Heat Map Explained in 7 Days to Die 1.0 | You May be Shocked!

[@pseudoposse]

Thanks to everyone from the last screamer video that inspired the creation of this one! Don't forget to download the spreadsheet (link in the description) for a list of all active heat generations sources! If you haven't seen the previous video about screamer avoidance, check it out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6nTapuNatCnp7s.

[@AzaleahGames]

Thank you SO much for this! And the spreadsheet. You've quickly become the creator I check as soon as I see there's a new video out. I just love the detail, I love understanding as much to be the best player I can be. You're the kind of creator I'm trying to be

[@mre4u422]

This is the exact kind of video I've been looking for

[@pseudoposse]

@@AzaleahGames That means so much to us, thank you! Good luck on your own content creation journey :)

[@mre4u422]

just a thought but what if heat builds while you're not there. like you set a bunch of stuff to cook, and/or craft while you're gone looting or completing trader quests. do screamers spawn and wait for you, do they destroy or try to destroy whatever is producing heat, or what exactly.

[@teinmeizeshi5209]

1:10 For a second there I thought it was gonna spell "HELP"

[@pseudoposse]

Lol nice!

[@Eventus777]

Haha... same here ;-)

[@Divide21]

In A21 I had a huge underground base with around 40 forges, 20cement mixers, 5 chem stations and about 10 workbenches all active at the same time, I couldn't tell you how annoying it was to walk outside the base to see a big whole dug by about 20 screamers everytime I left the base 🤣

[@pseudoposse]

That sounds like the worst kind of ambush lol

[@frenchfryfingers3031]

I am currently looking at digging a base.. do they spawn inside once you are low enough? or how does that mechanic work?

[@bentankard7276]

@@frenchfryfingers3031 They spawn on the surface above your base a little bit away from you, walk towards you and then try and dig down to the heat source

[@Divide21]

@@frenchfryfingers3031 From what I tested back in the previous version, they seem to only spawn on the land level. I left an empty room in my base with the soil/rock and came back later and nothing was ever spawning, I was hoping they would so I could setup a farm like minecraft, but what I do know is that they will never spawn on player placed blocks so if you build a base too big, make sure you build your own floor because last time I built a giant fort and zombies were spawning inside the base on the grass.

[@TheOldtimertvchannel]

I hear you. In my bedrock base, I set up a motion sensor to a speaker and connected it to an SMG/Shotgun turret. If I was below and a screamer/zombie showed up, the speaker would sound. If it didn't go off a few seconds later, I knew I had to go top side to take care of business.

[@mementomori5580]

Looking at 8:28, I would say that heat generation seems to not be based on Chunks, but on "Super Chunks" or something like that, where you have several Chunks (at least 3x4 Chunks based on the "Diagram" here, but probably more like 4x4 or even more) forming a "Super Chunk" and heat generation is based on those "Super Chunks". That's my thoughts so far at this point in the video... Edit: Yeah, looking at the fact that it stays consistent, it definitely a form of "Super Chunks"... the small chunks ar probably there just for computation and are some "sub-chunks" of much bigger chunks on which the heat generation is based on, which is why the small chunks all show the exact same list, as long as they're part of the same big chunk.

[@gamerelated3887]

Ya, I noticed that too. Did you also notice that the chunks to the left were the ones that lit up. it would be interesting to see an entire 6k map. does it affect the chunks all the way to the edge of the map going left or is it just a large chunk (super chunk) with the noise-generating chunk being on the right edge of that? fascinating stuff.

[@pseudoposse]

That very well could be the explanation! I did notice with shooting however, that the heat spread more in the direction of the shot rather in the same exact pattern as the workstations.

[@mementomori5580]

@@pseudoposse Different things could be computed differently. The Workstations are a static object that have to regularly be computated, so having simplification there using chunks and super-chunks makes sense. Shooting on the other hand is an event happening on the player and moves with you, so it makes sense to have stuff be calculated there based on where you are and what direction you're shooting towards etc.

[@fourrpaws]

I remember hearing years ago that chunks were 64x64 which would correspond to these super-chunks (4x4 16x16 chunks). Maybe there’s some truth to this?

[@WolfgerSilberbaer]

LOL. I am also at 8:28 and thinking the exact same thing about super-chunks. My guess is we'll find it to be 5x5 since the top-rightt corner is at 270x-175

[@CautiousPancake]

Just want to say - I'm 2 mins into this video and absolutely hooked - so glad you made this follow up!! You are killing it!

[@pseudoposse]

Hope the rest of it was equally as riveting! You've been killing it as well, keep up the good work for the community!

[@CautiousPancake]

@@pseudoposse absolutely it was!

[@fletchslade5718]

Thank you for confirming that screamers can spawn in screamers! I had this discussion previously with some people and was told that I was completely wrong, even though I'd seen it happen in game.

[@pseudoposse]

No problem!

[@mephala7446]

In the old version of the game one of my friends caused so much heat it attracted a chain of screamers that lasted two days! Non stop screamers summoning hordes and more screamers (He hid in a house and lit up dozens of forges)

[@NTJedi]

As someone who's played over 5000 hours... I can confirm screamers can bring more screamers.

[@fletchslade5718]

@@NTJedi Closing in on 8K hours myself - but still, I get told I'm wrong all the time about things just because someone else has never seen it happen.

[@quattrokerbecs]

One time I attracted a screamer, and had the bright idea of seeing how many I could get at once. Eventually after sifting thru the zeds and getting an army of screamers, nothing would spawn anymore. Unfortunately I had to kill them off, becuz iirc the blood moon started and nothing was spawning becuz of the screamers xD

[@lonelystarslibrary9326]

That laugh at 1 minute was absolutely adorable!

[@pseudoposse]

Taco was just bragging the other day that she gets all of the compliments. Thanks!

[@MrMagyar5]

BEST KZbinR for 7d2d. Thank you. I know Heat as changed since alpha. Thank you for the comprehensive guide. It's got a lot of changes since alpha. One thing to note is that killing zombies with melee weapons and bows does not generate heat. One of the major reasons I don't like automatic weapons like the M90 and Submachine gun is that you generate SOOO much heat killing higher tier zombies. BTW. I was one of the people asking for this. Hate on me if you wish.

[@masterkevkev]

The amount of hate I have for you is high enough for me to accidentally punch a workbench and regrettably need to fetch forged iron 'n 2 other ingredients just to fix it >:c So, in other words, you owe me about 20 whole raw iron. I know, a big bill.

[@snarkyeconomist2141]

Just another reason to carry a silenced SMG.

[@user-zn7he5rm5t]

@@masterkevkev cant nobody out in the wastes muster a whole 20 raw iron! the bill fits the crime

[@pseudoposse]

Thank you for your contributions! You are correct, melee doesn't add to heat so it is a great way to avoid unwanted attention.

[@Setixir]

I would hate you less if stealth wasn't so... Stupid? I really wouldn't mind stealth if the POIs didn't have stupid spawn behind my back zombies on it. Or force me to drop down in the middle of 20 zombies where shooting is really my only option. Shits annoying. On the other hand I can just mod this stuff out so it could be worse I guess.

[@peterarguelles6322]

Never seen any of your videos, just stumbled across this, and you've definitely got my sub, great informative video 👍

[@pseudoposse]

Thanks and welcome aboard!

[@RageyRage82]

I got into an endless screamer loop a few days ago. I only had a bone knife, a level 1 stone spear, and a level 1 bow with stone arrows. I was not making a dent, and no matter how far I ran, they still caught up to me. So, I went and ran to the trader, stayed in the gate, and shot through the doors. Didn't work! Horde was just getting bigger and bigger, and my arrows were just not killing fast enough at all. Had to close the game, and reload lol! How did I get a screamer in the first place? By collapsing a metal beam that I wanted to get rid of. And it spawned two screamers, they screamed, spawned two more, and so on. Never had this problem before in all my years of playing! But your demonstrations will be in mind from now on as a little guide lol! But, knowing me... I will probably just get into that trouble again.

[@VividFlash]

Just go in one end of the trader and out the other? They should be gone then?

[@pseudoposse]

If you run far enough away, zombies should de-spawn :)

[@tiorast6802]

@@pseudoposse the thing is, better have enough stamina to not only outrun the zombies but be far away from them

[@pseudoposse]

@@tiorast6802 Quite true!

[@tiorast6802]

@@pseudoposse mega crush = i´m speed

[@thatrealba]

Look, I am a man's man and coming up on 50 years of age. Former military, ex-cop, used to hunt and climb mountains, avid gun guy. I have a badass muscle car and a lifted truck on big tires and a tractor and blah blah blah. But I am also a gamer and build computers and other geek and sundry (iykyk), and this video satisfies my internal nerd-on 100%. Excellent job. I love this channel so much.

[@xxlordbelxx1368]

The Chair did it.. And Chet made The Chair... Lmao

[@pseudoposse]

Thank you for your service sir! I think everyone has an inner geek, you've come to the right place :D

[@mlej123]

You sir sound like a legend !

[@ZombieNationLTD]

Lmao and an ex-humble person

[@JM_Solo]

@@richardmcdonald6237when you’ve lived as long as some of us and filled that life with experiences as unique as being a soldier and fighting for the freedoms of people like you who enjoy KZbin and not fighting daily battles for your life, you get to be a little self congratulatory in a KZbin comment. Have some perspective.

[@reynac8016]

Congrats to 10k! You guys totally deserve it. Keep up with good work 🎉

[@pseudoposse]

We will!! Thank you for the support :)

[@simonspoke]

So yeah peeps, I'm one of the inquisitive people you can blame for this... I'll take the "heat" on that one! 😘 Absolutely brilliant though... Thank you so much for addressing the questions I had from the last video. 🙏 Does the distance from the screamer work the same vertically as well as horizontally? 😂 (I presume it does) Would be interesting to find out why the heat seemed to filter in some chunk directions rather than others. From your experimentations and the lovely on screen graphics, it seemed to be in the same direction, but maybe it's random? 🤔 Anyhoo, another thing that would be interesting is the way they path to you, although I know you did some work on this already. But I noticed in normal random gameplay, if blocks in the way of the shortest path had less "health" than a door, they would bash the blocks down to get to you, but if they had more, they would go for the door. (Or maybe it's the least "health" object regardless of the door?) Maybe it's a combination of distance and "health", and doors change the scenario too? Not sure on the numbers though... Maybe a topic for another video? 😉

[@mementomori5580]

I don't think there is any kind of "direction" in which heat propagates. It's far more likely that several chunks comprise a "super chunk" or rather, that the 16x16 "chunks" are actually sub-chunks of a bigger chunk (might be that 4x4 of those chunks shown in the video comprise a big chunk and heat generation is based on those big chunks instead of the small 16x16 ones). Considering that it stayed consistent the whole time which chunks shared the heat and which not, this makes much more sense and heat propagating to neighboring chunks (that seems far to much unnecessary computation for the mechanic).

[@simonspoke]

@@mementomori5580 Sounds reasonable. 👍

[@pseudoposse]

Thanks for taking your share of the blame 😁. To answer your question, the distance, whether vertical or horizontal doesn't matter. Build in whatever direction you like! In general, zombies will go the easiest route. I suspect they somehow compute a time to reach you...is it faster to bash through a wall or walk a longer route. Doors do seem to break that as they are drawn to them even if it has more hp then the wall. There is definitely a relationship between distance and health. Could be something there for a future video 😉

[@simonspoke]

​@@pseudoposse Time is an interesting notion... I wonder how the different zombie movement speeds would affect that one if that's the case? hmmmm 🤔 Always happy to keep suggesting ideas if you're happy to keep experimenting. 😉 Keep up the great work dude. 👍 Oh, one question about heat sources... if you axe/pickaxe or wrench/impact drive an object (like a radiator or a sofa), under what source of heat would it be? Like a metal/wood/concrete block equivalent being hit? And does the tool matter or not in that instance? (As the mechanical tools seem to make more heat)

[@theguru143]

*Sets an apple on the desk* Thank you Professor Posse for this thorough education class on heat generation. Just as in college, I must now dwell on all of this information and allow it to blossom in to understanding that I can implement. Was it a lot of numbers and info? YES! Was it awesome (to my geeky brain)? Absolutely. You have to be the most dedicated and thorough creator out there and your efforts combined with Taco's skills at helping the viewers easily visualize and enjoy what you create is so well done. As always, thank you for all the time it took for you to research this, create it and the spreadsheet, and all the editing time as well. Most likely don't realize the time it took to create this single video.

[@pseudoposse]

You can always expect lots of numbers and overly geeky stuff around these parts. I'll expect your first homework assignment on my desk by next week ;)

[@pragmapack]

setting an apple on a desk generates heat

[@crochetpurplecats]

I watched this video because of an interesting event with a screamer during game play. I was clearing a POI in the Burnt Forest. I entered the final loot room which had 3 radiated spiders alng with some radiated bikers. There was also two vultures trying to break through a huge hole in the ceiling. Needless, to say I was nearly dead as I was trying only to use a stun baton. I switched to SMG to finish them off before I died. I was limited to movement in the attic by a large fire flaming out from a pipe in the huge heater in the center of the attic. I only had one vulture left and he was screaming like crazy trying to break the hole in the roof to get to me. That was when I heard the beginning noise of a screamer. I was near death and low on ammo. I knew I wouldn't survive trying to find then take care of the screamer. I quickly crouched and put myself on the other side of the fire and quickly built a box around me with building blocks hoping that would block me from her view enough to regain some health and stamina. To my surprise, she never screamed. I crouched from 23:00 to 5:45, listening to the sounds of her trying to locate me. The only thing I can figure out is the fire and the multiple layers of building blocks I used to fill in the many holes around me, prevented her from ever locating me. She never screamed and eventually left. I'm not sure if it was luck or a bug or just the unique presence of the fire, but she never located me and so never screamed.

[@pseudoposse]

If she doesn't have line of sight, or hear you...she will be completely oblivious to your presence.

[@cryptgod4543]

Police car alarm? First time I've heard it, I had no clue the potential danger I've been in so many times. 😂

[@pseudoposse]

Consider yourself informed now!

[@rewto5131]

Finally! I have been trying to understand this mechanic for TOO long.

[@pseudoposse]

Glad to provide!

[@jchysteria]

The video I needed for my crafting base. Reworked a POI and needed some of this.

[@pseudoposse]

Happy to help!

[@jasondotson1186]

I've had screamers spawn while talking to traders and I've had them spawn by simply pulling up my vehicle to my base that has nothing running. But I'll go Into a tier 6 POI and unload 500 rounds into zombies but never see one haha. Definitely feels like those screamers do what they want 😅

[@wrathofsocrus]

It used to have all heat start in the chunk it was generated in and slowly bled to surrounding chunks. Now the chunks are bigger, and chunks of chunks all gain the same heat. It's likely the larger POI's sit on the corner 4 super chunks. If the corner is roughly in the middle then there's a good chance you are splitting the heat generated up 4 ways. Something tells me they did this purely to reduce CPU overhead so they could make they zombie bullet tracking and dodging even more absurd.

[@matthewmckenzie1404]

5 minutes into the video and I've learned everything I wanted to know about 1.0 heat mechanics. Very detailed and well made video.

[@pseudoposse]

Fantastic!!

[@todgeistyoshukai3477]

I've got over 3,000hrs in this game in many of the alphas and even the old console version too, and screamers are definitely more prevalent now! My basic two campfire base that I wasn't doing a lot with called in a rad screamer in the desert biome in literal minutes while trying to do some crafting. I think this is the fun pimp's way of making the game "more challenging" without actually putting in effort by creating those bandits they keep talking about. They just upped hit points and made screamers a constant issue... I downloaded a mod to lower the heat generation because I literally have to run one crafting station at a time if I am base building. I took my dew collectors and put them on a high platform 100m from my base, just the fact that they create heat is ridiculous. I even built a couple of campfires there just for purifying water.

[@pseudoposse]

Oh bandits, when shall we actually see thee. But yeah, that is their way of making the game more difficult without adding any new features.

[@teoteutza9400]

You're amazing dude! the Fun Pimps should really pay you for thoroughly testing their game! :D

[@UCRjGzq33NDIz-YPwfuDBM8A]

Super useful information. I didn't even notice feral zombies have much stronger sensing abilities. I though those spawned in POIs are set to chase players without any requirements anyway...... It seems they just have EXTREMELY STRONG sensitivity.

[@pseudoposse]

Feral sense has a HUGE effect on their sense range. If you ever go into a city with feral sense on, be prepared for some action :D

[@jahamesalome4877]

wow. you not only followed directions to a T. you fulfilled us completely and you created a fully loved video in a pinch. amazing. subscription earned for sure.

[@pseudoposse]

Glad you enjoyed it and welcome aboard!

[@mattemodin666]

About the feral sense testing: thank you so much! That's why TFP change bedrock: before it was over 40 (43 ~ 47 in general), now it's around 34, therefore underground mining is not a walk in the park anymore.

[@pseudoposse]

That makes sense, very sneaky of the devs haha :D

[@bags4649]

This one is something that got me into some trouble as well, stupid me went into stone mining that was on bedrock and was digging a line away, and because it was the first time doing it in 1.0, because i had built a base into a POI with concrete walls, i thought I dont need no weapons on me, so I'll just take some mining gear, slapped on the mining armor, to be butt gang raped by screamers digging down and landing into the tunnel I had made behind me, trust me when I say a steel pick 1 and shovel dont cut it against a screamers horde,

[@mattemodin666]

@@bags4649 Not only that: there is a bug, so zombies could fall off the world right to the bedrock. I'm a heavy underground miner and my first 1.0 playthrough (70 days) I got 5 screamers due to the bug. The positive: they never call the horde, just attack you.

[@GhostSot]

271-175 was the heat source and encompassed that region to the left. If you moved to 271-174 with the heat source, those areas to the right would have had heat.

[@pseudoposse]

A very good question indeed!

[@fray6258]

Again: WOW! You sure do a lot of work for us survivors! Thank you. I never use a POI for my craft base, I just place my camp in an empty field and put my horde base 100 meters away (more or less) But when I get to mid game when I need more production, I place 3 forges about 100 meters in a different direction, thinking that the heat generated by 3 forges going full blast in a chunk well away from me will not spawn a screamer. Am I right? It seems to work...

[@pseudoposse]

If the forges are 100 meters away from you, that could be far enough way for the screamers to not spawn in :)

[@fray6258]

To answer my own question: No. She shows up, wanders around for a minute until she calls the others and THEN we have a party.

[@osarmys]

wow, I am going to locate all water now! Thanks for the amazing contents!

[@pseudoposse]

Our pleasure! And good luck with your move!

[@weldabar]

This is all good information, but there needs to be a simple summary as most players cannot hold all this info in their heads while playing. I'm not up to the task, but it could include: • screamers will always come, so be prepared (see below) • build your base 8 (15) blocks above where the screamers will wander in (above ground, or above their heads?) • when screamers show up at your base, crouching greatly reduces being detected (obviously) • put spike traps or turrets to kill the screamers before they detect you (unless you want to fight the hordes) ... I look forward to part III in the series (lol)

[@pseudoposse]

Thank you for the great feedback! We can add a summary in the future for these types of videos :) We'll see about part 3 lol!

[@TheMadDelirius]

Great video. I love creating heat so I leave my fires and all heat sources running non stop. It makes the game more fun and challenging. What I noticed is that there's a limit on how many screamers will spawn no matter how much heat you keep producing.

[@pseudoposse]

A different school of thought :D There is a limit to the number of screamers spawned so once you do spawn them in, it doesn't hurt to make more heat.

[@wintersteale]

I get the feeling the heat gen is a bit more random and possibly even different for each player. I can run 2 stations and get scouts sometimes but I have a friend that has a guarantee to get screamers for using the same 2 stations ALL the time. I know the spawn is supposed to be a random possibility but we have been playing together for a few years and on many different servers with him always having screamers show up. He has to triple reinforce his base and still comes back to zeds inside and smashed out blocks. It's so regular that he makes his own base a bit away from the rest of us due to how often they show up.

[@pseudoposse]

Maybe he just perpetually has worse luck then you :D It is all probability and there are other factors beyond the crafting stations that generate heat. As I mentioned, there are nearly 300 actions (as of 1.0) that can also generate heat so maybe your friend is just very noisy :D

[@FaithOriginalisme]

maybe your friend is like me and has to constantly go back into containers cuz i forgot something

[@wintersteale]

@@FaithOriginalisme lol that would be a good reason if he was actually there all the time. A lot of times he's out and about or just got back.

[@Andreas-pt8le]

@@wintersteale Does he like torches or other passive generators you don't? Do you crouch in base and he doesn't? Is he a shotgun user? Some different possibilities there :)

[@hcharlequinharlequincorps8394]

One side note. On horde night the heat map resets in the morning, only it doesn't. If you have a bank of campfires burning before morning you can get screamers coming in almost immediately. But there is a reset on the heat map. But you can grunt through it by just having a lot of campfires burning from about 2 AM on to morning. If you wait until after morning it takes a while to build the heat back up again, like 2-3 minutes at least. Second note, it's probably in the spreadsheet but the screamer scream itself adds significantly to heat. Heat is collectively heat/sound/light. So.. there you go. What I would be interested to know, is if a screamer can spawn in multiple waves, or is it just 1 wave per screamer, and hope a screamer wave includes more screamers. It feels like 1.0 it's 1 wave per screamer, which means they nerfed them quite a bit. Prior to 1.0 you wouldn't get screamers coming in until 50 heat, so thank you for figuring out the 25 heat thing. The group of chunks, if I understand what the server admins are dealing with, is a region. Because they load the region, not the chunk, if you have a buggy chunk, they reload the region, the group of chunks. 7DTD is not made for long term server run games so server admins tear their hair out on a regular basis trying to fix the cumulative problems that stack up. But a good server can run 200+ zombies for days at a time on screamer spawn, I think the longest running fight I've been on was 4 days straight fight. Good times.

[@pseudoposse]

That is good to know about hordes! For screamer waves, 1-2 screamers can spawn per wave.

[@grumpynomad3551]

Simple way around screamers is build your base on stilts and put spikes around them. They path the same if you build a ramp and bridge to a kill area as well.

[@pseudoposse]

That will definitely do the trick! If you build high or low enough, you can avoid their attention as I discussed in our previous video.

[@chuckvelzy6615]

Love the guides you have been putting out. Thank you for going in depth to explain this. Me and my buddy have a world and were discussing this last night.

[@pseudoposse]

That is amazing to hear!

[@alexdog6878]

You convey information so fantastically well. The quality of the video and the visual aids are great. Thank you for a great video

[@pseudoposse]

Both taco and I thank you!!

[@Jungleer]

Gibbed that spreadsheet...real good...yeah! Thank you for the info! Now I'm gunna go divide by zero some hapless zombie!

[@pseudoposse]

Haha no problem!!

[@Eventus777]

Extremely detailed and... nerdy... thanks a lot for your high effort you put into this! 🧟‍♂🧟

[@pseudoposse]

Exactly our style!

[@beatinbuzzers]

Just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work! You are my new go-to for 7DTD info! Good shit homie!

[@pseudoposse]

My wife taco and I put a lot of time into these videos! She edits and does the thumbnails and I do all the building/testing/recording. Thanks for stopping by!

[@beatinbuzzers]

@@pseudoposse The Dynamic Duo!

[@Ry852]

My takeaway is we still need more info. Tons of useful info in this video, but it feels like we have more questions than answers in the end. I wonder why the chunks to the right did not have heat generated. I wonder if you move the crafting stations to different parts of the chunk if it changes how the heat is radiated to the surrounding chunks. Also this info aligns with my in game experiences. Since 1.0 I have made to POI crafting bases, one in the center of a large Silo and the other in the Mausoleum. We had terrible problems with screamers chain spawning around the silo, but with the walls and just putting down some wood spikes if have yet to hear a screamer without it dying on the spikes before we could get out to see it. As a catch all solution, for your crafting base it seems you would want to build 50 blocks up before placing crafting stations, and spikes around whatever you are using as the stilts for that base.

[@pseudoposse]

I was wondering why the crafting stations were doing that as well. Interestingly, when I shot a gun, or used the auger, the pattern was different (spread more in the direction of the action). It could be they have a specific pattern and others are suggesting that there could be "super chunks".

[@wrathofsocrus]

@@pseudoposse In older versions with 10x10 chunks I would build my base so that workstations were at least 11 blocks apart so they wouldn't all be in the same chunk. Heat would spread but it was easy enough to have storage in the middle and just change which set of stations I used more heavily to spread out the heat. Without god mode it's gonna be hard to figure out where the corner of the super chunk is, and that might not be an ideal spot for a base. This seems quite deliberate to stop people from gaming the system. I get it but I'm not a fan of the way they went about it. They could have added something if multiple adjacent chunks produce workstation heat to increase screamer production or something. This seems like a band-aid where only duct tape will do.

[@pseudoposse]

@@wrathofsocrus I think it isn't worth it to try and min/max the placement of your base in your chunks while you play. That would ruin immersion for me to try and pinpoint the perfect spot to reduce heat as much as possible. Instead, just be aware of how heat generation works, and try to minimize heat causing actions as much as possible. And when she does spawn, construct your base to either make her oblivious to your existence, or to eliminate her.

[@Rilas711]

Haven't watched the video yet. Just wanted to say thank you for making it. All other videos I could find on the Heat Map subject are years old and I'm assuming out dated. I've been having a blast with the game since the 1.0 release. Really looking forward to more from the dev team.

[@pseudoposse]

I am glad to provide a more up to date discussion of the topic! You're welcome!

[@mechanical_chaos]

This is legitimately good. I see plenty of people make bad assertions about how the game works because there is rarely consolidated information based off numbers easily available out there. Quite simply the community needs videos like this, so thank you! This also explains why screamer generation now feels like such a toss up. Not a fan of the changes, but am a fan of this channel!

[@pseudoposse]

Much appreciated! You could use mods to reduce the amount of heat generated per source. But short of that, you can construct a base which will minimize getting noticed by a screamer.

[@Ovi3009]

hello, I really like the content you make because you explain the meaning to everyone and help players who have a problem or who want to start playing this wonderful game but don't know how to start a base like I am at the moment :)) . I will spend a lot of time watching your videos but what does it matter as long as I accumulate useful information about the game I feel better and better!

[@pseudoposse]

Very nice to hear that! Good luck on your base building and have fun!

[@GodsNinja0_0]

A screamer spawned in my base yesterday. Scared the 💩 out of me 😱

[@riaria8643]

[@Grossmond]

Curious to see what a heat reset and retest again from chunk 269-175 would look like. Using your compass for cardinal directions my first thought was that heat traveled east & west for 1 chunk and then south for several chunks which made me think wind might be a factor, but when I read the chunk/super chunk conversation in the comments here I wondered if (like in that conversation) the heat impacts a super chunk all at once and none of the surrounding super chunks. Making your results less a bug and more an interesting discovery. If heat isn't tied to a super chunk (or there is some wind factor included) then moving it to 270-174 would adjust where the current heat is generating in a consistent 1 up and 1 over layout. Not factoring for what heat is being generated off grid as it's not currently visible. If heat is tied to super chunk then moving to 169-175 would generate heat (on your current grid) from there to 269-178, and moving to 270-174 would flip the impacted chunks the opposite direction. Using a grid layout starting at 0-0, the heat layout you show at 8:28, and the idea heat impacts and a super chunk equally it looks like a super chunk is 4x5 chunks (or I mathed wrong). Opening up 2 chunks south, and 3 chunks east would prove/disprove that idea as at that point you should have a 4x5 super chunk with heat surrounded by cold chunks on all sides. If all that proves true then building a base at the meeting point of 4 super chunks and using that to distribute heat generating equipment amongst all 4 of them would reduce the rate at which you would have screamers spawn. On the inverse you could end up in a situation of triggering multiple spawns if you had 2 or more super chunks hit the 25 mark all at once or back to back.

[@Arazthoru]

Thought I knew something about this topic but this was so educational, learned a lot for sure

[@pseudoposse]

Mission accomplished then! Glad to hear

[@Skitzobunnie]

Regarding the heat spreading to neighboring chunks, in A20 or A21(I forget which I tested it in) the heatmap was tracked in 'heat chunks' which are 3x3 sets of chunks causing any heat in any of the 9 chunks there-in to spread/share but not outside of that 'heat chunk'. That's why you can cross from one chunk to another and the heat is suddenly gone if no heat has been generated in that 'heat chunk'. Given the example you've shown with the overhead view it looks like that is no longer confined to a 3x3 set of chunks. I haven't taken the time yet to retest & see if that behavior has changed and/or the size of the new 'heat chunks'. Hope this adds some insight to how the mechanic likely still operates, though with the 'heat chunks' having had their size modified.

[@pseudoposse]

I think it is likely that it is a larger grouping now. Possibly 4x4 or 5x5.

[@Skitzobunnie]

@@pseudoposse So I went & retested it and it's now 5x5 sets of chunks for heat spread with 1.0. So hope that helps clarify that for folks.

[@ipastsavagei9553]

Hi, I commented on the last video about "what's the heat threshold to spawn a screamer?" While I'm glad you made a follow-up (by the way, I'm new to the channel), I feel like there could have been a better approach that uses fewer numbers. For example: it takes "X" number of forges running at the same time to spawn one screamer. Then, maybe make it more complex by stating how many "X" forges plus "Y" chem stations at the same time (or if they produce equal heat, then just mention that). Telling me what the code is generating versus what my example was just seems very convoluted. I hope my comment doesn't offend you. I come from watching other people break down other games, such as Exclusive Ace from Call of Duty, who does an amazing job of getting the point across in a way that is both informative and easy to understand. I also understand that these are two completely different games, but my point still stands. I hope my comment helps.

[@pseudoposse]

I appreciate the honest constructive feedback! I am not offended so no worries. There's many ways one can present the data and summarize and one way will suit others but not everyone. You do make some good points in your suggestions and in the future, I can think of some alternative ways to summarize the results. In my mind, presenting the results how I did would allow you to extrapolate that sort of information but I can see plus side of explicitly showing some examples. Most crafting stations generate 5 heat (except dew collector). We know they generate 5 every hour and since they lose all their heat after 5 hours, that means they lose 1 heat per hour (as the decay is constant). So knowing all that, it becomes easy to calculate how many stations it would take to potentially spawn a screamer given the 25 heat threshold.

[@gettingtherevegan421]

I will say, killing animals does generate heat. If heat generated equals zombie aggression then it happens for sure. Whenever I kill a bear, unseen zombies that I didn’t notice come running towards the dead animal.

[@pseudoposse]

It definitely should generate heat, but it was interesting that I wasn't seeing it in debug mode

[@Andreas-pt8le]

Looked like the heat accumulation is based on a bigger grid than chunks? Both your active and passive test had the same triggered chunks. From your test at least 4*4 chunks or 64 by 64. If it's true it would mean that having a base straddle two "bigger chunguses" you could split the passive heat from for example forges and dew collectors. And finding where four corners meet is golden. If you have the save, the corner between row 1 and 2, column 4 and 5 of your grid looks like it could be the meeting point of 4 chunguses for testing. If true then you could test the size of the chunguses by testing column 4, row 2 of your grid, and then extend row 2 to the left till you find a no heat chunk. There could also be a correlation with these chunguses in how screamers spawn into and area and start searching, and even how wandering hordes have the the run then loiter behaviour. Could also be interesting to see if From the shadows have any impact on heat from the active actions. Nice video, thanks ofr doing it :)

[@pseudoposse]

You're welcome! It definitely appears the heat spread occurs within a larger grid for passive heat generators. For active heat generators like guns, that seems to be more correlated with the direction of the action.

[@Rengray2]

The way that heat from one chunk exists in some neighboring chunks but not other neighboring chunks implies that TFP have an additional, larger scale mapping that they're using. What reinforces this for me is that the also-heated chunks have what looks like their own "square" pattern. I think this could be confirmed/denied with an even larger chunk map on your part. 🙂 It would make sense - assuming they want heat to not be concentrated in a single chunk, but in the chunks around a player's base - if they had a different mechanism that "mirrors" the heat across a larger grid. edit: It would be like making a map in Minecraft where only a part of your base shows up when you make a map because it's sitting across a chunk divide.

[@mdstanford15]

How much heat does smashing the like button generate?

[@pseudoposse]

I'll have to conduct some experiments :D

[@MajorBraumstrong]

Regarding what you said at 8:05 - it seems plausible that instead of heat generating per chunk, it's actually generated per group of chunks. Based on just what was shown in the video it's impossible to know for certain, but based on the world sizes I'd assume areas of 4x4 chunks (9216 such areas in a 6144m x 6144m world) or 8x8 chunks (2304 such areas in a 6144m x 6144m world).

[@pseudoposse]

Yeah it could be that heat is generated within a larger group of chunks for crafting stations. It seems active sources of heat are at least partially based on direction as shooting in the same chunk as I conducted the crafting station tests yields a different looking heat map spread.

[@Member3285]

This is epic excellence! Thanks for investing so much time into the data!

[@pseudoposse]

Our pleasure! You're welcome!

[@JK-dj6ps]

8:11 heat stops propagating in 269 and 174, if I were to take a guess it's likely a sort of "heat chunk" system where one heat chunk contains a 5*5 loading chunks, starting at any chunk that ends with 0 or 5 on both coordinates and ending at any chunk that ends with 9 or 4 on both coordinates

[@pseudoposse]

I think that is very likely.

[@_JoJo1995Cool]

I made a screamer base attached to my actual base (which is in a POI) cause If I’m at my base for most of the day I easily get 3 screamers throughout the day it’s bloody ridiculous. Very informative video but in mid-late game I don’t think there is really anything you can do about preventing them more about being prepared for them

[@Re3Ns]

Wow what a guide! Subscribed. I noticed in my current playthrough of 124 days, that screamers cannot spawn if there is another game event active, like a wandering horde or vultures flying around above my base. Would be interesting if you could test that too. Don't have to make a video on it though ;)

[@pseudoposse]

Hmm, I would imagine another event might pause screamer event from triggering! I don't think I have ever seen multiple simultaneous events.

[@bags4649]

Curious, never seen such a thing either, but never thought that they would be linked like that... Very interesting

[@davidhuang8406]

Very detailed with awesome editing. Keep it up

[@aliasmask]

Great Video. On our server we love making "screamer" bases in the wasteland to pump up our kills. Now if I can only get my pool to be 2 blocks deep (sigh), I'll be set.

[@pseudoposse]

Haha good luck!

[@TheImageryGuy]

Does that also include heat generation from going potty? You know, those port-a-potty plastic buildings (always have zombies but never any loot)? In the zombie apocalypse, when you gotta go, you gotta go. You know those times you find a To-Go takeout bag of Taco Bell Burritos and inhale them in seconds? That probably going to qualify as heat generation in about an hour, when you have to hit the port-a-potty multiple times, opening and closing the door to keep the smell from following you. I mean, they pump that food full of preservatives, so a bag of taco bell could probably last for years.

[@kevinsiscoe]

8:28 It looks like the chunks are arranged in larger groups of 5x5 Starting from 0 up to 4, and 5 through 9. If true, this means you could put your base on the chunks ending in 0, 4, 5, or 9, and have a "Safe" space in the group of chunks directly adjacent. OR you could split your base between the groups to reduce screamers. Also, Top tier content. Thank you for taking the time to do the research! For data nuts like me your channel is gold.

[@pseudoposse]

I appreciate that thank you! To your point, I think that is accurate. Though if you are not playing with debug mode on, you have no way of knowing the boundaries of the chunks. So that would be hard to min/max if you aren't using dm.

[@MrIdiotkiwi]

​@pseudoposse you possibly could if the chunk size relates to the distance displayed on the in-game map, and we knew what the reference point for the chunks was.

[@pseudoposse]

@@MrIdiotkiwi Hmm that is a possibility. There could be a reliable way to do that.

[@Andreas-pt8le]

@@pseudoposse Piggy backing. I would be really surprised if it doesn't correlate, you find it through debug mode, there would be little point in trying to obfuscate it further :) You could also figure out if it's actually 5*5 or something else by dividing you chunk number with you map position.

[@Goodknight47]

devs watching their sophisticated mechanic explained: "We have created a monster"

[@pseudoposse]

👹

[@rickygee8412]

He came with the heat today 🔥

[@pseudoposse]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Illythid]

HAHAHA! Thank you! I love this at so many levels! Love the puzzle aspect!

[@pseudoposse]

You're very welcome!

[@elphoenixx6127]

You are da real MVP! Im a 7 days nerd but id say you are king of the nerds!!!!

[@pseudoposse]

Lol thanks for the honorary title!

[@omicronpersei9510]

Your testing is leagues above everyone else!

[@jameswalton5733]

I still have a few questions left unanswered about heat generation and localization. When you showed the top down view of the chunks with heat and without, I noticed how it was in a grid pattern. I suspect that the devs actually have a second tier of chunks for heat in comparison to normal chunks, let's call them heat chunks for now. I think heat chunks are a 5x5 of standard chunks, or some form of x by x to ensure the heat generated at a players base captures all (or most) heat generated to properly spawn screamers when the trigger happens. I would recommend doing a third video with the test being that of a standard chunk grid that's 20x20 to ensure it's large enough (I would personally suggest 30x30 but I know it's a pain to set up 20x20, let alone a 30x30) and generate some heat and show how large of an area the heat chunks are in comparison to standard chunks.

[@pseudoposse]

There is definitely a pattern. I am curious how far the heat extends to the left but I don't think it would go much further. When shooting, I saw that the heat spread no more then like 3 chunks away (furthest spread in the direction of the shot). So I think it is probably contained in a set region. Not sure if we'll do another video on the topic but I might do something else. Thank you for the suggestions!

[@lho10101]

A quick addition you should do is to move the heat generation into different chunks of your grid to see if you have identified super chunks. Or if the heat always spreads out in the same manner regardless of where the source is. (Edit to also say thanks for your hard work. On both videos.)

[@pseudoposse]

That would be interesting to check out! There could be "super chunks".

[@jerthon1]

Now make a screamer farm/horde base.

[@pseudoposse]

Good suggestion!

[@hcharlequinharlequincorps8394]

heh. Just run about 9 or so campfires for a couple hours (game hours) and don't kill the screamers. You can have screamers spawn screamers that spawn screamers and each screamer calls another siege of zombies.

[@synti737]

Yes yes but most important question of them all: how can we best game the heat system and either avoid screamer spawns or maximize their spawns for max XP? Honestly though, great vid - love this in-depth style!

[@pseudoposse]

Avoiding screamer spawns was actually detailed in the previous video. There I tested ranges and blocks to keep yourself out of hearing distance and line of sight. For maximizing xp, simply crank up the heat and make a kill zone :)

[@futuristicbus61]

I’ve never had a solid grasp of this mechanic, so I’m super excited to see a proper guide on this.

[@pseudoposse]

There hasn't been a recent guide on the subject so I'm glad we could fill the void :)

[@BaeleinGamez]

The pattern shown on the chunk heat map would suggest that there is also a larger "chunk" which consists of 4x4 chunks that share the passive heat. To verify this, you might need to make your chunk heat map much larger.

[@pseudoposse]

Yeah good point. You and others have come to that hypothesis which could very well be the case.

[@DetroitDave76]

The phrase is Reap what you have sown... not what you have sowed. Great Vid Thumbs up!

[@pseudoposse]

You are correct, I bungled the pronunciation at the end there 🤣

[@nickjohnson9640]

For purple clothes: grape what you have sewed

[@AndiKoehn]

Thank you for the work! 😊👍

[@pseudoposse]

Absolutely!

[@TheLordNugget]

The heating of surrounding chunks suggests an intentional change. People used to activate their workstations and then leave so that screamers would not spawn. This allows for screamers to still spawn. Also, the map made it appear as though it's a chunk within a chunk type system.

[@pseudoposse]

The devs definitely made changes to make screamers harder to avoid. It would certainly seem like there is a larger chunk configuration.

[@King-O-Hell]

I'm playing with a mod that causes 4x spawns so I thought I was getting more screamers because of that. But I guess it's just how the spawning works now and I'm getting the same as everyone else. Interesting vid

[@StormEagle5]

Huh, I didn't know there was a max range for feral sense. Other people's reports of feral sense made me think it was just all zombies were aware of you all the time. Could you do a test of feral sense please? And maybe stealth in general? It'd be interesting to see if you could have feral sense active, but also be able to stealth when you want to (eg going AFK for a short time or when busy in base)

[@pseudoposse]

If memory serves correctly, each zombie has a different feral sense modifier so there will be a slight spectrum of effects on their sensitivity toward sound. You can stealth around with feral sense on, but it will make it harder. I can look into it to see if there is enough for a video :)

[@KismetBP]

Fantastically well thought out, to the point, and great video. +1 Sub ❤🤘

[@pseudoposse]

Welcome aboard! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@frankudero4209]

Bruh...that was a lot of work. Deserved a sub.

[@pseudoposse]

Thank you very much! Welcome 🤗

[@Shin0bi272]

I just did a tier 4 mission on survivalist difficulty at installation blue ridge yesterday and even though I went through almost the entire mission crouched and using a level 6 compound crossbow I did use a suppressed AK for the last room with the big group in it. When I exited the top of the mountain there were 4 feral screamers outside. Its like the game went oh you survived that mission? well we'll make sure you die now.

[@rockcave6919]

A boring subject but you made it visually entertaining and fun and you worded it nice for me to understand good job

[@pseudoposse]

No problem! I tried my best to make all the number analysis as entertaining as possible.

[@serainman]

I thought i was putting too many hours into 7 days. And then I saw this video.

[@pseudoposse]

Happy to put things in perspective 😆

[@reccarecca4262]

Cool stuff. I was watching a video the other day where someone mentioned that holding the auger generates a lot less heat than repeated clicking and I was wondering how that worked.

[@cynic5581]

Video idea if you haven’t done it yet. Ammo types, regular vs HP vs AP. Which zombies are armored? Are different zombies armored more than other armored zombies. Are their faces that are clearly not armored actually not armored aka does an armor value apply regardless? Edit: I might take that back. I was looking at the stats on the fandom. In game it looks like the AP is better regardless.

[@arhmichal]

seems like chunks are also grouped into chunkier chunks - heat spread over nearby chunks, the 'heated' chunks seem to form a square. try moving heat onto nearby 'cold' chunk. i guess you'll heat up all the cold chunks to the right and all previous heated chunks will be cold

[@theragingsky]

Just because something is in an XML config file doesn't mean the code is ever meant to reference it. It may be an inherited property from a super class like "entity" that requires everything to have such a property, but this subclass might be ignored entirely in the heat generation code.

[@pseudoposse]

That is true. It doesn't seem like it uses the 100 heat anymore as I never saw it during my time testing. Getting into the weeds of classes, inheritance, configs being loaded but unused in the code is definitely outside the scope of the video. Nevertheless, I greatly appreciate the technicality!

[@destroyingangel9838]

Screamer death loop, is a real thing, I didn't live through that in the winter biome just recently.

[@mementomori5580]

Here is another test: To the chunks affect screamer hearing distance? Because crouching affects the distance, my guess would be "no", but seeing that the distance without crouching is 16 blocks, so 1 chunk-length, depending on where you test setup is, you might get different results regarding the distance...

[@pseudoposse]

You might get different results, but I suspect noise doesn't work on the chunk system. Chunks don't seem to track noise like they do heat.

[@Amiculi]

That grid for which chunks have heat and which don't makes it look like the game must have some sort of 'super chunk' in addition to standard chunks that share heat, though how big it is I couldn't tell you, may be 4x4, 8x8 or even larger, we only have a 4x3 area on screen in your test. I'm guessing it's whatever grid size you see on the map that towns generate into, they're made up of apparent discreet squares, though how big each one is I don't know.

[@pseudoposse]

I think based off all the comments, it is probable that there is a 4x4 or 5x5 "super chunk".

[@cynic5581]

So how does armor noise work? Does it have any cumulative effect? Basically, if opening a chest while crouched increases the distance the screamer hears you so what about crouched while wearing assassin gear? Love your videos btw, this technical stuff is fantastic. I’m staring at your Google drive spreadsheet and hate the drone even more. 😂

[@pseudoposse]

Armor noise modifiers will decrease or increase the noise you make. So if you stack a lot of noise reduction modifiers, it will allow you to make noise at closer distances.

[@Anomalous3-od9gq]

Have a happy, thank you

[@SaiceShoop]

multiple chunks are most likely put into groups in the region. I suspect all the chunks of this larger group are tied together to save on process load. If I was a betting man I would assume a 16x16 collection of chunks would be in this group.

[@pseudoposse]

That is a reasonable explanation.

[@looking4themountain]

Never dismiss a gaming communities desire to sort out the META

[@pseudoposse]

Indeed, FATAL mistake

[@kevinspaulding8459]

Thanks for the testing! They have broke the heat in this game imo.

[@pseudoposse]

It very well could require some balancing. Or worst case scenario, some mods :)

[@84SuperBeast]

Great job with the testing. Did you happen to check if dew collectors continue to generate heat when their inventory is filled or do they "turn off" at that point?

[@pseudoposse]

I didn't check if they generate heat once full, that is a good point!

[@1x4]

I'm seriously ticked off with the screamers in 1.0. I had all entrances blocked off in the basement of a military poi and a radiated screamer spawned inside, just one door away from me.

[@Vinrael666]

8:30 from the way it looks chuncks are also clustered into 4x4 Clusters for heat. So basically chunks of chunks

[@pseudoposse]

It would appear that is how it works.

[@theenclave420]

That in game grid is insane lol

[@pseudoposse]

Haha perhaps :)

[@jeffparker4840]

I would like to see a video abusing heat mechanics to build a screamer farm so you can XP quickly.

[@pseudoposse]

I am thinking about it :)

[@DiabloGoldSecrets]

Looks like there might be super chunks; maybe heat only continues if you stay in the super chunk your chunk with the heat is contained in.

[@pseudoposse]

That could definitely be the explanation!

[@jpbraziliano]

Super useful info! Thanks❤