Zombie Panic! Source News

We've released the first patch to Zombie Panic! Source v3.1 that addresses major bugs, game balance issues and minor changes reported recently in both Discord and Steam forums. We also want to leave an important note to all server owners and Workshop map authors in this announcement.

[h2]Notice to Server Operators and Workshop Authors[/h2]
Along with fixes to Workshop mounting for Dedicated servers, we've updated our requirements for map authors and now request that they add and/or update their Workshop item with a text file called "addoninfo.txt" in the root folder of your map. If you already have this file in your Workshop item, be sure to update your text file with the following line: "type" "map". For example:

"AddonInfo"
{
	"title"					"My Map"
	"description"			"This is my first map for Zombie Panic! Source."
	"version"				"1.0"
	"author"				"John Doe"
	"authorSteamID64"		"76500000000000000"
	"type"				"map"
}

This is an important update for all authors who have previously uploaded a Workshop map. You can find more information about uploading custom content to the Workshop in our community guide.

Server owners who utilize the Workshop collection can manually edit and update this text file @ "\\zps_custom\\workshop\\content\\17500" as a temporary fix. A reminder that they have to mount the Workshop item as well in "zps\\addons\\addonlist.txt", here's an example for Anoxia (workshop ID = 974503415) and Area 41 (workshop ID = 1068697639):

"AddonList"
{
	"974503415"	"1"
	"1068697639"	"1"
}

With that out of the way, let's dive into the changelog of today's patch.


[h3]Angelscript[/h3]
Added "int Utils.GetNumGamePlayers( bool bAlive )". Returns the number of players in the Survivor and Zombie teams which is more efficient than doing "Utils.GetNumPlayers( survivor, false/true ) + Utils.GetNumPlayers( zombie, false/true )"
Fixed map chooser and rock the vote/nominate server plugins not working properly.
Fixed missing "new line" characters in several log messages.
Renamed the chat broadcaster, rock the vote and spray checker plugins files to lowercase for Linux
Updated system to read custom content from "zps/custom" rather than "zps_custom".

[h3]Balance[/h3]
Adjusted pistols, shotguns and revolver by reducing its spread very slightly.
Adjusted "running and gunning" spread meta.
Increased Crowbar attack speed slightly.
Increased Sledgehammer headshot damage slightly.
Increased Survivor stamina recharge rate slightly.
Increased Z-Berzerk attack speed very slightly.
Increased Zombie lunge speed very slightly.

[h3]Code[/h3]
Fixed AFK checker making Survivors play their panic voice line when being moved to the lobby.
Fixed AFK checker not dropping the melee weapon if the Survivor had it's panic mode set to "switch to melee weapon".
Fixed AFK checker not ignoring admins of the server.
Fixed AFK checker not really moving players to the lobby room.
Fixed Hardcore game mode not increasing and decreasing zombie lives properly.
Fixed "nextlevel" CVAR having a restriction preventing server plugins to work correctly.
Fixed missing game sounds on Linux dedicated due to Source SDK 2013 MP engine binaries mismatch.
Fixed a round bug not turning the player as the new Carrier when the previous one left.
Fixed a game crash involving breakables entities.
Fixed round not ending in random cases.
Reworked player pain sounds and visual damage effects.

[h3]General[/h3]
[GAMEBREAKING] Added missing exclamation mark for 'You are awesome' voice line.
Changed lookup path of custom content outside of the Steam Workshop from "zps_custom" to "zps/custom".
Changed the behavior of "sv_zps_vote_adminonly_votes". If enabled, only admins can use "callvote".
Disabled Vanessa's gibs and LOD models as an attempt to temporally fix a client crash for some people running on low game settings.
Upgraded game engine to the latest public version of Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer.
Fixed "custom_map" Steam Rich Presence being shown when playing on custom maps.
Fixed a rare case of players being unable to launch the game.
Removed VR strings leftovers within the code and game start up.
Removed many old unused characters textures from VPKs.

[h3]Generic[/h3]
Made the following methods in "CZP_Player" virtual so that they can be used in SourceMod; const char *GetModelString() --- Returns the name of the character this client is playing ("eugene", "marcus"...)
const char *GrabTeamSpawn() --- Returns the class name of the spawn entity that concerns this client's team ("info_player_human" if you are on the Survivor team)
bool IsAwayFromKeyboard() --- Returns true if AFK checker considers this client as being AFK this simulation frame
bool IsCarrier() --- Explicit
bool IsInfected() --- Explicit
bool IsInfectionKnown() --- Returns true if the client is infected and knows about it (HUD icon changed, heartbeat sound)
bool IsOnATeam() --- Returns true if the client is not in the unassigned/lobby teams
bool IsRoaring() --- Explicit
void SetCarrier( bool value ) --- Explicit
void SetInfectionResistance( int percentage, float time ) --- Set the infection resistance chance and time (aka green inoculator effect) for this client, "percentage" is a value between 0 and 100, "time" is in seconds
void SetInfection( bool infect, bool forced, int time ) --- Set the infection state for this client, "forced" is set to true when a Survivor is infected because "not enough Zombies due to ragequit/kick and so on". Leave it to "false" to simulate a "normal Carrier" infection. "time" is in seconds.

Speaking of SourceMod, thanks to community member Silence, the "gamedata offsets/signatures" have been updated to run on the latest v3.1 update, improving compatibility and stability with SourceMod itself and plugins. You can grab the latest stable build here.

[h3]Linux[/h3]
Replace Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer's "libtier0.so" and "libvstdlib.so" binaries by symbolic links to their server counterparts. Fixes the missing important game sounds (weapons, footsteps, voices...) not being played (GH-VALVE-SDK2013-PR-448).
Replace Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer's "steamclient.so" binary by a recent version from SteamCMD (fixes the dedicated server getting stuck in Workshop downloads)
Shipped a compiled version of OpenSSL compatible with ZPS in an attempt to fix the "could not library" error with some Linux distributions with and without the Steam Runtime. This is not enabled by default to prevent breaking working setups, To use this compiled version of OpenSSL, add the "-linux-extra-bins" parameter to the command-line launch options.
[Update 10/26] Fixed a starting issue about the newly added "-linux-extra-bins" command-line argument.

[h3]Maps[/h3]
Aquatica (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count and re-scaled supplies distribution.
Asylum (Survival) - Fixed props outside of the map and optimized displacements.
Blackout (Survival) - Fixed few texture issues and updated ammo spawns.
Cinema (Survival) - Fixed a glitch spot on Cinema 1 with a player clip.
Corpsington (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count.
Corpsington (Survival) - Fixed some player clipping issues.
Deadend (Survival) - Added player clip on the door and the roof between cemetery and church.
Harvest (Objective) - Increased barricade & doors HP and ammo spawns on higher playercount and fixed fuse clip through the wall.
Keretti (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count.
Murskville (Objective) - Fixed double doors making the players stuck in the check-in room.
Sapidcerebrum (Survival) - Fixed visible NODRAW face and breakable glass near human spawn.
Subway (Objective) - Re-scaled supplies distribution.
Zomboeing (Objective) - Fixed areaportals leaking through the door.

[h3]Server[/h3]
In order to fix the BZ2/FastDL problem in Dedicated Servers, third-party content had to be moved from zps_custom to zps/custom folder. Servers operators are required use this folder to install new custom content (maps/sounds/materials) outside of the Steam Workshop. For further information regarding this topic, please visit this thread in our forums for details.
If you changed the "zps/data/adminsystem.json" and/or "zps/default_plugins.json" files, make backups before updating your server, we had to change them to fix some issues listed here and SteamCMD might override them.
[h3]UI[/h3]
Added a warning text in "Options -> Video" to warn players to restart their game if they change anything.
Added a text and progress bar indicator whenever a teammate is healing you with an inoculator.
Changed font for game progress HUD (game/round starts in...)
Changed the name of the badge "Mission Commander" to "Commander".
Fixed ESCAPE not cancelling server connection.
Fixed missing HardCore timer on top screen.
Fixed server info dialog having text overlapping issues.
Servers browser will no longer subtract bots from players count.
Servers browser will now show bots on a separate column.

[h3]Weapons[/h3]
Fixed stackable items/weapons (like grenade) not adding/removing weight when many of them were picked up.
Updated grenade throwing animations timing.
Updated carry animation on the fuse and keys item delivery.
Updated inoculator viewmodel animations making it faster to use.
Updated Survivor's hands viewmodel animations and added a "deploy" sequence.
Changed how you cancel reloads and unloads bolt action firearms (Super Shorty and Remington 870). Before you had to hold PRIMARY or SECONDARY ATTACK, now a simple press is enough.

Players running on 2K, 4K or above resolutions are having problems seeing their ammo HUD. Unfortunately, VGUI doesn't really support higher resolutions due being very outdated. A workaround is to use the classic ammo bank HUD by going to: Options > ZP Options > Misc > More > Enable Classic Ammobank. Very few players are experiencing invisible characters in-game for an unknown reason even after a full game nor Steam reinstall. We'll be watching this issue closer here.

There are still more bugs to fix up and we'll continue shipping patches (hotfixes in case of emergency) in the upcoming weeks as quickly as possible.


Lastly, we want to thank everyone who have played the update and shared their feedback in the forums! We really appreciate all the kind words and support you've been giving to us. A lot have quite liked the newest Human & Zombie animations and models from the 'Characters Update' Workshop - all made by our talented community members Mage and Silent. You can check out the comparisons below:



You can find the full v3.1 update announcement here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/zps/announcements/detail/2885077187675548830
Happy Halloween! 🎃

After 2 years in public beta testing, the ZPS v3.1 update is finally OUT for everyone! Time to gather your fellow survivors, carry only what you need, and split some zombie skulls! The update features the long-awaited Linux support, brand new animations, achievements, and melee weapons, improvements to classic maps, game balance adjustments, countless bug and exploit fixes, community-made content, Steam Workshop enhancements and much more!


[h2]Highlighted Features[/h2]
Linux Client support for Ubuntu and SteamOS machines.
Revamped recoil system to allow players to have more control
Major source code clean-up and rewrite from the ground up to remove all code from HL2DM.
New first-person and third-person animations for firearms, explosives and cell phone.
Improvements to player hitbox registration synchronizing with the player's model animation.
Reworked the melee system with 'hit rays', creating an arc of line tracers in the player's FOV.
Enhancements to the Steam Workshop support with additional "Add-ons" menu.
Implemented Steam Rich Presence.
30 new Steam Achievements.




[h2]Key Changes[/h2]
We have plenty of new content hidden in the update that we couldn't fail to mention! Here are some of these minor but important changes you should know...

Unarmed survivor's punch and push abilities.
A 30-60 second warm-up round after a map change.
Support for crosshair customization and style, available in ZP Options.
Achievements can now be earned on Custom Servers (but the official map restriction still applies).
A portable inoculator for self-heal, healing your teammates or delaying the infection.
New sound effects, three new melee weapons, and a brand-new grenade model.
New community-made content added officially into the game for Survivor and Zombie textures.
Zombie are able to see their teammates glowing through nearby walls within a short range.
Glock 18c is now a fully automatic weapon, but is much more inaccurate than other pistols.
Biotec and Club Zombo have been redesigned with visual and gameplay improvements.
New Game Instructor hints for survivors and zombies regarding basic gameplay.
Feed-O-Meter now automatically regenerates slowly over time.
New Berserk zombie bar, now separate from the Feed-O-Meter.
New options for classic, modern and minimal ammo bank HUD visuals.
Improvements to voice wheel menu system.
New "Round End" stats panel.
New UI vote menu panel.
Updated ZPS Angelscript API doc.




[h2]General Bugs Fixed[/h2]
We also want to take a moment to address some of the v3.0.9a issues that have caused problems for years and have finally been fixed in v3.1!

Fixed "scooby-doo" survivor walking animations.
Fixed spectator camera freeze bug when joining servers.
Fixed fake player ragdolls spawning in mid-air at the center position of the map.
Fixed SDK 2013's QuickTime video provider issue, using Bink instead.
Fixed randomly infected Survivor not turning into a Carrier if needed.
Fixed a bug during map changelevel through RTV/admin command.
Fixed Steam Workshop mounting for Dedicated Servers.
Fixed many client game crashes and memory leakage.
Fixed lobby players spawning outside the lobby room.
Fixed weight issue with delivery items and grenades.
Fixed all ZPS Steam Achievements reported broken.
Various security and stability improvements.



It has been a long and difficult road during the public beta testing period for this update. Essentially, the goal of the beta was supposed to be a major code rewrite to address the unfixable bugs from v3.0.9a which would be released as soon as possible. However, as time went on, we began work on a bunch of new features and game changes that would affect other areas of the game, especially regarding game balance. This, along with community and playtester feedback, made us realize how awful some things were functioning in the game, and that forced us to continue working on these issues for a while instead of shipping what was planned at first. That also meant more things to fix, monitor, and playtest, further delaying the release of 3.1 to the public, and even more minor issues had to be shelved due to complexity, necessity, or time constraints.



We've expanded this update beyond its original scope and we're sorry for this inconvenience. Hopefully, we can continue to focus on releasing frequent quality-of-life updates in the future, rather than holding off for a huge patch that could take many months to develop. We want to thank everyone who has supported us and helped us with the beta testing of 3.1, and everyone who has provided their feedback in the forums!



[h3]Lastly, here is the list of major changes we've made since the Beta 5 release based on community feedback:[/h3]

The new character Larry has been postponed indefinitely due to voice recording issues.
Major adjustments to the recoil system for rifles and pistols, removing the static pattern (on-going).
Removed walking and running accuracy penalties. Jumping was moderately reduced. Crouching still improves your aim very slightly (untouched since release).
Refined the objective list panel, now it uses the O key instead of using the phone. You can now also walk and move while in this screen.
Removed the "Custom Server" tab that was separating community servers from vanilla and official servers if they were running any modified plugins.
Reduced ALL melee hit arcs slightly, preventing players from hitting areas that they weren't really aiming at (on-going).
All prop_door_rotating props in official maps have had their speed increased by 150 (default) and their breakable HP tweaked.
Various changes to player movement values, making movement smoother for both teams (e.g. climbing ladders is faster now).
New optional classic ammobank adapted for v3.1.
Reverted both Revolver and Remmy models and textures to the stock versions.
Added Characters Update by Mage and Silent.


Barricade hammer still uses the new system - we're planning to revert it soon.
[Linux] Users may experience their main game menu to be completely blank due VGUI.
[Linux] NVIDIA users with Nouveau might face few problems related to anti-aliasing (AA), causing a black screen. If you're getting this, please disable your anti-aliasing to fix this issue.


You can check the FULL list of v3.1 changes in our Changelog thread.



We've invested quite a bit of energy and time into other stuff behind the scenes that were put on hold during the development of the version 3.1 update, but there are plans for this content and other new features to be released to the public. We'll be sharing these features with the community in the near future, and we hope that you will give your input on what sort of new content should be added to the game by responding to community threads and public surveys!



In the meantime, enjoy the update as much as you can and be sure to tell us what you think in our Steam Discussion forums!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/17500/Zombie_Panic_Source/

Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Hopefully you all are doing well and staying safe out there!

We've taken a long break from development in the months since Beta 5 released, working at a comfortable pace, and took time to discuss our future plans and ideas for the update based on your feedback provided on the forums, as posted in our '3.1 To-do Plans' thread. We highly appreciate each one of you who took the time to voice your concerns about the game's development. Hopefully, your requested changes are here in the list below, where we'll also take a moment to recap all the major features and highlighted changes in the update. We do also have some other topics to share so stick around until the end!


[h2]Linux Support[/h2]
After 12 years, Linux client support for Zombie Panic! Source is arriving in the v3.1 update for Ubuntu and SteamOS machines! This is a huge, long-awaited step, opening an important door to another OS besides Windows! All thanks to our programmer, Shepard, for accomplishing this challenging task! We're very aware that there is still more to do to continue support and fix it for other distros. Be sure to report any Linux visual bugs or crashes in our sub-forums! Unfortunately, Mac OS X support is still out of our reach, and not in our plans at this time.



Special thanks to all Linux enthusiasts out there who assisted us debugging and fixing the bugs reported. We also want to give a huge shout out to @GamingOnLinux!

[h2]Player Hitboxes Improvements[/h2]
This may have gone unnoticed in the past, but we've made huge improvements to our player hit registrations, synchronizing them with the player's client model much better than before! Special thanks to Mehis, programmer for Zombie Master: Reborn, for helping us with this issue! It's recommended to try out the changes in a low latency server for best results. Here's a little comparison:



[h2]Melee Hit Rays[/h2]
We've implemented an interesting feature for our melee weapons called "hit rays" to improve their attack range and accuracy, making combat against multiple targets more viable. Each swing will create an arc of line tracers in the player's FOV according to the melee weapon's range. You won't be able to 360° swing hit.



This means you will now be able to hit multiple targets depending on how well you swing the melee during battle. After the first hit on X target, it will deal the same base damage on the next one. It works in a similar fashion to many modern zombie games in which you can mow down multiple targets with one swing. During the beta, we made the hit registration instantaneous (no longer has a delay) for better gameplay.

[h2]Zombie Teammates Glow[/h2]
An important zombie feature has also been added to improve the team's communication and create better tactical ambushes against the survivors. Zombies will be able to see their teammates glowing through nearby walls, but with a minimal range that is more limited when compared to the Carrier's roar glow - without consuming any of the Feed-O-Meter.



[h2]Feed-O-Meter Adjustments[/h2]
The Feed-O-Meter will now auto regenerate itself when not in use. The regeneration process is very slow and you still should use your feed bar wisely. The Berzerk, on the other hand, now has its own bar separated from the normal Feed-O-Meter bar. This will make the zombie's life easier while allowing them to manage which feature they would like to use without affecting or wasting a single berzerk bar while lunging. The Berzerk function remains untouched beyond that.



[h2]New Zombie Panic! Options[/h2]
We've updated and added some optional features and in-game commands that you can configure to your preference in Zombie Panic! Options. Those include: ability to change the color of the item's glow, sort the scoreboard by score or kills, choose the destructibles color in Zombie vision, and more.



[h2]Steam Workshop Enhancements[/h2]
We've made significant changes to the Steam Workshop support, forcing players to only download the current map running in the server they're joining, instead of downloading the whole Workshop collection of the dedicated server (32bit integer to 64bit integer). We also improved the items mounting in your game client, making easier and faster when launching the game, and added a new "Addons" menu where you can manage the Workshop items you're currently subscribed to.



This is a great opportunity to search through our Workshop Hub and subscribe to your favorites!

[h2]New Community-Made Content[/h2]
Speaking of Workshop, we've been paying attention to a few specific community-made items based on the quality and effort put into them, worth being added as official content. We got in contact with those authors and we're starting this experiment with the following Workshop item being implemented into the game: Characters Update Ultimate - by Mage and Silent! Hopefully you guys welcome these changes and let us know what you think! In case it gets well received, we may consider adding more custom content like this into the game for everyone via public surveys.

[h2]Steam Rich Presence[/h2]
We've enhanced the capabilities of our rich presence system to show more about the games being played by your friends, displaying extra information about their game in your Steam Friends activity. You can now easily see what gamemode, map or server they're in with Steam Rich Presence.



[h2]Localization Support[/h2]
It's now much easier to support different languages in-game. We have reached out to our community contributors in the past who volunteered their time to translate Zombie Panic! Source into their main native language to update our localization files in the upcoming update.



You will be able to read objective lists, phone messages, storylines, tips, in-game beacons and game texts in your language of choice! We've reworked our entire localization system (still developing a better-easy system), making it easier for volunteers to translate the game in their own native language by using a translator application, which is available in the Zombie Panic! Source Mod Tools. We currently support the following in addition to English: French, Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Spain), Swedish and Russian. You can set your game to use one of these languages via Properties > Language tab.

There are numerous new features, adjusts and fixes to list here. Check the full list of changes for more!


When the 3.0 update released back in Dec 2017, we created a Steam beta branch for ZPS v2.4 to be stored safely in case people wanted to play whenever they feel like. As we've stated in the past, we didn't have any plans to keep supporting it, and the build started to become unplayable until players couldn't even launch it anymore. However, a few people from the community got together and made an external fix out of the Steam version to make v2.4 playable once again. They've been using this fixed version for since the beginning of this year and reunited lots of veterans with it.

We've reached out one of the authors of the fix, asking if we could grab these files and use them to fix up our current Steam build. They worked perfectly as expected! Then we took the time to prepare a working build of v2.4 (Win and Linux DS) containing these fixes and we're releasing it today! Players will be able to opt-in to the Legacy 2.4 beta branch and play the old version again normally through Steam. We're leaving some extra info regarding the availability of the build in our Store Page too. We are also brainstorming some ideas and planning to discuss more solutions for v2.4 with the community in our forums soon. See more here.


Lastly, it's finally time to announce the long-awaited release date of the upcoming major 3.1 update. We've been listening closely to previous community feedback, making huge adjustments and tweaks based on what you all have been requesting for a long time. A lot has been taken into consideration, ideas and features were changed or scrapped for their own good, future plans were revised and the build is ready to be rolled out for everyone! We're scheduling the release for the first weeks of October - somewhere between Oct 8th and 15th!

We're currently making a few minor adjust, debugging the code and polishing up the build to be sure nothing gets left behind. In case something big happens, we'll unfortunately push the release a bit further.



See you soon,
Zombie Panic! Team