Lootable Buildings are Becoming an Endagered Species

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

Edit: The specific examples in this post are obsolete since Wednesday the 5th of February. The experimental patch has now transitioned to stable.

 

With every patch we are seeing casualties among the types of building that produce loot. With the latest patch on the stable branch the most noticeable example would be the grey garages[1], cars, and the upstairs floor of various buildings (most noticeably the green houses with the porch). With the latest patch on the experimental branch it seems to be various houses[2]. These places absolutely, certainly spawned loot before but now seem to be barren. Many buildings, such as the cabins, have not spawned a thing since Standalone was released[3]. I know loot rarity is being constantly adjusted but I am not sure that is the issue here.

 

I am fully aware of how alpha works and how everything is subject to change or is potentially a placeholder, which is why I have mostly ignored this issue for the time being and assumed it was because the developers wanted to disable certain loot spawns while they are re-balanced. Unfortunately Rocket himself has said some things in live streams (his Q&A, and his Teamspeak chat with Sacriel) and forum posts that lead me to believe he doesn't know which buildings spawn loot at all. In his own live stream he spent a lot of time trying to loot buildings which simply do not.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Rocket and his project, but some of his information with regards to which buildings spawn loot is demonstrably false and I am not the only person to have noticed it. If Rocket isn't sure which buildings spawn loot, are we sure any of this is a known issue? Sometimes I see a patch note mentioning a known issue with regards to one kind of building, but there are at least half a dozen types of building that come to mind immediately which aren't mentioned.

 

I know it's not a critical issue, there are things I would rather the team spend their time on fixing than this, but I feel the need to bring it up due to the evidence that this issue doesn't actually seem to be recognised at all and is getting progressively worse.

 

[1]  [2]  [3] 

 

Addition: Magodark22 has taken the time to screenshot and post quite an extensive list of examples of rooms (and some entire buildings) that simply do not spawn loot any more. You can find the thread here, if you find it informative and hope for it to be fixed then please give him some beans.

Edited February 13, 2014 by DarkwaveDomina

[qliqqlaq 17]

I've noticed the problem in the first week after the release. And everytime a new patch pops up, I just hope they implement the missing loot in the cabins, for example.

I was actually pretty shocked, when I checked the wooden garages and don't found any loot in it.

 

I'm fine with re-balancing the loot - in general. But before they start rebalancing it, they should be sure that every building CAN contain a loot. And even if it's just a pen.

[attackm0de 38]

Yep good point and I did see the footage of Rocket you're referring to. I too was wondering why he didn't know that loot simply did not spawn in some of the cabins and so forth.

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

Yep good point and I did see the footage of Rocket you're referring to. I too was wondering why he didn't know that loot simply did not spawn in some of the cabins and so forth.

 

This is exactly what made me so concerned. Rocket also made a post in one of the patch threads insisting that loot spawns in a certain type of building which never has, not since launch. I do hope the development team are aware of this but if Rocket himself is not then it makes me wonder.

[qliqqlaq 17]

This is exactly what made me so concerned. Rocket also made a post in one of the patch threads insisting that loot spawns in a certain type of building which never has, not since launch. I do hope the development team are aware of this but if Rocket himself is not then it makes me wonder.

 

I think the devTeam is aware of the "missing" loot things. And I also understand Rocket a bit, that he simply cannot know/check everything.

He maybe just should let other people write down announcements/patch-postings.

[Anarki (DayZ) 13]

Careful, you might be called server hoppers because you're complaining about this issue. It's common on this forum.

[hatesauce 99]

And this kids is how you start a constructive thread on pressing issues. There are actually a number of other buildings the OP has not mentioned (and second floors of 2 stories) that do no spawn loot EVER. And the buildings that do 90% of the time it is gloves, helmets, rotten fruit or hammers and of course books.

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

There are actually a number of other buildings the OP has not mentioned (and second floors of 2 stories) that do no spawn loot EVER.

 

Absolutely. There seem to be a lot of buildings that don't spawn loot and a lot of individual spawns seem not to work any more, the upstairs table in the green houses with the porch is a good example as I used to find everything from clothing to canteens up there and have not seen anything since the latest update on stable branch.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Ulfhedjinn

[Leviathan-LoneWolf 11]

You don't need to hop servers to notice missing loot in lots of civilian structures that spawned loot before. 

 

Adding enterable buildings just to forget adding loot tables to them is quite weird anyway.

Devs should add at least some rotten apples, pen and paper to confirm that those buildings can spawn loot but are not meant to spawn useful stuff until some point in the future.

 

To enter houses that were clearly NOT looted by anyone else just to not find a sodden rotten kiwi is rather demotivating and breaks immersion. Because it makes certain villages like Olsha nearly as worthless for loot as they were in the mod (due to their composition). Some buildings that were spawn places for food&drink /like the quoted log cabin) in the mod. they are not in SA. Why? That needs to be adressed. 

 

the issue might have something to do with overall loot balancing (forcing players to enter certain structures). But considering Rockets surprise when he entered a known no-loot building in his stream just to notice that it had been "cleaned out" by somebody made me a bit worried, too.

 

Add some loot tables, please.

[jimbomobo 1]

Would be nice to get an official word on this as I to have noticed loot not spawning in buildings where previously it did.

 

Could well be that loot spawn is being tested in other areas so they removed it from certain places due to the servers not being ready to spawn enough loot?

 

I think I remember reading somewhere that at the moment loot spawn is scripted and not dynamic basically meaning that a server reset needs to take place before more loot is spawned? So it could well be that the maximum number of loot has been reached so they are having to take it away from some places to add it to another.......otherwise - its a bug :D

[quantum2k6 348]

You don't need to hop servers to notice missing loot in lots of civilian structures that spawned loot before. 

 

Adding enterable buildings just to forget adding loot tables to them is quite weird anyway.

Devs should add at least some rotten apples, pen and paper to confirm that those buildings can spawn loot but are not meant to spawn useful stuff until some point in the future.

 

To enter houses that were clearly NOT looted by anyone else just to not find a sodden rotten kiwi is rather demotivating and breaks immersion. Because it makes certain villages like Olsha nearly as worthless for loot as they were in the mod (due to their composition). Some buildings that were spawn places for food&drink /like the quoted log cabin) in the mod. they are not in SA. Why? That needs to be adressed. 

 

the issue might have something to do with overall loot balancing (forcing players to enter certain structures). But considering Rockets surprise when he entered a known no-loot building in his stream just to notice that it had been "cleaned out" by somebody made me a bit worried, too.

 

Add some loot tables, please.

which video? can someone post a link plz?

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

which video? can someone post a link plz?

 

This is the Q&A stream in which he goes in to lots of currenlty un-lootable buildings. The highlights on Sacriel's channel also have some random conversation in which Rocket is surprised when Sacriel mentions some buildings not spawning loot. Then there was this post in a patch thread recently.

[Rancor 90]

On Twitter Rocket said that they have great improvements for servers... maybe the loot repsawn is finally coming... but after i read further, he said..... more zombies and zombie respawn is coming...

Edited February 3, 2014 by Rancor

[TwinSpire 49]

Honestly each building should have more spawn locations, more loot types but less loot spawning.  That way to properly loot a town you have to enter each room in each building.

 

Not that I am complaining, I basically know exactly which 4 buildings in each town to go to, saving me a ton of time.  If I need food, know which ones to go into etc.

 

Medical buildings (pubs) shouldn't be the only building to be sure to not miss in any town.  I am sick of seeing 2-3 items in the same spawn location to see whole buildings empty.

 

I have never seen any loot in a room with a bed, except for bunk bends in barracks/jail.

[wud 143]

Since rocket tweeted that more zombies will come 
this now is officially confirmed and will be realized within the next patches

BUT the respwaning of items is "THE ONE THING" that i miss the most
because waiting for the servers to restart only for loot is ...meeh..

Edited February 3, 2014 by dawud

[weedmasta 784]

With every patch we are seeing casualties among the types of building that produce loot. With the latest patch on the stable branch the most noticeable example would be the grey garages[1], with the latest patch on the experimental branch it seems to be various houses[2]. These buildings absolutely, certainly spawned loot before but now seem to be barren. Many buildings, such as the cabins, have not spawned a thing since Standalone was released[3]. I know loot rarity is being constantly adjusted but I am not sure that is the issue here.

 

I am fully aware of how alpha works and how everything is subject to change or is potentially a placeholder, which is why I have mostly ignored this issue for the time being and assumed it was because the developers wanted to disable certain loot spawns while they are re-balanced. Unfortunately Rocket himself has said some things in live streams (his Q&A, and his Teamspeak chat with Sacriel) and forum posts that lead me to believe he doesn't know which buildings spawn loot at all. In his own live stream he spent a lot of time trying to loot buildings which simply do not.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Rocket and his project, but some of his information with regards to which buildings spawn loot is demonstrably false and I am not the only person to have noticed it. If Rocket isn't sure which buildings spawn loot, are we sure any of this is a known issue? Sometimes I see a patch note mentioning a known issue with regards to one kind of building, but there are at least half a dozen types of building that come to mind immediately which aren't mentioned.

 

I know it's not a critical issue, there are things I would rather the team spend their time on fixing than this, but I feel the need to bring it up due to the evidence that this issue doesn't actually seem to be recognised at all and is getting progressively worse.

 

[1]  [2]  [3] 

 

And how is posting it on the General Discussions forums any better than bug reporting it/voting it up on bugtracker, especially after saying that you know how an alpha works? :huh: 

 

On the other hand, yes it is a missing feature and I am sure they are working on it. Also there is at least one building I know of which spawns loot now that didn't before. The two story white barns with the stairs on each side.

[Ghostflux 100]

With loot being in only a few but very predictable places, the entire coastline will be cleaned out before you know it. From Cherno all the way up to Svetlojarsk with NE Airfield included completely empty with all doors of the lootable buildings left open. It makes it very difficult to gear up on such servers, and the mortality rate due to starvation is much much higher. Some servers remedy this by restarting the server frequently, but that again has a consequence of more people being completely geared up as it respawns the valuable loot as well.

This is an alpha, so I don't really have a problem with it. But it would be good if it's atleast confirmed as a bug.

[Mdogg2005 447]

I am no expert at SA yet.  I only play a few hours a week.  I played on a freshly reset Hardcore server yesterday.  All doors closed, tons of zombies nearby, the works - I could tell it had just been reset.  I found loot at a construction site, but when I went through and looted the town it was near, I found a few cans of food and a single can of soda.

 

Half of the buildings don't have loot - especially multi-floor ones.

[brumey 116]

there is a green house too! it spawned things before the patch! but now it never spawns anything

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

And how is posting it on the General Discussions forums any better than bug reporting it/voting it up on bugtracker, especially after saying that you know how an alpha works? :huh:

 

To discuss the issue... This is General Discussion.  :huh:  :blush:

[hatesauce 99]

This is the Q&A stream in which he goes in to lots of currenlty un-lootable buildings. The highlights on Sacriel's channel also have some random conversation in which Rocket is surprised when Sacriel mentions some buildings not spawning loot. Then there was this post in a patch thread recently.

Well it shows they are addressing it, but the question is have the code and loot spawns been double checked for issues and tested? Seems like it's just assumed it's working because it is intended to, not necessarily because it was reviewed by the devs.

Edited February 3, 2014 by hatesauce

[DeatHTaX 1217]

bean whoring

 

/fixed :D :P

[Gladius270 14]

I certainly agree that each building should be able to spawn some item, and should spawn items that make sense for that building. Items found in residential buildings should vary wildly, with some holding nothing but rotten fruit and pens, and some having weaponry. Specialized buildings (police stations, military, hospitals, etc.) should have items that are geared toward t the use of the building.

 

I'll be clear in saying that I don't think that there should be more loot. Just more variety in where it can spawn.
 

[BrainlessZombie 190]

Thanks Captain Obvious.

[weedmasta 784]

 

To discuss the issue... This is General Discussion.   :huh:   :blush:

 

 

 

I know it's not a critical issue, there are things I would rather the team spend their time on fixing than this, but I feel the need to bring it up due to the evidence that this issue doesn't actually seem to be recognised at all and is getting progressively worse.

 

:huh: And I ask again, how does posting it on the General Discussion forums make the problem more recognizable than bug reporting it/upvoting it on the bugtracker? If you want to discuss it, that is another matter. If you want the problem to be recognised, bug report it buddy.

 

With loot being in only a few but very predictable places, the entire coastline will be cleaned out before you know it. From Cherno all the way up to Svetlojarsk with NE Airfield included completely empty with all doors of the lootable buildings left open. It makes it very difficult to gear up on such servers, and the mortality rate due to starvation is much much higher. Some servers remedy this by restarting the server frequently, but that again has a consequence of more people being completely geared up as it respawns the valuable loot as well.

This is an alpha, so I don't really have a problem with it. But it would be good if it's atleast confirmed as a bug.

 

You know the coastline is but a fraction of a 225 km2 map right? There are plenty of places to loot inland. Why restrict yourself to the coast?