We've rolled out the third patch for Zombie Panic! Source v3.1 - focusing on achievement fixes, client and server crashes, game balance and map adjustments, bug fixes, and more! Server owners must update their servers to receive the latest changes.

We've added more Zombie Panic! options based on community feedback regarding the number of door & player gibs, and the ability to toggle Zombie Teammate glow and objective notification displays. We will also be adding an option to adjust the color of the classic ammo bank in an upcoming patch.



Be sure to double-check these options and others you feel could improve your gameplay in Game Options > Zombie Panic! Options > Misc.

With the release of today's update, players will notice improvements to the Survivors' arsenal with respect to Shotgun spread, base damage, and damage drop off - to be more intuitive and more reliable. The Magnum has been nerfed with an increase in its damage drop off - requiring a Normal Zombie to be within about 680 hammer units distance to be killed with one headshot.

Movement speeds have received adjustments in order to better balance them. Survivor walking and panic speeds have been made slightly faster, and stamina regenerates slightly slower. There will also now be a delay before stamina begins to regenerate after pressing walk or crouch. Zombies Feed-O-Meter will regenerate faster now. Normal Zombies also got a slight boost to their base speed, to keep the Carrier from outrunning them too much.

Several official maps have also received significant balance changes. We'll continue making more tweaks based on your feedback!

This feature has been requested by a few people in past years and already implemented into the game in v3.0 for Hardcore mode. Some people would prefer to hear voice communication based on your location rather than listening to the whole team everywhere. Therefore, we decided to build on the existing option and create a separate CVAR command for server owners to set voice proximity in their servers without enabling Hardcore mode.

Now let's dive into the full list of changes below!

• Added new "CBreakableProp" class which is a child of "CBaseEntity".
  
• Added "CBreakableProp.SetBreakable( bool state )" to set breakable state on props.
  
• Added "Globals.SetCustomCarrierArmsPushForce( float flForce )", "Globals.SetCustomHandsPushForce( float flForce )" and "Globals.SetCustomZombieArmsPushForce( float flForce )" to set the Carrier arms, Survivors hands and Zombies arms push force respectively.
  SIDENOTE: Enabling this will mark the server as "Custom" and disable achievements progression.
  
• Re-added "admin unban <steamid3>" CVAR command.
  
• Fixed console variables registers.

• Added CVAR "cl_zps_gibs_life_time" (range = [0;20]) that controls the time in seconds before door/player gibs fade out (default = 20). If set to 0, don't spawn player/doors gibs.
  
• Fixed progress based achievements not working properly.
  
• Fixed clients not downloading Workshop items whose IDs wouldn't fit a 32 bits integer.
  
• Fixed map not being changed when round state is "Waiting For Players".
  
• Players can no longer join the Zombie team when all lives are used (they will join as Spectator instead).
  
• Fixed Carrier role cycling to other dead Zombies.
  
• Fixed players being able to Zombie skip by reconnecting and late joining as Survivor.
  
• Fixed snow ball and tennis ball dealing armor damage.
  
• Fixed Zombie Vision highlighting fatigue on Zombies.
  
• Fixed some sounds muting background music.
  
• Potential fixes for score manager crash on Linux Dedicated Servers.
  
• Potential fixes for flashlight/weapons highlight/Zombie Vision issues.
  
• Various code optimizations.

• Increased Zombie Feed-O-Meter regeneration speed.
  
• Increased Normal Zombie base movement speed slightly (162).
  
• Reduced Stamina regeneration speed.
  
• Increased Survivor walk speed slightly.
  
• Added a delay to when stamina regeneration starts after walking or crouching.
  
• Increased Panic cooldown to 55 seconds.
  
• Increased Panic duration to 5 seconds.
  
• Increased Panic movement speed slightly (206).
  
• Changed consecutive idle (camping) sound delay from 15 to 20 sec.

• All Shotguns now share the same base damage.
  
• Drastically reduced the spread on all Shotguns.
  
• Reduced all Shotguns damage drop off. (They now do damage at longer distances.)
  
• Increased Magnum damage drop off. (One headshot kills on Normal Zombies now only possible within about 680 hammer units distance.)
  
• Increased Shotgun and Magnum weight.
  
• Changes to AK47, Keyboard, Winchester and empty hands view models (fixing sound and other clipping/visual bugs).
  
• Fixed missing texture on Winchester's shells.

• Aquatica
  
  • Added some fences outside to indicate where to go.
    
  • Added better vent shortcuts beacons for Zombies.
    
  • Increased "Antivirus receive" brush trigger.
    
  • Increased random chance to activate easter egg.
    
  • Fine tuned melee weapons around the map.
    
  • Fixed dynamic Zombie respawn timer.
    
  • Fixed the boat randomly disappearing.
    
  • Fixed boat leaving without the Antivirus.
    
  • Made roof outside event teleport better after explosion.
    
  • Removed Survivors 'have to be on boat to win' check.
    
  • Overall map optimization.
• Harvest
  
  • Added a Kevlar vest in the house.
    
  • Added an extra rifle/shotgun ammo box in the house.
    
  • Buffed the reward for doing objectives.
    
  • Fixed bad clipping at the tunnel.
    
  • Reduced the broadcast starting time by 30 seconds.
• Frozenheart
  
  • Added a new Zombie spawn in a store shop building.
    
  • Fixed players being able to go to the roof area earlier.
    
  • Fixed crate not spawning boards and barricade hammer.
    
  • Updated Zombie spawn timers and locations.
• Tanker
  
  • Added Survivor clip in front of the boat to prevent players from not doing objectives.
    
  • Fixed players being able to surf on the water without taking damage.
    
  • Fixed a bed prop fading too close.
    
  • Overall balance changes to ammo and weapon spawns.
• Others
  
  • Changed Zombie respawn delay dynamically on Subway.
    
  • Updated ammo and weapon spawns on Blackout.
    
  • Fixed a clipping spot on Town.

• Buffed suicide penalty.
  
• Fixed inconsistencies between score/kills. (Scores being added to kills, and vice-versa.)
  
• Fixed score and assists not being reset when client reset.
  
• Fixed suicide not subtracting a kill.
  
• Reduced Carrier reward for respawning Zombie using roar.
  
• Reduced Survivor prop/melee and generic kills Zombie multipliers.
  
• Reduced Zombie prop and generic kills Survivor multipliers.
  
• Removed reward for using green inoculator on yourself.

• The Scoreboard can now be viewed during the End Round Results screen.
  
• Added CVAR "cl_zps_hud_draw_badge_reward_announcements" to show/hide the badge rewards (on by default)
  
• Fixed "timeleft" showing negative values.
  
• Fixed some broken English tips.
  
• Potential fix for server browsers related crashes when the Steam API instance is down.

• Added more Contributors as BOT nicknames.
  
• BOTs and SourceTV can no longer earn achievements.
  
• Updated contributors list on Credits.

As usual, we'll continue to work on fixing the remaining game bugs, technical and visual, in the coming weeks. We're planning to release a small Christmas update to wrap up 2020 in good shape, and afterwards take a small break from development. Don't worry, we still will be accepting feedback and working at a slow pace during the holidays, and afterwards beginning to release monthly patches more consistently.


Happy gaming,
Zombie Panic! Team

We've shipped a minor update that fix a few issues with the v3.1.1 patch. Server owners are required to update their servers to receive the latest changes.

• Fixed a bug where a zombie player would lose his Carrier role randomly.
  
• Fixed clipping spots on the barn and at the tunnels on Harvest.
  
• Fixed a console spam issue with MP3 encoding.
  
• Potential fix for flashlight/Zombie Vision crash.
  
• Reduced broom and baguette res textures.
  
• Removed leftover game text on Harvest.
  
• Removed unused textures.

• Players running on 2K or above resolutions are having problems seeing their ammo HUD. A workaround is to use the classic ammo bank HUD by going to: Options > ZP Options > Misc > More > Enable Classic Ammobank.
  
• Very few players are experiencing invisible characters in-game for an unknown reason even after a full game nor Steam reinstall. We'll be watching this issue closer here.

We'll continue shipping more update patches in the upcoming weeks as quickly as possible. If you experience any game crashes, please send us your ZPS crash dump files, located in your \\Steam\\dumps folder, through our forums or DM. Meanwhile, check out the latest announcement here:
https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/17500/announcements/detail/5373316712715667598

We've released the first patch to Zombie Panic! Source v3.1 that addresses major bugs, game balance issues and minor changes reported recently in both Discord and Steam forums. We also want to leave an important note to all server owners and Workshop map authors in this announcement.

Along with fixes to Workshop mounting for Dedicated servers, we've updated our requirements for map authors and now request that they add and/or update their Workshop item with a text file called "addoninfo.txt" in the root folder of your map. If you already have this file in your Workshop item, be sure to update your text file with the following line: "type" "map". For example:
This is an important update for all authors who have previously uploaded a Workshop map. You can find more information about uploading custom content to the Workshop in our community guide.

Server owners who utilize the Workshop collection can manually edit and update this text file @ "<Your ZPS dedicated server installation>\\zps_custom\\workshop\\content\\17500" as a temporary fix. A reminder that they have to mount the Workshop item as well in "zps\\addons\\addonlist.txt", here's an example for Anoxia (workshop ID = 974503415) and Area 41 (workshop ID = 1068697639):
With that out of the way, let's dive into the changelog of today's patch.

• Added "int Utils.GetNumGamePlayers( bool bAlive )". Returns the number of players in the Survivor and Zombie teams which is more efficient than doing "Utils.GetNumPlayers( survivor, false/true ) + Utils.GetNumPlayers( zombie, false/true )"
  
• Fixed map chooser and rock the vote/nominate server plugins not working properly.
  
• Fixed missing "new line" characters in several log messages.
  
• Renamed the chat broadcaster, rock the vote and spray checker plugins files to lowercase for Linux
  
• Updated system to read custom content from "zps/custom" rather than "zps_custom".

• Adjusted pistols, shotguns and revolver by reducing its spread very slightly.
  
• Adjusted "running and gunning" spread meta.
  
• Increased Crowbar attack speed slightly.
  
• Increased Sledgehammer headshot damage slightly.
  
• Increased Survivor stamina recharge rate slightly.
  
• Increased Z-Berzerk attack speed very slightly.
  
• Increased Zombie lunge speed very slightly.

• Fixed AFK checker making Survivors play their panic voice line when being moved to the lobby.
  
• Fixed AFK checker not dropping the melee weapon if the Survivor had it's panic mode set to "switch to melee weapon".
  
• Fixed AFK checker not ignoring admins of the server.
  
• Fixed AFK checker not really moving players to the lobby room.
  
• Fixed Hardcore game mode not increasing and decreasing zombie lives properly.
  
• Fixed "nextlevel" CVAR having a restriction preventing server plugins to work correctly.
  
• Fixed missing game sounds on Linux dedicated due to Source SDK 2013 MP engine binaries mismatch.
  
• Fixed a round bug not turning the player as the new Carrier when the previous one left.
  
• Fixed a game crash involving breakables entities.
  
• Fixed round not ending in random cases.
  
• Reworked player pain sounds and visual damage effects.

• [GAMEBREAKING] Added missing exclamation mark for 'You are awesome' voice line.
  
• Changed lookup path of custom content outside of the Steam Workshop from "zps_custom" to "zps/custom".
  
• Changed the behavior of "sv_zps_vote_adminonly_votes". If enabled, only admins can use "callvote".
  
• Disabled Vanessa's gibs and LOD models as an attempt to temporally fix a client crash for some people running on low game settings.
  
• Upgraded game engine to the latest public version of Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer.
  
• Fixed "custom_map" Steam Rich Presence being shown when playing on custom maps.
  
• Fixed a rare case of players being unable to launch the game.
  
• Removed VR strings leftovers within the code and game start up.
  
• Removed many old unused characters textures from VPKs.

Made the following methods in "CZP_Player" virtual so that they can be used in SourceMod;

• const char *GetModelString() --- Returns the name of the character this client is playing ("eugene", "marcus"...)
  
• const char *GrabTeamSpawn() --- Returns the class name of the spawn entity that concerns this client's team ("info_player_human" if you are on the Survivor team)
  
• bool IsAwayFromKeyboard() --- Returns true if AFK checker considers this client as being AFK this simulation frame
  
• bool IsCarrier() --- Explicit
  
• bool IsInfected() --- Explicit
  
• bool IsInfectionKnown() --- Returns true if the client is infected and knows about it (HUD icon changed, heartbeat sound)
  
• bool IsOnATeam() --- Returns true if the client is not in the unassigned/lobby teams
  
• bool IsRoaring() --- Explicit
  
• void SetCarrier( bool value ) --- Explicit
  
• void SetInfectionResistance( int percentage, float time ) --- Set the infection resistance chance and time (aka green inoculator effect) for this client, "percentage" is a value between 0 and 100, "time" is in seconds
  
• void SetInfection( bool infect, bool forced, int time ) --- Set the infection state for this client, "forced" is set to true when a Survivor is infected because "not enough Zombies due to ragequit/kick and so on". Leave it to "false" to simulate a "normal Carrier" infection. "time" is in seconds.
  
  Speaking of SourceMod, thanks to community member Silence, the "gamedata offsets/signatures" have been updated to run on the latest v3.1 update, improving compatibility and stability with SourceMod itself and plugins. You can grab the latest stable build here.

• Replace Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer's "libtier0.so" and "libvstdlib.so" binaries by symbolic links to their server counterparts. Fixes the missing important game sounds (weapons, footsteps, voices...) not being played (GH-VALVE-SDK2013-PR-448).
  
• Replace Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer's "steamclient.so" binary by a recent version from SteamCMD (fixes the dedicated server getting stuck in Workshop downloads)
  
• Shipped a compiled version of OpenSSL compatible with ZPS in an attempt to fix the "could not library" error with some Linux distributions with and without the Steam Runtime. This is not enabled by default to prevent breaking working setups, To use this compiled version of OpenSSL, add the "-linux-extra-bins" parameter to the command-line launch options.
  
• [[b]Update 10/26

[/b]] Fixed a starting issue about the newly added "-linux-extra-bins" command-line argument.
[/list]

Aquatica (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count and re-scaled supplies distribution.

Asylum (Survival) - Fixed props outside of the map and optimized displacements.

Blackout (Survival) - Fixed few texture issues and updated ammo spawns.

Cinema (Survival) - Fixed a glitch spot on Cinema 1 with a player clip.

Corpsington (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count.

Corpsington (Survival) - Fixed some player clipping issues.

Deadend (Survival) - Added player clip on the door and the roof between cemetery and church.

Harvest (Objective) - Increased barricade & doors HP and ammo spawns on higher playercount and fixed fuse clip through the wall.

Keretti (Objective) - Increased ammo count on high player count.

Murskville (Objective) - Fixed double doors making the players stuck in the check-in room.

Sapidcerebrum (Survival) - Fixed visible NODRAW face and breakable glass near human spawn.

Subway (Objective) - Re-scaled supplies distribution.

Zomboeing (Objective) - Fixed areaportals leaking through the door.

[/list]

In order to fix the BZ2/FastDL problem in Dedicated Servers, third-party content had to be moved from zps_custom to zps/custom folder. Servers operators are required use this folder to install new custom content (maps/sounds/materials) outside of the Steam Workshop. For further information regarding this topic, please visit this thread in our forums for details.

If you changed the "zps/data/adminsystem.json" and/or "zps/default_plugins.json" files, make backups before updating your server, we had to change them to fix some issues listed here and SteamCMD might override them.

UI

Added a warning text in "Options -> Video" to warn players to restart their game if they change anything.

Added a text and progress bar indicator whenever a teammate is healing you with an inoculator.

Changed font for game progress HUD (game/round starts in...)

Changed the name of the badge "Mission Commander" to "Commander".

Fixed ESCAPE not cancelling server connection.

Fixed missing HardCore timer on top screen.

Fixed server info dialog having text overlapping issues.

Servers browser will no longer subtract bots from players count.

Servers browser will now show bots on a separate column.

[/list]

Fixed stackable items/weapons (like grenade) not adding/removing weight when many of them were picked up.

Updated grenade throwing animations timing.

Updated carry animation on the fuse and keys item delivery.

Updated inoculator viewmodel animations making it faster to use.

Updated Survivor's hands viewmodel animations and added a "deploy" sequence.

Changed how you cancel reloads and unloads bolt action firearms (Super Shorty and Remington 870). Before you had to hold PRIMARY or SECONDARY ATTACK, now a simple press is enough.

[/list]

Players running on 2K, 4K or above resolutions are having problems seeing their ammo HUD. Unfortunately, VGUI doesn't really support higher resolutions due being very outdated. A workaround is to use the classic ammo bank HUD by going to: Options > ZP Options > Misc > More > Enable Classic Ammobank.

Very few players are experiencing invisible characters in-game for an unknown reason even after a full game nor Steam reinstall. We'll be watching this issue closer here.

[/list]
There are still more bugs to fix up and we'll continue shipping patches (hotfixes in case of emergency) in the upcoming weeks as quickly as possible.


Lastly, we want to thank everyone who have played the update and shared their feedback in the forums! We really appreciate all the kind words and support you've been giving to us. A lot have quite liked the newest Human & Zombie animations and models from the 'Characters Update' Workshop - all made by our talented community members Mage and Silent. You can check out the comparisons below:




You can find the full v3.1 update announcement here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/zps/announcements/detail/2885077187675548830
Happy Halloween! 🎃

After 2 years in public beta testing, the ZPS v3.1 update is finally OUT for everyone! Time to gather your fellow survivors, carry only what you need, and split some zombie skulls! The update features the long-awaited Linux support, brand new animations, achievements, and melee weapons, improvements to classic maps, game balance adjustments, countless bug and exploit fixes, community-made content, Steam Workshop enhancements and much more!

• Linux Client support for Ubuntu and SteamOS machines.
  
• Revamped recoil system to allow players to have more control
  
• Major source code clean-up and rewrite from the ground up to remove all code from HL2DM.
  
• New first-person and third-person animations for firearms, explosives and cell phone.
  
• Improvements to player hitbox registration synchronizing with the player's model animation.
  
• Reworked the melee system with 'hit rays', creating an arc of line tracers in the player's FOV.
  
• Enhancements to the Steam Workshop support with additional "Add-ons" menu.
  
• Implemented Steam Rich Presence.
  
• 30 new Steam Achievements.

We have plenty of new content hidden in the update that we couldn't fail to mention! Here are some of these minor but important changes you should know...

• Unarmed survivor's punch and push abilities.
  
• A 30-60 second warm-up round after a map change.
  
• Support for crosshair customization and style, available in ZP Options.
  
• Achievements can now be earned on Custom Servers (but the official map restriction still applies).
  
• A portable inoculator for self-heal, healing your teammates or delaying the infection.
  
• New sound effects, three new melee weapons, and a brand-new grenade model.
  
• New community-made content added officially into the game for Survivor and Zombie textures.
  
• Zombie are able to see their teammates glowing through nearby walls within a short range.
  
• Glock 18c is now a fully automatic weapon, but is much more inaccurate than other pistols.
  
• Biotec and Club Zombo have been redesigned with visual and gameplay improvements.
  
• New Game Instructor hints for survivors and zombies regarding basic gameplay.
  
• Feed-O-Meter now automatically regenerates slowly over time.
  
• New Berserk zombie bar, now separate from the Feed-O-Meter.
  
• New options for classic, modern and minimal ammo bank HUD visuals.
  
• Improvements to voice wheel menu system.
  
• New "Round End" stats panel.
  
• New UI vote menu panel.
  
• Updated ZPS Angelscript API doc.

We also want to take a moment to address some of the v3.0.9a issues that have caused problems for years and have finally been fixed in v3.1!

• Fixed "scooby-doo" survivor walking animations.
  
• Fixed spectator camera freeze bug when joining servers.
  
• Fixed fake player ragdolls spawning in mid-air at the center position of the map.
  
• Fixed SDK 2013's QuickTime video provider issue, using Bink instead.
  
• Fixed randomly infected Survivor not turning into a Carrier if needed.
  
• Fixed a bug during map changelevel through RTV/admin command.
  
• Fixed Steam Workshop mounting for Dedicated Servers.
  
• Fixed many client game crashes and memory leakage.
  
• Fixed lobby players spawning outside the lobby room.
  
• Fixed weight issue with delivery items and grenades.
  
• Fixed all ZPS Steam Achievements reported broken.
  
• Various security and stability improvements.

It has been a long and difficult road during the public beta testing period for this update. Essentially, the goal of the beta was supposed to be a major code rewrite to address the unfixable bugs from v3.0.9a which would be released as soon as possible. However, as time went on, we began work on a bunch of new features and game changes that would affect other areas of the game, especially regarding game balance. This, along with community and playtester feedback, made us realize how awful some things were functioning in the game, and that forced us to continue working on these issues for a while instead of shipping what was planned at first. That also meant more things to fix, monitor, and playtest, further delaying the release of 3.1 to the public, and even more minor issues had to be shelved due to complexity, necessity, or time constraints.



We've expanded this update beyond its original scope and we're sorry for this inconvenience. Hopefully, we can continue to focus on releasing frequent quality-of-life updates in the future, rather than holding off for a huge patch that could take many months to develop. We want to thank everyone who has supported us and helped us with the beta testing of 3.1, and everyone who has provided their feedback in the forums!

• The new character Larry has been postponed indefinitely due to voice recording issues.
  
• Major adjustments to the recoil system for rifles and pistols, removing the static pattern (on-going).
  
• Removed walking and running accuracy penalties. Jumping was moderately reduced. Crouching still improves your aim very slightly (untouched since release).
  
• Refined the objective list panel, now it uses the O key instead of using the phone. You can now also walk and move while in this screen.
  
• Removed the "Custom Server" tab that was separating community servers from vanilla and official servers if they were running any modified plugins.
  
• Reduced ALL melee hit arcs slightly, preventing players from hitting areas that they weren't really aiming at (on-going).
  
• All prop_door_rotating props in official maps have had their speed increased by 150 (default) and their breakable HP tweaked.
  
• Various changes to player movement values, making movement smoother for both teams (e.g. climbing ladders is faster now).
  
• New optional classic ammobank adapted for v3.1.
  
• Reverted both Revolver and Remmy models and textures to the stock versions.
  
• Added Characters Update by Mage and Silent.

• Barricade hammer still uses the new system - we're planning to revert it soon.
  
• [Linux] Users may experience their main game menu to be completely blank due VGUI.
  
• [Linux] NVIDIA users with Nouveau might face few problems related to anti-aliasing (AA), causing a black screen. If you're getting this, please disable your anti-aliasing to fix this issue.

You can check the FULL list of v3.1 changes in our Changelog thread.


We've invested quite a bit of energy and time into other stuff behind the scenes that were put on hold during the development of the version 3.1 update, but there are plans for this content and other new features to be released to the public. We'll be sharing these features with the community in the near future, and we hope that you will give your input on what sort of new content should be added to the game by responding to community threads and public surveys!



In the meantime, enjoy the update as much as you can and be sure to tell us what you think in our Steam Discussion forums!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/17500/Zombie_Panic_Source/

Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Hopefully you all are doing well and staying safe out there!

We've taken a long break from development in the months since Beta 5 released, working at a comfortable pace, and took time to discuss our future plans and ideas for the update based on your feedback provided on the forums, as posted in our '3.1 To-do Plans' thread. We highly appreciate each one of you who took the time to voice your concerns about the game's development. Hopefully, your requested changes are here in the list below, where we'll also take a moment to recap all the major features and highlighted changes in the update. We do also have some other topics to share so stick around until the end!

After 12 years, Linux client support for Zombie Panic! Source is arriving in the v3.1 update for Ubuntu and SteamOS machines! This is a huge, long-awaited step, opening an important door to another OS besides Windows! All thanks to our programmer, Shepard, for accomplishing this challenging task! We're very aware that there is still more to do to continue support and fix it for other distros. Be sure to report any Linux visual bugs or crashes in our sub-forums! Unfortunately, Mac OS X support is still out of our reach, and not in our plans at this time.



Special thanks to all Linux enthusiasts out there who assisted us debugging and fixing the bugs reported. We also want to give a huge shout out to @GamingOnLinux!

This may have gone unnoticed in the past, but we've made huge improvements to our player hit registrations, synchronizing them with the player's client model much better than before! Special thanks to Mehis, programmer for Zombie Master: Reborn, for helping us with this issue! It's recommended to try out the changes in a low latency server for best results. Here's a little comparison:



We've implemented an interesting feature for our melee weapons called "hit rays" to improve their attack range and accuracy, making combat against multiple targets more viable. Each swing will create an arc of line tracers in the player's FOV according to the melee weapon's range. You won't be able to 360° swing hit.



This means you will now be able to hit multiple targets depending on how well you swing the melee during battle. After the first hit on X target, it will deal the same base damage on the next one. It works in a similar fashion to many modern zombie games in which you can mow down multiple targets with one swing. During the beta, we made the hit registration instantaneous (no longer has a delay) for better gameplay.

An important 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 any of the Feed-O-Meter.



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.



We've updated and added some optional features and in-game commands that you can configure to your preference in Zombie Panic! Options. Those include: ability to change the color of the item's glow, sort the scoreboard by score or kills, choose the destructibles color in Zombie vision, and more.




We've made significant changes to the Steam Workshop support, forcing players to only download the current map running in the server they're joining, instead of downloading the whole Workshop collection of the dedicated server (32bit integer to 64bit integer). We also improved the items mounting in your game client, making easier and faster when launching the game, and added a new "Addons" menu where you can manage the Workshop items you're currently subscribed to.



This is a great opportunity to search through our Workshop Hub and subscribe to your favorites!

Speaking of Workshop, we've been paying attention to a few specific community-made items based on the quality and effort put into them, worth being added as official content. We got in contact with those authors and we're starting this experiment with the following Workshop item being implemented into the game: Characters Update Ultimate - by Mage and Silent! Hopefully you guys welcome these changes and let us know what you think! In case it gets well received, we may consider adding more custom content like this into the game for everyone via public surveys.

We've enhanced the capabilities of our rich presence system to show more about the games being played by your friends, displaying extra information about their game in your Steam Friends activity. You can now easily see what gamemode, map or server they're in with Steam Rich Presence.



It's now much easier to support different languages in-game. We have reached out to our community contributors in the past who volunteered their time to translate Zombie Panic! Source into their main native language to update our localization files in the upcoming update.



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 (still developing a better-easy system), making it easier for volunteers to translate the game in their own native language by using a translator application, which is available in the Zombie Panic! Source Mod Tools. We currently support the following in addition to English: French, Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Spain), Swedish and Russian. You can set your game to use one of these languages via Properties > Language tab.

There are numerous new features, adjusts and fixes to list here. Check the full list of changes for more!

When the 3.0 update released back in Dec 2017, we created a Steam beta branch for ZPS v2.4 to be stored safely in case people wanted to play whenever they feel like. As we've stated in the past, we didn't have any plans to keep supporting it, and the build started to become unplayable until players couldn't even launch it anymore. However, a few people from the community got together and made an external fix out of the Steam version to make v2.4 playable once again. They've been using this fixed version for since the beginning of this year and reunited lots of veterans with it.

We've reached out one of the authors of the fix, asking if we could grab these files and use them to fix up our current Steam build. They worked perfectly as expected! Then we took the time to prepare a working build of v2.4 (Win and Linux DS) containing these fixes and we're releasing it today! Players will be able to opt-in to the Legacy 2.4 beta branch and play the old version again normally through Steam. We're leaving some extra info regarding the availability of the build in our Store Page too. We are also brainstorming some ideas and planning to discuss more solutions for v2.4 with the community in our forums soon. See more here.

Lastly, it's finally time to announce the long-awaited release date of the upcoming major 3.1 update. We've been listening closely to previous community feedback, making huge adjustments and tweaks based on what you all have been requesting for a long time. A lot has been taken into consideration, ideas and features were changed or scrapped for their own good, future plans were revised and the build is ready to be rolled out for everyone! We're scheduling the release for the first weeks of October - somewhere between Oct 8th and 15th!

We're currently making a few minor adjust, debugging the code and polishing up the build to be sure nothing gets left behind. In case something big happens, we'll unfortunately push the release a bit further.



See you soon,
Zombie Panic! Team

We have shipped a crucial hotfix to the unstable beta branch, bringing server optimization, minor adjustments, and some bugs & game exploits fixed! This hotfix is focused on game performance and putting an end in a few nasty bugs you guys have reported to us. We do appreciate every single feedback from the community and the team is already planning the next steps with the beta. You'll hear more from us soon and, hopefully, we'll be able to make necessary changes and tweaks you've been asking for.

Balance

• Added a small cooldown before stamina starts to regenerate after you start walking in order to prevent the "infinite stamina" exploit.
  
• Reduced the time to wait for panicking after switching to a weapon from 0,5 seconds to 0,25 seconds.

Client

• Fixed SourceMod (1.10 - build 6460) menus not showing up.
  
• Fixed "sv_zps_afk_time" and "sv_zps_afk_time_lobby" not working properly.
  
• Moved the characters data parsing code from the player class to the game rules class in order to optimize the code.
  
• (Windows only) Removed SDK 2013's QuickTime video provider, we're using Bink instead and might fix some startup issues for some players.

Game rules

• Clients are no longer able to join teams when the round is ending or ended.
  
• Clients are no longer able to respawn when the round is ending or ended.
  
• Fixed dead infected Survivors delaying round end.
  
• Fixed delivery items not adding weight.
  
• Fixed infection not being removed on dead players.
  
• Fixed "mp_timelimit" live changes not being taken into account.
  
• Reduced the maximum amount of phone messages to transmit between client/server in order to optimize the network code and reduce bandwidth usage.
  
• Reworked how round end time is networked in order to reduce bandwidth usage.

Maps

• Keretti (Objective)
  
  • Radio prop can no longer be destroyed.
• Harvest
  
  • Disabled collisions on the fuse and the bomb in the basement causing players to get stuck when arming it.
    
  • Reworked outside ladder near house's kitchen door so that crouched players are able to climb it instead of being forced to drop down and climb it again while standing.

Score system

• Fixed team killing granting kill points to the attacker.

With today's patch out to unstable, it will improve the testing of the beta in the official and community 3.1 servers. We'll continue to play with you all during the weekends (if we get a free time to play on), hear your thoughts about the update and discuss it together! Please, consider sharing your feedback in our forums where we can go back and read them anytime.

See you there,
- Zombie Panic! Development Team

We apologize for the long absence in the past months, but we've been hard at work and we're finally back with exciting news regarding another beta update. Bringing lots of improvements and major adjustments to the game's balance and performance, and Linux client support! We've heard lots of great feedback from everyone that we hope today's update should address

You can check the full v3.1 patch notes here.

This should be the last major update to the unstable beta branch. Any more beta updates from this point on should be for smaller things like bug fixes, or balance adjustments. We'll be focusing on preparing v3.1 for full public release as soon as possible, which could be anywhere up to a few months or more. So please tell us what you think about the update, so we can make necessary adjustments before full public release.


With today's update Linux client support has finally arrived - bringing graphics fixes, performance boost, and crash fixes! We want to take a moment to thank the people from @GamingOnLinux community/staff who've been helping us to promote and assist our upcoming Linux client support. As well as a huge special thanks to our programmers, Jonnyboy and Shepard, who managed to make this all happen!

If you use Linux, then we ask that you please give the unstable beta branch a test to see if there's any issues with the game for you (information how at bottom of announcement). Please report any issues to us on our Steam Discussion Boards, or in our Discord server.




Some time ago we introduced a new recoil system into the game, similar to the one used in Day of Defeat: Source, but heavily modified. We did this to eliminate issues with our previous default Half-Life 2: Deathmatch recoil where it caused some imbalances that made some weapons a bit too over powered due to high accuracy, and others under powered because of too much random spread in the bullets. We thought it was a good improvement from the previous system, but we overlooked many of the issues with it.

Thanks to everyone who tested it and provided feedback, we were able to come up with a better design that addressed some of the issues. We've made a video demonstrating how the improved recoil works for all the firearms under some different movement conditions (standing, running, jumping, etc.);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGG5EH62QnU

The simplest way to explain it is that it works very similar to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive weapon recoil. The more you shoot, the more inaccurate your weapon will be due to the recoil. There are patterns in the recoil for most weapons, each weapon type has a similar pattern with subtle differences between weapons of the same type (such as less recoil or random bullet spread).

The recoil works by utilizing several different features to create the effect;

• View punching is the effect that pushes your camera view upward and left/right whenever you fire a weapon. It's used to simulate the physical recoil of the weapon on your character.
  
• The bullet origin is the exact point for which the bullet would hit without any random spread. The bullet origin starts exactly in the center of the crosshair. But as you fire more shots, and your recoil becomes more extreme - the bullet origin will separate from the crosshair and move upward and left/right in a pattern. This is what simulates loss of accuracy control due to recoil.
  
• The cone of fire simulates the random spread of the bullets caused by movement. It's the area that the bullet has a chance to hit within around the bullet origin. The faster you move, the wider your cone of fire becomes - meaning your shots will be more inaccurate. Each bullet you fire has its location randomly generated within the cone of fire.
  
• Recoil decay determines whether or not your shots will be inaccurate due to recoil, it's what makes consecutive shots inaccurate. Your shots will remain inaccurate and continue through the recoil pattern if your recoil does not completely decay before your next shot - which is around the time your crosshair returns back into the position it was at when you started firing.

Movement will also make your shots inaccurate, with each movement condition affecting your accuracy differently;

1. Crouching makes your shots slightly more accurate
   
2. Standing makes your accuracy normal.
   
3. Crouch Walking makes your shots slightly inaccurate.
   
4. Walking makes your shots fairly inaccurate.
   
5. Running makes your shots inaccurate.
   
6. Panicking makes your shots even more inaccurate.
   
7. Jumping makes your shots extremely inaccurate.

Players have been saying that many weapons don't feel different than others of the same type for a long time, or that some weapons aren't very useful - and we agree. We recognize that some of the weapons may not feel very useful, or powerful enough - so we've made adjustments to them. Attributes such as damage, fire rate, random bullet spread, and the amount of recoil have been balanced differently for most weapons.

Here's how some of the changes affect a weapons' role;

• Pistols:
  
  • Effective at short to medium range.
    
  • Able to be used for long range combat, but is not very effective due to inaccuracy and slight damage drop off.
    
  • Weaker recoil than other weapon types. Useful while running because of this.
  
  
• Revolver:
  
  • Effective at short to medium range.
    
  • Damage drops off quicker than before, so it can no longer be used to one-shot snipe at long distances.
    
  • Capable of long range combat, but is no longer accurate enough to be as effective for it. On top of damage drop off making it better to use your bullets at shorter distances.
    
  • Slightly faster fire rate than before. So that you don't have to rely on headshots to kill a Zombie quickly in close quarters combat, you can make three quick shots to the body instead. However, your shots will be inaccurate if you don't wait to recover from the recoil.
  
  
• Shotguns:
  
  • Effective at short to medium range.
    
  • Damage drop off was reduced. Meaning the range at which Shotguns do damage has been slightly extended.
    
  • All Shotguns have had their spread tightened, making them more effective at longer ranges. Winchester has the tightest spread, followed by the Remington 870, and the Super Shorty has the widest spread.
    
  • Accuracy is barely affected by movement.
    
  • Winchester is the only Shotgun actually affected by recoil (single shots). Remington 870 and Super Shorty only use view punching, because recoil is completely decayed before you make your next shot.
  
  
• SMGs:
  
  • Effective at short to medium range.
    
  • Very fast fire rate, useful for killing enemies quickly.
    
  • Moderate recoil. Easier to control than Rifles, but still becomes very inaccurate when fired fully automatic.
    
  • Lightweight.
    
  • MP5 is accurate at longer distances than Pistols. Glock 18C is accurate at short distance, but is more useful while moving than the MP5.
  
  
• Rifles:
  
  • Effective at short to long range.
    
  • Best weapon for long range combat, accurate and least affected by damage drop off.
    
  • AK-47 is stronger but less accurate. M4 is weaker, but slightly more accurate, and has a faster fire rate.
    
  • Heavily affected by recoil, shooting fully automatic is very inaccurate.

We're expanding upon Zombie Vision to include the glowing of more destructible objects, particularly physics props. Now objects that can either be moved around or are destructible will glow an orange color while Zombie vision is active. (This color can be customized in Zombie Panic! Options, or via their cvars.)

We've added this feature to communicate to the player what objects can be moved or destroyed. Because these props can often time be used as static props (indestructible and don't move) throughout different parts of levels. Which can waste time and cause confusion for those who are not familiar with the level. So this feature will let players know right away whether they can move or destroy an object, instead of having to spend time figuring that out.





We've updated and added some optional features and in-game commands that you can configure to your preference in Zombie Panic! Options. Those include: ability to change the color of the item's glow, sort the scoreboard by score or kills, choose the destructibles color in Zombie vision, and more. Be sure to check them out!





We've added some more Quality-of-Life improvements;

• You can now bind another key to rotate your barricade board placement counter-clockwise, instead of just the normal clockwise rotation.
  
• You now have the option to choose whether Berserk is activated by Panic instead of Lunge. So you may prevent your Berserk from being wasted when you intended to Lunge. (It's still activated with Lunge by default.)
  
• Some more levels will now have their size restricted for lower player counts.
  
• Fixes for the item balancing features, improving level balance.
  
• Basically everything related to movement speed was rebalanced to be more fair for both teams. Things like movement speeds, fatigue (stamina) charge and decay rates, feed-o-meter regeneration, and panic length and cooldown.
  
• You can no longer walk while Panicking. Which would cause your speed boost to be wasted.
  
• Feed-o-meter will no longer drain while Berserking.
  
• Armor can be dropped again.
  
• Trigger_barricade was fixed so that a barricade somehow placed inside of it will be dropped on the ground as ammo.
  
• Achievements can now be earned on Custom Servers and Levels.

We understand the community content (maps, models, skins, sounds, etc) inside and outside of Steam Workshop are a part of ZPS's identity. It's always a pleasure to see new content being created and shared. Unfortunately, we had some hard times where we had no choice but to sacrifice some backward compatibility with the existing third-party content for the benefit of stability, performance and maintenance of the game.

Although, not everything is broken and lost, as some content might still work without any required update from their respective author(s). We prepared a documentation to guide the community on what changed and what needs to be done to get the addons properly working with ZPS v3.1. We invite those content creators to opt in the beta and check your content to see if it works, and prepare an updated version of your addons for v3.1 before it fully releases to the public.


You can find info on how to switch your game to the unstable beta branch here.

Or you can install and manage multiple different versions of the game using SteamCMD. There's a guide explaining how to do this.

Don't hesitate to contact us directly here, on our Steam Discussions Boards, or via Discord for further instructions and questions.


We'll be hosting events, mainly on the weekends, where we are going to test the unstable beta with all of you from the community. Join our Discord server for notifications when we, or players from the community, are playing. We hope to see you around sometime!

We have a public unstable beta branch server you can play on any time;

Server Name: Official ZPS EU Server #3 [UNSTABLE BRANCH], Courtesy of NFO
Server IP: 95.172.92.228:27018


Providing your opinion on the update and its changes is crucial for us to be able to create a game that is enjoyable for everyone possible. We are always listening and taking your feedback into consideration. But please understand that we cannot always follow your requests, it depends on the situation. In some cases, we may not want to if it conflicts with other aspects of design.

Please do not be discouraged from providing your feedback to us because of this! If you want to make a difference in the game, then we need you to tell us what you think! We would appreciate it very much if you could take the time to provide your feedback. We'd prefer for you to do so on our Steam Discussions Boards - where we can go back and read it anytime, and other community members can provide their feedback too.

But please provide constructive criticism, and be sure to tell us in detail what the problem is and what it's happening with! Giving your opinion on how you think the problem can be fixed can also help to clarify what the problem is.


See you around,
- Zombie Panic! Team

Hello, happy holidays! We hope that your holiday has been going good!

Today we want to share some news with you about the status of the v3.1 patch. Development has been going well, we've been dedicating a ton of time to testing, fixing, and developing things over the past few months. We've been able to find and fix many issues with things we didn't realize were there. We've also been able to add lots of new features.

Here's a list of some of the things we've added or changed;

• The trigger_barricade entity was changed so that if you're able to place a barricade board inside of it - the board will fall off of what it was placed on and turn back into ammo. (If you don't have the trigger_barricade set to destroy boards, and it failed to block the board from being placed inside of it.)
  
• Feed-o-Meter can no longer drain during berserk mode.
  
• Lunge can no longer trigger your berserk mode (unless you enable it in Zombie Panic! Options). Now the panic key will trigger your berserk by default.
  
• Survivors can no longer walk while panicked.
  
• Armor can be dropped again.
  
• AngelScript item balancing functions have been fixed to spawn the specified amount of items if the level is designed properly.
  
• Fixed a server crash related to a model being set as a physics prop when it wasn't compiled for that (missing phys model). It will instead delete the prop and print a message in console.
  
• Added a brand new Remington 870 weapon model.
  
• The recoil system has been completely revamped to be similar to CS:GO recoil, and has much less view punch than our previous revamp.
  
• New first person and third person weapon animations.
  
• New sound effects for some weapons.
  
• You're able to select whether the scoreboard will sort by score, kills, or hide both of them.
  
• Breakable props will now be highlighted in an orange color while using Zombie vision.
  
• New playable character!
  
• And much more!

We've been wanting to get this patch out for months now, but due to different issues we've felt it was necessary to delay release to fix and improve things. We understand that this is very frustrating due to the many different problems you can experience on the current public v3.0.9a, and we're deeply sorry about this. But this is why we've been working hard to make sure that things are working properly in the next patch - so that we get closer and closer to the full public release of v3.1.

Currently, there's a few major issues affecting balance that we're in the process of trying to fix before the next beta patch release. Such as footstep sounds not playing randomly, and some damage modifiers to things (like doors) not working properly, to name a few. But mainly our Linux client is still having major issues that need to be resolved before we can release.


We've been able to use this time to polish and balance many things that were in need of it. Several levels have gotten adjustments to improve balance, as well as looks and immersion in some cases.

Here's some previews of some of the changes (click images to see them in full size);











As an extra gift, we want to finally reveal our next survivor, coming directly from the lore: Larry!





We hope to have the next beta patch out sometime soon in the beginning of next year. Thank you for your continued support!

Happy Holidays!
Zombie Panic Development Team

We've shipped an update to 'unstable' beta branch focused on fixing many game bugs within the previous update, including the headshot t-pose and ragdolls fix, issues with the voting system, dedicated server stability performance, third-person animation improvements and much more.

As usual, you can read the full list of changes in our changelog thread!

The Linux Client support continues to be our top priority in the v3.1 public beta. However, we're very limited on how well our build is running for users with different distributions. Therefore, we need to be in touch with those willing to assist in this matter and telling us if the build has any kind of issue on their end. With those bugs patched, we can have a smooth public release to the Linux community who wishes to play the game.



If you want to help us with this task, join our Discord server and ping me (@Tabajara) or one of our developers to tag you with the "Linux Tester" role. Your help and feedback will allow us to ship specific and better fixes. Any time we do a Linux hotfix, we'll ping you for your help in testing it out for us.

You can also keep us updated by providing feedback in our 3.1 sub-forums!

We're very excited to finally release our third patch to the public beta unstable branch, which includes new game features, numerous bug fixes and plenty of game balance changes. We've mentioned this prior in our previous announcement last month.

This will be a huge opportunity (again) to playtest the update together with the community, so we can gather important feedback and proper results (especially with higher player counts) from the playtesting sessions. In this case, we'll require YOUR help to test out the latest changes.

• New melee hit rays.
  
• New score system (currently work in progress)
  
• New unarmed survivor's punch and push features.
  
• New "warm-up" round.
  
• Adjustments to firearms and zombie arms' damage values.
  
• Adjustments to survivor's fatigue and inventory sorting cooldown.
  
• Tweaks to the flashlight's FOV and bright distance.
  
• 30 new Steam achievements.
  
• Many bugs fixed.

You can read the full list of changes in our changelog thread!


The process is relatively simple. It involves having two builds at once in two directories, but having different launch methods.

1. Download ZPS 3.1.
2. Locate your Zombie Panic Source folder located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps by default.
3. Copy this directory and rename this to the name of your choosing, for instance, ZPS 3.1.
4. For this new folder, you'll create a batch file in the same directory that zps.exe is located, which is the base Zombie Panic Source folder. This batch file (create a text file initially then save it with the .bat extension) will contain:
5. Switch back to ZPS 3.0.9. When you want to play version 3.0.9, you'll launch through Steam. If you want to play ZPS 3.1, you'll use the batch file. It's recommended to create a shortcut for easy access.

This can also be done interchangeably. If one is currently on 3.1, they can go through the steps of copying the 3.0.9 files and launch that version through the bat file.




We'll be hosting public community events every weekend to play on the unstable beta branch together! Be sure to switch your game to the beta branch in advance, which you can see how to opt in the beta here.

Dates & Time
We'll be playing on the Official EU Server #3 and Official US Server #1 on June 2nd, 8th, 9th, 15th, 16th, 22th and 23th @ 7 PM (GMT - UTC 0) // 2 PM (EST - UTC -5) // 12 PM (PDT - UTC -7)

The last weekend of June will be the only time where we will give a pause to gather all the results from these upcoming events and direct our focus to fix any issues we may have found during the public playtesting. Be sure to voice your concerns and thoughts by leaving your feedback in our 3.1 sub-forums.

Stay even more connected with the development of Zombie Panic! Source by joining our official and public Zombie Panic! Team Steam Group. From there, you will receive announcements regarding the team's focus and plans for future updates, showcasing work in progress media and the latest news from our main group in case you miss it.



You can also follow our official Developer Homepage to catch up on every major Zombie Panic! news post and our casual reviews from games or mods you could check out!

- Zombie Panic! Team