Monthly Archives: September 2014

Alpha 9.3X & Alpha 10 Status! 09.18.14

Howdy Survivalists,
we inserted an anti-cheat hotfix into the Alpha 9.3 client and a have a new Dedi version up as well. Note: the version number has not increased for the client it still reads Alpha 9.3 and Alpha 9.2 is the rollback version. Both the client and server are compatible with old saved games and network games.
Read on for the official release notes and the status of Alpha 10.

Official Alpha 9.3X Hotfix Release Notes

Added

  • Controller support using 3rd party mapping tools is now compatible with EAC. Note: We will be officially supporting native USB controllers in the future.
  • Support of the latest versions of the 3rd party capture programs like Fraps, Dxtory, Shadowplay and others are now supported with EAC

Alpha 10 Status

Folks we’re working hard on Alpha 10 which is a few weeks out yet. Alpha 10 will include the following items:

  • Character system framework with new better looking male and female base mesh characters and a slew of clothing and armor models that can now be seen on the players. Note: full character customization profile creation will be coming after alpha 10.
  • Buff System 2.0 Framework which will allow for buffs to affect other buffs, buffs to play sounds and particle effects and buffs to be applied to zombies. For example we now make flaming arrows that light zombies on fire.
  • Zombie Horde System 2.0 which will feature sounds, smells and light events that feed into the world horde heat map which when triggered will spawn horde scouts you must avoid or kill before they call the horde to your location.
  • More AI and pathing improvements with our new zombie sight crumb system
  • New better looking model doors that change states better when damaged, repaired or upgraded.
  • Server optimizations for better performance and more players.
  • First pass of zombie mocap animations if things go well.

Alpha 9.3 Hotfix is out! 09.08.14

Good Day Survivalists,
Alpha 9.3 hotfix is out and here’s the skinny.

Changed

  • Changed crops to grow faster (every 40 minutes they advance to the next stage) but yield a little less food.
  • Changed it so crops no longer break when walked on
  • Changed renamed all VACs to EAC in anticheat load screen
  • Changed console command “set time” so it sets directly the specified time, without adding offset any more

Fixed

  • Fixed 7th Night Feral horde from spawning on subsequent nights. Note: they will still spawn on nights divisible by 7.
  • Fixed army camp burnt forest allowed biomes tag spelling in the xml
  • Fixed “time warp bug” on client dedis
  • Field of view is now only applied to the game camera, the gun camera stays at 60
  • Fixed prefab/road overlap block type bug
  • Fixed problem that client sometimes jumped back one second esp. during nights
  • Fixed cotton so it doesn’t grow instantly
  • Fixed player spawning in wasteland hub so players don’t spawn in the city
  • Fixed shift clicking with left and right mouse button dupe
  • Fixed buff chance percentage display
  • Fixed ArgumentNullException on dedicated servers when a player logs off

Known Issues

  • 32 bit Operating Systems can run out of memory sometimes. We’re still optimizing this.
  • Zombies and animals will still occasionally spin in circles but not as often we are still working on this

Playing Old Versions

We’re also making the last stable older builds available to re download so here’s how you do it.
1. Open your steam client.
2. Click on Games/View Games Library
3. Right click ‘7 Days to Die’ and select properties
4. From the new popup dialogue box select the ‘BETAS’ Tab
5. Under ‘Select the beta you would like to opt into’ – select ‘Alpha 9.2 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 9.2
7. Switching back to the latest version is as easy as repeating steps 1-4 and on step 5 choose the option ‘None – Opt out of all Beta Programs’ and you’ll revert to the latest version

9.2 Dedi only cpu fix 09.04.14

We updated the dedicated server only build (appid 294420). It uses the same version number (A9.2 b14) to be compatible with the existing clients. The update was due to a change in Unity 4.5.3 that obviously handles the VBlank different then in previous version. This caused a dedi server to take full CPU time of a single core even if no user was connected. This problem should be fixed with the latest update (steam buildid 373581)

Boo-yah Alpha 9.2 & more news! 09.04.14

Great Scott Survivalists,
Alpha 9.2 is out with many new additions, changes and bug fixes including: Our new anti-cheat system in beta, new biome zombie spawning system, improved zombie pathing, new 7th night feral attacks, new grasslands biome formerly the plains, new high res 9mm Pistol, new large hotel location, increased zombie walk speeds, fixed shotguns death animations, fixed many locations not spawning in random gen and so much more!

We also have some more pimp news to share with you folks. This week we broke a half a million customers. So a mighty big pimp high five goes out to all the fans who have supported us from the beginning, the new fans we’ve picked up along the way and our newly converted fans who’ve seen our bright campfire light! And let’s not forget the rest of the Pimps for kicking some serious early access development ass. Tip of the Fedora goes out to Robert, Joe, Chris, Brian, Joey, Ryan, Joel, Bryan, Alex, Jan and Will. You guys rock! And a belated Pimp of the week goes out to Robert for spearheading our Alpha 9 random gen. So drop us some feedback and tell your friends and let’s keep this party rolling folks cause we’re not going to stop until we deliver the best damn zombie survival game out there!

We also just updated the dedicated server only build (appid 294420). It uses the same version number (A9.2 b14) to be compatible with the existing clients. The update was due to a change in Unity 4.5.3 that obviously handles the VBlank different then in previous version. This caused a dedi server to take full CPU time of a single core even if no user was connected. This problem should be fixed with the latest update (steam buildid 373581)

So without further ado or Pimp rambling here are the official Alpha 9.2 release notes.

Official Alpha 9.2 Release Notes

Added

  • Added new early version of Easy Anti-Cheat system that is a server option. If server has anti-cheat Vac enabled you cannot connect to it with a modified DLL. If you want to use your modified DLL as a client the server must have anti-cheat disabled. Modified DLLs on servers are possible with anti-cheats on. If you want to join anti-cheat enabled servers you will need to use stock DLLs only as a client. Hopefully no more TNT fists of fury!
  • Added Biome Zombie Spawning masks. Clear an area of zombies and that area will not spawn zombies again for about 5 days. This gives the player time to build a fort. It is not a free pass from wandering hordes or noise triggered hordes. It also forces the player to travel to hunt as you clean an area from animals.
  • Added new zombie pathing system. It’s just an early start to a grander scheme but zombies don’t weave back and forth as much and path straighter, they will only walk off a ledge from a certain height and can get through doors easily now. We still need to improve staircase and long distance pathing and they will occasionally spin but not as often.
  • Added feral night hordes. Once per week or every 7th night zombies get really hungry and become feral. These feral night hordes can sense players and will find them regardless of how well they are hiding. Every week the horde grows in numbers until the 7th week.
  • Added new grasslands biome formerly the plains with 4 new grasses, new sky spectrum, ground texture and tree and changed plains decorations to look more like Arizona and less like kansas
  • Added a new large hotel never before seen to the random gen spawn list. You can find it in desert, plains, forest and pine forest biomes along roads
  • Added new large hotel to Navezgane Desert
  • Added sham sandwich
  • Added new 9mm Pistol
  • Added new random gen map thumbnail and description
  • Added coffee farming
  • Added english.txt entry for Sham Sandwich
  • Added sparse corn plants to the plains
  • Added hwy_overpass_sign prefab
  • Added billboard trussing
  • Added recipe to make books from paper
  • Add weights to various metal objects so they can be melted down or they drop scrap iron when destroyed

Changed

  • Changed the walk speed of one walk type, the cripple looking walk with the long stride. These guys and gals are annoyingly fast now so you have no time to loot any more
  • Changed automotive loot now guarantees auto loot, with a chance to find one tool, and a chance to find one junk item
  • Changed added stone axe to tool group list and moved claw hammer to rare tools list
  • Changed added wood planks to junk loot list
  • Changed reduced chance of finding random biome loot like trash or backpacks
  • Changed food poisoning does damage over time and more stamina damage
  • Changed moldy Bread and rotten flesh have a chance to cause food poisoning
  • Changed rotten flesh has a chance of causing infection if you eat it
  • Changed zombies no longer drop cans of food but possibly rotten food or flesh
  • Changed reduced chance of finding complete firearms in backpacks. Backpacks now guarantee a food item, with a chance for weapons or parts, a chance for melee weapon and a chance for an armor or clothing item
  • Changed cars now guarantee one auto part and have a chance to drop a tool and a junk item
  • Changed zombies no longer drop cans of food but possibly rotten food or flesh
  • Changed reduced chance of finding complete firearms in backpacks. Backpacks now guarantee a food item, with a chance for weapons or parts, a chance for melee weapon and a chance for an armor or clothing item
  • Changed cars now guarantee one auto part and have a chance to drop a tool and a junk item
  • Changed scaled coal texture to be smaller
  • Changed stone and potassium nitrate textures
  • Changed Random Gen Description in English.txt
  • Changed farming. You no longer have to plant near water. Crops also grow at a consistent speed which is in seconds. They still require sunlight and fertile soil (hoe’d or recently placed)
  • Changed Less aggressive “snap to terrain” code to avoid doubling of terrain blocks
  • Changed sledgehammer is now gated by the home maintenance book vol II
  • Changed moved hunting rifle parts from misc to resources group
  • Changed redid metal pole texture

Fixed

  • Fixed typo of army camps so Wilderness is spelled correctly and should show up in Random Gen
  • Fixed shotguns are not triggering death animations on zombies if it was a one shot kill when connected to a dedicated server
  • Fixed over 40 prefabs that had the wrong township flag or type in the random gen prefabs.xml. This was causing some of them not to show up in Random Gen
  • Fixed army camps xmls so wilderness was spelled correctly causing them to not show up in random gen
  • Fixed housetanpyrmid2 name removing space causing it to not show in random gen
  • Fixed problem that the “snap to terrain” changes have not been transferred to a connected server
  • Fixed static spawner y offset being incorrect so prefabs with ground or basement were not spawning zombies in random gen
  • Fixed It is no longer possible to contract dysentery when you have advanced dysentery
  • Fixed can burn trunk tips and wood pillars
  • Fixed Stability of roof in Barn_03 prefab
  • Fixed shortened english.txt longer recipe names to fit and got rid of Camel Cased words
  • Fixed Gave coolers terrain decoration flag

ServerConfig.xml

  • EAC will be on if the serverconfig.xml file has VACEnabled set to True like the line below
  • <property name=”VACEnabled” value=”true”/>  <!– Enables/Disables Valve Anti Cheat –>

Known Issues

  • 32 bit Operating Systems can run out of memory sometimes. We’re still optimizing this.
  • Zombies and animals will still occasionally spin in circles but not as often we are still working on this

Playing Old Versions

We’re also making the last stable older builds available to re download so here’s how you do it.
1. Open your steam client.
2. Click on Games/View Games Library
3. Right click ‘7 Days to Die’ and select properties
4. From the new popup dialogue box select the ‘BETAS’ Tab
5. Under ‘Select the beta you would like to opt into’ like  – select ‘Alpha 9.1 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 9.1 Stable
7. Switching back to the latest version is as easy as repeating steps 1-4 and on step 5 choose the option ‘None – Opt out of all Beta Programs’ and you’ll revert to the latest version