Optional: Viewpoint
Guide · Optional
| Mod | Project Viewpoint |
|---|---|
| Allowed | Only through our patch |
| Turn on | -Dviewpoint=true
|
| Keys | O · Shift+O · Delete |
| Not allowed | ZombieBuddy, Viewpoint Tile Fix |
| Status | Trial |
Project Viewpoint is a first and third person view for Project Zomboid. On Dawn of the Dead it is allowed only through our patch, DOTD_ViewpointFair, which ships inside the Framework and Shaders Workshop item every DOTD player already has.
Regarding ZombieBuddy
As its authors release it, Viewpoint is blocked here: it is loaded by ZombieBuddy, which lets any Java mod into the game with nothing the server can check, and several of its features give an unfair advantage in multiplayer. Our patch loads your own copy of Viewpoint through Dusk instead, without ZombieBuddy, and switches the unfair parts off. The first and third person view stays.
Installation
- Subscribe to Project Viewpoint on the Steam Workshop. Do not enable it in the game's mod list.
In the Additional required items pop-up, clicking Subscribe to this item will ignore ZombieBuddy. Viewpoint will still run thanks to the custom Dawn of the Dead launcher.
- In your Steam Library, right-click Project Zomboid, select Properties, then click General.
- Under Launch Options, replace everything with the full line for your system below. If you used ZombieBuddy, its launch option goes: ZombieBuddy stays blocked on this server.
- Launch and join as usual.
-Xms4G -Xmx8G -agentpath:../../workshop/content/108600/3794884561/mods/dusk/bootstrap/agentlib.dll=dusk-bootstrap.jar -Dstorm.experimental.clientperf=true -Dviewpoint=true --
Replace yourname with your PC username.
-Xms4G -Xmx8G -javaagent:/home/yourname/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/workshop/content/108600/3794884561/mods/dusk/bootstrap/dusk-bootstrap.jar -Dstorm.experimental.clientperf=true -Dviewpoint=true --
You only need -Dviewpoint=true. It turns on Viewpoint and Enhanced Shaders at the same time, so you do not need -Ddotd=true as well. If -Ddotd=true is already in your launch line, swap it for -Dviewpoint=true and you keep your shaders. The shaders show in the normal isometric view and pause while first or third person is on.
When you join, Dusk tells the server that Viewpoint runs under our patch. A game that shows Viewpoint without it (ZombieBuddy, any other loader, the patch switched off or failed) is disconnected with the reason. Check your launch line and that ZombieBuddy's option is gone.
In game controls
- O turns first person on and off.
- Shift + O switches between first person, third person and 3D isometric.
- Delete opens Viewpoint's settings.
What the patch did is written to console.txt, in the lines that start with [DOTD_ViewpointFair].
What is different on our server
Seeing
- Other players, zombies and animals are drawn only when the game itself would show them to your character.
- Your field of vision and how far you see are the game's own.
- An invisible staff member stays invisible.
- No free camera, no teleport to it, no wireframe view.
- Field of view at most 90 degrees.
- Third person is allowed, with the camera where Viewpoint puts it by default.
- Built-in looks only: no shader packs of your own; model packs only from the list below.
- A window with drawn curtains or barricades hides the room behind it.
Doing
- The "Gunplay Rework" is off: hits, range and where a shot lands are decided by the game, as for everybody else.
- No aim assist. Recoil and screen shake cannot go below their defaults.
- Walking backwards is not faster than Viewpoint's default; the right mouse button aims after the game's usual delay.
Settings
- Every setting on Viewpoint's "Debug" pages stays at its default.
- Its developer mode and live code reloading are off.
- The view does not turn on while the game runs with
-debug.
Allowed add-ons
Subscribe to them on the Steam Workshop; do not enable them in the mod list. The patch loads each one only in the exact build that was checked, and some parts of them stay off.
If you'd like to subscribe to all, use the Viewpoint mod pack for Dawn of the Dead.
| Add-on | What stays off on our server |
|---|---|
| 6277 3D models for Viewpoint | — |
| Barricade Fix | — |
| Door Fix | its window-sheet card |
| TREE in 3D | runs with its own default options |
| Surface Fix | its two patches that cut roof and gable faces inside rooms |
| True Weathers & Lighting | footprints in snow, stronger headlights and torch light, far lamps, weather profile files, its shader pack, the glow of other players' torch beams, its options page |
| OldPoint | its own cutaways of rooms and roofs work (players and zombies inside stay hidden unless your character could see them); tree outlines within 10 squares, no aim pan, the game's own bullet reticle |
| Living Props | stove and microwave lights, light-switch glow and power LED, shelf content pictures |
| Project Viewpoint QOL | its safehouse menu change, the all-nearby-containers list, its camera zoom, fast-forward, door auto-open, weapon swaps while sprinting, the containers key |
| KI5 Vehicle Parts Fix | its part for the Rolling Hills add-on |
| 3D Curtains & Blinds | — (a shut curtain still hides the room) |
| 3D Fences and Gates - Beta | wall models not checked to hide as much as the game's own picture; its F8 compare key |
| KK's Shelves in 3D | shelves on walls; a shelf shows only what the game's own fill picture shows |
| Blood FX | slow motion, giblet drops, its options page; blood only on what you can see, stumps spurt at most 10 seconds |
| 3D Doors, Gates & Garages | — (without Visible Door Damage, which is not on this server, doors show no damage) |
| Wall Texture Fix | — |
| Viewpoint Visual Fixes | — |
| Immersive Camera Motion | its chest-forward setting stays at 0 |
| Wind Sway + Falling Leaves | the wind indoors does not change with open doors or windows |
| Right Click Fix | its reach setting can only shorten the reach |
| 3D Windows | its collision file |
| Roofs (WIP) | — |
console.txt names every add-on the patch loads ([DOTD_ViewpointFair] add-on … will be loaded).
Not allowed
- ZombieBuddy, in any form.
- Viewpoint Tile Fix: it changes the map's roof tiles.
- Proper Roofs: it changes the map's roofs on the server.
- Visible Loot.
- Viewpoint - 3D Fences (3814486926): use 3D Fences and Gates - Beta above instead, it has the same fences.
- Every add-on that is not in the list above.
When Viewpoint updates
The patch works only on builds of Viewpoint that were checked for it. When Viewpoint updates, the game starts in its normal view until the new build has been checked ([DOTD_ViewpointFair] NOT LOADED in console.txt says so). Nothing else changes; you can play. When an add-on updates, that one add-on stays off until its new build has been checked; Viewpoint and the others run on.
Known limitations
This is a first version, on trial.
- For some frames after you press O, the inside of nearby buildings can show before their walls are drawn. No player or zombie shows in them.
- Viewpoint's Exposure option and its eye adaptation are untouched.
- A locked container's contents are listed in Viewpoint's loot panel; taking is refused, as in the game.
- Turning while aiming is instant, which is how a first person view steers.
Viewpoint belongs to its authors. Our patch contains no part of it and changes none of its files; it works on your own copy, in memory, while the game runs. The authors do not support this patch.
Troubleshooting
Crashing when switching perspective
In shader settings, turn off Far World Shadows and Far Lamps.
DLSS
If DLSS crashes viewpoint and you've subbed to the Viewpoint Frame Gen mod, remove the mod and related files.
- Close the game.
- Unsubscribe from the Frame Gen mod.
- Press Win+R, paste %USERPROFILE%\Zomboid\viewpoint-natives and press ente
r.
- Delete these 5 files (or move them somewhere else if you want to keep them):
nvngx_dlssg.dll sl.dlss_g.dll sl.reflex.dll sl.pcl.dll NvLowLatencyVk.dll
Leave the other 5 alone, they're viewpoint's own DLSS and FSR:
nvngx_dlss.dll, sl.common.dll, sl.dlss.dll, sl.interposer.dll, amd_fidelityfx_vk.dll
Start the game, DLSS should work again.
Feedback
- Something looks wrong? Open a ticket and attach your
console.txt.
- Open Run (Windows Key + R)
- Paste the following and hit enter
%USERPROFILE%\Zomboid\ - Find
console.txt