The game is currently in an alpha version and is neither complete or error free, but has a lot of gameplay and fun.

Here is my review for this game:
http://steamproxy.net/profiles/76561198031180632/recommended/251570/

The index on the right side allows you to jump directly to a chapter.

It may be that an information is out of date. Please make a comment, if you find something outdated or have an open question.

Don't use a save game from a version before alpha 12 with the actual version:

New in Alpha 12:
•Changed forge ahead book no longer needed to make a forge
•Added bellows item and recipe.
•Added a new gun attachment system that supports flashlight attachments on all firearms except the blunderbuss
•Added a new alternate ammo system that supports stone tipped, iron tip, steel tip and flaming arrows as well as shotgun slugs and the supported recipes. Ammo can be loaded by right click loading new ammo type. (Alt+R) swaps to the next available ammo time in your current selected weapon
•Added Iron, Steel and exploding Crossbow bolts
•Added exploding crossbow bolt schematics
•Added auger is now craftable from a small engine, handlebar, auger blade and auger parts unlocked by an auger schematic
•Added a new bear enemies that are in every biome except desert and in caves. Bears will attack both the player and zombies. Like Dogs bears have a give up time where they will only chase you so far. If you can kill one you can reap the benefits of bear meat and make charred bear, grilled bear, boiled bear and bear stew.
•Added the riddle of steel book which allows the player to craft steel molds in turn they can then craft new steel pickaxes, steel tipped arrows, flaming arrows and upgrade concrete blocks into steel reinforced concrete walls.
•Added “Set In Concrete” book to game and loot that unlocks cement molds, rebar frames, and buckets of concrete
•Added glue and duct tape items and recipes
•Added a new vehicle system with a craftable minibike. Players must first find and read the minibike book. Then craft a chassis and place it in the world. Next craft minibike handlebars, seat and find wheels, battery and small engine adding them to the chassis. The higher quality the parts the better gas milage, speed, protection the minibike offers. You can interact with the Chassis by pressing or holding <E> which displays available radial menu options. Drag parts into the chassis window to add them. Click on the parts names to remove them.Optionally you can find and add a shopping basket and padlock for storage and locking. Locks are invulnerable for the first version of vehicles. You can also activate the headlight with <F> and the horn with <X>. You can give zombie both large pains and ragdoll deaths if your going fast enough if you’re not they might stop you.

Alpha 12.4
http://7daystodie.com/alpha-12-4-is-out/

Alpha 12
http://7daystodie.com/mini-bikes-physics-bears-a12/

At the beginning you should choose the map Navezgane and the easiest difficulty level. It is exceptionally, that you can change all the settings (except the map) before loading a game again. In the chapter Tips on settings are example settings for new players described.
The key assignment corresponds to the usual standard (more details in the chapter Key assignment).

You do start at a random place. As long as you haven't set a respawn point with a Sleeping Bag, Mattress or An Old Bed, you will respawn after death at a another random point.
In the middle at the bottom you see the tool belt (quick access bar). To choose an item you have to press the key number. The mini map with radar is gone (since alpha 9) and the compass is above the tool belt. Here is a random start on the map Navezgane:
In the left lower corner of the screen is a display with your 4 most important values​​:
Health = red heart
Stamina = blue runner
Fullness = green fork
Hydration = blue drop
As you can imagine, you die after losing all your health points. With food and drinks you can refill the values. Some food and drinks can be improved by cooking (more in the chapter Cooking).

You can switch with the STRG key into sneak mode, then you can see if you are still undetected. The zombie in the upper left doesn't notice me at the moment so I can loot without trouble.

Avoid the zombies until you have crafted your first equipment:

• Stone Axe
  
• Wodden Bow and Arrows
  
• Wodden Club
  
• Plant Fiber Pants
  
• Cloth Armor

Choose an empty field in your belt, so that you can use your fists. Now punch a bush into parts (simple left clicks), then pick up the stick with the E key. A small bush looks darker than grass.
Then open the inventory by pressing the TAB key and put the stick in the tool belt (quick access bar).
For every item in your belt or inventory you can see some basic information. At the moment the values Entity and Block Damage are interesting, because they show that we can use the stick for fighting zombies and breaking things. A stick a very short range and in the beginning you should avoid close combat. Prefer the bow!
Now use the stick to punch a grass and pick up the grass.
With a picked up small stone you have all three required items. Open the inventory and change to the crafting view.

Crafting
Now select Stone Axe in the crafting menu and you can make your first stone axe. With the Stone Axe everything is easier and you can break a big stone or cut a tree.
Your next priority should be the Wodden Bow and at least a dozen Arrows, their crafting follows the same pattern. Feathers are in Birdnests.
Collect enough grass to craft the Plant Fiber Pants, this is your first part of armor. If your start is in an area with cotton plants you should read the chapter Armor an make your cloth armor.
Then if you haven't find a club already, the next thing is a Wooden Club.
If you got only a quality 1 Stone Axe and Wooden Club, make more Stone Axes and Wooden Clubs and keep only the best.

You can craft Scrap Iron from Empty Cans, scrapMetalBlocks, Hub Caps or Car Air Filters.

[Tips] Alpha 11 Survival Guide
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030658380945/

If you play on a server and your client crashes you don't loose your game progress.
But if you play local and the client crashes you loose all your progress since your last quit.
I recommend to quit every 30 min in SP.

With M you can call up a map where you can see the area which you have already discovered. You can see buildings and the different types of terrain.

If you are playing on Navezgane then there are radiation zones on the maps edge that will kill you. Random gen maps don't have radiation zones.

A guide for Navezgane:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=310312979

Put the new weapons in the quick access bar and you are ready for your first fights.
Left-click the zombies to attack them. With a ranged weapon you can aim precisely by right-clicking.
Always attempt to hit the upper part of the head, where the enemies are most sensitive.
The condition of the weapon and the current stamina affect the damage.

Don't go hunting the zombies, there are enough at the POIs (Point of Interests) waiting for you. The POIs are the buildings and tents, which are marked on the world map.
You should examine every container. In a bookcase or Small Safe you have a good chance to find recipe books and the name of the Gun Safe speaks for itself. On random maps there is in the middle (0, 0) always a big city of ruins (not an area for starters).

You should prefer ranged combat, because in melee combat you can get hit and get some nasty debuffs (negative status effects).
Active status effects are displayed on the left side over the columns for the basic status. Here are examples:
This indicates a bleeding and you should quickly use a bandage to stop it.

Infected by zombies, it can be cured with antibiotics.

(More in Chapter Buffs and debuffs)

Bow Aim (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030683230484/

Zombies
Many zombies are moving slow towards you and have no special talents, but some zombies have special talents.
For beginners with no armor the most troublesome opponents are probably the dogs (Zombie Dogs) as they approach running even during the day. You can use the skin for leather, but you can't eat or cook the meat.
The fat guys in Hawaiian shirts (Bloated Walker) can take a lot of damage, so shoot them with the crossbow from a distance.
An Infected Police Officers looks like a brothers of the fat guys, because he can run and has a ranged acid attack he is very dangerous.
Crawlers can be overseen in high grass. Known bug: With melee weapons you can miss the Crawler and hit the grass.
The Hornet flys and is the only zombie that tries to keep a distance between its attacks.
A Spider Zombie can climb walls.
A Plagued Nurse has no special fighting talent, but a good drop chance for medical supplies and a rare chance for a Beaker.
Don't forget in the darkness of the night all zombies start to run.

New with alpha 11:
•Added new feral zombie to the game which has a chance for gun loot if you kill him
•Added new on fire burnt zombie to the game. He has a chance to catch you on fire if he hits you

New with alpha 12:
•Added a new bear enemies that are in every biome except desert and in caves. Bears will attack both the player and zombies. Like Dogs bears have a give up time where they will only chase you so far.

New Feral Zombie (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030681065957/

Day 6 dog packs. Get it removed. (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030687529011/

How to Remove Unwanted Creatures - Guide!
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624075566961999650/

An addition made by SSJ Sphee: Hornets can see you if you are in their range, no matter if your crouched and undetected or not, Hornets will not make you sensed or hunted.

Try as fast as possible to get a Sleeping Bag, a Mattress or An Old Bed to fix your respawn point. Pick it up, put it in your belt and place it back with a right click to the point of your choice (with left clicks you can rotate it).
Sleeping bags are often found at tents and beds in houses, both can also be crafted.
An actual Alpha 10.1 design flaw: After making a respawn point the new wellness system kicks in. So you have to decide between the two possible death penalties: Heavy reduced max health (wellness system) or random respawn.
Note: Every time you place a Sleeping Bag, a Mattress or An Old Bed, you change your respawn point.

Ideal would be a building, where is still a bit of room for expansion. The inventory will quickly become to small and then you need storage space.
You can cover the windows with just a few Wood Planks and a Stone Axe. Just right click with the axe at the window (left click destroys it).
If you now exchange the existing doors with Security Wooden Doors and upgrade them like the windows, then you have your first small base.
Tips for bases: It's easier to defend from a high position, because only the Spider Zombies can climb walls. A balcony around the base or a flat roof is ideal.
Don't make the balcony too high, so you can jump down without injury. I can jump back on the balcony from the podium in front. (Spider Zombies can't do this)

Container / Storage Space
The simplest solution is the construction of a Secure Storage Chest, but you can also use existing containers. You should consider to store there a second set of your favorite weapons.
It will respawn no loot and no content is lost when containers are not cleared complete blank.
If you are playing in multiplayer you can choose to give the other players access by holding the key E .
Since alpha 10 there is no respawn in all containers placed by players.

In the chapter The Shoebox you can see how to built a very small wooden base from scratch.

By nightfall you should have a safe place, because the zombies are faster in the dark.
Some people dig their base into the earth, this is a good idea if yo play on a PvP server or a huge fan of mining.
In the first night, it should be sufficient if you stay inside and behave calmly.

Once you've learned the basic principles of the game, you will find that every night and day the zombie hordes are getting bigger. The base building and it's defense are going to be crucial.

Other Guides for starters:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=388430570

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=351777509

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=346999460

You can't built a perfect base on the first day. You have to decide if you build after a few days a new base or extend your old base.

The weapons fall into the following categories:

• Melee weapons
  
• Ranged weapons
  
• Ammunition
  
• Traps and Explosives

Some weapons can deal debuffs to an enemy.
If you have built a new weapon or shot a weapon empty, it may be that you have to reload it manually with the R key. It's the same problem if your Chainsaw or Auger have no gas.

Melee weapons
Starting Recipes: Spiked Club (1), Barbed Club (2), Iron Reinforced Club (3), Wooden Club (4) and Bone Shiv (5).
For the the Hunting Knife (7) you have to find the book with the recipe.
To find a Chainsaw (8) or an Auger (9) one needs to have good luck, therefore examines each car. Both devices require gas to operate.
Alpha 10: •Changed Overhauled clubs. They use more stamina now and have a slower animation but do more damage. Barbed and spiked clubs have a chance to do bleeding damage.

Ranged weapons
Starting Recipes: Crossbow (1), 44 Magnum (3), Shotgun (5), Hunting Rifle (6) and Sniper Rifle (7).
At the beginning of the game the Crossbow is the only ranged weapon for which you can find easily the needed materials and it is easy to make the ammunition.
The Crossbow can be repaired with a Stick and for the other firearms a Weapon Repair Kit is needed. You find it in the crafting category Resources.
When you have the recipes for the firearms, you can disassemble them with winning a subcomponent. So you can craft a new Hunting Rifle from several subcomponents.
With a right click you switch to aiming mode.
You can find recipes for the Pistol (2), Sawed of Shotgun (4) and the SMG (8).
SMG, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher (9) and parts for the 44 Magnum are rare.

Ammunition
Crossbow Bolts (1) are easy to make, since you can find the materials feather, wood and stone everywhere. For crafting 9mm Bullet (2), 44 Magnum Bullet, (3) Shotgun Shell (4), 762mm Bullet (5) or 10mm Bullet (6) you need to find the recipes. The M-136 Rocket (7) can't be crafted. Ammunition or components (like Bullet Casing (8) or Gun Powder (9)) for crafting can be found.

Traps and Explosives
Wood Spikes (1), Wood Log Spike (2), Barb Fence Wire (3), Pipe Bomb (4), TNT (5), Tin Land Mine (6), Air Filter Land Mine (7) and Hub Cap Land Mine (8).
Pipe bombs can be ignited with a right mouse click and then you can throw them with a left click into a group of zombies. TNT has to be placed and then you can shot it with a bullet from a save distance.
At night you should protect yourself with traps. Wood Spikes are sufficient and easy to make at the beginning.
Warning: You can injure yourself with your own traps and explosives (this doesn't count as friendly fire).
To plan the arrangement of the traps is a fundamental part in the construction of your defense base.

New in alpha 11:
•Added the new item quality range system for tools, melee weapons and armor. Bow, crossbow, wrench, hammer nail gun, chainsaw, auger and clothing will come in a future update.
•Added a new quality range system for guns. The system allows players to find gun parts of varying quality ranges. The parts have 7 quality ranges with colored degradation bars including grey broken, brown faulty, orange poor, yellow good, green fine, blue great, and magenta flawless. Once the player collects enough parts and has read the right gun book unlocking a recipe he can assemble a working gun. The average quality of all the parts determines the quality of the assembled weapon. The parts themselves govern attributes like damage, accuracy, degradation rate, penetration, falloff range and in the future zoom level and knockback strength. This will allow for thousands of permutations of guns like a realistic Borderlands.
•Added new craftable primitive blunderbuss single shot primitive muzzle loader gun and blunderbuss ammo
•Added rare Tazas Stone Axe weapon which can be found in new rare Apache Artifacts Chests in caves and in indian burial grounds

Blunderbuss MASSIVELY overpowered
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030657328695/

The Man Trap
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/620696934012701156/

sledge hammer vs spiked club
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099721571509348/

Can't find Augers and Chainsaws?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099721372511849/

The condition of the weapon and your current stamina affect the damage output.
Therefore, do not forget to repair your weapon and replenish stamina from time to time.

There is also a doubling of damage for successful stealth attacks as long as you are undetected.
You switch to crawl and stealth with C or STR. Melee weapons or crossbows are ideal for stealth attacks.
You can attract zombies with noise or smell.

In the darkness, the zombies are much faster (normal setting), but when you lure them into a lighted area, they slow down again. You can craft torches.

Added with Version Alpha 9.2: "•Added feral night hordes. Once per week or every 7th night zombies get really hungry and become feral. These feral night hordes can sense players and will find them regardless of how well they are hiding. Every week the horde grows in numbers until the 7th week."
If you are new on a server and you think the feral horde will be too hard, you can avoid the horde by logging out for the time of the night.

Added with version alpha 10:
•Changed: Zombies respawn immediately in wasteland. 4 days in other biomes. Animals respawn every 5 days.
•Added a new zombie horde world heat map system that tracks how much noise and smells have added up in a zone. Over time the zone will cool down, but if it heats up too fast spider zombies will come and investigate the area. If they find something and start screeching a horde will soon follow. Campfires, forges, smells and dead animal gore also contribute to the heat maps intensity.
•You can fight with the torch and set fire to zombies or animals.
•Many weapons are dealing now also debuffs.

Known problem in melee combat: If objects and zombies in your view, it can happen that you hit the objects instead of the zombies (you cut the grass instead of the Crawler).

How does the heatmap work exactly?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/627456486822249235/

Only some cooking recipes you can process in your inventory like Yucca Juicce. These recipes are in your crafting menu.
For most cooking recipes you need a Camp Fire und a Cookware. A Camp Fire can be found or you craft one.
A simple wooden stick is enough in the beginning as a cookware, but you can make with other cookware other meals which are more effective.
Right from the start you know all possible recipes. If you use the Camp Fire, you see at the right side your available recipes. But only the recipes for which you have the ingredients in your inventory and are possible with the inserted Cookware are available.
Eating uncooked meat, drinking uncooked Bottled Murky Water or drinking directly from a water resource can cause a negativ status effect. You should avoid this.
Some ingredients like meat can be cooked in differnt recipes with different cookware resulting in different dishes. The difference in using different cookware (stick, grill, cooking pot) for cooking meat is in the smell of the dish and the hydration change.
Known Bugs: You can lose surplus ingredients.
There are slots for 3 different kinds of fuel. Lumps of Coal, Coal Ores, Wood Logs or Boards are all good fuel material, but you can use everything with a burn time in the description.



Depending on what you want to cook, there are 4 different Cookwares:
Stick


Cooking Grill


Beaker (can't be crafted)


Cooking Pot


You can fill empty jars or cans with water at lakes, rivers or toilets (right click).

Some cooking recipes you should try and compare
Herbal Antibiotics Recipe is needed for cooking Herbal Antibiotics.

After drinking a Coffee you can run, work or fight for 180 sec without loosing stamina.

Hunt
You can hunt rabitts, porks, venisons and bears.
The meat of the dogs can't be cooked.

Refridgerator, cooler and hive can't be crafted, but can be collected after using a pickaxe.

Alpha 10.2:
•Added canned murky water can be boiled on a stick in the campfire. Canned water has a stack limit of one since there is no lid to the container and it is meant for basic survival in the wild with primitive means until a cooking pot can be obtained

Alpha 9: After drinking a jar you keep an empty jar "•Added empty jars added to inventory when using water, coffee, murky water, yucca juice, and goldenrod tea".

New in Alpha 11:
•Added new player leveling system. The system increase your chances to craft higher quality ranged items at higher levels with +/- 50 degree of random quality. The system is basic a precursor to skill trees. The player currently will earn XP for activities like killing zombies, unlocking new recipes and crafting new recipes for the first time.

Versions before Alpha 10:
Your death removes all status effects, but you don't have full health after respawn. Some people did die on purpose.

Since alpha 10:
The devs disliked the dying on purpose and introduced the new Wellness System. But the devs didn't consider all side effects. It makes the start harder for new players who die only because of their inexperience. Later when you can cook antibiotics and enough good food it makes the game easier.
•Added a new Wellness System that can go up and down based upon your eating habits, disease and death. Your wellness influences your stamina and health cap and can go from 0 to 200 over boosting these caps. Note: 100 is your base starting wellness. If you live well you’ll benefit from it with more stamina and health potential. If you live poorly you’ll suffer with less stamina and health. You can check this stat in your character screen. Remember that dying is bad so you have to play the game a little more cautious. It is possible to live well for several days and raise your wellness level quite high and reap the benefits of boosted stamina and health.
•Added our enhanced buff system which controls the new debuff hunger and thirst states with multiple stages. Dehydration will kill you faster than starving and both lower your wellness. Also the broken leg system has been reworked to a more intuitive healing system with a splint icon. The new system allows buffs to affect other buffs, buffs to affect zombies and animals and even apply critical and timed damage. With it clubs have a chance to do criticals on heads, arrows cause bleed out on other players and animals and torches can light zombies on fire. Zombies are immune to bleeding, sickness, and disease.

Changes in alpha 11:
•Changed lowest wellness bottom capacity to 50
•Changed respawning players should have full meters of health and stamina

Wellness Guide (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618459405706353192/

Really not liking this wellness system,,,,
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624076027761848739/

Wellness
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624076027475979857/

Active status effects are displayed on the left side over the columns for the basic status. Here are examples:
This indicates a bleeding and you should quickly use a bandage to stop it.

Infected by zombies, it can be cured with antibiotics.

An overview of various status effects:
http://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/Status

The following items stop a debuff and/or give you a buff:
1. Coffee gives you an accelerated stamina recovery for 180 sec
2. Goldenrod Tea cures dysentery.
3. Simple Bandage stops a bleeding
4. Bandage stops a bleeding and give you a HoT (Heal over Time)
5. PainKiller gives you a short HoT
6. Antibiotics cures an infection and immunize you for 1 day
7. Splint helps healing brocken legs, no affects on sprained legs
8. First Aid Kit heals 50 HP and gives you a HoT

Later added things:

• Beer is like coffee but lasts longer
  
• Vitamins cure dysentery and raise wellness
  
• Herbal Antibiotics can be cooked without a beaker

In alpha 9 some new debuffs and some new items to cure are added:
• Added, blood bags, blood draw kits and first aid kits to the world. First aid kits heal 50 hit points immediately plus an additional 50 over 10 seconds. It is made from a bandage, grain alcohol, and a blood bag. Blood draw kits can be reused to make blood bags.
• Added a Debuff system for sprained, and broken legs that work with a new craftable splint that accelerates the healing time. Legs can also be re-injured more easily while on the mend and the more severe the injury the longer the recovery time.
• Added Dysentery Debuff contracted from drinking river or murky water. Dysentery is cured by drinking goldenrod tea or taking antibiotics.
• Added new stunned concussion debuff which slows the player down for a few seconds and has a chance to happen with zombie hits.
• Added Simple drowning Debuff system that detects when the player is underwater and displays the icon. Going above water removes the icon. staying underwater for too long causes drowning pain damage and drowning death.

New in alpha 11:
•Added Fire Buff icon to Game which can happen from players hitting you with a torch, walking on lit campfires, walking on large ember piles and from on fire zombies striking you. Submerge yourself in water to douse the fire.

You start the game with no armor and you have only the recipes for the cloth armor. In Inventory / Character you can put on armor.
For crafting the Cloth Armor you need Cloth Fragments. You can craft a Cloth Fragment after collecting two Cottons (the white flowers). Alternative you can receive Cloth Fragments after destroying tents or curtains. You can find parts of armor.





There are four types of armor which can be crafted:

• Cloth armor
  
• Leather armor
  
• Scrap armor (since alpha 10)
  
• Iron armor

With the book Leather Tanning you learn how to make leather from animal skins and how to produce leather armor parts.
With the book Mac Dyvers Book you learn how to make scrap armor.
For each of the 5 iron armor parts you can find its own schematic. Leather and Forged Iron is required for crafting an iron armor part.

The lamp of the Mining Helmet is activated by the key F.
Most types of armor are deteriorating in fights, but only the cloth and leather armor can be repaired.

The forge is changed again and again.
Since 12.4 you don't need a book for learning the recipe anymore.
•Changed recipe of forge to use bellows, a short metal pipe, small stones and clay

The first thing you are normaly melting is iron, because you need Iron Ingods for crafting some weapons and tools.
An Iron Ingod can be processed to Forged Irons.
A Forged Iron can be proecessed to Short Iron Pipes.
A Short Iron Pipe can be processed to Metall Stripes.

For melting iron you need an Iron Ingod Mold, it's made from 5 Lump of Clay.
Clay can be processed to Lump of Clay.

To find Clay search for for reddish-orange soil near river banks or at cliffs (on random maps many things in the desert look similar but most of them are not clay). On the map Navezgane it's sometimes harder to find clay.
You can craft a Lump of Clay out of Corn Meal and Bottled Water.

Clay?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35221584381888995/

Scrap Iron, scrapMetalBlocks, Iron Fragments or Iron Ore can be melt to Iron Ingods.
For the melting process you need some fuel to heat up the forge. There are slots for 3 different kinds of fuel. Lump of Coal, Coal Ore, Wood Log or Wood Plank are all good fuel material.

A forge can be used for melting different materials like lead or brass by exchanging the mold.
Many people build a series of forges, one for every mold they use.

Can you still make molds of gun parts? (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030664172604/

Basically, there are 5 different types of crafting in the game:

• Processing materials
  
• combining some items to a new item
  
• Disassembling an item and winning a subcomponent (weapons, ammunition)
  
• Repair
  
• Constructing (see more in chapter How to built)

Most crafing can be done in the inventory, for some you need special devices such as a Camp Fire or a Forge.
Some materials may be processed more than once. From different wood sources you can get Wood Planks, which in a next step can be further processed to Sticks.
You need to learn from new recipes the processing of some materials. For example: Getting leather from animal skins.

In chapter 1. Step are examples for the first two types of crafting
Tip: Once you have already crafted an item, it is enough to click on the desired recipe for an easy re-manufacture. A further click increases the number by one and shift+click increases the number to the possible maximum.

Disassembling an item and winning a subcomponent
After the item is placed in the result box, you can take one subcomponent.
At the moment this is the only way to get your first Bullet Tip. After crafting a Bullet Tip Mold you can produce them yourself.

The assignment to the sections in the crafting menu sometimes seems somewhat arbitrary, for example, the small Wood Spikes are in the Traps section and the large Wood Log Spike is in the Miscellaneous section.

Most items will wear out with use, and you may be able to repair them. To do this you place the item and the required repair material into the crafting window.
Caution: Surplus repair material is not preserved, so count it before starting.
Previously you could repair items by combining two worn-out items, this does not work anymore.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=421348934
Here is a link to the recipes books that can be found:
http://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/Recipe_Book

Tip: It's worth digging after coffins at a cemetery, where you can find recipe books sometimes.

A list of items which can be crafted:
http://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/Crafting

Recipies (recipes.xml)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/4/35220315589547394/

All buildings consist of blocks and all blocks have the same size but can have different shapes.
Tools for upgrading and repairing of blocks are Stone Axe (1), Repair Tool (2) and Claw Hammer (3). You aim at the block and then use right clicks.
For crafting the Wood Frame (6) you need only Wood Planks (5).
If you choose a Wood Frame (or any block) in your tool belt you can rotate it with a left click and place it with a right click.

You can upgrade a Wood Frame three times.
1 = normal Wood Frame
2 = Wood Frame after first upgrade with Wood Planks
3 = Wood Frame after second upgrade with Wood Planks
4 = Wood Frame after third upgrade with Scrap Iron (7)
The upgrade material should be in your inventory.








For crafting a Scrap Iron Frame (8) you need Scrap Iron.
You can upgrade a Scrap Iron Frame two times.
1 = Scrap Iron Frame
2 = Scrap Iron Frame after first upgrade with Scrap Iron
3 = Scrap Iron Frame after second upgrade with Scrap Iron



A Secure Wood Door can be upgraded a Scrap Iron Secure Door (out of the game at the moment) can't be upgraded.

The frames differ in their values. Here an explanation of the Wood Frame info:
Mass is the weight of the frame.
Max Load is the maximum summed Mass you can attach at one side of the the frame.
Hardnes is how many damage the frame can take.
Burn Time shows that you can use it as fuel in a forge or campfire.
Mass and Max Load are not influenced by upgrades at the moment. Every upgrade has it's own Hardnes that must be destroyed before getting to the frame itself.

For construction experiments you can enable the Creative/Cheat mode in the options. Then
the Z key gives you access to all game items.

A guide about construction:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377346453

Calculation of load capacity:
http://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/Max_Load

Question about Structural Integrity
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/38596747981733835/

Structural integrity/hardness rebalance
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35222218880053688/

You can build a small wooden base on the first day with only wood and a Stone Axe.
Materials:

• 25 Wood Frames for the walls.
  
• 19 Wood Frames for the roof.
  
• 22 Wood Frames for extending the roof (optional)
  
• 1 Secure Wood Door
  
• 1 Wood Window
  
• 3 Ladder parts
  
• 1 Wooden Hatch

Every wood upgrade of the frames, the door and the window costs 2 Wood Planks.

It's small but it contains a Sleeping bag, a Camp Fire, a Forge and a few Secure Storage Chests.
A ladder helps you climbing on the roof from inside and since alpha 10 you can secure the hole in the roof with a Wooden Hatch .
From the roof you can shoot the zombies.
The Spider Zombies can't climb the walls, if the roof is bigger than the base .
Instead of flowers you should plant Wood Spikes around the Shoebox.

Every additional upgrade with ScrapIron costs 2 ScrapIrons.
Priority list for a scrap iron upgrade:

• door
  
• window
  
• wall blocks at window hight
  
• hatch
  
• lower wall blocks
  
• roof

After introducing the heat map system, there is a new use for a modified shoebox. You can build a shoebox in another zone as second base for forging and cooking.

Change in Alpha 12:
•Added “Set In Concrete” book to game and loot that unlocks cement molds, rebar frames, and buckets of concrete


For some other blocks you need Cement as an ingredient.
Cinder Blocks (1) can be collected In destroyed areas.
Gravel (2) can be crafted in the inventory by processing a Cinder Blocks to 2 Gravel.
Gravel also can be crafted by processing 4 Small Stones to 1 Gravel
Cement (3) can be crafted by using a Forge with a Cinder Mold and Gravel.
Rebar Frames (7) can be crafted in the inventory with Short Iron Pipes (4).
Concrete Mix can be crafted in the inventory with 1 Cement and 1 Gravel.

Building with Reinforced Concrete:
1) Place the Rebar Frame
2) Upgrade the Rebar Frame with Boards
3) Fill the upgraded frame witth Concrete Mix
4) Wait till the concrete is dry.

How make concrete now or building?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624075566915284038/

A good video: The first 6 min show how to make reinforced concrete and the second 6 min show the limits of building with concrete.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=347829102
A guide about concrete:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=389999855

Alpha 10.3: New reworked cobblestone:
First you have to place a Cobblestone Frame an then you fill it four times with Cobblestone Rocks (you see the phases starting from the left).
Cobbelstone Rocks (6) can be crafted in the inventory with Cement and Rocks (5).

Added new cobblestone upgrade system. Cobblestone walls are now made by first creating a cobblestone frame which is made from 5 sticks and some plant fiber to “stake” out the area where you will build the cobblestone wall. Once you place the frame you take cobblestones (made from cement and small rocks) and you right click the frame to upgrade it to a ¼ high cobblestone wall. Repeat several times to complete the wall. The cobblestone frames have very little structural integrity so you might need to support your cobblestone outward structures until they are completed with another supporting block.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9mIxR_3Hjq4

A video which shows how big construction projects in 7dtd can be:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=283549867

Some of the guides are from older versions and are not updated.

Guides for bases:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=259824453
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=212963016
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=298652132
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=251143821
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233680042
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=335307542

Best of the bestest bases
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624076851054962609/

7 Days to Die underwater Bunker
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35219681589949702/

How to make elevators (and our fortress)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099721556769038/

My base failed at days 7
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187204129422022/

General Question on Bases
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35222218863822797/

Supress zombie spawns?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/38596748250003890/

How do I stop mining zombies?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099721635060682/

Cobwebs- what're they good for?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/38596748025592972/

RE: Iron Bars...
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616189106418681989/

Here a tip from the forum how to make a path zombies can't follow:
Red Eagle LXIX: ...People will find other ways to counter that. Bottom 2 ladder rungs removed and a jump stand placed 1 block away from the ladder. Zeds fall off stand, can only climb one block so can't reach the ladder 2 blocks up. Player jumps over to the ladder instead of up onto it.
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/38596748195208025/#c38596748473110448

I've build a bigger version of the Shoebox with Scrap Iron as a guest house. I did it on a server without creative mod. You need tons of Scrap Iron for this. You can see that I choose to make a wooden ceiling, because I was to lazy to collect more Scrap Iron.

Scrap Iron House from outside
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=318828980
Scrap Iron House from inside
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=318829488

In the game, you can even create, sow and harvest your own fields.
You can build a garden in any area, you only need the right underground: Fertile Dirt.
Before you can sow seeds you have to loosen the soil with the Gardening Hoe (right click).

Some plants can be found in special areas and others can only be found by looting.

Underground gardens don't work because the plants need sunlight.

Farming was very bugged, but alpha 10.1 seems to have a working farming system.
There is a harvesting problem: If your inventory is full and you have only empty space in your belt you don't get what you are harvesting.

After a patch you can have problems with your old garden, be prepared to make a complete new garden after each patch.
10.2 crops not growing
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624076751545560925/

Changed with update 9.2:
1. "•Changed farming. You no longer have to plant near water. Crops also grow at a consistent speed which is in seconds. They still require sunlight and fertile soil (hoe’d or recently placed)"
2. You can plant coffee.
Changed with update 9.3:
"•Changed crops to grow faster (every 40 minutes they advance to the next stage) but yield a little less food.
•Changed it so crops no longer break when walked on."

Changed with update alpha 10:
•Changed farming with a complete overhaul. The hoe now raises dirt and makes the dirt it raises fertile (along with a new fertile dirt texture) and the ground adjacent to it gets flattened out and it clears out the grass and turns it to regular dirt. So you can make these nice pretty looking farm fields now and its easy to tell where to plant as well. Seeds will project where the plant will be planted when you focus on a spot. Also crops won’t break if walked on any more and grass doesn’t grow under your crops or on the dirt adjacent to it that was hoed. If you want to grow grass just place a dirt block. Also we added goldenrod farming.

Example of a roof garden.

Another small garden.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=300083974

Secure Skylight - Farm Compatible?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187203959904019/

A good guide, but patch 9.2 made it mostly unnecessary:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=290890130

In this game, you are not looking for gold, but you can find other ores such as iron and lead in the ground. Since Version 9 you can see ores directly at some cliffs.

You can start with your Stone Axe, but with the Pickaxe, Shovel, Auger or TNT it's easier depending on the kind of ground.
The Auger is clearly the best choice, but it's ver rare and you need gas to operate it.

Another way to find iron is destroying the boulders, you get Small Stones and Iron Fragments.

The distribution of the ores is not totally random, because it depends on the game name:
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099722227457350/#c43099722230126677

New since Alpha 10:
The devs removed nitrate powder and coal from the boulders.
You've got to mine for potassium nitrate and then process it to nitrate powder.

Is there a better way to get potassium nitrate? (Alpha 11)
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618459405706735969/

Potassium Nitrate Powder
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/624076027612291556/

Is Mining too time consuming?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187204122770245/

How to dig a mine shaft: Underground bases?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/4/46476144763963630/

Tungston
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187839146835675/

TNT Strip mining
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099722341545730/

Here's an Easter egg which was found during mining:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=291823830

Most of the game settings can be changed before loading the game.
Since alpha 9 you can choose between a random map or the old Navezgane map. For starters I recommend Navezgane because the POIs are more dense.
If you create two games with the same name the maps should be the same: The Game Name you give the world is also used to set the randomly generated world seed.

Random Seeds
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35221031613024555

New Game Mode: Creative?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187204170241593/

It's wonderful how scalable the game is so that everyone can choose his own challenge:
If you have problems to survive the start, here are example settings for an easy game.
Later you can change these settings step by step.



Known Bug: The option Perc. of Night has a wrong description: A percentage of 50% means equal day and night length.
The option does'nt change the length directly, but it sets how fast the clock is ticking in the night.
For starters, it is advisable to stay inside at night and set the option to the lowest value of 20%.


Toolbelt is the content of the quick access bar.
It's brutal when you lose the backpack with important things like the ammo and it lands in a place where you can not get it back easy. It is easier to cope with losing the belt.
Only in previous versions it was necessary to have the ammunition in the Toolbelt.
The things droped after dying can be found in a backpack at the death position.

When does night time start and end?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/618458030667537307/

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=340616230&tscn=1415789043
The Z key gives you access to all game items if you are playing with enabled Creative/Cheat mode (server parameter BuildCreate = True).


Multiplayer
There is a sub forum for people who are searching a server and other players
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/6/

With alpha 10 the server search has been improved.
At the moment some of the displayed server settings are still numbers you have to translate for yourself.
(click the picture to enlarge)

Explanation for the second row
Servername
Two triangles: Show if it is a random generated map or the map Navezgane
Lock: Server is password protected or not
Shield: EAC (EasyAntiCheat) server or not
Runner: Zombies run neither, only in the night or always
Mountain climber: Difficulty level
Face mask: Feral mode is on or off
Group of players: Shows how many players are actual on the server and player max.
Antenna: Ping
If you click on a server in the browser, you see it's stats on the right side.

Alpha 10:•For servers to show up in the new “standard” category in the server browser the following settings have to be at their default values: DayNightLength = 40, DropOnDeath = 0, DropOnQuit = 1, CraftTimer = 1, LootTimer = 1, EnemySenseMemory = 60, EnemySpawnMode = 3, NightPercentage = 20 – 50, BlockDurabilityModifier = 100, LootRespawnDays = 7, LootAbundance = 100, AirDropFrequency = 72, BuildCreate = false.

Explanations of server parameters:

Server config options PlayerDamageGiven and PlayerDamageReceived are removed since alpha 10. They are now integrated in the game difficulty level.


The admin can make futher changes which are not displayed.

W, A,S und D moves the char.
SPACE jump.
Shift running with high stamina consumption.
1-8 choose an item from the tool belt.
Left mouse button primary action with the choosen item.
Right mouse button secondary action with the choosen item.
Mouse Wheel toggles through the quick access bar or changes the zoom factor of a scope or the map.
Q drops one item.
E opens container, doors, looting dead enemies or takes everything close to hand lying around.
R relaods weapons or during active loot window everything is taken and the window is closed.
C changes to sneak modus as long as pressed.
STRG switches permanent to sneak modus or back.
M shows the map.
F switches light sources like Mining-Helmet or Flashlight on or off.
T opens the global message channel.
TAB opens the inventory
ESC close the inventory or loot window and allows you to exit the game.
Shift Click at item in the inventory puts it into the toolbelt.
Shift Click at item in toolbelt puts it into the inventory.
Shift Click at item in chest (or any container) puts it into inventory.
Shift Right Click with a stack in the inventory splits the stack.
U gives you access to all game items if you are playing with enabled Creative/Cheat mode.
You can change the key assignment if you wish.
F8 shows the Frame Rate (FPS).
F12 is the standard key in Steam for shooting screenshots.

Alpha 10: It seems that now U is the key for creative mod instead of Z.

3rd Person view?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/619569608672711136/

Alpha 12.4
http://7daystodie.com/alpha-12-4-is-out/

Alpha 12
http://7daystodie.com/mini-bikes-physics-bears-a12/

Newest rumors directly from a developer (This blog is only semi-official!)
http://joelhuenink.tumblr.com/

You can switch to older versions if you want:
We’ve decided from now on to always make the last stable build available to re download so here’s how you do it.
1. Open your steam client.
2. Click on Games/View Games Library
3. Right click ‘7 Days to Die’ and select properties
4. From the new popup dialogue box select the ‘BETAS’ Tab
5. Under ‘Select the beta you would like to opt into’ – select ‘Alpha 8.6 Stable’
6. The game will then update and download Alpha 8.6
7. Switching back to the latest version is as easy as repeating steps 1-4 and on step 5 choose the option ‘None – Opt out of all Beta Programs’ and you’ll revert to the latest version

There is an epidemic of survival games, most of them in Early-Access status and with zombies or monsters. Everyone should look at the actual reviews, before buying any of these games.

http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/251570
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/221100/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/252490/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/242760/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/245130/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/223510/
An Early Access game with a demo:
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/108600/
With a science fiction background:
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/227680/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/282860/
http://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/244850/

Games like 7 Days ?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35220315938312749/

Some of the guides are from older versions and are not updated.

A collection of YouTube videos:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=336038712
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=463652442

A German version of the guide:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=288268641
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=302759406

creative mode?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/4/616189106389325384/

3rd person
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/558752450341352104/

No more Flying?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/46476691957387419/

Is it possible to enter the contaminated areas?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/43099721918618390/

Water
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/38596747857468898/

Pro Tips
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/616187839216418619/

How do I set the screen resolution?
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/648817377899204990/

Having the save folder elsewhere
http://steamproxy.net/app/251570/discussions/0/35220315970263081/

Developers Side:
http://7daystodie.com

Wiki for the game:
http://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/7_Days_to_Die_Wiki