Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[Gamida]

1 hour ago, Laz Man said:

 

I like your way of handling your friends....😅

 

I'd play alone too or do my own quests if my friends always gave me the leftovers after getting the enjoyment of opening everything...

 

Was watching a streamer and the way they handled shared trader quests was whoever shared the quest was the one who got to open the main stash of loot. It seemed to work for them.

[meganoth]

59 minutes ago, OgreSlayeR said:

I hope bows get fixed a some point especially the primitive bow. I mean I don't expect it to be a laser beam, but it feels bad and I don't know how many times I've had arrows go right through the zombies head and do nothing.

 

I also hope (prob in A22 or so) they fix the misaligned sights when aiming down sights and get rid of the crosshair when ADS.

 

Not sure if you are aware that hitting in this game is also governed by RPG rules. 

 

I.e. in a pure shooter game only player skill comes into play. If your mouse points correctly at the head you hit the head, always. In a pure RPG hit or no hit is determined by the roll of a dice, the player only can influence the likelyhood of hitting by getting better weapons or skills.

 

7D2D is a mix. You really have to point your arrow or gun at an enemy or you won't have any luck at all. But then the game randomly determines where in a circle around the location you are pointing to the arrow really hits.

 

The primitive bow at quality 0 is an absolute atrocity and you have to be fairly close to the target to have a chance. But that will make it only sweeter when you find or craft better quality bows or higher tier bows.

 

I am saying this in case it wasn't a bug you are experiencing.

Edited June 15, 2023 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Phoenixshade35]

I am noticing a small bug with the double barrel shotgun, not sure if its been mentioned or not, its a graphical one, when you reload you get smoke from the chambers, which is cool, the bug is when you switch away and back, fire and smoke come from it for no reason, nothing big but worth noting

[jorbascrumps]

19 minutes ago, Gamida said:

Was watching a streamer and the way they handled shared trader quests was whoever shared the quest was the one who got to open the main stash of loot. It seemed to work for them.

 

This works for my group as well to keep eager beavers from sniping all the loot.

 

19 minutes ago, meganoth said:

You really have to point your arrow or gun at an enemy or you won't have any luck at all. But then the game randomly determines where in a circle around the location you are pointing to the arrow really hits.

 

I've been playing this game for years and did not know this. I don't think the game communicates this mechanic well (if at all).

[meganoth]

13 minutes ago, jorbascrumps said:

 

I've been playing this game for years and did not know this. I don't think the game communicates this mechanic well (if at all).

 

The shrinking circle you see when you aim is the actual circle of possible hit locations (though in the case of bows the ballistic flight path comes into play as well) . This is similar to shooters who have accuracy as a weapon stat.

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by meganoth (see edit history)

[doughphunghus]

8 hours ago, Strengthinside said:

I just noticed that some textures are flickering in the game, has anyone noticed it? I mostly see it on roads, crosswalk lines, but also noticed some wall texture flickering.

I don't know if this is something all people are affected by or just Linux, which I do use to play the game (Ubuntu) I am also on AMD card (rx 6650xt), everything set to high, except shadows turned off.

 

I managed to catch a case where it does that:
 

 

Im on linux with an old nvidia 1030 single slot, graphics turned down very low but not all the way down. I haven't seen flickering yet.

[Robbing Zombie]

Probably been said, but I'll say it anyway. The dew collector could speed thing up a bit, or several, when it rains, no?

 

Also, a superchaged reward from the trader (and a new steam  achievement) when you do a night time generator mission during horde night, would be fun.

[vergilsparda]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:08 AM, Diragor said:

FOR REAL?? Finally that was long needed. Now add them into the Horde Night xD true insanity

Yes!! It was in a POI I was doing a quest for and both times she popped out of her spot!! I won't say what POI tho for fun's sake but it was definitely jarring  

 

On 6/14/2023 at 8:34 AM, Gamida said:

 

I have the same problem. Here is what I did.

I changed these numbers to 11 from what they were, 8's.

You mod so probably can find the file easy enough. It is under Data\Config\XUi

The windows.xml file. You can also see the lines numbers to left if you use Notepad++

 

 

 

it gave me this...

 

 

 

similarly, if I were to change the positioning from negative to positive, would it put the bars above the level bar again? I really do miss that and while I do use a HUD mod already I actually prefer the vanilla, I just can't see the bars when they're that low (I tend not to look/look over it as if they aren't there)
 

On 6/14/2023 at 2:32 PM, hiemfire said:

From what I've seen in vids so far it doesn't look like poi spawn screamers summon hordes. They do make for one heck of a jump scare and "Oh @%$#" moment though.

that's a relief if it's true, I'm sitting there scrambling over my weapons in my hot bar trying to pick a certain one trying to kill her before she screams. Not a lot of things terrify me but man she is definitely up there as one of them 😭 it's bad enough that wights spawn when performing a certain new game action if you aren't careful  
 

as for A21 I do like that now higher tiered POI have appropriately difficult zombies, it really makes it a challenge to clear tier 3'a and above lol

 

and the new blocks making non-modeled things like mobile homes and decoration sculptures is so freaking cool. The trailer park actually feels like a trailer park now (and it's crazy how small the footprint of some POI are now that they've been given an update pass over)

[Riamus]

3 hours ago, Phoenixshade35 said:

I am noticing a small bug with the double barrel shotgun, not sure if its been mentioned or not, its a graphical one, when you reload you get smoke from the chambers, which is cool, the bug is when you switch away and back, fire and smoke come from it for no reason, nothing big but worth noting

I've seen this effect on a pipe pistol as well when switching to it.  Minor and I ignored it but yeah, it should be fixed.

[HB_H4wk]

Sorry for the noobish question. If I were to start creating a Custom Map in A21 Experimental will it work with updated A21 versions?

 

**note. This is my first time using an experimental version of this game. I have always waited for the Stable Release.

[Kosmic Kerman]

10 minutes ago, HB_H4wk said:

Sorry for the noobish question. If I were to start creating a Custom Map in A21 Experimental will it work with updated A21 versions?

 

**note. This is my first time using an experimental version of this game. I have always waited for the Stable Release.

Most likely but it's not guaranteed.  Bottom line, don't play experimental if you will be upset by a forced restart.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Kosmic Kerman (see edit history)

[madmole]

10 hours ago, Thaledwyn said:

Quick question about glue (maybe it was already answered elsewhere):

 

Why is glue requiring clean water instead of murky water now? (I don't want to eat my duct tape 😉 )

At the moment we have a separate "glue camp fire" due to cooking times and we have to decide if we use our rare water for food or glue on the first days. That's a nice survival aspect!

 

It seems glue is the new acid 🙂

 

If anything we had it backwards all those years using murky water for anything other than brewing a poison just seems wrong. Now, you use your clean water to craft with, it makes more sense and it's impossible to boil too much and be screwed. Like wtf can't I make glue with this perfectly good drinking water?

12 minutes ago, HB_H4wk said:

Sorry for the noobish question. If I were to start creating a Custom Map in A21 Experimental will it work with updated A21 versions?

 

**note. This is my first time using an experimental version of this game. I have always waited for the Stable Release.

Yeah but you won't get any bug fixes that RNG might get in between versions.

3 hours ago, jorbascrumps said:

 

This works for my group as well to keep eager beavers from sniping all the loot.

 

 

I've been playing this game for years and did not know this. I don't think the game communicates this mechanic well (if at all).

Didn't think we needed to? Every game with a shrinking crosshair over the years does it this way, I thought it was common shooter knowledge.  Did you never notice the crosshair shrink as you aimed? You didn't think anything of it? You can aim at a wall and see impacts and tell the rays do not hit dead center but somewhere inside the crosshair.

 

2 hours ago, Robbing Zombie said:

Probably been said, but I'll say it anyway. The dew collector could speed thing up a bit, or several, when it rains, no?

 

Also, a superchaged reward from the trader (and a new steam  achievement) when you do a night time generator mission during horde night, would be fun.

It's a dew collector not a rain collector. Still though, we didn't want to rely on weather since it's so random. Also we don't really track chunks that are unloaded and doing that would be really expensive and we knew people would have 50 dew collectors so we didn't want the whole server slowing down over a minor bit of realism that would also make it harder to balance.

[Archer]

My group is still playing - still not liking this magazine thing. 
We've halted work on the base for now as the highest tier item I can craft at this point is the damn workbench and literally none of us are reading any magazines at all, there's a whole 8 human beings out scouring for them and there's just *not* enough to go around for everybody. The ratios are off, loot tables, whatever you want to call it but to sustain a group of more than just 2 or 3 people and make the rate of progression not be a complete snoozefest of just digging through trash piles all day pretty much every thing we loot would need to give us 2 or 3 magazines or more. It's tedious as hell.

[hiloboys]

Just a quick question, with every update to the experimental build. Is it typical to have to download the entire game size again? (11gb) Just wondering for reference sake. I launched steam with phone tethered and just used up 11 gigs of hotspot data. (my fault of course i forgot to uncheck auto update and left to go do some things) I was just wondering if this is typical. Thanks!

[jorbascrumps]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

Didn't think we needed to? Every game with a shrinking crosshair over the years does it this way, I thought it was common shooter knowledge.  Did you never notice the crosshair shrink as you aimed? You didn't think anything of it? You can aim at a wall and see impacts and tell the rays do not hit dead center but somewhere inside the crosshair.

 

No, I don't make a habit of shooting at walls 😆 I'm aware of the shrinking crosshair but the explanation provided made it sound like even if the projectile visually hits a target there is still a skill check as to whether it actually hits and does damage. Perhaps I misunderstood.

[Petrol_Forever]

I know that I'm a little late to the party, but let's goooo! I've been waiting for the A21 so bad.

 

Thank you TFP, you're amazing! ❤️  

[Morloc]

We got a bell?? 😲

 

Pimps = Pimps +1

 

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc 💀

 

 

[Roland]

44 minutes ago, Archer said:

My group is still playing - still not liking this magazine thing. 
We've halted work on the base for now as the highest tier item I can craft at this point is the damn workbench and literally none of us are reading any magazines at all, there's a whole 8 human beings out scouring for them and there's just *not* enough to go around for everybody. The ratios are off, loot tables, whatever you want to call it but to sustain a group of more than just 2 or 3 people and make the rate of progression not be a complete snoozefest of just digging through trash piles all day pretty much every thing we loot would need to give us 2 or 3 magazines or more. It's tedious as hell.

 

Then increase the loot tables above 100%. That is the only way it is going to work if your group insists on everybody reading all the magazines. Most groups are going to specialize and then there is single player. If the magazines were increased to the point that a team of 8 humans can all progress to the top of the same exact crafting trees it would break the game for the groups that are working as a team and for single players.

 

Most of the feedback coming in is that there are already too many magazines in loot and in rewards. If your group is stuck at low levels of crafting because everyone is reading the same magazines to just craft their own stuff then you probably need to adjust the loot setting in the options menu to fit the playstyle of your group.

[Old Crow]

1 hour ago, madmole said:

Didn't think we needed to? Every game with a shrinking crosshair over the years does it this way, I thought it was common shooter knowledge.  Did you never notice the crosshair shrink as you aimed? You didn't think anything of it? You can aim at a wall and see impacts and tell the rays do not hit dead center but somewhere inside the crosshair.

 

And yet you felt we needed a danger meter that can't be toggled on and off.

[Gamida]

2 hours ago, vergilsparda said:

similarly, if I were to change the positioning from negative to positive, would it put the bars above the level bar again? I really do miss that and while I do use a HUD mod already I actually prefer the vanilla, I just can't see the bars when they're that low (I tend not to look/look over it as if they aren't there)

 

Sorry, that is about as far as my modding skill goes right now

If you want to try you can ask in the modding section. They have a discussion and request channel.

There are probably modders who could move those bars above the xp bar and make them wider in a few minutes.

[Wulf]

Todays's B317 release brings some interesting balance changes.

-Increased water filter cost. Dunno what exactly the thought behind that is, but i'm not sure it really affects me anyway. Money is still too easy to come by if you do quests. (personally i'd rather see a nerf to questing income).

-Lowered the availability of crafting magazines. (book bundle appears less often, the bundle contains less books, and randomly found magazines have their loot chance reduced. Oh boy, looks like we're still progressing too fast guys. What's intended here, stone age tools through the first week? First 3 days? Honest question, because I'm curious.

 

I'm fine with whatever really, although i would prefer a more prolonged game experience which it seems you guys are aiming for. Not sure i'm in the majority though.

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Wulf (see edit history)

[Roland]

22 minutes ago, jorbascrumps said:

 

No, I don't make a habit of shooting at walls 😆 I'm aware of the shrinking crosshair but the explanation provided made it sound like even if the projectile visually hits a target there is still a skill check as to whether it actually hits and does damage. Perhaps I misunderstood.

 

If you hit the target you will do damage. There is no skill check that cancels your hit and damage if you actually hit the target. In other words, if you see your projectile hit there is no natural 1 that will then be rolled that will cause you to duff it. Instead, it is a probability of where your projectile will go within the circle of the crosshairs. So the roll happens when you fire the weapon and its trajectory goes toward one of the random points within the circle of your crosshairs. If that point is not on the target then you will miss it.

 

Unrelated to that seems to be problems with arrows looking like they visually go through the target but act like they are flying past it. I've seen slo mo footage of it and it definitely appears that at times the arrow goes through the head and not near the head. 

 

6 minutes ago, Old Crow said:

And yet you felt we needed a danger meter that can't be toggled on and off.

 

What does this point have to do with the feature of a shrinking crosshair? Where does the "and yet" part of your sentence make sense with Joel's description of the crosshair area getting smaller when you pause to aim rather than shooting from the hip?

 

I could see your quip making sense if Joel was explaining that the food and water bars were made super thin to reduce screen presence but I don't get it in this context.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Roland (see edit history)

[faatal]

6 hours ago, Riamus said:

Maybe not increased but it's still too much.  You can see this just by being near a closed door with a zombie crawling on the other side.  They can hit you without really any chance of reaching you if you're close.  I mean, if I can barely hit a zombie with a spear, there's no reason they should be able to reach me while on their hands and knees at the same distance.  Hopefully this gets fixed eventually but as it's been a long-standing issue, I'm not too hopeful of it being soon.

Yes, zombie and animal reach is too long, but player reach is also too long. Changing all of these would require a complete rebalance and would feel very different to everyone, so it has been like that for many years as many of us think it is fine. In b317 I reduced the overall zombie reach by 3% to see if that feels different without ruining balance and made a short zombie hand item so they can have a separate Range value and that has about 20% less reach. Network latency also makes this worse.

5 hours ago, zztong said:

I use bows a lot and haven't noticed a difference with the primitive bow. That doesn't mean there wasn't a change. I can be pretty oblivious sometimes.

I don't think we changed it and seems the same to me. I prefer agility and use the bow quite a bit.

[Roland]

10 minutes ago, Wulf said:

Todays's B317 release brings some interesting balance changes.

-Increased water filter cost. Dunno what exactly the thought behind that is, but i'm not sure it really affects me anyway. Money is still too easy to come by if you do quests. (personally i'd rather see a nerf to questing income).

-Lowered the availability of crafting magazines. (book bundle appears less often, the bundle contains less books, and randomly found magazines have their loot change reduced. Oh boy, looks like we're still progressing too fast guys. What's intended here, stone age through the first week? First 3 days? Honest question.

 

 

 

I don't know how long they want the stone age to last but they do want it to last beyond a few days. They want players to fully explore at least some of the tiers of quality within each tech stage. If players are skipping from brown stone to blue stone to yellow iron all in 2-3 days then all the intermediate tiers are irrelevant. The ideal would be crafting up through all the quality stages because you're spending time in each one.

 

That said, it does get tougher to get to the top levels later on and I worry that a nerf to stop primitive level rushing might cause some mid game stalling. I'm betting they will likely adjust it back to a bit more generous again once more players get to the midgame and start complaining they can't get their chemistry station unlocked and that they've been stuck on a minibike forever.

 

Personally, I'd like to see another magazine or two added to each primitive stage advancement and leave the availability of books alone. 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Roland (see edit history)

[Wulf]

4 minutes ago, Roland said:

That said, it does get tougher to get to the top levels later on and I worry that a nerf to stop primitive level rushing might cause some mid game stalling. I'm betting they will likely adjust it back to a bit more generous again once more players get to the midgame and start complaining they can't get their chemistry station unlocked and that they've been stuck on a minibike forever.

Yes, i could see that. Although in that case, rebalancing the amount needed to progress in the later stages might be smarter.