Edit Spawn Lists?

[hallow, dmitri!]

I would like to mod my vanilla game in a few small ways.

1. I find that some enemy spawns are unfairly overpowered in the early game. Like getting bears and spider zombies under level 4 and well before the first (day 7) horde night (or maybe its by gamestage so lets just say low gamestage then). I'd like to tweak some of the spawn lists because I play solo permadeath and feel like some of these tougher surprise spawns are too OP for me on my current setting which is Nomad.

2. BDU clothes (and gillie clothes) should possibly be rarer to find/make but much more useful in stats, so I would like to A. potentially change the frequency the BDUs spawns and B. definitely change certain values to reflect what I would like it to be in my personal game.

Any specific guides or links or even specific info on how I can do this would be appreciated.

[vgifford]

Start here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Config

1) If you are comfortable with modding, Entitygroups.xml and Spawning.xml are your first locations to look at.

2) Loot.xml and Items.xml.

[hallow, dmitri!]

Originally posted by vgifford:

Start here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Config

1) If you are comfortable with modding, Entitygroups.xml and Spawning.xml are your first locations to look at.

2) Loot.xml and Items.xml.

I'm fine with modding stuff myself. Is there a most recommended guide or any link for doing xml tweaks in this game? I'll need to figure out how the spawning numbers work to start. Not sure if this is even where I need to be but it's the first thing I found:

<entitygroup name="ZombiesNight">
		<entity name="zombieSpider" prob="1"/>
		<entity name="zombieSpiderFeral" prob=".25"/>

Like my last issue was a night spawn spider zombie (maybe was feral) and it was only like the 3rd or 4th night. I'm guessing though I will have to go by gamestage as the reference point for this and not level or day.

[vgifford]

Change the "prob="

prob=".01" that should reduce them.

Instead of a 100% chance (prob="1") or a 25% chance (prob=".25") it would be a 1% chance. (prob=".01")

[hallow, dmitri!]

Originally posted by vgifford:

Change the "prob="

prob=".01" that should reduce them.

Instead of a 100% chance (prob="1") or a 25% chance (prob=".25") it would be a 1% chance. (prob=".01")

I want to reduce them in the early game, not throughout the entire game. I'm fine once I get properly geared, I just don't want those nasty week 1 spawns.

[vgifford]

Originally posted by rygarg:

Originally posted by vgifford:

Change the "prob="

prob=".01" that should reduce them.

Instead of a 100% chance (prob="1") or a 25% chance (prob=".25") it would be a 1% chance. (prob=".01")

I want to reduce them in the early game, not throughout the entire game. I'm fine once I get properly geared, I just don't want those nasty week 1 spawns.

Could edit how fast Gamestage progresses, but changing an xml will be throughout the entire game, I'm not a good enough coder to figure out how to do it in early game only.

Anyone else got any ideas?

[hallow, dmitri!]

I mean like what prevents a screamer from only appearing after a certain gamestage? Maybe I could apply that same limit to bears and spiders, just at a much lower gamestage than screamers appear at. That would certainly solve my issues right there. Anyway thanks for the help.

[vgifford]

Originally posted by rygarg:

I mean like what prevents a screamer from only appearing after a certain gamestage? Maybe I could apply that same limit to bears and spiders, just at a much lower gamestage than screamers appear at. That would certainly solve my issues right there. Anyway thanks for the help.

Screamers are spawned by the heatmap mechanic. Its completely different.

[hallow, dmitri!]

Originally posted by vgifford:

Originally posted by rygarg:

I mean like what prevents a screamer from only appearing after a certain gamestage? Maybe I could apply that same limit to bears and spiders, just at a much lower gamestage than screamers appear at. That would certainly solve my issues right there. Anyway thanks for the help.

Screamers are spawned by the heatmap mechanic. Its completely different.

If that's true then how do they only appear around mid-game? Is it then possible to heat-summon a screamer on day 1-2?

[vgifford]

Yes

https://7daystodie.fandom.com/wiki/Heatmap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbVHjHbdsDs

[hallow, dmitri!]

Originally posted by vgifford:

Yes

https://7daystodie.fandom.com/wiki/Heatmap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbVHjHbdsDs

That's weird because I remember seeing screamers when I am out in the wild with no fire. But maybe was mining and I guess mining generates heat then. But I could have sworn there were a couple of times I saw them and I was not mining or burning a forge. Wow, still so much I don't know about this game and been playing it off and on since version 16 or 17.

And sorry for my humble little rant, but I would like to add this about solo permadeath end game play though: The zombies end up doing way too much block damage at high gamestages, like ripping through steel block like wood by early stage zombies. (I've also gotten damage through corners and whatnot, but that's another topic).

Anyway, my point is: I also want to tweak their late gamestage block damage while preserving what it is in early to midgame. The game seems balanced best in mid-game. Just some early to late game things I would love to be able to tweak but not sure if it's even possible the way I want to.