Sound: How does it work anyway?

[Gargoyle Girl]

This might seem like a no brainer, but I've always wondered how zombies are attracted to a location you're posted up in.

For example, the Campfire. If I completely seal up an area in a house from light escaping, then start it, zombies are still drawn to the spot. Is it the sound of the fire? The heat? Is the light still penetrating the walls (as I can often see light through various blocks, even when they should be completely blocking it from penetrating).

As for sounds... is there a mechanic for muffling it? Or do you have to do something obnoxious like dig a mine hole to place your generator or what have you in just to keep the zombies from detecting them?

I'm just starting to fiddle with the idea of electricity and the generator seems like the best way to power a house. But I don't want it to be a source of constant, annoying attacks either, so some pointers on how sound works would be helpful.

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

The "heat map" (recently renamed as "activity map") has nothing to do with zombies hearing you. Yes, they can either see you, or they can hear you. Both these factors are taken into account in the yellow stealth meter you see on your HUD.

If you're covered by walls, the sight part is not important, but the sound still is.

[Mardoin69]

And, 'heat' is still a contributing factor for detection. Unfortunately, closing off a room doesn't 'contain' the heat so that you're not detected. It's almost like they have x-ray heat vision, lol.

[Gargoyle Girl]

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

The "heat map" (recently renamed as "activity map") has nothing to do with zombies hearing you. Yes, they can either see you, or they can hear you. Both these factors are taken into account in the yellow stealth meter you see on your HUD.

If you're covered by walls, the sight part is not important, but the sound still is.

What I'm asking is how do you mitigate it?

Also... so now they just come after you the longer you stay in one place? Is that what the 'activity' map is? I had heard of the heat map, and thought if I minimized using fire and such, it would reduce the amount of heat I produced. Now you're telling me it's more like Factorio's Death Worlds, where my just existing in one place slowly attracts more and more of them, no matter how silent or 'cool' I keep my base?

[kl250d]

Originally posted by Gargoyle Girl:

What I'm asking is how do you mitigate it?

That's the neat part, you don't.

But seriously the only way to stop it is to turn off the things generating heat, your forges, your campfires, generators etc.

Im not sure if solar power generates heat though so that might be something to look into if you can turn everything else off

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Originally posted by Gargoyle Girl:

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

The "heat map" (recently renamed as "activity map") has nothing to do with zombies hearing you. Yes, they can either see you, or they can hear you. Both these factors are taken into account in the yellow stealth meter you see on your HUD.

If you're covered by walls, the sight part is not important, but the sound still is.

What I'm asking is how do you mitigate it?

Also... so now they just come after you the longer you stay in one place? Is that what the 'activity' map is? I had heard of the heat map, and thought if I minimized using fire and such, it would reduce the amount of heat I produced. Now you're telling me it's more like Factorio's Death Worlds, where my just existing in one place slowly attracts more and more of them, no matter how silent or 'cool' I keep my base?

No, I didn't say that.

Read "activity map" as "whatever I do keeps stacking up until they come", BUT (and that's a big but), the Heat value will also decay over time. So basically you'll only attract unwanted attention if you do a lot of stuff in a short span of time.

There's several things that increase Heat/Activity value a lot in their "chunk" (16x16 blocks) and others that raise it less. A typical example is a Torch (high "heat" value) vs. a Candle (low heat/activity value). Electric lights, for example, won't contribute to the heat map.

There's lot of stuff to learn on the matter... I suggest you search the forum for additional information, since this has been discussed a lot in the past.

[FT]

Heatmap (too much activity like breaking blocks or smelting) eventually spawns a screamer which will try to get to whatever "heat"-source spawned her to break it...beating on any blocks in the way and summoning a horde if she sees a player.
Usually they're easy to kill by having a row of spikes at the wall because she has low HP and she usually automatically goes for the nearest wall or door.


Wandering (:P) hordes are randomly spawned and sent in the players general direction, mostly when the player is staying in a location for a while. They aren't aware of the player and will just wander past if the player is crouched and hidden. They might take a few swings at a wall in their way, but won't usually do much damage unless the player is easy to see/hear.
BUT, if you're making noise OR you're standing near a light so your sneak-visibility is too high (even if there's no lineofsight between you and them), then they might notice you and try to beat their way through the walls to get you.
How easy you are to notice depends on your "visiblity"(that number on the sneak bar) and the zombies' distance from you, and whether or not you have the FeralSense option turned ON (which makes them sense you at ~2.5X greater distances).
Assuming you have FeralSense OFF, the lower your "sneak" number the closer they can get without noticing you.
Standing near a lit campfire will make you easier to notice compared to crouching a little farther away in a darker spot...and often you can still be within reach of the campfire.


I'm not sure if either of these will help in your situation, but might be worth a shot.

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Originally posted by FT:

Wondering hordes are randomly spawned...

You mean hordes that are wondering if the player is nearby?

[Gargoyle Girl]

Originally posted by ⚜ JOST AMMAN ⚜:

Originally posted by FT:

Wondering hordes are randomly spawned...

You mean hordes that are wondering if the player is nearby? :agis:

Big Mama: "Where are we? I thought there was some food around here! Dammit Kenny, quit smokin' so much meth and tell us where the food is! This was your idea to come this way, and I'm hungry!"

*Kenny randomly having a fight with a wall off to one side*

Skinny Pete: Let's just run around until we find something! *runs off*

Crawler: "Hey guys...! *panting* W-wait up! You know I don't run too well..."