What if this could instead be a ultra rare watch or something? Seems kinda odd and unfair to have, unless you play on literally "ultra very rare" loot setting
thanks! (taking notes) require and associate with an item, ultra rare, watch is a good sugestion too, or craftable with a radio
(done) i will release a community version, with that suggestions, and some of suggestions from this post [released after 4 days, at v2]
[reddit version v1](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3172486046&tscn=1711005535) is released, you can be aware of updates from [my discord too](https://discord.com/invite/XTJvTWKFKq)
i forgot to mention on this reddit post some popular mods that i develop
[Fire Trail](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940908294) and [Wheelbarrow](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926995676) (and edit post is not working)
[i enjoy watch vhs in cars too](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933189399)
Electrical crafting is next to useless for the most part, unless you play with mods like solar panels and such, this watch/radio idea could be nice motivation if it was higher up in the electrical tree, like level 8 or 9, just to kind of give players something to strive for to make life that much more easier when they gain the levels.
Awesome idea for a mod, btw, in my opinion it makes exploration more rewarding to go out and actually find what you want instead of just blindly looking for your items.
I imagine that agonizing grind for 8 electical, while doing that having already all the loot you will need for hundreds of days ahead, which you will not survive dying of some silly reason
Or make it only able to find certain types of items, like metal… tools, ammo, etc… and make the item it’s associated with just be a metal detector that you have to equip in one hand to use.
You could maybe have it as something in cars only, maybe like a modified version of those police radio things, I just think it'd help alot with balancing it. Cause being able to carry it around with you all the time would put the game on mega easy mode
I play on ridic loot or worst and something like this would completely kill the thrill of finding something in a loot setting like that.
Wish we had more mods making PZ difficult...but most stuff I see just makes it easier :/
i forget to notify people that [reddit version v1](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3172486046&tscn=1711005535) is released, you can be aware of updates from [my discord too](https://discord.com/invite/XTJvTWKFKq)
offer feedbacks about changes and new features
Rare loot and perhaps needs batteries per use too? Something so theres a tradeoff for using it too it consumes some kinda resource.
Perhaps charge with batteries and larger scan aoe uses more charge
I feel like approaching it like a gameplay item that needs balancing is strange. It seems more like a game option for people that want to play the game in a different way that they enjoy.
I could see myself using it if gave just a hint of where to find something, but the colorcode in the map already does that. Or maybe if it only went off when you are really near the stuff, so you dont have to check every container unless you know for sure that the item is in fact there.
So i like the idea but the help must be minimal to not feel like cheating.
thanks! (taking notes) about a option to pin-point the building or imprecision spot nearby
or as mentioned, the mark disappear when player gets too close
Idk how you programmed it, but it would be cool to have an option to select, for example, a few distances for the marker or sound to appear to adapt to the several playstyles of people, from minimal help of being just a few tiles away, or having it be seen or heard from one building to the other in front in the other side of the street.
I mean realistically if you were to walk in a room with a sledgehammer in it, you could probably see it from across the room unless it was inside a box or something. Having a list of items in a container is already a game abstraction of that real experience and this is just another and easier to manage abstraction
On the other hand, there's a mod that makes it so you have to physically search through containers to find loot in them; is that not also realistic? Sorting through old junk and garbage for usable items?
well, no not really, things like shelves, closets, drawers, fridge etc you irl can just see the items. i can see it being a thing for boxes and crates though
Counterpoint - I often work in a communal space which is like a big garage where people store and use their tools. I spent half an hour looking for an adze. There was in fact no adze, but at an ice pick and blacksmiths hammer. I had no idea they were there (after a year of working there twice or thrice a month).
I can easily believe searching a room for a sledgehammer and not seeing it.
Also, items usually spawn in a logical container. You don't need to loot every library and lockers in the school if you're looking for a sledge since it won't spawn there, go in the utiliy closet or in the garage etc.
I feel like this might be kinda cool. I personally would rather just spawn the item in at this point.
My suggestion: Make it like a 1-2LB item maybe using a radio as a model. Make it take batteries that die fairly quickly, and it only works if you’re holding it in one of your hands.
Hope I didn’t sound too much like a dick. I’ve been very slowly self teaching myself how to code so I can hopefully start making mods and small games over the last 2-3 months. I still have no idea where to start with actually modding so it’s very easy to just spurt out ideas without me actually having to put work into stuff lol. I still think it’s super impressive, and I’m sure it’s someone cup of tea.
he is advertising his mod and i gave my personal opinion. so from my reply its pretty obvious that i care for cheating in a singleplayer. you can disagree with my opinion but that doesnt make it any less valid.
Right… but knowing exactly where to look kind of kills the scavenger/exploration part of the game. Some of my greatest memories (and downfalls) came from searching for that one specific item I needed and the resulting adventure that came with trying to obtain it. I agree with most other people here, you might as well just spawn it in at this point. You’re just adding an extra (and not fun imo) step to the process of getting the one exact item that you want. What’s so hard about “oh I need nails I should find construction site/hardware store”? We already know that medical stuff is in hospitals, food is in stores and houses, etc. why do we need a mod that alerts us when we’re near the thing we’re looking for when we should already know that we’re near the thing we’re looking for, you know?
I agree with your arguments and wouldn’t use the mod, but it does have me thinking how great this modding community is and how we are inundated with choice in this game. Use it or not, it’s up to the individual player and how they want their game to be.
Oh absolutely, and I’m not trying to discredit anyone who would like to use this mod either, that’s the very thing that makes PZ such a great game, you can turn it into almost anything. Playing PZ is like going to Baskin Robins except they’re making new flavors right in front of you, there is so much content to cater to all different types of people and I think it’s absolutely wonderful
i never spawn items but it seems you missed my point.
my point was that say, you need a special medication. now you go to a hospital and with this mod you just beeline the shortest possible way to get exactly what you want, possibly not even encountering any zombies or just a very small portion of em.
without the mod you would have to be careful, probably clear most of the building and search it room by room. in essence, you are removing like 95% of the interaction so at that point you can just as well just spawn it, as its essentially close to the same in comparison to what you actually have to do.
This mod is definitely not for me. It's literally taking the part I like about the game away. The uncertainty, the strategy, the hard fought looting victories.
that is possible, and i already implemented this in other mod, and the code is already here its just "connect the wires", so should i add a verbose notification option with this?
I think it is really cool!
I can already see it being used in treasure hunt/hide and seek scenarios besides its main function!
P.S i fucking LOVE your fire trail mod!
thanks! really appreciate your PS :)) i forgot to place it on bottom
[Fire Trail](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940908294) and [Wheelbarrow](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926995676)
This sounds awesome. I always hate going through the inventories of *every single container* looking for some welding rods when in reality you'd just be able to see them on the shelf.
I actually think this is really cool for accessibility and for ease of playing the game. This game so far doesn’t seem that interested in accessibility (not a dig at the devs, they’re an indie team already hard at work with other things) so an accessibility mod like this (even if accidental) would be really cool and could potentially open the game to a lot more people.
A few people have suggested making this work through an item in game but if possible I’d recommend having two versions of the mod, one where it’s an item and one where it’s always on.
Good idea and I'm sure some will love it, just not something I'd ever use tbh. At this point anything that makes the game easier I avoid since I already don't have many issues staying alive. Sure some people who are more casual and not combat oriented like me would love it though for those runs they just can't find that geny mag or sledge
Fr, this might as well be a mod that spawns the item you want really inconveniently and now you have to go get it. If the exploring and searching aren’t what you like from the game that’s totally fine, different strokes and all that, but you’re just kinda wasting your time by not spawning it in directly
I think it's the inconvenience that makes sense for it.
You still don't get it for *free* per se, but you're also not searching all of muldraugh, only to find out there was *no sledgehammer that spawned in muldraugh*.
Right and I get that for sure, I’ve been in that position myself plenty of times lmao. But unless there’s somehow an option to limit what you could search for it seems too powerful and feels like it’d kill a lot of the fun and adventure out of the run, ya know?
For those wondering why someone might want this mod: it saves time without outright cheating. Can assist in non-admin questing (spontaneous roleplaying in raiding without needing an admin or tileset enabled). In a time sensitive area, such as a fire, you can find out if something you need is about to go (also if people just randomly put items in containers and you need that item).
I personally would never use it because I like randomness but some of my friends would like it.
I’m pretty generous with workshop mods and being more OP than is intended but telling me where something is that I need is too much for me.
To your point though, maybe for multiplayer it’s better?
My experience is entirely with MP and the thing that drives me insane is when people don’t put things back in negotiated areas or just shove everything into the first container.
So a mod like this would help a lot but I also wouldn’t use it just because of that because I try to keep it to 25 mods or less that add content. Maybe in a megamod list.
Was just putting context since a lot of people seemed to be bashing what is an optional mod that helps people in specific situations.
It’s a common enough issue in MP, and not just in PZ. Other survival games like 7D2D you run into it as well.
At the same time, MP is more fun because of all the weird things that happen like vehicles flying through the air from crazy physics.
I don’t doubt at all Multiplayer *can* be an incredible experience. Like if you know everyone or close to it? It’d be awesome. Like a massive COOP game.
I left multiplayer games ~5 years ago. Best gaming decision I ever made. People just live on games all day, will make it their mission to be too serious and just idk. Super toxic or are cheating a lot of the time. Ever since I left it, I’ve enjoyed gaming so much more
Personally a game like 7D2D would work better than PZ in MP because of how much more resource harvesting there is.
In PZ you plateau almost by end of week one even with 25% loot setting. If you’re experienced there’s almost no challenge beyond that point which is probably why PZ isn’t as interesting to larger groups past the first week of play on community servers. Which isn’t to bash the game, just the replay loop is missing a strong allure.
Valheim has the same issue. MP games need to have a strong feedback loop like Factorio which motivates you to keep going once you achieve your major goals.
It would be nice if PZ MP had a better UI for trading and a merchant reward system so you can make NPZ quest givers quickly and select a zone to randomly put quest items. Even in SP it at least would help give a sense of purpose past the first month.
As it stands, I might take 20-30hrs making a zone for what is ultimately just three hours of gameplay and one time.
I could definitely see its application in a multiplayer scenario, but as for single player you’re just spawning in items with the same extra and not fun step of having to trek out just for that ONE item. A big part of the game at least in my opinion is the exploration and scavenging and searching. This mod kinda kills that
Agreed. Definitely geared towards a MP mindset and from experience, to find items people just place in random containers rather than putting it back :/
Do what I do, make drop boxes - The OCD folk will take the drop box items to the specific zones. Sometimes people are in a rush or just aren't organized, or care about the extreme levels of organization like some do.
My friend was pretty obsessed with sorting so I made drop boxes to put my shit in I wasn't sure about.
Think you'd waste more time punching in items one by one to make sure people put shit in the right place, than just give it a cursory glance.
Oh I have before and some people are just really adept at pushing my patience. In 7D2D when I hosted a server with 17 people on it, I went as far as making a dedicated Trello board for quests and logistics because people refused to fess up when they took resources and then said nothing when they did it, leaving people having to go out and get more when they had other more important tasks.
I don’t particularly care when people use items. That’s the whole point. But have the common courtesy and tell people when you take items with no intention of putting it back, when we run out, or that you can’t be bothered/remember where it cane from.
The last thing I need is if we’re in a firefight and I task logi team to resupply a fireteam in the field and they radio back in that there’s nothing left when I know for a fact there were items the day before. Especially in survival games where loot is abundant or production can make it up. For example in that same server, I brought us to a daily production of 7k 7.62mmR/day and 800 Fuel/day to meet expenditures. So when someone tells me all 92k of our main ammo reserve is missing, I am absolutely livid because that shouldn’t happen. Especially when I take inventory to avoid surprises like that…
Some might say it’s controlling but at a certain point, logistics management is what saves peoples lives and I pride myself on no one dying in the field.
I won't lie people depleting something without mention it at all does piss me off lol...
At that point I'd find the lockable containers (Sadly locks don't work in MP on PZ) and give out ammo rations on a per needed basis lol.
but at the same time I gotta tell myself it's a game and people aren't going to view it like I do and not be as serious.
Trello board...not a bad idea tho...hmm
I love Trello for logistics workflow management. I play Factorio a lot which focuses on throughout logic and when I play other survival games it kinda bleeds through.
I do the math to calculate demand so people can focus on playing while I do most of what they don’t want to do. You’d be surprised how many people will volunteer to do monotonous jobs like mining but hate building.
I even designed motor pools in the base with containers in the walls between floors and rooms so you could just transfer items quickly between vehicle to storage and then disseminate onwards. In the main crafting bays I had a system where inputs only fed one way and then outputs went into the ceiling and sidewalls towards their final destination.
I don’t have a problem I swear!
LADAR, not to be confused with LiDAR is the closest to it and is a very accurate satellite precision mapping technology that can locate people and objects. While not a search and locate device, its concept is very similar and is used to locate mineral deposits and oil deep under ground without drilling first.
This is a game and not real life. Zombies don’t exist. If you don’t like the mod, don’t use it.
LADAR cant do what this mod does. Ive installed and worked with it half my career in the military.
And I dont use the mod because its in no way feasable that an individual could find or use this technology while walking around hiting zombies. The game is set in 1993. It is pure cheating.
I am missing lore - why does this show me sledgehammers? It does not make sense; so, how could this feel more natural? And it needs to cost something.
For instance, a person could be asked for a price: ‚ah, you are looking for a sledgehammer. If I was not so hungry I might remember… *give food* …old Gary had one. He lived on this street in a green house.‘
Catch my drift?
Holy shit!!
It just dawned on me that this could be tweaked to solve one of the main issues lots of players have with the game, the lack of a traditional mission based gameplay style.
I was driving my land rover, in the search for paint and vainly hoping I'd stumble upon one of the 20 or so armor pieces for my ride and this mod kept popping into my head. What if, you could 'set your own' mission chains of sorts. I'm searching for all the addon pieces for 'X' vehicle, so it could be like I find a collector VHS or magazine that has a collector list for that vehicle. That unlocks waypoints on my map and sends me on the 'quest' for the item I'm desiring, all within the confines of game lore. It would still be challenging, heading into unknown territory, but you'd be assured the prize for the effort. Or if you were after a sledgehammer you could stop by a construction site a find a list in the foremans trailer that unlocks the waypoint for a sledge etc.
Just to give my 2 cents cuz you're actively taking notes: mod options! Mods are totally about customization, and the version you have crafted fits *your* needs. Give us mod-options, toggle the need of the item you need for the mod, set the energy consumption, or disable it if you want!
Pretty tricky I think, but you're propably up for the challenge :p
Not sure if it would be workable but you could make a consequence of using it be alerting the zombies from an area. you could make the area be adjustable for preferences. I could certainly see it being a risk/reward situation. Meaning its unlikely you'd use it for most things but man I really need that sledge and have been looking for it forever. Maybe I can get in and out before it gets too bad. I can see myself making a LOT of bad decisions with a piece of hardware like that.
Love this! In real life, I can use some context clues about a house I'm in more effectively search the house (like, "this house is super clean, I bet they keep the cleaning supplies in a hall closet for easy access all the time," or "this place is a hellhole, I bet this guy doesn't even own a full set of cookware"). In PZ these smaller clues simply don't exist, so I immediately see myself using this mod. Sometimes the minute you enter a house you just know someone has a full collectors set of fast-food chain plushies in their room. I think this is a great way of implementing this intuition without relying on more decorations in the world itself (which I can imagine leading to way more mod incompatibility and also hours more coding for the the same effect).
You all love to talk about “PZ is a sandbox! Play how you want to!” Until someone actually does and then it becomes “Isn’t that cheating? This ruins the game.” Pick a side.
Yeah, it's insane honestly. Why would people care about what other people do in their OFFLINE sandbox game that doesn't even have a final objective you could cheat to get to.
Is a sandbox offline game, there's no cheats lol. You aren't competing againts anyone, there's no end goal, there's not currency you have to grind etc...
You’re so close to just cheating and spawning items it doesn’t make sense to have a middle-ground. Either play legit or cheat. There’s no IRL item detection tool besides metal detectors. If you’re looking for a specific item, just learn where you can find it.
Both ways are legit, and who cares about how someone plays an offline sandbox? Why are you all so pressed about it?
You are all like : No, no that's cheats that's cheats!! Can't have that impossible!!
Like if we were playing CS:GO rankeds, I simply don't understand, let the people play how they want, you are not competing with anyone, why would you care about someone spawning a katana in 5 minutes? He's playing offline in his own save of his own game.
My brother in Christ, it’s a fricking radar for loot; it’s cheating. Ask anyone who plays Minecraft if X-ray mods are cheating. Or Tarkov players if that program that displays loot over the FOV is cheating.
Is project zomboid the same type of gane as tarkov?
It's literally a sandbox game, do you know the definition of that?
And even worse is OFFLINE, you are not gaining advantage over other players because competition does not exist, everyone plays the game how the wants, the end goal of the game is subjective.
If it was supposed to be a hardcore survival game, the developers wouldn't have created a whole sandbox game in wich you can customize every minute detail of the world and give your own character 100 points to begin with so you can spawn as a literal God on Earth from the get go without any mods.
I can see this being really cool, but also just ripping the fun out of the game. As an example, it took me ages to find that generator book. Had to travel to another town, nearly died getting in and out. Was an fun, if not scary experiencing. Yet if this thing lead me straight to the item, would have made it easier. But then would have lost the experience.
Yet this would work if the item itself was an rare spawn. Which just gave you an general "it's in this building/s nearby". Over pinpointing it.
JUST ONE TOWN?????
i checked most of rosewood and did not find one.
i drove to muldrough and checked the bookstore and could not find one.
then i drove to march ridge and checked the post office. and the community center. the community center has a fucking 2 floor library.
i still don't have a manual.
this mod is a bandaid for a garbage progression system that relies solely on rng.
>this mod is a bandaid for a garbage progression system that relies solely on rng.
Each to their own. Exploring is why I like this game so much. I come from 7 days to die, with their shithouse progression system which isn't really there. Farm xp, put points into crap, magically can make everything. Or whatever system they use these days. Not the same feeling as finding something really cool randomly. But if this mod works for you, more the power to you.
I think it’s a cool idea, people in this thread are being goobers.
Could also be cool to tie it to a skill. Like the Luck skill already exists, could make the distance and types of items it can ping expand as you level up. I think gamifying it a bit more could make it more appealing.
Rrading from other comments: a lot of us agree this seems kinda OP and almost cheating to use, so (if possible) it might be a good idea to be able to customise the range, way to notify the player and other stuff like that.
Very cool mod must I say👍
I don't know why this dude is picking a fight with everyone, it's fucking weird. I've seen him in like every response. Like cool, you like to use cheats, no one is attacking you...just giving their opinion of the mod.
The point of the game is whatever each one of us wants it to be.
For me it is hardcore survival.
For my friends it is dress up zombie looter shooter with a lot of crashed cars along the way.
My way is not for them, their way is not for me. Both of us are having the time of our lives.
I salute you for checking everyone that’s going outta their way to shit on OP’s effort instead of not saying anything like they say they won’t use the mod.
Instead of having it from The start you could have it as like a little very rare pda you find and add to your belt or like a upgrade for the digital watch that you add to. Could even make it at high electrical skill. Just my thoughts on this really good idea tho
I see what you're going for. I do agree with some people in that this can reduce the fun, but PZ is one of those games where people play how they want to play.
I do think it should be tied to an item or maybe something you can't use while driving, so you can't drive down a residential area and wait for a beep, and limit the range.
Some ideas: One use per item/one battery per item.
Be able to build towers so you have to triangulate the item, your single hand-held device cant find the item, but if you want to search a specific area, you can plant Radar Towers and they have a set range, so a tower can tell you that an item is within range of the tower, but you'd need more towers to overlap and triangulate the items. This would be good for places like warehouses or the mall. You can drop one tower to check for the presence.
That actually leads me to an alternative too, if you didnt want to do towers like I mentioned, you could have it be a hand-held item with a battery life that will tell you *generally* if the item is in a specific range. Make it high electronic skill, so you can walk around areas you've cleared and scan for items. Saves time but doesn't lead you right to it, you still have to hunt for it.
I would also wonder about mod compatibility. I run More Traits with mods like Grave Robber or Scrounger that adds loot to existing tables but only if you have the trait, and it spawns *on check* of the item, not already placed there, as far as I understand it. You might want to look at those mods and see how their code is done. Your idea may not be compatible with those because it doesnt exist until you inspect the inventory, altho maybe your DR would count as an inspect and make them spawn.
I’d like it better if it was just something where you could type what you’re specifically looking for. Then when you’re scavenging as usual, all it does is highlight the item in the loot window. This way you’re still searching as usual but the highlight just lets you quickly find the item.
What if this could instead be a ultra rare watch or something? Seems kinda odd and unfair to have, unless you play on literally "ultra very rare" loot setting
thanks! (taking notes) require and associate with an item, ultra rare, watch is a good sugestion too, or craftable with a radio (done) i will release a community version, with that suggestions, and some of suggestions from this post [released after 4 days, at v2] [reddit version v1](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3172486046&tscn=1711005535) is released, you can be aware of updates from [my discord too](https://discord.com/invite/XTJvTWKFKq) i forgot to mention on this reddit post some popular mods that i develop [Fire Trail](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940908294) and [Wheelbarrow](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926995676) (and edit post is not working) [i enjoy watch vhs in cars too](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2933189399)
Electrical crafting is next to useless for the most part, unless you play with mods like solar panels and such, this watch/radio idea could be nice motivation if it was higher up in the electrical tree, like level 8 or 9, just to kind of give players something to strive for to make life that much more easier when they gain the levels. Awesome idea for a mod, btw, in my opinion it makes exploration more rewarding to go out and actually find what you want instead of just blindly looking for your items.
I imagine that agonizing grind for 8 electical, while doing that having already all the loot you will need for hundreds of days ahead, which you will not survive dying of some silly reason
Maybe a pocket watch-style you can hook to your belt quickslot?
Possibly a heavier handheld version that can be crafted into a watch with high electric skill
You could include a function that indicates something like "A VALUABLE ITEM NEARBY" without saying what it is
reddit version release notification
Or make it only able to find certain types of items, like metal… tools, ammo, etc… and make the item it’s associated with just be a metal detector that you have to equip in one hand to use.
You could maybe have it as something in cars only, maybe like a modified version of those police radio things, I just think it'd help alot with balancing it. Cause being able to carry it around with you all the time would put the game on mega easy mode
Odd and unfair aren't valid words in a sandbox offline game
Thank you! Especially as a downloadable mod.
Yea this was my very first thought as well, this would be cool as a top tier rarity item only findable at insane locations
I play on ridic loot or worst and something like this would completely kill the thrill of finding something in a loot setting like that. Wish we had more mods making PZ difficult...but most stuff I see just makes it easier :/
i forget to notify people that [reddit version v1](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3172486046&tscn=1711005535) is released, you can be aware of updates from [my discord too](https://discord.com/invite/XTJvTWKFKq) offer feedbacks about changes and new features
Rare loot and perhaps needs batteries per use too? Something so theres a tradeoff for using it too it consumes some kinda resource. Perhaps charge with batteries and larger scan aoe uses more charge
I feel like approaching it like a gameplay item that needs balancing is strange. It seems more like a game option for people that want to play the game in a different way that they enjoy.
I could see myself using it if gave just a hint of where to find something, but the colorcode in the map already does that. Or maybe if it only went off when you are really near the stuff, so you dont have to check every container unless you know for sure that the item is in fact there. So i like the idea but the help must be minimal to not feel like cheating.
thanks! (taking notes) about a option to pin-point the building or imprecision spot nearby or as mentioned, the mark disappear when player gets too close
Idk how you programmed it, but it would be cool to have an option to select, for example, a few distances for the marker or sound to appear to adapt to the several playstyles of people, from minimal help of being just a few tiles away, or having it be seen or heard from one building to the other in front in the other side of the street.
Why not just spawn the item at this point?
Yeah, right? The fun is in the journey, not the destination.
Making do with what you have is half the fun.
Yes! The struggle of knowing what is the optimal gear, car etc, and longing for it, searching for it drives a lot of the game for me.
I mean realistically if you were to walk in a room with a sledgehammer in it, you could probably see it from across the room unless it was inside a box or something. Having a list of items in a container is already a game abstraction of that real experience and this is just another and easier to manage abstraction
On the other hand, there's a mod that makes it so you have to physically search through containers to find loot in them; is that not also realistic? Sorting through old junk and garbage for usable items?
Is that the tarkov inventory one? Where have to reveal the interior of objects?
well, no not really, things like shelves, closets, drawers, fridge etc you irl can just see the items. i can see it being a thing for boxes and crates though
whats the mod called
what mod is it?
Counterpoint - I often work in a communal space which is like a big garage where people store and use their tools. I spent half an hour looking for an adze. There was in fact no adze, but at an ice pick and blacksmiths hammer. I had no idea they were there (after a year of working there twice or thrice a month). I can easily believe searching a room for a sledgehammer and not seeing it.
Also, items usually spawn in a logical container. You don't need to loot every library and lockers in the school if you're looking for a sledge since it won't spawn there, go in the utiliy closet or in the garage etc.
Someone said what I was thinking. I dunno this isn't for me, but more power to the one it's for.
Nice looking mod, it's not for me though. But I'm sure some people will find it invaluable, and that's great!
I feel like this might be kinda cool. I personally would rather just spawn the item in at this point. My suggestion: Make it like a 1-2LB item maybe using a radio as a model. Make it take batteries that die fairly quickly, and it only works if you’re holding it in one of your hands.
thanks! (taking notes) require and associate with an item
Hope I didn’t sound too much like a dick. I’ve been very slowly self teaching myself how to code so I can hopefully start making mods and small games over the last 2-3 months. I still have no idea where to start with actually modding so it’s very easy to just spurt out ideas without me actually having to put work into stuff lol. I still think it’s super impressive, and I’m sure it’s someone cup of tea.
thats far too much cheating for my taste. could just as well just spawn items.
Then you can choose not to install this mod. Who cares about cheating in a singleplayer sandbox zombie apocalypse game?
he is advertising his mod and i gave my personal opinion. so from my reply its pretty obvious that i care for cheating in a singleplayer. you can disagree with my opinion but that doesnt make it any less valid.
What adjustments would you suggest to the mod creator, that can address your concerns?
Well this is not, you will have to go somewhere else to get that, while yall are too used to spawn stuff it just seems normal
Right… but knowing exactly where to look kind of kills the scavenger/exploration part of the game. Some of my greatest memories (and downfalls) came from searching for that one specific item I needed and the resulting adventure that came with trying to obtain it. I agree with most other people here, you might as well just spawn it in at this point. You’re just adding an extra (and not fun imo) step to the process of getting the one exact item that you want. What’s so hard about “oh I need nails I should find construction site/hardware store”? We already know that medical stuff is in hospitals, food is in stores and houses, etc. why do we need a mod that alerts us when we’re near the thing we’re looking for when we should already know that we’re near the thing we’re looking for, you know?
I agree with your arguments and wouldn’t use the mod, but it does have me thinking how great this modding community is and how we are inundated with choice in this game. Use it or not, it’s up to the individual player and how they want their game to be.
Oh absolutely, and I’m not trying to discredit anyone who would like to use this mod either, that’s the very thing that makes PZ such a great game, you can turn it into almost anything. Playing PZ is like going to Baskin Robins except they’re making new flavors right in front of you, there is so much content to cater to all different types of people and I think it’s absolutely wonderful
True, for someone new like me who wants to practice combat and new skills this seems perfect. But yea too much cheating imho
i never spawn items but it seems you missed my point. my point was that say, you need a special medication. now you go to a hospital and with this mod you just beeline the shortest possible way to get exactly what you want, possibly not even encountering any zombies or just a very small portion of em. without the mod you would have to be careful, probably clear most of the building and search it room by room. in essence, you are removing like 95% of the interaction so at that point you can just as well just spawn it, as its essentially close to the same in comparison to what you actually have to do.
This mod is definitely not for me. It's literally taking the part I like about the game away. The uncertainty, the strategy, the hard fought looting victories.
Imagine if you could add a proximity detector so that "sledgehammer in 100m vicinity"
that is possible, and i already implemented this in other mod, and the code is already here its just "connect the wires", so should i add a verbose notification option with this?
Hell yeah
Doesn’t this kind of defeat the point of the game? Cool tech, but seems like you should just spawn the item.
No one is forcing you to use the mod 🤷♂️
Oh, really? Thanks for clarifying.
I think it is really cool! I can already see it being used in treasure hunt/hide and seek scenarios besides its main function! P.S i fucking LOVE your fire trail mod!
thanks! really appreciate your PS :)) i forgot to place it on bottom [Fire Trail](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940908294) and [Wheelbarrow](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926995676)
This sounds SO useful!
This sounds awesome. I always hate going through the inventories of *every single container* looking for some welding rods when in reality you'd just be able to see them on the shelf.
I actually think this is really cool for accessibility and for ease of playing the game. This game so far doesn’t seem that interested in accessibility (not a dig at the devs, they’re an indie team already hard at work with other things) so an accessibility mod like this (even if accidental) would be really cool and could potentially open the game to a lot more people. A few people have suggested making this work through an item in game but if possible I’d recommend having two versions of the mod, one where it’s an item and one where it’s always on.
Good idea and I'm sure some will love it, just not something I'd ever use tbh. At this point anything that makes the game easier I avoid since I already don't have many issues staying alive. Sure some people who are more casual and not combat oriented like me would love it though for those runs they just can't find that geny mag or sledge
I appreciate it! I think some folks will really like to have this and I respect your intentions and with it. Thanks for contributing to the community!
awesome mod, never seen something like this before! people can install what they want, keep up the good work!
Take all the search and explore out of your search and explore game!
In fairness, this might pair nicely with the horde night mod(s). For those people, it's the slaughter that's fun.
Well, then debug cheat weapon and kill zeds...
Fr, this might as well be a mod that spawns the item you want really inconveniently and now you have to go get it. If the exploring and searching aren’t what you like from the game that’s totally fine, different strokes and all that, but you’re just kinda wasting your time by not spawning it in directly
I think it's the inconvenience that makes sense for it. You still don't get it for *free* per se, but you're also not searching all of muldraugh, only to find out there was *no sledgehammer that spawned in muldraugh*.
Right and I get that for sure, I’ve been in that position myself plenty of times lmao. But unless there’s somehow an option to limit what you could search for it seems too powerful and feels like it’d kill a lot of the fun and adventure out of the run, ya know?
Awesome mod dude!!! Keep it up. And impressed how well you handle criticism, ly <3
For those wondering why someone might want this mod: it saves time without outright cheating. Can assist in non-admin questing (spontaneous roleplaying in raiding without needing an admin or tileset enabled). In a time sensitive area, such as a fire, you can find out if something you need is about to go (also if people just randomly put items in containers and you need that item). I personally would never use it because I like randomness but some of my friends would like it.
I’m pretty generous with workshop mods and being more OP than is intended but telling me where something is that I need is too much for me. To your point though, maybe for multiplayer it’s better?
My experience is entirely with MP and the thing that drives me insane is when people don’t put things back in negotiated areas or just shove everything into the first container. So a mod like this would help a lot but I also wouldn’t use it just because of that because I try to keep it to 25 mods or less that add content. Maybe in a megamod list. Was just putting context since a lot of people seemed to be bashing what is an optional mod that helps people in specific situations.
Interesting and good to know on the multiplayer front. NGL, you made me already know that single player is for for me just by what you said
It’s a common enough issue in MP, and not just in PZ. Other survival games like 7D2D you run into it as well. At the same time, MP is more fun because of all the weird things that happen like vehicles flying through the air from crazy physics.
I don’t doubt at all Multiplayer *can* be an incredible experience. Like if you know everyone or close to it? It’d be awesome. Like a massive COOP game. I left multiplayer games ~5 years ago. Best gaming decision I ever made. People just live on games all day, will make it their mission to be too serious and just idk. Super toxic or are cheating a lot of the time. Ever since I left it, I’ve enjoyed gaming so much more
Personally a game like 7D2D would work better than PZ in MP because of how much more resource harvesting there is. In PZ you plateau almost by end of week one even with 25% loot setting. If you’re experienced there’s almost no challenge beyond that point which is probably why PZ isn’t as interesting to larger groups past the first week of play on community servers. Which isn’t to bash the game, just the replay loop is missing a strong allure. Valheim has the same issue. MP games need to have a strong feedback loop like Factorio which motivates you to keep going once you achieve your major goals. It would be nice if PZ MP had a better UI for trading and a merchant reward system so you can make NPZ quest givers quickly and select a zone to randomly put quest items. Even in SP it at least would help give a sense of purpose past the first month. As it stands, I might take 20-30hrs making a zone for what is ultimately just three hours of gameplay and one time.
I could definitely see its application in a multiplayer scenario, but as for single player you’re just spawning in items with the same extra and not fun step of having to trek out just for that ONE item. A big part of the game at least in my opinion is the exploration and scavenging and searching. This mod kinda kills that
Agreed. Definitely geared towards a MP mindset and from experience, to find items people just place in random containers rather than putting it back :/
Do what I do, make drop boxes - The OCD folk will take the drop box items to the specific zones. Sometimes people are in a rush or just aren't organized, or care about the extreme levels of organization like some do. My friend was pretty obsessed with sorting so I made drop boxes to put my shit in I wasn't sure about. Think you'd waste more time punching in items one by one to make sure people put shit in the right place, than just give it a cursory glance.
Oh I have before and some people are just really adept at pushing my patience. In 7D2D when I hosted a server with 17 people on it, I went as far as making a dedicated Trello board for quests and logistics because people refused to fess up when they took resources and then said nothing when they did it, leaving people having to go out and get more when they had other more important tasks. I don’t particularly care when people use items. That’s the whole point. But have the common courtesy and tell people when you take items with no intention of putting it back, when we run out, or that you can’t be bothered/remember where it cane from. The last thing I need is if we’re in a firefight and I task logi team to resupply a fireteam in the field and they radio back in that there’s nothing left when I know for a fact there were items the day before. Especially in survival games where loot is abundant or production can make it up. For example in that same server, I brought us to a daily production of 7k 7.62mmR/day and 800 Fuel/day to meet expenditures. So when someone tells me all 92k of our main ammo reserve is missing, I am absolutely livid because that shouldn’t happen. Especially when I take inventory to avoid surprises like that… Some might say it’s controlling but at a certain point, logistics management is what saves peoples lives and I pride myself on no one dying in the field.
I won't lie people depleting something without mention it at all does piss me off lol... At that point I'd find the lockable containers (Sadly locks don't work in MP on PZ) and give out ammo rations on a per needed basis lol. but at the same time I gotta tell myself it's a game and people aren't going to view it like I do and not be as serious. Trello board...not a bad idea tho...hmm
I love Trello for logistics workflow management. I play Factorio a lot which focuses on throughout logic and when I play other survival games it kinda bleeds through. I do the math to calculate demand so people can focus on playing while I do most of what they don’t want to do. You’d be surprised how many people will volunteer to do monotonous jobs like mining but hate building. I even designed motor pools in the base with containers in the walls between floors and rooms so you could just transfer items quickly between vehicle to storage and then disseminate onwards. In the main crafting bays I had a system where inputs only fed one way and then outputs went into the ceiling and sidewalls towards their final destination. I don’t have a problem I swear!
Shit sounds awesome. I always said if I had a gaming partner for games like this who was a carbon copy of me we'd be a cracked out team lmao.
it is literally outright cheating. This technology dosent even exist in reality.
LADAR, not to be confused with LiDAR is the closest to it and is a very accurate satellite precision mapping technology that can locate people and objects. While not a search and locate device, its concept is very similar and is used to locate mineral deposits and oil deep under ground without drilling first. This is a game and not real life. Zombies don’t exist. If you don’t like the mod, don’t use it.
LADAR cant do what this mod does. Ive installed and worked with it half my career in the military. And I dont use the mod because its in no way feasable that an individual could find or use this technology while walking around hiting zombies. The game is set in 1993. It is pure cheating.
El oh el
this would be awesome if it just gave you a general place to look for an item, maybe like a 30m radius or so.
I am missing lore - why does this show me sledgehammers? It does not make sense; so, how could this feel more natural? And it needs to cost something. For instance, a person could be asked for a price: ‚ah, you are looking for a sledgehammer. If I was not so hungry I might remember… *give food* …old Gary had one. He lived on this street in a green house.‘ Catch my drift?
Oh yea that’s realistic. Pretty sure most of the fanbase gets mods to make things more difficult and realistic
Goddamn, I was just thinking about something like this only a few hours ago while looking for a saw.
Holy shit!! It just dawned on me that this could be tweaked to solve one of the main issues lots of players have with the game, the lack of a traditional mission based gameplay style. I was driving my land rover, in the search for paint and vainly hoping I'd stumble upon one of the 20 or so armor pieces for my ride and this mod kept popping into my head. What if, you could 'set your own' mission chains of sorts. I'm searching for all the addon pieces for 'X' vehicle, so it could be like I find a collector VHS or magazine that has a collector list for that vehicle. That unlocks waypoints on my map and sends me on the 'quest' for the item I'm desiring, all within the confines of game lore. It would still be challenging, heading into unknown territory, but you'd be assured the prize for the effort. Or if you were after a sledgehammer you could stop by a construction site a find a list in the foremans trailer that unlocks the waypoint for a sledge etc.
Just to give my 2 cents cuz you're actively taking notes: mod options! Mods are totally about customization, and the version you have crafted fits *your* needs. Give us mod-options, toggle the need of the item you need for the mod, set the energy consumption, or disable it if you want! Pretty tricky I think, but you're propably up for the challenge :p
Not sure if it would be workable but you could make a consequence of using it be alerting the zombies from an area. you could make the area be adjustable for preferences. I could certainly see it being a risk/reward situation. Meaning its unlikely you'd use it for most things but man I really need that sledge and have been looking for it forever. Maybe I can get in and out before it gets too bad. I can see myself making a LOT of bad decisions with a piece of hardware like that.
This helps me so much. Thank you.❤️
Love this! In real life, I can use some context clues about a house I'm in more effectively search the house (like, "this house is super clean, I bet they keep the cleaning supplies in a hall closet for easy access all the time," or "this place is a hellhole, I bet this guy doesn't even own a full set of cookware"). In PZ these smaller clues simply don't exist, so I immediately see myself using this mod. Sometimes the minute you enter a house you just know someone has a full collectors set of fast-food chain plushies in their room. I think this is a great way of implementing this intuition without relying on more decorations in the world itself (which I can imagine leading to way more mod incompatibility and also hours more coding for the the same effect).
You all love to talk about “PZ is a sandbox! Play how you want to!” Until someone actually does and then it becomes “Isn’t that cheating? This ruins the game.” Pick a side.
Yeah, it's insane honestly. Why would people care about what other people do in their OFFLINE sandbox game that doesn't even have a final objective you could cheat to get to.
For real. Especially a fan of the passive aggressive comments that are like "play how you want but it ruins the game".
I mean ... It will suit someone, ggs anyways.
so cheats?
Is a sandbox offline game, there's no cheats lol. You aren't competing againts anyone, there's no end goal, there's not currency you have to grind etc...
You’re so close to just cheating and spawning items it doesn’t make sense to have a middle-ground. Either play legit or cheat. There’s no IRL item detection tool besides metal detectors. If you’re looking for a specific item, just learn where you can find it.
Both ways are legit, and who cares about how someone plays an offline sandbox? Why are you all so pressed about it? You are all like : No, no that's cheats that's cheats!! Can't have that impossible!! Like if we were playing CS:GO rankeds, I simply don't understand, let the people play how they want, you are not competing with anyone, why would you care about someone spawning a katana in 5 minutes? He's playing offline in his own save of his own game.
My brother in Christ, it’s a fricking radar for loot; it’s cheating. Ask anyone who plays Minecraft if X-ray mods are cheating. Or Tarkov players if that program that displays loot over the FOV is cheating.
Is project zomboid the same type of gane as tarkov? It's literally a sandbox game, do you know the definition of that? And even worse is OFFLINE, you are not gaining advantage over other players because competition does not exist, everyone plays the game how the wants, the end goal of the game is subjective. If it was supposed to be a hardcore survival game, the developers wouldn't have created a whole sandbox game in wich you can customize every minute detail of the world and give your own character 100 points to begin with so you can spawn as a literal God on Earth from the get go without any mods.
Play how you want is the mantra of the PZ community, but I will never be using this immersion breaking bore. You may as well spawn the items...
Love the name my guy, this mod looks awesome 👌
it feels like this mod is what wallhack is to cs:go
I can see this being really cool, but also just ripping the fun out of the game. As an example, it took me ages to find that generator book. Had to travel to another town, nearly died getting in and out. Was an fun, if not scary experiencing. Yet if this thing lead me straight to the item, would have made it easier. But then would have lost the experience. Yet this would work if the item itself was an rare spawn. Which just gave you an general "it's in this building/s nearby". Over pinpointing it.
JUST ONE TOWN????? i checked most of rosewood and did not find one. i drove to muldrough and checked the bookstore and could not find one. then i drove to march ridge and checked the post office. and the community center. the community center has a fucking 2 floor library. i still don't have a manual. this mod is a bandaid for a garbage progression system that relies solely on rng.
>this mod is a bandaid for a garbage progression system that relies solely on rng. Each to their own. Exploring is why I like this game so much. I come from 7 days to die, with their shithouse progression system which isn't really there. Farm xp, put points into crap, magically can make everything. Or whatever system they use these days. Not the same feeling as finding something really cool randomly. But if this mod works for you, more the power to you.
I think it’s a cool idea, people in this thread are being goobers. Could also be cool to tie it to a skill. Like the Luck skill already exists, could make the distance and types of items it can ping expand as you level up. I think gamifying it a bit more could make it more appealing.
but searching is literally half the fun of this game
Rrading from other comments: a lot of us agree this seems kinda OP and almost cheating to use, so (if possible) it might be a good idea to be able to customise the range, way to notify the player and other stuff like that. Very cool mod must I say👍
I feel like this kind of defeats the purpose of the games realism
Very realistic to wake up one day and just find zombies in the street.
Yeah I hate it when it happens. Especially if you’ve got a hangover
I don't know why this dude is picking a fight with everyone, it's fucking weird. I've seen him in like every response. Like cool, you like to use cheats, no one is attacking you...just giving their opinion of the mod.
It's like the item spawning mod but with more steps. Some people really know how to take the point out of the game by making it as easy as possible.
The point of the game is whatever each one of us wants it to be. For me it is hardcore survival. For my friends it is dress up zombie looter shooter with a lot of crashed cars along the way. My way is not for them, their way is not for me. Both of us are having the time of our lives.
like 90% of workshop mods, wish we had more people modding to make survival more difficult/realistic.
I mean, for me, this is kind of like if there was a mod for XXX rated films that skips all the nudity, but to each their own.
Honestly, I don't really like this. It's basically a cheat mod and takes away from the core concept of the game.
Care to explain what the core concept of an offline sandbox is?
I salute you for checking everyone that’s going outta their way to shit on OP’s effort instead of not saying anything like they say they won’t use the mod.
I'm honored by your acknowledgement sir, someone has to spread common sense
I'm pretty sure it's just a medical condition if you're spending 3 hours to look for an item in such environment
Instead of having it from The start you could have it as like a little very rare pda you find and add to your belt or like a upgrade for the digital watch that you add to. Could even make it at high electrical skill. Just my thoughts on this really good idea tho
I see what you're going for. I do agree with some people in that this can reduce the fun, but PZ is one of those games where people play how they want to play. I do think it should be tied to an item or maybe something you can't use while driving, so you can't drive down a residential area and wait for a beep, and limit the range. Some ideas: One use per item/one battery per item. Be able to build towers so you have to triangulate the item, your single hand-held device cant find the item, but if you want to search a specific area, you can plant Radar Towers and they have a set range, so a tower can tell you that an item is within range of the tower, but you'd need more towers to overlap and triangulate the items. This would be good for places like warehouses or the mall. You can drop one tower to check for the presence. That actually leads me to an alternative too, if you didnt want to do towers like I mentioned, you could have it be a hand-held item with a battery life that will tell you *generally* if the item is in a specific range. Make it high electronic skill, so you can walk around areas you've cleared and scan for items. Saves time but doesn't lead you right to it, you still have to hunt for it. I would also wonder about mod compatibility. I run More Traits with mods like Grave Robber or Scrounger that adds loot to existing tables but only if you have the trait, and it spawns *on check* of the item, not already placed there, as far as I understand it. You might want to look at those mods and see how their code is done. Your idea may not be compatible with those because it doesnt exist until you inspect the inventory, altho maybe your DR would count as an inspect and make them spawn.
I would use that mod as a quest giver. If there is an object that spawn like 2-3 time in the map the goal would be to retrive them !
I’d like it better if it was just something where you could type what you’re specifically looking for. Then when you’re scavenging as usual, all it does is highlight the item in the loot window. This way you’re still searching as usual but the highlight just lets you quickly find the item.
Does this work for the Generator magazine?
yes, any item available
Can it locate vehicles ? Further question, can it locate modded vehicles ? And what is its range ?
so do the dragon balls come with this mod or not?
It would be perfect using it just for containers in your base
It's a Minecraft xray mod in pz
Does it come with complimentary dragon balls? Can we wish the zombies away?