I have 500 hours in the game (multiple acc) and I am working on a little guide here with tips that I find really helpful (also for my friends).

While this guide was created at A19 (some screenshots might be from that version), it got updated with the latest A21 stuff.

• destroying - attacking with any item
  
• disassembling - using wrench/ratchet/impact driver
  
• looting - searching
  
• scrapping - clicking S while in inventory

• You can get Jar of Honey by destroying Tree Stump (second item for curing infection/virus after Antibiotics) (40% chance and no book needed!)
  
  
  

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• You can get Coal by destroying Burnt Tree, Ember Pile or Wood Burning Stove
  
  
  
  
  

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• You can get extra Feathers by destroying Birdnest
  
  
  

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• You can harvest lotta Stone by destroying Pallet Bricks (x50 larger quantity than from stone block and x5 larger quantity than from Resource Boulder)
  
  
  

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• You can harvest lotta Wood by destroing Firewood Stack (x30 larger quantity than from wood block and x3/4 larger quantity than from Tree)
  
  
  

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• You can get Cobblestone Rocks by destroing Pallet, Blue Tarp (shovel)
  
  
  

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• You can get Cement by destroing Pallet, White Bags (shovel)
  
  
  

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• You can get Paper by destroying Pallet, Compressed Cardboard
  
  
  

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• You can harvest lotta Paper by destroing Industrial Paper Roll 100 or Industrial Paper Roll 50 (x2 larger quantity than from Pallet, Compressed Cardboard)
  
  
  

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• You can harvest lotta Cloth Fragment by destroing Industrial Carpet Roll 100 or Industrial Carpet Roll 50 (x6 larger quantity than from An Old Bed)
  
  
  

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• You can get Leather by destroying or scrapping Leather Sofa, Leather Couch or Office Chair
  
  
  

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• You can get Snowball by destroying Ice Machine (ingredient for Yucca Juice Smoothie - the most hydrating item in the game!)
  
  
  

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• You can collect Torch or Candle by destroying it
  
  
  

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• You can harvest corpses with knife faster by using the attack animation with instant aiming back at the corpse (about x2 quicker and fun) (you can also watch around for zombies with this)
  
  Short Youtube Video Guide --> here <--
  
  
  

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• Bacon and Eggs (5 * Raw Meat + 2 * Egg) is one of the best food sources I know. It gives you +36 hunger and +18 health while Boiled Meat, Grilled Meat and Charred Meat give you only +10 hunger and +5-15 health with the same amount of Raw Meat used in the recipe. A21: Now you need level 10 cooking skill to unlock it. It's a must-have.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Carry Bandage in your inventory - it's a lifesaver sometimes, it's cheap and you can always just scrap it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Hay blocks completely negate fall damage.
  
  

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• You can throw stones to distract zombies.
  
  

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• You can stack buffs from consumables up to 3 times in order to get longer buff (f.e. immunity to negative effects during the 7th night).
  
  

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• Heavy armor reduces your movement speed. You might consider taking it off when you've got a long travel ahead of you!
  
  

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• You can prevent your left vehicle from rolling away (down the hill) by holding Space Bar for a few seconds before leaving your vehicle.
  
  

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• Scrapping an item in inventory wastes only 25% of its base material!
  
  

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• Scrapping tier 1 items can be more worth than selling it. (f.e. Iron Sledgehammer = 28$, scrapped into 225 Iron = 44$ + crafting potential) (f.e. Pistol = 40$, scrapped into 3 Handgun Parts = 90$ + crafting potential) - this can also concern higher tiers.
  
  

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• Repairing/adding modifications to your items makes them much more valuable for trading. It is worth for Tiers 3+. It's the difference of several hundred of money with one modification or more.
  
  

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• The same Tiers of tool/weapon can have different stats and even lower Tiers can have more interesting buffs - f.e. +1 higher damage or AK-47 with +5 ammunition in magazine.
  
  

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• Don't read the same book/schematic twice (it's a waste of 160$) - next to the readable item is an icon - if the book on the icon is closed - you haven't read the book and you can use it and not waste it.
  
  

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• Sometimes it's worth selling the book instead of reading it (unless you are a collector), f.e. the book which "makes you invisible for Motion Sensor for 3 seconds when sneaking" - useful on PvP, useless on PvE.
  
  

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• You can get easy both Forged Steel and Forged Iron by disassembling Broken Vending Machine, Pole Top 01, Munitions Box, Empty ATM, Hardened Chests (single/double), Transformers or Gas Pumps (empty/full)
  
  
  

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• You can get easy Forged Steel by disassembling Street Light or Chandelier
  
  
  
  
  

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• You can get easy Forged Iron by disassembling Workshop, Chemistry Station, Table Saw, Battery Bank, Generator Bank, Destroyed Solar Bank or Weight Bar
  
  
  

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• You can also get Forged Steel and Forged Iron in small amounts by disassembling open Gun Safe
  
  
  

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• You can also get Forged Iron in small amounts by disassembling open Desk Safe or Wall Safe
  
  
  

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• You can get an guaranteed Engine by disassembling Army Truck, Car Motor Flat or Car Motor Flipped
  
  
  
  

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• You can get Spring by disassembling Bunk Bed or King Size Bed
  
  
  

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• You can get Bottle of Acid (uncraftable) mostly by looting Sink or Old Sink
  
  
  

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• You can get Pistol and Hunting Knife tier 1 by looting Toilet (it is possible)
  
  
  

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• You can find hidden loot behind Painting or in certain buildings under King Sized Bed
  
  
  

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• While exploring - "follow the light" - f.e. Desk Lamps, Table Lamps, Lanterns, Torches, Flashlights etc. Then you explore the buildings the way they are meant to be explored - you won't miss any part and you won't need to penetrate through hard barriers!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• It might be a good idea to loot the quest area (at least the main prize) before activating the yellow exclamation mark, as it respawns everything within the area (the loot but zombies as well).
  
  
  

• Basic entities HP are:
  
  - Zombie Male: 150 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Female: 125 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Military: 150 HP (+ other resistance bonus)
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Spider: 150 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Fat (also Lumberjack): 300 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Vulture: 30 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Zombie Dog: 200 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Boar: 250 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Bear: 1600 HP
  
  
  
  
  - Dire Wolf / Mountain Lion: 750 HP (op, isn't it?)
  
  
  
  
  
  - ! - Feral Zombies (red eyes) have 90% more HP
  
  
  
  
  - ! - Radiated Zombies (green skin) have 260% more HP
  
  
  
  

You should know how item tiers work in some complicated combinations (from worst to best):

• General tiers: Stone < Iron < Steel
  
  
• Butchering: Bone Knife < Hunting Knife < Machete
  
• Construcion: Stone Axe < Taza's Stone Axe < Claw Hammer < Nailgun
  
• Disassembling: Wrench < Ratchet < Impact Driver
  
  
• Shotguns: Blunderbuss < Pipe Shotgun < Double Barrel Shotgun < Pump Shotgun < Auto Shotgun
  
• Rifles: Pipe Rifle < Hunting Rifle < Lever-Action Rifle < Sniper Rifle
  
• Machine Guns: Pipe Machine Gun < Ak-47 < Tactical Assault Rifle < M60 Machine Gun
  
• Handguns: Pipe Pistol < Pistol < .44 Magnum < .44 Desert Vulture < SMG-5 (SMG-5 can be in this group because it needs the same materials, skill points and 9mm ammunition
  
  Note: Screenshot is from Alpha 19 and it misses some new weapons in Alpha 20, also old Marksman Rifle was replaced with new Lever-Action Rifle.
  
  

• Open console with F1 button*
  
  
• "dm" - debug menu (controlling time etc), type again to turn off.
  
  
• "cm" - enable creative menu in your inventory (all items), type again to turn off.
  
  

With debug menu turned ON:

• You can teleport anywhere on the map by clicking CTRL + Right Click
  
  
• You can teleport to where you're aiming at by clicking Shift + Q
  
  
• You can ride vehicles in first person by first pressing H to start flying and then mounting your vehicle (looks nice)
  
  
• Press Q for God Mode
  
  
• Press F3 for advanced block information
  
  
• Press F6 to open "spawn entities" menu
  
  
• Press F5 to turn third person on
  
  
  
  

You can edit config files and create your own settings in:
Steam\steamapps\common\7 Days To Die\Data\Config

Note: If you host and change the config - it works for all players! They don't need to change anything in their config files and may just join the server.

I always recommend creating a backup of .xml config file before editing it!

Example custom configs:

• Upgrade maximum Vehicle velocity (faster travel):
  1) Open vehicles.xml
  2) CTRL+F and search for "velocityMax" (you'll find 6 different vehicle results) and replace the default numbers
  
  
• Set different experience values to pick between in options when opening the world:
  1) Open windows.xml in XUi_Menu folder
  2) CTRL+F "goXPMultiplier" (the first result)
  
  
• Adjust "damage on blocks" options (equals to less grinding basic resources):
  1) Open windows.xml in XUi_Menu folder
  2) CTRL+F "goBlockDamagePlayer" (the first result)
  
  
• Enable zombie health bars for survival:
  1) Open windows.xml in XUi folder
  2) CTRL+F "windowTargetBar" and change "godmode" to "always"'
  
  
• More modification slots for your weapons, armor and tools:
  1) Open items.xml
  2) CTRL+F "1,1,2,2,3,4" change to any amount of modifications you want (for every item), for example "1,2,3,4,5,6"
  
  
  
  (Note: most 7dtd mods are basically achieved through modifying such config files, f.e. Bigger Backpack Mod - it modifies 8 different config files at once to get the effect!)

If you get bored:

• Try "World War Z" style - zombies run/sprint all day and are nightmare at night!
  
  
• Try "The Walking Dead" style - teams PvP with friends f.e. 2v2, 2v3, 2v2v2 - remember, zombies during apocalypse are just the cherry on top - the true danger are people!
  
  
• Try "Blood Moon Every Day" challenge - you can set higher exp, loot and block damage values to progress faster
  
  
• Try "Realistic" style - pick a house, repair it, cheat clothes and any house weapon and defend yourself as it was your actual house when the apocalypse just started, because who hasn't got a house and clothes during a real invasion. Be careful not to run out of ammunition!