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[Neoadept]

Hm, just confirmed that and spent awhile trying to fix it.  I have no idea what could be causing it, particularly considering that it isn't consistent.  It usually happens on the second embark, but will occasionally happen the first or third time.  I'm going to put other updates on hold until I get this sorted out.

Is there anything in the raws known to cause this or similar bugs?  Not just in my raws, but in general, is there any token or combination of tokens that might cause crash upon embark?

[krumlink]

I really enjoy Zombie Mod, but because of the re-embark error I usually stick to 65x65 worlds.

[Neoadept]

Alright, I still don't know why it's happening or how to fix it (neither the game nor error log registers any problems), but I've found out that it's a very inconsistent problem.  What I mean by that is, it seems to happen at random, not just once and every time thereafter.  If you crash once, you can try again on the same world until it works again, which is also random.

Also:  If a Civ worked last time, it seems more likely to work the next, but if you pick another civ and it crashes, the working civ seems to be random again.  It's a little weird.

I hope that helps, because I can't think of anything in the raws that would cause this behavior, but it's obviously in the raws because it happens in my mod but not vanilla.  If anyone has any idea what could cause this, please speak up.

Since I can't fix it anymore than that at the moment, I'm going back to improving the mod.  Who knows, it might resolve itself as I change things.

[Neoadept]

Thank you unrelated but startlingly relevant question!  The Embark problem has been resolved.

NEW Version 0.6b
Changes:
-Fixed embark crash problem.
-Changed subterranean plants back to their original form.
-Added new Plastic "metal" and garbage stone type.

This version also sees the introduction of plastic, a light but durable material that has about the same block power as copper.  Since the world's production base fell apart with the advent of the infection, the only plastic you can get at comes from garbage dug up from landfills scattered about by the previous civilization.  You extract it from garbage with the "sift through garbage" task at the smelter, which produces "loose plastic" and has a chance of producing other things.  Loose plastic can then be smelted into plastic bars.

Among the other things are random plastic trinkets and a very low chance of finding a gold ring accidentally thrown out.  But mostly, you'll find flies and rat corpses which will disgust anyone who has to sift through garbage all day.  It is not pleasant.


This is the first stage of a few new materials I'll be adding, including ceramic, carbon fiber, and combinations of those three which, while requiring multiple stages of production, are remarkably durable.

[Earthquake Damage]

Since the world's production base fell apart with the advent of the infection, the only plastic you can get at comes from garbage dug up from landfills scattered about by the previous civilization.  You extract it from garbage with the "sift through garbage" task at the smelter, which produces "loose plastic" and has a chance of producing other things.

This idea is awesome!

[krumlink]

I would also start modernizing zombie mod, such as adding more modern things, such as the catapult and ballista. You could make a artillery type thing.

[Zako]

How do I modify DF so I can play this? I don't know how!!!

[Zako]

Never mind, I got it.

And they sure do siege in large numbers! Any defensive ideas?

[MathijsBuster]

1.  Not sure what's going on with the tileset, it works fine on standard.  It even has the same tile information for survivors as it does for dwarves.  I'll download the tileset and look into it later.

Since I use Mayday's tileset as well, I've made a fix.
Everyone that wants to use Mayday's Tileset with this mod should replace the standard raw/graphics/graphics_mayday.txt with this one:
Click here!

Just replace the original and start the game.

Also; As far as I know it only works with the latest Mike Mayday tileset.
So go download the newest one first if you haven't already! Don't forget to install Neoadepts' mod over it after that.

Also, please be aware that it is just a stop-gap measure.

However, if I'm allowed I could integrate full tileset support. I might have to look at Mike Mayday and Neoadept for that in a sweet way tough. It would probably include making custom pictures for the soldiers and zombies.

And finally; here's what it'll look like now:

Zombies attacking some Human Survivors. Entire tileset made by Mike Mayday
Zombie mod by Neoadept naturally.
... And Dwarf Fortress by Toady One. I can't be credited much for anything.

Small update:
Fixed the bug. Apparently I had made a small sequence error with the survivor graphics, causing them to be displayed improperly. They should appear as job-specific humans normally now.
Also changed the graphic of zombie torso's so they don't look like normal standing zombies anymore now.

[MathijsBuster]

Did I forget to mention this mod is awesome?

I just lost my first game to a zombie attack.
It wasn't even all thát spectacular, it was just that I really didn't expect the attack.

My 7 started humans had finished constructing a main building, which served as the barrack and sleeping quarters.
It had 4 levels, with the ground level one being the food court, above that the sleeping quarters/barracks, and the roof was the watchpost in case of zombie attack.
There was also a basement which served as the food storage.
Just outside I had constructed a few farmplots to harvest potatoes and wheat in.
A little walk would lead you to the open-air workshops. I still had to construct a building for them.

I had an archery range to the south, but since I only had 7 humans and needed all the construction support I could get, I only trained the craftman up to marksman before letting him resume work .
Some zombie groups had walked around the main building, but they never really got too close to my survivors.
In fact, even when they got closer they almost seemed afraid and backed up again.

I had just made it into autumn, thinking a lot less about the zombie threat after having large groups of infected near my base but never really getting attacked.
... and then it happened. I suddenly got a message that one of my dogs had been struck down.
Zooming over to the place there was a small zombie group.
About 10 zombies or so. Just to the north of my base, up the hill.

Zombies incoming!

I figured it to be an isolated incident, and drafted my craftsman. He equipped his rifle and ran to the spot.
Getting there, he fired. Round after round.
He must have hit the first zombie about 12 times, but it kept on coming right towards him.
I checked the wound stat on the zombie, and it had his heart and liver pierced, but it did nothing to slow it down.

Then the zombie attacked the rifleman.
... I emergency drafted all my humans, set them to pick up rifles of their own, and made them run over.

A recruit getting attacked by a zombie near the entrance to a cave.

Chaos ensued. While my first marksman managed to kill the zombie attacker in close combat, the rest of the zombies immediately charged as well.

The first rifleman manages to kill off his attackers, but gets gravely wounded in the process.

My other humans ran everywhere to grab weapons, as I didn´t really have an armory yet.
The two that got their weapons the first got cornered by a few zombies, and chased into a cave.

Help arrives for the recruit. A rifleman, another recruit and my mayor arrive.

One of them was ripped apart, with his buddy still desperately trying to get the zombie off him.
Meanwhile my mayor, who hadn´t managed to get a weapon at all, punched a zombie off the hill and ran over to help my first rifleman, who at this point had contracted the plague and was quickly dying.
... mostly to the zombie on top of him ripping his arms out.

The rifleman helps the recruit with killing the zombie in the cave. The recruit will never use his arms again though...

In the end I managed to kill all the zombies, but the casualties were 2 humans, ripped to shreds.
Two others still were wounded, but miraculously hadn't contracted the plague.
.. the fact that they were both missing their arms didn't make them very useful anymore though.

With only 3 functional survivors left, all pretty depressed at this point, I decided to abandon the area.

Now realizing the full threat of the zombie menace, I swore they wouldn't surprise us like this another time.
But first we needed to find a new safe zone.... The zombies here had obviously tasted blood and staying here would be a death sentence.

Those zombies may seem peaceful at first, but they'll attack suddenly without provocation. o__o
Right. Off to another game! They won't get me that easily this time!
Hats off to Neoadept! I'm loving this mod. ^^

(And mhyeah, I couldn't resist and customized the survivor pictures to actually reflect them using modern weapons and gear instead of chainmails and crossbows... I love dwarf fortress, but a tiny bit of graphics never hurted anyone.)

[Neoadept]

Ha, fantastic!  I've mostly been playing for no more than ten minutes at a time, testing changes, on the most recent build, so it's good to know my little monsters are still too stupid for a frontal assault but dangerous as hell if you run into them.  Glad you like it!

While we're on the topic of graphics, you seem to have that pretty well in hand.  If I sent you some updated sprites for the playable races and undead, would you be able to put together a graphics pack I could package with the mod?  I'd add you and Mayday to the credits, of course.

[MathijsBuster]

Ha, fantastic!  I've mostly been playing for no more than ten minutes at a time, testing changes, on the most recent build, so it's good to know my little monsters are still too stupid for a frontal assault but dangerous as hell if you run into them.  Glad you like it!

While we're on the topic of graphics, you seem to have that pretty well in hand.  If I sent you some updated sprites for the playable races and undead, would you be able to put together a graphics pack I could package with the mod?  I'd add you and Mayday to the credits, of course.

Sure! I'd be happy to!

I'm not sure if you want to use the graphics pack I've made for the soldiers so far, but it would be no problem. ^^
I took the liberty of adapting Mayday's tileset for the soldier faction so far.
All the army graphics have been replaced, and so has the Soldiers factions' Mayor and Captain of the guard.
I've also made a custom graphic for Zombie Torso's.



But since you have different playable races in the game, I guess we could make different graphics for all the other factions.
I'm thinking the Survivor's faction drafted guys would look less like the military Soldiers and more like rag-tag people with weapons.



I'd be happy to draw out the other factions as well, if you want me to.
Of course, I can imagine you might want to draw tilesets yourself... but if you want me to, I'd be happy to help.
And naturally I'd be happy to help you get it all working in-game either way.

Heh, and about running into the zombies...
It's more that the zombies run into YOU.
I'm guessing they don't even do it on purpose. But since they have [no fear] they won't run away, and their random path algorithm just means they have a random chance of winding up inside your camp or right near your dwarves.

.. and once they're right near your dwarves they'll attack.
I think I rather like the random zombie groups you have in place now. You have to be careful about them, because they can be a threat if they get close.
However, they won't purposefully run (shamble?) towards your base and start killing you in the first 2 minutes of the game either.

They are great for keeping you on your toes 'till the actual siege zombies come.
Once those come you should have had the time to have your base and defenses up anyway.

There is one thing I'd like to mention though...
I can understand the zombies having [No Bleed]... since they are walking dead afterall, and having them bleed would make them much more vurnerable...

... however, fights just don't feel bloody enough now.
Some fights are resolved with hardly any bloodshed. Just random zombie parts lying around.
I think that one of the beautiful things about the zombies genre is the massive amount of bloodshed and gore.

Isn't it possible to make them bleed but give them so much blood that bleeding out isn't really a factor?
It would do much for the setting and the gory battles I think. ^^

[Neoadept]

I'll look into it, but I think that blood is hard coded.  If it's any consolation, the Survivor's shotguns tend to send limbs and chunks flying even if it's not a mortal wound.

Could you send me the graphics files you already made for the soldiers and torsos?  I'd like to take a look at them so I know how to format my own for the other races (your idea for survivors is just what I had in mind, and I'm thinking black suits for the business men, soldiers look great as you've made them.  Zombies will probably just be survivor recolors).

[MathijsBuster]

Heh. Sorry for spamming so much battle reports, but I really like the mod. x3

This is my second attempt.

Having learned from previous time I took some more protective measures and started the training of my survivors early.
It payed off, because this time I managed to get my village up to 20 survivors.
I wanted to stay within the fluff of being humans though, so I build a human village above-ground. Cellars were allowed, but no inticrate dungeons. I also wanted to do all my farming above-ground.
Lastly, I didn't want to use any traps or moats. No fun beating an enemy when he has no chance, eh?

That said, this is what happened:

Apart from a small group of zombies that got too close to the encampment (they swiftly got dispatched) and a scare when a black bear entered the mess hall (it got wrestled to death by a brave recruit), not much happened in the first year.

In the summer of the second year, however, the first siege (vile force of darkness!) arrived.
Just 15 zombies. Not that hard to handle, it seemed to me.
How wrong I was.

I immediately noticed the main error that would lead to my downfall...
... I only had made 7 guns, and I had 20 survivors.
I stationed everyone that could get their hands on these guns on the rooftops, to dispatch any incoming zombies.  The rest just had to protect the gunners with their bare hands.

The zombies quickly entered firing range, and the soldiers started firing.
However, the zombies were tough, and while most of them had their legs shot from under them within no time, they just fell to the ground and crawled on towards the plaza.

Soon my soldiers were out of ammo, and the zombies broke into the first two houses. They actually smashed the doors down.

My soldiers at this point just ran down the stairs and started charging the zombies, pushing them back outside.
Not without loses though, the entire attacking force (five brave experienced soldiers) got paralyzed and ripped to shreds.

Most of my soldiers were on the roof of the main building though, and the zombies hadn't reached that building yet.
They did crawl awkwardly around it, but it seemed they couldn't find a path.
So they just started breaking stuff outside.
They broke down the archery range, the kennels.. the statues... the tradepost...
... and then some random doors.

Crawling zombies (named ones now) breaking down the door of the main building. Almost all my survivors are on the roof.

Eventually they broke down the door of the main building and went rampage on the furniture. Lots of beds were smashed.
The soldiers stationed on the roof couldn't take it any longer and over ten soldiers ran down the stairs, killing the zombies inside and just outside.
However, at a cost of 3 more paralyzed soldiers.

More soldiers get paralyzed in repelling the zombie attack.

The main force of the zombies was now broken.
However, the few remaining zombies knew no fear, and showed no sign of leaving.
Worse yet, they were scattered all around the town. I send my remaining soldiers on clean-up duty.
Bones, blood and bullet-shells were everywhere at this point, and both zombie and survivors corpses were filling the streets.

3 soldiers went west, and found a single zombie. All three charged the zombie... but it immediately bit and paralyzed every single one of them. The remaining soldiers quickly stepped in to finish the zombie up.

All 3 soldiers get paralyzed immediately.. o_o

I really thought the zombie attack was over now, not spotting any more zombies at ground level.
I was about to get my soldiers off duty when a remaining zombie burst out of the basement of one of the minor houses (yes really! Why he had gone in there, I have no idea) and grabbed another soldier, dragging him down the stairs, paralyzing and severely wounding him.

Zombies in the basement? Now they're just being stereotypes!

After sending the rest of my survivors to kill this zombie off as well, I tallied the damage:

From the 20 survivors I had before the attack, I now only had 14 survivors left.
5 of the survivors were paralyzed, and would never move again.
1 of them was a child that had miraculously survived, even though he had been outside when the zombie attack struck.
I guess running from a zombie attack is still a valid strategy.

This meant that I only had 8 survivors left that were able to move and rebuild.

... Once again I underestimated the zombie menace. o_o

[Carcer]

I don't know why, but I'm unable to get survivors to practice marksmanship on an archery target.