Glowing Zombie bites Piper at Red Rocket

Beta is Underway

Zombie Walkers 3.0 is officially in development as of January 2020. Head on over to the Nexus site and look for downloads under Optional Files if you are interested. Note that this is not compatible with the 2.6.3 (or older versions) and should be used on a brand new game. Xbox and PS4 releases will come later as 3.0 matures.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20485/?tab=files

Zombie Behavior

One  area I think I went overboard with the 2.x version is in zombie behavior. The script controlling this is pretty long and complex and handles zombies wandering in groups, heading toward distant sounds, and even searching out human corpses to feed on. All of this fits the theme of course but causes a lot of strain on the engine when dozens or even hundreds of zombies are spawned.

The default sandbox behavior isn't actually too bad and has then slowly meander around there spawn area (in a smaller radius than I'd like). Cranking up the "energy" from 50 to 100 causes them to stand still even less and disabling idle animations (like standing spasms) keeps them moving too.

The other thing I am changing regarding scripts is i'm no longer dynamically attaching a script as a magic effect and instead adding the script directly to the actor via the editor. The script extends Actor and importantly does NOT store a reference to the actor it operates on (since it itself is the Actor). This was done to hopefully avoid zombies from being marked persistent and therefore not unloading as players leave the area. In addition to that, as zombies unload they are marked for deletion if killed which cleans them up faster and avoids another separate background script that periodically checked for dead zombies needing to run.

I am looking at possible creative ways to re-introduce some of the previous behavior but only if it can be done in such a way as to not impact performance (eg. replacing static dead actors with a scene where zombies are feasting on a corpse at spawn time).

Radiation Zombies

The new version isn't going to be simply a re-write with no new features. One thing I did was apply the same overhaul for Feral Ghouls to Glowing Ones. In addition, any time a legendary Feral Ghoul would spawn, a new Zombie would spawn with Feral Ghoul clothing and Glowing One skin! This new glowing zombie irradiates nearby players but otherwise acts like normal zombies (eg. slow walking, infection, etc.)

New Bite Attack

The Feral Bite mod by lifebird64 was incorporated into Zombie Walkers with permission. I used the standing normal bite version and then updated it a bit to make it configurable (on/off), only happen when target is not at full health and then only 50% of the time.

This makes it so it isn't the only attack used as in that original mod, and simulates a zombie needing to weaken/stagger an opponent before the bite. The attack will cripple the targets arm (simulating a shoulder injury) and can cause infection (if enabled).

More To Come

I've already ported spawn replacements and have plans to move on to a more efficient and managed extra spawning framework (to re-introduce not only extra spawns if desired but also settlement attacks and possibly sleep interruption).

Eventually I plan to again take on NPC resurrection and may even make two versions of it so I can finally play around with F4SE and creating human-looking zombies instead of reverting to Ghouls.

Stay tuned and please provide feedback if you participate in the beta!

A nuclear winter with zombies and all I have is a switchblade?

I'm Back!

It has been a long time since I played Fallout 4. I sort of randomly checked my Zombie Walkers mod on nexus mods and saw several posts where people were having trouble. I glanced through many pages of them and saw things mostly related to stability/crashes and bloated save game files.

I take a sense of ownership in what I do and felt bad about this, even though I'd been away for so long. The comments didn't inspire me to take up modding again (yet) but did inspire me to play Fallout 4 again after the long absence.

Winter and Zombies

It is the winter season here in Buffalo, NY and I've always liked snow. I thought it'd be fun to mod my freshly re-installed Fallout 4 with a winter theme to play my mod in. The screenshot above is from that setup and I wanted to call out a few of the mods I used in case anyone else wants to check them out.

Winter Redone

Winter Commonwealth Pines

Project Reality Footsteps (Snow Edition)

Vivid Weathers (Winter)

Darker Nights

Vogue ENB

Maybe i'll post a full current mod list later as it includes other game changes outside of visuals also.

My Experience

I used replacements for everything 100% except humans. Added extra spawns at 25%. Enabled NPC resurrection and set it at 60 in-game minutes and allowed zombies to infect with basic infection. Settlement attacks and Sleep Interruption were also enabled.

Overall I didn't have many issues after playing a save close to 10 hours so far. The biggest thing seems to be performance related in downtown Boston where I experience a single hard crash and some delays with spawn replacements where I could hear Super Mutants talking and firing weapons before disappearing. Also, sometimes there was delay between a head-shot and the zombie dying in that area.

Some features I didn't feel compelled to turn on (alternate death) and others I never saw executed in game and didn't really miss them (zombies eating corpses). Extra spawns seem to work well, though I had a thought that it'd be nice if this were to increase on it's own over time during play. I experienced both a settlement attack on Red Rocket and sleep interruption a few times while travelling (scary with darker nights too). 

What I Learned

I remember why I enjoyed playing Fallout 4 after being away from it for so long. It really takes you away into your own sandbox world. There are some cool new mods out there that help with this immersion also.

Another thing, is that my wheels are spinning and I'm actually considering ways to improve this mod. Not promising this is going to happen, but I think this mod could benefit greatly to some modularity. Many of the nexus mods I downloaded had installers popup when using Vortex that let you pick and choose what you wanted to install. I think this would help greatly for people who only like certain aspects (eg. running with the feral ghoul overhaul only).

Some parts of my mod have been implemented since I worked on this. Several versions of death alternative mods are out there now, both standalone and as part of popular overhauls (eg. Horizon). Many point out that several spawning mods exist out there also. All of this makes me think that I can strip out some of the feature bloat and those that want those extras will still be able to include them elsewhere.

What Now?

For now I'm in the exploratory and planning phase. I'm scoping out the potential work involved with revisiting this mod and trying to decide if I want to take the plunge. Free time is not easy to come by as a father of two, but I did enjoy working on this and feel a certain responsibility to maintain it.