Version 1.0 (Alpha 22) Dev Diary

[beerfly]

All of these. I'll probably double my gameplay time if events like these are added. 

[faatal]

On 4/21/2024 at 8:43 AM, User said:

Was the console version initially shown to not come with rwg? I don't remember. Seems like a pretty big thing to be missing, I'm not a console player, though.

I don't think it was defined one way or the other. It works on console now as we have done a bunch of performance and memory optimizations on it, but console memory is so tight that our console programmers need to literally restart the game before you can play the map to ensure maximum free memory. Restarting/resuming is tricky and different between PS5 and Xbox and we don't want to delay more to ensure it works, so it should be in one of the early patches.

[faatal]

On 4/21/2024 at 9:36 AM, Matt115 said:

Oblivion had mods and still everyone was angry abour horse armor. 

7dtd now - microtransations

bloodmoon? microtransations

They can restrict workshop after all

ehh i realy wish that 7dtd was finished in 2017. i think it would be the best for everyone xd

2017? No thanks, I much prefer the better version of the game we have now and the better version it will be in the future. For console it has improved so much that it might as well be a sequel.

On 4/21/2024 at 9:57 AM, User said:

I feel like the problem just boils down to how they did this. The announcement was completely random, and it contradicts things they've stated in the past, like how they said previously they didn't want to rubber stamp the game gold

 

They also said in the faq "However, new users should see the value the game offers reflected in the cost, and we hope that continued support might fund future endeavors in expanding the 7 Days to Die game even further – DLCs, Expansions, and continued free updates (including everything listed in the Road Map)!"

 

I personally really dislike stuff like this. On top of a price hike, they plan to implement paid dlcs and expansions. They are already going to make bank off of the console release, so I see no need to do this kind of stuff. Is there going to be poi expansions? 10 bucks for some pois that should have been included in the game's price perhaps? I think I saw a couple posts by laz a while back that sort of hinted at that kind of stuff.

 

"Unfortunately, to do a proper airport with our current standards we would need more than just one airplane model.  Maybe for DLC or next game.   "

 

I really hope they don't start selling poi packs on console or pc 💀

 

I really hate any form of microtransaction, espescially in games that you already pay full price for. I just hope they listen a bit to some of our concerns about this stuff.

The industry classically considers gold to be a done game that only gets bugs fixes and maybe balance adjustments. As the industry changed, expansions came along, then DLC for these gold games.

 

1.0 is none of that. It is the game simply not being in early access. Development continues.

[faatal]

On 4/21/2024 at 11:55 AM, Riamus said:

One of the things that makes no sense to me is that they aren't completing the UI overhaul before console is released.  You'd think they'd want the new (assumingly improved) UI ready first so that console also gets it.  I know console UI is going to be a bit different simply because of how console controls work but I would still have expected them to finish the UI first.

One of our console programmers has done a great job improving how the controller works with the UI and gameplay and that will carry over to a reskinned UI when we get to it.

[faatal]

On 4/21/2024 at 9:25 PM, zztong said:

As a Tile and POI designer, can you provide any insight on what goes into this? Is it a matter of verts/tris above a certain threshold? Does it related to POIs on a single Tile or within a certain distance from each other?

 

For instance, I've been trying to keep POIs below 3.5M vertices since that's what the TFP skyscraper_01 has been. There's a newer TFP POI that's "heavier" than that, IIRC. I've had a custom downtown Tile that had poor performance and have since thinned it out. Your comment has me wondering what indicators of potential performance issues and/or guidance to designers you might pass along?

The algorithm has several parts, but basically you divide the vert count by 100,000 to get the score. sky01 is about 35. The current budget is 62. Each location looks at what POIs are around it, not tiles, and reduces the budget, while ignoring scores of 6 or below (my baseline) and then picks something within budget. Tiles can override the budget in rwgmixer, so modders can do big stuff if they want.

[faatal]

16 hours ago, Chaton Noir said:

I understand that multithreading is not worth waiting for? I understand that this is a huge job, but without it, the game is unlikely to ever work well. Of course, the game with multithreading will remain difficult for computers, because this is not some kind of miracle. But still, without this, we are unlikely to ever see normal performance in cities or with a large number of zombies.

By the way, could you tell us a little more about the work and the difficulties that need to be overcome to implement multithreading? Even if it never will be. It's just that in the view of many players, this simply requires changing a couple of lines of code that "lazy developers" can't get to in any way. Although this is not the case, because in that case you would have done it a long time ago. The same applies to bandits — few people realize that this is a very large amount of work, especially for a small team. Thank you for putting up with us)

Many features already use threads, like chunk updates, chunk collision mesh baking, audio, saving, pathing, networking and Unity itself on things like rendering and physics.

 

A lot of code that interacts with Unity has to be done on the main thread and Unity itself does a lot of work on the main thread, so that is often the bottleneck. There is still room for improvement and we will make improvements as we have the time.

[faatal]

8 hours ago, FramFramson said:

No, Unity completely backed down and also fired the CEO (which puts him 0 for 2 on his attempts to do things like this at various companies).

Kind of. Unity delayed the new terms to this year's not yet done version of Unity. You update, new terms. This update is supposed to have better gfx performance, so... hmm

4 hours ago, FranticDan said:

Just a random question, does anyone on the dev team know for the next major update if the head hitbox for the tourist, cop and mama have been improved?
Currently, you have to hit these zombies above the nose for it to count as a headshot. 

EDIT:
Additionally, in the current version and for quite some time now, for a few frames while a zombie is picking themselves up off the ground, their ENTIRE hitbox disappears. Has this been fixed in the next major update?

Probably the same. Those colliders are actually the ragdoll bones, which could also use some work for physics reasons. I made a note, but may not get to it for 1.0.

[Outlaw_187]

4 hours ago, Laz Man said:

.........Out of curiosity, what new POI would people like to see in A22 / 1.0 if you could only pick one?  Sorry, no airports or yachts...

Someone above, @Arez, noted the warehouse from return of the living dead. This would be sweet to pair that up with mortuary and even have the graveyard nearby. 

 

Hell, throw in some Friday the 13th spots like pacanack lodge or the barn/house from part 3. 

 

These would all be sweet to see and like others have said, so the console crowd can enjoy them too!

[Doomofman]

4 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

Out of curiosity, what new POI would people like to see in A22 / 1.0 if you could only pick one?  Sorry, no airports or yachts...😁

 

There used to be a bigger junk yard POI a few alphas back with a bunch of big containers out front with trash on top and a red brick multistory building. I kinda miss that

 

Though does that count as 'new'?

Edited April 23 by Doomofman (see edit history)

[Laran Mithras]

5 hours ago, faatal said:

I look forward to resuming the work and then inevitably adding the settings to make them easier or turn them off after we get sick of being murdered by them.

(Re: bandits) Ah, good news there for those that prefer choices. The more choice, the better.

The allure in this game that keeps it fresh are the procedural map generation and the customization choices.

Edited April 23 by Laran Mithras (see edit history)

[Larry_Flynt]

@faatal
Something i always thought would be nice to have/fun:
The possibility to carry chars over from one server to the next with the current gear (global variables). Would open the possibility to create own storylines within "smaller" maps and if you reach the goal for one map you will be moved (or can choose to proceed) to the next one.

Would need some kind of triggers and global variables to store in between transitions.

Edited April 23 by Larry_Flynt (see edit history)

[meganoth]

28 minutes ago, Larry_Flynt said:

@faatal
Something i always thought would be nice to have/fun:
The possibility to carry chars over from one server to the next with the current gear (global variables). Would open the possibility to create own storylines within "smaller" maps and if you reach the goal for one map you will be moved (or can choose to proceed) to the next one.

Would need some kind of triggers and global variables to store in between transitions.

 

The character data is stored on the server! It would need a lot of effort to make that possible.

* Either move that data permanently to clients (like Enshrouded does it) which would be a big redesign and make it easier for cheaters to manipulate on online servers.

* Or add code to dynamically move player data to clients and back to other servers once logged in (lots of additional programming work and almost the same problem as 1).

* Or make it possible between linked servers on the same machine (which would make it a very limited feature only a handful of servers could use).

 

The last option may be possible even today if you don't need both servers to run at the same time. Just let two savegames share the player data.

 

 

 

Edited April 23 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Roland]

8 hours ago, faatal said:

I don't have all the details, but my initial desire for an event is a mini blood moon, that can happen any day, with some warning to get back to your base. They could also be bandits or a mega zombie. Vulture swarm. Bandits lobbing mortars at your base that you have to go out and stop. A tornado or earthquake would be cool, but you can't fight that :(. Land shark burrowing up into you base. Sand worms. Trader's wife taken hostage, so you have to get her back or pay ransom. Bandit duel where you each get one shot. Bandit drag race. Timed race to get somewhere. Bandits kidnap you and wake up in random location. I'm sure I can make some more up.

 

That moment when a dev made 14 promises....

 

[Adam the Waster]

Funny enough I dreamed that I opened 7dtd on console and they were selling dlc 

 

They had the biker zombie skin and overlord armor. 

 

 

Hint hint

[Riamus]

10 hours ago, Laz Man said:

Out of curiosity, what new POI would people like to see in A22 / 1.0 if you could only pick one?  Sorry, no airports or yachts...😁

Here are some ideas:

 

• Art gallery to show off the new pictures and paintings.
• Museum - not sure that we have stuff that could go into one, though.
• Zoo - this has been discussed before.
• Lighthouse - are there any in Arizona?
• Aquarium - since there aren't any fish or stuff, they can be shown to be broken and water all over the floor/etc.
• Aviary - fill it with a bunch of vultures! 

[faatal]

3 hours ago, Larry_Flynt said:

@faatal
Something i always thought would be nice to have/fun:
The possibility to carry chars over from one server to the next with the current gear (global variables). Would open the possibility to create own storylines within "smaller" maps and if you reach the goal for one map you will be moved (or can choose to proceed) to the next one.

Would need some kind of triggers and global variables to store in between transitions.

Maybe someday or in a sequel. With the speed of RWG now, I can make a 4k map in like 10 seconds. Perfect for the "you were knocked out again and woke from your coma 6 months later!" event.

30 minutes ago, Roland said:

That moment when a dev made 14 promises....

I had a feeling someone would hold that against me. "Remember 15 years ago when they said there would be land sharks?!?".

20 minutes ago, Adam the Waster said:

Funny enough I dreamed that I opened 7dtd on console and they were selling dlc 

 

They had the biker zombie skin and overlord armor. 

 

 

Hint hint

That would match your profile picture, but I think you would look better as big mamma.

[Professor-Pip]

10 hours ago, Laz Man said:

Out of curiosity, what new POI would people like to see in A22 / 1.0 if you could only pick one?  Sorry, no airports or yachts...😁

Would love to see some Museums, although that would probably require some specialized assets to dress them.

What about a large POI like an auto manufacturing plant? Or an indoor mall?

[User]

11 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

Some of those are proof of concepts and/or facades for possible future content.  They are not all guaranteed to go into production.  Dishong is still currently the tallest skyscraper in A22 / 1.0.

 

We are still focused on downtown remnant POIs currently, but it is still possible for extra unplanned content to squeeze in if we have time so there is still hope.

 

Out of curiosity, what new POI would people like to see in A22 / 1.0 if you could only pick one?  Sorry, no airports or yachts...😁

You know those shanty town pois that used to be in the game? I really enjoyed how they were sort of different, and were a bunch of different buildings as opposed to a more traditional dungeon style. It's not that great or new of an idea compared to something more novel, but I enjoyed them, would be nice if they returned. I remember dying once to the trapped gun safe iirc

1 hour ago, faatal said:

Maybe someday or in a sequel. With the speed of RWG now, I can make a 4k map in like 10 seconds. Perfect for the "you were knocked out again and woke from your coma 6 months later!" event.

I had a feeling someone would hold that against me. "Remember 15 years ago when they said there would be land sharks?!?".

That would match your profile picture, but I think you would look better as big mamma.

Hm, alright. Lank sharks or we riot 😄

This is an essential part of every survival game, truly appalling it hasn't been added. We also haven't recieved dolphins, literally unplayable.

Edited April 23 by User (see edit history)

[Eromivus]

4 hours ago, Larry_Flynt said:

@faatal
Something i always thought would be nice to have/fun:
The possibility to carry chars over from one server to the next with the current gear (global variables). Would open the possibility to create own storylines within "smaller" maps and if you reach the goal for one map you will be moved (or can choose to proceed) to the next one.

Would need some kind of triggers and global variables to store in between transitions.

 

That is such a cool idea. I could see having more of a journey game mode, where you're trying to get to an army base / the other coast / whatever, and each map is 7 days culminating in an increasingly powerful horde. Survive that, and you can travel to an exit point to move to the next map. Something like that would be a really refreshing twist on the structure.

[Laz Man]

36 minutes ago, User said:

Hm, alright. Lank sharks or we riot 😄

This is an essential part of every survival game, truly appalling it hasn't been added. We also haven't recieved dolphins, literally unplayable.

 

Dolphins sound interesting but I just don't see their porpoise...😅

[Gamida]

1 hour ago, Professor-Pip said:

What about a large POI like an auto manufacturing plant? Or an indoor mall?

 

A small mall would be nice. Could do a "Dawn of the Dead" playthrough.

2 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

 

Dolphins sound interesting but I just don't see their porpoise...😅

 

That was bad...just so very very bad

 

 

[Roland]

2 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

 

Dolphins sound interesting but I just don't see their porpoise...😅

That blows.

 

But they ARE already in the game. 
 

 

 

just sayin…

[WaywardEko]

Question I didn't see in the FAQ that has come from my community:
Once we are on 1.0, will each content drop (Storm's Brewing, A New Threat, The Road Ahead) invalidate the previous save game and require players to start over?

This one seems like it would be a huge issue for console players who won't have the option of staying on older versions to keep their save games.

Apologies in advance if already asked/answered - skimmed the 30+ pages and didn't see this one.

[Gamida]

2 minutes ago, Roland said:

That blows.

 

But they ARE already in the game. 
 

 

 

just sayin…

 

That was just mean...or should I say in bad taste lol. IDK what they taste like so just guessing.

[faatal]

7 minutes ago, WaywardEko said:

Question I didn't see in the FAQ that has come from my community:
Once we are on 1.0, will each content drop (Storm's Brewing, A New Threat, The Road Ahead) invalidate the previous save game and require players to start over?

This one seems like it would be a huge issue for console players who won't have the option of staying on older versions to keep their save games.

Apologies in advance if already asked/answered - skimmed the 30+ pages and didn't see this one.

We will be trying to avoid that as much as technically possible. Hopefully a save will at least partially load by converting the data we can.