Zombie Migration Explained | Project Zomboid

In this video I explain and show off the zombie migration mechanics. The sandbox mode lets us modify many of the main mechanics of the game and allows me to show off what does what. The redistribution hours and in game sound events are the primary movers of zombies while the rally group system and others help to smooth the rest out.
ko-fi.com/reta...
Battle Bus Mod: Autotsar Tuning Atelier - Bus
Songs
Overpass - OSRS
Rellekka - OSRS
Outro
Loop By The Sea - Plasterbrain
ko-fi.com/reta...
Created using intellectual property belonging to Jagex Limited under the terms of Jagex's Fan Content Policy. This content is not endorsed by or affiliated with Jagex.

[@Fediani4]

Shocking news: "Zombies are braindead"

[@lechking941]

they also hackers and see ya though walls for a small time

[@sorincaladera936]

@@lechking941 thats just their "zombie senses" tingling

[@lechking941]

@@sorincaladera936 true XD

[@Crackheadcentral2188]

Brain dead? I think their more dead than that

[@Bone_Incidents]

Makes sense considering I die to them a lot.

[@Thegamingdino133]

A zombie behaviour and spawning overhaul would be nice, we are getting NPCs next so maybe zombie AI will come with that. My biggest disappointment is the hordes not moving through the tile, it would make base defence so much better.

[@pitucaacadela295]

Well i got the expanded helicopter mod, and my base was full filled with alot of zombies i nearly didn't get out with life, then i take some hours in game to move them to other direction but the helicopter event started again, notice that i don't have guns to deal with them, much less a strong base since i have 10 days old character, maybe it would be interesting if the circle of the player reduces with time, till 0

[@craigstafford6360]

that bug where the zombie wont come to you mite not be a bug but the fog mite be stopping the zombie from seeing and you only hearing so they don't react properly, having said that i haven't looked into this so its just a thought.

[@Thegamingdino133]

@@dylancounte1448 ???

[@Thegamingdino133]

@@dylancounte1448 I know I have been here since 2015 but this time they have actully started. Read the patchnotes. Progress is more tjan underway

[@NutTapper]

@@Thegamingdino133 I do have a good feeling about it this time, but definatley not getting my hopes up.

[@tpd1864blake]

Man I REALLY wish they didn’t just get stuck on the edge of the tile like that. They’re going for a good horror aspect for this game, imagine how scary it would be for you to hear a gunshot off in the distance and then hearing hundreds of zombies and silhouettes passing your window as you hide and pray that you don’t sneeze or step on a piece of glass

[@warden161]

how are you fucking everywhere I go hello tpd

[@Winasaurus]

Would also add some real value to checking alarms and putting up sheets on windows. As it is now, once you've cleared an area, you don't really have to care because they'd have to migrate very far from the edge of the border to where you are. So full on alarm clocks become basically safe. But seeing a huge horde migrating and having to quickly check all my alarms, turn off the tv, sheet the windows, and hide somewhere would be very cool. Also hiding from hordes gives you pretty huge sneaking and lightfooted xp, which would be a nice way to level it more naturally than intentionally shooting and then just waddling around on a balcony.

[@Boingy420]

Yea but they can smell you. Your BO emanating off your body, spreads out into the house, outside the windows. Zombie walks by, whiffs, starts slamming the window. Just because you stopped pretending smells exist, doesn't mean the rest of the world and the animal kingdom did! Most people percieve animals as being "Human", when it seems more evident the animal is drawn to the scent of the recent Touch of Man. "The animal is sniffing the camera!" Did a camera man just touch it with no gloves?? Didn't wash his hands too? Had a particular odor to it?

[@ReinertZerker]

​@@Boingy420Have you never smelled a rotting corpse? Hard to smell the scent of anything over it, so I really doubt a brain dead zed to slam it's nostrils against your windows. Their scent alone would smother any odor of any living thing, even you!

[@malcolmmorin]

​@@Boingy420The zombies cannot smell you currently in the game. It says it in the sandbox options, but has not been implemented.

[@KyleMiddleton7]

This was always my experience from multiplayer. Zombies sometimes just ignored even the loudest sounds.

[@shasokais5867]

Chloe found a truck :)

[@capitalismsucks9590]

I noticed that too. Sometimes ones from well over 300+ tiles away would hear gunshots while some wouldn’t from 5 tiles

[@andoreh4021]

I thought zombies also had traits like players, like when you turn into one and keep the traits. Then it would be possible that the zombie has deaf or hard of hearing traits...

[@capitalismsucks9590]

@@andoreh4021 Doubtful lol. Not until NPC’s are added. Plus this is WAY to common… it’s not a feature dude… it’s multiplayer being buggy because it’s new.

[@rubiconnn]

@@capitalismsucks9590 New? This game was released almost 10 years ago.

[@kvproductions2581]

I WISH the devs would add an option for major cross-cell migratrion. That way we could play with the respawns off and still not completely clear areas, since zombies would immersively migrate to them from elsewhere. They could even make it so big hordes would move in from outside the map (simulatedly) and migrate towards less zombie-populated areas (or more player-populated areas) It would be amazing and also super immerisve to come across big migrating hordes like in the walking dead highway scene

[@40rollsonly]

That would just be respawning on. L post

[@charredlambremains6022]

@@40rollsonly Not at all though? If the zombies migrate from elsewhere that means that area is now clear, they just left. As you kill more and more of the wandering packs, they will start to show up less and less, making you actually feel the effects of you killing the little fucks

[@Starannify]

@@charredlambremains6022 I think what StreetMachine is referring to is the part of KV's post where he says "They could even make it so big hordes would move in from [outside the map]" (emphasis mine), which I could be misunderstanding KV but it sounds like he is suggesting spawning when one wants respawn off.

[@himedo1512]

@@40rollsonly no? Because its drawing fro. Existing population on the map. If you killed every zombie there would be no more zombies. Respawning is fabricating the zombies from nothing

[@anderhagea553]

Just image there being a MASSIVE horde of zombies that would spawn and migrate from one side of the map to the other every once in a while. It would be pretty horrifying to see such a horde walking through your town.

[@KingLies]

I know the devs did it for game design, but it completely breaks the immersion to have zombies "spawn" in at random cells. They should have zombies spawn from the edge of the map for starters. In terms of zombies migrating, I never get the Walking Dead feeling of "holy shit that's a huge horde out of nowhere" feeling I'd like to get. I want to just be chilling in my cabin in the woods and have a huge horde migrate through. Then choose the option to hide and wait it out, or flee and make a new base. The game never incentivises me to leave my base once I have enough resources to be self sustaining. And the zombies spawning in empty cells just feels cheap. Even when attempting to roleplay, the fact that I know they're spawning into cells breaks the immersion. There is a really cool mod that nobody is using or talking about called "Restless Zombies Fixed" on the Steam workshop. It makes zombies constantly walk around (like the 0.2.0 zombies) and it makes the game a lot more realistic if you set spawns to off. You know the zombies that wander to you weren't just spawned in. Makes it especially cool to see a fireman zombie in the middle of the woods, knowing they walked all the way from another part of the map. But it's not perfect, I'd still like zombies to spawn from the edge of the map and then migrate in huge hordes instead of tiny groups.

[@vq1214]

does the mod work for 41.71?

[@andrijamartic2403]

agree with all you said. when you learn mechanics how to survive game gets super easy becouse zombies won't migrate to your base. basically it's find cabbage seeds and you won. anybody knows any other mods that could fix this?

[@dylanb2990]

@@andrijamartic2403Here They Cone adds hordes that come on a set timer you can modify, tends to draw in other natural spawns at the same time too for that large walking dead horde effect.

[@andrijamartic2403]

@@dylanb2990 thx for your reply, i actually just installed it. how about settings? do you think if i play on insane population in town it will be too hard becouse of potential huge pulls? i thought to compensate by turning of silent pulse in mod settings so i can at least run away if things get too crazy

[@JohnSmith-fq3rg]

I dont like the idea of zombie hordes moving instead of small groups or just single wanderers.

[@daviddavidson505]

That clogged up perimeter around the player is really miserable to see. I would rather have the occasional zombie group wander into my space than have all the groups in the area mass like that to box me in on all sides.

[@FoolsJest]

same

[@bestieswithtesties]

Yeah it seems like the zomboid devs make a lot of questionable decisions. They love to destroy immersion by just randomly spawning zombies right around a corner or outside a window just so they can give you a "scripted"/staged/forced jump scare or something similar. But then the Actual zombies being simulated that aren't cheesily spawned right next to you... avoid you and walk around a perimeter??? Oooookay. Genius guys real genius.

[@antipsychotic451]

@@bestieswithtesties Zomboid is a great example of an excellent concept bogged down by questionable game design.

[@wayla683]

​@@bestieswithtesties Yeah that's just fucking stupid. I don't even really understand what this game needs jumpscares for anyways, the atmosphere is already decent enough and the survival mechanics make it immersive. Jumpscares serve neither of those two good aspects of this game. I guess I can understand wanting to keep players on their toes and not letting them get too comfortable, but even when ignoring the fact that jumpscares are generally a really cheap way to get a reaction, people need downtime from being constantly on edge because the game just isn't fun to play otherwise. The alternative is getting used to the jumpscares but what the hell is their purpose then? To get you cheaply killed, losing hours and hours of progress?

[@bestieswithtesties]

@@wayla683 Yup. It creates a certain kind of artificial difficulty. A big part of the game is supposed to be how unforgiving it is and be realistic in the sense that surviving isn't supposed to be easy. But their decision to try and achieve that by spawning zombies to jump scare you or jump out from behind a door etc just goes to show they don't know how to make the game naturally feel right so they resort to scripted events to try and achieve the atmosphere they want.

[@Timesignmaid]

The idea of a steady horde flow of zombies outside of your home as you hida sounds really interesting! Especially if they wouldn't randomly rush to a window with an open curtain or a stray light source. It would be a nice event!

[@matthewcollins9741]

Yo man you should deliver all these things in a list to The Indie Stone, love your content.

[@reluctanthalo7154]

They watch his videos.

[@asdawasda]

@@reluctanthalo7154 yeah they also retweet peoples videos on twitter

[@matthewcollins9741]

@@reluctanthalo7154 That's awesome.

[@MsHojat]

I have been recently playing on a server that changed zombie and world settings. One of which was for zombies to have pinpoint hearing, but I don't know the other changes (aside from some sort of higher population). But when I start killing/aggroing a large group of zombies, more zombies start _teleporting in_ all around me (but it's usually done very sneaky, it seems like they almost never blatantly teleport out in the open in line of sight, it's always behind a tree or out of LoS for some pseudo-almost-plausible-deniability, but since I've scouted the area beforehand it is still noticeable) , it's really bizarre and annoying. I sounds like the bug you're talking about the respawn system going haywire.

[@Retanaru]

Yeah that pretty much describes it. The respawn system seems to go haywire more often on servers. We've had a group of zombies spawn right on top of us before and we weren't even making noise beyond hitting zombies. As for pin point hearing it makes sounds louder, so it could be pulling zombies outside of the loaded area and finding sneaky places to spawn them in. It might not even be respawns, but I think I get the idea across even with my terrible use of names. Teleporting, spawning, or respawning, whatever it is gets annoying.

[@mcblaggart8565]

@@Retanaru Reminds me of a recent incident. I saw a lone zombie in a field I'd recently cleared. I drove over, parked, got out to start pounding its head in. Suddenly there were zombies all around me. Everywhere that was outside my immediate sightline, including coming from behind the car I'd just parked. Edit: I was playing with respawn turned off, and I remember the time was around sunset.

[@Heartdrive]

Zombie respawn has never appealed to me in single player. I like the achievement of clearing somewhere that was once hugely populated. Plus there its not as if Im going to survive long enough to get rid of them all from the entire map xD Great video though and very interesting

[@thelegalmexican9860]

I spent 2 IRL days clearing the entirety of Rosewood, come back the next day and most zombies respawned, amazing gameplay 10/10

[@jackthecommenter2768]

@@thelegalmexican9860 just make it so they don’t respawn

[@himedo1512]

Yeah. I don't like zombies just appearing into existence. I disable respawn too. There is so many zombies on the map that you'll probably never run out unless you meta game

[@sorean4532]

Same, i always plays without respawn on, but i really wish the migration system would compensate for that. There needs to be a reason to fortify or even build walls if im playing no respawn

[@mofkergt]

RespawnHours = 720.0 RespawnUnseenHours = 168.0, RespawnMultiplier = 0.25 Try these respawn settings in sandbox pretty good for people that dislike respawn but still want zombies

[@captainbloodloss1]

it might be that zombies being less responsive to noise is a deliberate feature in multiplayer? as gunshots and car honks would be a lot more frequent and make zombies pile around different zones in cities leaving a lot of places empty

[@Retanaru]

Another guy complained about it happening in singleplayer. I do agree though that some changes could have occurred to smooth out the multiplayer experience like the toning down of gunshot loudness.

[@LTGaming]

@@Retanaru One thing I do miss from B40 is the massive hordes you can bring if you 'shoot' or make a 'loud' noise. Just seeing hundreds if not thousands of zombies responding to the noise is such a nightmare fuel but a welcomed one I'd say.

[@kaylethejudicator2368]

>Another guy complained about it happening in singleplayer. It is still happening now even 8 months later in singleplayer lmao. Went on a gun spree the other day and despite the absolute bullet hell i was laying down, there was several zombies just ignoring my noise

[@jonash5320]

@@Retanaru I have a question regarding population. Is the density dependent on the area the tile is in? I wonder if its worth waiting past population peak to loot the warehouse area near the crossroads south east of Mouldraugh? Its basically abandoned on day 1. The problem is you miss out on the TV shows. Appreciate any pointers regarding population density dependence on tile location

[@devinohanlon5501]

​@@LTGamingthat's how west point is

[@kruall5556]

zombies in MP really hate being dragged into new cells and will despawn or go invisible. the guns sound being nerfed for server performance making MP zombies even easier. i'd love for you to do a video on audio and the Follow Sound Distance setting which IMO is a very underrated option.

[@lechking941]

ya i accaly guned down the handfull of hoards i find with a gun in mp and get NO draw aside from ones i expected to see.

[@addualien]

THIS. I've been messing around with that option. Setting it to its max (1000) and its lowest (10). And damn, there's some interesting results. Sprinters with a FSD of 10, is pretty fun. Works as a pretty cool nerf against them, because they are still dangerous as hell, but they're almost deaf. While using Sprinters with FSD of 1000 is just impossible to play, you barricade a window and all of a sudden there's 50+ zombies at your door. With shamblers it's the opposite. Having almost deaf shamblers/fast shamblers is just way too easy, while having shamblers with FSD at 1000, makes for a very interesting playthrough, tho. Because you KNOW that everything is drawing zombies to you, but they're too slow to get there in time. This leads to pretty cool scenerios, where just the day before you looted an area that was almost empty, and the next day is completely overrun (asuming that along shamblers and FSD at 1000, you also set them to have long memory).

[@lechking941]

@@addualien hm useful details

[@Jiffydude]

FSD is simply the distance zombies will follow meta events (Overworld Gunshots and Screams). This didn't seem to affect gunshots. Actually, I'd like to test if it affects other player generated noises. I doubt it does, but then again these settings aren't always clear in how they work.

[@iagohauchi3694]

Maybe if you add a randomizer to the zombie respawn hours? Like respawn every 120-360 hours(5-15 days), and migrate every 10-48 hours would be nice to get rid of the on-off switch effect. 🤔 NPCs will also add a lot of dynamic to the game, even with lots of bugs super/subpar survivors mods was really nice to spice things up lot's of funny moments!

[@ZoeylaRose]

i mean if you just make it some uneven number of hours like 13 and play the same world with multiple chars you will lose track of when it actually happens if you dont deliberately track it

[@cored8066]

Zomboid had to nerf sounds in multi-player because leaving a siren on would make a cell unusable indefinitely. Basically if Zomboids can't get close to the emergency vehicle you can only wait in that cell with low fps.

[@Jiffydude]

Trying to make some content with PZ, and one of the most difficult factors to dial in is the Zombie Settings. I've made a full spreadsheat to nail down every advanced setting and how they interact with each other. As per the usual, its more complicated than what the tooltips let on... Also for those who want to "clear the map", I'd suggest setting respawn times ultra high (max hours and unseen), and respawn settings super low (like .01). During testing, disabling respawns seems to mess with, or at least muddy the redistribute settings.

[@Retanaru]

Yeah I noticed the peak system relies on respawns to fill in the missing zombies in cells the player has visited.

[@Jiffydude]

@@Retanaru Hm, I didn't notice or didn't test how cells actually repopulate to new peak pops when they ramp to peak day. I think I set it to peak day at 1 during tests. So they won't even reach peak pops after reaching peak day without respawn enabled huh?

[@Retanaru]

@@Jiffydude Its only the one or two cells you spend most of your time in during the peak ramp that gets effected. The rest you never visited properly populate.

[@Muenni]

@@Retanaru Does max respawn times + min respawn numbers also effectively stop the ramp up to peak numbers in the cells you visited most? Or is it sufficient that respawn is activated at all to allow the system to fill in the missing zombies towards peak day? I'd love to have the extra zombies come in from the edges of the map and then wander in and through your cell(s). Slowly, ever bigger hordes of the undead roam past your hideout, making drawing the majority away and clearing out the rest in your area increasingly difficult - to the bleak realization that much more than Knox has been lost to them.

[@braindeadbrick553]

What should i set if i want to never spawn killed zombies ever and no migration ever? Shouldnt i set Respawn Hours to 0 ? and redistribiton to 0? also no peak system set number of zombies and thats it ?

[@Damion176]

Funny enough that zombie alert reset happens in my single player experience as well. Makes it hard to efficently stealth through a horde using sirens when some just refuse to get out of the way and aggro anyways.

[@356Krisu]

Were they wearing ear protectors? they make zombies act deaf

[@Dark__Thoughts]

In the early versions the game, when we also had insanity, we had a proper separate horde that would migrate randomly around the map, potentially showing up at your base. On servers it is probably worth setting the redistribution timer to something that makes the delay constantly move forward or backward (like 1 hour longer or shorter to every 13 or 11 hours) and thus harder to track.

[@Holtijaar]

I remember that! I believe it was when the map was only just Muldraugh. There was a couple of independent roaming hordes on the map that would semi-actively home in on the general location of the player every once in a while, so if you stayed at your base for more than couple of days it could eventually get surrounded. I can understand why some people might have found that annoying especially in the early game.

[@Ranluinar]

I have noticed that sometimes zombies will just ignore sounds and sirens in the past, my thoughts on it when I saw it was maybe they're deaf? Be kind of odd to be deaf when you're alive, but then the moment you die you can hear.. Which I think is what happens if someone with a deaf character turns It would actually make for some interesting situations if some of the zombies were deaf though. As they couldn't be cleared out so easily by sound traps

[@auklin7079]

You know what the game could use? A 'roaming hoard' mechanic. That way later on you still have to worry about your base being overrun if it's in the path of a roaming hoard, however if you hunker down they will either pass by or disperse after enough time.

[@AlexD-mg9xb]

WHAT THE HECK KZbin PUT THIS VIDEO IN MY PAGE AFTER IT WAS IMMEDIATLY POSTED, awesome!

[@Retanaru]

Downloading my content directly to your head.

[@Mirauge]

These in depth look types of videos are fun to watch.

[@draculacat5616]

the ending few seconds were quite enthralling and i found myself feeling wistful and appreciative of this game, just looking at the familiar water and fire sprite and the constant comfort of having the player character. the you.

[@Laireso]

I'm playing with redistribution and respawn turned off. Insane zombie pop is already a nightmare to clear out by hand. If the zombies moved between cells naturally and follow gunshots for miles in big herds that would be amazing, but that's not how it works in vanilla right now.

[@JustMelsie]

I come back to listen to 3:30 to the end frequently. There's something really enjoyable about the narration combined with the music.

[@no-replies]

I like how we can change so much that we're all playing with different zombies.

[@Paul-vi9gh]

You are the Decino of Project Zomboid, bro. Great video!

[@fishyfinthing8854]

This's quite a good documentation. PZ did very well with the realistic part. One of the most realistic zombie game I know.

[@Kodycarico]

Excellent video, explains so much. Thank you. They really need to fully rework the zombie system, especially for multiplayer.

[@N1ghtR1der666]

feels like the zombies being brain dead might be a symptom of the grouping mechanic overriding their decision to head towards the sound, thats why they move towards it for a split second but then turn back to the group

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

Zomboid Devs: we can't let thousands of zombies just wander into the player's bases Players: please let thousands of Zombies wander into my base

[@DarkShadowBlade2389]

Just enable frequent helicopter events

[@2639theboss]

Its a loud minority at best. In reality, massive zombie hordes would get old once the "surprise" wears off. And then its just an annoying game mechanic.

[@burgerandy2729]

@@2639theboss It’s a good idea though. Right now Z’s aren’t distributed interestingly it boils down to small and large clumps. And since they’re so compact it’s easy to glaze at a group and know what you’re getting into. Also it’s annoying having to kite one horde that’s blocking a place cause it spirals down to kiting a more zombies (idky West Point is a starter location). It would be interesting if groups where more dispersed and continually marched across a cell. For example, I had this cool encounter of what I initially through where 3 Z’s strolling. I got close and got their attention, but as I zoomed out I saw maybe like 20 Z’s all widely spread walking to a single direction. And that was just what I could see. That could’ve been all of them, but their formation made it more ambiguous. The best part was I didn’t have to exploit their path finding to get access to the police station they came from. And the dread that the group would turn back and trap me inside the station. That’s the only time that’s happened to me, but it felt more natural than the jump scares.

[@robertcorrigan5011]

Definitely a good read

[@JpuddN]

I had been playing MP exclusively for a while and was using a lot of guns specifically the m9. It would only pull zombies from about half a block away. I got used to this thinking it was just a nerf or something to the pull range to make guns more viable. Recently I started a new SP playthrough and got an m9. I popped off a few shots and was very surprised to see I had about 2 blocks of aggro!

[@gnitsaf]

Fantastic video! The redistribution per cell is likely due to the expensive overhead that would be incurred with some of the suggestions you made. I don' t know if the current engine could handle that well. Game dev is always a balance between a number of things and system resources is a concern.

[@stellarr1]

you sound like Gabe Newell giving commentary in a valve game

[@Digitaaliklosetti]

gay ben

[@zacmccollum7144]

I agree with you about the gunshot event lol

[@rssjsssl2114]

This man should be on the Dev team.

[@0veX93]

During a sound event i decided to make myself invisible and just run around for testing. I was sprinting around with increase speed and zombies from much larger area were going to the sound location. That felt way more realistic.

[@justinbayless8284]

It just makes more sense to have respawn off. There's already gonna be so many zombies on the map. So being able to clear an area of the main mass of zombies would make subsequent runs easier but with migration, there's still that danger of running into more zombies, especially at a higher population.

[@MrHocotateFreight]

Games do not respect the need for a calm before the storm. Not a single zombie game (to my knowledge) has done so. It's when you're calm and comfortable, when all is good so you're not checking behind you anymore, THATS when all hell should break loose Days, weeks even of calm before the big rush. But of course, you gotta start with a platter to get them started, let them know what's coming

[@memebowdashpoposhy1699]

I honestly wish there was a GTA SA Gang Territory-like mechanic option with zombies. Meaning, if clear an area, you can keep it clear as long as you keep killing off any that show up, but, lets say you clear out most of westpoint n up against the river, only then will the zombies try to regain the area from teh west/east and south, but zombies dont randomlly appear in the middle or north, since they cant migrate in that area unless they were to be left undisturbed and slowly encroach their way into westpoint again.

[@jeffy3915]

I think if you turn off respawns it should happen

[@MyAramil]

I have started to just increase the respawn timer to a high number. with 168 minimum but usually 200. this feels like what you where describing. So long as i keep visiting the same areas regularly then the only zombies I encounter are those that wander in.

[@ghysling]

The moment I saw the wall of death in the forest as a result of the simulated zombies, I realized "wait, what if I find away to get close enough for them to no longer be simulated then just start the alarm again". Once I kind of accidentally did it (thinking there wouldn't be that much) and then I was (with more difficulty) able to do it on purpose. Thanks xD

[@Desolator_]

I get how the peak day governs the rate of growth from initial to peak population. Do you know how the population in never-loaded chunks behaves the further we move from the peak day? For example: If I spawn in and never leave Muldraugh for 5 months with default survivor settings (thus peak day being 28 days). How would Riverside, look like 4 months after peak? Exactly like peak day, or less or more populated?

[@Winasaurus]

While playing recently I got into a car to check for cigs and accidentally hit the horn while trying to bring up the vehicle radial menu. I check around me and see a pretty huge swarm coming and I didn't have a key, or gas. Very panicked sprint away. But also felt quite realistic, like while rummaging in the glove box I accidentally leaned on the horn without noticing or something. So on the one hand, very cool to have the sounds so powerful, on the other hand, does feel a little weird that zombies smashing down doors and breaking glass is basically silent, but I tap a horn for a millisecond and the whole state wants to see me. Not even getting into the silliness that is zombies breaking into a house, then I open the door and set off the house alarm. But also playing with alarms off feels a little boring, and playing with them where zombies can set them off results in pretty ridiculous migration in the first few days as zombies seemingly just accidentally set one off, and cascade down the whole block.

[@RandomStuffO_O]

very interresting usage of music in this video

[@Ecn42]

Ohh what a great video as always! :D

[@KawaiiSoulB42]

They need to move as the walking dead walkers do it. It makes it more interesting to come across a roaming horde like in season 2 Epi 1.

[@boooster101]

But that's kinda hard with an AI algorithm because it either ends up with one giant zombie stream or the follow settings are too low and don't do anything. That also means that the gane engine has to compute those hoards as well in the background and I prefer the super-stable game experience we have right now.

[@mylesm444]

subscribing 30% because relevant content and 70% runescape music

[@Joural0401]

one thing I wish was covered was the way zombie pathing operates with migrations and player constructed walls. If I build a wall that doesn't fully encase an area, will the migration make a zombie path the whole way around just to stand next to where they were before, but now on the other side of the walls? I know I've seen zombies follow the length of a fence and then turn straight around it and start walking down the other side, is that what they're doing?

[@MsFreegaza]

some people will never be happy. The spawn systems and customisation options in PZ are perfect,Best in class,no competition.

[@canetoad5]

I think the reaction issue for zombies w/ sirens is that sirens are not a single continuous attraction. I know this sounds weird so let me explain, sirens are a continuous repeating ping. A siren will put out a ping every second or half second which explains the zombie's initial focus to the sound. However, since the zombie isn't targeted to a specific thing (player or object point), the ping keeps reactivating the zombie's focus but it loses aggro as it does not have vision/focus. This seems to cause some zombies to be stuck in a looping state of being alerted and is only resolved by gaining hard aggro via sight or very close range for sound. I think it's also due to various zombies having varying degrees of capability as some can spot players at long ranges while others are oblivious to the world around them.

[@Retanaru]

Yeah its an issue with certain states the server has zombies in.

[@Myriako]

Thank you for this video! 😀💐

[@Creslex_]

you have a really nice voice, great video!

[@MyAramil]

I usually set the respawn to a pretty decently high number, as my own kinda "migration" like the ones wandering around migrate to the empty areas I am talking about a minimum of 200 hours. This gives me plenty of time to clear areas around my base and not have to worry about a random ass zombie jumping me after getting back from a run.

[@Rebelglow1]

i play with 4x pop but made the zoms super weak, but i also made it so they don't form groups, what i found out is honestly them forming groups makes the game easier! it feels like a non stop waves on waves of undead, entering a house is more dangerous now because a 1 zombie can randomly wander in at any moment now that their basically not tethered to 1 zombie 'leader'. there are times where i would have to kill 200-400 just move down 1-3 blocks! [durability mod recommended! XD] yea even with fragile selected and 1 tapping most zombies their sheer numbers nulls that heavily

[@JesseBakerH]

I would LOVE to hide in my house as thousands of zombies march past for like 1-2 days

[@xxxzzzzxxx]

that's 1 or 2 hours irl, I'd do it for like 30 mins lol

[@mariocorujeira3675]

i believe that what most influences zombies behaviour in mp is the amount of desync between players. you can see this if you are using any mods that modify zombie speed. you can tell runners appart because their movement is clunky compared to the others. with the same mod in singleplayer there are no clunky moves and the zombie will just straight run to you

[@Retanaru]

The desync is extreme, I hope they can get a handle on that.

[@Dr.Slaughter]

I like to play with respawns off, so you can clear out an area and make surviving manageable. Zombies will still wander around and you'll have to expand and explore farther over time anyway. It'll take a very long time to take out a full city of zombies, let alone the entire map. Thus is why respawns are off

[@joban4963]

Once I find a car I usually go a long way out of town and rarely see zombies. Discovered two farms with wells so I usually run to one or the other and bunker down, then get killed a month later while hunting zombies in the city to cure boredom

[@UIM_Moose]

Shoutout to the OSRS music :P

[@MakoTaco]

4:50 ....we need a mod that disables this "safety square" now

[@goldkat99]

Honestly the weird thing I have noticed is even on regular population there are way too many zombies. Where the hell are they all coming from? You can be in an area with a population of 500 (estimated from the amount of beds) and there will be thousands of zombies. Why are there zombies in the woods? randomly on the road? near lakes? I hope the animals and NPC's will add some more logic behind why there are zombies literally everywhere but I really think they need to reduce the amount.

[@Wejster]

Half it by 0.5 and you get a realistic amount of zombies. It’s not too low but firing a gun in downtown west point or Louisville attracts the horde.

[@no-replies]

High migration with 0 rally group is really interesting. They make hordes but lose the hive mind thing

[@lun4r546]

The walls of flesh i have noticed myself as well, me and my group playing co-op, we finally decided to push semi far, and oh boy what a mass migration came from there(mind you this was insane pop no respawn)

[@plaguedoct0r]

Respawns off should be the default mode. It's both more realistic and more fun.

[@nice-boat]

the runescape music on all these videos bless u

[@pacopajas3264]

in louisville the respawn of zombies dosent matter, when you kill a lot of zombies in your cell zombies from the city migrate to your cell.

[@tealversace]

Would you be able to show the distribution on the honk and loot route? Just curious how effective it really is ;) *For those who don't know, the Honk and Loot is performed on the west side of Muldraugh - Take a car south on the service road next to the main highway of Muld (just out of Mccoy) and lay on the horn the whole way. Wait for a while at the south intersections, then go back up the main road of Muld z free.

[@nugerts2167]

You're the best Retanaru!

[@davidmoura95]

Is there a way to remove that protection around the player when migrations happen?

[@noodlebob5302]

nice choice of music

[@lobete]

I would like it if some of those ending "bugs" were purposeful. Some zombies just having brain damage and forgetting they heard you, some not hearing because damaged ears or brains, some being blind. Just purposeful inconsistencies.

[@todd3143]

thank you zomboid scientist!

[@evanleggero9205]

i cleared out rosewood with spawns off and the first time i saw migrations was genuinely unsettling. headed west into the field for a bit when suddenly dozens came out of the trees moving directly toward the fire station (my base)

[@apirexia]

Great material thanks

[@alexwingace]

I noticed the siren thing while playing Singleplayer and trying to use emergency vehicles to group up all the zombies in an area to clear them out easier, but they seem to lose interest in the vehicle very easily. Even driving the vehicle yourself, i notice them hear the vehicle, start to head in its direction, then immediately shut off and walk the other way again. It's really bizarre behavior and i really hope it gets fixed.

[@lol70721]

4:30 i just notice you're playing runescape music, as I'm playing runescape right now, watching your video, I thought it was comming from my end lol.

[@chinaman1]

I honestly think that PZ is an amazing game, even though I've never played it myself. But after watching countless hours of let's play YT videos I will say PZ has the potential to last forever. I mean the developers only have to add in DLCs for individual cities or even states. So now we start with kentucky. They can go to ohio next, alabama, tennessee etc. Sure some might be vast wastelands but still it's up to them to design it.

[@TheBarbariangamers]

Ren thank you. I always wanted to know

[@mahuba2553]

my first helicopter event, i managed to survive, and only died because i actually ran out of water, i left all my stuff at the bar i was hanging around in, and just ran to the forest, it works wonders to get away from the helicopter

[@Someone-qu3lx]

So it's just a coincidence that when I cleared 2/3 of Rosewood (with respawn turned off and 1.5 population) Around day 28 I went back to the school area and police station area that I cleared 2 weeks ago. There was a massive horde like I was in Louisville. The streets were blocked with walls of flesh and I had to back up with my car because it was that thick. I thought this was because of the migration.

[@Retanaru]

Between redistribution (within the cells) and meta events that could easily happen. Rosewood is one of the worst places later on because there is a massive amount of zombies around the town that will slowly be drawn in as you stay there.

[@Someone-qu3lx]

@@Retanaru I can't believe you responded under your one year old video. Thank you!

[@brettWwjd]

Love the RuneScape music

[@ZyozzJessie]

I think I need a clarification or more detailed explanation on “respawn hours” and “respawn unseen hours”. What has me confused is that respawn hours is how long it takes before a zombie respawns, but only when the chunk is not visited. Isn’t that what the unseen hours are for?

[@Retanaru]

Respawn hours is not how long it takes before a zombie respawns, its how long before the next spawn wave occurs. For example in apocalypse its set to 72 hours. Every 3 days zombies are spawned to fill the cells up if their population is below the cap. So if I killed a zombie at 71 hours into the game it could be replaced in 1 hour. Since respawn unseen hours is 16, it means everywhere I have been in the last 16 hours cannot have zombies respawn. So the point of the unseen hours is to keep areas you have been to relatively clear instead of it suddenly being full of zombies on day 3.

[@ZyozzJessie]

@@Retanaru, oooooooh. So, unseen hours can add to the total time it takes for a respawn, depending on how far in you are for the respawn hours. Like, if you’re 71 hours in, and you enter a chunk, there’s an additional 16 hour wait time now. And if you’re 56 hours in for respawn and never touch the chunk, zombies will likely spawn in that chunk on the 72 hour mark. This might help me understand the CD DA challenge and zombie spawn overall. I don’t think I’ll have the respawn on still, but it helps me know that I need to push more in the CD DA challenge. Now I just need to learn the spawning numbers for CD DA. Thank you for the info!

[@chrisplettuce]

This is awesome. Have you tried doing a RP server? Keep up the good work dude!

[@andrijamartic2403]

when you learn mechanics how to survive, game gets super easy becouse zombies won't migrate to your base. basically it's find cabbage seeds and you won. anybody knows any mods that could fix this?

[@jaimevalencia6271]

I have 100 hours in game so far maybe more and understood nothing of this rip

[@WallNutBreaker524]

Very intriguing.

[@StudlyFudd13]

Was having serious issues with pulling zombies in my game last night actually. Eventually I got them all in a zombie ball, but it took waaay longer than normal to do it. Constantly having to loop back around and literally sit in front of the unresponsive zombie holding the horn down to get some sense into it. I just gave up and ran those ones over after a while, but it's weird and annoying.

[@dora3743]

Was the background music from OldSchool RuneScape? Edit: Oops, answered my own question. Think a comment on one of your videos ages ago might've been responsible for me getting into OSRS.

[@perteks7639]

Wait wut, I though migration is between cells when there is inbalance in zeds amount. Or its some different mechanic, when there is more zeds than spawn max number they for sure migrate to other less populated cells.

[@Retanaru]

I didn't see anything special happening when I removed all the zombies in a cell, but it may just be a naming difference.

[@perteks7639]

@@Retanaru Removing with commands sometimes bugs it out and they for example dont even start to spawn so its kinda janky.

[@Retanaru]

@@perteks7639 They do spawn when removed with commands.

[@perteks7639]

@@Retanaru Yeah well I said sometimes. I was checking out cdda settings and its liked to bug out. Timer for respawn never went down and sometimes even spawn now didnt do anything. Even without it timer acted mighty strange. Logically it should reset your unseen hours when entering cell but sometimes it stopped sometimes reseted sometimes just straight up ignored and still was counting down (yeah I wasn't in ghost mode). Interestingly enough that respawn hours countdown can't be reseted by entering it will remember on what time it was.

[@lordadmiralbokbok3499]

4:00 Happend to me on a server. about 8 of us played all night, everyone got off but me. just grinding stuff at the base. i decide to take a drive at night, and a phalanx of zombies apears in front of me. i couldnt go through, and the only road away led to our base. so i went back, had a arming up montage and fertilized our fields. scared the shit out of me

[@zerpblerd5966]

maybe fog is affecting the zombies sound-follow I haven't played lots but I also figured hoards of zombies would plow through a zone to reach a sound and I went to hide, and they didn't ? their AI is very good but definitely could use improvements in a few aspects and we need to be able to throw things to distract/move/confuse them, etc., even if they restrict it to glass breaking, let us throw mugs, bottles, rocks into windows, etc. - needs to happen really

[@Mirauge]

Can you do something on corpse removal? I tried to burn corpses the other day. And it says burn corpse but didn't do anything. Then I tried putting a campfire out and setting bodies on top but somehow I guess I lit myself onfire... it sucked. Wondered if its bugged or if there is something I'm missing

[@DrCthu]

Man I feel you...

[@Retanaru]

If you were in multiplayer most servers have every form of fire turned off aside from the campfire. To burn with the campfire place the campfire, then place all the bodies right on top of it. Finally light the fire from a distance. Don't try to place bodies on an already burning campfire as you will catch on fire.

[@SvendleBerries]

I remember having that issue at some point, in single player. Turned out that the "improved fire and smoke" mod I was using was incompatible with the "trash and corpses" mod as the corpses added to the map by the mod didnt recognize the new fire. So I just got used to deleting those corpses using a dumpster or other trash receptacle that was large enough to put a corpse into. Eventually I disabled the new fire mod because burning corpses is much faster lol

[@frantisekvrana3902]

Exactly same thing happened to me. Corpse has feet in fire for minutes: nothing. I touch the campfire: I burn to ash almost instantly.

[@MyAramil]

NGL had a chuckle as I imagined this like an infomercial. "Has this ever happened to you?" *shows a survivor trying to burn a corpse, and the wind keeps blowing the fire out* "or this?" *shows the survivor trying to frantically light a campfire with bodies on it, and a hoard approaching, only to drop the match on their pants and erupting in flames "WELL TRY OUR NEW FLAMETHROWER AND MOLOTOV COCKTAILS!"

[@jerrynadler2883]

I go to zombie lore and make my zombies dumber and they act like what you showed at the end. Much easier and fun to destroy a group in 2 or 3 waves rather than getting swarmed all at once.

[@angelsalazar7936]

Is it me or this lad just used Runescape music for a game that is effectively, runescape with zombies

[@Retanaru]

I have this weird thing going on where all the games I play have a runescape-esque skill system.

[@RetirededKat]

I always play with no respawns, zombie's don't breed and at a certain point you should be able to clear EVERYTHING out.

[@sweepingtime]

I wish I could have tweaked my sandbox some more. Definitely wanted respawns off, not zombies that magically spawn in my garden.

[@Retanaru]

There is a mod that lets you customize that even during gameplay. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2670674997

[@iluvatarchem]

That is why I set the respawn to zero. More realistic, more fun and more bug free

[@myerr21]

in my solo game im doing 4 population with fast migration. Ive been in Rosewood, I got the PD cleared out, and one house. After two weeks thats about as much as ive been able to secure, and its a daily chore to kill the new guys outside.

[@shadowfoxx6]

great choice of music lol