FPS. Hope this helps in some way.

[SnowDog1942]

Can confirm that setting AF to 2x in NVIDIA control panel doubles frame rates outdoors in open spaces... went from 40 to 50 to 80 to 100 with gtx 1080 using ultra wide screen resolution, 2560x1080

 

With this change, this is the smoothest I have ever seen this game run.

[Laz Man]

It might be what biome you are in. I've heard desert runs worse than forest (forest has no blend maps if I'm not mistaken).

 

Maybe I'll submit a bug report. I can fly around in god mode in the desert in pregen02 and maintain good fps while in pregen01 my system ram gets maxed out and fps drops into the single digits.

[ahawksfan]

Stupid question but I can't find the application ID for the A18 dedicated server. Thanks for the answer in advance.

[Wulf]

How on earth have you made AF so taxing?

 

They didn't. It's a side effect of the real issue. AF is handled by the same part of your machine that is bogged down by the real issue, so lessening the load on that part results in decent gains. That's all.

[Singlre]

Quick question, did you get rid of the large storage boxes in alpha 18? If not, where do I craft them? Thank you!!

 

 

***************************************

 

(edit added comment by QA Tester-unholyjoe)

open your crafting window - type in furniture and choose wooden -- its now inside of the multi-selection block

 

 

***************************************

 

Thank you very much!!

[faatal]

Every time you change your settings without reloading the game completely is probably just trying to cram everything into VRAM multiple times.

 

Not everything, just the last texture arrays stay around. The largest total 400 MB, so dropping to half would decrease all the other textures, but leave the old arrays in mem. That has been fixed, but making another change to it right now.

[AtomicUs5000]

Not everything, just the last texture arrays stay around. The largest total 400 MB, so dropping to half would decrease all the other textures, but leave the old arrays in mem. That has been fixed, but making another change to it right now.

 

lol! I didn't really mean everything, like every single thing... I meant everything as in everything that is currently being left behind.

But thanks! That's awesome to hear.

[AtomicUs5000]

To be fair try shooting a snake in real life.

 

That's not fair at all. They don't even have hands.

[vedrit]

So, I've asked a few times and still haven't gotten a response: Do mods no longer have a blanket affect on items when slotted? Or does it just not show in the item stat window?

[madmole]

I decided to play like I played it in A16. Of course LBD works way different, but I have no complains so far (except by a weird delay on menus). My initial plan was the first horde night against a sea of spikes so I was thinking by day 6 I would get enough wood for 600 spikes: well, it's day 4, few disappointing buried jobs (hills...took me a life to get it done), but I already have 610 spikes and only 2 points in 69er and ML. I'm feeling rewarded by playing the way I really like.

 

That is a lot of spikes. I do a couple rows usually. Glad you are enjoying it.

[Adam the Waster]

IM on my first 7th day on A18 ;D

[madmole]

lol..I did the same thing on day 1 with only a spear and a bow with maybe a dozen arrows..I walked right up to it carefree thinking it was a trader..I was greeted with a couple Soldiers..That's where I got my AK47..there's a vault room in there with an easy hidden access, I used just the spear and what little arrows I had to get in there..but was pretty banged up..I then got the Ak with just enough ammo to shoot all the remaining soldiers I encountered and got the hell out of there.

 

Its great hearing stories!