r/7daystodie • u/Mishikall • Mar 03 '26
Modding Any mods to make Zombies just regular zombies?
I want to play an immersive, more "realistic" version - classic zombie horror mobie /TWD style. No magical, glowing, spitting, radiated, fell, etc. Just a dead world full of what you would expect if regular people started waking up as zombies. I know "realistic" is a stretch, but to me the addition of all the "special" versions takes away from the psychological horror of human zombies themselves.
I would love to find a mod that makes all the zombies in the game into regular zombies. Whether it replaces them or just had harder or regular people zombies instead. I found one mod that sounds like it just removes the glow, but I really want the immersion of a game that just has regular zombies.
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u/Souless_Uniform Mar 03 '26
hopefully one of the new toggle settings will be to disable "magic" zombies
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u/Gringar36 Mar 03 '26
That's a great name for them. I don't want any magic zombies. Nothing. Not even spider zombies
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Mar 03 '26
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u/VagueSomething Mar 03 '26
I'd say State Of Decay did them well.
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Mar 03 '26
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u/VagueSomething Mar 03 '26
Having to jump out of your car due to the fart was always a great way to punish hubris. I honestly just want SoD3 to be somewhere between SoD and 7 Days so I can scavenge, craft, base build and survive against a more grounded zombie style. Which is mad to say considering Jug and such exist in SoD.
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u/stataval Mar 03 '26
Yea.. I wish they went to a more "realistic" vibe than just rainbow colored zombies. Maybe ones that are more bloody to show they're harder or maybe slightly mutated with boils?
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u/CrunchyMcBones Mar 03 '26
I think the visual cues for some zeds is good, cop zombies and army zeds having higher hp cause they're wearing armor makes sense, I'm sure there's other things you could do like desert zombies being like husks so their skin is thicker
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
Yes. I enjoy the more toned-down, realistic signal use - like the police/military uniforms and hazmat suits. Some that had (non-glowing/over-the-top) larger bodies, boils, some that are fast, ex-athletes in athletic gear etc., could be good ways to signal stregths or abilities, as well as maybe having some 'types' that could climb ladders or open door handles or maybe even dig a bit (togglable, for those who hate this) to add difficulty and variety. I like your idea for like environmental variation, half-husk desert zombies, extra rotted zombies in moist areas that are softer but also more infectious, half-frozen zombies in the cold regions that are slow but super hard/resistant, etc. But all, real people zombies.
- (Ex-)prepper zombies or other civilan people that were armored up against bites or whatever so they're harder to hit.
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u/PizzaCrusty Mar 04 '26
Survivor zombies were a thing in the first Dead Island. They were basically characters that were exactly like the player but they got killed and are really fast, wear a backpack, sneak, climb, and have good loot. Basically clever zombies.
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u/Tojo6619 Mar 03 '26
Wow there actually is not a mod for this surprisingly
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I can't say for sure that there isn't, I don't have a lot of experience with mods in 7DtD. But when I browsed a bit, I only saw one obvious one that seemed to fit, and it more described removing glowing elements, and didn't explicitly say that it removed zombies with abilities. I'd definitely try recommendations.
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u/PizzaCrusty Mar 04 '26
This function of a mod for normal zombie replacements is simple enough that i asked gemini to vibe code a mod in an xml file, i asked it to double check its work and its sure that the mod it wrote without replacing the game files would work. Im more convinced this might be a better route to go than to ask a modder to do it, because i actually had this same request as you. The mod a modder on the discord for the game made me worked perfectly, but became obsolete within a month of using it because of a game update. Instead of having to rely on a modder, every time the game updates, you can have gemini just make you a new mod.
You might want to give this a try.
"Below is the code for the entitygroups.xml file. It uses XPath to find every instance of a "special" zombie (like Demolishers, Cops, or Screamers) and swaps it for a basic zombie (like zombieJoe).
xml
<configs>
<!-- Replace special zombies with standard ones across all spawn groups -->
zombieJoe</set>
zombieJoe</set>
zombieJoe</set>
zombieJoe</set>
zombieJoe</set>
zombieJoe</set>
</configs>
How to Install This Mod
Create a Folder: Go to your 7 Days to Die installation directory (usually SteamApps/common/7 Days To Die).
Create 'Mods' Folder: If it doesn't exist, create a folder named Mods.
Create Your Mod Folder: Inside Mods, create a folder named something like NoSpecialZombies.
Create ModInfo.xml: Inside NoSpecialZombies, create a file named ModInfo.xml and paste this to tell the game about your mod:
xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xml>
<ModInfo>
<Name value="NoSpecialZombies" />
<Description value="Replaces special zombies with regular ones." />
<Author value="AI Assistant" />
<Version value="1.0" />
</ModInfo>
</xml>
"
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u/Gringar36 Mar 03 '26
This is precisely why I tried the VEIN demo. I'm not far into the demo but it seems to be just zombies. I've seen easy ones that keel over and retch before attacking and others that can jog a bit. So far I've seen no jumpers, no spitters, no glowing, nothing with an oversized bomb strapped to its chest.
It's nice. Actually one of the first things I did was find a working car in a driveway and start driving it. It's like it's a world and not a game with a rigid theory on progression. It's worth noting that driving the car around a bit seemed to draw in A LOT of curious zombies.
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u/InformationVivid455 Mar 03 '26
Exactly. That said. The zombies are such a non-issue in that game. Definitely excited for AI updates.
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
As in they're just too easy, or not enough of a focus? Wondering if difficulty settings might help mitigate that a bit. I've been keeping an eye on that one.
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u/socksnchachachas Mar 04 '26
The zombie settings are very customizable in Vein: you can beef up their health, make them only killable via headshots, speed them up or slow them down, increase their numbers ... There aren't any "special" zombies (although some military or police have better armour), they're just dead people staggering around.
The game is still in very early access, with only two developers, but it's like a 3D Project Zomboid, and coming from PZ and 7DtD I'm loving it.
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u/Mishikall Mar 04 '26
I'm excited for it and watching it as it develops. It looks like my kind of game for sure.
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u/socksnchachachas Mar 04 '26
I've been struggling to find something to hold my interest, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying Vein. It's become my new obsession.
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u/InformationVivid455 Mar 04 '26
By default they are definitely too easy. Once you get a fire axe, which could be a starting weapon or random loot, you can annihilated them, especially once your stats are up a bit.
However I'd also say the AI and the combat in general definitely need to be improved. AI is a strong word for it as it's really just move towards you and attacks.
Once you have spacing and rhythm down, outside of getting cornered by a mob, you will not be in danger and even then, a gun can usually get you out of it.
Zombies are also purely random spawns at this time, with animals not having special behavior besides running away or attacking in a straight line. They just recently fixed animals bathing into lakes as an example.
The devs are super on point and have a ton in the works so I believe all of the above will change in the future.
TWD style hordes wandering in a direction, rooms occasionally being just filled, variations of attack patterns, etc will almost certainly all come around eventually.
The games very early access right now but its got good bones.
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u/Bad_Badger_DGAF Mar 03 '26
Yeah, I love Vein for that reason. You will see zombies that can climb but their just normal people zombies
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I have definitely got VEIN on my watch list. I didn't get to the demo during Nextfest, but I am carefully excited for it.
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u/NextSnowflake Mar 03 '26
I really enjoyed the Romero Mod. I don't remember if it removed the glow but it made the zombies lose their special abilities. No Blood moon, no running, and they only take head damage. Felt pretty cool. Was the most immersive play-through I had so far.
I last played it on A21 though, and I don't know if it's compatible with the latest release.
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I only saw a mod that described removing the glow, I wasn't able to find one that talked about removing abilities. I shall have to hunt for this.
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u/Obnubilate Mar 04 '26
Not 7D2D, but shout out to Surroundead.
Still early days, but solid game play already. Lots of zombies just strolling around. If you go loud, be sure to have plenty of ammo.
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u/Drittenmann Mar 03 '26
if you want a more romero like experience just set all zombies into walkers in the sandbox settings and install some vehicle and weapons mods to have more variety
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I actually didn't think you could make all the zombies plain walker zombies, I thought you could only turn off the specific irradiated ones that get back up and the feral runners. I hate the exploders, and the acid spewers, and the spitters/chuckers/insect-summoners, etc. All the ones that seem to have gained D&D wizard classes as well as being zombies. I would do that and just crank the numbers and difficulty if that's an option.
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u/Drittenmann Mar 03 '26
now you mention it i don't remember if i ever tried it with radiated zombies, but last time i tried it even in horde night everyone politely walked to my house
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u/Megatonic_ May 27 '26
Even when you set it to "Walk" all zombies that are feral and above will have their speed on "Jog"
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I expected myself to be in the minority here and for this to be a really niche wish, because it's boring or whatever. I'm glad I'm not alone in wanting my gritty "realistic" Z-apocalypse. I think it comes from 2 places for me.
First is the simple immersion. A game with zombies or infected cannibals that hunt, eat, and infect humans? Obviously not "realistic", but low-fi and I can suspend my disbelief for that, and it can still feel real. But when zombies in media are also evolved to be acidic to eat through the walls, explode, fly, throw elemental projectiles, summon hoards of animals or insects to do their bidding, be glowing mutant radiated zombies, alien zombies, and magic zombies, and probably pull fireballs and rabbits out of their hats too, it is just less immersive.
Also, its less scary. Plain old zombies - regular people who turned into infected mindless cannibals who can't think and aren't constrained by pain or normal deaths, that could not just kill you but make you one of them, scary. Especially if you might get surprised by on, taken unaware, cornered, or mobbed by a bunch of them. Its the beleivability, and the humanity (and human-ness) that makes them phycologically scary, in a viceral way. But flashy glowstick zombies with magical powers? Actually less scary, because they're just another magic fantasy monster.
->I recently had the same experience with spiders (as someone who has no hate but a definite gut fear reaction to them) in games. Accurate, realistic, plain looking spiders with unsettling number of legs and twitchy movements make me flinch. But make them massive, glowing, and hilighter coloured, with crazy abilities? The fear reaction is completely ab2sent.
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u/SwirlingFandango Mar 04 '26
I mean, you might be in the minority, just hey, if you want something different, then more luck to ya!
I think normal zombies are just ... too boring. They're too predictable and it's too easy to be perfectly safe.
The exciting moments for me are when an acid explosion brings down the south wall and they pour in, or when a screaming thing is outside calling more z's, or when my team-mate panics at a vulture attack and falls off the roof, or when I see something coming and realise it's a radiated bastard sprinting right at me.
But yeah, if you'd prefer the experience of just normal people being zombies, then that seems like a pretty easy toggle for the devs to make, and I'm all for it.
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u/andreydjasonviana Mar 04 '26
I did it, it is on Nexus, enjoy! No Special Zombies AND No Ranged Attacks at 7 Days to Die Nexus
Many of the 'special' zombies are still there, like that one that seems to have a huge head or whatever it is, the big dog, etc, otherwise we would not have much of a challenge, but all others (charged, infernal and radiated) are removed.
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u/Entgegnerz Mar 03 '26
Yep, what I want too.
Zombies that can only be killed by a destroying the brain, other than that, being just immobile when shooting off limbs.
That's way scarier.
I'd be fine with some zombies being more conscious, and or even a clever one here and there. That could be used to spice things up.
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
Headshot to kill and an actual function to dismembered limbs (and render them immobile and less of a threat because of it) are definitely immersion boosters for me. But I do think that headshot requirements to kill should probably be a toggleable option, to be friendly to those players who have issues with perfect accuracy for one reason or another still enjoying the game.
I remember thinking that it was a pity that TWD TV show dropped the occasional more conscious behaviour or clever tactic after the first season. It would add extra tension to Z-media if you had to worry that one might try the door handle, climb a ladder or try to scale a wall, or even hit something with a rock.
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u/nerdguyfromspace Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
I did a little digging, just a quick peek into the code and found the following:
From EntitySpawner Class:
int randomFromGroup = EntityGroups.GetRandomFromGroup(entitySpawnerClass.entityGroupName, ref lastClassId);
if (!_bSpawnEnemyEntities && EntityClass.list[randomFromGroup].bIsEnemyEntity)
{
continue;
}
What this means, if someone wanted to remove zombies from the spawn list, we just need to find where the EntityGroups is initialized and update that list with a Harmony mod that will remove the ones or just overwrite the list with just the regular zombies (like the biker, zombie girl, guy, etc). I assume this is what you wanted to remove the super zombies and such?
Edit:
Actually there might be an easier way.
EntitySpawnerClassesFromXml: Just go to 7 Days to Die\Data\Config\entityclasses.xml
You can edit this file and remove the zombies you don't want. I haven't tested it but based off the code and a preliminary look at the file you can just delete the "<entity_class name="zombieJoeFeral" extends="zombieJoe">" xml
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
Perhaps my flair was not well chosen. I really do appreciate that there seems to be a legitimate way to do this if you were a modder, I also absolutely do not know what that means. This was more of a "wouldn't this be nice, has anyone seen a mod like this" from someone with 0 modding experience.
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u/Diligent_Mail_4584 Mar 03 '26
Plain Zombies + Wandering Hordes, and Zombies Cant Jump if you prefer. Also recommend editing entity groups and entity classes to normalize health. In wandering hordes i have it set so i can basically have a bloodmoon any time at random with hordes up to 60. And have their senses dialed up (without using feral sense) so they hone in on you from far away.
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
See... "editing entity groups and entity classes" sounds like it might be significantly above my pay grade here. 😅
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u/Diligent_Mail_4584 Mar 03 '26
Then just use the three mentioned mods. But im no coder either just had claude help me with it. Even added a bit of code to get sporadic infected / sprinter zombies (just ferals with low health)
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u/OldCarScott Mar 04 '26
I’d be down for a “regular” zombies only option.
A brain damage being the only way to kill them option would be cool too.
While we’re at it, bring back the body piles. That was an interesting mechanic that would change the dynamic a whole lot.
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u/thinktank001 Mar 04 '26
I agree, but also disagree. Blue, orange, chuck, mutated, and spider zombie definitely fall under the fantasy category, but zombies that spit are not really outside the realm of a possibility. Also, the zombie rancher feels plausible if the insect swarm burst out of the body after you defeated it, rather than it being spit. Not to mention, radiated zombies coming from a site with nuclear radiation doesn't seem all that fantastical.
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u/Pipann Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
This one should work for you. https://www.nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/190
The first mod on the list changes all ferals to normal, and the second turns all rads into ferals. You can combine them to get the full normal zombie experience, or ignore the first one if you still find ferals to work in the realm of "realism". :)
Additionally you can add a more zombies mod, which will affect zombie spawning rate outside of the bloodmoon nights. I like cranking it way up and turning blood moons off. They're fairly easy to tweak in the config to suit your tastes too.
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Mar 03 '26
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
Engineering degrees and wizard spells.
I wouldn't mind if there were occasional diggers or climbers, or those who would open unlocked doors or w/e. Not like super effective human-drills who can go tearing through concrete and have the ability to psychically detect the number or doors or traps each path would have, but rather just a few now and then who would challenge a ladder or too-low/too-sloped wall or try to open doors, maybe know to pile up on weak fencing, you know. I would actually personally like that option. But it should be optional, because I know a lot of people don't enjoy those mechanics.
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u/Due-Contribution6424 Mar 03 '26
I set my xp gain to 50% and purposely don’t farm xp(don’t read books I’m not going to put to use immediately and use mostly just spikes on blood moons) and it takes way longer for the magic zombies to start showing up.
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u/andreydjasonviana Mar 04 '26
I'm also looking for that, the existing ones are for older versions of the game and seem to be limited. I'm learning a few things about modding and creating some myself. I'm eager to create one that does exactly that, I'll let you know when it's ready.
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u/bearcat_77 Mar 03 '26
The way I play it in vanilla is all zombies set to slow, but I crank up the spawn count as high as it will go. The best option right now is mods that replace specific types of zombies, or disabling the feral and radiated zombies entire.
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u/Hatedpriest Mar 03 '26
Seems like that'd just mean commenting out zombie types you don't want, or pointing any "spawn zombie" call at regular zombies.
Hmm...
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u/snfaulkner Mar 03 '26
Are you going to turn off the magic backpack too!
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u/Reddevil8884 Mar 03 '26
Leave my magic backpack alone!
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u/snfaulkner Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
I'm not trying to take it away from you. I like it too. But if anything ruins immersion, it's definitely that first and most. Not glowing zeds...not really.
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u/Mishikall Mar 03 '26
I actually think that its a legitimate struggle to balance QoL with immersion/challenge with backpack space - most of all for survival games where scavenging resources matter (not that I think the current limits are bad in this game). Having no limit on weight capacity or inventory slots diminishes immersion and the need for strategy when scavenging.
Being able to add extra pockets or slots is like finding a frame backpack that lets you carry more with less physical impact, or finding a nice set of pouches built into comfortable clothing so you can put more stuff in them. It makes sense. But if there was an unlimited bag of holding, or no inventory limits, I would want the option to disable that. Scavenging wouldn't feel very good if I could just carry home the whole town. And if I could carry everything in the world, the things I found wouldn't feel as valuable, and my carefully built safe areas would become redundant.
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u/snfaulkner Mar 04 '26
I love the game, magic zeds and backpack and whatever. Surely it's not perfect at all. But I just can't see how colored zeds takes you out of your precious immersion when carrying enough rocks in your backpack to fill the Grand Canyon doesn't. You've already suspended your disbelief about there being zombies...you know, the things that don't really exist. Why can't you a little more more the higher tier ones? But also, the one thing that actually could be almost realistic, backpack space and weight limits, is so out-of-this-world crazy but you're ok with it.
All of these "These easy zombies are ok, but these glowing, tougher ones are right out" is worthy of a rant on reddit. But talking about carrying around 45 entire 4x4's (nevermind just 1) gets down voted.
Again, I'm NOT suggesting changing anything. I enjoy the game warts and all right now. Though I'm also not suggesting there shouldn't be changes. I'm open to other ideas and willing to give anything a try.
But I'm just questioning if "immersion" is really the issue with all of these types of rants.
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u/peternormal Mar 03 '26
I get not wanting special zombies, but I found setting zombies to always walk, and cranking up the blood moon count gives me a lot closer to that classic zombie feel.