Targeting, vision and memory
The zombie continuously locks onto the nearest valid living entity it can see: a live target is acquired by line of sight alone. Hearing never locks anything, it only writes down a position to go and investigate. It switches target only when a newly picked-up one is meaningfully closer than the current one (configurable switch margin), otherwise stays locked onto its current target, and retains in memory the last known position for about 10 seconds after total loss of contact.
Authoritative "nearest"
The vanilla targeting goals are removed at spawn so that the mod's "nearest"
rule always takes priority. Excluded from lock-on: other zombies, bosses, armor
stands, any living entity taller than 5 blocks (giants and large modded mobs), and subjects in
creative/spectator mode (unless targetCreativePlayers is
explicitly enabled, disabled by default). With targetPlayersOnly on, every
non-player is rejected on top of that.
Vision
Line of sight computed in steps of 0.5 blocks, blocked only by genuinely opaque blocks. Glass and ice, being transparent, never block a zombie's line of sight.
Hearing
A noise only carries if it is actually produced: walking (sufficient speed and subject not
crouching), an action (attack, placing, mining, eating, drinking), or a cry of pain. The range is not fixed. It
starts at soundBaseRadius (24 blocks) and grows with how loud the noise is: a player
footstep carries 24 blocks times 1 + the distance covered in the tick, capped at double, so 48 blocks at most.
A loud action (breaking a block, an arm swing) carries a flat 24 × soundLoudMultiplier,
that is 48 blocks by default.
Silence truly protects. A subject standing still, crouched and silent behind an opaque wall is completely undetectable: neither seen nor heard.
Short-term memory
Once the target is completely lost (neither seen nor heard), the zombie keeps heading toward its last known position for 200 ticks (10 seconds) before abandoning the trail. Any live detection, sight or hearing, instantly overwrites this memory with the actual position picked up. Upon arriving at the memorized point and finding nothing there (less than 2.5 blocks of distance), it abandons immediately rather than wandering on the spot.
Configuration
| Field | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| forceNearestTarget | Removes the vanilla targeting goals at spawn. | true |
| targetCreativePlayers | Allows targeting of creative/spectator players (field lives in FlowConfig, not TargetingConfig). | false |
| targetSwitchMargin | Stickiness margin: only switches target if the new one is closer than (current distance ÷ margin). | 1.5 |
| soundBaseRadius | Base radius of a normal noise, then scaled by how loud it is. | 24.0 |
| soundLoudMultiplier | Radius multiplier for a loud noise (block break, arm swing). | 2.0 |
| soundMoveThreshold | Minimum speed to produce a movement sound. | 0.08 |
| soundArriveDistance | Abandon distance upon arriving at the last known point. | 2.5 |
| targetMemoryTicks | Memorization duration after total loss of contact. | 200 (10s) |
| failOnAiConflict | Makes the detection of a zombie-AI-altering mod fatal. At false, the mod starts despite the conflict and behavior becomes unpredictable, see Compatibility. | true |