Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid

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BOXman Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:01pm
PLEASE FIX THE BOOK SYSTEM
Staying in place and just waiting for a bar to fill is ridiculous. When you're reading a book or a magazine it literally forces you to stop playing. The worst aspect of this nonsense is that magazines do not save progress. You have to redo them again.

This game is filled to the brim with inconvenience and unintuitive game design.
Last edited by BOXman; Nov 19, 2023 @ 2:35am
Originally posted by Chrissy:
Originally posted by BOXman:
I swear this community needs to have a reality check. You're playing a game. One of the important mechanics of the game that lets you progress is forcing the player to stop playing and wait. No, downloading mods isn't a fix, relying on mods to fix the problem is proof that the base game is flawed. If I have to rely on mods to enjoy this game it will become Bethesda-esc, and Bethesda games rely on mods to be enjoyable because they are utterly broken or severely lacking. No, forcing time to be fast in a single-player session also isn't a fix as the slow loading bar of the books is by default highly slow.

Telling me to do other stuff in real life until the book reading is finished is an insane excuse.
As for the wood chopping, if that also takes 10 minutes to do it needs to change, we're not playing a clicker game. You're not interacting nor immersed you are staring at a screen waiting. Practically a loading screen. That simply isn't good design. NO, it shouldn't be instantaneous, it needs to be less than 3 minutes. I don't have 5 hours always available in my life. I would rather spend those free moments enjoying the game with my friends rather than sit around in a room and just stare at our character doing nothing. I don't understand how you are excusing this mechanic or this insane time-consuming pacing.
You need to raise your standards. Many adults don't have a lot of free time.

Listen

Reading the longest possible (380 page, lvl 9-10) skill books takes a whopping one (1) single minute IRL, WITH the slow reader trait, at max fast forward (40x, press F6 or click the clock icon next to the >>>). Not an issue.

So it's the multiplayer side, fine, great, okay. But you haven't explained much, are you hosting your own server or what? Because if you are, you can set reading speed to whatever you like, it's already built into the game. I found this googling for two seconds

https://steamcommunity.com/app/108600/discussions/0/5845107457328928320/

If you're playing whatever server and they haven't done this, then you could ask the owner/admins about changing it, find another server or host your own. Simple. Anything else?
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Showing 1-15 of 57 comments
Jethro Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:04pm 
Just read a little bit for a few hours before bedtime. Fast-forward time if you’re in single player. In multiplayer I’m pretty sure you can set reading speed.

I do agree that it’s a lot of time spent just doing nothing. But there are ways to work around it a bit.
egg Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:12pm 
for singleplayer, like noxam said, you can just speed up time.
books should take a long time, your character gets bored, hungry/thirsty and tired. and the exp multiplier they give is huge. just do like 50-60 pages before bed and get it read in a few days. don't just sit there reading advanced mechanics and expect to be an advanced mechanic after one day of reading nonstop.

for multiplayer however, yes reading books kinda sucks. you should change the reading speed to like 4 or even 5. seems high, but when youre playing with friends you dont wanna have to leave your PC on for 45 minutes while they're out killing and looting.
Banzai Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:26pm 
Dont really see how else books could be implemented in the game without them taking a while to read. Magazines and similar are obviously dealt with very quickly but to read a book would and should surely take a fair few hours of concentration.
Jambie Lionheart (Banned) Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:29pm 
There's a mod that enables you to move around while reading. Can't remember the name of it but it's somewhere in the steam workshop. It's really good :D
katsuragi Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:34pm 
Also a mod to speed reading time up 100x so books read like magazines and magazines are instant.
It (read speed) should be a sandbox option just like XP multiplier is. I mean, you can crank up the XP so high that books don't even matter but you aren't given the option to make reading faster? I have to agree with OP on this one. Shouldn't need a mod to nerf reading.
BOXman Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:35pm 
Buy why have a system that makes you stay in place and not do anything else?
Why not just have a system that makes time jump when you read? Instead of actually spending 5 minutes doing nothing.
BOXman Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:37pm 
I swear I would get more action if I would actually read a book lol
Jambie Lionheart (Banned) Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:46pm 
Originally posted by BOXman:
Buy why have a system that makes you stay in place and not do anything else?
Why not just have a system that makes time jump when you read? Instead of actually spending 5 minutes doing nothing.

<.<
The next time you read a book, find a quiet room with a door inside a house, preferably your HQ/base. Close the door, take a seat and after you start reading the book, press the F5 key. When you're finished, press F3 to return the game to normal speed <.< I'm assuming you're in single player though. If you are in multiplayer then mods are really the only way to go, unfortunately

@Katsuragi: To be honestly the sleep speed system bothers we way more. Particularly in multiplayer settings. Because you can't speed through it >.>
Last edited by Jambie Lionheart; Nov 19, 2023 @ 1:09am
Puppers Nov 18, 2023 @ 2:59pm 
Originally posted by BOXman:
Staying in place and just waiting for a bar to fill is ridiculous. When you're reading a book or a magazine it literally forces you to stop playing. The worst aspect of this nonsense is that magazines do save progress. You have to redo them again.

This game is filled to the brim with inconvenience and unintuintive game design.

What do you suggest as a substitute?
Defektiv (Banned) Nov 18, 2023 @ 3:52pm 
Hit F5 to learn faster.
Siodog Nov 18, 2023 @ 5:11pm 
Originally posted by Puppers:
Originally posted by BOXman:
Staying in place and just waiting for a bar to fill is ridiculous. When you're reading a book or a magazine it literally forces you to stop playing. The worst aspect of this nonsense is that magazines do save progress. You have to redo them again.

This game is filled to the brim with inconvenience and unintuintive game design.

What do you suggest as a substitute?

1. A minigame of some kind.
2. A trivia of questions and answers lol
Rincewind Nov 18, 2023 @ 5:36pm 
Originally posted by BOXman:
Staying in place and just waiting for a bar to fill is ridiculous. When you're reading a book or a magazine it literally forces you to stop playing. The worst aspect of this nonsense is that magazines do save progress. You have to redo them again.

This game is filled to the brim with inconvenience and unintuintive game design.

wrong.... there is nothing to need for a fix...

first you can speed up the game time.

second book reading saves progress ! it starts from beginning again but it need less time to read it full than before.
Last edited by Rincewind; Nov 18, 2023 @ 5:37pm
Puppers Nov 18, 2023 @ 6:50pm 
Originally posted by Siodog:
Originally posted by Puppers:

What do you suggest as a substitute?

1. A minigame of some kind.
2. A trivia of questions and answers lol

i would never bother reading lol
zverozvero Nov 18, 2023 @ 7:26pm 
Menue akin to 'exercises' with type of reading (fast, relaxed etc.) that may cause stress and migraine or cure some boredom. Reading proficiency would increase as we read unlocking faster reading and reading while walking.

Or just input for how long we want to read that skips time forward till its done or when we hear noises, notice zombie or get health threatening moodle.
Wilson Nov 18, 2023 @ 7:27pm 
Originally posted by BOXman:
Staying in place and just waiting for a bar to fill is ridiculous. When you're reading a book or a magazine it literally forces you to stop playing. The worst aspect of this nonsense is that magazines do save progress. You have to redo them again.

This game is filled to the brim with inconvenience and unintuintive game design.
Please add the ability to walk and read to the base game, the fact that you can't makes no sense.
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Date Posted: Nov 18, 2023 @ 1:01pm
Posts: 57