Zombie Panic! Source News

Today, we're very proud to release the 3.1 update for public playtesting! The latest changes are all available in our unstable beta branch. You can find out how to opt in to the beta on this thread.

We've created a new sub-forum in our Steam Discussions for reporting bugs and providing feedback during the public playtesting period. All of 3.1's issues, crashes, suggestions, and ideas should be directed to that specific sub-forum only. Please keep everything 3.1-related in that forum for better documentation and organization.

IMPORTANT: to have the new sounds work properly, you will need to remove your sound cache in your vpks. Delete the "zps_sounds.vpk.sound.cache" file located inside your vpks folder inside your Zombie Panic! Source directory.

Linux Client support working for Ubuntu and SteamOS versions. New recoil system, similar to Day of Defeat: Source, for each firearm.
New survivor's first-person and third-person animations for pistols, shotguns, rifles, explosives and phone device.
New sound effects, three new melee weapons, and a brand-new explosive grenade model.
New portable inoculator for self-heal, healing your teammates or delaying the infection (depending on the color of the inoculator)
New sprays from our community contest winners and development team.
Source code rewritten from the ground up without using any of HL2DM's code.
Improvements to player hitboxes and barricade hammer enhancements.
Biotec redesign with visual improvements and Club Zombo gameplay improvements.
Steam Workshop fully functional again with additional "Add-ons" menu.
A new 'tutorial' menu section dedicated for newcomers.
Glock 18c is now a fully automatic weapon, but is much more inaccurate than other pistols.
Updated ZPS Angelscript API documentation. 30 new Steam Achievements.
Numerous bug fixes!


View this thread for the full changelog.

We highly recommend backing up your personal client files before opting in to the beta in case something untoward happens. We appreciate your help in advance!




The phase 1 of the ModDB 2018 Mod of the Year Awards has begun, so go vote and show your support for your favorite mods! Voting also enters you into the draw to win games from their #modlove collection.



We ask that please you give us a vote, but be sure to give your other favorite mods a vote too!

Happy testing,
- Zombie Panic! Development Team

Today, one of our beloved and most acclaimed games is turning 20! Please wish Happy Birthday to Half-Life! Thank you, Valve Software for developing this masterpiece! Without it, there wouldn't be Zombie Panic! in the first place. Even our little Source gem version of it.


We've been doing some major fixes and polishing on our unstable build for the past weeks to ensure things are in place and properly working for public beta testing. We all want you to have a decent and enjoyable beta after opting in to our unstable branch - especially for our Linux users out there who have been waiting patiently for this glorious moment.

We've presented some actual gameplay footage representation of the unstable beta branch in the past, where you can check it out in the teaser below if you haven't yet.
https://youtu.be/9vi2XCn-inw
The major bugs have been knocked out and we're focused on making everything the best it can be; however, we're not going to release during this weekend's US Thanksgiving holiday. What we can offer is very, very tentative release date of Nov 30th. Remember that anything can happen and an unexpected call for delaying the release is possible, so if we miss the target, we'll have a very good reason for it. We appreciate your patience and loyalty while we prepare to crank up the hype train.

We'll be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) next Saturday, Oct 20th, on our official subreddit!

This will be a great opportunity to throw out any question you guys have regarding our next update. New features, future plans, improvements, changes, and even bug fixes! Do you have a complaint in the current build and would like to know it was fixed in the v3.1? Then ask us! We'd be glad to answer all of them if possible.

Our hosters will be Tabajara (Team Leader and Level Designer), Jonnyboy (Team Leader, Lead Programmer and Animator), Shepard (Linux Programmer) and Casei Magnus (Level Designer).

We're back with another developer update to reveal more upcoming content from the unstable build, including a special day celebrating 10 Years of Zombie Panic! Source on Steam!


Zombie Panic! Source was initially released on Dec 28, 2007 via ModDB page as a Half-Life 2's modification beta. Back then, you were required to own any Source game to play the mod. Valve then opened a new door for mods to be delivered through the Steam platform on Oct 3, 2008. Five of these mods, including ZPS, were selected to be integrated using Steamworks Distribution, which helps streamline the delivery, installation, and update process.



It also consists of features like Steam Achievements, Steam Workshop, anti-cheat technology, management of user-generated content, etc. Getting Steam'd was a huge step to deliver faster updates and get connected with our community even more. We're very thankful for Valve developing such a great tool for the gaming platform.

To celebrate this memorable day, we've gathered exciting news regarding v3.1's development that is ready to be shown to the public!



We're very glad to retrieve two old melee concept weapons from the grave: the Tennis Racket and a Broom! These will be available in the unstable build for public playtesting before v3.1 public release. We'll need your help in providing feedback and ideas to adjust them for being viable in melee combat in the future. If you're thinking that we will only add melee weapons from now on, well, don't lose hope! While we're not yet ready to show them off to the public, take heart in that we have some ranged weapons that we're working on.



We're also pleased to announce the official unveiling of the Biotec facelift! Casei has given the facility a more high-tech, corporate look while retaining the essential classic gameplay which you've come to know and love. There are brand new 3D props by both Darb Dude and Ratboy, new particle effects by Dr.Vodker, new areas with better textures and decals, lighting improvements, and general bug fixes!

With these upgrades being made, we're aiming to distribute the same devotion to our other stock maps imploring for improvements and fixes. Asylum redux and Biotec editions are just the beginning of a much longer evaluation and update process. This is a long-term goal for the mapping team, but it's also a delicate process that needs careful attention to balance and detail, and we hope the results are as pleasing as Biotec's, as seen below:






We've decided to make a couple of improvements to the Feed-O-Meter's usage and Berserk mode. 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.



This is a heavily experimental change that will require a long period of testing to assure it's well balanced and fair for both teams.


An additional 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 one Feed-O-Meter bar.


We've improved our voice wheel menu system, based on Left 4 Dead's radial menu, adding one extra survivor line: "Keep Moving!". This was unused content for a long time. All current VO's survivors had this line recorded and ready to use, but the previous team never went further with it.



Sadly, due to the changes in the voice system, we were forced to change our voice menu's default keys, replacing with new code commands, which is why you will have to reset your client configurations in Game Options > Keyboard.


Finally, we've recreated our entire server browser window from the ground up, designing two different server tabs when searching for a community server. We also implemented one server information box advising newcomers about their first connection to any ZPS server. Hopefully, with this new info box, new players will be aware which type of content they can expect out of that server.



Vanilla servers running pure ZPS gameplay will be displayed in the "Internet" tab, while custom servers running any modified plugins will be relocated to the "Custom Server" tab.

We've exhibited a lot more upcoming content (Linux client support, hitboxes fixed, weapon barricade adjustments, ammo hud changes) created to improve your ZPS experience in our previous announcement. You can check it all out in the news below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/zps/announcements/detail/1709566654648487746

We're very excited to get the core functionality of the build into the hands of the community as soon as possible to begin our first public beta playtesting with you all. While not everything will be properly balanced and working at first launch, the unstable build is well-considered "playable" at this moment. Hooray!

Meanwhile, we'll keep scheduling our internal playtesting and start organizing the preparations of our public playtesting. Feel free to join our official Discord server to not miss anything from us and lose the opportunity to opt-in the beta right away!

See you during Halloween,
- Zombie Panic! Development Team

After our last game patch back in June, we've been working at full steam on v3.1, attempting to put an end to innumerable bugs and crashes we couldn't fix before in the current build. Again, we are doing so by rewriting our source code from the ground up - this time without utilizing any of Half-Life 2: DeathMatch's code as a base.

During this time we decided it best to focus on developing a trustworthy and robust build compared to v3.0 as a whole, which is why there hasn't been updates in a while. It would not be an efficient use of our time to work on fixes for an obsolete build of the game while we were working on an updated build that would (or should) eliminate the problems we encountered.

We have also used this time to create interesting in-game features and ideas! Right now, we've got a few of those ideas, and some other changes, ready to be shown off to hear your feedback! We invite you to discuss what you think about everything on our Steam Discussions Board after reading this announcement!


**BE ADVISED**:
Much of the content being announced is heavily work in progress, which makes it subject to adjustments throughout our playtesting sessions. Therefore, what is shown is likely to be changed in some way before release of v3.1, as well as afterwards.



The previous recoil system was pretty bad, and didn't allow the player any sort of control over their recoil (besides just not shooting quickly). We seek to eliminate those problems with the implementation of a new, improved, recoil system!

This new system is similar to the one being used in Day of Defeat: Source, which pushes the players' view upward and to the side as bullets are fired. This means that your screen will jump around as you fire, but you will have the ability to control your recoil so more bullets hit your target.

In theory this will be a buff for the Survivors, and make it easier for them to use weapons at a high rate of fire. In order for it to be balanced, the amount of recoil for each shot will have to be adjusted to be substantial enough so that all of your bullets aren't easily hitting target. But other things, like bullet damage and spread, will likely require adjusting in order to balance this feature.

We've created a small preview of this feature for you to see how it works! Remember that this is an early concept test, this feature has not been properly balanced yet, and it will be changed. As all things, it will be adjusted depending on the results we see during testing/playing, and the feedback we receive.

https://youtu.be/O6oP9tnD_oI


The barricade hammer has received a significant change to its usage in v3.1. It's still used as a tool to place boards, but now also serves as a melee weapon to smash open some zombie brainz once again! While the hammer is equipped, you can freely switch between the two modes - using it as a melee weapon or as a tool.

https://youtu.be/SSnYjXWbwP8


The boards themselves have been converted into ammo that the hammer uses in order to enter "tool mode" to barricade. The boards can be dropped and picked up, just like any other ammo. When you don't have any boards, then the hammer can only be used as a melee weapon.

At the moment you can carry a maximum of 6 boards, just like you could when they were only a weapon. The only difference being you can use all of the boards from one hammer. However, 6 boards will likely be unbalanced and end up getting changed, this is just a starting point for internal testing.


The hammer starts in melee mode by default, to switch between the two modes - simply press MOUSE2 (right-click).

The controls to barricade in tool mode remain the same. EXCEPT switching between short and long boards, where you'll have to press the SPECIAL ATTACK button.

SPECIAL ATTACK currently does not have a default keybind, we will have to decide on that later, as well as if there's any other uses for the SPECIAL ATTACK or any other binds we could merge, simplify, or change.



The Ammo HUD has received some visual improvements! It now utilizes icons, with the intention of making things easier to understand at a glance without the need to read, as well as just making it look better! These icons can also be easily understood by people of any language.




As an extention of that, the Ammo HUD can be simplified even more with the option to remove the name of the ammo, so that only the ammo icon is showing. Thus freeing up a little bit more space on your screen to see. This is, of course, not intended for new players. It's intended to be used by players once they understand what each icon is, once you're ready you can toggle the ammo names off in Zombie Panic Options if you wish.





It's no doubt that the frustrating issue with poor hit registration has been a huge complaint in our history, especially so with the update to v3.0. We decided to investigate the issue to find out what was really going on with our hitboxes. The results weren't very pleasant at first - we found there was a horrible desynchronization between the player's model to its hitbox.

We managed to get in contact with a couple of Source community developers regarding this issue - special thanks to Mehis, programmer for Zombie Master: Reborn (a mod you should check out by the way)!

After days of testing and trying to solve this problem, we finally managed to fix it, at last! Here's a small comparison below:





Linux Client support for Zombie Panic! Source will finally be coming in v3.1! This is a huge, long-awaited step, opening an important door to another OS besides Windows! (Unfortunately, Mac OS X support is still out of our reach, and not in our plans.)

A huge thanks to our programmer, Shepard, for accomplishing this challenging task! It took a long time - but with extreme dedication, and amazing coordination between both our programmers, we were able to succeed!


We'll require your help preparing the Linux Client for release! If you have Linux, we'll need you to look for bugs or any sort of issues with the Linux Client and report them (as well as any other feedback you have) before the release of v3.1. Our goal is to identify all possible issues and fix them before the actual public release. The Linux Client will be available for public beta testing along with the Windows Client at a later, currently undecided, time (read below).




All of these features, and more, will be available for public beta testing sometime soon (after our internal testing)! Once it is ready, it will be announced and made available as a Beta for ZPS on Steam titled "unstable build" - considering how unstable this build may be for some users.

If you'd like to participate in the public beta testing and provide us with bug reports, feedback, or suggestions - then stay tuned! A new announcement will be published later explaining how to opt into the beta and provide us with your feedback.

This will be a big opportunity for everyone to share their thoughts and ideas, and help us perfect the build before release! Making Zombie Panic! Source more suitable and enjoyable for everyone in our community!


We're currently in the process of internal playtesting, and setting up v3.1 to be as polished and balanced as we can make it for the release of the "unstable build". We want the "unstable build" to be as functional, and issue free, as we can make it - so that your playing experience is acceptable.


As always, we'll be watching and waiting for you feedback and suggestions!

See you in the next announcement,
- Zombie Panic! Development Team

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