FAQ

Guide created using 0.D (Danny) of Cataclysm DDA.

Frequently Asked Questions about Cataclysm DDA.

Interface

 @ : My text is all unreadable. I only see [][][][] and not normal words

You probably have a non-english default language setting in your OS. You need to go to \config\ edit the options.json file.

Look for "USE_LANG" set the value to "EN". (with no value it uses your system language).

 @ : My log is unreadable, it lists all kinds of weird and useless information

You probably have accidentally turned on debug mode, which is different from the debug menu, this is a way for the developers to list all kind of hidden game information, which can be useful to debug the game while playing. For you of course, this is of little use and can be a bit of a distraction.

Just turn it off using the 'toggle debug messages' button (default ~).

General

 @ : How do I enter a locked house? Just for academic interest, mind you...

You have several possibilities, depending on the tools you're carrying and the circumstances:

• Open a window or door: Occasionally you can simply open a window or door, which is by far the easiest approach. This won't work with windows (most are designed to be opened from the inside), and it's unusual to find an unlocked door, but it doesn't hurt to try.
• Break a window: Either smash, throw something or fire a ranged weapon at a window. Remember to clean the broken window (via * and i) (or smash the broken window, though this creates significant noise) before going through to avoid potentially cutting yourself. Note that cleaning the window takes a few minutes. Breaking a window creates a lot of noise. Using firearms or explosives will increase the noise even further.
• Remove a window: Have tools with hammering 2, and screw driving 1, for example a stone hammer plus a screwdriver, will allow you to Deconstruct Furniture (*->E), which can be used on a window to remove it.
• Pry the door or window open: If you have a tool with prying, such as a crowbar (you can craft a makeshift crowbar by hammering a pipe with a rock), you can try to pry a door or window by activating it and selecting the direction where the door/window is or alternatively by examining the window or locked door. You might need to try several times to be successful (and you might not be successful at all). Prying a door open creates low noise. Failing to pry open a window will sometimes break it, causing a lot of noise.
• Pick the lock of the door: If you have a lockpicking tool, (Improvised lockpicks can be crafted using scrap metal and a rock), you can try to force entry by picking the lock of the door, by activating it and selecting the direction where the door is. Success depends on your mechanics skill, and a failure can damage your picklock (and, eventually, destroy it). Picking a lock doesn't create any noise.
• Bash the door down: smash the door until it breaks. A heavy tool with a good deal of bash is recommended. This is a lengthy process and you will destroy the door completely when doing so. It's only recommended as a last resort. Bashing a door down creates a lot of noise.
• Climb: If you're sure that the building has a second floor or a ladder on the roof you can climb to the roof using a downspout or a stepladder. You can climb back down safely by interacting with the ledge - walking into it or jumping down can break your legs.

It's worth mentioning certain buildings are alarmed, and the alarms may the triggered by breaking, prying or picking. Buildings like banks or gunstores tend to be alarmed. Picking a lock is the least likely to trip an alarm.

 @ : I entered the house, these metal bars, or this metal door is now stopping me, how do I level up my burglary skill?

Again, you have several possibilities, depending on the tools you're carrying and thing you are trying to break into:

• Metal bars: You can use any of the methods described below, or activate a hacksaw to cut through the bars, in around 1,5 hours.
• Metal doors the steroid infused upgraded version of the old wooden door. A lot harder to get into, but probably contains better stuff. For a lot of players a big barrier. Now how do you get through these?
  • The easiest way, is to go around them. Some places have walls which are easier to break through, or you could tunnel into the room from above or below, etc.
  • Acetylene torches can cut open the door. You will need enough fuel for it, and welding goggles of some kind.
  • The next way is to find the computer which unlocks the door nearby. But not all doors have computers like these, and the computers require a high computing skill to be able to hack.
  • Next is use the good old explosives next to them and hope the door breaks down. Explosives do tend to cause some collateral damage however.
  • You could always ram the door with a car, just jump out at the right time.
  • A jackhammer can also break through the door. And if you don't have a jackhammer but do have a lot of spare time, even a pickaxe will eventually work.
  • And lastly, if you are very strong, and have a high bashing skill and a weapon with high bashing damage, such as a sledgehammer you might be able to smash your way in. This probably will not work however, and might even damage your weapon.
  • A mininuke solves most problems permanently, but not in a way you will like.

 @ : How can I drink water without puking all my hard earned potato chips?

You can either boil or purify any water you find. That will transform it into clean water, so you can consume it safely. Please note that the rainwater obtained from funnels, makeshift funnels, leather funnels or funnels of any kind is perfectly safe to drink (as of 0.C (Cooper), acid rain is disabled). If it says clean water, it's safe to drink. Most processed drinks are also safe.

• Boil water: You'll need a tool with boiling 1, (for example a pot or stone pot) and some kind of heating source (such as a powered hotplate, integrated toolset, or a nearby fire - gather some wood and light it with a matchbook or lighter or by dropping the wood on an Oven, examining it and pressing f to Start a fire. Fires created in ovens will not spread.). Then boil it by using the crafting menu (&, then Drinks->clean water). You will also need container to store the water. Such as a Plastic bottle.
  • The easiest place to obtain untreated water is in toilets (found in all houses and some stores). One can retrieve water from it into a container by examing it. If you use a hotplate all you'll need to do is to place yourself besides the toilet while carrying a receptacle to boil the water in and some liquid containers to transfer the clean water to. If you don't use a hotplate, then you'll have to find a way to transfer the water from the toilet to your fire. Your best bet, as of now, is to use gallon jugs. They are very common, so you won't have a hard time finding a gallon jug of ammonia or bleach in a house. Empty it first, refill it with water from the toilet and proceed to boil it next to your fire.
  • Never drink directly from the toilet.
  • You do not need to fill the pot with water: having it available as a tool and 'crafting' the clean water in the crafting menu is how you boil. If you put the pot on the ground, or wield it, you can (as of 0.D (Danny)) add water to the pot. You just can't carry it in your backpack. Placing the pot on the ground or weilding it is useful for boiling water in Batches as it allows you to boil more water than you have empty receptacles. For example, a survivor with 2 bottles of clean water and only one empty bottle would only be able to boil a batch of 2 Clean Water, as he only had space to store 2 Units of Clean Water. Setting the pot on the ground adds a container capable of storing 8 Units of water, thus allowing the survivor to boil all 4 units at once and immediately place them back into their bottles.

• Purify water: The fastest and easiest way, but for that you'll need a water purifier. You can find them occasionally in hardware stores, but you'll probably need to craft it yourself. To purify the water all you need to do is activate the purifier and select the water container. The amount of batteries used in the process will depend on the capacity of the liquid container. You can also use Water purification tablets, activate, and select the water container, uses one tablet per unit of water.

 @ : How can I cook indoors and not die in the process?

You can use a hotplate, or start a fire placed in an Oven, brazier, wood stove or fireplace. Ovens can be found in most houses (but require electricity to run), and Braziers, Wood Stoves and Fireplaces are all craftable. You can also find the latter ones prefabricated in LMOE shelters and forest cabins.

To properly use a brazier after crafting one you'll have to place it by activating the brazier. But bear in mind that brazier only contain the fire and not the smoke, gas masks (sometimes found in the evac shelter lockers) or filter masks can help protect you from the smoke.

To start a fire safely, place any wood or flammable materials in the same tile the oven, brazier or wood stove is. Once lit, the fire won't spread to other tiles.

 @ : My food is frozen, how do I unfreeze it?

Food and various liquids freeze when kept out in cold temperatures, while this has a the good effect of stopping the item from rotting, it also makes it impossible to consume, which is a bit of a problem. To unfreeze an object, activate a tool with the 'food cooking' quality near a fire source, this can also be used to make your food 'hot' for improved morale. Or just keep it in a warm place. House basements are a temperature of 43°F and thus any liquids stored there will never freeze, and frozen liquids will slowly defrost.

Alternatively, liquids will slowly defrost when left near open flame. This will take several hours, however, and thus will require ample fuel for the flames.

 @ : How can I empty or transfer liquids?

Unload the liquid container you want to empty or transfer. The inventory will appear, so you can choose another liquid container to transfer the liquid to. Select the corresponding inventory letter and press RETURN. If you ESCAPE that screen you'll be asked if you want to pour it on the ground. Say Yes if you want to do so. Note that you won't be able to recover poured liquids. Frozen liquids first need to be thawed before they can be transfered.

For glass bottles of rotten milk you'll be asked to pour it on the ground right away.

Note that you don't need to be wielding a liquid container in order to unload it. The same applies to any other item type when you want to unload its "ammo" (flashlights, guns, etc).

 @ : How can I pick up liquids from the floor?

You can't. A liquid spilled on the ground is lost. You can mop the puddle up, if you want to clean up.

 @ : I'm cold and can't sleep at night. What can I do about this?

Gather some clothes that provide particularly high warmth (check the clothing page for that) and put them in the place you use to sleep in (or carry them with you if you're a nomad). Put the extra clothes on before going to sleep. You can also pile them up on the place you're going to sleep. Take them off when you wake up. The player will also automatically use blankets left on the same tile you are sleeping on.

Check the warmth level of all your body parts in your character screen (@). If all of them are green then you'll likely be able to sleep without problems, unless a sudden drop in temperature occurs while sleeping.

Sleeping inside, and on a suitable piece of furniture can also help. A bench is better than the floor, an armchair better than that and a bed is best of all. See Sleep.

Being hungry, thirsty, wet, or having broken limbs can also make you feel the cold more, so try to avoid these effects before you go to sleep.

 @ : Yay science, and all that... but how the hell do I stop reading this book?!

Press the pause key (5 or .). This is also how you stop resting and crafting early.

 @ : How do I drop just 1 battery out of my 17?

You have two ways of doing it.

• Enter Drop item or Drop item to adjacent tile menu(d and D respectively), select the item you need to drop, type the number before selecting the item and then select it, then confirm. This works for double and triple digit numbers.
• Enter Advanced inventory management(d), press I to open inventory on the left tab, select the item you need to drop and press enter to drop it one at a time. Additionaly, you can select tile you want to drop it by simply going to the right tab and pressing the movement key where you want to drop it. You can use this menu to put items into containers you cannot stand on.

 @ : My left leg just turned blue after zombie bit me and my player info says I have a bite wound! Is it bad?

Yes, very. You should disinfect the bite wound ASAP with disinfectant or something similar, or if it's not available - cauterize the wound with something hot(a hotplate or a knife and a lighter will suffice). If you don't treat the wound in six hours or so, it will turn into infection, which is much worse and liable to kill you, unless you take antibiotics.

Components

 @ : This "Survival" stuff is neat, but where can I get sinews, plant fibres, bones and fur pelts? And how do I forage?

You can get them all by Butchering creatures, or from eforaging underbrush. To be able to butcher you'll need a knife-like tool in your inventory (pocket knife, steak knife, combat knife, etc - check the tools page for any item with a "butchering" quality). The more butchering quality, the faster you butcher, so a hunting knife or butcher knife are your best bet among the most common "knife" tools, followed by the steak knife or combat knife.(But something like a Broadsword works too.)

• Sinew and bones: Butcher mammals and other vertebrates (check the creatures with the BONES flag in the enemies page for a complete list).
• Plant fibre: Butcher plant-like creatures, such as triffids (particularly vinebeasts) and fungaloids, or processing some Swamp plants.
• Fur pelts: Butcher a furry creature (check the creatures with the FUR flag in the enemies page for a complete list).
• Foraging: examine shrubs in forests to find various objects.

The amount of items returned when butchering will depend on your survival skill. For more info see the butcher page.

 @ : Where can I get leather patches, rags and other components?

• Rags: Cut any item made of cotton (like a pair of jeans or a sheet). To cut it you need to activate a knife-like tool in your inventory (pocket knife, steak knife, combat knife, etc - check the item browser for any item with a "cutting" quality), select 1 to cut-up fabric and then choose the item in your inventory you want to cut. For t-shirts and tank tops you can disassemble them instead (via (). Using the butcher menu you can also cut up or dissassemble item on the ground, if you have the correct tools.

• Leather patches: You have the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is to cut leather items following the process mentioned above (items like purses, sneakers, leather jackets, leather pants and leather gloves, etc. Check the clothing page for a complete list). The hard way is by Butchering, and tanning the resulting skin, from creatures with a thick skin (like giant frogs), or apply a knife to a fur pelt.

• Kevlar plates: Obtained by cutting up kevlar items (i.e Kevlar vests, Army helmets, tactical dump pouches etc.). The most common source is probably combat boots. Turnout gear is another common source of kevlar, and can be found in large quantities in firetrucks and at fire stations.

• Nomex patches: Obtained by cutting up firefighting gear or motorcycle helmets (not bike helmets).

• Felt patches: Obtained by cutting up wool clothing items.

• Fur pelts: Obtained by cutting up items made from fur, or by butchering enemies with the FUR tag, such as cougars and wolves, and tanning the resulting raw pelt.

When cutting, the amount of rags and leather returned will depend on your tailoring skill level. When butchering, you get a skin that you need to cure into leather.

 @ : Where can I get plastic chunks?

• Plastic chunk: Cut up any item made of plastic, like a plastic bottle, rain clothing or a flashlight. Wheels removed from abandoned vehicles are also a good source; a single wheel can easily provide around 20 chunks.

 @ : Where can I find a rubber hose?

They can be randomly found in hardware stores or in the Sewage treatment. You can also obtain one by disassembling a crossbow or by smashing/deconstructing a refrigerator.

 @ : Where can I acquire springs?

Car seats give 2 springs upon disassemble but you may fail salvaging them if they're damaged. You can also disassemble lawnmowers, though they're a bit rarer.

 @ : Why can't I make a cudgel/pointy stick/2-by-sword? I have a 2-by-four, right?

You are missing a cutting tool, the Survivor profession starts with a pocket knife, but other professions may not. Try making a makeshift knife, stone knife, or find a cutting tool.

Enemies

 @ : Zombies keep re-appearing! How impolite of them!!

Either you are playing with horde mode on, which spawns zombies dynamically depending on sound levels, or you're witnessing the undead's infamous ability to not remain dead for long.

To prevent zombies from resuscitating, you'll have to Butcher or Smash them once they're down. You can also cremate them or run them over with a truck until there's nothing left but a red pulp... use your imagination, but don't take too long. Smashing is always faster than butchery, but consider cutting up corpses with goodies inside instead of pulping the corpse. Maybe you'll find something nice in that shocker zombie. All zombies give tainted meat and bones when butchered. If you're gonna dig around in a zombie for a CBM, name sure you dissect them, not butcher! Dissecting also gives information on their weak points.

The important thing here is that their bodies must be destroyed, one way or another, and that the sooner you do it, the better.

There might also be a Zombie necromancer nearby. Might want to kill that first, else smashing or butchering corpses is going to be very hard. What with them squirming away, and standing up all the time. Beware that necromancers don't attack you directly at first, so you'll have to hunt them down and kill them before they resurrect some friends. Beware, Necromancers aren't pushovers.

Weapons

 @ : Guns attract more zombies than they kill! What's the point?

Pre-Cataclysm guns were focused on damage and accuracy. The gun manufacturers didn't take into account the Cataclysm! Besides, guns are still good to use. There are plenty of zombie types and other creatures of the cataclysm you don't wanna get hands on with. Some well placed rifle shots, submachine gun bursts, pistol shots, or emergency shotgun blasts can help you take out these threats without getting their hands on you, or help you escape a bad situation. It might be a good idea to have a firearm of some kind on you when you go looting to help you deal with dangerous foes. Balance the risk of noise making things worse with more attention versus taking out what at this particular moment is trying to violently murder you.

On the other hand, maybe just bring more ammo for those zombies? Most zombies die from 2-3 hits from ubiquitous Glock 19 chambered in 9x19mm, and it takes just a few more shots for evolved ones. With a little practice and decent amounts of ammo, the only limiting factor is distance between you and zombies, amount of spare magazines you have and patience.

 @ : Why are my attacks so slow?

You might be in pain from getting attacked, reducing your speed. Back off while you can if you don't want to be crippled by pain. Check your @ character screen for any speed penalties. Check your armor encumbrance too. Having high encumbrance on your arms can slow down your attacks.

 @ : I can't hit anything with my gun! What's happening here?!

You're either not skilled enough yet in the skill used to fire your gun, you aren't taking the recoil effect into account, or you aren't properly aiming. Remember that pressing a, c, or p (standard aiming, careful aiming, and precise aiming respectively) while targeting with a ranged weapon can drastically increase your chances of hitting by having your character take longer to do so. Using . to wait allows you to finely control how long you want to aim, letting you to decide the exact timing of your shot. Other things that could be impacting your ability to shoot include a low dexterity, using a gun with high sight dispersion/dispersion value, or encumbrance on your arms.

 @ : I have this whip/spear, how do I use it at longer ranges?!

Wield it, and fire it. Use your movement keys to move the cursor onto what you wanna Slash/shoot. Same for other ranged weapons.

World

 @ : Erm... where am I?!

The default unmodded setting of C:DDA is the New England region, in the United States.

 @ : And when?

2019 - 2020. But in an alternate universe, so the history and technology will not totally match up with our real world. Technology is more advanced in this timeline compared to our own. For example, widespread use of bionic enhancements exists in this world.