NotAlone – NPC Mod

Please read the description before leaving a comment.

This mod adds friendly survivors. There are no hostile survivors.
Build a base, gather companions, and create a small community.
This is not a detailed life simulation mod for living together with NPCs.
It is a compact and intuitive player-support mod designed to make lonely survival a little easier with the help of NPCs.
You cannot give NPCs detailed commands, and they do not need food.
The available commands are limited to having them defend the base, follow the player and assist in combat, and exchange items.
However, each NPC occupation has its own traits. Depending on their occupation, NPCs can support you with things such as vehicle maintenance, farming, water collection, healing, and item gathering.

───── How to Play ─────

1. Set a Base
Set a safe location as your Base from the right-click menu.
You cannot recruit NPCs until a base has been set.

2. Find and Recruit Survivors
NPCs wander around the world.
After setting a base, you can recruit them from the right-click menu.
Recruited NPCs can either follow you or wait at the base.
Following NPCs stay near the player and try to fight nearby enemies.
You can also encounter NPCs by consuming a walkie-talkie.

3. Custom NPC
You can create one Custom NPC.
After setting a base, you can create them from the right-click menu while you are inside the base.

4. Shared Storage
Shared Storage is a withdrawal-only container used to receive items collected by NPCs.
It can only be opened from the right-click menu while the player is inside the base.
NPCs stationed at the base have a low chance to collect items.
The collection interval and amount can be adjusted in the sandbox settings.
In addition, some occupations may bring back extra items through their base traits, separate from normal collection.

5. NPC Management Tag
The NPC Management Tag stored in your key ring is an item that contains NPC records.
It is used to restore companions’ names, status, equipment, and inventory.
There is an automatic recovery system in case it is lost, but please be careful with it.

6. Base Support Abilities
Some occupations have base support abilities such as healing, vehicle maintenance, generator maintenance, crop watering, and item generation.
These abilities generally only work while the player is inside the same base.
Game balance can be adjusted in the sandbox settings.

7. Guard Patrol System
If you set guard points and assign NPCs to guard duty, they will move to the guard points.
If there are empty guard points, they will patrol between them.

───── Occupation Abilities ─────

Each NPC occupation has different combat traits, follow abilities, and base support abilities.
Some abilities work while the NPC is following you, while others work when the NPC is stationed at your base.

Fire Officer
・Combat: axe attacks always knock down zombies.
・At base: refills rain barrels.

Police Officer
・Combat: firearms may knock down zombies.
・At base: rarely collects ammunition.

Park Ranger
・Combat: firearm range +10%.
・Following: improves nearby foraging support.

Construction Worker
・Following: increases the player’s carry capacity.

Security Guard
・At base: melee damage x1.5.
・At base: improves firearm damage and accuracy.

Carpenter
・At base: has a chance to add nails.

Burglar
・Following: can help unlock doors and vehicle doors.

Chef
・At base: has a chance to add cooked meals.

Repairman
・At base: repairs doors, windows, and barricades.

Livestock Farmer
・At base: waters crops.
・At base: has a chance to add meat.

Crop Farmer
・At base: waters crops.
・At base: has a chance to add vegetables or fruit.

Fisherman
・At base: has a chance to add fish.

Doctor
・Combat: blade damage x1.5.
・At base: heals the player and NPCs inside the base.

Veteran
・Combat: improves firearm damage and accuracy.
・At base: rarely collects ammunition.

Nurse
・At base: improves healing if a doctor is at the base.

Lumberjack
・Combat: axe damage x1.5.
・At base: has a chance to add planks.

Fitness Instructor
・Combat: sports weapon damage x1.5.
・Following: increases the player’s carry capacity.

Burger Flipper
・At base: has a chance to add a fast food set.

Electrician
・At base: repairs and refuels generators.

Engineer
・At base: repairs and refuels generators.

Metalworker
・At base: has a chance to add metal materials.

Blacksmith
・At base: has a chance to add a katana.

Mechanic
・At base: repairs vehicle parts.
・At base: has a chance to add spare vehicle parts.

Tailor
・At base: has a chance to add thread or ripped sheets.

───── Player Death ─────

By default, even if the player dies, NPCs stationed at the base and the contents of Shared Storage will be preserved.
NPCs who were following the player will disappear.

───── Known Issues / Important Notes ─────

・Please back up your save data before using this mod.
・This mod can be added to an existing save, but starting a new game is recommended for better stability.
・NPCs may sometimes attack or kill zombies through walls.
・Animations are still generally unstable.
　NPCs may sometimes freeze during attack animations, and in many cases the weapon animation and the actual attack hit detection may not match properly.
・You can change NPC clothing and weapons, but the save system is still not fully reliable.
・NPC behavior and combat AI are complex, so performance may vary depending on your environment.
・Using this mod together with other NPC mods is not recommended.
・This is a personal project, and AI tools are used during development.
・I may not be able to handle advanced fixes or complex feature requests.

───── Mod Compatibility ─────

・Various weapon mods
Reload speed will use the default calculation unless an additional patch is provided.
A patch template is included as “NotAlone_CustomReloadPatch_Template.lua”.

・Inventory Tetris
https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2982070344

Reported as compatible, but not fully tested:
・RV Interior
・Bandits

Reported as incompatible:
・Brutal Handwork

───── Questions ─────

Build 42?
There are currently no plans to support Build 42.

Multiplayer?
There are no plans to make this mod multiplayer-compatible.

Hostile NPCs?
There are no hostile NPCs in this mod.
There are currently no plans to add them.

It doesn’t work.
I cannot investigate the issue with only that information.
I need more details, such as the error, the situation where it happened, and your mod list.
If an error appears, please close the game and check the following file:
C:Users<YourWindowsUserName>Zomboidconsole.txt
The error is usually near the end of the file.

───── Permissions ─────

You do not need to ask for permission to create modified versions of this mod.
Translations, adjustments, fixes, and separate versions are allowed.

───── Credits ─────

This mod is strongly inspired by “Superb Survivors!” and “Superb Survivors Continued”.
I respect and thank the original authors.
Please do not insult other mods in the comments.

Workshop ID: 3720923377
Mod ID: NotAlone_NPC
Mod ID: NotAlone_NPC_InventoryTetris