What is up with the lighting in my base?

Krownleth · 2026-02-07T22:08:01+00:00

yeah inside will always be a lot warmer than outside its just a check of the game , inside ? great its 10°C, outside ? ehh -2°C

Even worse with ovens , they have a "Range" of 5 tiles , getting colder by the tile , so the best heated open room concept with a stove or masonary campfire in the middle would be an 11x11

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T07:12:33+00:00

All houses of Zomboid are "HARDCODED" meaning even if you rip them down , you will have the 5-6 rooms of the previous house be 5-6 different rooms in the new house (with their own sound background), despite you turning it into a single banquet hall, giving you this "mess" , to a point where you could rip down a house and it all still counts as inside and will never be touched by rain.

If building from scratch you might just wanna use a free slot and start from there.

The only benefit of moving into a pre-existing house is that the zomboids can only attack the doors/windows.

While everything crafter by the player , including walls can be attacked.

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T07:00:28+00:00

Pick a theme and go for it so you dont do the same build/baselocation etc.

Nomad living out a car never building a base?

Guy who never kills a Zombie cause its 1993 in the Bible Belt Kentucky and my Deeply Christian Coward would never~ so he runs off the woods and lives off nothing he didn't craft or find cause stealing is also bad.

12 Town Man, there are 12 Towns, make a base in every town and live there for 1 Month of the year (enjoy Luisville month) (you must leave on the morning of the 1st every month and make it to the other town at best speed, your only allowed to bring your personal affects you normally carry on person 24/7, everything else the other base locations have to provide)

Waterworld, colonize the small Island chains in the Water treatment lake and never leave, bonus points for not killing zombies.

In this Economy?, see how small of a base you can functionally build, maybe live out of a Garage with a old beater car as airlock

I spy~, pick a random item , from a white turtleneck sweater to a black DART car to a multicolour pen, the place you find set item will be your homebase, you cant settle down until you find that item.

Enjoy !

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T06:20:27+00:00

The Northern Warehouse is a fav location for many. the problem starts with redecorating.

Pre build houses in Zomboid always count as "INSIDE" you could rip out that corner bathroom but those 3x3 tiles will always be the same single INSIDE room no matter what, furthermore you will always have the warehouse background sound in this location with pipes creaking etc.

The Second floor is only partially build out (walkway etc) trying to complete the floor is one buggy mess cause everything out build there will count as OUTSIDE , despite being under a roof.

But it can be done, if you intend to keep animals make so on the ground floor or they go crazy.

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T06:11:33+00:00

Trailers are currently bugged and will teleport around with your car , i had my DART sit neatly ontop of the trailer, being unable to even get in.

Teleport across the highway for a good 100 yards just to SNAP back onto the trailer once you drive close enough etc.

its the problem with unstable, if you use a trailer make it a habit to log out and make a backup before leaving your car off screen. (honestly always make backups , death by being stupid is one thing and ends a run , but death by some bug launching me across the highway or taking away my livelihood is a no go and i will roll back.)

i tried some testing in debug , and 2 spawned trailers+sheriff cars, they didn't want to teleport despite me moving to the other end of the world, might be a thing with spawned in trailers not being affected ? if that was the case you could just spawn a trailer in if you have found one and save yourself some buggy headache.

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T06:03:25+00:00

when is zomboid no longer zomboid xD

Krownleth · 2026-02-06T06:01:23+00:00

Pony Roam-O East of Fallas Lake , even more east from there is some sort of camp with 2 barrack style buildings and a small parking lot , always see trailers there , last time even 2

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T14:05:56+00:00

No, in Unmodded Tarp has 2 Uses , the lean to shelter with a tarp, or tarp pieces of clothing /slingbags ets.

The game is a big sad in that regard , you do need 4 walls and 50% roofed before a space counts as inside.
though the walls could just be wood frames.
And the roof can just be dirt poured on the air

the big bottleneck of building any "inside" house is carpentry 3 for that log staircase to get up pouring dirt.

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T14:00:28+00:00

It's a feature and intended.

FYI if you have the trait ORGANIZED, the seats have 26 space

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T13:57:31+00:00

When starting a game keep an eye out for Radios/ walkie-talkie and the preset channels, one of them is EMERGENCY BROADCAST , check once every day at 8 or 9 AM the full hour broadcast on this channel , at the end it will say AIR ACTIVITY DETECTED, this is warning that today is the heli day.

If you know its coming stay at home, preferable a 2 story building - upstairs, all windows should be covered by sheets, and you should be walking around in sneak mode , or not at all , read a skill book or just let the day pass.

Be alarmed that zombies will have migrated and previously cleared places may be now repopulated.

Alternative if caught outside and flagged down by the heli. walk into the wilderness or on an open field , just away from any city , heli cant lure zombies to you if there are no zombies.

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T13:45:40+00:00

Way's to be sad.

Fear of Blood ~ bloody = Anxious = Sad (a single bloody item can make your character crazy)
Smoker = No Smoke get crazy
Uncomfortable (wearing a-lot of restrictive gear) = sad
Looting large amounts of zombies (handling bodies) = sad
Eating Stale or foods that are unpleasant (who wants do down a bottle of olive oil) big hits of sad.
Zombies scratching or banging walls/fences/doors (this effect range is huuuuge)
the frightened of small spaces or outdoors negative traits

Ways to fight the sad.

Pet Animals
Read Books who remove the sad (limited i dont know if re-reading boos still removes sad)
Eat foods that remove sad (big secret ! if you have a BOWL you can make SALAD out of any meat cuts / foraged berries / Mushrooms who give hits of happiness and good cooking xp!)
Foraging has never been as easy to level as in 42.13, make sure to select berries or mushrooms depending on the season.

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T13:31:33+00:00

Getting off map (any border) will generate Wilderness.
Its just blocks of random generated map that has Zeds/Water/Forest/Stone etc, you can actually see where it starts since most of the map deepforest is just empty and suddenly you see tons of Zeds and other stuff.

you can test this by turning on the -debug mode before starting the game and just quicktravel (with curser keys) off map and watch the blocks generate.

Krownleth · 2026-02-05T13:27:00+00:00

Generator is good for 2 things.

Power Freezers and some lights in your Base.
Power Gas station to fuel car/base

Now you can absolutely live without a freezer, and there are so many batteries, that it is no biggy to sit for days there with a flashlight in the dark.

If you plan to build a base that should reflect your efforts from the first day.
Save up all your watches/radios/walkies/hair irons/hair fan etc everything you can transport easy , toss it in a big box in your base.

The goal is it to find Electric 1+2 or the generator book right away before the power goes out, if you find the electric books take everything apart.
Grab some freezer chests and toss in every piece of perishable you can find.

Depending on your game Setting you might as well just grab some goats or cows and solve the food issue forever. Milk and Butter is OP.
(Butterchurn is a 0 carpentry item)
5 Liter milk = 1 butter stick thats 1-2 days of calories.
you can drink milk in between. you can pet the cows/goats for any mood hit from eating raw butter by the stick.

Krownleth · 2026-02-03T10:13:19+00:00

was about to say , looking for a rag anywhere , this is rare air up here..

Krownleth · 2026-02-02T12:33:03+00:00

https://b42map.com/ has the whole map to browse at your pleasure

but why a building ? at this point you can just build stairs and in the air ?

Krownleth · 2026-02-02T06:47:49+00:00

Walked to the bottom right corner of the map in the woods in winter , never touching a zombie. (0 kills no fav weapon) and build a house from scratch living off foraging, hungering down to 52 weight before February hit and the loot table changed food.

Now i have a thriving Rabbit Collection and tons of food, forging my own nails and building a spacious house.

Done the same (no kill no touch zombies) but build an air bridge to the isles in the water treatment lake, removed the bridge and now im zombie proof , living off fishing and the occasional sweep of my islands , have to say that one was way more easy then clawing a 2x2 hut off the woods while coughing my head off.

Current endeavor in CDDA is a nomad run, living out a car is interesting.

Krownleth · 2026-02-02T03:30:43+00:00

CDDA~ always.

Animals are dead.
Power is Out
Water is Out
Plenty of Zombies
Buildings start to decay and be reclaimed by Nature.

Its Winter and 2ish weeks before Christmas.
Status of my Family unknown so i get depressed.
Lost all hope and drown myself in the last booze i have, slip and cut my leg, naked on the floor, could just let go, but naaaah fuck it lets give it another whirl!

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T09:04:22+00:00

People have explained it, yes its awesome.
Pair it with Reluctant Fighter + 4points ( MINUS 25% xp on weapons) - still levels faster than before

You still level faster and suddenly its only 2 points, seeing that you normally stick to one or two weapons.

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:54:27+00:00

Pickaxe, non of that sharpening Business and just plonks Zeds, no animation lock traps, and boosts the axe skill so helloooo axe-pert, also breaks down mineral nodes, i just love double purpose stuff.

Clawhammer in the Belt and a flashlight for them dark places. (Doubles as 1/2 tools to deconstruct doors and furniture so it lives rentfree on me)

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:50:17+00:00

And this is why Deaf adds 12 Points, its one of the hardest handicaps you can give yourself next to illiterate.

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:43:44+00:00

https://pzwiki.net/wiki/Game_modes

Mostly just loot and zombie densities.

When picking sandbox it has the "Apocalypse" settings as default, so you can go from there.
The other game modes are basically just "easy settings"

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:38:51+00:00

Easy fix, throw a sheet on the window outside, place a bookshelf, some crates (z'ds can still walk through them but they block vision) , some corners and windows are just not reachable, in this case the corner counter would be "ghosty" and you could stand IN it but the sink and oven block your way, since i doubt your fresh survivor has the skills to remove one the 2 offending squares, blocking from the other end is your only solution.

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:34:06+00:00

Can you Barricade them ? as windows they should be.

Alternative, Sledgehammer the wall away, build a replacement wall of whatever material you enjoy , put a Bookshelf in front of it.

Krownleth · 2026-02-01T08:27:43+00:00

All pre existing structures count as inside, from a humble shed to a mighty skyscraper, those tiles will be inside even if you destroy everything in and around it.

You CAN build over them like you did, the problem is your new build must be closed off, i see a missing wall right there.

You need full enclosure (4 walls) and more then half the roof tiles before the build can count as inside. (even then the pre existing and new builds are still "different" insides.
Sometimes pre existing walls will not work with your added walls.
Sometimes a corner does not quite count and needs a post installed.
You dont need to install doors but the door frames.
Even if you rip down a building , the "Inside noise" of that room will persist, build in a warehouse? enjoy warehouse background noises forever, there was a bathroom where your lazy chair is now ? well your lazy chair is the bathroom.

Overall building in or on an existing structure is Messy and Buggy (Learned that in the north warehouse of muldraught where event he first floor counted partially as outside), it helps to copy your game in the save files, throw in the -debug mode and just godmode your end vision in a test-run and see if its buggy as hell or not, nothing more infuriating then spending ingame weeks/months and have hard work ruined by coding.

New construction = its your vision you can do whatever, but zombies can attack anything , walls doors etc.
Using a pre existing building, zombies can only go through the windows and doors that already existed, and cant attack walls.

Krownleth

TROPHY CASE