Overhaul True Survival

[Darkstardragon]

Hi Spider thanks for responding to my questions. Loving the mod! Have no clue what SDX is but it seems like graphics in your mod are better compared to 15.1. Re-installed icons are there. My settings include very high Z spawning, 60 sec Z awareness, 120 min days, 100 % loot, 200% block strength. This is what I meant asking does your mod override my personal preferences. Thanks for making the game fun again. Bought 4 more copies to play with my sons. Sorry if I ask noob questions I'm clueless about the modding and program side of gaming.

 

No clue what sdx is? Dang pardner! Youre gonna like the sdx stuff when spider adds it in.

[StompyNZ]

Just set them all to 0.05 or whatever your preference is, above 0.05 there are way too many spawning.

 

since they are on their own line in spawning, there is no way to reduce them below the min of 1 per chunk group.

[Spider]

I finally was able to test and confirm the starting spawn issue was directly caused by there being lots of zombies listed in the entity group "followers". I cleaned that group up and the problem was resolved. My question is now how to balance out the followers left in the entity group. Should the spawn chance of the total members of the group equal 1.0? This is what I have for now until you decide on what it should look like:

 

<entitygroup name="Followers" >

<entity name="Maggi" prob="0.1" />

<entity name="Morgan" prob="0.1"/>

<entity name="DarrylDixon" prob="0.2" />

<entity name="Tara" prob="0.08"/>

<entity name="Rosita" prob="0.08"/>

<entity name="Carl" prob="0.08" />

<entity name="Rick" prob="0.08"/>

<entity name="Abraham" prob="0.08"/>

<entity name="Carol" prob="0.08"/>

</entitygroup>

 

Also, even though your spawning.xml has maxcount="1" for followers per zone, I got 3 spawned in visible range ( Rick, Morgan and DD). Any idea why? Not complaining, I felt the love on that startup.....

 

Hhmmm That's very strange. I wonder why that's happening. I assumed the safe zone worked off the same system as the option to remove zombie spawns, by not allowing enemy entity's to spawn. Whats even stranger is that on server where you have the safe-zone setting it works as it should even with the followers in. Now I'm not sure how its working. Maybe it stops specific entity groups from spawning I'm not sure I'll have to do some testing but it might not matter because they will not be spawning like that anyway. Also when you started up your game and saw the three followers , that's how big a biome spawn chunk is from one follower to the other. The reason the zombies where in that list was to decrease the chance of a follower to spawn because the lowest amount the biome spawner will do is one spawn per chunk. So with out the zombies in that list you will have a follower spawn in every chunk of the biome so about every 30-40 blocks.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Spider (see edit history)

[xyth]

The reason the zombies where in that list was to decrease the chance of a follower to spawn because the lowest amount the biome spawner will do is one spawn per chunk. So with out the zombies in that list you will have a follower spawn in every chunk of the biome so about every 30-40 blocks.

 

Maybe spawn something harmless instead, like rabbits or immobile zombies? Like you said, its moot as your changing the followers next version. Thanks for replying.

[Spider]

Hay peps I’m going to get smart here and listen to the people(to an extent lol)Below are a few questions I would like ask any True Survival player to answer to help make the Mod better. Please post your response on the Mod Forums here-

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/HardcoreSurvivalServer/discussions/1/154644928866452417/

 

To help with confusion please use the numbers for your answers.

 

General

1. How long have you been playing True Survival?
   
2. What settings do you use?Day Length/Loot%/BlockHP%/Difficulty/EnemySpawning
   
3. Do you play SP or MP? PVE or PVP?
   
4. What Profession do you prefer and why?
   
5. What mod feature do you like best in TS?
   
6. What mod feature would you like to remove from TS?
   
7. Do you like to use the Mini Bike?
   
8. What would you like to see changed in TS?
   
9. Do you like and use the followers?
   
10. If you played TS in A14, do you like the old Zombie Head Shot system or do you prefer the PVP friendly version we have now?
    

 

Current Game

1. How many hours do you have into your current game?
   
2. What Profession are you?
   
3. What is you player level?
   
4. Can you make Forged Iron or Forged Steel?
   
5. Have you built a base or do you live in POI?
   
6. Do you live above or below ground?
   
7. What kills you the most?
   
8. What Skill if any do you think level too quickly?
   
9. What Skills if any do you think level too slowly?
   
10. What do you eat and drink mostly?
    
11. What melee and ranged weapon do you use?
    
12. How many Zombies have you killed?
    

 

Thanks for everyone’s time in helping.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Spider (see edit history)

[magnus333]

Maybe it be better if you told me what you think the problem is with the Power Swing instead of making me guess.

 

You can use both the left and right mouse buttons to perform regular swings and power swings against objects at the same time

 

I really don't know how to explain it any better or simpler than that. Did you not read the "at the same time" bit? I even gave an example with specific instructions and results that you can replicate in under 60s. From your replies I honestly can't tell if this is a bug, and exploit, or an intended mod mechanic.

 

I would expect that the player could EITHER regular attack OR power attack at one time. Currently you can regular attack AND power attack while only having to watch and be delayed by the regular attack animation. Holding down both buttons is better then holding down either one, whether 0 or 200 stamina, whether attacking a rock or a zombie, so I'm inclined to think this is a bug but for all I know you expect players to run around in the mod holding down both left and right buttons and being constantly out of stamina while harvesting and killing everything very quickly.

[Spider]

Im not sure how I can be more clear, the Power Swing is a mod mechanic, the ability to do both buttons at one time and use tools with no stamina is a TFP game mechanic. Stating how something works does not tell me what you think is wrong with it. I also don't get the confusion about two hits being greater than one hit. Isn't two always going to do more than one? Your hitting something twice, its going to do more damage than hitting it once. Right?

 

"but for all I know you expect players to run around in the mod holding down both left and right buttons and being constantly out of stamina while harvesting and killing everything very quickly."

 

No one is forcing you to use both buttons, no one is forcing you to use up all your stamina. Anyways you can only do both buttons at one time once then the delay of the Power Swing takes effect and the swings will be at different times. If you don't want to use the Power Swing then stop smashing your mouse and just click one button.

[Darkstardragon]

General:

1. Since i started playing 7dtd.

2. Default ts.

3. mp pvp

4. cop-earliest access to pistol

5. the difficulty-cant craft tons of stuff right away

6. nothing

7.yes, absolutely love the buggy piece of #$%%

8. changed? added maybe(you know-sdx stuff lol)

9. yes, the buff you added to them and bandits really changes their usefulness

10. doesnt matter to me

[xyth]

@Spider: I want to toss out a few thoughts I had about the mod before you finalized changes in the next version.

 

1. I find zombie corpse cleanup duty one of the least interesting parts of the game. The only mod where I don't mind it is in Valmod, where it only takes one hit with even a stone axe to downgrade the body or goreblocks. So three swings cleans up any dead Z. In his horde mod I had to kill and cleanup 50+ zombies taking a poi at level 1, and it was actually rewarding cleaning up the mess I made rather than a chore. Please consider reducing the hitpoints of dead corpses and goreblocks.

 

2. Way too many fat zombies (the puking ones that charge then explode) spawn in early game. They are not dangerous (as they are way too slow and pause in place for very long times), just annoying, especially near towns. They blow up all the roads and take forever to kill with headshots at low levels. Not worth wasting lots of arrows on.

 

3. Speaking of headshots, Because the hitpoints of the base zombie is so high, the heads rarely explode when hit (especially at low levels). Who doesn't love the rewarding feeling of making a zombies head explode? I'd recommend lowering the head dislocation damage threshold significantly.

 

4. Weather is generally not a survival issue in your mod. In a few other mods, freezing is a real issue. In BadCompany (I think), I was forced to spend almost an entire day next to a fire in an enclosed box because of freezing rain outside. I could only make short runs before HT set in. If this had happened on day 7, I probably would not have had a base ready for bloodmoon. On the other hand, I find the whole cooling clothes thing silly. How does wearing shorts and a tank top cool you down over just your unders? My idea for this is to make the whole world a colder place (Nuclear Winter - larger snow zones and no desert) and remove most or all of the cooling effect of clothing. Cool drinks could stay. I'd be happy to create this winter wonderland for you if you want. Just need to figure out how to add a layer of ice over the water biome.

 

5. Animals like bears, dogs etc that have eyes forward should not see at the 320 degree angle setting. This is fine and proper for deer and other animals with eyes located on the sides of the head.

 

That's all I can remember from playing last week. I'd also caution you about overusing SDX though. If you have tried the Starvation WIP you will soon realize how memory intensive it is. I have a I7 with 8 Gigs ram, and even though I can sustain 50+ FPS in a town, the game stutters because its swapping stuff in and out of the 8 gigs of RAM to my SSD. So unless you want to make this mod for those with 16 gigs of ram, go easy on the additions!

[unlike them]

I agree with xyth on everything (except nuclear winter). I find fat zombies very frustrating. The damage their vomit does to terrain and their explosions to roads, it becomes messy and ugly fast. There is a difference between difficulty and frustration.

 

Xyth, RAM is dirt cheap, look it up. I used to play 7dtd with 8GB, it's a pain. Btw, I've just bought an SSD, gonna relocate my 7dtd folder there and see if I lag less.

 

edit: I didn't notice any performance improvement with SSD

Edited December 31, 2016 by unlike them (see edit history)

[xyth]

Xyth, RAM is dirt cheap, look it up. I used to play 7dtd with 8GB, it's a pain. Btw, I've just bought an SSD, gonna relocate my 7dtd folder there and see if I lag less.

 

The issue is I'm trying to decide if I want to build or buy my new computer. My current one has a older I7 processor and fast SSD, but no free memory slots and uses slow memory. Not worth upgrading. I bought one recently and returned it due to a defective PSU, so am back to shopping. I cant find a prebuilt machine with quality parts so I'm probably going to build.

[Darkstardragon]

I agree with xyth on everything (except nuclear winter). I find fat zombies very frustrating. The damage their vomit does to terrain and their explosions to roads, it becomes messy and ugly fast. There is a difference between difficulty and frustration.

 

Xyth, RAM is dirt cheap, look it up. I used to play 7dtd with 8GB, it's a pain. Btw, I've just bought an SSD, gonna relocate my 7dtd folder there and see if I lag less.

 

edit: I didn't notice any performance improvement with SSD

 

What does vomit damage to terrain and roads have to do with difficulty and frustration? I rather like the ambience of more destroyed stuff lol. We spoke earlier about the lag. The prefabs have got to go, only a select few can remain i imagine and for a purpose. I have played extensively with the prefab pack on many servers(including my own a number of times) and with many mods. It is a resource hog and makes alot of servers unplayable and have to wipe. However, this is just my input, its spiders mod and he can do what he likes obviously.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Darkstardragon (see edit history)

[unlike them]

What does vomit damage to terrain and roads have to do with difficulty and frustration?

 

Spider says he put fat zombies everywhere because they add dificulty (don't remember the exact quote). But they are not really dangerous. Messy terrain is annoying, especially around your base if you want it neat. After I loot a town, its roads resemble Dresden after it was bombed.

[Gareee]

That's where playing smart comes in handy... Lure them away from things you don't want blown up, or to things you do want blown up.

[tilarium]

Spider says he put fat zombies everywhere because they add dificulty (don't remember the exact quote). But they are not really dangerous. Messy terrain is annoying, especially around your base if you want it neat. After I loot a town, its roads resemble Dresden after it was bombed.

 

This was what I was meaning when I was talking about them earlier. I THINK the fat zombies are the Boe ones, so we can lower the spawn rate on our own. Been trying to kill one so that it's corpse holds the name, but so far can't. I've also lowered zombie dogs to the rarest of rare [i hate dogs] and also halfed the rate of bears while also removing the zombie animals.. all personal preference. I do it in vanilla and also in every mod I've tried. It's nothing against the makers of the game or the mods, it's just I don't like having them in my game.

 

All that said. I sometimes find myself using the fatties to do some explosive landscaping early on.

[unlike them]

I don't really mind dogs, I can handle them, if not in packs. And the bears are rare enough. But when you encounter a fatty, little you can do to prevent his puke. Either you can snipe him before he sees you, or sneak up on him to close range so he engages in melee and not puke. But there are too many of them and when I hear his 'gulp' sounds it means another hole in the ground or a tree gone and it just pisses me I don't know why.

 

I sometimes find myself using the fatties to do some explosive landscaping early on.

 

How do you do it, as their explosions (unlike pukes) don't damage terrain? Only 'artificial' blocks, like asphalt ect.

[tilarium]

I don't really mind dogs, I can handle them, if not in packs. And the bears are rare enough. But when you encounter a fatty, little you can do to prevent his puke. Either you can snipe him before he sees you, or sneak up on him to close range so he engages in melee and not puke. But there are too many of them and when I hear his 'gulp' sounds it means another hole in the ground or a tree gone and it just pisses me I don't know why.

 

 

How do you do it, as their explosions (unlike pukes) don't damage terrain? Only 'artificial' blocks, like asphalt ect.

 

Sometimes (not always) they do take out a area of terrain if there isn't to much stuff (bushes, grass, cacti) on it. I've found (even in vanilla) that sometimes roads can have a break in them with a high change, so I'll use fatties to blow up that section of the road causing it to look a bit more natural, like it had a slope but was bombed. I don't mind them puking and exploding to much but like you said, whenever one is spawned it's another unsightly hole in the ground or a tree (or a rock or anything else) gone. The problem is that there is just to many of them, especially early on. Example being, it's hard for me to get a new game going because of the lack of a safe zone. I get swarmed by zombies and it's usally a 1:1 mix with the fatties, depending on spawn biome. I don't even bother if I get the inital spawn in the snow biome, between the lumberjacks, the spitting fatties and the regular zombies I will usually be dead before I can even make a club.

[xyth]

Example being, it's hard for me to get a new game going because of the lack of a safe zone. I get swarmed by zombies and it's usally a 1:1 mix with the fatties, depending on spawn biome.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can fix the safe zone issue by editing the entitygroups file, changing each line that has a zombie in it to a rabbit or chicken, keeping the same probabilities for each line. That way it keeps the spawn rate of the followers the same, without all the zombies nearby.

[J4gz3ro]

General

How long have you been playing True Survival? Since 14.7

 

What settings do you use?Day Length/Loot%/BlockHP%/Difficulty/EnemySpawning

Played mostly with 1 hour days, tried 2 hour days as well, 1% - 25% loot, 100% block hp, currently nomad also used insane during 14.7, max spawns.

Do you play SP or MP? PVE or PVP?

PVE on my own server with some friends

What Profession do you prefer and why?

Soldier, grubs and ak-47 schematic, saved our lives countless times.

 

What mod feature do you like best in TS?

The randomness of zombies movement speeds, I would actually like more runners, does not always seem like they run as fast as they do during the night.

What mod feature would you like to remove from TS?

I honestly can't name a single thing that I hate and would like to have removed.

 

Do you like to use the Mini Bike?

Yes, though I got mixed feeling about the bike in a box, it seems somewhat common but can be a nice thing.

On the other hand once you get a minibike I generally never use beer unless we lack an auger.

What would you like to see changed in TS?

I was going to say the weapon upgrade system but you are already considering a workbench for that which I think is a better system than spamming blunderbusses till you got gunsmithing of 100 and always getting high quality parts.

Do you like and use the followers?

They are a fun addition, they do however not work well in packs, fair bit of friendly fire.

I nagged Jonahbirch (twitch streamer) to try and play TS with our old settings from back in 14.7 which was insane, feral ai, 1% loot, 99 day respawn, airdrops off, max spawns.

For him they are a godsend since he plays always run as well as perma death, seen them save him countless times.

 

On intended settings I generally don't see much use for them most of the time, they do add some spice to the mix though.

 

If you played TS in A14, do you like the old Zombie Head Shot system or do you prefer the PVP friendly version we have now?

Can't really say I remember that well, I was too busy dying for the first few weeks.

 

 

Current Game

How many hours do you have into your current game?

120 hours

What Profession are you?

Soldier

What is you player level?

58

Can you make Forged Iron or Forged Steel?

I can make forged iron and 7 levels away from steel, my friend can craft steel as well as he put in more work, took about 30-40 hours to get to steel for him.

Have you built a base or do you live in POI?

Built base inside of a sand dune.

Do you live above or below ground?

Work area above, forge below + farm below.

What kills you the most?

Not died yet on this game.

What Skill if any do you think level too quickly?

Nothing anymore.

What Skills if any do you think level too slowly?

I'd say all of them but that's not really truthful, it's just about putting in the time.

What do you eat and drink mostly?

Stirfry, omelets, glazed meat and grubs to supplement if we ever run low.

Red & Yellow tea, yucca if we are out of the others.

What melee and ranged weapon do you use?

Spear and spear, use the samurai sword + lucielle now and then.

How many Zombies have you killed?

1400 iirc

Edited December 31, 2016 by J4gz3ro (see edit history)

[Spider]

Been redoing the Professions. Here is what I got so far. Let me know what you think.

 

Profession / Stats Increase / Recipes / Starting Points

• Farmer / / All Seeds, Seed Books, Seed Nursery, Stone Hoe /Hunting5
  
• Fisherman / / Fishing Pole, Fish Recipes / Hunting5
  
• Chef / / All Food Recipes, Sharpening Stone / Bladed Weapons 5
  
• Cop /Dismemberment ChanceBonus, Reload Speed/ pistol, Gun Oil, Knight Stick, Weapon Repair Kit/GunSmith5
  
• Soldier/Dismemberment ChanceBonus, Reload Speed/AK47,Grubs,GunOil,Pipe Bomb,Blunderbuss,Weapon Repair Kit, Plate Mine /GunSmith5
  
• Chemist//Stim, Red Bull, Gunpowder, Biofuel, Oil Shale, Mixed Chemicals, Oil, Fire Shells and Book /Engineering5
  
• Doctor//Antibiotics, Painkillers, Super Pill, Doctor Shots, First Aid Kits, Aloe Cream, Bandages/Medician5
  
• Fitness Instructor/Max Stamina, Stamina Degradation, Max Speed, Hold Breath Duration /Red Bull, Teas, Wellness Juice/Athletic5
  
• Fireman/Block Damage, Max Stamina/Iron Axe, Aloe Cream /Medicine5
  
• Construction Worker /Block Damage /Scrap Iron Block, Wrench, /Engineering5
  
• Carpenter /crafting time, Harvest Count/Wood Blocks, Hammer /Engineering5
  
• Electrician /Harvest Count, crafting time, Repair Quality Loss /Powered Lights, Screwdriver, electronic parts, electric parts, Shocks Stick /Engineering5
  
• Metal Worker /Block Damage /Rebar Block, Welder, Mechanical Parts /Engineering5
  
• Burglar /loot time, noise, crouch speed, treasure radius /lock pick, Steak knife /Scavaging5
  
• Park Ranger / /Bear Trap, Hunting Rifle, Herbal Antibiotic /Primitive Crafting5
  

Edited January 1, 2017 by Spider (see edit history)

[unlike them]

Fitness Instructor/Max Stamina, Stamina Degradation, Max Speed, Hold Breath Duration

 

What does it mean? Does he have max stamina (250) from the start? What is max speed? Is he running faster than other players?

 

For other professions, are those exclusive recipes or starting ones?

[Spider]

Yes it means some Professions will start with improved stats. By how much has not been decided. Each will have one or two exclusive crafting items but most are just recipes that they will start with.

[xyth]

Yes it means some Professions will start with improved stats. By how much has not been decided. Each will have one or two exclusive crafting items but most are just recipes that they will start with.

 

Depending on how you configure the gates (like required level) on these recipes, most, if not all, of the Profession differences only show up in midgame. I think that there should be a clear difference on entering the game. I suggest adding a class specific starter weapon, tool or kit to each profession. The item should have limited use (Quality and decay tuned to last short of the gating period with normal use), and cant be repaired until the recipe becomes ungated. So cops have a pistol, farmers a hoe, docs some med supplies, hunters a rifle etc. This is not to make the game easier. By limiting the quality and repair-ability of the item it should have minimal impact on early survival.

 

I'd also like to see a generic/wildcard class that just offers some points to allocate and the base starter items. The points would equal what the recipe value is for the other classes, plus the 5 points you give them..

[Spider]

@xyth

I like those ideas but there are problems to it. If I give the cop a pistol,1 now he has something others will not get from a super long time. 2If the cop starts with the pistol recipe than he can repair it from the start.Now I could make recipes unlock for the professions at certain levels but that doesn't seem right to me. If you were a Cop and knew how to clean and assemble a pistol you wouldn't have to run around the zombie apocalypse a while before you remembered. I could make a completely new item "Old Pistol" and have it un repairable so it would have limited use. The same could be done for other items like a "Old Hoe"(hehe) or "Military Knife". Seems a little cheesy but it might be fun to relate to your profession immediately.

 

Also I have narrowed it down to 3 tech skills Primitive, Journeyman and Master Craftsman. Primitive will be Wood and Stone(cobblestone) building and early game items. Journeyman will be Scrap Blocks,Flagstone/Brick, Iron items and Mid game items. Master Craftsman will be Concrete/Reinforced Concrete, Steel Blocks, Steel items and End game items.

 

Now with that in mind what do yall think the gates should be? Can use player level and I would like it to require some mastery of the previous tech skill so the first group of items for Journeyman Crafting XP have a gate that requires some level of Primitive Crafting. The point is to not let player jump over Tech Skills and play through all the stages of the game at lest some.

 

My suggestion-

Journeyman starting items unlock at player level 20 Primitive Crafting lv 75

Master Craftsman starting items unlock at player level 65 Journeyman Crafting lv 75

Edited January 1, 2017 by Spider (see edit history)

[wolverine576]

I don't really mind dogs, I can handle them, if not in packs. And the bears are rare enough. But when you encounter a fatty, little you can do to prevent his puke. Either you can snipe him before he sees you, or sneak up on him to close range so he engages in melee and not puke. But there are too many of them and when I hear his 'gulp' sounds it means another hole in the ground or a tree gone and it just pisses me I don't know why.

 

 

I highly agree, too many puking zombies