Generator, Sounds, and Walls

[{5LINE}Cows with Guns]

So, I'm relatively newish ... and finally made it in the the colder months and power being cutoff.

I understand that generators make loud noises and should not be placed indoors... But I also don't like bringing unwanted attention.

So i'm contemplating building a dedicated structure (maybe 2x2 or 3x3) to house the generator and scraps for repairs.

Do sounds travel directionally? So say if I enclose 3 sides of the generator, will the sound will travel in walled off directions? Or are sounds only muffled in fully enclosed structures?

Will toxic gases form if I don't build a roof (2nd floor) of the generator building?

[Mamluk's Honor]

Putting walls around a generator does nothing for the zombies hearing it. It's sound radius isn't crazy so you'll be fine unless you're literally in a city for your base.

[Armagenesis]

If you are worried about your generator attracting zombies, try building a wall around your base. The walls need to be at least 20 tiles away from your generator.

[martindirt]

Originally posted by Ocular:

Putting walls around a generator does nothing for the zombies hearing it. It's sound radius isn't crazy so you'll be fine unless you're literally in a city for your base.

As some videos and (iirc) the wiki states, a solid wall (without roof to let the fumes vent out) should reduce noise. Also (wiki) gennies sound goes 2 floors up and down, so placing them on the 4th floor SHOULD reduce it's attraction range to near 0.

[Oragepoilu]

Hello,

The wiki(s) are a mostly irrelevant source of information.
I saw plenty of very wrong thing in them since they started being made.
While a few are updating it with correct information there isn't enough of them willing to test everything, left alone editing the wiki(s).


As a side note this forum is also a very bad source of information (I would say less than 5% of the users know what they are talking about, just look at people talking about barrel and faucet), I suggest instead following a few people making video on youtube that actually test thing in debug mode or check reddit and read the comments under the posts to double check if anybody have something to correct.

Anyway, any wall/fence/etc have NO effect on the generator noise.
Generator make noise on all floor, elevation is irrelevant. The +2/-2 refer to the electric grid range.
Generator harm you with fumes if you place it in a "pregenerated" indoor location (house, etc). Each tile is either indoor or outdoor when the map is generated and there is no way out of this mechanic unless you mod it. Think of a dev "painting" tiles of the map; Removing every wall/door/windows/roof of a house will still have the tile count as inside.
A player hand made "inside" is tied to some other line of codes and count as outside for any matter but weather.
For example nearby corpses make you sick, but if you stand outside and corpses are inside a naturally generated building (or vice versa) you won't get sick. A player hand made building count as outside for this matter, so if you leave corpses outside of your hand made house you will get sick since both you and the corpses are outside.

Lastly, the generator noise range is a circle 10, BUT not exactly. The world is divided into large tiles (10x10 IIRC) and if said circle is clearly within a 10x10 large tile then any zombie from said 10x10 large tile will aggro, even if they are outside of the circle range.
That mean the actual noise range can be either just 10, or maybe 19. Moving the generator one square EAST might reduce the noise range to the WEST by 11 squares, or do nothing.

That probably why is confused quite a few people at time (including people trying to explain how it works in youtube video) since the noise range can be 19 in one direction and only 10 in another.


All of this come from personal testing last year (early 2022) after checking video & reddit, Im pretty sure nothing changed since then but if that's the case feel free to reply here and tell me where Im wrong so I know for the future.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Oragepoilu:

Each tile is either indoor or outdoor when the map is generated and there is no way out of this mechanic unless you mod it. Think of a dev "painting" tiles of the map; Removing every wall/door/windows/roof of a house will still have the tile count as inside.
A player hand made "inside" is tied to some other line of codes and count as outside for any matter but weather.

Wrong. If you'd build your house properly - restarting the server will fix that issue (game fail to update "inside" status on fly).

[Oragepoilu]

Originally posted by corisai:

Wrong. If you'd build your house properly - restarting the server will fix that issue (game fail to update "inside" status on fly).

I play solo and loaded my game plenty of time back then and never saw this happen. Any source ?

[San]

Originally posted by Oragepoilu:

Generator harm you with fumes if you place it in a "pregenerated" indoor location (house, etc). Each tile is either indoor or outdoor when the map is generated and there is no way out of this mechanic unless you mod it. Think of a dev "painting" tiles of the map; Removing every wall/door/windows/roof of a house will still have the tile count as inside.
A player hand made "inside" is tied to some other line of codes and count as outside for any matter but weather.
For example nearby corpses make you sick, but if you stand outside and corpses are inside a naturally generated building (or vice versa) you won't get sick. A player hand made building count as outside for this matter, so if you leave corpses outside of your hand made house you will get sick since both you and the corpses are outside.

Oragepoilu, thank you for actually testing things and for sharing.

I think your observations regarding indoors/outdoors are incorrect because of an issue that makes walls not to register. Because of it, is common to create walled regions that look fine to the player but remain as outdoors to the game. The issue is described by Zarivan in Youtube, along with detailed testing, a workaround and a debug mode tool to check when walls register properly and form indoors spaces. I hope you like it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbvAJmf9Lg4

[Oragepoilu]

I am aware that a created indoor area can protect you from weather.
I am aware how to check if a player created building inside "works" or not.

Quote from my first message :
"A player hand made "inside" is tied to some other line of codes and count as outside for any matter but weather."

While it LOOKS like you are inside, and protect you from weather like naturally generated inside tiles, clearly shown by temperature and light, you are not inside for the purpose of protecting you against corpses sickness and being harmed by fumes.

[Mamluk's Honor]

Originally posted by martindirt:

Originally posted by Ocular:

Putting walls around a generator does nothing for the zombies hearing it. It's sound radius isn't crazy so you'll be fine unless you're literally in a city for your base.

As some videos and (iirc) the wiki states, a solid wall (without roof to let the fumes vent out) should reduce noise. Also (wiki) gennies sound goes 2 floors up and down, so placing them on the 4th floor SHOULD reduce it's attraction range to near 0.

I wouldn't trust the wiki, lots of info on it is incorrect.

The generator might sound less loud to the player, but that's it.

[martindirt]

Originally posted by Ocular:

Originally posted by martindirt:

As some videos and (iirc) the wiki states, a solid wall (without roof to let the fumes vent out) should reduce noise. Also (wiki) gennies sound goes 2 floors up and down, so placing them on the 4th floor SHOULD reduce it's attraction range to near 0.

I wouldn't trust the wiki, lots of info on it is incorrect.

The generator might sound less loud to the player, but that's it.

You're right. I'm just tested it. It's attracting zeds with and without walls, on every floor... Nothing matters, only distance.

[{5LINE}Cows with Guns]

Originally posted by martindirt:

You're right. I'm just tested it. It's attracting zeds with and without walls, on every floor... Nothing matters, only distance.

Thanks! I've managed a clearing of about 20 tiles in all directions from the generator... so at least I will see them coming.