Change Sandbox Settings mod

[Jethro]

I’ve been messing around with settings, trying to find a perfect balance for my style of playing. Does anyone know if changing zombie pop/multiplier in the mod actually works once you’ve been in game for a while?

I tend to not like too many zeds, so I went low pop and I ended up with these settings, although there still seems to be way too many zeds in my map compared to what the settings are at. Maybe I need to simply start a new game, since I altered settings multiple days into my run?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ih0n8zb44uno7cy/IMG_7794.HEIC?dl=0

[TeosDy_ToasT]

There is a mod that allows you to change settings while in game. That may be what you are looking for.

[A E O N]

This is the mod that allows you to change Sandbox parameters, no need to start a new game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2670674997

[Jethro]

Originally posted by TeosDy_ToasT:

There is a mod that allows you to change settings while in game. That may be what you are looking for.

Yes, maybe I wasn’t clear enough in my original post. I’m using the sandbox settings mod to alter zombie pop in my game. It just seems that, even with my really low settings, there’s still quite a lot of zombies.

[FlashXAron ☕ (Alex)]

That is for the single player ? Isn't it ... that Server setting menu, where you start your server and after that you play direct on that server AND could invite friends, IS THAT WORKING ...
as I have the same problem ... too many zombies for me , even when I do nothing and read a book in a house , they are all around that house , even I destroyed them, before I enter it ... that is worse !

So does that game menue for server settings work, or do I also need that mod ? thanks

PS: IS THERE A SETTING that my items , need fewer repair ... have found only a setting that clothes wear longer !

[A E O N]

Originally posted by FlashXAron ☕ (Alex):

That is for the single player ? Isn't it ... that Server setting menu, where you start your server and after that you play direct on that server AND could invite friends, IS THAT WORKING ...
as I have the same problem ... too many zombies for me , even when I do nothing and read a book in a house , they are all around that house , even I destroyed them, before I enter it ... that is worse !

So does that game menue for server settings work, or do I also need that mod ? thanks

PS: IS THERE A SETTING that my items , need fewer repair ... have found only a setting that clothes wear longer !

On the mod workshop page, people commented that it works on multiplayer, (I have not tested it myself) You can change sandbox settings anytime: once you are done > save the game > then exit the game > restart the game and load your saved game again.

Maybe it works in multiplayer by following similar formula and restarting the server after saving the changes, but I can not confirm this. I suggest you to have a look around on the mod steam workshop page and read the mod description, modder and people comments, probably someone tested this before, even the modder

The only way I found to make weapons more durable is to increase your skill with such weapons: axes, blades, blunt weapons and so on because makes it them deteriorate much more slowly. By rising your repair skill also makes repairs more efficient. What I usually do at the start of the game is to have a wooden box with multiple weapons looted, then I use the worse ones because I doesn't matter that much if they broke because they're cheap and easily found around, even looted from zombie corpses. Then I save the best weapons for when I have good skill, starting from level 3 and above.

[A E O N]

Originally posted by Jethro:

Originally posted by TeosDy_ToasT:

There is a mod that allows you to change settings while in game. That may be what you are looking for.

Yes, maybe I wasn’t clear enough in my original post. I’m using the sandbox settings mod to alter zombie pop in my game. It just seems that, even with my really low settings, there’s still quite a lot of zombies.

Alternatively you can try to disable hordes. Kind of works in the sense that hordes have no "a zombie leader" that the other zombies follows. To turn this off there's an option called: "zombie horde size", set it to zero. Zombies will now move individually, however this is not 100% horde remover because if you shoot or an alarm triggers, all zombies will converge at the same spot no matter what, same goes if they see you.

Another setting that may help is to turn off zombie respawn. I don't think it will make much of a difference since the percentage is very very low, like 0,1 of the total zombies that were there before. You can also increase the time for zombies to move and occupy empty cells, by raising the value.

In short, you can tweak multiple parameter in sandbox, read carefully what every single one of them does, a good combination will give you what are you looking for. Turn down population multiplier below 1.0, to something like 0.5, and very important do no forget to set "population peak" at the same value if you don't want to see zombie population skyrocketing due the pass of time.

Also keep in mind the areas where you are, main roads, highways and the center of towns and cities are usually flooded by many zombies. It also gets worse in West Point and Louisville the hardest region of the map to the east. If you're really struggling with zombie population you can try to start and settle in Riverside, Rosewood or around the small rural town surrounded by farmlands right to the west, north of Rosewood. It seems to get easier the further west you go. in my personal experience, makes sense considering that the outbreak started far away to the north east, in Louisville.

Edit: I messed up the locations, fixed now.

[FlashXAron ☕ (Alex)]

@aeon thanks for the answer, have a nice week !

[Jethro]

My problem may have been that, a huge bunch of the zombies had already spawned in before I made my changes. I’m based in the west end of West Point and working my way into town. It feels slightly better now that I’m in an area that I haven’t already explored/spawned zombies.

Still, with pop multiplier at 0.2, start mult at 0.3, peak 1.0, respawn 0, and rally group size down to 10……it feels like there should be WAY less zombies showing up. And I swear the rally groups are larger than 10.

I guess I just need to keep experimenting with settings. I’m getting somewhere, just doesn’t seem right. I even have my fog setting turned down to “moderate” from normal and when fog hits I can’t see 3 feet in front of me. It just feels like my settings aren’t actually taking.

[A E O N]

Originally posted by FlashXAron ☕ (Alex):

@aeon thanks for the answer, have a nice week !

Have a nice week too

Originally posted by Jethro:

My problem may have been that, a huge bunch of the zombies had already spawned in before I made my changes. I’m based in the west end of West Point and working my way into town. It feels slightly better now that I’m in an area that I haven’t already explored/spawned zombies.

Still, with pop multiplier at 0.2, start mult at 0.3, peak 1.0, respawn 0, and rally group size down to 10……it feels like there should be WAY less zombies showing up. And I swear the rally groups are larger than 10.

I guess I just need to keep experimenting with settings. I’m getting somewhere, just doesn’t seem right. I even have my fog setting turned down to “moderate” from normal and when fog hits I can’t see 3 feet in front of me. It just feels like my settings aren’t actually taking.

You're right. If the region you're at has been already explored with the old high population zombie settings there's nothing you can do about it, zombies have already spawned there and they do not disappear. As you commented, if you go further into the unexplored areas the changes that you made to lower down the zombie population work as intented.

Same thing happens with other mods that adds items, loot or vehicles. If you add these middle game, they only appear in the unexplored areas.

About the fog setting: go to the Options menu > Graphics and try the old legacy fog setting. (I guess it's called 0.40 fog or something), fog looks different, it's less invasive, less demanding in terms of graphic performance, it's a good solution as well for those with mid-end low-end computers, for me personally the legacy fog looks better, and makes the game playable when fog kicks in, fog is there but you're able to see good enough so that it is not obnoxiously unbearable to play.