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404notfound
Mar 5, 2006

stop staring at me

Feeble posted:

So what's the general goon consensus on the PC version? I finally got around to buying a pc controller since I just bought :darksouls: on sale and this does look appealing but I've been burned by low quality ports before so I'm kind of hesitant. Also I know next to nothing about it. Would I be right in assuming it's kind of like Day Z mixed with base building and npc management?

Fake edit: Also, does it have multiplayer? Steam page says no but then it is early access so I wasn't sure if that was coming later?

It's a decent port of a janky game (i.e., the game's weird bugs are on the 360 version too). The only two PC-specific issues I've noticed so far are the lack of keyboard/mouse support and a preset resolution during the developer splash screen. It looks and runs better on PC than on 360, actually.

There's evidence of the game being designed with multiplayer in mind (hold down right trigger to access some basic emotes), and at one point I think they did say that they would patch in multiplayer for the 360 version, but it doesn't look like they have plans to do that anymore. One of the big title updates for the game (before it came to PC) added the ability to ask an ally to follow you, though, so you're not always just solo roaming.

I dunno if I would say it's like Day Z, really. Day Z made it a real struggle just to get by, since resources were so scarce and zombies were so dangerous, and a big part of the game was dealing with (or avoiding) other human players. It's not too hard in State of Decay to fight zombies, unless you've got four or more piled on top of you (or a feral or big bastard), and you can always go raid nearby houses for more supplies.

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Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal

404notfound posted:

I told Alan to leave and he wasn't listed under my survivors anymore. I did encounter a weird bug, though, where I went back home and got a conversation between him and Lily, acting as if he'd never left.

After my (identical) Alan situation, I didn't manage to get the storyline to progress in the next couple of game days, so I chalked the sequence up as bugged out. Like I posted earlier, though, 90% of my disappointment was his dumb invincible rear end sharking me out of the house I was just planning to move into. [edit: Hey, did he end up moving somewhere else in your game?]

Anyway, it was nagging at me enough that I actually started a new game. In some games that would be annoying or disappointing, but I'm having so much fun with this gameplay that it's actually a pleasure. Knowing a little more about the game lets me plan ahead a bit more strategically (i.
e., using outpost drop boxes now that I know they exist, and being a bit more conservative with cars so I still have some around in various areas when I need them), and I'm branching out and doing searches more methodically.

Also, keeping on mind that this is an early release, and being a little scared that some other dumb unsquashed bug will mess up my game at some point, I've started backing up my savegames after each play session. I have no plans to use a backup; I'd never ever revert if, say, a favorite character died, or a base got overrun. Embracing that "everything is hosed and we're fighting a losing battle and anyone could ingloriously die at any moment" thing is a huge part of the game's appeal and immersion to me. But if the game breaks or bugs out in some weird way that it's not supposed to, I'd like to have the possibility of undoing some of that damage and have the situation not be a game-wrecker.

Trustworthy fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Sep 27, 2013

Shima Honnou
Dec 1, 2010

The Once And Future King Of Dicetroit

College Slice
Alan's a douchebag so the first chance I get I grab a shotgun, walk him out to where ever, and blow his face right off with it.

I'm pretty sure Undead Labs literally designed it like that, since unless it's changed you can't friend him and he always gets sick.

PureRok
Mar 27, 2010

Good as new.
Who's Alan again? Is he an early survivor? I still haven't left the first base yet, but I have the option to go on the walkabout for one.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Alan is the grumpy old guy who doesn't want to let you inside the church when you first get there.

Eediot Jedi
Dec 25, 2007

This is where I begin to speculate what being a
man of my word costs me

Feeble posted:

So what's the general goon consensus on the PC version? I finally got around to buying a pc controller since I just bought :darksouls: on sale and this does look appealing but I've been burned by low quality ports before so I'm kind of hesitant. Also I know next to nothing about it. Would I be right in assuming it's kind of like Day Z mixed with base building and npc management?

Fake edit: Also, does it have multiplayer? Steam page says no but then it is early access so I wasn't sure if that was coming later?

It's... weird. I haven't played the Xbox version, but I'm playing with a controller. I wouldn't put it and Day Z in the same category except they both share zombies. It's really best to go in blind and flail about, the less you know the better. I'd wait for a sale unless modding takes off in the meanwhile.

I had the most fun with the game when I didn't know what the gently caress was going on and was flying by the seat of my pants. Sneaking around at night trying to dodge hordes and loot and oh god they saw me run run run was a lot of fun and very tense. The hands down best moment was when I was hanging outside of my base, looking at the map and I heard a really loving menacing growl. I hammered dodge, just in time to see a zombie fly through the space I'd just occupied. I recovered first and speared it through the skull with a shovel.

As time goes on I'm having less and less fun as I know what to expect from a given situation and it's not nearly as dangerous as I initially thought. Some characters after a few levels can bulldoze through hordes of undead. If you've got an NPC with you it's really hard to die, there's just not enough zombies in most situations to swamp both of you.

A couple of special zombie types are outright dangerous and can gently caress you up, especially if they surprise you or attack at the same time as normal zombies. One in particular can obliterate you even one on one if you screw up your pattern recognition or run out of stamina. The other special zombies are total :effort: and phoned in.

I haven't seen any survivor on survivor fighting at all, either random or story-wise. I was disappointed as in the story there were a couple of likely looking conflicts that just fizzled out. I just tried to kill one of the survivor enclaves you can trade with and shooting them with a grenade launcher did nothing. Dudes just kept on eating their beans.

The NPC management is also :effort:. When people are sad, angry or whatever you get a mission to take them to a nearby building and have a bonding experience smashing up undead together. Then you both go home and the problem is solved. Apparently bad stuff happens if you don't take care of the problem but hosed if I know what the bad stuff is. Low morale is apparently bad, but I haven't had any issues keeping morale high.

Your characters will leave the base on their own initiative and do... stuff? I haven't run into one randomly that was looting or just exploring, but sometimes a mission will spawn and you have to find them/save them/buddy up to clear out a house/kill a special zombie. The randomly generated missions get very repetitive very fast.

I know this sounds like it was written by someone having no fun at all, but I reckon I got my $20 worth out of the game. It's just really hard to recommend because $20 buys you a lot of computer games these days. I'm hanging out for modding now. At the moment it's very limited, but someone claims they've made a hard mod and I think I'll give that a shot next.

Also yeah the recent patch changing night from 'oh god so dark can't see loving poo poo is that a zombie?' to 'daytime with a blue filter' was really loving lame. I thought dark was a bit too dark but now it's far too bright.

Also gently caress Alan. I wish you could murder in cold blood, he'd be first in line.

Damegane
May 7, 2013


If there was a mod that allowed friendly fire during "downtime" even without using molotovs, most players would probably use it and shoot Alan through the church gate before Lily opens it for you. :unsmigghh:

coyo7e
Aug 23, 2007

by zen death robot

Collateral Damage posted:

Alan is the grumpy old guy who doesn't want to let you inside the church when you first get there.
Alan is the Park Ranger with a Napoleon/Terminator complex.

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal

coyo7e posted:

Alan is the Park Ranger with a Napoleon/Terminator complex.

Not anymore he ain't. :commissar:

coyo7e
Aug 23, 2007

by zen death robot

Trustworthy posted:

Not anymore he ain't. :commissar:
Every time I think of Alan and his "years on the beat" now, I think of this http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/federal-pot-busts-continue-weed-friendly-states-article-1.1457522

Esroc
May 31, 2010

Goku would be ashamed of you.

Tommofork posted:


Also gently caress Alan. I wish you could murder in cold blood, he'd be first in line.

That's something that's kind of missing from this game. It's all harmony and leadership all the time. I should have the option of becoming Church Dictator and forcing everyone to work together at gunpoint. Then you'd get to experience a more realistic portrayal of society after an apocalypse.

Karl Sharks
Feb 20, 2008

The Immortal Science of Sharksism-Fininism

What is the last option in the menu for? It's a shield looking thing, and grayed out for me. I don't remember it being there yesterday.

Attention Horse
Jan 5, 2012

Yo man, you are out of step with Imhotep!

Karl Sharks posted:

What is the last option in the menu for? It's a shield looking thing, and grayed out for me. I don't remember it being there yesterday.

There's also a "RV" icon that appears sometimes on the base menu. I'm guessing it's all stuff for the upcoming sandbox DLC.

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal
I ran across one of those new home sites earlier; I didn't have time to stop and examine it closely, but it basically looked like just an empty spot in a field. I'm curious if moving there would create a fenced in area with all tents or something (or if it would even really let me move there). Has anyone played around with any weird new home locations?

Esroc
May 31, 2010

Goku would be ashamed of you.

Trustworthy posted:

I ran across one of those new home sites earlier; I didn't have time to stop and examine it closely, but it basically looked like just an empty spot in a field. I'm curious if moving there would create a fenced in area with all tents or something (or if it would even really let me move there). Has anyone played around with any weird new home locations?

I think it's a glitch. I once got prompted for a potential home site while standing in the middle of a road.

ZiegeDame
Aug 21, 2005

YUKIMURAAAA!

Esroc posted:

I think it's a glitch. I once got prompted for a potential home site while standing in the middle of a road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwIe_sjKeAY

The Cheshire Cat
Jun 10, 2008

Fun Shoe

Trustworthy posted:

I ran across one of those new home sites earlier; I didn't have time to stop and examine it closely, but it basically looked like just an empty spot in a field. I'm curious if moving there would create a fenced in area with all tents or something (or if it would even really let me move there). Has anyone played around with any weird new home locations?

I think these are actually all potential RV spawn points for the sandbox mode. I've been looking around in the game data recently and one of the files has definitions for the base storage capacities of home sites, separated into four categories; "Small", "Medium", "Large" and "RV". I think when it's eventually added what will happen is that moving to a new map will set up your first home in one of those spots.

immortal flow
Jun 6, 2003
boing boing boing
It seems that, excepting shotguns, bodyshots are totally worthless. So what then is the purpose of the Damage stat on the gun sheet?

Regarding melee weapons - it seems that sometimes you pop a head in one shot, sometimes you can smack them around for ages before they even fall to their knees; is it like a % chance for each possible outcome per swing? Like 10% headshot, 20% knockdown etc.? Is there any way of telling exactly what effects weapons have in this regard?

Also how does one purchase a Keg Stand!!?






immortal flow fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Sep 28, 2013

Shima Honnou
Dec 1, 2010

The Once And Future King Of Dicetroit

College Slice
The damage stat is because of special zombies. I'm pretty sure that regular zombies can be killed with body shots, it's just extremely ineffective. Think of them more like Romero's zombies.

immortal flow
Jun 6, 2003
boing boing boing

Shima Honnou posted:

The damage stat is because of special zombies. I'm pretty sure that regular zombies can be killed with body shots, it's just extremely ineffective. Think of them more like Romero's zombies.

Seems like that'd only be useful for the fatty juggernauts. Everything else is close enough to normal to not need any particular special treatment (bloaters die in one shot to anything, screamers are headshot as usual, police need to be knocked down and hit in the head, ferals headshot / knockdown like any other).

Can powerful guns punch through police zombie armour perhaps?

Shima Honnou
Dec 1, 2010

The Once And Future King Of Dicetroit

College Slice
Possibly, I've always meleed SWAT zombies for that satisfying smack sound.

girth brooks part 2
Sep 6, 2011

Bush did 911
Fun Shoe

immortal flow posted:

Seems like that'd only be useful for the fatty juggernauts. Everything else is close enough to normal to not need any particular special treatment (bloaters die in one shot to anything, screamers are headshot as usual, police need to be knocked down and hit in the head, ferals headshot / knockdown like any other).

Can powerful guns punch through police zombie armour perhaps?

I know that a .50 cal round will blow straight through their armor. I'm not sure if any others do.

The Cheshire Cat
Jun 10, 2008

Fun Shoe

Jonny Retro posted:

I know that a .50 cal round will blow straight through their armor. I'm not sure if any others do.

.50 cal will also kill normal zombies instantly with a body shot. I don't think anything else behaves like .50 cal though.

immortal flow posted:

It seems that, excepting shotguns, bodyshots are totally worthless. So what then is the purpose of the Damage stat on the gun sheet?

Regarding melee weapons - it seems that sometimes you pop a head in one shot, sometimes you can smack them around for ages before they even fall to their knees; is it like a % chance for each possible outcome per swing? Like 10% headshot, 20% knockdown etc.? Is there any way of telling exactly what effects weapons have in this regard?

Also how does one purchase a Keg Stand!!?








There isn't a damage stat on the weapon sheet - it's Accuracy, durability, noise, and recoil. It seems like as far as the game is concerned, all guns do exactly the same damage. The only exceptions are .50 cal and shotguns, which have their own damage behaviour.

I don't think melee weapons individually vary on headshot chances, but they vary a bit between types (heavy/blunt/edged). I think it depends more on your fighting skill than anything else though. Specializing in a melee weapon type also increases the chance with that type.

As for Keg Stands or the other "joke" skills, you can't get them. They're just in there for flavour. Sometimes you can get random morale boosting social events based on those skills, but I think even if you didn't have them, you'd get just as many events, just with more generic text.

The Cheshire Cat fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Sep 28, 2013

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Finally got sick of Alan. So I asked him to go hunt zombies with me, then led him into a horde and stood by watching as he got eaten. :feelsgood:

immortal flow
Jun 6, 2003
boing boing boing

The Cheshire Cat posted:

.50 cal will also kill normal zombies instantly with a body shot. I don't think anything else behaves like .50 cal though.


There isn't a damage stat on the weapon sheet - it's Accuracy, durability, noise, and recoil. It seems like as far as the game is concerned, all guns do exactly the same damage. The only exceptions are .50 cal and shotguns, which have their own damage behaviour.

Oh the circle thing means accuracy? I couldn't find any documentation so I just assumed it was damage or something. That's unfortunate though, I was hoping that there would be some variation among the guns. As it is then, there's no point using anything but the quietest / fastest reloading ones.

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal

Collateral Damage posted:

Finally got sick of Alan. So I asked him to go hunt zombies with me, then led him into a horde and stood by watching as he got eaten. :feelsgood:

Alan's long dead in my game, but I'm about to do the same thing with a handful of my more worthless, extraneous group members. I keep recruiting survivors hoping to get a skilled mechanic, but instead for some reason I'm a magnet for retarded drunken sports fanatics.

Karl Sharks
Feb 20, 2008

The Immortal Science of Sharksism-Fininism

immortal flow posted:

Oh the circle thing means accuracy? I couldn't find any documentation so I just assumed it was damage or something. That's unfortunate though, I was hoping that there would be some variation among the guns. As it is then, there's no point using anything but the quietest / fastest reloading ones.

The one that's a gun with a sort of crescent next to it is critical hit chance/modifier IIRC. So it does matter somewhat.

Weissritter
Jun 14, 2012

Are there any accurate assault rifles? Or do they all spray all over the place one you go full auto? Even bursting do not help much except at close range it seems.

Cantorsdust
Aug 10, 2008

Infinitely many points, but zero length.
For those with the PC version: I've done some digging, and it looks like most game data is located in the .pak files in the /Game folder. They're openable with 7zip, and they're full of .xml files. It doesn't look like modding would be very difficult.

edit: some files don't extract properly. A forum post provides a different tool that works.

Cantorsdust fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Sep 29, 2013

immortal flow
Jun 6, 2003
boing boing boing

Karl Sharks posted:

The one that's a gun with a sort of crescent next to it is critical hit chance/modifier IIRC. So it does matter somewhat.

I thought that signified recoil? The crescent looks like a curved arrow to me.

Shima Honnou
Dec 1, 2010

The Once And Future King Of Dicetroit

College Slice

Weissritter posted:

Are there any accurate assault rifles? Or do they all spray all over the place one you go full auto? Even bursting do not help much except at close range it seems.

You can switch rifles into single-shot. Treat them more like a pistol than full-auto. Reserve FA for if you've got a big bastard bearing down on you.

Weissritter
Jun 14, 2012

Shima Honnou posted:

You can switch rifles into single-shot. Treat them more like a pistol than full-auto. Reserve FA for if you've got a big bastard bearing down on you.

Yeah, I do use them as single-shot most of the time. But I am wondering if there are any ARs that are accurate enough for FA/controlled bursts at medium ranges to clear hordes at a further range. Also, damage is judged by the calibre of the bullet used rather than the gun itself?

Cantorsdust
Aug 10, 2008

Infinitely many points, but zero length.
Fun fact: from the files, it's pretty clear they had a ps3 version in the works, complete with config files and control schemes.

edit: look what I found in State of Decay\Game\libs\config\defaulprofile.xml (default keybindings)

code:
	<actionmap name="debug" version="22">
	<!-- debug keys - move to debug when we can switch devmode-->
		<action name="flymode" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="f3" />
		<action name="godmode" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="f4" />
		<action name="toggleaidebugdraw" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="f11" />
		<action name="togglepdrawhelpers" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="f10" />
		<action name="ulammo" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="np_2" />
		<action name="debug" onPress="1" keyboard="7" />
		<action name="thirdperson" onPress="1" noModifiers="1" keyboard="f1" ps3pad="pad_up"/>				
	 <!-- debug keys - end -->
	</actionmap>
I wonder what happens if I add them under the "singleplayer" mode instead?

Cantorsdust fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Sep 29, 2013

coyo7e
Aug 23, 2007

by zen death robot

immortal flow posted:

Regarding melee weapons - it seems that sometimes you pop a head in one shot, sometimes you can smack them around for ages before they even fall to their knees; is it like a % chance for each possible outcome per swing? Like 10% headshot, 20% knockdown etc.? Is there any way of telling exactly what effects weapons have in this regard?
Yep. It's a pretty simple ratio that you can see if you hit a half dozen zombies in a row.

Karl Sharks
Feb 20, 2008

The Immortal Science of Sharksism-Fininism

immortal flow posted:

I thought that signified recoil? The crescent looks like a curved arrow to me.

I'm just going off of this:



http://stateofdecay.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:4541

Eediot Jedi
Dec 25, 2007

This is where I begin to speculate what being a
man of my word costs me

Cantorsdust posted:

For those with the PC version: I've done some digging, and it looks like most game data is located in the .pak files in the /Game folder. They're openable with 7zip, and they're full of .xml files. It doesn't look like modding would be very difficult.

edit: some files don't extract properly. A forum post provides a different tool that works.

I thought the issue with modding is that when there is both an XML file and a BMD or BDM or whatever the other type of file is by the same name, the game will ignore the XML and go off the data in the BDM file. The BDM files are apparently somewhat editable using a hex editor.

I'm not sure if I would give my left nut for a mod that disables the mini-map and increases the size of hordes, but it'd be a close thing. Been playing with that hard mod and I can't really tell if it's actually harder or I'm just significantly better at the game. I drove around in a police car with the sirens going and it kinda felt like more blips were showing up on the map but :shrug:

Trustworthy
Dec 28, 2004

with catte-like thread
upon our prey we steal
Yeah, that w

Tommofork posted:


I'm not sure if I would give my left nut for a mod that disables the mini-map and increases the size of hordes, but it'd be a close thing. Been playing with that hard mod and I can't really tell if it's actually harder or I'm just significantly better at the game. I drove around in a police car with the sirens going and it kinda felt like more blips were showing up on the map but :shrug:

That would be pretty sweet. I've been having to actively work at getting characters to die lately. Hey zombies, stop making me do my loving job for you!

coyo7e
Aug 23, 2007

by zen death robot
I always assumed it was recoil/muzzle climb, yeah.


And I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that if you start messing with spawn rates and horde sizes much, you'll quickly make it unplayable due to chugging.

Esroc
May 31, 2010

Goku would be ashamed of you.
I finally realized why I can't really get into this game. It's because instead of feeling like just another guy trying to make it in post-apocalyptic zombieland, it feels like the entire world would go to poo poo without me. You, the player, have to do 90% of the work. They give you an entire enclave of survivors to look after but it's always you, the player, who has to rescue everybody, to bring food to everybody, to take out hordes for everybody. And for every mission you complete, five more pop up needing your attention. Every other character in the game is at best barely functional, but mostly useless.

It'd be different if say, you could call for help when cornered in a warehouse by a horde. Or even if they'd just let people follow you indefinitely instead of the NPC's always making an excuse to take off when you get anywhere near anything that you might need their help with. Or hell, just make it so the NPC's do more during their free time than cross the street to grab a bite to eat.

It just doesn't make any sense to build an entire zombie game around maintaining a community of lazy halfwits that will die cold and alone unless I take them over periodically and force them to get up and do something.

I hope the mod community explodes with this game. It has a lot of potential, but as it is maintaining the survivors is more of a chore than in any way rewarding. I feel like I'm roleplaying a babysitter.

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Rookersh
Aug 19, 2010

Esroc posted:

I finally realized why I can't really get into this game. It's because instead of feeling like just another guy trying to make it in post-apocalyptic zombieland, it feels like the entire world would go to poo poo without me. You, the player, have to do 90% of the work. They give you an entire enclave of survivors to look after but it's always you, the player, who has to rescue everybody, to bring food to everybody, to take out hordes for everybody. And for every mission you complete, five more pop up needing your attention. Every other character in the game is at best barely functional, but mostly useless.

It'd be different if say, you could call for help when cornered in a warehouse by a horde. Or even if they'd just let people follow you indefinitely instead of the NPC's always making an excuse to take off when you get anywhere near anything that you might need their help with. Or hell, just make it so the NPC's do more during their free time than cross the street to grab a bite to eat.

It just doesn't make any sense to build an entire zombie game around maintaining a community of lazy halfwits that will die cold and alone unless I take them over periodically and force them to get up and do something.

I hope the mod community explodes with this game. It has a lot of potential, but as it is maintaining the survivors is more of a chore than in any way rewarding. I feel like I'm roleplaying a babysitter.

Actually, for 90% of the side missions, the survivors will handle them. The popup is just asking if you want to come along to make it go smoothly, and they have fairly long trails for the people who want to do everything.

You can call for scavengers and go run off into the sunset. 90% of the time they'll do just fine, even cross country. The warning is just saying they are under attack, not that they are dead. All those "Kill a guy/Infestation" missions are the same way, if you ignore them long enough, the survivors will go in and attempt it alone, with a set chance to survive/die based on their current stats.

I ignored pretty much every side mission but Missing Person/Ally Needs Help/introduction to new survivor camps after awhile, and had plenty of time each day to go scavenge/clear things at my own pace.

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