7 Days to Die Sensible archery v0.1.1

Developed for and tested on 7 Days to Die version "Alpha 21.1" 2021.3.19.29007 (b16) (Stable)

What "Sensible" Means in the Context of My Mods:

Simply put, "Sensible" in the context of this series means: "Makes more sense to me based on my experiences and observations in real life as opposed to how I find them in 7 Days to Die."  Notice that in that statement, there is no part of "game balancing," "overpowered," or "underpowered," "challenge" or "challenging."  It means nothing other than "how I think it ought to be."  You've been warned.

Preface: So yeah, I can't believe I've been working on this mod for about a year now, but filestamps don't lie.  While there are still some things I'd like to add, I may never get to them because all of the essential goals I wanted to accomplish are done.  So if this mod interests you, I'd advise you not to wait.  It'll probably be a long time before my next release.

What does this modlet do, exactly?

In short, this modlet adds many recipes to convert arrows to crossbow bolts (and vice versa), recipes to bundle loose arrows and crossbow bolts into boxes or bundles, adds a recipe to craft bow parts, changes the recipes to craft bows and crossbows in a manner that makes more sense to me, changes the way bows and crossbows behave, and their rate of degradation, and finally, changes the places you'll find bow parts in loot.

Purpose of Modlet:

To overhaul bows and crossbows in 7 Days to Die.  The whole archery system (parts,  ammunition, crafting, mechanics, and loot) is stupid, and I won't stand for it.

Allow me to elucidate the following points:

First of all, there's no easy way to convert arrows to crossbow bolts and vice versa, which is something that ought to be relatively easy, considering you can craft either one in your inventory without requiring a workstation.  We'll add dozens of recipes to accommodate conversion of bolts to arrows and back.

Second, when scrapping an arrow or a crossbow bolt, if I had to sacrifice part of it, I would keep the arrowhead and the feathers and throw away the shaft, not throw away the costly or hard to find parts, in favor of keeping the relatively easy to acquire wood.

Third, how are you going to make a projectile with one feather when each projectile needs 3 fins to be aerodynamically stable?  You must have at least 1.5 feathers for each projectile, so 3 feathers = 2 projectiles. Also a small stone is surely big enough to yield 2 stone arrowheads and a plank of wood is surely big enough to yield 2 arrow shafts.  Therefore, the formula should ideally be:
3 feathers + 1 wood + 1 small stone = 2 stone projectiles
So, the recipe ultimately is as above, except 4 feathers are needed.  Why?  Because if you are making them one or two at a time by hand there is likely going to be some waste.  This waste is reduced or even eliminated when you can make them in bulk.

Fourth: The construction of different projectile types is nonsensically inconsistent.  Why can you make some projectiles with wood and feathers, but you have to use polymer for others?  All projectile recipes now consistently use feathers.  And speaking of feathers, why can't you make "feathers" out of paper, polymer or duct tape?  I can think of no good reason, so let's add the appropriate recipes.

Fifth: Why must one use the Workbench to craft steel and flaming projectiles, but stone and iron projectiles can be crafted in the inventory?  With "Sensible Archery" you can now craft steel and flaming projectiles without using the workbench.  You must still use the workbench to craft bulk projectiles, and loose exploding projectiles.

Sixth: Why is gunpowder required to make flaming arrows?  Exploding yes, but why flaming?  Again, there is no good reason.  Let's remove the requirement for gunpowder for flaming arrows and crossbow bolts.

Seventh: Why are "bow parts" needed for the Wooden bow and the "Iron" Crossbow when they obviously look like they're made of wood and junk parts?  Let's replace the bow parts with the mechanical parts they look like.

Eighth: Why do some recipes require both forged metal *and* bow parts?  What are you making from the metal if you have bow parts?  Conversely, what are the bow parts made out of if not metal?  It should be one or the other, not both.  And only the compound bows should need these bow parts.

Ninth: Why can't you make bow parts out of metal yourself?  It's not like it's difficult.  You can make a truck chassis out of metal but not parts for a bow?  Bow parts will now be craftable.

Tenth: Bows have kick?  Really?  I've fired bows and guns and I can tell you that bows have no noticeable kick.  Let's fix that too.

Finally: Why do you find bow parts lying around?  You don't see this IRL.  Now, I can understand in a post zombie apocalypse world, you might find broken bows and crossbows in the trash, and be able to salvage parts from them, so let's fix that.  You now find bow parts only in dumpsters and rolling trash carts, and they're not that common.  Good thing you can craft them yourself now.

And that's about it.  I hope you find this mod a useful and enjoyable enhancement to your mod library!

Installation:

Install the mod manually.  Mod Manager programs are excellent when they work, but while 7 Days remains in Alpha, I can't support Mod Managers. I've seen too many reported problems which are traceable back to a Mod manager that failed to install the mod properly.  Maybe after 7 Days comes out of Beta, I'll reconsider. But for now if you insist on using a Mod Manager, figure it out yourself.

Load Order and incompatibilities:

This mod may be incompatible with other mods which change the loot in rolling trash bins and dumpsters.  If you would like to use this mod with other mods which change the those things, you would have to load this mod after the other mods (you can change the load order easily by renaming the mod folder such that it follows the other mod folder e.g. "aaa_some other mod" -> "bbb_Sensible Archery").

Known Issues or Bugs:

When you make loose arrows and crossbow bolts (as opposed to making a box or bundle), you will get 2 per set of ingredients.  Unfortunately, this information is not displayed anywhere, until you hit "craft" and notice that there are twice as many items being made in the queue.  This is a game issue, and there's nothing I can do about it at this time.

Anticipated Questions:

Q: Are you aware that there's already a mod that does this, and does it better than yours?
A: That's awesome! Wish I could have found it before I went to all the trouble of making this mod.  If you do know of a mod that does exactly the same thing as this one, please point me to it; I'd be grateful.

Q: Will you consider suggestions for improvement?
A: Sorry, but not this time.  The mod is as I envisioned it.  I will leave permissions open enough that others may make variants and release them, provided that I am credited as the original mod author.

Q: Your mod doesn't work.  Will you fix it?
A: I'll try.  The likelihood of my success will largely depend on how much you're willing to work with me on it.  Before reporting a problem, try basic troubleshooting starting with removing the mod to see if the problem goes away.  Also try backing up your other mods and installing ONLY my mod.  If the issue persists after that, in your report describe the problem in enough detail that I can try to re-create it and send me your log file (NOT a screenshot) and I'll see what I can do.

Q: Log file?  What's that and where is it?
A: It is a text file called Player.log and it is typically found in the "C:\Users\[your Windows username]\AppData\LocalLow\The Fun Pimps\7 Days To Die" folder.

Q: Is multi-player supported?  Is this mod Server Side?  Client Side?  Would all clients have to download and install the mod?
A: Unfortunately I cannot test that, as I don't have a server and I can't afford to rent one to test it.  My understanding is that 7 Days to Die mods which are .xml only (like this one) can be used on the local PC or on a server without clients needing to download it, although EAC may have to be disabled.  Test at your own risk.

Q: Is this mod safe to install and uninstall mid-game?
A: As far as I know it is, but keep in mind that 7 Days to Die is in Alpha and as such may exhibit unexpected behaviors, including but not limited to corrupting your save.  All I can tell you is that I installed and uninstalled this mod several times during testing and never broke my save.

Q: How do I install mods manually in 7 Days to Die?
A: This question is outside the scope of this document, and anyway there are many tutorials available on the internet which answer this question far better than I could.  You might try using your favorite search engine to find one of them.