A21 NPCMod and Addons

[Guppycur]

Funny, I absolutely hate the baker.

[RoPa]

I added the new NPC Survivor pack by DarkstarDragon and played for a bit.

While scavenging a gun store I noticed somebody outside walk by the window, the door opened and BLAM! I was dead! 😁

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

On 2/7/2022 at 3:42 PM, xyth said:

 

Thanks, We are just getting started.  

 

What we struggle the most with is near zero feedback on features and functionality.  We really need to know what folks like, whats broken, whats really needed.  

 

The problem with being an innovator and a pioneer, is you don't know what is out there. I originally did not like the raider gurls, they did not talk to me. However they grew on me real fast, and i found myself not shooting unless i was shot at. Art happens, and out of pure accident this created a true to life post collapse scenario where you do not know who is hostile and who is not until you get shot at. 

Now what complicates things, is I do not know what you guys are capable of.  So what can we ask for? This complicates things a lot. Should hostile bandits surrender if they take too much damage? Should they try to join the player if they are alone? should they steal from unlocked boxes? What can they be made to do? The npcs really change the game quite a bit. I got machined gunned down right at spawn by a raider. Sometimes you rescue npcs from zombies, and sometimes zombies rescue you from npcs. I mean they do a lot of crazy things. 

 

Part of me would like to see some type of settlement system, where you place a special land claim, and as you place certain blocks npcs will show up and do work there. the caveat is that this settlement WILL be attacked on horde night, so you will have to defend it. 

[ate0ate]

In response to Xyth's request for feedback I can only offer what has been the largest block for me testing things. And this is just me, so please don't think I am demanding anything be changed. Its simply an explanation as to why I have found it difficult to play/test with all of the NPCs. Outside of the zombie/creature spawns the NPCs all occupy the wilderness area which I rely heavily on at the start and for hunting. It currently causes too much congestion having things that way as I spawn in and get shot by bandits or hostiles rather quickly. It also makes hunting an absolute nightmare. I have difficulty testing things if I am not simply playing organically. Like I can't just command spawn things in, get immersed , and tell you what I think. The thing I personally would find most helpful would be a slightly better spawn setup. One that at least keeps hostiles out of that area for the most part, like sticking the bandits and raiders in the desert/snow/wasteland or something similar. Khzmusik had a rather convenient spawn setup for many of the old NPCs in A19 and even had faction bases that were tiered and part of the quest chain. I wouldn't expect anything that involved this soon or anything, but the spawn system was quite nice. Just a reference. I thank you all or your work here. Even early on like this I feel its a significant improvement to the base game. Sadly, I've paid $60 more than once for much less:)

[xyth]

Thanks for the input guys.  It does help.  I agree the spawning areas needs adjusting.  About 4 overhauls are using or are planning to use NPCs in their mods and I'm sure they will adjust those spawns.  Likely we should avoid spawning hostiles in the forest biome as that's where most folks start.  We are in Phase 1 of the NPCMod, and are now close to pushing a major update to stable.  NPC sleepers in specialized POIs will be enabled, giving amazing experiences.  More control over hired NPCs is also in.  Eventually crafting, better looting, settlement etc will happen.  Still bug fixing and adding new features to work around current gameplay issues but looking forward to new features as we go.

[Chunkimunki]

Really chuffed you guys are putting in the work to take this to the max. Thoroughly enjoying playing with it!

 

Hired my first NPC yesterday - a knife wielding nurse whom I saved from a zed - she took my money then immediately ran off and picked a fight with a wolf. It was a swift end as I panicked trying to figure out what to do. I assume she was still in threat mode.

The icons on the hud are a great idea but unless my employee is waiting to be reborn they are still there after her death.

 

The power suited rocketman can ruin your day/base real quick - spent 10mins in a poi hiding from him like I was playing 'Alien Isolation'.

 

I've got spiders to spawn in the forest so things v.spicey especially with Stallionsden More Animals modlet - Valmars Starter Class is a must! Having a lot of flashbacks to playing 'Starvation Mod' all those years ago - early game sweats and death around any corner!

 

Huge thanks

 

[xyth]

Be sure to put the Modes button and Stop button on your tool bar so you can control the NPCs better.  By default they are in Hunting Mod, and will run off and attack everrything.

 

[xyth]

New Experimental version 20.1.02.08 uploaded. 

Many bug fixes.

Custom POI Prefab files for setting up and testing NPC enabled POIs, as well as custom spawning groups for same.  This makes it easier for POI builders to standardize NPC spawning across POIs. 

Improved NPC control functions so melee wont charge off. 

NPCs strafe more rather than charge and retreat trying to maintain optimum weapon range.  

Floating and flying NPCs wont create footstep sounds

NPC Hired Health bars should work as expected

NPCs should respawn when you log off and left them in stay mode.

Baker is hireable again.  Note, the emptyHanded Baker is set to be timid and will run away  from most anything.  Don't hire him 🙂

 

Remaining Major known issue:  NPCs wont break blocks to get to player, will run into said blocks instead.  Fix is in the works.

 

[ktrain]

1 hour ago, xyth said:

New Experimental version 20.1.02.08 uploaded....

Sounds excellent! But where did you upload it? It's still 20.1.02.03 which downloads from the link in the first post...

Nevermind I found it in the other repository...

[Hayran]

1 hour ago, ktrain said:

Sounds excellent! But where did you upload it? It's still 20.1.02.03 which downloads from the link in the first post...

Nevermind I found it in the other repository...

Yes. Need upload it lol.

[xyth]

The exp repo always had the very latest exp the testing team uses, might be a little less stable than the published exp.

 I just updated the  published exp version to  .08.    I see i never pushed it, too many distractions today.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by xyth (see edit history)

[ate0ate]

I am unsure if this is related to NPCcore/Score, just vanilla things, or involves the randomized walk animations for zeds but I have been noticing that only at times the zeds will do this specific lunge animation where it looks as if they take a large step forward towards you, swing both arms at you, then step back to where they were. Its a fine enough animation on its own but results in them appearing to clip entirely through the wall to do it. Looks like a zed just steps through the wall, hits you, and steps back again. Not a huge issue as they always step back to the right side of the wall but it is quite odd and results in a rather cheap hit. Most repeatable if you get a random group of them on the other side of a fenced area where they can see you and keep attacking. You can also hit them when they clip through so the cheap hit goes both ways at least:)

 

I should note that I am using all of the zed specific addons listed in the main post, though as far as I am aware none of them use any sort of custom animations.

[xyth]

The zed controller is a near exact clone of the vanilla zombie controller, but the vanilla version has scripts we do not have access too.  I saw what you described once on my tutorial zombie on A20.1, never saw that before so maybe something changed in the collision detection.  That is a vanilla animation, so I know where to look, but I don't have any ideas yet why that's happening.  Thanks for confirming the issue though.

 

I think I found it, seems its a vanilla bug in the A20.0 controller I baselined on, which likely they fixed in A20.1 and never put that in the release notes.  I let the zombie makers know, so when they update their packs it should be fixed.

Edited February 10, 2022 by xyth (see edit history)

[mnjparks]

Which file do i open to lower the amount of npc that spawn?

Edited February 10, 2022 by mnjparks (see edit history)

[xyth]

Entitygroups.xml.  There will be one of those files in the NPCCore and one in every expansion pack

Pushed an update to the Raiderz, RaiderGurlz and Survivorz packs to reduce spawn rates in starter areas. Localization also added to the Survivorz pack.

[mnjparks]

Which file can you edit to lower the amount off all npc s that spawn. I thought I saw somewhere 30 and I changed it to ten.  I just don't want too many npc s running around.

[mnjparks]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:34 PM, Nikormizer said:

Thanks for the great mod! I'm looking to tweak spawn percentages of NPCs. I feel like the encounters are too common. Also is there a way to remove certain NPCs or alter their spawn weapons. For example, I want to remove rocket launcher NPC or just the weapon.

 

Thanks again for all the great work you guys do!

Did you ever figure out how to lower the overall npc percentage? 

[bdubyah]

6 minutes ago, mnjparks said:

Did you ever figure out how to lower the overall npc percentage? 

Xyth answered you already. Entitygroups.xml...

[mnjparks]

1 hour ago, bdubyah said:

Xyth answered you already. Entitygroups.xml...

Actually not finding it there. Found where to edit entities individually but not as a whole like I stated. Also im playing the rebirth mod which has npccore included so it may be a little different.

[arramus]

3 hours ago, mnjparks said:

Which file can you edit to lower the amount off all npc s that spawn. I thought I saw somewhere 30 and I changed it to ten.  I just don't want too many npc s running around.

This question is going to repeat itself time and again for sure. Here are some simple step by step instructions and suggestions for Server Admin and Player Hosts:

 

Changing the settings in 0-XNPCCore\Config\entitygroups.xml and the same entitygroups.xml for each of the Addon Packs, e.g. 1-RaiderzPack\Config\entitygroups.xml will allow you to increase or decrease the amount of NPCs that spawn.

 

For example, in the 0-XNPCCore\Config\entitygroups.xml, you will see, as an example:

 

<entity name="npcHarleyClub" prob="1" /> connected to EnemyAnimals group.

 

This means that Harley carrying the Club is allowed to spawn at a potential probability rate of '100%' in comparison and relation to other characters and entities in groups that start with 'EnemyAnimals' in their group name (I believe) of the same and different probabilities.

 

npcHarleyClub's probability of 1 for this group is actually incredibly low considering the EnemyAnimalsForest's, animalWolf is 9, animalBear is 3, animalDireWolf is 3 and 'none' is 85. 'none' may or may not relate to a non spawning entity that keeps numbers in check or to 'thin' the herd and cause players to gradually move further out.

 

If you are seeing too many NPCs, consider reducing the probabilities to somewhere from 0.1 - 0.25. The setting 0.1 is being used in the individual RaiderzPack and they appear at a comfortable rate.

 

I have Zoomed through the Wasteland and have seen NPCs appear very frequently even though they are only set from 0.25 - 1 for Harley. This is actually incredibly low and was a clearly considered entry when we see the default values for others in the same spawn group are animalSnake at 20, animalZombieVulture at 30, animalZombieDog at 30 and animalZombieBear at 20.

 

However, something is not working out, and with experience for the Snufkins, I have seen that Mods can disproportionately take precedence over default probability values in some groups. Again, consider reducing these NPC probability values to 0.1 - 0.25.

 

It will be helpful if you can report back your findings if you give these a try.

 

12 minutes ago, mnjparks said:

Actually not finding it there. Found where to edit entities individually but not as a whole like I stated. Also im playing the rebirth mod which has npccore included so it may be a little different.

It is best to edit entries individually with entitygroups.xml.

 

If you want to change the spawning as a whole, that is governed in the spawning.xml. However, this will simply reduce/increase the overall respawn amounts and frequency proportionally and you will have exactly the same issue but at a reduced rate, if the issue is one entity is spawning too often.

[bdubyah]

Yeah, the more packs you run the lower the numbers need to go. I used .05 on a lot of my zombies, and .02 or lower on NPCs like raiders and mutants, as there are a lot added so it will kind of overpower normal spawns if you aren't careful.

 

And as said, there is no single setting for all NPCs. But doing a mass search and replace in N++ or something makes it pretty easy to hit a bunch of them at once.

[arramus]

Here is a link for a couple of large Prefabs (Tier 4 and Tier 5) that have built in @khzmusik's groups for NPCMod specific Sleeper Volumes which will allow NPCMod characters to spawn in the same way Zombies do..

 

https://github.com/arramus/A20-NPCMod-Prefabs

 

These Prefabs are connected to the Bandit types for which @Darkstardragon has been very active. The following 3 Addon Packs have all been updated and will allow these Bandit Raiderz and Fighterz to spawn in these Prefabs.

 

1-RaiderGurlzPack:  https://github.com/7D2D/A20Mods/blob/main/1-RaiderGurlzPack.7z

Adds 50’s style Gansta gals

1-RaiderzPack: https://github.com/7D2D/A20Mods/blob/main/1-RaiderzPack.7z

Adds several nasty bandit type foes

1-PitFighterzPack: https://github.com/7D2D/A20Mods/blob/main/1-PitFighterzPack.7z

MMA at its finest

 

The combination of dedicated NPCMod custom made Prefabs and NPCMod characters can offer a very interesting dynamic with a mixture of melee and ranged opponents being able to roam or be in locked 'turret' guard positions. Testing these was a lot of fun and it helps to bring a hired NPC or two along for the Quest.

 

As NPCMod Addons integrate the custom Sleeper Volumes to allow them to spawn in NPCMod specific POI locations, more chances to pair off Prefabs and Addon Pack characters will be available.

[ate0ate]

Just a heads up, and not sure which mod is doing what, but I figured it worth mentioning since @bdubyahposted here recently. Using just Score, NPCcoreEXP and Bdubs vehicles causes some strange issues. I first couldn't place a bike down and a permanent ghost of it would appear instead, then when I exited the world and attempted to go back in it would just hang at the Building Environment stage. I've been using a ton of mods and haven't had any issue until the experimental repository for NPCcore updated with the block breaking feature. I did get this issue to be repeatable using just the three mods mentioned. The prior version, before the block breaking stuff was implemented works just fine. Just to be clear, I have been using the version of NPCcore from the separate experimental repository so make sure that is the one you use if trying to replicate, not the one linked from the main NPCcore repo. I know its unstable and all, that's why I don't want to say its a bug or anything, but I just thought it worth mentioning now to maybe avoid any issues later.

[gwydion62]

HI, if I want to use the exp - do I have to add the 2 new files or exchange the old core files?

[bdubyah]

1 hour ago, ate0ate said:

Just a heads up, and not sure which mod is doing what, but I figured it worth mentioning since @bdubyahposted here recently. Using just Score, NPCcoreEXP and Bdubs vehicles causes some strange issues. I first couldn't place a bike down and a permanent ghost of it would appear instead, then when I exited the world and attempted to go back in it would just hang at the Building Environment stage. I've been using a ton of mods and haven't had any issue until the experimental repository for NPCcore updated with the block breaking feature. I did get this issue to be repeatable using just the three mods mentioned. The prior version, before the block breaking stuff was implemented works just fine. Just to be clear, I have been using the version of NPCcore from the separate experimental repository so make sure that is the one you use if trying to replicate, not the one linked from the main NPCcore repo. I know its unstable and all, that's why I don't want to say its a bug or anything, but I just thought it worth mentioning now to maybe avoid any issues later.

I think there might be an issue with the last EXP builds. I've been getting some errors trying to load them.