Snukfin's Server Side Z(S)ombies

[arramus]

Here is an update to Snufkin's Custom Zombies - A19 Stable.

 

https://github.com/arramus/Snufkin-CustomZombies-A19-Stable-2020Nov03

 

This update considers the Parasite melee and buff. It is long overdue but was highlighted in the very first testing phase when restoring this mod for A19. In the A18 version of 7D2D we were able to to receive damage using a feature called HealthMaxModifierOT. This modified the players overall health by a set value 'Over Time'. This feature was removed for A19 to coincide with the new hit features such as lacerations and buff candy.

 

It was essential to provide an alternative because she was only causing melee damage of 1 for every hit even though the flashing countdown red skull and countdown time may cause some initial disorientation. In essence, she was biting with blunt teeth. The restoration is as follows:

 

- buffs.xml

<passive_effect name="HealthMax" operation="base_subtract" value="15"/>

This decreases players base health by 15 after a positive melee strike.

<triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffStart" action="ModifyCVar" cvar="$parasite" operation="set" value="5"/>

This gives the player a 5 second countdown until health is restored to normal values after the first positive melee strike,

<triggered_effect trigger="onSelfBuffStack" action="ModifyCVar" cvar="$parasite" operation="add" value="10"/>

However, if the second and subsequent melee attacks are positive hits while the initial 5 second counter is still active, a further 10 seconds are added to the countdown for each additional hit.

 

- items.xml
<property name="DamageEntity" value="10"/>

This value allows the Parasite melee attack to cause 8 damage in addition to the above loss of base health.

 

Here is an explanation for why these settings are applied for this update:

These new values offer a balance to new low level players and experience higher level players.

 

LOW LEVEL PLAYERS

The first hit that reduces 15 base health to low level players is on a 5 second countdown until the value can be restored. This is a warning. A second and further positive hits increases the countdown by incremental 10 second steps. It would be wise for low level players to retreat at this point because restoring that 15 health when your base health is only between 100 to 125 on top of low natural healing and potentially limited bandages and first aid kits carries high risk of death. Furthermore, the Parasite has very strong restorative properties and the outcome is weighted towards her coming out victorious.

 

HIGHER LEVEL PLAYERS

For higher level players, the opposite applies as health, restorative potential, weapon strength, resources, and other factors can put the weighting towards a player victory. Even with the Parasite's restorative powers, she can be ultimately overwhelmed. However, if a high level player is also threatened by other zombies, they may also face hits that cause more than the Parasite's 8 damage as well as the new A19 features such as lacerations which can further decrease base health.

 

In summary, a low level player should play it safe or time it carefully, while a high level player can come out victorious by using careful due diligence.

 

I hope you can test this update and provide feedback on how you and your server regulars are finding it.

 

Special thanks to @BubbaJoe for having the foresight to implement a variant to the above change but at a more sadistic level which apparently suits his regular server visitors. As always, the changes have been clearly documented to allow you to further customise to your heart's content. Let's see how it goes from here.

 

entitygroups.xml expansion for mature servers (Snufkin Party Version)

Adding to sadistic gameplay levels, here is a more challenging entitygroups.xml file that you may wish to try if your server has matured and the player base is at a high level of experience or game stage. It is called entitygroups_Snufkin_Party.xml. It needs to be renamed to entitygroups.xml and replace the default entitygroups.xml in the Config folder to become active.

 

Using this file with allow Snufkin Zombies to become the rule rather than the exception.

Regular groups have seen Snufkin Zombies set to a probability of 0.8 except Wendigo at 0.5. This is an 80 to 500 fold increase respectively. In addition, the Demolisher will appear in the Wasteland at night. This does not mean your server will be inundated with Snufkin Zombies because the groups they belong to are competing with regular zombies to spawn and many regular zombies appear at a higher probability. In addition, there are limits on how many can spawn at once. Therefore, you will see Snufkin Zombies much more often but not in horde numbers.

 

However, the Blood Moon group sees quite a change:

 

At present, there are a maximum of 10 Snufkin Zombies selected in the default Snufkin entitygroups.xml file for Blood Moon. GS1 to GS247 has 9 Snufkin Zombies. Archon, Undertaker, Cowhead, Parasite, Geist, Bomber, Scarecrow, Banshee, and Juggernaut. GS255 to GS4086 onwards adds Scorcher to complete the 10.

 

This Snufkin Party version adds all 15 characters on the premise that Blood Moon brings out absolutely everything. GS1 to GS247 has the same 9 default Snufkin Zombies in addition to the Psycho and Siren to allow lower level players a gentler start. GS255 to GS4086 onwards adds the default Scorcher along with the remaining 3 characters; Wendigo, Mantis, and Wrestler.

The lower HP or less disruptive characters receive a higher probability increase as game stage increases. The higher HP or more disruptive characters do receive a probability increase but at a more regulated pace as game stage increases. The Banshee and the Wrestler have seen particular regulation as they can be quite disruptive but will still make their presence felt.

The default version was specifically set to be conservative and reflected player comments who could find things a little challenging. The default is a wonderful introduction for low level inexperienced players.

 

Snufkin Party moves further along the spectrum to a more upper intermediate level for experienced players while still retaining balance.

 

The default entitygroups.xml for Snufkin Zombies and the Snufkin Party version offer their own unique experiences and are but two of an infinite variety you can customise to match your own needs and specifications. entitygroups_Snufkin_Party.xml

[Sunbursts]

Yes, its happening every Blood Moon event

1. BloodMoonEnemyCount is 14 at this moment
2. 5-6 players in group
3. No
4. SDD
5. 14gb
6. I dont know, I rent the server

[arramus]

24 minutes ago, Sunbursts said:

Yes, its happening every Blood Moon event

1. BloodMoonEnemyCount is 14 at this moment
2. 5-6 players in group
3. No
4. SDD
5. 14gb
6. I dont know, I rent the server

Thank you Sunbursts.

 

SSD gives you wonderful read/write times and if you had HDD it would probably crash even more. If it's a rented server I expect virtual paging is turned on by default. 14gb is also very sufficient as max load on a dedicated server rarely spikes above 4gb on standard settings unless you allow lots of players to join.

 

I think the main issue is the BloodMoonEnemyCount. 14 will be per player in the group and this can be very overwhelming for the game even with regular zombies. With special Snufkin Zombies that are throwing fireballs and electric at players, these effects can really cause things to process slowly. Maybe you sometimes feel the game is pausing and stuttering when a lot of things are happening at the same time.

 

Let's put it another way.

 

I feel 7D2D is currently like a 1980s LADA vehicle (my family had one). It is amazingly strong and can last forever BUT you must understand its limits. If you push it past its limits it will break and need maintenance.

 

There are two possible solutions for your setup:

 

1. Reduce your BloodMoonEnemyCount to the suggested 8 and increase it 1 by 1 until you crash. After that, reduce it until things are stable.

2. Keep 14 as your BloodMoonEnemyCount but reduce the probability of the Geist to appear in the entitygroups.xml file at the very bottom of the list in the feralHordeStage area.

 

In fact, I also play with a group of 5 to 6 players and I had to reduce my BloodMoonEnemyCount to 7. This is because the game is not fully optimised and there is a lot of delay in spawning properly. Your hardware is great but the game is not optimised.

 

Here is one further solution.

 

3. Try this new entitygroups.xml. It will give you all 15 Snufkin Zombies for Blood Moon. This will reduce the amount of Geist characters appearing at the same time because there will be less probability from a larger choice for the game to select. entitygroups_Snufkin_Party.xml

 

Rename the file to entitygroups.xml and place it in your Config folder after you backup your existing one.

 

Please try to be a little gentler with the game until it is fully optimised.

[Aenistris]

I am 99% positive that this mod is at fault for this but I set myself to level 300 (to test out the mod) and occassionally I get a NRE error. It pops up once in a while.

 

It comes up after the zombieGeist is spawned in
Then the NRE error
Then the zombieYo spawns in.

Any clues on why this is happening?

[Aenistris]

I disabled all other mods and only had this mod on. Exact same issue, but slightly different.

zombieGeist
Then NRE Error.
Then zombieCheerLeaderRadiated spawns in next.

Sometimes the FatCopt spawns in after the NRE error now, as previously with my other mods it was always zombieYo that spawned every time.

 

What could the issue be?

Edit: I believe it to be the zombieGeist. When I try to spawn in X amounts of them, the game throws an NRE at me.

Edit2: Testing it more, I believe it's actually because too many Zombies are being spawned in general.

 

Edit3: However, the zombieGeist are the only issue when you hold down Shift and click to spawn them in the entity spawner with F6.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Aenistris (see edit history)

[arramus]

6 hours ago, Aenistris said:

Edit2: I believe it's actually because too many Zombies are being spawned in general.

Thank you for testing so much because it is very valuable quality control data and helps to consider settings.

 

This adds to the post just before your post where Sunbursts reports a similar issue. On Sunburst’s server there is a spawn rate of 14 per player for Blood Moon events. The suggested solution was to lower this closer to default or reduce the probability for the Geist to spawn. A further solution offers an alternative entity groups file which allows all 15 Snufkin zombies to appear in a BM event and thereby reduce Geist’s chances to appear so often. 

 

Geist is a formidable character. His electric bolts cause mayhem everywhere. In fact, he can even electrocute other Geist characters who get in the way. This effect is very demanding and it causes so many calculations for animations, texture interactions, and hit calculations. 

 

In summary, the Geist is best seen as a rarer character in servers which allow higher than game spawn settings to be allowed. 

[xxx73]

Just tested latest version, really loving it, thanks for doing this

One thing Im missing is localization file, there is several buffs I get that there is no information about, so a localization file for buffs would be great. Or maybe you have a old localization file to share?
 

Edited November 4, 2020 by xxx73 (see edit history)

[arramus]

44 minutes ago, xxx73 said:

Just tested latest version, really loving it, thanks for doing this

One thing Im missing is localization file, there is several buffs I get that there is no information about, so a localization file for buffs would be great. Or maybe you have a old localization file to share?
 

Hi xxx73.

 

First I need to check the original Snufkin build to see if it was added. I don’t remember ever seeing it but need to check. Then I need to check some similar ones for other mods to see formatting. And then it’s always possible to localize even further to support more players. I’m away for a while with other responsibilities and you are welcome to make a start on checking the original versions or sharing a concept you feel works well. 

[xxx73]

I will do that. I post it here if I find anything.

[kokuojeiku]

Great mod btw, Thanks!

 

Is there a way to prevent players from using certain zeds as player profile...?

Edited November 6, 2020 by kokuojeiku (see edit history)

[kokuojeiku]

Is there a way to stop players on mp from selecting a zed to use as player profile? Thanks.

Not sure if jugger is same hit boxes as regular player or larger....

As in players picking jug in player profile to use it as in game profile/player stat...

If I keep mod in game, might get all players wanting to be jug in game...ugh

[kokuojeiku]

So for now, i removed

[arramus]

On 11/5/2020 at 11:18 AM, kokuojeiku said:

Is there a way to stop players on mp from selecting a zed to use as player profile? Thanks.

Not sure if jugger is same hit boxes as regular player or larger....

As in players picking jug in player profile to use it as in game profile/player stat...

If I keep mod in game, might get all players wanting to be jug in game...ugh

The Juggernaut is modelled on standard 'ZombieTemplateMale' and will use that characters hitbox. It looks like players are using another mod to access the Juggernaut/other zombies as a player profile. It has no special hitboxes as it uses in game assets and not external assets. The Juggernaut is scaled up a little and will be an easier target. Does EAC stop this profile mod or feature being used? Snufkin's Zombies can work with EAC.

[Snufkin]

I think tagging the archetypes as Zombie instead of Player stops the Profiles to use that archetype, but that can bring other problems (I've been told). I remember on our EAC server choosing one of the zombie archetypes reverted the player to a thin black woman, so it wasn't gamebreaking.

[The Frankman]

I had posted a reply to Tsunie's comment on the 7DaysToDieMods page here, how do I know the mod is working? I'm on Day 132 and I've literally traveled 6 hours in game across the Desert, Grass, and Snow Biomes and none of the Snufkin zombies have spawned. I'm not getting any errors at all either...

 

I DL'ed the Nov3 file and cropped the folder in my Mods directory just like I do my other mods. Does this only work with a new game or something?

Edited November 13, 2020 by The Frankman (see edit history)

[magejosh]

Can you turn on dm mode and spawn them with the entity spawner (f6)?

[arramus]

16 hours ago, The Frankman said:

I had posted a reply to Tsunie's comment on the 7DaysToDieMods page here, how do I know the mod is working? I'm on Day 132 and I've literally traveled 6 hours in game across the Desert, Grass, and Snow Biomes and none of the Snufkin zombies have spawned. I'm not getting any errors at all either...

 

I DL'ed the Nov3 file and cropped the folder in my Mods directory just like I do my other mods. Does this only work with a new game or something?

Follow magejosh's post above and also double check that the folder inside your Mods folder is called:

 

Snufkin_CustomZombies_A19-Stable_2020Nov03

 

and not

 

Snufkin-CustomZombies-A19-Stable-2020Nov03 (This is just a holding folder made by GitHub for zipping. If it is this folder then the one above is inside it and needs to be removed and placed seperately in your Mods folder).

[The Frankman]

 

1 hour ago, magejosh said:

Can you turn on dm mode and spawn them with the entity spawner (f6)?

Just checked and I was able to spawn them into the game. Weird, I played another full day traveling across 3 different biomes and none of them spawned in naturally.

58 minutes ago, arramus said:

Follow magejosh's post above and also double check that the folder inside your Mods folder is called:

 

Snufkin_CustomZombies_A19-Stable_2020Nov03

 

and not

 

Snufkin-CustomZombies-A19-Stable-2020Nov03 (This is just a holding folder made by GitHub for zipping. If it is this folder then the one above is inside it and needs to be removed and placed seperately in your Mods folder).

Huhn... the folder is actually called Snufkin_CustomZombies. I just assumed the other stuff was extra according to the posts I saw at 7DaysToDieMods and shortened the folder. Since I was able to spawn them in using Debug Mode is that ok?

Edited November 14, 2020 by The Frankman (see edit history)

[magejosh]

That's interesting. I added them in on week 2 in a playthrough on my server and encountered them fairly quickly. I was in the wasteland but they should spawn everywhere. 

I did go back and edit the entitygroups.xml to raise the odds of the geist spawning and added the scarecrow both on the zombiesNight group. I also made an insert after command to add the zombieBanshee have a 2 in 3 chance of spawning anytime a screamer would spawn. 

None of these were really necessary, just things I wanted. I was already getting spawns of the undertaker and the bomber at night. First Horde Night was a nightmare. 

Maybe increase the spawn probabilities on your entitygroups.xml to see if that gives you better spawn rates. 

Another thought is the game spawns a limited number of zombies wandering about the world at a time. If you are traveling across all those biomes, is it not possible you are just outrunning zombies that never aggro'd on you?

[arramus]

Yes, spawning in debug shows they are good.

 

The default mod has low probability spawning. Try this one in your Config folder instead.

Make a backup of your entitygroups.xml file and delete it. Replace it with this one, once you've renamed it to entitygroups.xml entitygroups_Snufkin_Party_2020Nov03.xml

 

And hopefully you will enjoy the show after that. If not, let us know.

 

One other thing to consider is the invisible animal bug. As days progress and now you've got past the 130 mark, animals can begin to disappear as they spawn into invisible entities. This also impacts on zombies. After I installed stalliondens invisible animal fix mod, which can be found in the mods area under his own page of collections, a lot more lone zombies began to appear again including Snufkin's. There was plenty more meat out there to harvest as well. If animals haven't been an issue, then disregard this suggestion.

[magejosh]

I didn't know that about the invisible animal bug. That's really good to know aramus! I just looked at that new entity groups xml, I might have to give it a try in my next playthrough. I'm running all the creature packs, all the snufkin mods, and the wasteland mod that adds in these human raiders that are pretty difficult to beat too. It's been much more difficult, I actually had to drop back to vanilla difficulty on this playthrough. 

[The Frankman]

17 minutes ago, magejosh said:

That's interesting. I added them in on week 2 in a playthrough on my server and encountered them fairly quickly. I was in the wasteland but they should spawn everywhere. 

I did go back and edit the entitygroups.xml to raise the odds of the geist spawning and added the scarecrow both on the zombiesNight group. I also made an insert after command to add the zombieBanshee have a 2 in 3 chance of spawning anytime a screamer would spawn. 

None of these were really necessary, just things I wanted. I was already getting spawns of the undertaker and the bomber at night. First Horde Night was a nightmare. 

Maybe increase the spawn probabilities on your entitygroups.xml to see if that gives you better spawn rates. 

Another thought is the game spawns a limited number of zombies wandering about the world at a time. If you are traveling across all those biomes, is it not possible you are just outrunning zombies that never aggro'd on you?

Oof that's a legit possibility since I'm traveling on a motorcycle. I did raid a few buildings at Night in the Desert to see if I could force an encounter, but no luck.

15 minutes ago, arramus said:

Yes, spawning in debug shows they are good.

 

The default mod has low probability spawning. Try this one in your Config folder instead.

Make a backup of your entitygroups.xml file and delete it. Replace it with this one, once you've renamed it to entitygroups.xml entitygroups_Snufkin_Party_2020Nov03.xml

 

And hopefully you will enjoy the show after that. If not, let us know.

 

One other thing to consider is the invisible animal bug. As days progress and now you've got past the 130 mark, animals can begin to disappear as they spawn into invisible entities. This also impacts on zombies. After I installed stalliondens invisible animal fix mod, which can be found in the mods area under his own page of collections, a lot more lone zombies began to appear again including Snufkin's. There was plenty more meat out there to harvest as well. If animals haven't been an issue, then disregard this suggestion.

Thanks so much. Also thank you for notifying me about the animal issue. I haven't encountered it but that would've freaked me out if it happened and I didn't know about it. Admittedly I've seen a few videos of people encountering the special zombies very early in playthroughs like here in VERTIGO Gaming's and I'm wondering if I did something wrong.

Edited November 14, 2020 by The Frankman (see edit history)

[Lonestarcanuck]

I just downloaded this mod from one of the mod download sites and I get scrolling  XML errors when a player tries to join.

 

FIXED - I had an older version of the mod. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Lonestarcanuck (see edit history)

[Lonestarcanuck]

Can  you make a BOSS version of Grace the Boss Boar?  like 10K HP,  shoots flames or spits acid like the cops? 

 

[The Frankman]

Played Horde Night with the new mod and... YIKES. First thing I noticed is a few of them didn't seem to be affected by electricity sometimes (?) or maybe they were but the staggered animation didn't trigger. The second is that I had no idea the Geist phases through walls; I outfitted a Shamway Foods building with my pit electric trap area and multiple turrets while breaking out the glass windows and enclosing most of them with steel to keep vultures out. Was not  prepared for the Geist to phase through the wall (and maybe the Archon too?) My death was definitely a humbling experience since I hadn't died in at least 30-40 days.

Edited November 18, 2020 by The Frankman (see edit history)