A21 NPCMod and Addons

[drkstardragon]

4 hours ago, Fox said:

I'd just like to add publically that I hope you guys find some way to resolve this drama and find a middle ground where you can all work together or separately in a way that can still benefit us players. Because all we players (who come to this modpack thread) care about in the end is making our 7d2d world a little more interesting with occasional NPCs of some kind to compliment the zombie based world. Since the game devs are taking forever to give them to us, these mods are all we've got and I'm grateful to anyone who wants to get involved in making them for us.

This is laughable, there is no drama, npc mod is currently very much a wip as it was in a20, we are working through a number of issues that do not involve entitygroups xml edits. The entity groups are supplied as a placeholder and will definitely be edited at some point when we are happy with them. Khz has his own page on these forums where he can spam posts as much as he wants and does not need to do that here. If it continues i will ask for moderator assistance. That said,  we are looking for performance issues mainly at this time. Are the npcs attacking when they should, are their animations working properly, are they pathing through pois with the player, can you pick up and place them without them glitching out, is weapon swapping working, are you able to bring them with you when you travel in a vehicle, that sort of thing. So again, we are aware that the npcs are spawning too frequently, we will post when the groups are adjusted and look for feedback at that time. And no, khz, posts like the one you made above are not helpful in the least. They also make me want to stop working on any mods for 7dtd and go do something else, but i have committed for a21 and will not quit just yet. After that, who knows, thanks k.

Edited July 8, 2023 by drkstardragon (see edit history)

[xyth]

Im glad folks are passionate about the NPCs.  I likely made a mistake releasing the A21 version of the mod too quickly before these spawning issues were resolved.  The overhaul modders are the primary target of this mod and they adjust spawning to suit their overhaul mod.  But more regular players are using it now so we need to be clearer about what each pack does and make sure it's spawnrates do not overwhelm the base game.   Thanks for all the feedback!

[khzmusik]

I'm going back and editing my posts to remove the drama. It doesn't help anyone. But my original points are still valid.

 

The fact is, calculating probabilities for spawning entities is difficult. It's not something where you can just say "use this value" and it will be well balanced.

 

My main concern is that most users, if they just install the Core and packs, will have a bad time because things are not well balanced. When you folks on the Core team figure that out, I'll be happy, regardless of whether you use any of my work or not.

 

And if you don't, I'll just release my own modlets that balance things, the same way I did in A20. So no worries.

 

EDIT: And I will continue to work on the standalone application that will do the (complicated) calculations automatically. I will put more emphasis on end users rather than NPC Pack authors, so everyone can use it. Hopefully this is a drama-free way to make this whole debate moot.

Edited July 8, 2023 by khzmusik (see edit history)

[Ru Melin]

Hy, I am not sure of you know this, but for me I canno´t download the soldier expansionpack.

 

best regards

[xyth]

7 minutes ago, Ru Melin said:

Hy, I am not sure of you know this, but for me I canno´t download the soldier expansionpack.

 

best regards

There was an NPC controller change today so he is currently updating those packs.  Check back tomorrow. 

 

Uploaded new version of the NPCCore (and tutorialproject) to replace the NPC controller.  Combined with the latest SCore version, NPCs no longer shuffle, and are more responsive.   Physics materials added to NPC core's Baker, and the tutorialNurse,  as those were missing.

[Purple Yam Jam]

Thank you for all the hard work on this! This is, by far, a mod I simply cannot play without.

Does anyone know how to make this work with the District Zero mod?

For me, the perfect combination would be to have all the robots from that mod, plus the soldiers and raiders from this NPCMod spawning together in the same world. It would feel much more like a human war against the invaders.

[arramus]

District Zero replaces all the zombies with bots, and from preliminary testing with the NPC Mod and the Soldiers Add On Pack added in the Mods folder, there are no console errors with loading and the UI for the soldiers remains functional.

 

It's going to need a lot more testing for sure, but the signs look pretty good on that.

 

Soldiers hired wasn't showing with the custom interface and there are certainly other things to check, but the Soldiers team up readily enough and carry out their commands.

[arramus]

4 hours ago, Purple Yam Jam said:

Thank you for all the hard work on this! This is, by far, a mod I simply cannot play without.

Does anyone know how to make this work with the District Zero mod?

For me, the perfect combination would be to have all the robots from that mod, plus the soldiers and raiders from this NPCMod spawning together in the same world. It would feel much more like a human war against the invaders.

I just double checked with Zilox that he doesn't mind me sharing that the NPC Mod and the Soldiers Add On Pack (I didn't test any Bandits/Raiders) showed functionality for the NPC Mod fundamentals even though some features may not be totally compatible. This is because it may not be his intention for District Zero Mod to be played this way. He is OK about that but reported that someone mentioned it was not working for them. This limited test was more successful to this stage, but any feedback you can share for long term play throughs will help to verify if they can be a good pairing.

[ahtawulfa]

Hello  I am playing currently with the better vanilla pack a21 and I can’t seem to get birds in the sky unless I f6 them and pretty much any other npc is not really found wandering around like they do when I’m not using an expansion - any ideas on what I can check for? All files are unzipped and placed properly snd again I can spawn them manually just don’t see them generate on their own it’s weird -thanks for any feedback and looking so forward to the civilian npc return! 🙌🙌🙌🤗

[arramus]

It really depends on how the Better Vanilla Pack is changing things. NPC Mod things generally load before other mods because of the 'alphabetical' loading order. If a mod loading after the NPC Mod and Add On packs makes some fundamental resets, it will wipe out all of the NPC Mod actions.

[Purple Yam Jam]

@arramus This is awesome to know. Thank you for testing that! I wonder why, during my testing last night, I did not find any soldiers or raiders. Maybe I was too low level or not near enough to a city? I will continue testing and post here what my findings are.

By the way, I am the person who was asking Zilox and having trouble getting it to work. Apparently I need to test it more to see if they spawn after some time.

[arramus]

@Purple Yam Jam
I explored the District Zero files, and since it is an overhaul, it is rewriting all of the spawning group activity and removing all of them for the NPC Mod.

This is because it loads after the NPC Mod and wipes over the top of parts of it.

 

Rename District Zero to 0-District Zero. This will allow it to load before 0-Score and 0-XNPCCore since they load in alphabetical order.

This should allow the soldiers and bandits to begin spawning again.

 

However, there may be additional unintended changes since the NPC Mod will now be overwriting things in District Zero.

[drkstardragon]

Also, district zero does not use score, zilox has his own code changes to make certain things work, so i would not even attempt to add them together. A mod like darkness falls that uses a modified score it is possible to have compatibility. Arramus and i were able to do a full df playthrough with npc mod in a20 after patching the entity classes xml. Not saying that df will be compatible again, but since it had an score base we were able to add npc core as well, likely not the case with dz as it has its own code and adding score may cause major conflicts. On the other hand, just seeing them in game with dz in the pics above would give me some hope. 

Hopefully today i can update the add ons ive done, there have been some code, controller and other unity changes.

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by drkstardragon (see edit history)

[Hellfire301]

im not 100% sure its this mod causing the "issue" im having since im running it with improved hordes and dangerous cities mod's, but its pretty much turned 7d2d into call of duty warzone everywhere and zombies seldomly spawn outside of POI's, ive had one instance of a massive hord of ferals going at a group of NPC's in a desert down town area. outside of that one instance i havent seen any zombies just every version of enemy npc's and the national guardsman having an allout war all over the map.     is there a way i can slightly lower the spawns from this mod? if its overwriting spawning from the other 2 mod. If not ill try removing dangerous cities and see if that helps spreading out all spawns in general. while its certiantly fun its starting to become anoying  

[arramus]

Consider updating your NPC Mod Add On Packs (for Darkstardragon's offerings) if they were downloaded a few days ago as they were updated to balance their spawn rates and spawn locations. They were inappropriately spawning in those Downtown type areas as well.

 

They were released a touch too early and still had their higher value spawn rates for testing, as well as being allowed to spawn in places they shouldn't. The updates will be a different experience. It is horrifying to think of how things were faring with the cumulative effect of them spawning Downtown at higher rates alongside the Dangerous Cities Mod pumping them out even more!! Your description is very accurate.

 

It's probably a good idea to download everything (including Score and XNPCCore) again as some nice fixes and optimisations have been put in place.
A21 requires a lot of 'overhauling' and just getting to this stage has been nothing short of a splendid achievement for those in the background putting the time in to balance things out.

[drkstardragon]

I would hold off on attempting to download any of the packs ive done until later today, controller, code and other changes have been made but not applied yet.

[Hellfire301]

7 minutes ago, arramus said:

Consider updating your NPC Mod Add On Packs (for Darkstardragon's offerings) if they were downloaded a few days ago as they were updated to balance their spawn rates and spawn locations. They were inappropriately spawning in those Downtown type areas as well.

 

They were released a touch too early and still had their higher value spawn rates for testing, as well as being allowed to spawn in places they shouldn't. The updates will be a different experience. It is horrifying to think of how things were faring with the cumulative effect of them spawning Downtown at higher rates alongside the Dangerous Cities Mod pumping them out even more!! Your description is very accurate.

 

It's probably a good idea to download everything (including Score and XNPCCore) again as some nice fixes and optimisations have been put in place.
A21 requires a lot of 'overhauling' and just getting to this stage has been nothing short of a splendid achievement for those in the background putting the time in to balance things out.

thanks, i will give that a shot, i did grab the xnpcCore  from yesterday's upload a few moments ago, ill also grab the rest of the mod as recomended 

11 minutes ago, drkstardragon said:

I would hold off on attempting to download any of the packs ive done until later today, controller, code and other changes have been made but not applied yet.

sounds good i will hold off on those for now

[xyth]

Updated the links to Darkstars add on packs.

[xyth]

Fixed a bug where NPCs would run endlessly into trees.  Issue was the treeMaster block was not marked as solid, so NPCs saw going through this as a valid path.  Zombies would act the same, but it would then trigger the breakblock AI task and attack the tree.  You may have seen that behavior on zeds before, they attack a tree rather than taking a better path.  That is also fixed by this edit.  Possible consequences is if you are using a mod that enables crop trampling, seedling trees might not get trampled when they are in the first stage of growing. 

[xyth]

Uploaded Darkstar's RaiderGurlz, back by popular request.  There are two packs, one bandit, one friendly.  Only load one or the other, not both.

[Zackhron]

Hello, I hope this is the right way to report a bug I found, also sorry for my english.

 

Summary: Game stuck when trying to exit game when drone is out

Game Version: A21 Stable

Platform: PC, Windows 11

Video Settings: Ultra

Game mode: SP

Did you start a new game? Yes

Did you validate your files? Yes

Are you using any other mods? No, only Score, Xnpccore and Darksoldierz

EAC off?  Yes

Bug Description: Game stuck when trying to exit game when drone is out with Hired npc. Drone is lost if game is ended using end task from task manager. Game exit normally if I take drone back into inventory.

Detailed steps to reproduce the bug: Bring out the drone then hire an npc, take back the drone and bring it out again after that.

Actual result: Game stuck when clicking Exit game from menu, using shutdown command will make the game freeze and not responding.

Expected result: Game exit to menu.

 

Error from logs :

Spoiler

2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.918 INF [Steamworks.NET] NET: Server stopped
2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.919 INF [EOS-P2PS] Server stopped
2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.920 INF SaveAndCleanupWorld
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
  at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) [0x00009] in <03bd9b261dff4c2b8b568aca27f561b2>:0 
  at DroneManager.RemoveAllVehiclesFromMap () [0x000c6] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at GameManager.SaveAndCleanupWorld () [0x0006e] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at ConnectionManager.StopServers () [0x00028] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at GameManager.Disconnect () [0x0014c] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_InGameMenuWindow.exitGame (XUiC_SaveDirtyPrefab+ESelectedAction _action) [0x00022] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_InGameMenuWindow.BtnExit_OnPressed (XUiController _sender, System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00031] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_SimpleButton.Btn_OnPress (XUiController _sender, System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00010] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiController.OnPressed (System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x0000e] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiController.Pressed (System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00000] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiView.OnClick (UnityEngine.GameObject _go) [0x0003f] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at UIEventListener.OnClick () [0x0001c] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
UnityEngine.GameObject:SendMessage(GameObject, String, Object, SendMessageOptions)
UICamera:Notify(GameObject, String, Object)
UICamera:ProcessRelease(Boolean, Single)
UICamera:ProcessTouch(Boolean, Boolean)
UICamera:ProcessMouse()
UICamera:ProcessEvents()
UICamera:Update()

 

Thanks.

[Magnus33john]

18 hours ago, xyth said:

Uploaded Darkstar's RaiderGurlz, back by popular request.  There are two packs, one bandit, one friendly.  Only load one or the other, not both.

Can't tell if its a minor glitch or a game issue.

 

Gave her a auto shotgun and other then the fact its invisible everything fine.

[arramus]

2 hours ago, Zackhron said:

Hello, I hope this is the right way to report a bug I found, also sorry for my english.

 

Summary: Game stuck when trying to exit game when drone is out

Game Version: A21 Stable

Platform: PC, Windows 11

Video Settings: Ultra

Game mode: SP

Did you start a new game? Yes

Did you validate your files? Yes

Are you using any other mods? No, only Score, Xnpccore and Darksoldierz

EAC off?  Yes

Bug Description: Game stuck when trying to exit game when drone is out with Hired npc. Drone is lost if game is ended using end task from task manager. Game exit normally if I take drone back into inventory.

Detailed steps to reproduce the bug: Bring out the drone then hire an npc, take back the drone and bring it out again after that.

Actual result: Game stuck when clicking Exit game from menu, using shutdown command will make the game freeze and not responding.

Expected result: Game exit to menu.

 

Error from logs :

  Hide contents

2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.918 INF [Steamworks.NET] NET: Server stopped
2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.919 INF [EOS-P2PS] Server stopped
2023-07-10T08:40:30 351.920 INF SaveAndCleanupWorld
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
  at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) [0x00009] in <03bd9b261dff4c2b8b568aca27f561b2>:0 
  at DroneManager.RemoveAllVehiclesFromMap () [0x000c6] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at GameManager.SaveAndCleanupWorld () [0x0006e] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at ConnectionManager.StopServers () [0x00028] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at GameManager.Disconnect () [0x0014c] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_InGameMenuWindow.exitGame (XUiC_SaveDirtyPrefab+ESelectedAction _action) [0x00022] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_InGameMenuWindow.BtnExit_OnPressed (XUiController _sender, System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00031] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiC_SimpleButton.Btn_OnPress (XUiController _sender, System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00010] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiController.OnPressed (System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x0000e] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiController.Pressed (System.Int32 _mouseButton) [0x00000] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at XUiView.OnClick (UnityEngine.GameObject _go) [0x0003f] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
  at UIEventListener.OnClick () [0x0001c] in <0266d593c0f442fa83ca9e728741ee90>:0 
UnityEngine.GameObject:SendMessage(GameObject, String, Object, SendMessageOptions)
UICamera:Notify(GameObject, String, Object)
UICamera:ProcessRelease(Boolean, Single)
UICamera:ProcessTouch(Boolean, Boolean)
UICamera:ProcessMouse()
UICamera:ProcessEvents()
UICamera:Update()

 

Thanks.

Just verifying and confirming on a new World in Nevezgane with just Score and XNPCCore.

A counting issue it seems...
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

[xyth]

57 minutes ago, arramus said:

Just verifying and confirming on a new World in Nevezgane with just Score and XNPCCore.

A counting issue it seems...
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

 

Confirmed.  Nice find.  Will see if we can get that fixed quickly

 

1 hour ago, Magnus33john said:

Can't tell if its a minor glitch or a game issue.

 

Gave her a auto shotgun and other then the fact its invisible everything fine.

Likely a simple uncheck box in Unity, I will let Darkstar know

 

Just FYI, expect more bugs to be found in the coming weeks.  This mod has a ton of new code, so things can go sideways at unexpected times.  There is a reason TFP is taking time to even add simple bandits.  This stuff is hard.   Currently we are noticing under some conditions the NPCs stop attacking or move slowly until they either attack or are knocked down.  Still hunting this bug. 

[ahtawulfa]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:31 AM, arramus said:

It really depends on how the Better Vanilla Pack is changing things. NPC Mod things generally load before other mods because of the 'alphabetical' loading order. If a mod loading after the NPC Mod and Add On packs makes some fundamental resets, it will wipe out all of the NPC Mod actions.

 

Should I rename it to load AFTER the better vanilla mod then or keep the file names as is (with the 0 in the front) ******EDIT NVM I see you said this to another member so I will try this out and see if it works Thanks again!!***

Edited July 10, 2023 by ahtawulfa (see edit history)