Zombie Counts and Options

[Niil945]

If anyone knows, there's a line displayed on the console when a bloodmoon happens that indicates how many zombies are part of a wave and also says how many can be alive at once. That number goes up with game stage. Is this a remnant of past scaling that's now defunct? It seems that the amount of zombies alive is still capped at the 8 per player (default server values).

[Shin]

The devs must do what they feel is best to deliver a product that makes the most money. Modders don't have to operate to that standard level, they just help to fulfill the devs goals.

 

Sry, had to come back and fix that post.

[Boidster]

I think there is a difference between maximum alive per player and maximum that will be spawned in a horde. As you kill zombies, more will take their place until the horde is done.

 

From gamestages.xml:

 

<spawner name="BloodMoonHorde">
 <gamestage stage="1"><spawn group="feralHordeStageGS1" num="2" maxAlive="3" duration="1"/></gamestage>
 ...
 <gamestage stage="10">
   <spawn group="feralHordeStageGS7" num="15" maxAlive="6" duration="1" interval="24"/>
   <spawn group="feralHordeStageGS10" num="15" maxAlive="6" duration="1"/>
 </gamestage>
 ...
 <gamestage stage="97">
   <spawn group="feralHordeStageGS85" num="137" maxAlive="32" duration="2" interval="21"/>
   <spawn group="feralHordeStageGS91" num="137" maxAlive="32" duration="2" interval="23"/>
   <spawn group="feralHordeStageGS97" num="137" maxAlive="32" duration="7"/>
 </gamestage>
...

 

Taking GS 97 as an example, I think you will see a maximum of 411 total zombies during the horde, though each wave has a duration. So the first wave (feralHordeStageGS85) lasts either 2 in-game hours or 137 killed zombies whichever comes first.

 

If you had 2 players playing and a max of 8 per player, then you'd see 16 at a time until you ran through the 137 or hit the 2 hour mark. If you had 5 players, you'd see a max of 32 (the maxAlive from the <spawn group...> entry) at a time.

 

That's how I interpret it anyhow...

[Niil945]

Gotcha, so the maxAlive value doesn't matter at all except in multiplayer as it's going to default to 8 alive per player cap regardless (or whatever the server is set to). Thank you for the clarification.

[Boidster]

Gotcha, so the maxAlive value doesn't matter at all except in multiplayer as it's going to default to 8 alive per player cap regardless (or whatever the server is set to). Thank you for the clarification.

 

Yesbut, at the lowest gamestages (see GS1 and GS10 in my example), it has a maxAlive of 6, which I presume would override the game setting of 8. Not too long after GS10 the maxAlive rises to 8 or above and then the game's setting would take precedence. I think.

 

The game setting is to control performance on your potato, the spawner setting is to control the maximum pucker-factor of the horde. If you run on four potatoes wired in parallel, you conceivably could set the game to maxAlive=32 (technically it's 'BloodMoonEnemyCount' in serverconfig) and experience the power of a fully armed and operational GS100 horde.

[Niil945]

Hrm, so if there's a way to capture console output I might be able to script dynamically updating the game preferences to that ever increasing BloodMoonEnemyCount for some fun times. I like the idea of the amount increasing predicated entirely on GS as opposed to the player based caps. Maybe something to tinker with on the list with trying out some of the game changing mods like Darkness Falls and Ravenhearst for our next game.

[rivle]

For everyone who wants more Zombies in the world.

 

maxcount="60"

respawndelay="0.01

 

Just copy the file to "7 Days To Die\Data\Config" and have fun.

spawningxml.zip

[SylenThunder]

Just be aware that having maxalive higher than 90 will cause some issues. You usually will end up with slideshow bloodmoons, or no BM's at all. May also affect screamer hordes.

[rivle]

Just be aware that having maxalive higher than 90 will cause some issues. You usually will end up with slideshow bloodmoons, or no BM's at all. May also affect screamer hordes.

 

Thanks for the info. I changed it to 60, it should be now fine for bloodmoons too. I hope at least

 

/Edit

 

Works fine for me on bloodmoons, but you need a good pc. Before i had 40-60 fps, now only 30+.

It is just for testing, but it was fun.

I dont recommend using guns at night with this setting

[pApA^LeGBa]

I don't know what you're talking about. My game has loads of zombies because the PC has one super important advantage over the Xbox version and anyone who plays the PC version with not enough zombies to their liking is seriously short changing themselves. This game was made to be modded and there are a number of modlets that increase zombie counts-- double, 4x, 8x, 16x...whatever you want. Just do it. Much more productive than using every single thread to repeat yourself ad nauseum.

 

And in case anyone is worried that I'm trying to repress this feedback don't concern yourself. The devs know. They are fully aware of the zombie counts and how players feel about it. They've definitely heard. There is no need to continue beating this dead horse in every single thread you visit.

 

I hope we get the slider for the number of zombies back in the menu. Like promised.

[Ghostlight]

imagine if 6 adjacent chunks all 'rolled' max 4 spawned zombies - insta-horde!)

 

Yes please!

[Boidster]

Hrm, so if there's a way to capture console output I might be able to script dynamically updating the game preferences to that ever increasing BloodMoonEnemyCount for some fun times. I like the idea of the amount increasing predicated entirely on GS as opposed to the player based caps. Maybe something to tinker with on the list with trying out some of the game changing mods like Darkness Falls and Ravenhearst for our next game.

 

Well that may not be necessary, since each gamestage has its own maxAlive cap which scales. Set your BloodMoonEnemyCount as high as your potatoes can handle (subject to the concern SylenThunder raised) and then let gamestages.xml manage the increasing wave size on bloodmoons. Here are the first several levels (the game will choose the entry with the highest gamestage less than or equal to your GS).

 

<gamestage stage="1"><spawn ... maxAlive="3"

<gamestage stage="2"><spawn ... maxAlive="3"

<gamestage stage="4"><spawn ... maxAlive="4"

<gamestage stage="7"><spawn ... maxAlive="5"

<gamestage stage="10"><spawn ... maxAlive="6"

<gamestage stage="13"><spawn ... maxAlive="6"

<gamestage stage="16"><spawn ... maxAlive="7"

<gamestage stage="19"><spawn ... maxAlive="8"

<gamestage stage="23"><spawn ... maxAlive="9"

<gamestage stage="27"><spawn ... maxAlive="11"

<gamestage stage="31"><spawn ... maxAlive="12"

<gamestage stage="35"><spawn ... maxAlive="13"

<gamestage stage="40"><spawn ... maxAlive="15"

<gamestage stage="44"><spawn ... maxAlive="16"

<gamestage stage="49"><spawn ... maxAlive="17"

<gamestage stage="54"><spawn ... maxAlive="19"

...

<gamestage stage="287"><spawn ... maxAlive="89"

 

So for example if you have an eight-potato Alienware monster machine (with the rutabega accelerator) you could set your BloodMoonEnemyCount to SylenThunder's maximum recommendation of 90 and you'd have scaling horde wave sizes all the way up to GS 287. After that, you'd hit your cap of 90.

 

That should be true for all of the hordes controlled by gamestages.xml (wandering hordes, POI/sleeper hordes, etc.).

[fragtzack]

The real problem here is sleepers being introduced in a16. Sleepers caused the 7D2D designers to think sleepers is an ok substitute for random, roaming zombies in the general world. This caused TFP to focus time/energy on improving sleepers instead of working on better performance of the existing open world zombie CPU cycles.

 

Sadly, seems doubtful 7D2D will ever return to the day of old with lots of random, roaming zombies because the current design chiefs of 7D2D thinks the sleeper system is an acceptable for a "challenging" world.

[Adam the Waster]

i hope we get the slider for the number of zombies back in the menu. Like promised.

 

damn i hope so

[Tin]

The real problem here is sleepers being introduced in a16. Sleepers caused the 7D2D designers to think sleepers is an ok substitute for random, roaming zombies in the general world. This caused TFP to focus time/energy on improving sleepers instead of working on better performance of the existing open world zombie CPU cycles.

 

Sadly, seems doubtful 7D2D will ever return to the day of old with lots of random, roaming zombies because the current design chiefs of 7D2D thinks the sleeper system is an acceptable for a "challenging" world.

 

I agree in part and I don't like how it 'seems' to have become an "Either/Or thing" as of late. I want them both. A decent Zombie presence in the streets, and in the buildings. Just modding and upping the biome spawns, isn't a solution either.

I don't want to have gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness, just to make the Town's and Cities feel more dangerous.

I hope they come up with a good middle ground at some point.

 

Decent amount of the Sleeper Zombies for the prefabs.

Decent amount of Zombies wandering in the streets, with some Bandits.

A small presence of zombies in the wilderness, but mostly the Animals and Bandits, providing the player enough action, while traveling between, Town to Town, City to City.

 

Just from my perspective on how I would like it is all. I am sure there are differing opinions though.

[Adam the Waster]

I agree in part and I don't like how it 'seems' to have become an "Either/Or thing" as of late. I want them both. A decent Zombie presence in the streets, and in the buildings. Just modding and upping the biome spawns, isn't a solution either.

I don't want to have gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness, just to make the Town's and Cities feel more dangerous.

I hope they come up with a good middle ground at some point.

 

Decent amount of the Sleeper Zombies for the prefabs.

Decent amount of Zombies wandering in the streets, with some Bandits.

A small presence of zombies in the wilderness, but mostly the Animals and Bandits, providing the player enough action, while traveling between, Town to Town, City to City.

 

Just from my perspective on how I would like it is all. I am sure there are differing opinions though.

 

1000000000000000010000000000000000020% agree

 

and maybe in some prefabs like Poopy pants daycare there could be at least 1 screamer.

[Boidster]

Just modding and upping the biome spawns, isn't a solution either. I don't want to have gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness, just to make the Town's and Cities feel more dangerous.

 

For what it is worth, comments in the XML imply that cities/hubs are no longer treated as separate spawn areas (not saying this is a good thing), and but so if you increase "biome" spawning you do also get the same spawn levels in cities/hubs.

 

That is, it's not just "gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness", it's "gobs of zeds wandering around everywhere".

 

Not quite the fine-tuning you're asking for, I know, but at least the cities do become more dangerous.

[Tin]

For what it is worth, comments in the XML imply that cities/hubs are no longer treated as separate spawn areas (not saying this is a good thing), and but so if you increase "biome" spawning you do also get the same spawn levels in cities/hubs.

 

That is, it's not just "gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness", it's "gobs of zeds wandering around everywhere".

 

Not quite the fine-tuning you're asking for, I know, but at least the cities do become more dangerous.

 

Probably the way I worded might have caused the confusion. Wilderness zombie spawns = Biome zombie spawns.

Yeah, I already up them. An Okay thing for the meantime.

[SylenThunder]

For what it is worth, comments in the XML imply that cities/hubs are no longer treated as separate spawn areas (not saying this is a good thing), and but so if you increase "biome" spawning you do also get the same spawn levels in cities/hubs.

 

That is, it's not just "gobs of zeds wandering around in the wilderness", it's "gobs of zeds wandering around everywhere".

 

Not quite the fine-tuning you're asking for, I know, but at least the cities do become more dangerous.

Something else to keep in mind is that not all of the comments in the xml are up to date with the current version of the game. I use them more as a guideline, and then test to find out how it's really working.