Guten Morgen Survivalists,
Alpha 8.7 is out with many new additions, improvements and requested fixes including: New anti-cheat strategies with VAC enabled anti cheat integration, our new standalone Dedicated Server, new upgradable wood fort spikes, a heap of loot tuning, a ton of the most annoying player requested bug fixes and much, much more.

Note: If you want to try 8.7 make sure not to load your 8.6 save game as it might get corrupted. It might be fine but always back up your save. For best results start a new game with 8.7.

We’ve decided from now on to always make the last stable build 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 8.6 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 8.6
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

And for your detailed oriented folks here is a complete list of new Alpha 8.7 Release Notes. So check it out now funk soul brother!

Official Alpha 8.7 Release Notes

Added

• Added several new measures to deter cheaters including turning on Valve Anti Cheat and have begun processing cheaters. Servers have the option to run VAC true or false.
• Added a new standalone Dedicated server software accessible to anyone who has purchased the game. You can find it in your steam client under Library/Tools/7 Days to Die Dedicated Server. Note: Client run coop will always be supported but Client run Dedicated servers will only be supported for a few weeks.. Server providers should run, test and migrate over to the new standalone server as soon as possible.
• Added integrated NGUI 3 to the game in preparation for vector fonts in the next release.
• Added new southwest adobe wall blocks and wedges in white, peach and tan wall. They also include variants with interior walls and trims
• Added: Loot group “seeds” so as we add more plantable crops to the game it’s easy to implement them into the loot system
• Added upgradable trunk tips and trunks
• Added Drop Ceiling02 black ceiling for clubs and theaters
• Added Ban now allows using steam ID to ban, does not require them to be on the server
• Added If banned steam id is on the server it will kick them when banned
• Added VAC Warning when joining a server with VAC Enabled

Changes

• Changed: Removed ‘Suicide’ button
• Changed: Chainsaws and augers are easier to find
• Changed removed the suicide button in the normal game mode. It’s now a debug mode option only
• Changed distribution of “low probability” ores like lead and potassium nitrate to occur more often in the ground
• Changed the terrain textures now use the asset bundles
• Changed moved some textures into external bundles. The dedi only build doesn’t include these textures now
• Changed removed old block cacti
• Changed stability glue of cloth so it’s more stable
• Changed improved performance on dropped items (simpler collision checks)
• Changed English.txt updating all new items
• Changed Bush1 the green bush that yields sticks in the plains is now a bit bigger to allow it to be seen better
• Changed removed old redundant “lit campfire” block id 856
• Changed femur has durability and breaks
• Changed increased durability of all wooden clubs
• Changed increased chance of finding garbage in houses instead of hero loot containers
• Changed increased chance to find empty jars than food in cupboards
• Changed greater chance to find garbage on roads instead of backpacks
• Changed added more deer and rabbits to the biomes but slowed the re-spawn delay significantly
• Changed: Improved water art
• Changed: over 96 blocks now drop scrap Iron when destroyed
• Changed: Decreased lower cupboard and stove loot from 1-2 to 0 to 2 items
• Changed: Increased spawn time for deer to re-spawn to approximately 8 days
• Changed Sped up daytime zombie alerted approach speed

Bug Fixes

• Fixed height collision on cacti
• Fixed zombies descending on hills don’t pirouette anymore
• Fixed Dogs should not clip through player
• Fixed cactuses don’t do damage
• Fixed can’t pick up some small rocks
• Fixed Window01 white and window02 collision
• Fixed bird nests and small trash being hard to loot
• Fixed bug where ammo and gasoline get consumed from your inventory by other people in MP
• Fixed bug when player is dehydrated and eats an item that lowers hydration further the stamina drain sound loops forever
• Fixed sound fade in on planes
• Fixed Can’t walk up a player placed dirt slope
• Fixed bug where TNT explodes twices
• Fixed placing a sleeping bag at some rotations allows half of it to be picked up
• Fixed trigger radius of landmines we’re too small
• Fixed in SP the DropOnQuit option was taken from the last MP game
• Fixed a lot of sounds issues when joining dedicated server
• Fixed Lumber Jack Digging, was broken
• Fixed bug that trunk blocks were not destroyable
• Fixed crash when flying in and out of police station
• Fixed players and crates are not affected by View Distance
• Fixed Terrain decoration on dead shrub so it doesn’t float on hills sometimes
• Fixed Terrain decoration on trash so it doesn’t float on hills sometimes
• Fixed pole blocks can now be burned for firewood
• Fixed other player names render on top of the crafting tarp
• Fixed bug where using water buckets you can break doors
• Fixed BannedUntil wasn’t being properly checked against server time

ServerConfig.xml

• Added a console “saveworld” command for dedis to be able to save the current state of a world
• Added a simple Zombie Performance Limiter as a GamePref so server providers can set this limit manually setup the default to 60 Added: VACEnabled GamePref Valve Anti-Cheat defaults to enabled. This will start tracking for any trainers or cheats that a client might be using when playing on a VAC enabled server.

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.6 is out with many fixes. We did a big optimization to dedicated servers which improves performance we still recommend a maximum of 8 players but it’s much better. more to come there soon Check out the full release notes!

Official Alpha 8.6 Release Notes

Added

• Added rare book loot list for iron armor schematics & magnum schematics

Changes

• Changed improved performance for dedicated server 8 players are still the recommended maximum.
• Changed retuned TNT
• Changed purses don’t contain shotguns or hunting rifles
• Changed mailboxes now have a chance to have book loot.
• Changed minor loot tweaks to night stands

Bug Fixes

• Fixed taking damage would close out loot containers even if damage was from self F.E. hunger or thirst
• Fixed when loot would respawn the container would say empty even if it had new items in it
• Fixed the zombies do not attack planted saplings
• Fixed airdrops weren’t showing parachutes
• Fixed players bouncing in random locations or being teleported through the ground to the surface
• Fixed can’t go up a ramp into a doorway
• Fixed collision on dead shrub so blocks could be placed adjacent to it
• Fixed solid wood ramp frames can be upgraded and sort properly
• Fixed zombies should not dig or attack structure in a horde unless they sense the player
• Fixed take all on supply crates drops items on ground
• Fixed supply crate dupe bug when in MP and you take all
• Fixed player backpacks not being destroyed when looted
• Fixed terrain chunk corruption problem
• Fixed spawn near bedroll player spinning bug

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.5 is out which fixes another major crash! This should be compatible with the last couple of patches and saved games.

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.4 is out. Most importantly we found and fixed a major crash and fixed few other small bugs!

Official Alpha 8.4 Release Notes

Changes

• Changed zombies to not play certain types of smaller pain animations but they still take the damage given

Bug Fixes

• Fixed crafting grid swallowing items when clicking on recipe in list
• Fixed crafting grid recipe list position not resetting when hiding the scrollbar
• Fixed player placed containers generating loot instead of starting empty
• Fixed loot abundance percentage calculation
• Fixed airdrop dropping supplies in radiation zones
• Fixed intermittent server crash sometimes seen as a freeze
• Fixed parachutes` not displaying on clients

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.3 is out with many fixes. We updated to Unity 4.5 which resolved many known 64 and 32 bit crashes and freezes, fixed normal zombie aggression mode and so much more!

Official Alpha 8.3 Release Notes

Added

• Added schematic required to learn how to craft iron armor. There is a schematic for each piece
• Added book to learn leather crafting & leather armor. The one book teaches you all leather armor pieces

Changes

• Updated to Unity 4.5 which resolved many known 64 and 32 bit crashes and freezes
• Changed tuned pipe bombs and rockets and their damage to players, zombies and structures
• Changed hardness of concrete/cobblestone, metal and their resistance to explosions (Joel)
• Changed land mines so they can be scrapped
• Changed reduced chance of finding books
• Changed reduced crafting time for sharp stones
• Changed reduced repair time of anything using metal strips
• Changed only one book can be found in book loot group instead of 1-2
• Changed reduced air drop loot to a maximum of 6 items instead of 9

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Non feral zombies hone in on the player non-stop and is harder than feral mode.
• Fixed conflicting recipe with barnwood & red wood planks
• Fixed a pipe bomb would destroy a water block, which could then be picked up as a dropped item
• Fixed bug that decals weren’t showing
• Fixed problem that explosion destroyed land protected doors
• Fixed helmet model for Iron helmet now uses swat helmet and leather helmet uses a cowboy hat instead of a cloth item
• Fixed garage loot container size to be same as regular cardboard boxes
• Fixed Shift clicking on a recipe in the recipe list will swallow items if it’s already full
• Fixed zombies don’t take damage from land mines
• Fixed plant shader for cactus models to accept fog
• Fixed campfire particle system to not have smoke appearing far outside of the model

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.2 is out with many fixes, improvements and additions including: Huge memory reduction and Crash fixes, new feral enemy aggression option, new sun and moon, tree farming, new recipe crafting system overhaul, mining fixes and so much more! Folks we’ve done our best to stay compatible with old saved games however if you’re experiencing any problems we recommend starting new games.

Official Alpha 8.2 Release Notes

Added

• Added new Enemy Aggression game option. With normal and feral. Feral means zombies sense you from over 100 meters at night simulating our old horde mode. They also come every night. Combine this with short 24 hour cycles and air drops for the classic horde mode experience.
• Added lens flare to sun and new sun texture
• Added moon shadows and increased moon light
• Added pine and maple tree farming. Tree seeds can be planted on dirt or forest ground and do not need to be watered or near water using seeds dropped from pine and maple trees
• Added rebar ramp recipe
• Added cobblestone upgrade path to include ramps and require forged iron (Joel)
• Added rotting flesh, femur and hide to zombie dog loot
• Added military weapons and ammo loot groups
• Added melee weapons loot group
• Added Hard Metal Door recipe & two upgraded versions. They are upgraded with forged metal.
• Added furniture material that has no stability (couches and chairs can no longer be stuck to walls)
• Added a weight to small rocks so they can be smelted into cement (Joel)
• Added cobblestones to airdrops
• Added new icons glass pane, cement mold, forged iron, goldenrod flower, goldenrod tea, dirt, sand, and clay

Changes

• Changed recipe crafting system overhaul includes: new recipe group tags to items and blocks so recipes are now sorted by groups. New color backgrounds for matching groups F.E. ammo and weapons are read, semi-transparent item icons appear in recipe grid, new recipe text colors bright green quick craft, dark green known, white unknown but have ingredients, grey unknown and don’t have ingredients, new alphabetical recipe sorting and sorting based on text color
• Changed cut down memory consumption by clearing refs on chunks
• Changed the limit on the number of chunks that are generated at the same time. Also to reduce memory consumption
• Changed optimized chunk memory consumption once again
• Changed internal handling of all normal maps to save memory. On a client this will bring about 300MB of system memory
• Changed the game uses now a different texture compression that leads to a 300MB memory saving on clients
• Changed the voice chat is now disabled per default! If a server switches voice chat off, no client can do voice chat! Note the voice chat bug is not fixed but this allows folks with this problem to play
• Changed biome resources underground to have no gravel and more small deposits of ore for better mining
• Changed mismatching versions cannot connect message is shown “Incompatible versions”
• Changed improved suitcase loot
• Changed increased drop scale of metal fragments, lumps of coal, and small rocks
• Changed selectable max player value in game options, limited to 8
• Changed removed Rusty Metal Door recipe
• Changed all recipes using thin metal plates or forging iron (a block) to use forged iron (an item)
• Changed hunting knife and bone shiv to have more durability and damage
• Changed lightened dead shrub texture
• Changed new high res cacti
• Changed default spectrum to be desert blue sky
• Changed went through menu descriptions and fixed inaccurate or incorrect wording and updated new options english.txt
• Shortened names of the recipes that are too long in the english.txt
• Changed ammunition nation book now unlocks bullet tip mold and bullet casing mold
• Changed cobblestone recipe now yields 2 cobblestones instead of 1
• Changed Sleeping bags now drop cloth when destroyed
• Changed increased stack limit on coal and potassium nitrate to 250
• Changed dirt is now at least 3 meters deep before hitting stone
• Changed increased stack limit of aloe cream to 10
• Changed weight of scrap brass to 8 oz so smaller items can be scrapped like trophies
• Changed updated icons for yucca juice, small rock, coffee, and stone
• Changed decreased fog in the plains
• Changed resource rock prefabs to more optimized sphere colliders, fixed excessively large collision area boxes had previously had
• Changed updated grass texture, curbs and curb corners
• Changed tuned zombie loot
• Changed Mp5’s, rocket launchers and sniper rifles are only found in military munitions crates
• Changed corrugated metal textures

Bug Fixes

• Fixed players can’t fall through terrain or get stuck inside blocks
• Fixed problem that wrong blocks were hit when digging
• Fixed zombies can’t hit doors & heads clip through doors and can attack things behind doors
• Fixed grass should be easier to hit from every angle
• Fixed colliders on melee weapons. Gave each weapon appropriate sized colliders. For example its much easier to hit a zombie with a sledgehammer than with a stick
• Fixed campfire output not clearing when changing recipes (putting in bag)
• Fixed issue with oven not being able to loot from certain angles
• Fixed stability problem in Diersville homes with basements
• Fixed the lighting on zombies & animals black at night except dog
• Fixed glass panes forging bug
• Fixed you can’t crouch while iron sighted
• Fixed the bad lighting on the ski lodge roof
• Fixed cobblestone so doors can be placed in it
• Fixed Sledgehammer not playing all the time
• Fixed supply crate bgs Airplanes animate smoothly on clients, parachute not showing, supply crates appearing black, supply crates despawning after landing
• Fixed maneuvering through open door doorways is bad
• Fixed burnt wooden frames to be made of wood instead of stone
• Fixed use of don’t not use texture in several prefabs
• Fixed use of thin grass only in many prefabs f.e the grass in Diersville is now thicker
• Fixed hole in the plains that went down to the bedrock
• Fixed fall damage not working since introduction of smooth terrain
• Fixed player keeps walking/running when opening chat window

ServerConfig.xml

• <!– 0 = Normal, 1 = Feral →

Known Issues

• You have to hit Shift+Tab twice to bring up the steam overlay
• 64 bit is known to unstable run it at your own risk
• Sometimes players might bounce up and down from certain collision situations
• Some users have reported a possible problem with Windows 8. A possible fix is to run the executable in windows 7 compatibility mode.
• 64 Bit version could be unstable.

Hey Survivalists,
If you’re a Settler Backer you should have got a Steam Key emailed to you. This has 3 sets of digits and is directly redeemed/activated using your Steam client software. It does not work with our old non-steam activation we had on our website. If you did not get a key please check your email and you spam folder. If you still did not get a go to our support page and create a support ticket.
7DTD Support

If all goes well Alpha 8.2 patch is coming out sometime this week which will include a much smaller memory footprint which reduces the crashes some of you have been experiencing, our new crafting groups system, new sun and moonlight and much more. So please be patient and check it out soon.

See you in Navezgane
The Fun Pimps

Howdy Survivalists,
Alpha 8.1 is out with many new additions, improvements and fixes including: Memory reduction and leaks on dedicated servers, performance increase, friend connection issue fixes and much, much more.

Official Alpha 8.1 Release Notes

Added

• Added repair wrench can now upgrade blocks like the stone axe can. It takes three hits instead of four. Also it repairs faster than a stone axe.
• Added new holster and unholster sounds
• Added all lights now have a self illumination texture when turned on
• Added dirt under snow in snow biomes. Note you may need to start a new game to get this change
• Added window tag to windows so in future builds Zombies target windows

Changes

• Changed stone axe now takes 4 hits to upgrade ramps instead of three
• Changed scrollwheel timeout is changed now 800ms (old: 300ms). Changed hotkey timeout to 0ms (old: 300ms) this helps with holster/unholstering problems
• Changed river water so it adds 15 hydration instead of 10
• Changed Entities are spawning now 0.5 to 1m higher to adjust to the smooth terrain fixes zombies and animals falling through the world on spawn
• Changed updated window reflections to correctly change brightness at night
• Changed updated window models to allow proper alignment
• Changed stone axe to dig dirt with 9 hits
• Changed shovel to dig dirt with 3 hits
• Changed doubled land protection of dirt to reflect new easier digging of non-land protected dirt
• Changed snow no longer drops dirt or clay, but just snow.
• Changed chat log buffer size to 50 lines to fix chat breaking
• Changed shotguns to do 120 damage instead of 96
• Changed Stamina now it only uses 75% of the stamina it used to so you can run a little further
• Changed street lights are turned on

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a memory leak on dedicated servers
• Fixed Skylight windows in known prefabs
• Fixed connecting to friends directly from the steam friends list
• Fixed block entities do not show up in the preview window so windows cannot be seen before you place them
• Fixed players no longer get stuck in a 1×1 hole
• Fixed equipped like items like hats now go into your backpack when you die
• Fixed deprecated server issues. Should only show servers running the same version as client.
• Fixed some servers showing A8 and PVP
• Fixed resource rocks to drop resources every time you break them
• Fixed broken doors in the school from not opening
• Fix stamina so running uses stamina.

Known Issues

• You have to hit Shift+Tab twice to bring up the steam overlay
• 64 bit is known to unstable run it at your own risk

Hey Survivalists,
Alpha 8 is out with many new additions, improvements and fixes including: Full smooth Terrain, Air Drops, improved upgrade path on player made wooden and cobblestone house blocks, new sub biomes for biome variety and much, much more. Many of you have been waiting on news for the Linux version. We are really close and it regrettably will come out with the next release.

Official Alpha 8 Release Notes

Added

• Added full smooth terrain RIP minecraft looking world
• Added new per poly colliders for improved thrown objects
• Added airplane supply drops with configurable drop frequency
• Added new weapon holster and unholster system and sounds
• Added animation controller to rock resources so they can have break animations
• Added new sub biomes into most of the main biomes for variety
• Added lens flares to house lights, mining helmets and flashlights
• Added ability to break secure containers down into non-secure containers
• Added Delete All option to Drop On Death
• Added gascan recipe from grain alcohol
• Added “forged metal” item
• Added new model window blocks with environment mapping to all the Navezgane prefabs 3 of which support the new window upgrade/downgrade path
• Added reinforced hard metal door

Changes

• Changed made high res old window frame, transparent glass, garage door, old shingles, painted wood textures used on world prefabs
• Changed wood frames so you can pick them up (useful for re-arranging your house) until they are upgraded. Once upgraded to a solid wood wall, if you tear down the old wood wall the frame remaining can never be picked up
• Changed FPVFemaleMagnumHold so iron sites aim with the magnum
• Changed pickaxe animations to have more weight
• Changed FPVFemalePickaxeFire Blending
• Changed wood ramp frames so you can pick them up (useful for re-arranging your house) until they are upgraded. Once upgraded to a solid wood ramp, if you tear down the old wood ramp the frame remaining can never be picked up
• Changed frames and ramps so they drop nothing when destroyed now that there are frames that can be picked up and used for scaffolding
• Changed cobblestone walls to be upgraded to the third tier using cobblestones instead of cement
• Changed art for cobblestone reinforced and cobblestone reinforced with metal
• Changed Sped up crafting of sharp stones
• Increased probability of finding iron ore
• Decreased weight of lead ore
• Changed block downgrade to drop items just like block destroy
• Changed various stacklimits
• Changed zombies path on smooth terrain (dogs/animals are very bad right now)
• Changed dirt to only be two layers deep so players only have to dig down two layers to make a strong foundation
• Changed dirt and stone have a 2x additional hardness underneath land claims
• Changed dirt and stone are harder to dig or mine
• Changed “New” and “Continue” game options to use categories and accordion style lists
• Changed removed boarded windows recipe. Windows can now be boarded up by repairing them with a stone axe as long as you have planks in your inventory
• Changed mining helmet light to be more of a blue tone and lowered the intensity a little so it doesn’t blind the player as much
• Changed dying will now respawn you with 50% health, food, and water
• Changed removed Survival Mode (for non dedicated servers) and replaced with Survival SP and Survival MP
• Changed sticks burn only half as long
• Changed “wood framework” to “wood frame”
• Changed wood based ramp blocks to downgrade to a ramp frame
• Changed hard metal door texture
• Changed hard metal door recipe to use forged metal item instead of forging metal block
• Changed removed Dm and Horde maps. Horde like gameplay will be supported in Navezgane, Future new maps and the random generated worlds with game options in a coming builds
• Changed rebalanced wood cutting and wood base blocks
• Changed player names only shows if a player is closer than 3m
• Changed updated rock shader and glass shader to properly change lighting level at night
• Changed Increased durability of tools to compensate for harder wood and earth
• Changed increased block damage on zombies to compensate for much stronger forts
• Changed turned down volume of hornets flying
• Changed did Some dedi server speed optimizations
• Changed rebalanced all loot containers
• Changed Steam authentication port from 8766 to GamePort + 2 for scalability
• Changed added block durability option 25% durability
• Changed running no longer decreases stamina and stamina will no longer regenerate while running
• Changed stamina weapon damage reduction is capped to 50%

Bug Fixes

• Fixed FPV water drink animation
• Fixed upgrade and downgrade path of new placeable frames for wood and rebar
• Fixed material bug on resource rocks
• Fixed explosions should consider land protection now
• Fixed zombie damage ignores land protection correctly
• Fixed water drink from playing after using last block
• Fixed trees too dark
• Fixed item duping bug when dropping and changing toolbelt items at the same time
• Fixed item duping bug when swapping molds in the forge
• Fixed item duping bug when closing the crafting grid with non ingredient items in it
• Fixed null reference error in telnet that would sometimes lock up dedicated servers
• Fixed: Holster/Unholster animation gets out of sync
• Fixed it so downgraded blocks do not leave a block
• Fixed knives so they can cut grass
• Fixed bug that sometimes on a server with connected clients decorations (like trees) were not shown
• Fixed problem that you could activate the same toolbelt slot twice by pressing the hotkey
• Fixed block rebarRampFrame renders adjacent blocks right
• Fixed dropping empty backpack on death or quit.

ServerConfig.xml

• AirDropFrequency – Added; How often airdrop occur in game-hours, 0 == never
• DropOnDeath – Changed; option of 0 (drop nothing), 0 now drops everything.
• GameMode – Horde and Deathmatch have been Deprecated commands will be removed in the coming builds

Known Issues

• You have to hit Shift+Tab twice to bring up the steam overlay
• 64 bit is known to be unstable run it at your own risk
• Playing with larger numbers of players can be slow to rebuild collison
• Cactus damage is inaccurate

Welcome Survivalists,
It’s been a while since we gave you a development status update so here goes.

Mocap Zombies
Several of us just got back from our recent zombie mocap session at Just Cause Productions in LA with stunt actor Mark Musachi. The group has done work on many high profile games including the Resident Evil series, The Last of Us, Dead Rising and more. Check out the video below for an awesome sneak peek.

Alpha 8 is great
Alpha 8 is coming along nicely featuring fully smooth terrain, a new world collider system for player, zombie and objects, new upgrade downgrade blocks, crafting organization with categories and sorting, land claim and durability tuning and much, much more. Tentative release date is May 3rd if all goes well.

What’s next?
There are a lot of things in the works but here are a few big ticket items.

• Integration of the new mocap zombie animations featuring 175 moves covering everything we had before and new systems for turning, jumping, crawling under, knock down, stumble back and dynamic zombie crippling.
• New first person higher resolution hands with a new better deforming animation rig
• New base male and female character models and a new Character creation system with loads of wearable customizable clothing visible on yourself and other players
• First version of random generated worlds for a new experience every time you play
• Cleanup work so we can stay backwards compatible for saved games and begin to set up the framework for Steam Workshop prefab and world mods.

It’s hard out there for a Pimp
We’d like to give a big pimp shout to one of our team members Alexander our world builder. Alex is pursuing his musical dream with a new group “The Migration” who have a great indie folk sound. They just started an INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN so check it out and support small Indies who dare to dream big!

The Migration Indiegogo Campaign!

As always you stay cool
The Fun Pimps