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Dawn of the Zed

Drastically improves on the game's existing ability to hide UI elements on screen! Play Project Zomboid like you're a character in the next great zombie movie!

Upgrades:

1. Your UI will STAY hidden after you unpause.
2. Your UI will STAY hidden after you die and respawn as a new player.
3. Your UI will STAY hidden after you connect or disconnect a controller.
4. You can hide your vehicle dashboard (once a bug, now a feature)!
5. All usernames above people's heads will disappear (can be toggled in Mod Options).
6. Halo notes will not appear under most circumstances (can be toggled in Mod Options).
7. All gamepad users can now toggle the UI, rather than simply holding a button to hide it!
8. You can now save your default UI visibility using Mod Options! Load up with no HUD!
9. You can now set your mouse cursor to disappear when you hide your UI, too!
10. Use sandbox settings to define the behavior of a "Use Server Defaults" Mod Option!
11. Keyboard and mouse players can choose NOT to hide their inventory with this shortcut!
12. Added support for my new mod, Position Breakdown!
13. Confirmed compatible with over 400 mods!

This even works on multiplayer, and does not impact anyone else who is on your server (even though showing other people's usernames is a server-level setting)!

Default Bindings:

Shortcut on Keyboard: Pause / Break (PAUSE)
Shortcut on Gamepad: Right Thumbstick Button (R3)

I've included a way to change the keyboard binding in Main Menu -> Options -> Key Bindings -> UI.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of any clear way to configure other buttons easily using the in-game UI, no other gamepad button is available for this function. Hopefully you can get used to using the joystick; however, if you need to disable this function in order to avoid accidentally toggling your UI, you may disable the joypad shortcut in Main Menu -> Options -> Key Bindings -> UI.

Why I Made This:

In vanilla Zomboid, gamepad use causes the hide-UI button to take on a different behavior; it only hides the gamepad UI buttons, and it's not a toggle. Also, the UI does not stay hidden when you pause & unpause or die & respawn. This fixes all of that.

Also, I fixed the bug that causes no-HUD players to have to double-tap hide after exiting the Main Menu or respawning while in-game (this is due to poorly conceived section of Lua code in the base game).

Attention Fellow Gamepad Players:

I cannot hide the cursor itself, which is usually useless to you on controller. For this, I recommend you check out Steam's Controller Layout options. They allow you to make any button (e.g., a touchpad click) move the mouse to the corner of your screen. Then you truly will be set to launch the game and basically ignore your keyboard and mouse.

Important Details:

Adding this to an existing server is fine, but reloading this mod while the game is running will cause it to stop working properly because it uses function decoration to accomplish the joystick button actions.

Server defaults are ONLY used for the Use Server Defaults toggle in the player's Mod Options (while in game). Unfortunately, Mod Options does not currently allow me to preload your server defaults into the player's menu without causing problems for other modders. Trying to await various events in order to load Mod Options after the sandbox variables are accessible seems to cause other mods' options to fail to load into the Main Menu, so I have not been able to find a safe workaround for using the preferred server defaults as the default value that loads for new players. However, I have gone to great lengths to ensure that the current mod defaults will be optimally appealing to the majority of Zomboid players, I have made the Use Server Defaults button as accessible as possible so that players can choose to apply your server's preferred defaults quickly, and I have given everyone the freedom to customize every setting in detail while they are in the game. I am also in discussion with the creator of Mod Options about adding a feature for admins to force an update to their player's settings in various circumstances (e.g., when a player with no saved settings for this mod joins a server using this mod for the first time).

Halo notes are notifications about levels gained and other player state changes. They appear above your head, usually in green text. My only solution for hiding halo notifications requires me to 0 the user's HoursSurvived for 120 ticks (about 2 seconds) before restoring it whenever I know a XP is incoming; this includes every time the character swings a weapon, lands a hit, is hit by a zombie, finishes an attack, or moves. Your real HoursSurvived will never be truly lost unless perhaps your game crashes during this 2-second window; it is restored immediately after you stop attacking, getting hit, or moving for 120 ticks (about 2 seconds). It is also restored when you enter the Main Menu, just in case you intend to quit. This may cause issues with any mechanics based on HoursSurvived while you are fighting, moving, or gaining XP. If this solution is not acceptable to you, it is entirely optional, and you can disable it in the settings. If you are a server admin, you can disable the ability to hide halo notes (and thus disable the abiliy to zero your HoursSurvived) in the Sandbox Settings under Dawn of the Zed. To make this mod's Sandbox Settings appear, you must enable Dawn of the Zed in MODS after launching the game (i.e., before editing your server settings).

Other mods can still directly trigger halo notes to appear as long as they do not require HoursSurvived to be greater than 1 minute.

When beginning the game with Hide UI By Default selected, be aware that the HUD may flicker very briefly before my mod closes it when you first join a server. I do not know how to intervene any earlier to prevent this. Contact me if you do!

Like this mod? Feel free to explore some of my mods on the Steam Workshop!

[ko-fi.com]

Workshop ID: 2875983658
Mod ID: DawnOfTheZed