Future Vehicle Ideas

[Jagamaphone]

Just some ideas for cars in this game, thought it would be interesting to see where the devs could take the cars in this game and get some ideas from other people too. Cars in this game right now are in a good spot as they are, but it would be cool to see a lot more depth too.

1) Motor oil: basically cars would have oil and require oil changes every now and then. Some cars would spawn with good oil, while poor condition cars would have really bad oil you would need to change with oil filters and motor oil found at gas stations or mechanic shops. If oil is bad, your engine condition could go down faster or you could just break down.
2) Engine temperature: Cars could overheat and the rate would depend on coolant levels. Towing vehicles could also affect overheating. Could also add radiators and obviously coolant in the game as well.
3) Vehicle mods: Not really like actual performance mods, but maybe small things like chains for tires during the snow, light bars for trucks, or maybe cars have different variations when spawning (like someone pre-outbreak modified their Cossette to have a spoiler/wing, etc.)
4) Turn signals, reverse lights, hi-beams: not needed at all but why not itd be fun.
5) Automatic and Manual Cars: Since its the 90's, a good amount of cars could spawn with a manual transmission that you would have to actually control. Cars with automatic would just control how cars do rn. Add in some perks that affect this, such as a perk where your character simply could not drive a stick, thus limiting your options.

Again, these are just thoughts I came up with when I was bored but vehicle managing is probably my favorite thing to do in this game so adding a lot more depth to them would, in my opinion, make the game feel a lot more real.

[KillerKommando]

For me, personally, these sound like a nightmare. Cars are already pretty intensive to upkeep, adding more on top of it sounds tedious at best. Changing oil? Realistic, but not fun to do another "click and wait" action for vehicles in my opinion. Get enough of that just repumping the tires, let alone all the other vehicle parts.

I can see 2 being worked in and being "fun", if another obstacle to getting a vehicle working.

3 is nice, I have several vehicle mods that allow doing things like repairing light bars and scrapping entire (working) vehicles. I'm down with increasing the beauty and functionality of existing things.

4 sounds like a high-cost, low-reward deal. I think it would take an abnormal amount of time to code without providing much benefit. Cool to add if there's time!

5 I'd be okay with if you could "learn" how to drive manuals with a magazine, although I fit this into the same category as 4; I don't think the benefit outweighs the cost to code.

These are neat ideas! Thank you for sharing them.

[DeadRabbit]

I've obviously been really interested in vehicle mods (as plenty of other people are as well), and that's the one on this list that I actually see being added in the (soonish) future. The vehicle temperature I can also see being added, but it's obviously not as high priority as the vehicle mods would be. Besides that I don't really see any of the other things being added, but we'll have to wait and see! Maybe somebody will make a mod that makes taking care of cars even MORE of a task than it already is, and I would gladly play with it occasionally for a bit of a challenge.

[Jagamaphone]

Originally posted by KillerKommando:

For me, personally, these sound like a nightmare. Cars are already pretty intensive to upkeep, adding more on top of it sounds tedious at best. Changing oil? Realistic, but not fun to do another "click and wait" action for vehicles in my opinion. Get enough of that just repumping the tires, let alone all the other vehicle parts.

I can see 2 being worked in and being "fun", if another obstacle to getting a vehicle working.

3 is nice, I have several vehicle mods that allow doing things like repairing light bars and scrapping entire (working) vehicles. I'm down with increasing the beauty and functionality of existing things.

4 sounds like a high-cost, low-reward deal. I think it would take an abnormal amount of time to code without providing much benefit. Cool to add if there's time!

5 I'd be okay with if you could "learn" how to drive manuals with a magazine, although I fit this into the same category as 4; I don't think the benefit outweighs the cost to code.

These are neat ideas! Thank you for sharing them.

I am with you that these do seem like a nightmare, but like I said I really like the managing the cars in this game and while for balancing reasons some of these really shouldn't be in the game, such as like you said about another click in wait (especially for multiplayer), I'd prob play the game for the car managing system alone if it was super in-depth. 100% not for everyone though and I understand.

[Jagamaphone]

Originally posted by DeadRabbit:

I've obviously been really interested in vehicle mods (as plenty of other people are as well), and that's the one on this list that I actually see being added in the (soonish) future. The vehicle temperature I can also see being added, but it's obviously not as high priority as the vehicle mods would be. Besides that I don't really see any of the other things being added, but we'll have to wait and see! Maybe somebody will make a mod that makes taking care of cars even MORE of a task than it already is, and I would gladly play with it occasionally for a bit of a challenge.

nah I really doubt they'll be added, but if it was atleast a mod that'd be insane I think. I really like the idea of having cars be even more of a challenge because if I get a car, and if its full condition besides a few parts then I just go and replace them and I have a working car for a good chunk of the game. idk, the struggle is not for everyone lol but I'd be down for it.

[COLIN]

i think it be grate the more the better that gives you another thing to do late game random oil condition if you never change it your car will go through the normal stages of damage from bad oil also having oil leeks radiator conditions diff types of oil and diff types of gas spark plugs and more even belts this could be a game changer

a overhaul on cars would be nice give the game more feel say goodbye to the 0-100% condition and have real problems like if it leeks out all the oil or burns oil have engine knocking also adding some some cars can randomly have a manual of auto trans that you can pick a -2 point trait to know automatically how to use one or find a mag that lets you learn

working blinkers hazard lights and more could be used to make interesting road side events for survivor cars late game that can spawn or early game with a short story early game spice things up Engine temperature like stated you could make cars have cold and worm starts untell the engine is up to speed in heat level if your using strait water as a solution for the radiator as it gets colder it could freeze

and even making it so gas pumps wont work right away and if you want to use them without a card go into the gas station and flip the testing switches that allow pumping of gas without a card normally used to test pumps all sorts of fluids windshield wipers for when it starts to rain real hard and your view shrinks dramatically depending on how much rain is falling on the window and for how long you don't need to show a indicator just a toggle on the dash and in the select wheel

this is already a mod but a chime for when you have the headlights on with the car off

one other real cool idea to add to this is accurate check n/a lights like instead of going from green to yellow to orange to red go from nothing to oh yellow somethings wrong or red for your done of flashing yellow for something is vary vary wrong with the chime you can even if you feel like a true soy boy and or redneck cover it with some duck tape or electrical tape so you don't have to see the light

finely i would like to say mileage and mileage related ware with for 99% of the time the cars exterior condition is a good indicator of what mileage the car has real bad could = 150,000-350,000 but sometimes a good looking car can have high miles and sometimes a bad looking car can have low miles but most of the time its vary apparent this in most cases will not apply to car wrecks with the no burned cars mod

if compatible with car mods life filibusters used cars some cars older and more likely to have higher miles a counter for miles would need to be added

maybe fluids that leek from the car leave small stains the longer they sit the bigger the stain tell there is no more fluid to leek out you could use a edited version off the blood splatter even make the stain age and become dimmer yet never removable if its oil over time

i know this would be hard as hell to make world be really time consuming and take a lota research but with a advanced settings in options for custom sandbox this could be in the top project zomboid mods there is so so much more that could be done i have not even touched base on

sorry for my poor English

i can already see game play

you find your first car key its a old beet nyala you get in and turn the key she struggles but turn over the check oil light comes on you pop the hood the oil looks black as tar way up there for a change and it seems there is a slight leek (multiplayer for how much leeks out per in game hour can make it take days or even weeks for it to get dangerously low) you have no idea how bad it is the car is a auto but has some sound coming from the engine when started you start to drive it and the warning light for the radiator over heating comes on you look and see the Gage dangerously high you roll down the car windows and turn the heat of full blast even though its july 9th and its hot looks like the trick worked and it slowly recovers. the next day you see oil stains on the ground where your car was sitting and some other liquid its the radiator its leaking you grab a pot and fill it with tap water and poor it into the radiator as a temp solution going a few weeks into the apocalypse with neglect you forget about the oil problem just filling the radiator up ever few days or so with whatever water you can get tap river rain with a few days back after no luck finding oil you get sick of the light and cover it with some ducktape by now you have all but forgotten about it letting it slip from your mind with the thought of finding a new better car so you don't worry and it slips your mind while on a trip to rose woods gigamart the check engine light comes on you think nothing of it as that light comes on all the dam time and its prob just low on fluids for the radiator you take a mental note to fill the radiator when your there and cover the light with some duck tape you flat out ignore it you fill the radiator and on your way back it starts to flash you don't know that its covered with ducktape vary soon after a knock knock knock is heard your car has engine knock this is a 100% death sentence for your car hoping that its just a belt or a hydrophilic lifter you remember the tape you pull it off and the light is flashing you get out and pop the hood looking for the problem still in denial but no you check the oil and its flat out you uses a sawspan to drain the oil from a near buy truck oping to put the most thick oil you can you got lucky where able to open a plug on the truck with a adjustable wrench you add the oil start it the car feels slow and sluggish and has poor gas millage you dont know how to hotwire and finding a new car is a challenge seemingly most cars with keys you have found are seemingly worse off then your own and the few luck brakes have had a manual transmissions that you don't know how to use by now quite a few cars bettors are dead from sitting unused some still work but most die 2 weeks or months oil leaked out of cars or low on gas damage or looting there is no simple pickings left for you you drive home with this real loud knocking making zomboids able to hear the car from farther away some how you make it to winter in the car you let it warm up having it running you want to keep it alive your almost there able to hot wire cars you dont realize it but your having to add water more frequently to the radiator what you dont know is in the night when it gets below 32F the water freezes and cracks the pipes making more water leek out and casing catastrophic damage to the cooling system for the car you dont pick up on this as the heat at full blast and the colder outside makes the car run with exceptionable temp levels your more worried about that knocking you drive as little as you can so all that cooling and radiator needing to be filled more often flys under the raider after all its not 32F at 11:30 AM you sleep in as the days dont matter well the first day its lower then 32F you get in and start the car you hear a loud squeak from the belt you dont know its from the belt trying to rotate a frozen pump and the belt fails but not before you see the car getting way to hot you dont know how to fix the belt your skill level is to low but that dose not matter as the abused engine block gave way and the engine seized

[Great_Puffer]

Originally posted by COLIN:

i think it be grate the more the better that gives you another thing to do late game random oil condition if you never change it your car will go through the normal stages of damage from bad oil also having oil leeks radiator conditions diff types of oil and diff types of gas spark plugs and more even belts this could be a game changer

a overhaul on cars would be nice give the game more feel say goodbye to the 0-100% condition and have real problems like if it leeks out all the oil or burns oil have engine knocking also adding some some cars can randomly have a manual of auto trans that you can pick a -2 point trait to know automatically how to use one or find a mag that lets you learn

working blinkers hazard lights and more could be used to make interesting road side events for survivor cars late game that can spawn or early game with a short story early game spice things up Engine temperature like stated you could make cars have cold and worm starts untell the engine is up to speed in heat level if your using strait water as a solution for the radiator as it gets colder it could freeze

and even making it so gas pumps wont work right away and if you want to use them without a card go into the gas station and flip the testing switches that allow pumping of gas without a card normally used to test pumps all sorts of fluids windshield wipers for when it starts to rain real hard and your view shrinks dramatically depending on how much rain is falling on the window and for how long you don't need to show a indicator just a toggle on the dash and in the select wheel

this is already a mod but a chime for when you have the headlights on with the car off

one other real cool idea to add to this is accurate check n/a lights like instead of going from green to yellow to orange to red go from nothing to oh yellow somethings wrong or red for your done of flashing yellow for something is vary vary wrong with the chime you can even if you feel like a true soy boy and or redneck cover it with some duck tape or electrical tape so you don't have to see the light

finely i would like to say mileage and mileage related ware with for 99% of the time the cars exterior condition is a good indicator of what mileage the car has real bad could = 150,000-350,000 but sometimes a good looking car can have high miles and sometimes a bad looking car can have low miles but most of the time its vary apparent this in most cases will not apply to car wrecks with the no burned cars mod

if compatible with car mods life filibusters used cars some cars older and more likely to have higher miles a counter for miles would need to be added

maybe fluids that leek from the car leave small stains the longer they sit the bigger the stain tell there is no more fluid to leek out you could use a edited version off the blood splatter even make the stain age and become dimmer yet never removable if its oil over time

i know this would be hard as hell to make world be really time consuming and take a lota research but with a advanced settings in options for custom sandbox this could be in the top project zomboid mods there is so so much more that could be done i have not even touched base on

sorry for my poor English

i can already see game play

you find your first car key its a old beet nyala you get in and turn the key she struggles but turn over the check oil light comes on you pop the hood the oil looks black as tar way up there for a change and it seems there is a slight leek (multiplayer for how much leeks out per in game hour can make it take days or even weeks for it to get dangerously low) you have no idea how bad it is the car is a auto but has some sound coming from the engine when started you start to drive it and the warning light for the radiator over heating comes on you look and see the Gage dangerously high you roll down the car windows and turn the heat of full blast even though its july 9th and its hot looks like the trick worked and it slowly recovers. the next day you see oil stains on the ground where your car was sitting and some other liquid its the radiator its leaking you grab a pot and fill it with tap water and poor it into the radiator as a temp solution going a few weeks into the apocalypse with neglect you forget about the oil problem just filling the radiator up ever few days or so with whatever water you can get tap river rain with a few days back after no luck finding oil you get sick of the light and cover it with some ducktape by now you have all but forgotten about it letting it slip from your mind with the thought of finding a new better car so you don't worry and it slips your mind while on a trip to rose woods gigamart the check engine light comes on you think nothing of it as that light comes on all the dam time and its prob just low on fluids for the radiator you take a mental note to fill the radiator when your there and cover the light with some duck tape you flat out ignore it you fill the radiator and on your way back it starts to flash you don't know that its covered with ducktape vary soon after a knock knock knock is heard your car has engine knock this is a 100% death sentence for your car hoping that its just a belt or a hydrophilic lifter you remember the tape you pull it off and the light is flashing you get out and pop the hood looking for the problem still in denial but no you check the oil and its flat out you uses a sawspan to drain the oil from a near buy truck oping to put the most thick oil you can you got lucky where able to open a plug on the truck with a adjustable wrench you add the oil start it the car feels slow and sluggish and has poor gas millage you dont know how to hotwire and finding a new car is a challenge seemingly most cars with keys you have found are seemingly worse off then your own and the few luck brakes have had a manual transmissions that you don't know how to use by now quite a few cars bettors are dead from sitting unused some still work but most die 2 weeks or months oil leaked out of cars or low on gas damage or looting there is no simple pickings left for you you drive home with this real loud knocking making zomboids able to hear the car from farther away some how you make it to winter in the car you let it warm up having it running you want to keep it alive your almost there able to hot wire cars you dont realize it but your having to add water more frequently to the radiator what you dont know is in the night when it gets below 32F the water freezes and cracks the pipes making more water leek out and casing catastrophic damage to the cooling system for the car you dont pick up on this as the heat at full blast and the colder outside makes the car run with exceptionable temp levels your more worried about that knocking you drive as little as you can so all that cooling and radiator needing to be filled more often flys under the raider after all its not 32F at 11:30 AM you sleep in as the days dont matter well the first day its lower then 32F you get in and start the car you hear a loud squeak from the belt you dont know its from the belt trying to rotate a frozen pump and the belt fails but not before you see the car getting way to hot you dont know how to fix the belt your skill level is to low but that dose not matter as the abused engine block gave way and the engine seized

please use breaks, because as is i am not reading that, i will get lost

[Arxon Dragon]

Originally posted by COLIN:

i think it be grate the more the better that gives you another thing to do late game random oil condition if you never change it your car will go through the normal stages of damage from bad oil also having oil leeks radiator conditions diff types of oil and diff types of gas spark plugs and more even belts this could be a game changer

a overhaul on cars would be nice give the game more feel say goodbye to the 0-100% condition and have real problems like if it leeks out all the oil or burns oil have engine knocking also adding some some cars can randomly have a manual of auto trans that you can pick a -2 point trait to know automatically how to use one or find a mag that lets you learn

working blinkers hazard lights and more could be used to make interesting road side events for survivor cars late game that can spawn or early game with a short story early game spice things up Engine temperature like stated you could make cars have cold and worm starts untell the engine is up to speed in heat level if your using strait water as a solution for the radiator as it gets colder it could freeze

and even making it so gas pumps wont work right away and if you want to use them without a card go into the gas station and flip the testing switches that allow pumping of gas without a card normally used to test pumps all sorts of fluids windshield wipers for when it starts to rain real hard and your view shrinks dramatically depending on how much rain is falling on the window and for how long you don't need to show a indicator just a toggle on the dash and in the select wheel

this is already a mod but a chime for when you have the headlights on with the car off

one other real cool idea to add to this is accurate check n/a lights like instead of going from green to yellow to orange to red go from nothing to oh yellow somethings wrong or red for your done of flashing yellow for something is vary vary wrong with the chime you can even if you feel like a true soy boy and or redneck cover it with some duck tape or electrical tape so you don't have to see the light

finely i would like to say mileage and mileage related ware with for 99% of the time the cars exterior condition is a good indicator of what mileage the car has real bad could = 150,000-350,000 but sometimes a good looking car can have high miles and sometimes a bad looking car can have low miles but most of the time its vary apparent this in most cases will not apply to car wrecks with the no burned cars mod

if compatible with car mods life filibusters used cars some cars older and more likely to have higher miles a counter for miles would need to be added

maybe fluids that leek from the car leave small stains the longer they sit the bigger the stain tell there is no more fluid to leek out you could use a edited version off the blood splatter even make the stain age and become dimmer yet never removable if its oil over time

i know this would be hard as hell to make world be really time consuming and take a lota research but with a advanced settings in options for custom sandbox this could be in the top project zomboid mods there is so so much more that could be done i have not even touched base on

sorry for my poor English

i can already see game play

you find your first car key its a old beet nyala you get in and turn the key she struggles but turn over the check oil light comes on you pop the hood the oil looks black as tar way up there for a change and it seems there is a slight leek (multiplayer for how much leeks out per in game hour can make it take days or even weeks for it to get dangerously low) you have no idea how bad it is the car is a auto but has some sound coming from the engine when started you start to drive it and the warning light for the radiator over heating comes on you look and see the Gage dangerously high you roll down the car windows and turn the heat of full blast even though its july 9th and its hot looks like the trick worked and it slowly recovers. the next day you see oil stains on the ground where your car was sitting and some other liquid its the radiator its leaking you grab a pot and fill it with tap water and poor it into the radiator as a temp solution going a few weeks into the apocalypse with neglect you forget about the oil problem just filling the radiator up ever few days or so with whatever water you can get tap river rain with a few days back after no luck finding oil you get sick of the light and cover it with some ducktape by now you have all but forgotten about it letting it slip from your mind with the thought of finding a new better car so you don't worry and it slips your mind while on a trip to rose woods gigamart the check engine light comes on you think nothing of it as that light comes on all the dam time and its prob just low on fluids for the radiator you take a mental note to fill the radiator when your there and cover the light with some duck tape you flat out ignore it you fill the radiator and on your way back it starts to flash you don't know that its covered with ducktape vary soon after a knock knock knock is heard your car has engine knock this is a 100% death sentence for your car hoping that its just a belt or a hydrophilic lifter you remember the tape you pull it off and the light is flashing you get out and pop the hood looking for the problem still in denial but no you check the oil and its flat out you uses a sawspan to drain the oil from a near buy truck oping to put the most thick oil you can you got lucky where able to open a plug on the truck with a adjustable wrench you add the oil start it the car feels slow and sluggish and has poor gas millage you dont know how to hotwire and finding a new car is a challenge seemingly most cars with keys you have found are seemingly worse off then your own and the few luck brakes have had a manual transmissions that you don't know how to use by now quite a few cars bettors are dead from sitting unused some still work but most die 2 weeks or months oil leaked out of cars or low on gas damage or looting there is no simple pickings left for you you drive home with this real loud knocking making zomboids able to hear the car from farther away some how you make it to winter in the car you let it warm up having it running you want to keep it alive your almost there able to hot wire cars you dont realize it but your having to add water more frequently to the radiator what you dont know is in the night when it gets below 32F the water freezes and cracks the pipes making more water leek out and casing catastrophic damage to the cooling system for the car you dont pick up on this as the heat at full blast and the colder outside makes the car run with exceptionable temp levels your more worried about that knocking you drive as little as you can so all that cooling and radiator needing to be filled more often flys under the raider after all its not 32F at 11:30 AM you sleep in as the days dont matter well the first day its lower then 32F you get in and start the car you hear a loud squeak from the belt you dont know its from the belt trying to rotate a frozen pump and the belt fails but not before you see the car getting way to hot you dont know how to fix the belt your skill level is to low but that dose not matter as the abused engine block gave way and the engine seized

*Hits a blunt* Here i go!

[Tim]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.