Tips, Tricks and the first couple days in Mist Survival.

This guide is for Zone 0. Revision 0.6.1.2 and .6.2.0.1
This is written for PC for keys. If you are using another platform I'm unsure what the buttons will be.
I do not have any insider tips on this. This is just a gathering of stuff I experience in the game.

There is no option to have loot respawn in the game. There are only a few items that do respawn when you load an area or reload the game. What you gather is most of what you get.

Save, Save and Save again!
Save before you try to drive a vehicle. Save at the base of towers with ladders. They don't always work right, so you want to be able to exit and reload. Save while you are out in safe places before entering the Coffee shop or school, they both currently have a couple spots that you might get stuck in a wall. Never save in a place that has or had infected or bandits.

The first day in the game is chaotic, you should face at least one Mist event during the first few hours of the game. After that the Mist events will be random. During mist events, seek high locations or fully closed in building/rooms. Currently infected do no see through undamaged walls/windows.

You will wake up next to or in a small starting shack or tent, and if you are really lucky, a killer bear waiting for you. Do not plan to stay there. They offer no protection. They will offer some type of storage. Either a box or suitcase. This will allow you carry a few more items.

Things you will want to do.
Gather enough food for a day or two. Find a place to call home, at least for a short time. And possibly get a vehicle operational.

Currently food and drink will not stack. So that means it takes a lot of inventory space. Eat raw/fresh food at your own risk. Most of it will give you food poisoning at some point. (antibiotics will reduce the time you are sick)

You will find several containers to store stuff in. You can only carry one. Instead of trying to move several of them. Load them up and move them next to roads. Later when you have a vehicle you can come by and pick them up.

You should look for a weapon or make one. In this version melee combat is not fully functional. Look for a firearm and ammo. You must have the correct ammo for each type of weapon. You will find bows and arrows, but you will need to make a quiver to use them. (This is supposed to be fixed in .6.2.0.1)

Fire and Fire wood.
The basic fire is a one use item (only need sticks to make it). Take a few extra minutes to gather the 8 stones to make a campfire. There has been a change to gathering fire wood, in the current version have the axe in hand and hit the log. it should take 3 or 4 blows to make firewood.

Gathering natural items.
Some items only spawn in limited area. Generally the South and Eastern part of the map spawns a lot of Stone, Leaf, Branch and Hard Sticks. They are all over the place and often I see them fall into the game while moving through those areas. In the northern 2/3rd's of the map, these are much harder to find.

A place to call home. Look for one of the unoccupied buildings (or towers). If this can be turned into a home it will have a home interface by the front door. Do not attempt to make a home in a place that has infected or bandits in it. Infected and bandits spawn into the game before you do and they will kill you as soon as the game starts. Not exactly a fun spot. Also do not save the game near those buildings. The same problem, they will kill you before you can move. There are also places and buildings that can be used to make your base, but they will not have the interface to make it a real base. Example would be the waterworks building, huge, can be closed off Lots of room and can custom craft floors in it. I should point out that you can sort of trick the game into calling those places a base by building a shelter in it. It may look silly to have a lean to inside the factory, but you can then set the lean to as a base in the secured building, or next to an empty house that was not intended to be a base.

Tips about your new home. Many items can be moved in the homes. and some of them keep re-spawning back into the home. I seem to have better luck by moving items out of the house so the game knows it is still in the game but in a new location. If the item is broken they game puts a new one back in which may then mess with items you put in that items default location. I suggest to take or move all the stuff out of the way, then exit and reload. you will now know what items you can not get rid of.

The map is “K” on the keyboard, a little odd for letter choice. You can open the map at any time except while in a vehicle. But you will need pencils to mark your current location. The mark will go away when you close the map

If you hear a vehicle crash sound, you can use a pencil to find the Event Location, which will be a survivor. Gather up some of your junk and set out to the wreck. The survivor will trade items with you. Often food and fishing lures. Also loot the boot There will usually be some minor items in it, that you can trade right back to the survivor.

This does cause problems for many. There are a lot of vehicles in the game, however only a handful can be turned into usable vehicles. The Vehicles that can be repaired and used are:
Bright Red Truck (3 of them).
Nice White SUV (2 of them).
ATV (4 of them) that just needs 4 ATV tires and gas.
You can also find 5 caravans that connect to the Truck/SUV and 4 ATV trailers. At this time, do NOT attach the little red trailer to the Truck or SUV as you will not be able to use it correctly, or detach it.

There are several ways to tell if you can repair the vehicle even before entering.
1) Rusted out, no good.
2) Broken windows, no good.
3) Sitting on the ground/falls to the ground when you get near, no good. (Repairable vehicles drop a little, but not all the way to the ground).
4) Doors already open, no good.
5) Had fuel in it automatically when found, no good.
6) Has an Engine or Battery it already, no good.
7) Vehicle has one or more wheels on it, no good.
8) If you hover over the door and your options are (E) Open Door and (F) Enter No Good. The repairable vehicle door options are: (E) Interact Car Door and (F) Drive.

Before you start building it up,you can get in the vehicle. A repairable vehicle will have a whole sub screen open showing vehicle status (Engine, battery, gas, all 4 wheels) a sub menu for starting/stopping engine, turning lights on or off and the Tach/speedometer.

Non Repairable vehicles are in the game to provide parts, Engine, Battery, Tires, Gas and Loot which can be in the seat, on the dash board, in the glove compartments or in the trunk. * Side note: sometimes a derelict vehicle, those really broken ones and school bus, may have something sitting on the inside, Normally I find loose bullets in them, IF they have anything.

Do not use junker vehicles for storage, they re-spawn and most of the time, reset back to what was original, minus the material you took off. So if the vehicle had one tire and you add the other three, the game remembers this junker only had one tire, and resets the other 3 slots back to blank. And Fuel is always a random reset at this time.

You should be able to find enough material to make all 5 vehicles operational. Some of the required parts are “set” in specific locations, but you will find the rest of it by checking junkers and saving the parts.

Fuel for the Vehicles. You will need a red fuel/gas can (20 Liters) to get fuel out of the junkers. You must carry it in your hands (not in an inventory space). Walk up to the vehicle and you will get an interaction to take the cap off, then hover over the fuel opening and you will be able to hit Q to take fuel out, or E to fill the vehicle and Stop the interaction animation. To get the fuel/gas can into your hands is a bit different from just picking it up into inventory. If the can is on the ground hover over it and you will get the option to "F Carry Fuel Can". If it is already in your inventory, Right Click on it and choose Carry. This will put it in your hands. Now you can interact with gas tanks and fill the large generators.

Do not try to keep more than 20 liters of fuel in a fuel/gas can. the extra will go away when you try to use the gas can only giving credit for 20 liters. You can build more Fuel/Gas Cans at the workbench.

Once you find the trader outpost, there are folks there who sell you the "plans" to alter the vehicles. Currently the options are: Paint, solid colors or designs, Front bumpers for the Truck, Rack for the Truck. Roof-rack for the Caravans (with ladder so you can climb on top) and a rack for the ATV. At this time, all of this is free, but the interface looks like it may not stay that way.

Door with Card Key access. (Updated 1-1-2025)
This is not fully set up yet, there are currently 4 locations that need a card key to enter 1 or more doors. If you try to open one of the sealed areas, it should tell you which key you need.
The Engineering keycard is now located under the tunnel to the other map. There is a small office next to the boss fight (The Tank). if you go down the right hand side tunnel stairs you can get the keycard without fighting The Tank. (This card opens the door in the BRI lab) Must activate the doors in the room with the two Bloats.
The Medical keycard is inside the BRI lab. Enter through the roof, fight infected to get into the lobby, burn the heartbeat mass and the card will be on the floor. (This card activates both military camps on zone 0 map, the one with "The White House") Must turn on the generator.
The School has a locked room, that keycard is in the Gym next to a skeleton lying on the floor. Caution is needed as a Bloat will charge into the room, with 2 infected back ups. (This only opens the locked room in the school) No additional power needed.
At this time (1-1-2025) the hotel does not have keycards. That is supposed to be a reward for a quest in the future.

Crafting
There are 3 ways to craft in the game. There is the I key Inventory will be in the middle and Basic crafting items on the right. This would be the common items you consume, use to make something else, or that wear out.
The B key is for Structures, building, furniture, log walls. Note that most tabs also have several sub tabs. It takes a few minutes but it will make more sense as you get into the game.
And the last option is a workstation. Use E to interact with them.

Large Propane tanks:
I believe there are 77 on the map at this time. The fuel in them does not read correctly, and they can only be emptied one time. The first time you see a tank it may show 7.7 liters of fuel, and you fill your mini tank with 6 liters and leave. The next time you load the game the tank may show 8.1 liters But the game will remember it started with 7.7 as soon as you hook your mini tank up the big tank will reset to show only 1.7 left out of the original amount.

Fridge:
Yellow house generator only powers the house lights and lamps that are close to "allowed" wall outlets. It will not power the fridge.
The generator you build will power the 5 items you build. (I craft) Wall light, (B craft) Lamp post, Floodlight, Small Fridge and Large Fridge. But will NOT power lamps.
Fridge does work and slows food decay by 50% but, and this is the important BUT
it works best if you are not around your base! If you stay in range of the generator, it will not allow the Fridge to work correctly!

Backpacks to increase your carry slots.
Scattered across the map you will find many back packs. When you find one you may equip it to add 2 additional inventory slots. You may even find the specials that add 3 inventory slots. Once you have unlocked all the inventory slots, it will not cause problems if you pick up the others. Packs can be found in vehicles, on roofs, in buildings, with skeletons, or even lying around.

Car Jack Device:
Currently we can not make the carjack device as we can't have a tire in inventory. These 4 locations normally have a carjack device. 2 of them can be obtained without a fight at this time.
Paradise Motel, Middle North maintenance room
Sawmill Office, By Broken Truck
Waterworks, Inside, Right Corner
Paradise Motel Gas station, In vehicle bay, will need gas to open door to garage/vehicle bay.

Stuff that is damaged by water: (27 currently). This means being caught in the rain or swimming with it in inventory. This is a little odd currently as not all items will actually degrade, but others will.
Battery (9 volt and Auto), circuit board, dried fish (catfish, yellow perch, zander) or meat, duct tape, firewood, gunpowder, matches, meat stew, paper, potato with sprouts, raw chicken/meat, saltpeter powder, seeds (carrot, corn, pumpkin, tomato, wheat), soap, spark plugs, sugar, sulfur power, and vegetable soup.

Death,
Well, it sucks, it happens and always at a bad time.
SAVE is your friend. There may be many times that it is better to exit the game instead of dying.
This is still Early Access, which means BUGGY. Odd things happen, like stepping off of ladders on the wrong side. Vehicle finding a very odd place and driving through the map into an endless fall. Character climbs on top of something and gets stuck in a wall or cabinet. A bear suddenly spawns into the game right next to you.

Currently if you do die, you will get a message about bandits looting you and taking some of your stuff. And that stuff will be removed. BUT don't fear completely. Most of that stuff will still be in the area you died. Go back to that location and look around.

Some known problems:
Climbing towers. This has a common bug that will put you on the outside of the tower at the first landing. Do not continue climbing as the top landing will drop you to your death.
This often seems to be Session Specific. There have been several ideas to prevent it.
1) Always save at the bottom of the ladder.
2) Nothing in hands before starting the climb.
3) Stopping just before getting to the top rung, then slowly tap forward, once the get off animation for getting off the ladder starts, don't touch the keyboard.
4) Sidestepping as you are climbing off the ladder.
If you save before you start climbing, at the first level you step outside the tower, your session may be bugged, you can then exit and reload then attempt to climb again.
If you do fall off the top, you MIGHT be able to turn around and “grab” the ladder to prevent falling damage.

Propane Tanks (small red) and Portable Stove
The propane tank that you put in the small burner can not be full. Hook a tank up to the flamethrower and give it a quick burst or two. Then change the tank out. then use that tank with 5.something ltr of fuel in the burner.

Or take an empty portable tank and only fill it half way or so. The empty has to be in your inventory. E to open the door, then move until you see Q to add the partially filled tank.

Scope not working:
Graphics change.
Adjust “Detail Mode” to High. Then the scope will work correctly.

My Key bindings are blank. All my interaction keys say “None”
This is a random bug. Enough people have it that there is a notice on the loading screen to fix it. But most of us miss that.
To fix this. Go into settings and reset keybinding to Default. That should work most of the time. Some people have reported the problem will not fix. In those cases, the recommendation is to go into the settings and set 1 key binding as a custom. Then select Default. For some reason, that seems to work.


Generators
The big yellow generator that is attached to a base can only power 2 items. The lights built into the base, and looted lamps that are already in the game, placed in the power zones. (White house outlets).
This only runs off of gas, and has a horrible record for many people of deleting fuel on exit.

The DIY generator you build powers all the items you build on either your crafting menu or the workbench. Small Fridge, Large Fridge, Floodlight, Lamp post and wall light. This generator can be powered by Gas or Bio Fuel. Interact with the generator, place the fuel in it.

Currently there is a bug in the game. if you have lights in range of the DIY generator, they will be powered on. you can move them out of the range of the generator and they will still be on. It will only work for the current session. Kind of odd, but not game changing.


I must give credit for this information to another member: Throsbi:
FISHING TIPS from Throsbi
Cast as close to shore as possible.
Once you have the cast down, move so you are just inside the circle.
Let the hook set, don't try to reel in each bite. You have to actually have a fish on the line.
Then reel and done
I use this method as I have only found 1 fishing line in all my hours on each save. So once the line breaks my fishing is done.
The farther out you cast the faster the lure AND line wear out trying to reel in a fish.

The Sledge hammer will break many things, even a few you will not think about. Most items you can break will only give planks and Wood Scrap.

In a house or garage, feel free to take a swing at stuff. Many of them can be broken to get wood. Be careful on a few items. they may leave something floating that can not be broken, like a plant or dishes, or they could be next to an item you do not want to break causing both to break.
Wood or Metal shelves
Kitchen tables
Kitchen counters and cabinets over the counters (the ones you can loot)
Chairs, couch.
Picnic tables.
Swing sets and tricycles.
Wooden clutter boxes
assorted shelves or carts in a garage.

If you hit a log, it will make firewood with one blow.
Most of the loot locations like small tables, dressers or wardrobes can be broken for wood, you can even break most if not all of the storage containers you can move like the ammo boxes and file cabinets.
School lockers may drop components, cloth, tools, ammo, food, and coins. you give up the storage space but may get something good in return.
TV, Laptop computers and desktop computers may drop scrap metal, screws or even a circuit board.
Large wheeled generators may drop scrap, components, gears, circuit boards, auto parts, or ATV wheels
A cargo trailer may drop Auto parts, ammo or ATV wheels.
Small generators that sit on the ground may drop scrap metal, components, or circuit boards.
Wheel barrows and Potted plants may drop Clay.
Beds may drop components and cloth.
Cooking tripods may drop sticks, scrap and rope.
Tents may drop cloth.
A pallet of cinder blocks will drop about 5 or 6 cinder blocks.
A pallet of bags of cement will drop 2 or 3 concrete bags.
Larger square boxes in a military camp normally drop a few rounds of ammo.

Trucks and Cars.
Currently only the totally wrecked trucks and cars can be broken down. From my experience. most of the cars can only be broken one time and then they are gone, but a truck will reload currently. These will drop scrap metal, components and auto parts. You may also get lucky with a car battery or the very very rare drop of a circuit board.

So this has been a problem for a while. We hook up the small ATV trailer to one of the larger vehicles then we can't get it off. The trailer is in the middle of the caravan hit box and will not allow you to get close enough to select "Unhitch".

We now have a solution from 5cherzl (attached with permission)

https://youtu.be/o48MTdch2bk
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/914620/discussions/0/4426562436925632961/

Such a simple solutions but not one that had been posted. Many thanks for putting this video together.