28 Alphas Later

[Hells_Janitor]

Welcome to 28 Alphas Later!

 

### THIS IS VERSION 1.2 - A FRESH SAVE IS ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED!!! ###

 

Now updated to support multiplayer!

 

The idea behind this mod is to slow progression, make traders less powerful, and generally extend the time for a playthrough, while keeping the vanilla look and feel.

 

STARTER ITEMS

"Starter" items are now in a backpack, found in slot 2 of your toolbelt. Open it with your primary action (LMB by default on PC)

When you open the backpack, read the note from The Duke to obtain your starter weapon of choice.

The starter quest is now just "place bedroll", which you'll receive on opening the starter backpack.

 

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

Player starts with a new debuff - Despair. Despair is dynamically affected by various different factors, including:

1. Darkness. Too dark, and your Despair will increase dramatically. Torches, helmet lights and flashlights will mitigate this. Use these in conjunction with a campfire for the best effect.
2. Temperature. If you’re freezing or sweltering, your Despair will also increase dramatically. Find shelter!
3. Environment: Varying degrees of “wetness” will change how Despair affects you, as will your shelter. If you’re warm, dry, sheltered, well lit, AND near an operating campfire,forge or chem station you can effectively “treat” Despair.
4. Hunger and thirst affect how quickly your despair increases. Starvation/dehydration will drastically increase the rate at which you become affected by despair.
5. Injuries will affect how quickly your despair increases.
6. There is medication in trader stock and rare medical loot to treat your despair.
6a. There is also lavender growing wild, which can be collected to make your own lavender seeds, and is also used to make Lavender Oil in a cooking pot at a campfire. Treats 3% Despair.
7. All food has a positive effect. The better the food, the more effective the treatment.
8. Killing zombies and animals will reduce your overall despair. Conversely, getting hit by enemies will increase it.
9. Being in close proximity to zombies increases your Despair. The tougher the zombie, the worse the effect. The effect is compounded, so the more zombies there are, the worse it'll be.
10. Player “wellness”. Your maximum health will also slow down the effects of despair. Every 10 additional health slows down the rate at which Despair affects you.
11. The morale booster from the drone will decrease the rate at which despair affects you.
12. The trader has an effect. Being close to a trader will slow down and/or reduce your Despair.
13. The perk "From the Shadows" also has an effect on the way Despair affects you at NIGHT. The more points in the perk, the less Despair affects you at night.

Headshots ONLY. Zombies can only be damaged/killed with headshots, or with fire, or with explosives. (currently only works in single player games)

Zombies DON'T bleed. Nothing undead takes bleed damage.

Hazmat zombies are a guaranteed source of hazmat gear. Kill one, and if it drops loot, it'll have some hazmat gear in there.

There are more zombies in the world. Biomes are gamestaged, which means zombies get tougher and their number increases as you level up.

Zombies are tougher.

Nights are dangerous, downtown is much more dangerous.

Traders are still protected, but they open from dawn 'til dusk. No more waiting for 6 am anymore.

Traders and vending machines are MUCH more expensive to buy from, and will buy from you at a much lower price.

Crafting is 25% more expensive, and loot, harvesting and scrapping quantities are much lower.

XP required to level increased by 25%.

Dismember chance lowered to 1% per attribute level, max at 10%.

Knife base damage rebalanced.

60-slot backpack.

 

AMMO, WEAPONS, MODS AND ARMOUR

New basic wood arrow/bolt. Made from a single branch, its range is poor, its damage isn't great, and it always breaks on impact.

All arrows and bolts have a 25% chance of causing bleeding on a living target. Shame it doesn't work on the undead …

Ammo can be “dismantled” into its component parts.

The serrated blade only fits on spears and knuckles now.

Hazmat armour mods can be crafted from hazmat gear. You’ll still need all five mods (head, gloves, chest, legs, and boots) for full radiation protection.

New mods - blessed metal for stopping mutated regen. NiCd is back, as is Flaming Oil and Liquid Nitrogen.

New clothing mod - cycling shorts. Install them in your leg armour/clothing and save 25% stamina when cycling.

 

BLOCKS/WORKSTATIONS

The beehive. Find bees (and honey) in specific tree stumps (beehives) in the world, and use them to produce honey. Normal wild tree stumps have a higher chance of giving honey too.

The dew collector now uses a filter WITH durability. It has to be replaced when it breaks, or the collector will stop.

The chicken snare. Place this block down, and load it with corn seed to attract and trap chickens, which can be used in coops to produce eggs.
These chickens can also be butchered for meat, feathers and eggs, with a hunting knife in your inventory.

The chicken coop. Place this block, add a chicken from a trap, and it will produce eggs over time. The chicken will "dry out" over time, and will need replacing to keep producing eggs.

The tablesaw cannot be crafted, it can only be collected from POIs. Press "E" to pick one up.

The workbench now has slots for a wrench, hammer, ratchet, impact driver, and nail gun. These tools are needed to craft a lot of items, and some items have been moved from inventory crafting to workbench crafting.

The cement mixer now requires gasoline to work.

The forge no longer requires you to smelt items. You can use the items directly from your inventory.

Player-crafted king-size beds heal the player when stood on. Only the king-size bed and only the player-crafted bed has this effect.

 

BUFFS/DEBUFFS

Snakes and Spider zombies will envenom you when they attack. Kill snakes to extract their venom, which can be used to make antivenom. Antivenom crafting is unlocked after reading 10 medical magazines, and it can appear in loot and trader stock.

The Wasteland biome is irradiated, and very, VERY dangerous. You'll need a hazmat suit before you venture in there.

Radiated zombies now irradiate the player when they attack. A full hazmat suit or a full set of hazmat mods negates this.

Some Burnt zombies now set the player on fire when they attack. A full hazmat suit or a full set of hazmat mods negates this.

Honey infection treatment reduced to 3% from 5%.

Despair medication (Lavender, St. John’s Wort and Lithium) can be found in medical loot, and in trader stock. Lavender oil can be crafted from lavender flowers and used to treat despair.

 

ZOMBIES/ENEMIES

Bears and wolves are back in the forest.

Zombie health increases with game difficulty. Scavenger starts with zombies dealing 100% damage and no health bonus. Zombie health increases per level, up to 65% more health on insane difficulty. Damage received by zombies increases by 25% per level up to Survivalist, and then a further 50% jump to Insane (150% more damage dealt at maximum difficulty). The player ALWAYS does a flat 100% damage, REGARDLESS of difficulty.

Hazmat zombies are now immune to burning.

New Bunker Buster zombie. Only appears during bloodmoon(s), and can appear from the very first Bloodmoon. You’ll want to take it out quickly … think of it as a “light” demolition zombie.

Demolition zombies appear at a much earlier gamestage.

New Mutated zombie variant. Bigger, tankier, stronger, yellower, and with more radiated regen. You'll need a blessed metal mod to take them down - the wasteland is full of these guys.

New Frozen zombie variant. Slightly tougher, slightly slower, slightly more XP, and take slightly more damage than their “Normal” counterparts. Immune to the effects of liquid nitrogen, and if they touch you, your movement is reduced by 20%. You can negate this by maxing out the Well Insulated perk.  Found in the snow biome.

New Rotting zombie variant. They have lower HP, lower XP reward, and they take more damage. Found in the forest and desert biomes.

“Normal”, “frozen” and “rotting” ‘Fat’ zombies (Big Mama, tourist) don’t puke, but they do explode …

During bloodmoons, ‘some’ zombies have a 10% chance to respawn after death, unless they’re killed with fire or explosives. There is also a 5% chance that a “boss” zombie will spawn, which boosts all zombies within range; their damage by 20%, and gives them regenerative properties. The boss is marked with a specific symbol, so target them with extreme prejudice.

Rotten and Normal “Fat” zombies (Cop,Big Mama and Tourist) are filled with a substance that’s irresistible to all zombies. If you are within range when they explode, they’ll cover you in this stuff - and attract other zombies …

 

FOOD/FARMING

All canned food found in loot, vending machines, and trader stock is "uncooked". Cook it to make it safe to eat, or eat it and run the risk of food poisoning ...

Uncooked cans don't replenish health, just food and water.

Five new recipes - Chicken stew and chicken miso, top of the tier 3 food chain, along with Scrambled Eggs, a better use for eggs and Tramp/Vagabond stew(s), which use cat/dog food. Basic recipes, unlocked by default. Needs a cooking pot.

MegaCrush is craftable, in a campfire, with a beaker, and cheaper in a chemistry station.

Pies and cheesecake need honey for that sweet, sweet taste now.

Crops' growing time is double that of vanilla.

Farming is reworked entirely. You need a hoe to till the ground to plant seeds. Use the hoe with fertiliser to upgrade the tilled ground (can be upgraded twice). Level one tilled ground yields 1 crop, level two (first fertilised level) yields 2 crops and level three (second fertilised level)  yields 3.

Farm Plots require fertiliser and nails to craft, are crafted in the workbench with a hammer,  and are the same fertile level as level 3 fertilised ground.

Farmplots found in POI’s are no longer plantable.

There is no harvest bonus for Living off the Land, instead, seeds cost less crops to make per level, and the amount of fertiliser required to make farmplots is reduced per level. Fertiliser is craftable in the cement mixer and chem station, and is in *some* trader stock.

Wild plants can be picked up - press ‘E’ by default to pick them up. Wild plants always give one crop, whether they’re picked up or “punched”.

New plant - lavender. Purple flower found growing in the wild and in some POIs. Seeds crafted from lavender flowers, no unlock required. Lavender flowers can be found in loot and trader stock, and Lavender seeds in trader stock.

 

PROGRESSION 

There is no more Daring Adventurer or Better Barter. Traders will give a drink after every quest tier, which will increase bartering by 5% and trader level by one for each tier of quests completed. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SPACE IN YOUR INVENTORY FOR IT!!

There is a new perk, Survival Instinct. It's a "single-player" version of Charismatic Nature. 5 levels, each level gains you an additional 5 health/stamina, 10% block damage, 5% entity damage, 3% XP, and carry capacity increases by 1.

Living off the Land now offers a discount to crops needed to make seeds, level 2 costs 4 crops per seed, level 3 costs 3 crops per seed.

Clothing which gives perk updates have been removed. Instead, the looting and night vision goggles, and the bandanna, have a mod slot. There are 5 mods available, specifically for these items, and each mod increases the 5 different perks by one. The bartering bonus (from cigars originally), and the crafting speed and XP gain (from the nerdy glasses) have been removed. The cigar itself remains as a recipe unlock (craft only).

 

RESOURCES

Trees no longer give wood, they give wood logs, scraps, and branches. Logs can be placed and then chopped with an axe for wood, or use the table saw to do it quicker and better.

Primitive weapons and ammo are now made from wood scraps, branches, plant fibres, and/or stone.

Cobblestone is now more expensive to make in your inventory. Use a cement mixer to make it cheaper.

Concrete now requires a bucket of water and is crafted in batches of 250. Returns an empty bucket when crafting is complete.

Most ammo can be dismantled into its component parts. Check ammo for recipes, and look at the 3rd tab to see what they dismantle into. Most need a workbench to do this, but basic arrows/bolts can be dismantled in your inventory.

Repair kits are more expensive, and weapons/armour/tools that require specific crafting parts now require a specific repair kit.

 

VEHICLES

All vehicles EXCEPT the bicycle are too heavy for you to carry.

Vehicles CANNOT be used underwater.

Contributors:

Particle systems/Unity edits             - Author: redbeardt

Custom mesh files                            - Author: Schrader97

Farming template (xml code)           - Author: Gouki

Original Chicken Coop model          - Author: DocRabbit

HJPlayerItemCount                           - Author: w00kien00kie

IDCAdvancedDewCollector               - Author: I Don't Care

IDCAnimalSnare                                - Author: I Don't Care

IDCBeehive                                        - Author: I Don't Care

IDCCore                                             - Author: I Don't Care

HPBars template (xml code)              - Author: Khaine

60-slot backpack (xml code)              - Author: Khaine

Khelldon Custom Menu                     - Author: Khelldon

Custom Menu Music                          - Author: Khaine

Material Modifier                               - Author: Zilox

ColoredContainerStates                     - Author: Scomar

WMMStaminaDehydrationFix            - Author: w00kien00kie

CustomDifficulty                                 - Author: Mythix

                        
Also a huge thank you to Frantic_Dan and redbeardt for the custom HUD base code, and main menu localization changes, and to YubiNashi and Frantic_Dan for ideas/balancing and playtesting.

 
direct download link: HellsJanitor/28-Alphas-Later: A mini-overhaul for 7 Days to Die (github.com)

Edited January 16 by Hells_Janitor
updated for version 1.2 (see edit history)

[rautamiekka]

What does the "Windows" tag/keyword mean ?

[Hells_Janitor]

3 hours ago, rautamiekka said:

What does the "Windows" tag/keyword mean ?

 

That it works on the Windows OS

 

[rautamiekka]

58 minutes ago, Hells_Janitor said:

 

That it works on the Windows OS

 

Why would it only work on that ?

[ShiftRed]

This overhaul sounds great! I have downloaded and trying it out. Thank you

 

[Hells_Janitor]

2 hours ago, ShiftRed said:

This overhaul sounds great! I have downloaded and trying it out. Thank you

 

 

Good stuff. Let me know what you think

4 hours ago, rautamiekka said:

Why would it only work on that ?

 

Because that's the operating system I have and the operating system I wrote the mod on. I don't have Linux, or MacOS, or any other OS for that matter - so if you do, and you want to try it, be my guest. Just know that it wasn't tested on any other OS than Windows, so if it doesn't work, I won't know how to help you. 🤷‍♂️

[mid23]

Hi. Thank You for the mod. )

Is there a way to bring back torso damage?

name="PhysicalDamageResist" operation="base_add" value="-5" - that's it? All rows must be modified? With what - "0"?

 

[mid23]

Found it in other xml. 

[FranticDan]

3 hours ago, mid23 said:

Hi. Thank You for the mod. )

Is there a way to bring back torso damage?

name="PhysicalDamageResist" operation="base_add" value="-5" - that's it? All rows must be modified? With what - "0"?

 

Why are you cheating?
Taking away one of the CORE mechanics of the mod?

[Hells_Janitor]

9 hours ago, mid23 said:

Hi. Thank You for the mod. )

Is there a way to bring back torso damage?

name="PhysicalDamageResist" operation="base_add" value="-5" - that's it? All rows must be modified? With what - "0"?

 

 

Why? One of the core mechanics/features of this mod is HEADSHOT ONLY. Why would you want to remove or mitigate this? 

[mid23]

Cause i can. )

If serious, it's ridiculous. 100 rounds in torso - no spine, no any type of organs.

Muahaha. )

[Hells_Janitor]

6 hours ago, mid23 said:

Cause i can. )

If serious, it's ridiculous. 100 rounds in torso - no spine, no any type of organs.

Muahaha. )

 

This is why it's headshot only. The only organ that matters to a traditional zombie is the brain. It's also why they don't bleed in this mod.

 

But hey, if you want to change one of the fundamental features of the mod to suit your own ends, you do you.

[Worrun]

Not that I have difficulty, I'm a seasoned modder - but the README should have basic installation instructions.

 

Testing the mod now, if it's any good I'll run it on our server, feedback to come.

[Hells_Janitor]

21 minutes ago, Worrun said:

Not that I have difficulty, I'm a seasoned modder - but the README should have basic installation instructions.

 

Testing the mod now, if it's any good I'll run it on our server, feedback to come.

 

Agreed. I'll add basic installation instructions. Thank you for the suggestion, and I look forward to more feedback

 

[Hells_Janitor]

Mod now updated to version 1.1

 

A FRESH SAVE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! The update *might* work with a current save, but in case it doesn't make sure you back up your current save before you update.

 

Also added a buff to traders. When you're near a trader, the effect reduces the rate at which Despair affects you.

[Dragon Reborn]

Not impressd, day 5 and i died in less then a day thanks to Despair its moving too fast i cant only stand by the fire all day, i mean one thing if it was like the infetion, this made the mod almost unplayable, i loved this mod now its no fun at all, sorry

[Hells_Janitor]

4 hours ago, Dragon Reborn said:

Not impressd, day 5 and i died in less then a day thanks to Despair its moving too fast i cant only stand by the fire all day, i mean one thing if it was like the infetion, this made the mod almost unplayable, i loved this mod now its no fun at all, sorry

 

I appreciate the feedback. Obviously, these things aren't set in stone, and I've had a few people tell me their despair has been getting out of control too fast.

 

I'll look into this, and see if I can find a better balance.

 

[mid23]

Another feedback or question, if You will.
How You (author) mean to player would play? I started ~10 times. (1 death - start over). Longest live - 13 days.

There's not enough ammo to do traders quests. (~200 9mm, ~150 7.62 at 12 day). Tier 2 quest bring me three radiated hazmat zombies that empty my ammo. Next quest - another 3 radiated hazmat zombies that killed me. 
What solution to this? Avoiding that quests? More craft? Thats not work, cause 3-4 days only digging and crafting on second week give you about 150x9 and 150x7.

Thats not enough to Horde. That not enough to do quests.

Avoiding quests not help much, cause problems may occure anywere. Like bear at my door on some day. Or pack of dogs that came to location to fast to notice them.

 

Prices of crafting, i think, to high. But maybe i don't understand some perks or basic mechanics? 

 

Another problem is food. What food become most wanted in all recipes? Potato. I have 5 potatos (farming and looting) at last run. 

 

I have a feeling that my base is not capable to stand a Horde. And i spent all my resources to make it. 

[Hells_Janitor]

7 hours ago, mid23 said:

There's not enough ammo to do traders quests. (~200 9mm, ~150 7.62 at 12 day). Tier 2 quest bring me three radiated hazmat zombies that empty my ammo. Next quest - another 3 radiated hazmat zombies that killed me. 

 

I use melee weapons A LOT. It's important to save as much ammo as you can for "tougher" enemies or horde night. However, I can look at rebalancing ammo in loot/trader stock and/or trader rewards if it becomes a major issue for players.

 

Not sure why you'd be getting radiated zombies in a tier 2 quest. That's either some really unlucky RNG on your part, or something's wrong - but I'd need more data/information to determine which it is.

7 hours ago, mid23 said:

Prices of crafting, i think, to high. But maybe i don't understand some perks or basic mechanics? 

 

Any crafting in particular, or just in general? Crafting costs are meant to be higher than vanilla, but again, this is something that can be rebalanced if need be.

7 hours ago, mid23 said:

Another problem is food. What food become most wanted in all recipes? Potato. I have 5 potatos (farming and looting) at last run. 

 

I'm not sure why you're having an issue with food. Canned food is everywhere, and can be cooked in a campfire without any tools. Higher tier foods use other ingredients, same as vanilla - I recommend starting a farm.

 

All of these issues can be looked at and rebalanced if need be, so I appreciate the feedback.

[Hells_Janitor]

Having received numerous reports about how quickly Despair is affecting players, I've pushed an update that should hopefully address a lot of these issues.

 

As always, feedback is encouraged

 

The update should be save-game safe, but as always, make sure you back up your current save first before you get the new version.

 

[mid23]

I've rebalance it myself for my liking. Just for feedback, yeah. 

Melee - also use it. You get it right i think. May be just a bad luck. However, may be not. I've remember now that it's not rare situation for me. I play on level 4 difficulty. Warrior or something. English not my language. )

At last run both encounters with that zombies was in Jen quests. 

 

Crafting: 

I'm not so "tester", just my opinion\intuiton. 
I think in some ways you hit the spot, but some recipes is to pricey. Like a cobblestone and blocks of it. ( I just haven't go further).  

Repair Kit maybe. I liked that it's more expesive. At first i VERY liked that i need different one for every tool, but at the end of a day it is just boring and takes to much space of inventory. ( in my rebalance, i've keep original, make it more expensive, and get rid of unique kits.)

 

Food and farming.

For 13 day i have only 2-4 blocks of farm. I'ts not enough. And i tryhard to make more. I'ts just to expensive and time consuming. 

Yeah, i know about cunned food, but it's running out fast and i need more higher tier foods.

 

Afterall, i don't know why i writing this. ))) May be Your mod closest to what i want to see.

 

[BFT2020]

1 hour ago, mid23 said:

I've rebalance it myself for my liking. Just for feedback, yeah. 

Melee - also use it. You get it right i think. May be just a bad luck. However, may be not. I've remember now that it's not rare situation for me. I play on level 4 difficulty. Warrior or something. English not my language. )

At last run both encounters with that zombies was in Jen quests. 

 

Have you perchance boost XP gains?  If you are accelerating XP over vanilla, your game stage is going to boost higher and you will see tougher zombies earlier.

 

Edit Add - You also stated T2 quests, but didn't mention if this is an early T2 quests or something you gotten later after maxing out another trader quest lines.  T2 quests can have harder, tougher zombies based on your game stage.  I have gotten radiated zombies on T1 quests before because it being late  in the game and my GS was pretty high.  The tiers affect the reward outs and how big the quest is, but it is GS that typically affects the zombie levels you will see.

Edited January 3 by BFT2020 (see edit history)

[Dragon Reborn]

hello again, so i have an ide how about the player do not die when hitting 100 % of despair insted lower all of the main perks by like 2 and ther you have the slow progress, maby like blurred vision and stuff like that, you can ignore it but i will slow you down, and i think most people would like it more when they can make a choise, and much easier in the beginning, like dieing 20 times before day 20 is no fun for anyone.

 

sorry for bad grammer, still love the mod 

[Hell-Fire]

Hello, not sure if this has been asked, but will post it here.  I get the error

ERR [MODS]  Failed intializing ModAPI instance on mod 'IDCCore' from DLL 'IDCCoreV2.dll'

EXC IL Compile Error (unknown location)

 

I don't believe I've had this error before when running other mods like "Darkness Falls", "Undead Legacy", or "District 9".  My 7D2D is up to date, running Alpha 21.2 (b30)  I'm not running any other mods for this iteration of 7D2D, just the '28 Alphas Later'.

 

Thank you for the hard work on this mod though.

[mid23]

12 hours ago, BFT2020 said:

 

Have you perchance boost XP gains?  If you are accelerating XP over vanilla, your game stage is going to boost higher and you will see tougher zombies earlier.

 

Edit Add - You also stated T2 quests, but didn't mention if this is an early T2 quests or something you gotten later after maxing out another trader quest lines.  T2 quests can have harder, tougher zombies based on your game stage.  I have gotten radiated zombies on T1 quests before because it being late  in the game and my GS was pretty high.  The tiers affect the reward outs and how big the quest is, but it is GS that typically affects the zombie levels you will see.

 I didn't change XP system.

T2 quests - its early T2. No other trader have T2 at the moment.