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Xunnamius/pz_sp_recommendations.md

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Recommendations for Project Zomboid 41
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pz_sp_recommendations.md

These suggestions assume you've enabled ALL mods from this collection.

Generic Suggestions

  • Consider giving Project Zomboid more memory. If you do this, you might also need to raise the ProjectZomboid64.exe process priority in Windows to prevent the game from being killed by the OS.

  • Set the Save Our Stations mod settings to "reliable" Edit the SteamLibrary\steamapps\workshop\content\108600\2398274461\mods\Save Our Station - Core\media\lua\shared\SWWS_Config.lua file (wherever you have it located) and change the following two lines to the listed values: ... What this will do is make the "breakdown" events about 4x less likely to happen, so they'll happen every couple months instead of every couple weeks.

  • Ensure 2X texture size option is enabled or some mods will not function properly

  • Consider locking FPS to 60 for a smoother experience

  • When exiting the game, quit to the main menu first, then quit (to desktop). This prevents strange issues like inventory disappearing or zombies despawning.

  • If you have the technical skill, why not back up your profiles and save game files every hour, just in case a mod kills you unfairly or glitches you or hoses your save game (or you're playing on the beta IWBUMS branch of Project Zomboid)? Here's my backup repo, just in case.

cd /mnt/c/Users/berna/Zomboid
while true; do date; git add Saves Lua/saved_modlists.txt Lua/layout.ini Sandbox\ Presets; GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL=/dev/null git -c 'user.name=robot' -c 'user.email=robot@robot.robot' commit -m "$(date)"; echo '---'; sleep 3600; done

Sub-Mods to Enable/Disable

  • Disable the "An Exhilaratingly Organized Lit Mod 3b: Coffee Icons", "An Exhilaratingly Organized Lit Mod 3c: Lemon", and "An Exhilaratingly Organized Lit Mod 3d: Mint Icons" sub-mods from the An Exhilaratingly Organized Lit mod
  • Disable the "Authentic Z - Backpacks+" and "Authentic Z - Lite" sub-mods from the Authentic Z mod
  • Disable the "Checkpoint_1" sub-mod from the SecretZ mod (conflicts with the Monmouth County mod)
  • Disable the "Filibuster Rhymes' Used Cars Names - Real Names" sub-mod from the Filibuster Rhymes' Used Cars mod
  • Disable the "Immersive Solar Arrays [23.01.1]" sub-mod from the Immersive Solar Arrays mod
  • Disable the "InGameMaps [Fort Knox Linked to Eerie Country]" sub-mod from the InGameMaps mod (mod includes its own in-game map)
  • Disable the "InGameMaps [Fort Knox Road]" sub-mod from the InGameMaps mod (mod includes its own in-game map)
  • Disable the "InGameMaps [Fort Redstone]" sub-mod from the InGameMaps mod (mod includes its own in-game map)
  • Disable the "Mod Template" fake mod
  • Disable the "Monmouth Country Tribute Legacy" sub-mod from the Monmouth Country mod
  • Disable "Over the River - Secondary Road" mod (let's play hardcore)
  • Disable the "Pitstop Legacy Version" sub-mod from the Pitstop mod
  • Disable the "Proximity Inventory Zombonly" sub-mod from the Proximity Inventory mod
  • Disable the "Satchel With Bags" sub-mod from the Satchel With Bags mod (use the ItemTweaker version)
  • Disable the "SecretZ" sub-mod from the SecretZ mod (use the v2 version)
  • Disable the "Darkness Is Coming! - Emergency Broadcast Module - Vanilla" sub-mod from the Darkness Is Coming! mod
  • Disable the "Water Dispenser Disabler" sub-mod from the Water Dispenser mod
  • Disable the "Advanced Trajectory" mod in lieu of "Advanced Trajectory Fix" (the latter lists the former as "required" but this isn't quite accurate)
  • Disable the "Research Facility, KY (Access Road) (OLD VERSION)" sub-mod from the Research Facility, KY mod
  • Disable the "ProjectElevator" mod since it's broken but "required" by one of the other mods

Map Mod Overrides

  • One of the stations from the Save Our Stations mod overrides one of the SecretZ mod's bunkers. Not much is lost other than some flavor and some cool visuals/loot that can be found in the other bunkers.

  • Trelai overrides the two bottom-left cells of Coryerdon which are purely river tiles. Check the maps of Coryerdon and Trelai along with this diagram for specifics.

  • St Bernard's Hill has 35 (out of 100) cells overridden by SecretZ, Ashenwood, Bedford Falls, Eerie Country, Fort Knox, and the new road between Bedford Falls and Fort Knox. It may seem like a lot is being overridden but it's mostly forest and totally worth it.

    • The bottom two rows of cells are overridden and the right five cells of the third row from the bottom are overridden by Eerie Country and Fort Knox. The right-most 10 cells are overridden by the road between Bedford Falls and Fort Knox. The four cells at the very top-right are overridden by Bedford Falls. The very top-left cell is overridden by SecretZ. The cell at the very top, three over from the left, is overridden by Ashenwood, along with the cell directly below it. Check the map of St. Bernard's Hill and this diagram to see what is actually being overridden.

  • Two tiles from the top-most left side of Slocan Lake (the part right up against Raven Creek) are overridden by the Research Facility.

Gameplay

  • I personally recommend you spawn at one of the vanilla areas (Muldraugh (harder), Riverside (easy + water access), Rosewood (easy), West Point (hardest)) since other map spawn points might not work properly or might place you somewhere unbalanced or in a glitched room you cannot escape.

  • You probably want the Cat's Eyes trait, and Fast Learner and perhaps Fast Reader if you're going to keep up with the TV schedule (see next point). Also, Very Underweight, Weak Stomach, and High Thirst are practically free points. You can offset all of these pretty easily so long as you're not planning on living in the wilderness. Then you can take that TV Enthusiast (catch all the TV shows regardless of where you are), Keen Hearing (perceive zombies in your blind spots), Locksmith (check for alarms, pick locks), or even more powerful traits.

  • Life and Living is not the only TV station to learn stuff anymore! Trelai HQ TV can also rapidly improve some of your skills an additional 1-3 levels. I pulled the schedule directly from the XML file and it can be viewed here. I assume the broadcast rules are the same as Life and Living's. The pulled schedule for every vanilla TV channel in the game can be viewed here.

    You should be optimizing your early XP gain, including rushing some of the beginner skill books. Doing so gets you up to level 4, 5, or even 6+ in several of the basic skills (cooking, carpentry, foraging, fishing) which are nice. You can further optimize your gains by watching VHS tapes as well.

  • You can use walkie talkies to lure zombies to a location of your choosing by "throwing your voice". You also want to get a walkie talkie with ear buds (or a radio with headphones, but the walkie can fit on your belt so I find it superior) ASAP, and figure out what frequency the AEBS is broadcasting on also ASAP.

  • Early on, don't try to fight more than one zombie at a time. If it's fight or flight, choose flight. Don't run, though. Sneak. Even if they're actively chasing you. You'll tire out much more slowly and gain skill points. Only run in brief bursts to escape being surrounded. Kite around zombies (move around groups of zombies using a diamond-like walking pattern) and, when you need to ditch them, quickly place a closed door between them and yourself. Trying to escape through a window is harder because they'll just follow you before you have a chance to close it. With a door, though, you can just slam it in their face.

  • You can hear when a door is about to break under the weight of a zombie attack. If you're planning to make a run for it, ensure the window is already open. You won't have time to open it once zombies enter the room.

  • Never enter a house without an exit strategy. Never hunker down in a room that doesn't have a second way out.

  • One of the installed mods allows you to check houses for alarm systems before entering (if you have the appropriate profession / trait). Do so!

  • At the beginning, if you're relatively new to the game or haven't played in a while, you should tear up 30-50 sheets. It's better to have them and not need them than to be pinned down with no clean rags/bandages and zombies milling about your door.

  • Look out for the popsicle fridge and other super rare high capacity freezers.

  • Eventually you'll be able to craft a journal that you can use to pass some of your knowledge on to those that come after you. Up until that point, try not to, you know, die.

  • Get a digital watch (usually off a zombie you beat up) ASAP, one that can wake you up at 5:50am with its alarm. I also wrote a little timer script that notifies me when the TV shows come on. I use it during the first week just to ensure I don't miss any of my shows!

  • Start stockpiling water in pots, buckets, empty tins, etc in your base. Have many before day 14. Also start stockpiling canned goods, and have at least two dozen stockpiled by day 14. Eat the perishables instead. Save the non-perishables (including stuff like chocolate and cereal) until after the power gets shut off.

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