Zombie Panic! Source News

Happy New Year!

As we promised, our second beta update is focused more on melee adjustments and buffs on their damage and usage. We've made a significant change in their hit detection and how they actually work, hoping to minimize the "long arms" problem. We also have slightly increased their damage value on most of the melees and implemented a new feature giving a little damage boost when charging up (holding MOUSE2) a two-hand melee weapon (sledgehammer, chair, and shovel).

We'll keep planning and working new ways to improve even further our melee weapons as overall for better dynamic combat against those nasty zombies. This requires you telling us if today's changes was a welcome addition or not, and what else could require our attention. Be sure to voice your concerns and thoughts by leaving your feedback in our 3.1 sub-forums.

Added a new console with better color support.
Added a "phone settings" tab in ZP Options.
Added an optional ability to drop your current firearm as soon as it's fully unloaded (à la Contagion).
Added a system's cross cursor when using voice commands.
Bullets now apply physics impulses to physical props.
Divided cooldown for weapons/ammo interactions (e.g. dropping) by 2.
Fixed being able to grab weapons while charging a 2 handed melee weapon.
Fixed "Create Listen Server" going haywire.
Fixed CVARs "crosshair" and "cl_crosshairobserver" being ignored.
Fixed last survivor(s) earning survivors related achievements if the round wasn't won by survivors.
Fixed missing spectator flashlight material.
Fixed Panic not scooting inventory in certain cases.
Fixed some official sprays.
Fixed spectators not getting updated info.
Fixed Steam Cloud bad configuration.
Fixed Steam overwritting user config. files for both client and dedicated server every update.
Fixed weight issue with delivery items and grenades.
HUD is now hidden during cutscenes.
Increased ladder climbing speed by x0.25.
[Linux Only] Forced missing "-secure -steam" parameters.
POTENTIAL fix for "bouncy crouching".
POTENTIAL fix for "ghost" ammo/ragdolls/items/weapons.
POTENTIAL fix for T-posing ragdolls when dying.
Migrated more strings to the new localization system.
Reduced panic duration from 5.5 to 3.5 sec.
Removed lag compensation for melee weapons.
Reworked the entire melee weapon system (should be more easy to hit your targets now).
Reworked the green inoculator effect.
Reworked the "look closer at the phone" code (zooming should no longer block other functions).
Reworked the generic Source's options menu/tabs to fit more with ZPS's.
Reworked the voice system.


We've also updated the following official maps: Biotec, Frozenheart, Murksville, Asylum, and Subway. All content is now available on the unstable build.


Besides the melee work, we've made an important gameplay change in our green inoculator and voice command cooldown as requested by the community. The Green Inoculator now gives you a temporary speed boost for 6 seconds (as if you were panicking) ignoring all the weight and fatigue you have. It no longers delays the infection.

As usual, this is an experimental change and necessitate a reasonable period of testing to decide the best result for the green inoculator.


To get a thrill out of all those changes, we'll be hosting a few gaming community events to play on the unstable branch in the upcoming weekends (19th, 20th, 26th, and 27th) of January. It's going to be at the same timezone as it was in the previous event we did last year - 7 PM (GMT - UTC 0) // 2 PM (EST - UTC -5).

We will be playing on the Official EU Server #3 first, then the Official US Server #1 for the rest of the days. More info you can find here.


Stay connected with game developers, playtesters and other community members by joining our official Discord server! Tell us what did you like and did not like about the update, what we could work on next and so on! Use this public link to join: https://discord.gg/zps

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

Hello everyone,

We'd like to start off by thanking everyone who has participated in the public beta testing so far and left their feedback to us on the forums. Input from the community is a valuable source of information and allows us to polish the game even better. With the initial bugs reported and suggestions from the week after launch, we've shipped our first major patch of adjustments and fixes into the 'unstable' beta branch. As a result, this will make public playtesting more balanced, fast-paced and fun to play.

Decreased zombies' outline radius by 50%. It was far too strong to be able to see teammates across the entire map.
Increased cooldown for voice command and taunts to counter spamming.
Increased player movement speed for both teams by 10%.
Reworked the Angelscript algorithm on all official maps. This will fix the lack of ammunition and weaponry when playing with a high number of players. We also set a new rule to not spawn a specific type of ammo if the weapon isn't present in the map.
Reworked the spawn selection algorithm.
Reworked the starting zombie selection algorithm.
Reworked the Zombie HP regen algorithm to be more like early ZPS versions.
Zombies lives are now capped to 32 max.


You can check the full list of changes from today's patch in our changelog thread

We'll continue to adjust and improve the v3.1 beta based on feedback from the community. We're currently working on other fixes of some remaining bugs and issues presented in the build, aiming for the second patch of fixes next week or so. We'll also keep on the lookout for more reports and suggestions from playtesting, so be sure to keep them coming to our Public Beta 3.1 sub-forums!

Help us test it by switching your game to the 'unstable' beta branch to play the latest changes of our upcoming 3.1 update. Read more how to here.


With recent changes and enhancements, it is now much easier to support different languages in-game. We have reached out to our community contributors who volunteer their time to translate Zombie Panic! Source into their main native language to update our localization files with the new 3.1 changes.



Language support can be pretty important for the enjoyment of games. During the beta, 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, making it easier for volunteers to translate the game in their own native language by using a translator application, which is now available in the Zombie Panic! Source Mod Tools.

French
Simplified Chinese
Spanish (Spain)
Swedish
Russian


You can set your game to use one of these languages via Properties > Language tab.



In the meantime, we and our contributors will continue to update our localized files during the public playtest period, addressing the remaining labels and sections to translate. A huge special thanks to: Shepard (French version); Klowby and Kud (Chinese version); Darkumbrella, GreenKnight and Residays (Spanish version); Jonnyboy (Swedish version); and dR.Vodker (Russian version).


Phase 1 of the ModDB 2018 Mod of the Year Awards has ended, and Phase 2 has begun. This means the Top 100 have been selected, and there will be another 10 days of voting to determine the victor of 2018!



Please vote for us again, but don't forget about your other favorite mods! Voting will enter you into the draw to win games from their #modlove collection.

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).