Anything unlisted was left at default.
Warning! These are pretty hardcore settings (to me), but they're not insane if you're skilled or like a challenge.
You can skip all of this and just load all these settings easily as a preset by adding the Fear The Dark (SP).cfg file under
C:\Users\(your username)\Zomboid\Sandbox Presets\Fear The Dark (SP).cfg
and then loading the preset in the sandbox settings menu.
- Population > Zombie Count: High
- Time > Start Time: 12am (more time to loot, can catch the early fishing show on TV, easier to count in-game days)
- Nature > Erosion Speed: Slow
- Sadistic AI Director > Helicopter: Sometimes (I think Expanded Helicopter Events mod overrides this, but just in case)
- Meta > Randomized House Chance: Never (required for Raven Creek map mod)
- Meta > Time before Corpse Removal: 720.0 (make it a little easier to get bodies for Zombie Virus Vaccine mod)
- Meta > Blood Level: High (keep this at default if your computer can't handle it)
- Zombie Lore > Transmission: Everyone's Infected (TWD!)
- Zombie Lore > Zombie House Alarm Triggering: Checked
- Zombie Lore > Banshee Population: Rare (special zombies should be special, not abundant)
- Zombie Lore > Nemesis Population: Rare (special zombies should be special, not abundant)
- Zombie Lore > Immortal Nemesis: Unchecked (invincible zombies seem boring)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Population Multiplier: 2.0 (set by "Population > Zombie Count")
- Advanced Zombie Options > Population Peak Multiplier: 2.0 (let's get dangerous)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Population Peak Day: 60 (I like round numbers)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Respawn Hours: 168 (spawn 0.5% of a cell's peak zombies every week; see below)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Respawn Unseen Hours: 8640 (with 50+ map mods, the map is HUGE and I like clearing areas, so an area in which I'm not active shouldn't start respawn its entire zombie population for a YEAR after being completely cleared)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Respawn Multiplier: 0.005 (see above; remember: zombies migrate to neighboring cells)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Redistribute Hours: 72 (let 'em mill around a bit before gathering in hotspots)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Follow Sound Distance: 125 (silence is golden)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Rally Group Size: 40 (now that's a horde)
- Advanced Zombie Options > Rally Group Separation: 20
- Advanced Zombie Options > Rally Group Radius: 5
- Save Our Station! > Enable Broadcast Interruptions: Checked
- Save Our Station! > Broadcast Reliability Profile: Reliable (it's the AEBS, they built it to withstand a nuclear attack)
- Save Our Station! > Time Duration Multiplier: 32x
- Advanced trajectory > Enable Damage To Player: Checked (adds compat with mods like Superb Survivors)
- Advanced trajectory > Ballistic Speed: 2.35 (if your computer can't handle this and bullets start clipping through zombies, reduce this)
- Advanced trajectory > Shotgun Projectile Count: 10 (I like my shotties to punch)
- Become Brave > Minimum Zombie Kills: 250 (I like this to be exactly half of "Become Desensitized")
- Become Brave > Maximum Zombie Kills: 1000 (I like this to be exactly half of "Become Desensitized")
- Expanded Helicopter Events > Scheduler Duration: 100 (I like rounder numbers)
- Expanded Helicopter Events > Continue Scheduling Forever: Checked
- Immersive Solar Arrays > Solar Panel Efficiency: 15 (be thankful you're getting any solar at all)
- More Smokes Settings > Allow for Rare Recipe Mags to Spawn: Checked
- Share Annotations > Drop map upon player death: Checked
- Skill Recovery Journal > Skill Recovery Percentage: 80 (the difference between book smarts and street smarts)
- Skill Recovery Journal > Recover Profession And Traits Bonus XP: Checked
- Skill Recovery Journal > Transcribe XP earned from TV/VHS: Checked (TV broadcasts stop after the first week)
- The Darkness Is Coming - Core > Hours between events: 252
- The Darkness Is Coming - Core > Hours between events - Deviation %: 50 (at worst, it's default, at best, some cushion)
- The Darkness Is Coming - Zombie > Dark zombie toughness: Tough
- The Darkness Is Coming - Zombie > Dark zombie hearing: Pinpoint
- The Darkness Is Coming - Zombie > Dark zombie cognition: Navigate (along with the above... if you go outside during the darkness, prepare to fight for your f@#%ing life)
- Vehicle Recycling > Parts Must Be Uninstalled Before Dismantling: Checked (waste not ye recycler)
- More Maps > Loot multiplier for maps: 0.7 (make map drops a little rarer)