Zombie spawn rules question

[lunatichighff]

So does anyone know what rules the game uses in deciding where a zombie should be placed? I've never had them spawn inside my structure, but have had plenty spawn inside my perimeter wall.

[oohbetty]

read the thread Veterans: i need your help on page2, i cant do i link coz i don't know how sorry

http://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/0/617336568078122067/#p1

[Uradamus]

You can check out the spawning.xml file in your steam install dir at: "./steamapps/common/7 Days To Die/Data/Config". It gives a lot of insight into how spawning works, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have the specifics on where to place zombies.

In general though it will depend a lot on if you are on SP or MP. On SP zombies generally can't spawn too close to you, they tend to end up a dozen or more blocks away. In MP though they can potentially spawn nearly right on top of you.

Your last placed sleeping bag or bed will however prevent spawning within a certain range from it. This is the most likely reason they aren't spawning in your base. The range is some what short though, which would explain how they manage to spawn within the perimeter walls, especially if you are fencing off a decently large area.

[lunatichighff]

Thanks for the info. I have now read the thread and will be looking at the xml file a little later to see what I can learn there.

[oohbetty]

Originally posted by Uradamus:

You can check out the spawning.xml file in your steam install dir at: "./steamapps/common/7 Days To Die/Data/Config". It gives a lot of insight into how spawning works, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have the specifics on where to place zombies.

In general though it will depend a lot on if you are on SP or MP. On SP zombies generally can't spawn too close to you, they tend to end up a dozen or more blocks away. In MP though they can potentially spawn nearly right on top of you.

Your last placed sleeping bag or bed will however prevent spawning within a certain range from them. This is the most likely reason they aren't spawning in your base. The range is some what short though, which would explain how they manage to spawn within the perimeter walls, especially if you are fencing off a decently large area.

aha, that explains why my bright idea to bury sleeping bags under asphalt carpark in a hotel converted to a base didn't work to stop zeds spawning in the carpark, so its only ya last laid bedroll that works, i also had thought that laying a temp bedroll then picking it back up would revert my "home" back to last laid bedroll, but that doesn't happen either, my understanding is that the bedroll protects for 15 blocks in all directions, is this correct ?

jeez 900 hours playing and i aint got a clue lmfao

[Uradamus]

Ya, only the last placed (active) bed has the anti-spawn protection. If your bed is removed or destroyed then you will be reverted to using one of the 8 starting locations at random. I'm not sure what the range is on the bedroll protection, but I do know it spans from bedrock to the sky limit. I'm pretty sure the range has changed from whatever the wiki lists though.

[oohbetty]

rofl, and i thought that a zed had never spawned in any of my houses because i had carefully made sure all floor area was covered by sleeping bags :D

[lunatichighff]

@oohbetty - I thought that they may not have spawned inside my building because every block was player-placed and not "naturally occurring" for the location.

[Nivad]

A few things on spawning from playing that maybe others can confirm perhaps:

-SP game bed protection area is great but seems from my experience not to be 100% working if your on a MP server and offline.

Have only had Zs spawn in the bedzone in a secure area (rarely) while I was offline and someone had wandered through the area triggering spawns. Knew there had been visitors because the care box I leave outside for 8k+ explorers was used each time.

- Have never had a Z spawn in a base despite high ceilings (obviously 2 block high spaces they are not going to spawn) if I just made my floors wood.

This one could be TOTAL coincidence/luck though. I started doing it the last few builds because I never placed a bed for the first few weeks but never had a spawn inside.
I read a long while back that some blocks Zs would not spawn on so I went with it and just kind of kept doing it since I have had no inside spawns since putting down a layer of wood.

Honestly I really am not even sure if this is foolproof, fairy tale, or ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ because I swear some of the prefab buildings have the same wood floor block. The houses obviously are carpet but the brick ones are wood iirc.

Well, maybe someone else out there can confirm or ♥♥♥♥ on it if they have had spawns on total wood floors. Wood floors are on top of reinforced concrete layer obviously, not sure if that matters either.

[lunatichighff]

@Nivad - I looked in the blocks.xml file and it doesn't appear that any of the blocks typically associated with building (the wood blocks, reinforced concrete, etc.) are set up to prevent mob spawning. Others, like fertile farmland are listed as not allowing mobs to spawn with a property listed as such: <property name="CanMobsSpawnOn" value="false" />. So I guess if someone wanted to have a specific block they could place that would prevent spawning, they would modify the blocks.xml file to do so.

[Uradamus]

@lunatichighff: Nice catch, I hadn't noticed that property before.

[TombViper]

Originally posted by oohbetty:

... my understanding is that the bedroll protects for 15 blocks in all directions, is this correct ?

Nope, it's a 15 block square, which means a 15x15 area with the sleeping bag in the center of it. So 7 blocks in each direction. Vertical there is no limit though. And the protection only works for sleeping bags belonging to players that are currently online.

[Nivad]

Well that is good to know.
I will no longer put my confidence in the wood floor thing then.
Just been lucky so far I guess, but not going to press my luck so far it literally bites me in the ass some day.

Not sure how I feel about dirt floors but I guess as long as there are a few of the normal layers of reinforced concrete under the dirt I could learn to like it.

[Omar]

Just a thought, would a low ceiling prevent zombies spawning within that area?

[TombViper]

afaik there are two different kinds of spawns. The ones associated with prefabs and the regular ones. I don't think there is anything you can do about the prefab spawn points. Some people even tried to demolish the prefab completely using TNT and then building a new base in the same spot, but the spawn points remained there. Regular spawns should always occur in the highest location that is not covered by a ceiling. Terrain blocks like stone, dirt, etc do *not* count as a ceiling. That is why zombies usually end up ontop of your roof if you trigger a horde near a base with no/insufficient protection from a sleeping bag. This also implies that zombies could theoretically spawn inside an underground base or tunnel that is only carved out of stone.