Yearly Archives: 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

Alpha 9.1 Get it while it’s Hot! 08.22.14

привет Survivalists,
Alpha 9.1 is out with many new additions and user requested improvements and fixes including: 35 new location types in random gen, a new claw hammer that can upgrade buildings faster, full category recipe searching, grass not blocking melee or looting fixes, re-spawning underground fixes, compass stays on screen, tooltips shrank and moved, friends list fixes and much, much more!

Official Alpha 9.1 Release Notes

Added

  • Added “Search…” default text to recipe search field
  • Added pickup items in the game now show item name
  • Added about 35 new locations to the random gen spawn list including army camps, all old businesses, ghost town and factory locations
  • Added claw hammer and recipe. It upgrades faster than a stone axe or wrench
  • Added home maintenance volume II which unlocks the hammer to rare book loot
  • Added military munitions crate to the police station prefab and made military munitions loot crates harder to get to at the army camps

Changed

  • Changed spawning so zombies and animals re-spawn faster in biomes
  • Changed compass so it never hides and adjusted Tooltip messages and backpack so they never overlap and shrank tooltip text size
  • Changed recipe search to now search across all categories
  • Changed made the player map icons about 1.5 to 2 times bigger
  • Changed increased max zoom out on map
  • Changed added new sleeping bag house icon that’s easier to see on the map and compass
  • Changed increased chance to find rural hubs from 70% to 85% in random gen
  • Changed increased possible max rural lots to 4 locations in random gen
  • Changed slightly increased chance to find Wilderness POIs in random gen
  • Changed inhaling sound is now only played after you are under water for a minimum number of seconds or take drowning damage
  • Changed background color for offline friends to a darker gray to be visible on friends list
  • Changed stack limit on sticks from 64 to 250
  • Changed stack limit on trophies from 10 to 64
  • Changed doorknob stack limit from 10 to 64
  • Changed stack limit on shotgun shells to 128
  • Changed stack limit on feathers to 250
  • Changed stack limit on buckshot to 250
  • Changed increased stack limit on all jarred items to 15
  • Changed scrap lead to be in the junk category, reducing its chance to spawn in trash
  • Changed redwood planks no longer downgrade to a frame that was never built in the first place
  • Changed and removed some underwater messages that were redundant or self-evident
  • Changed all recipe colors for known, unknown, craft-able and un-craftable and the recipe header color
  • Changed removed fuel “Burn Time” text and moved the header and timer for campfire
  • Changed removed show friends icons game option it’s now hard-coded true
  • Changed chainsaw is now able to attack also frame blocks
  • Changed reduced probability of getting the Iron helmet schematic was too common
  • Changed Improved dogs play pain animation functions
  • Changed Increased the weight of pistol parts to be divisible by scrap iron
  • Changed improved mip mapping setting for decals atlas so that street lines render at greater distances

Fixed

  • Fixed grass blocking collision when hunting or fighting zombies also improves looting of zombies in the grass
  • Fixed Spawning/re-spawning on top of buildings/above ground.
  • Fixed all known friends list and invite problems
  • Fixed displaying friends or other players sleeping bags on the compass
  • Fixed not being able to see all screen resolutions, now uses scrolling drop down
  • Fixed game options list getting cut off sometimes
  • Fixed drowning buff was sometimes not removed when leaving the water
  • Fixed all bedrolls showing on compass
  • Fixed bedrock not spawning under some places in map
  • Fixed land mines and trunk tips not giving damage when on top of them
  • Fixed server browser search to no longer be case sensitive
  • Fixed server browser sort header clicking
  • Fixed favorites server list column headers
  • Fixed explosion resistance on player armor
  • Fixed random gen wilderness POI placement
  • Fixed random gen wilderness POI terrain trimming
  • Fixed random gen floating wilderness prefabs
  • Fixed random gen wilderness prefabs not being set at the correct y Offset
  • Fixed random gen rural lot spacing so one prefab will not cut off another
  • Fixed cloth gloves values to be consistent with cloth items
  • Fixed wasteland car04 now drops scrap iron
  • Fixed textures on wooden upgradable inside corner wedges and ramps to be correct
  • Fixed player placed dirt self-breaking. Seems to be when dirt is placed on top of more dirt
  • Fixed sawmill rotation to 0 for facing the road and set proper y offset
  • Fixed terrain in random gen around wilderness POIs being cut down to dirt and clay
  • Fixed backpacks on slopes, stairs and sometimes terrain are swallowed up, elevated to the next open Y coordinate, or simply just not appearing
  • Fixed decayed brick recipe uses fertile dirt instead of dirt
  • Fixed debuff items showing wrong description
  • Fixed Inventory Menu render order
  • Fixed planted maple seeds now grow maple trees instead of pines
  • Fixed supply crates have a chance drop keystones in MP games
  • Fixed english.txt for Pickup items
  • Fixed bug in code that snaps terrain to cubed blocks
  • Fixed bug where crafting search box would stay active after closing inventory
  • Fixed possible ArrayOutOfBoundsException in the context of random terrain generation
  • Fixed augers so they can impact surfaces you can shoot through like frames
  • Fixed improved Stag in water. Pig is too low, rabbit still seems to run atop the surface. Needs more work still. Bounding box issues most likely.
  • Fixed grid spacing collision for drag and drop on belt, backpack and crafting grid so accidental item drops are not possible
  • Fixed bug where dog death animation didn’t play right away
  • Fixed cook button being off center
  • Fixed server browser not filtering by server version
  • Fixed problem that cars could not be opened again after looting

ServerConfig.xml

  • There are no changes to the serverconfig.xml

Known Issues

  • 32 bit Operating Systems can run out of memory sometimes. We’re still optimizing this.

Playing Old Versions

We’re also making the last stable Alpha 9 build and 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 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 9
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

Alpha 9 with Random Worlds is out! 08.15.14

Ahoy Survivalists,
Our Massive Alpha 9 update is finally here with a multitude of new additions, improvements and fixes here’s the skinny. The biggest addition is our beautiful new Randomly Generated Worlds A.K.A. Randomz-gane which have full gigantic cities, roads, rivers, lakes, cliffs, mountains, roadside and wilderness locations and feature all biome types.

We’ve also reworked the entire in game GUI with new Art, Truetype fonts and many new features including fog of war, waypoints, friend tracking and recipe search.

If that wasn’t enough we’ve added some major Buff System enhancements including, Broken Legs, Sprained Legs, Dysentery, Drowning, Concussions and First Aid Kits. We’ve also including new rendering enhancements including soft shadows and underwater effects. In addition the player can now craft a full cloth armor set and use scrap iron build and upgrade forts. Folks this update is jammed packed with features!

Official Alpha 9 Release Notes

Added

  • Added new game map option ‘Random Gen’ which creates a randomly generated world seed based on the name you give the world. The random world generation includes all biomes, a full random sized central city, random in the wild cities, roads, rivers, lakes and random roadside and wilderness locations. Simply select Random Gen as the Game World and the name you give it will be the seed.
  • Added new sexier data driven ‘M’ map that renders based on where the player has visited with ‘Fog of War’ functionality. The new map shows, current position, cursor position, has waypoint functionality, recenter view to player, track friends on compass, mouse wheel scroll to zoom and left click drag to pan.
  • Added new biome type wasteland hub with custom spawning definition for random gen cities
  • Added overhauled most of the GUI including the new belt, backpack, compass, map, freinds list, character screen, loot container and more as well as new gui functionality and Truetype fonts
  • Added many new locations never before seen that appear only in the randomly generated worlds including, city blocks, movie theaters, several apartment buildings, parking garages, parking lots, new destroyed buildings and giant sewer holes.
  • Added a Debuff system for sprained, and broken legs that work with a new craftable splint that accelerates the healing time. Legs can also be re-injured more easily while on the mend and the more severe the injury the longer the recovery time.
  • Added Dysentery Debuff contracted from drinking river or murky water. Dysentery is cured by drinking goldenrod tea or taking antibiotics.
  • Added new stunned concussion debuff which slows the player down for a few seconds and has a chance to happen with zombie hits.
  • Added soft shadows to moon and sunlight
  • Added Simple drowning Debuff system that detects when the player is underwater and displays the icon. Going above water removes the icon. staying underwater for too long causes drowning pain damage and drowning death
  • Added Underwater visual effects, sound effects & leaving water effects with refract & screen particle effects
  • Added new tooltip loading screens
  • Added craftable Cloth jacket, pants, shoes, hat and gloves
  • Added cotton, cotton growing and cloth recipes from cotton
  • Added new scrap metal frame, ramp recipes and upgrade path for more fort building options
  • Added scrap metal inside corner wedges for scrap metal upgrade path
  • Added outside corners for scrap metal forts
  • Added recipe for scrap metal inside corner frames
  • Added Apartment building, Parking Garage, Movie Theater and new destroyed buildings to Navezgane Gravestown
  • Added eat glass for suicide option
  • Added empty jars added to inventory when using water, coffee, murky water, yucca juice, and goldenrod tea
  • Added recipe for adobe tan made from sand or sandstone and cement
  • Added paper to trash loot
  • Added cabinet filler pieces and cabinet top plate blocks for counters replacing some of the cabinet loot in the world
  • Added green plaster wallpaper full blocks
  • Added, blood bags, blood draw kits and first aid kits to the world. First aid kits heal 50 hit points immediately plus an additional 50 over 10 seconds. It is made from a bandage, grain alcohol, and a blood bag. Blood draw kits can be reused to make blood bags.
  • Added “gunpowder charge” item & recipe which is made of 9 gunpowder
  • Added inside corner wedge and wedged corner for oldwood for attics
  • Added seeds to garbage and backpack loot
  • Added icons for leg splint, blood bag, blood draw kit, first aid kit, gun powder charge\bottle, cloth hat, cloth pants, cloth jacket, cloth shoes and cloth gloves.
  • Added slowed movement speed in sand, water and web for player and entities
  • Added weapon parts to loot lists, reduced chance of finding complete weapons
  • Added a new water biome sound loop plays on rivers in random gen only
  • Added Reduced damage from crawling zombies but gave them a chance give the player a sprained leg
  • Added new blocks creme wall with backsplash block, wood floor with drywall ceiling block
  • Added city street painted lines
  • Added random rotation to loot on roads
  • Added Player placed dirt now grows grass
  • Added bookcase blocks, textures and recipes to craft them and bookcase loot containers to the world
  • Added updated english.txt random gen description and new items
  • Added MovementState to hornet controller to stop error msgs
  • Added a few pigs to pine forest biome
  • Added smell debuff code support and buff note: smell blips still show up on the main map
  • Added upgradable inside and outside wood corners useful for building mitered roof corners
  • Added scrap Lead to garbage loot
  • Added recipes for wooden inside and outside corners

Changed

  • Changed removed old minimap compass and replaced with new sleek minimalist compass that shows player sleeping bag position, set waypoints and tracked friends
  • Changed Hordes are smaller in general but except every 7th day they are super nasty.
  • Changed thinned the total amount of loot containers in all world prefabs and moved the best prefabs to harder to reach areas
  • Changed Drinking river water doesn’t damage your health and you get some stamina now just like drinking pure water, but there is a chance of catching the new Dysentery Debuff from drinking it. Dysentery is cured by drinking goldenrod tea or taking antibiotics. If untreated it becomes advanced dysentery which damages stamina and health which is only curable with antibiotics
  • Changed credits adding all Kickstarter Backers and made it scroll faster
  • Changed cupboards to have 0-1 cans of food instead of 0-2
  • Changed increased amount of food you get from canned Lamb and Chicken
  • Changed decreased weight of candy tins, hub caps and air filters
  • Changed slowed crop growth
  • Changed spiked club recipe to require ingots instead of scrap metal
  • Changed white flowers are now cotton plants
  • Changed lowered zombie player damage to work with the new stun system
  • Changed awnings are made from cloth instead of plant fibers
  • Changed most all interior house walls are a full block thick improves lighting and enemy pathing
  • Changed pipe bombs are now made from gunpowder charge instead of gunpowder
  • Changed TNT now uses loads of gunpowder instead of gunpowder
  • Changed replaced all plate block and plate block corner thin walls in old houses and ranch houses
  • Changed new default spectrum (used in plains and Diersville) with magenta sunset and bluer nights
  • Changed craft time of sandbags from 30 seconds to 5 seconds
  • Changed all blocks that use the shape of the pine tip are now only 1m height.
  • Changed backpacks so you have equal chance of finding the items they contain
  • Changed pistol book so it gates pistol part mold crafting instead of pistol crafting.
  • Changed removed shotguns from the book so they can be assembled by anyone who has the parts. Molds still require the book to learn how to craft them
  • Changed Sandbags can be picked up
  • Changed made both mattresses work as player bedrolls when placed
  • Changed Fog, Sunlight and Sky in forest
  • Changed when placing a regular block on the terrain, the terrain now “snaps” to this block
  • Changed Zombies are no longer slowed by forge or campfire light at night, and never run in dark places during the day
  • Changed increased chance of clay deposits in earth. Removed chance of getting clay when digging dirt
  • Changed increased chainsaw wood damage
  • Changed removed flicker from wall mounted torches
  • Changed plains terrain grass is a little greener
  • Changed resources underground so there are only 3 minerals per layer. There is stone and iron ore in every layer. The third mineral changes every twenty layers down starting with coal, then potassium nitrate, then lead, and finally tungsten.
  • Changed radiated terrain texture, added more loot to cupboards
  • Changed Added peeling paint and grunge to Diersville houses and white door
  • Changed reduced cars in Diersville and gravestown for performance
  • Changed the way chunks are build in background threads to optimize them
  • Changed scrap metal wall and reinforced scrap metal wall art
  • Changed dirt grows into grass, grass grows into tallgrass
  • Changed ramp trussing textures to use new scrap metal textures
  • Changed redwood cabinets plain on sides and bottom
  • Changed removed blob shadows on all entities (zombies, animals, players, etc)
  • Changed Biome intensity fading now also over time
  • Changed winter biomes have less fog and brighter midday
  • Changed dirt to sides of burnt forest blocks and burnt forest dirt on the sides of the wasteland blocks
  • Changed tweaked cupboard loot. Added empty cans and coffee beans are now in the seed group
  • Changed Reduced decal litter on roads
  • Changed increased weight of fishing weights from 1 to 4 ounces
  • Changed cars now only have automotive loot
  • Changed crafted doors to be unlocked by default
  • Changed Serverconfig.xml defaults to zombies normal 3
  • Changed: Moved VAC window to the top

Fixed

  • Fixed scrap timer not updating when adding more scrap while it’s in progress
  • Fixed problem that other players HUD text was flashing
  • Fixed elevator to surface bug
  • Fixed all backpacks and purses have terrain decoration flag so they don’t clip terrain
  • Fixed animals should avoid water > 1m deep unless they are forced in via physics somehow.
  • Fixed player should be push out of ground correctly
  • Fixed: Gave wasteland scrap metal block terrain decoration flag so it doesn’t float
  • Fixed drinking from river not being the same as drinking murky water
  • Fixed the VAC warning dialog
  • Fixed problem with animated doors on a client and also open/close state of a door can be saved in a prefab
  • Fixed regression: god mode wasn’t enabled in Cheat mod
  • Fixed bug where Mouse Sensitivity was not adjustable
  • Fixed horizon colors flickering a single time when time turns from about 13:50 to 14:10
  • Fixed Spinning rabbits and deers
  • Fixed the rotation of the preview of a door before placing is now correct
  • Fixed loot not spawning the right amount of items
  • Fixed severe problem that sometimes the collider for a newly placed block wasn’t generated
  • Fixed: Fat Cop Zombie Vomit Projectile disappears before it hits anything
  • Fixed old window upgrade path showing wrong model
  • Fixed old window upgrade path to include scrap metal reinforced version
  • Fixed window01white to require scrap metal to reach the metal reinforced version
  • Fixed walking in shallow water plays footsteps from ground below
  • Fixed playing “fall into water” sound now only if the fall distance is > 1m
  • Fixed hovering over item in campfire and closing causing item names to stay
  • Fixed Removed muzzle flash & smoke from crossbow
  • Fixed problem that client player in a Coop game was not seen by enemies if far away from the server

ServerConfig.xml

  • Renamed GamePref ShowAllPlayersOnMap to ShowFriendPlayerOnMap
  • Server config file option “ShowAllPlayersOnMap” has been renamed to “ShowFriendPlayerOnMap”

Known Issues

  • 32 bit Operating Systems can run out of memory sometimes. We’re still optimizing this.
  • Some users have trouble setting the video to higher resolutions like 1920×1080 or 1920×1200 as the list appears to long. The work around is to use your keyboard up and down arrow to reach these.

More News

Achievement Hunters

Be sure to check out the latest Achievement Hunters Video the 4th installment. The word on the street or Reddit is they may make us a regular or semi-regular series. Let’s Play 7 Days to Die Part 4

New Free Tool

Also we are pleased to announce that our friends at www.blackboxservers.net have released the 1st Visual Rcon tool (7DTDCC Alpha 0.1) for 7 Days to Die. The Rcon tool enable Server admins to:

  • Control and administrate multiple servers live
  • Chat with players and add MOTD’s when players join
  • Kick Ban/unban players ( select player name and kick/ban )
  • Live Navezgane Map – View player location, msg players , kick and ban
  • Change Server settings on the fly (without server Restart)
  • View and log / search game server console.
  • Create server banners for websites and forums using www.bbtracker.net
  • No need to download any additional software it is all web base interface

One Year Ago Today
Coincidentally today is our 1 year anniversary of getting funded on Kickstarter. Thanks folks for funding us! We all remember “where’s my Key Bro… where’s my Key!” Thank god that’s behind us. And for all of you waiting on tangible goods don’t worry we’re working on getting the T-shirts, Map and Zombie poster designs done and out. We can’t finish them until the world and characters are done so thank you for your patience.

Playing Older Versions
We’re also making the last stable Alpha 8.8 build and 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 8.8 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 8.8
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

Alpha 9 Status Update! 08.02.14

What’s happening Survivalists,
I tell you what’s happening the team has been busting a move on an awesome Alpha 9. The Random Generated World has been coming along nicely with fully generated cities. Kudos to Robert and Chris for their hard work. Be sure to give them a big pimp high five if you run into them. The new GUI is really shaping up thanks to the outstanding efforts of Ryan and Joe these guys deserve a Goldenrod Tea or two. And lastly the addition of Gore blocks and a slew of new buffs are changing the game play in amazing new ways. Tip of the Fedora to Joel for his continued dedication to making the game fun.

For the most up to date Alpha 9 development info, screenshots and more be sure to follow Joel’s Dev Blog here:
7 Days to Die Dev blog

Also be sure to check out the latest Achievement Hunters 7 Days to Die! Let’s Play Video. These guys are awesome!
Let’s Play 7 Days to Die Part 3

You stay classy Survivalists,
The Fun Pimps

8.8 dedicated only hotfix! 07.24.14

Howdy Survivalists,
We fixed a bug in the dedicated server only build (app id 294420) that did not allow any explosion. For being compatible with all other builds we did not change the version number but kept it at 8.8 b1. We would like to ask all server providers to update their servers.

8.8 hotfix, Pimp news and Alpha 9 07.23.14

Bonjour Survivalists,
We have an Alpha 8.8 patch out for you that fixes the steam ID spoofing or account hijacking bug. To check out the rest of the Pimps News and what’s coming in Alpha 9 read on.

7 Days on Youtube
The popular YouTube Channel “The Achievement Hunters” under the “Rooster Teeth” umbrella are doing a series on 7 Days to Die! Head on over to one of the first 2 videos and thumbs up it to show your support if you’d like to see a regular series by these hilarious guys.
Let’s Play 7 Days to Die Part 1
Let’s Play 7 Days to Die Part 2

Alpha 9 Status
Ok now for the news you’ve all been waiting for. The word on the street is that the Pimps have decided to accelerate their Alpha 9 schedule shuffling a few features around moving some things forward and a few things back to post Alpha 9 to get you guys a kick ass new build sooner. If all goes well you’ll get it as soon as August 8th. Here are the planned features going in.

  • Randomly Generated Infinite Worlds which include all biomes types with custom elevations, lakes, natural deeper rivers, curvy roads, random locations, and a procedurally generated centralized wasteland city with some never before seen locations!
  • A kickass new AAA GUI with all new art including belt, backpack, character screen, map, friends list, new minimalist compass and player stats. The GUI also includes added functionality including our new data driven in game map system with fog of war, a searchable recipe list and friend compass tracking
  • New leg sprain, leg fracture, leg break and dysentery de-buff systems
  • Under water effects and drowning system
  • World improvements including decorations adhering to the terrain to altering what is found out and about while scavenging. All major prefabs have been given a container overhaul. We thinned out the cabinets and other things that can hold loot, but increased the odds that things will be found within them. This has the dual benefit of making longer scavenging ventures more profitable while not spreading too much more loot into the world as a whole.
  • And lastly if time permits watch out for our new Gore block system where zombie bodies decompose into bloody piles that stack up and can work in the zombies favor.

Pure Pings Prize giveaway
Our friends over at Pure Pings are running a giveaway! Follow the link below to enter a chance to win a free 7 days to die key and server bundle!
Pure Pings Giveaway

Mac and Linux Versions
In a final note regarding the Linux and Mac versions. The truth is we need more time to improve the Mac version and to get the Linux version fully working. For now we have looked into alternatives for those of you running either of these systems and have come up with a couple ways in which you can still enjoy the game by running Windows on your machine Bootcamp for Mac and Wine for Linux. Here’s how you do it.

Bootcamp on Mac
Bootcamp is a simple and easy way to run Windows alongside your OSX. You are required to have a copy of Windows in order to install.

Before installing Bootcamp or Windows, please ensure that there are no pending updates for your machine. This can be done by following these steps:
1. Go to Apple’s Boot Camp support page (http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/) to see if updates are available for your model. Download and install if necessary.
2. Click the Apple menu, then Software Update… to install any updates for your system.
3. Restart your computer if prompted. After restarting, check for software updates again until no new ones are available.

Since Bootcamp is going to be changing your HDD configuration a bit, you will want to backup anything you might be afraid to lose. The chances are slim, but they are real, so better safe than sorry.

Next, you need to run the Bootcamp Assistant. This can be done by going into the Finder, click Applications, then Utilities. Within the Utilities folder, you’ll find the Bootcamp Assistant.
After clicking Continue, you will likely be asked if you want to install Windows Support Software for your Mac. Since you’ve come this far, you will need to do so.
The next thing that’s going to happen will be driver downloads so that your new Windows install will be able to talk to the hardware in your Mac. You need to either burn these files to a disc or save them to a thumbdrive.

Next up is partitioning your HDD. Unless you plan on using a bunch of Windows programs, you’re only going to need about 25GB of space partitioned for Windows (16GB for the OS, some spare in case of more stuff).
Your Mac will take and partition this off at this point. This will take some time, so don’t worry about it.

Once the partitioning is complete, you can now install Windows by inserting your install disc into the disc drive. Your computer will restart and you’ll now be able to follow the Windows installation normally.
When it asks if you want a typical or custom installation, always click custom and point to the hard drive partition labeled BOOTCAMP. If you don’t, you’re going to lose OSX and all information on your machine.
You’ll select that partition and have to format it. This is done by clicking Drive Options(Advanced) then Format. Windows takes some time to install, so again, relax for a bit.

Once the installation is complete, simply remove the Windows install disc (either by pressing the eject button on your disc drive or navigating to My Computer, right clicking the disc drive and click Eject) and insert the drivers media you prepared earlier.
To install the drivers, you just need to open the media that you inserted and double click setup.exe. Let it run its course, restart the computer and you’ll be good to go.

To choose which OS to start (you’ll always boot into OSX by default) hold the Option key while booting to select which OS to use.

When you’re done, download Steam, log in, download 7DtD and start playing.
Wine on Linux
Step 1: Update System Files.

Step 2: Use the “Ubuntu Software Center” and download PlayOnLinux (once the packages have been selected, you may need to click on install packages)

Step 3: Run PlayOnLinux

Inside “PlayOnLinux”

Step 4: Install New Listed Program

Step 5: Install Steam

Step 6: Highlight Your newly created shortcut, and select the configure cog on the Play on Linux panel.

Step 7: Click on The Wine Tab, and select configure. Under the “Graphics Tab” check Automatically Capture the mouse in fullscreen. And Then Apply. There should be only the first 3 boxes Checked in that tab, the last one should remain unchecked. Click Okay.

Step 8: Press the “Windows Reboot” icon, and your virtual machine will update changes.

Step 9: Exit the configuration window, and run PlayOnLinux “Steam”
Step 10: Wait for the updates to update

From Steam:

Step 11: Login and Download Game (Note: if you use any special characters in your name and password, you may need to write the login information using a notepad program (gEdit, etc) and copy/ paste into the login field)

Step 12: Once downloaded, double click game, and VCredist2010 should start downloading. If it doesn’t click “Play game”, and it will download for you. Game should “fail to start”; (if VCredist2010 still doesn’t down load, you can right click 7dtd and select properties, then, select “Browse Local Files” and select “_CommonRedist” file and navigate till you find the executable.)
Step 13: Double Click Game again, and this time select “Install 32 Bit”,
Step 14: Double Click Game Again, and “Play Game”
Step 15: Play game.