Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid

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W Patrick's Skill Literature
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22 Nov, 2022 @ 3:28pm
28 Nov, 2022 @ 8:33pm
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W Patrick's Skill Literature

Description
This is my third mod, and probably the most advanced one I've made yet.
It has been extensively balanced and is completely Vanilla friendly. It's not a mod for everyone, as no matter how much I balance it, some may still find it over-powered, which is okay.

Everyone likes to play differently, and as I learn how to mod better, there's always the option to add in new settings to customize the player's experience differently.

This is a link to a YouTube video for a detailed review on the mod.
https://youtu.be/zOYP7wx_g6A

Disclaimer:
-----------

Back up existing saves if you plan to add this (or any) mod. There shouldn't be any issues, though you never know. :)
I've done hours of testing, but if any bugs arise, please let me know.


Features:
------------

This mod adds 33 new literature items to the base game, in a balanced and immersive way. These are specialized Notes, Magazines, and Books on the 11 primary crafting and survival skills. Each with icons I made myself (though with use of existing vanilla textures and color schemes).

For purposes of sandbox world creation, I split the skills into two categories, as some skills are easier to level in the base game than others, so you have the option of adding in the Easier-to-level Skills (Carpentry, Metalworking, Cooking, First Aid, Farming, & Foraging) and/or the more Grindey Skills (Electronic, Tailoring, Mechanics, Trapping, & Fishing). This lets you customize the experience just a little more for you preferred gameplay style. Adding this mod to an existing save will add all 11 by default.

From level 0-1 the Notes can be read for a decent boost in XP. Once the player reaches level 2 in that skill, it will provide a much lower amount of XP when read, but they can now read the Magazines, which provides greater XP. At level 4, as with the notes, the XP gained from magazines will drop as well, though now the player can read the associated Book for a more substantial gain in XP yet again. This will have a final reduction at level 6, but all 3 types of literature can still be read for their reduced XP gains.

As I stated, this mod has been carefully balanced (though I'm open to criticism). To start, the literature for the easier skills is more rare than the grindey literature. The XP gained does stack with the 'Quick Learner' trait, Skill Books, and with the XP multipliers from professions. So a quick learning chef who finds all the vanilla cooking skill books can accelerate to level 10 pretty quickly, sure. But the magazines and books are fairly rare, and are only single-use. Even if you DO get to level 10 cooking in 2 days, big whoop, it won't stop you from falling off your roof or getting bit the next day.
It's not meant to break the game, but more so designed to reduce the amount of mindless grinding for players that want to use some otherwise-neglected skills that don't have as much of a return on investment (For example, electricity).

As a small, aesthetic addition, the character will also say something after reaching each piece of literature. There are 5 different things they'll say (chosen at random) for each of the 33 items, so yes, I came up with 165 lines of individual dialogue. I'll leave those up to you to discover! (If you'd like to turn those off, you can't, so deal with it haha)

Finally, once a piece of skill literature is read, it will be converted to a simple piece of "read literature" that serves only as fuel for fires. Or I guess you can read if it you want to increase your boredom?


Future Plans:
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As another act of balancing, I have considered requiring the player to have a pen and a sheet of paper (you'd keep the pen) to study a book, and increasing its time, but also allowing it to give you better XP til level 6, then still a good amount, with a final reduction at level 8. This would also make paper and notebooks more valuable, but I already have a mod that lets you tear paper out, so I'd have to do some work to figure out how to get them to work together.

I'd like to add literature found in like, police stations, military areas, etc on aiming, reloading, and maintenance as well. This requires a lot more work and balance, however. I don't have plans to add literature to get better with the melee weapons, agility skills, or fitness and strength though, as it wouldn't really make sense. I have considered implementing other ways to increase those stats, like steroids, but would have to have a short span and cause some pretty dire drawbacks once worn off.


Notes:
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Feel free to use this in mod packs, but do please give credit. I spent many hours developing this mod, writing the code, making the textures, the dialogue, and testing it all once it was assembled.
Constructive feedback is also always appreciated!

I have two other neato mods you can use, too!
🍞 Hard Tack (simple, non-perishable bread) - https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879211617
🔞 More Nudie MagZ (adds stress-relief items) - https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2881673254
🥩 Dried Meats (adds cans of dried, raw meat that can be rehydrated late game) - https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900007566
💵 And if you're feeling sparky with that extra $1, feel free to leave a tip - ko-fi.com/wpatrick

Workshop ID: 2892090512
Mod ID: WPSkillLiterature
Popular Discussions View All (2)
17
22 Sep @ 12:54pm
Suggestion
dtoxic
0
16 Mar, 2023 @ 2:21am
Spanish Translation
Dr. Nitropic
73 Comments
Pippin drogado 5 Sep @ 9:28pm 
could you just edit the spawn rate? i managed to edit for myself editing the files but other players needs to do it when joinin my server and is a hassle
BOT [Mr. Krabs]  [author] 1 Sep @ 10:40am 
Hey! Sorry everyone, don't mean to be so far removed from this mod or my others. When the new build comes out I'm going to switch gears from Skyrim back to this game and dive DEEP into making sure this mod and my others are fully compatible.

I also have ideas on other mods, like one to make characters more bored the more you eat the same thing (take THAT cabbage lovers) and a mode to make clothing dry slower if it's layered. Appreciate everyone's patience!
Ashen 3 Jun @ 3:44pm 
@toofwess idk if ur still wondering but yes it works in mp flawlessly
bioinformer 23 Apr @ 4:56am 
[crickets] :(
bioinformer 12 Apr @ 4:35am 
Does this work in multiplayer?
We host a high-zed population server, and this mod seems cool - was requested by one of our players - but i'm worried that it will be too easy to find these. After killing 100 zombies (As in your example screenshots) getting that much skill from notes/books seems incredibly too easy. Can we adjust the drop rate as a server admin?
xX-CitronÄtare-Xx 17 Mar @ 7:07pm 
TLDR from comment below changed

local WP_HIGHEST = 0.4;
local WP_HIGH = 0.25;
local WP_MEDIUM = 0.125;
local WP_LOW = 0.08;
local WP_LOWEST = 0,025;

to

local WP_HIGHEST = 0.1;
local WP_HIGH = 0.0625;
local WP_MEDIUM = 0.03125;
local WP_LOW = 0.02;
local WP_LOWEST = 0,00625;

Killed some zombies and after about 15 kills only got 1 so it seems to work

File is at
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\108600\2892090512\mods\W Patricks Skill Literature\media\lua\server\Items\WPSkillLiterature_ZombieDistributions.lua
Jasdan 2 Jan @ 10:50pm 
"So that's why Celcius is inferior"
Thumbs Down, basically Unplayable!
Pippin drogado 2 Jan @ 12:36pm 
also changed the drop rates on sandbox option to 0.05 , since i believe the settings below are roll chance that uses the drop rate.
Maybe does nothing idk.
Pippin drogado 2 Jan @ 12:04pm 
i still need to test a bit more but i think i managed to change the drop rate
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\108600\2892090512\mods\W Patricks Skill Literature\media\lua\server\Items

there is WPSkillLiterature_ZombieDistributions.lua
after opened with notepad i found this setting:
local WP_HIGHEST = 0.2;
local WP_HIGH = 0.15;
local WP_MEDIUM = 0.085;
local WP_LOW = 0.04;
local WP_LOWEST = 0.015;

The numbers where the double before
client and server files need to match
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\108600\2892090512\mods\W Patricks Skill Literature\media\lua\server\Items
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid\steamapps\workshop\content\108600\2892090512\mods\W Patricks Skill Literature\media\lua\server\Items

I just tested a few minutes and looks like there is less drop but if someone does try the change would be cool if can share results since any try requires a lot of load times and shit , thanks!
Technic235 1 Dec, 2023 @ 11:36pm 
I found a bug where I can continuously spawn new magazines if I try to Read All. The game uses up the magazine I just read, converting it to useless paper, then spawns another magazine in my hands. With time sped up, you can easily level a skill to max with this bug. On top of the fact that I felt like too many magazines were spawning, I uninstalled this mod because of this bug.