Multiplayer on 7 Days to Die

[OJsDad]

BC, it's a server that ArizonaTank has.  The connection information is on the first page of this thread.

[JasonPratt]

I set up a 7x24 server and welcome all Grogs. 

Find it as a modded server. The name: "Unofficial Grog Invitational".   

Password is "CambronneMerde!"

Zombies set to only walk, since I like a little more relaxed game....  60 min day/night cycle.

When he says "a modded server" that means look in the second tab from the left, not the first (I think). Once you've ever found it and signed in the first time, the game will remember and add it to a smaller list in the middle of the multiplayer tabs where you can always easily find it. In my experience, it doesn't always show up when the game polls for modded servers, so keep refreshing! -- and once I got in, the game always knew where to look for it.

[BanzaiCat]

BC, it's a server that ArizonaTank has.  The connection information is on the first page of this thread.

*derp*

thanks, OJD

[-budd-]

Here's some screenshots and the vids of my arrow testing, exploding crossbow bolts and flaming arrows. Just so happens a bear walks along and i figure why not test on the bear.


So Jason was kind enough to run the minibike out to off load my pack and bring me some supplies while i'm exploring the map. He gets there and a horde of dogs jumps us, Jasons backpack is just off screen where he went down under the zombie dog attack.The bulk of the pack went at him first then turned on me.


Here's the new city i found while going on walkabout. I climbed the elevator shaft to get to the roof, i'm on a 5 story apartment building.


A wandering horde stopped by to visit, Mr.44 didnt want company.


It's always nice when the supply drop shows up, drank some coffee and ran down the crate. A lot of medicine and gun parts with a fully operational smg in the crate this time.


Trying to get to base, its getting dark, bad things happen at night. Its one of my runs bringing the loot from the city.


Here's the vid of the arrow testing, haven't used these before.

[JasonPratt]

Man, budd wasn't kidding about that airtunnel's collapse -- it tore down the whole top side of the tower. And yet left its own two support stanchions still standing unharmed. Crazy.

I wasn't able to get back started on that tonight (I have a blinding headache from the local coldsnap so I didn't get any DCamp3 done either), but I did fix Budd's tower, and set up the position for the new top door (to the eventual airtunnel) again.

Then, as I was back down trying to figure out whether I could make a new minibike from scratch (answer, I can -- I forgot to make a seat or minihandlebars but I did make the frame, budd, and the other things can be made), I heard a horde arrive topside and... odd sounds. Eventually I walked under the road in the tunnel, came up inside budd's new tower, climbed to the top... couldn't see where the horde was smacking things around, but I could definitely hear things breaking. What had convinced me at last to go look topside was some debris clipping through several levels of ground into the tunnel itself!

Turns out a minor horde -- not a minihorde but a significant horde without any feral zombie support other than a zombie hornet, which I promptly shot when it surprised me -- had gotten into the garage, budd! I seriously don't know how. I don't know how they could have even seriously begun to get into the garage. The main vault door leading outside was gone, as were all the flagstone blocks to the 'outerwall' side of it. (And yet the wood trim from the original garage which I hadn't bothered to remove because it happened not to be in the way of my upgrading that side of the garage still stood. Go figure.)

They had about banged through the secondary vault door on the west side, and some of its flagstone surroundings, too. I Mag'd them down, but not before one or two climbed the vestigal ladder to get up to the upper entrance to the garage, giving me some tense moments as they landed a few good stunning hits.

Before I logged out tonight (this didn't help my headache any, but I felt responsible to go fix budd's tower asap), I repaired the garage, and every flagstone or vault door nearby that had been damaged (inadvertently upgrading a random block or two to concrete, I think). I also upgraded all vault doors leading outside somewhere to full 3rd level where they weren't already. Things were quiet nearing sundown when I logged out.


Edited to add: oh, and I thought you had found a book for making gas?? Did it disappear, was it lost in the lag? It wasn't in the book box when I arrived.

[BanzaiCat]

I'd probably figure out a way to destroy the everythings in that server's world since I don't have a clue where to begin.

[-budd-]

I'd probably figure out a way to destroy the everythings in that server's world since I don't have a clue where to begin.

Just head on over to Budd's will get you outfitted for survival ;) 

Jason i had the gas schematic on me, its now in your chest by the stairs, i had 2 one is still back in the city. I made the last few parts for the mini and went and found better tires, its parked in the garage. I forged some stone for your future building efforts. I think i shall head east on walk about, i want to find a military camp and some batteries for more spotlights. I think there will be another city toward the east.

[OJsDad]

Jake loved the video Budd.  Couldn't stop laughing at the bear getting blown up. 

[-budd-]

Jake loved the video Budd.  Couldn't stop laughing at the bear getting blown up.

Glad he enjoyed it, least i could do for him saving me from the zombie ;) Left a few exploding arrows in the chest give them a whirl. I'll make more, but there resource heavy for what you get.

[JasonPratt]

BC, I had literally no idea what I was doing when I first started either. NOW I BUILD COLLAPSING AIRTUNNELS, BWA HA HA HA HAAAA!

So there's hope.  :)

(I'm passing through on my way back to bed. I'll try to provide a more helpful idea of what a new player should be doing tomorrow.)

[OJsDad]

I'd probably figure out a way to destroy the everythings in that server's world since I don't have a clue where to begin.

As a fellow newbie, let me share some words of wisdom.

1.  Jump on the server as Budd, JP, and AT are all good at helping out and teaching.  Also, they're far enough along that you can get to a secure location and get your head wrapped around a few things.

2.  At the same, start a solo game.  Be prepared to delete and restart multiple times.  Expect to not make it past your first day. 

3.  In the beginning you can never have too much wood or stone.  You'll have to use your bare hands at first to get some wood, stone, and plant fibers (grass).  You need 2 wood, 2 stone, and 1 or 2 plant fibers to make a stone axe.  Once you have that, getting wood and stone will go a lot faster.  Also give you your first weapon. 

4.  This took me awhile to figure out, but once you have enough wood, you can start building wood frames.  You use these to start a building.  But they are just frames.  If you use your stone axe and right click on the blocks, they'll get wood on them.  I think you can do this 3 times to each block to upgrade them so they are stronger.  However, each upgrade takes 10 wood.  Did I say you need lots of wood.

5.  If you can find a building to clear and start to fortify, you'll be in ahead of the game.  Preferably a stone building.  My first day 7 hoarded literally torn through the wood walls of the house I was in.  Luckily I was in the attic and they couldn't get to me. 

6.  Us the night time to look at what you need to build various needed items, bows, arrows, forge, etc.  If you find a bone, it may seem pointless at first, but you can make it a shiv, which you need to skin deer and pigs that you kill.  I didn't know that and wasted those kills. 

Like I said at the beginning, don't be afraid to restart. 

Oh, and if you start in a frozen zone, and you walk into an area that is raining, you'll start getting hurt.  Not sure why, but that rain will kill you. 

[JasonPratt]

It's freezing rain / sleet. If you have enough cold and water protection, it's okay.

[JasonPratt]

To OJ's many good recommendations, let me add:

Step 0.) Crouch the moment you drop in. Your center-target recticle, which is normally a broken X, will turn into an eye. Give it a few seconds to tell you whether you're in a danger zone and are being hunted or sensed. Use the sound cues pretty religiously in this game, and if you hear something alive moving around in the trees or grass or whatever move away from it while crouched unless it's already sensing or actively hunting you. Then stand up and run away from it. (This game is often rather like submarine warfare.) Every once in a while crouch again to check if you've cleared contact. If so, verge off left or right by 45 degrees, or whichever direction looks (or sounds) safest, and keep going a while. The z's (depending on server settings) will track you for a minute and/or until they reach the spot they lost contact, and they may be moving faster than you while you're crouched.

Of course if the dogs get you, you'll just have to run and keep running until you run out of stamina or can find a building to get into. The controls are standard WASD, hold left shift to run, left-control to toggle crouch, space to jump, 'e' key to pick up things or open doors or search objects (the game will give you print hints center screen. But don't search while being hunted.)


Step 1.) once you're in a safely quiet area (assuming you join the Invitational, otherwise skip), tap the 'i' on the keyboard. That doesn't start out as (I)nventory in this game (which is the tab key), but (I)nformation, specifically about other players currently logged in. If you see any in the list, find the column for inviting them as allies and mouse-click the + button on-screen for each one. You can still talk to us (and hear us chatting) anyway, but this will allow us to track you and for you to track us, and we can send you map instructions.

Relatedly, the 't' key opens the chat window. Note that doing anything on the user interface will prevent you from taking actions otherwise, but doesn't pause the game, which is why I put Step 0 first: get safe somewhere. It may take us a moment to accept your ally request for the same reason. (The window will automatically close and slowly fade out once you hit 'return'. It won't post anything if you do that without typing, and you can open it with 't' again to see if you missed any chat after you logged in.)

You can also try holding down the 'v' key for voicechat, if you have a headset or a good console mic, but the program is a bit whiffy about this.

We'll probably see a notification (if we aren't busy being distracted) when you drop in and will be trying to contact you with reminders. Let us know who you are on Grogheads, because the game will probably try to use your Steam id instead.

Last but not least, once we've accepted your ally invitation (or you accepted ours -- this has to be done manually for each person, not as a group alliance), the two columns to the right of the alliance buttons will allow you to track us on your HUD and, if you click "show" will open the map and center on whoever you clicked "show" for.


Step 2.) 'm' key for map. Hold mouse-left and drag to move the map around; middle scroll key up and down for zooming. You'll mostly see grey fog, but you may start seeing us sending you map locations on the bottom left menu. The top left button of that menu will accept those locations permanently into your maplist, which is a good idea. The game does not share mapping otherwise between players: what any of us reveals on our maps doesn't get shared to other maps. If you find a crazy little sliver of a desert (likes south of Budd's main base), we won't be able to see it on our maps unless we go there ourselves.

But you may be somewhere one or more of us have been, and so we may be able to guide you to shelter and/or out of super-hostile environments (like cold, desert, or burning).

Right clicking on the map opens up a menu for a quick or standard marker. Quick drops a red flag kind-of-near where your mouse is (but the game is a bit dotty about that). You can have one of those at a time, and whenever you drop a quick flag it'll erase the old one. Standard will open a new list for icons of different kinds, which are only a handy visual reminder for your benefit. When in doubt use X at the bottom. Once you choose one of those a final small window will open for you to type a brief text (I think maybe 12 characters) if you want. Return plops the new icon permanently on your map, and adds it to your upper left list. (There are icons up there for erasing, centering on the chosen icon, sharing with other players.)

Okay, on the top edge of your map somewhere you should find a set of map-grid coordinates in meters (or steps), which will shift as you move your mouse over the map. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND TAKING A MINUTE TO FIND 0,0 AND PERMAFLAGGING IT AS SUCH!

This will not only give you a frame of reference for finding us and generally navigating, but also will tell you somewhere to avoid: there's always a city at 0,0, and cities have more zombies than average, and that one's smack deep in a cold zone which will straightup kill you.


STEP 3.) Get the hell out of any cold, desert, or burning zones. Time to start moving anyway, but especially if you're in one of those zones. The game will probably drop you semi-randomly within 1.5 kilometers of one of us or our recent activity, so probably not near the map edge which is where the main burning zones are. But if you found 0,0 on your map, you can easily figure out which direction to walk to be sure you're going away from the map edge. Going toward it will not only increase your chance of fatal heat stroke but will start adding radiation damage.

All our activity, so far as I'm aware, is well within 2 km or so east of the hub city (aside from exploring, which may be farther away but still on that half of the map.) Mostly a little north of east, but also some south. At this late in the game, you should start heading toward our normal activity area asap. I don't usually go exploring, so if I'm on I'll likely be at one of our bases (including a deep warm tunnel not far northeast of 0,0).

Supposedly zombies cannot open unlocked doors, but not all of us trust that so we often lock doors after we make them and then (assuming we remember) we'll add a code to them. Holding down the 'e' key on a locked door will open a small icon submenu which will give you the option to enter a code if so. That code will be 'ace' (little letters, no quotes). Once the door recognizes you it'll always open for your action ever afterward, without need to enter the code again.


STEP 4.) While you're traveling toward us and/or out of danger environments, start punching things with your bare hands. You'll pick up grass that way, maybe the odd bit of wood. Punch cotton and goldenrod if you see any. (You can also 'e' key those.) If you see a rock nearby, go punch it a few times to get some small rocks. (They can also be 'e'd off the ground if you happen to see any lying around.) If you see a tree, ditto. DO NOT PUNCH CATCUS! Duh.

'b' key opens your inventory which also shows your character and any wearable slots open or filled. 'Tab' key also opens most of your inventory but replaces your character with various crafting options. Left clicking on any item (whether in your backpack or on your belt, or wearing it) will bring it up in a window, with buttons for dropping or using or building or whatever.

As OJDad says, the stone axe is your best friend and general all-purpose tool early in the game, and it's always very easy to remake if you lose it. You can build a wooden bow out of the same material, which will be even handier for hunting and fighting (generally you want to shoot zombies before they get close, because even the weakest z can and will kill you with a couple of hits, or fatally wound you with even one). But you'll have to build arrows using feathers (as well as small stones and wood), and those mainly come from nests on the ground which are not always easy to see. (You can get eggs searching nests that way, too, but don't eat raw unless you're desperate.)

A NOTE ON YOUR BELT AND BACKPACK! -- while this game allows you to use many items directly from your backpack, you can't put them in your hands unless they're on your toolbelt slot (the horizontal row of squares at the bottom of the screen). Ammo is fine in the backpack, but if you want to use a bow or an axe or a club or whatever (clubs are better than axes, at least at the beginning, btw, for fighting with), that has to be on your toolbelt. The center mousewheel will scroll through them, or you can tap their appropriate number on the keyboard. (But the squares aren't numbered and there are less than 10, so that can get a little confusing.)

Depending on the server, or on how you set up _your_ singleplayer game for testing things, the difference between backpack and toolbelt can be even more crucial. At the Invitational server, whatever is in your backpack is immune from your death penalty. But you will lose whatever was on your toolbelt when you die -- which was probably your most immediately useful items! But the game will generate a bright-light-blue backpack where you died, and you (or anyone else) can recover it later. The game will also track your last dropped backpack for you (on map and compass both). If you die, the previous packs will still be wherever but it'll track the new one instead.


STEP 5.) FOOD AND WATER -- the game tracks your hunger and your thirst, and you'll take damage if these get too low. (Sometimes eating will worsen your hydration, btw.) You can eat raw food, but if it's raw meat you'll almost surely get infected with a disease which can be hard to get rid of.

At any water pool, you can right click with bare hands selected (an open square on your toolbelt) and drink directly from the source. But this is a good way to get dysentery, which will eventually kill you.

Canned food is fine to eat (though it may give you gas, which will cause noises when you select from your inventory!) Bottled or canned water is NOT necessarily good to drink yet, though. (Cans can be found through normal scavenging, or be left over after eating canned food.) If it's "murky" you still run a high chance of dysentery (depending on the source. Budd's original house had a flooded basement that I had to drink directly from two or three times, and I never got sick from it.)

Eventually you'll need to build a fire, if only to keep warm at night. That'll require small stones, and then wood (or maybe coal) to burn. Water can be boiled at the fire if in a can (maybe not in a bottle yet until you have a pot, I'm not sure). To get water into a can or bottle (or any number of them in a stack), put it on your toolbelt (in a stack is okay), select it to hold, and then right click like you're drinking. It'll look like you're drinking it, but don't panic you aren't. (The game's targeting for picking up water this way can be a bit picky though.) A fire will keep wild dogs and bears away (probably?) but not zombies, which can and will sense fire and come over to see if there are squishy humans. That includes zombie dogs and zombie bears.


STEP 6.) DIE!

This will almost surely happen a lot. Try not to sweat it. If you had something important on the toolbelt that (unlike a bow and stone axe or stone shovel) can't be easily replaced, make sure you're safe where you spawn back in, and find it on your map (as a blue backpack icon) and put a permanent marker of your own there to pick it up later someday.

The game will semi-randomly drop you somewhere else on the map, maybe better, maybe worse.

When you start a new game, you'll get a 12-hour safety zone without hassle, but I was running into zombies immediately on both the new games I started on AzTank's server (he had to generate a new game with the new patch/update). You could easily drop in at night-time, too, which gets superdark starting around 22:00. At 3:00 the sky lightens, but the ground is still pretty dark. Dawn at 4:00 will bring the ground light slowly back to normal, with sunrise around 6. Zombie activity picks up at night (and in the dark); which is also when the worst zombies spawn. Depending on whether they're hunting anything, the worst z's will disappear around dawn. But a lot of relatively minor zs will stick around, wandering the countryside randomly.

Whenever you die, you will lose 10 points off your maximum health and stamina. You will earn those back slowly with consuming good food and drink (and vitamins if you find any). The game won't let you have a worse maximum than 60. Your best maximum is 200. Even experienced players will often hover around 60 to 70 for a long time, so don't feel bad about that. It's quite expected.

[ArizonaTank]

Step 0.) Crouch the moment you drop in. Your center-target recticle, which is normally a broken X, will turn into an eye. Give it a few seconds to tell you whether you're in a danger zone and are being hunted or sensed. Use the sound cues pretty religiously in this game, and if you hear something alive moving around in the trees or grass or whatever move away from it while crouched unless it's already sensing or actively hunting you. Then stand up and run away from it. (This game is often rather like submarine warfare.) Every once in a while crouch again to check if you've cleared contact. If so, verge off left or right by 45 degrees, or whichever direction looks (or sounds) safest, and keep going a while. The z's (depending on server settings) will track you for a minute and/or until they reach the spot they lost contact, and they may be moving faster than you while you're crouched.

Great recommendations. 

When you first come into the server, you should have a "safe" zone created around you, up until you are level 12.  This is a server setting.  I am not certain how big the zone is, but you shouldn't be harassed by zombies right out of the gate.

[JasonPratt]

I know you said so earlier, AT, but I'm wondering if that code is broken -- starting new games on your server (before and after the most recent update), I had trouble with zombies almost immediately. I couldn't possibly have been level 12 either time. I doubt I ever got to level 12 on the first world, before the update required a restart!