-CARNIFEX-

I died in exactly the same manner on my first life, in the dark, on a nearly empty server. Thought it ironic, since I had watched the last 10 min of this video just prior to my own experience...

The laptop I'm on atm is a Sager w/ i7 2860QM, 8gb DDR3 1600, Radeon 6990 2GB, Intel SSD, and DayZ is definitely playable on high settings. So the MSI laptop would no doubt accomplish that. However, as has been said, you're better off (and this is from personal experience) just getting a badass desktop and a decent laptop for school/business/whatever. Unless you live a VERY mobile lifestyle that would prevent having any established desktop gaming machine whatsoever, you will save a lot of cash by just going that route. I have a desktop with i7 950 (@4.1ghz), 6GB DDR3 (@1800), and a GTX 580 1.5gb, and it still puts the laptop to shame in terms of FPS. You could build a rig superior to that for $1200, then buy an adequate laptop for $700, and you would have 2 computers for the price of that single MSI laptop. Just something to consider before you spend about $2000...

Just some thoughts... If you spawn on the eastern part of the coast, you can run north to Berezino in 15 minutes or less. The SW section of the city (it's a little removed from the rest of Berezino proper) has a hospital and TWO supermarkets, all within visual site of eachother (as well as some decent residential spawns). I almost always seem to find a backpack in one of the supermarkets (which will let you fill up on blood, morphine and epi pens at the hospital), and generally also find the majority of necessary survival gear (a knife, matches, compass, binocs, etc.). You will also usually find at least a Makarov and/or a relatively crappy primary, but it should be enough to take care of zombies as needed, until you can score a proper military-grade firearm... Then, given the general flatness of the terrain, you can run west to Stary or the airfield within 20-30 minutes, easily. You can go about getting a "real" gun, ammo, any other supplies you don't have, killed by a sniper @ the NWAF, etc. etc. etc... I did this very route just about a day ago, and it was surprisingly quick. I would guess that I was back up north and geared sufficiently for PVP within 90 minutes. The same can likely be said of Cherno/Elektro routes, but they seem to be riskier in my experience. If I start to the west, I just hit up some tree stands on my way up north to Zelenogorsk - the supermarket there is really easy to get in and out of. Then you can just head to Stary/NWAF to round out the rest of your gear. Again, between 1 and 2 hours and you are likely geared fairly well. Playing with friends, and/or on low-pop. servers, can make this exponentially easier. You may spawn on the coast alone, but allies can stake out the traditionally dangerous areas up North so that when you get there you can go about gearing up much more quickly. Then get on something with more people when you want some action...

The first vehicle I ever encountered was a GAZ. I looked over the roof of it and saw someone approaching where my friend had been standing watch over me, and at that same moment I saw the "GAZ" nameplate pop up and thought that a survivor was sneaking up on my friend to murder him. I asked him if he had moved, for some reason he said no, and I shot. Well, it turns out he HAD moved, and was moving back into position, and "GAZ" really wasn't a bandit after all...woops! He was left with less than 4000 life, we had no medical supplies, and we were near the coast. He asked me to put him out of his misery, and my .45 obliged. He still jokingly gives me crap about it.

I had a guy spawn behind me inside a buidling and try to kill me with a silenced Bizon. He shot me at least 3 times, if not twice that, and I managed to run a short distance to cover, turn, and kill him with a burst from an AK74 Kobra. Only then, after bandaging, did I see my health: 9800. I literally lol'd. He had a DMR + 10 mags to boot. Glad that he is a bad shot and the Bizon is really weak. Point being, besides having a lot of bullets per magazine and being quiet - both of which make it good at killing zeds - it's not a very useful gun IMO. Any PVP with it is probably going to leave you cursing.

Granted, in real life you don't have some magical quantitative measure of your health that you are always aware of. But on the flip side, if you take a hit you probably have some idea of just how badly it hurt you. As an indicator of blood level, it would be cool IMO if your exact blood level was briefly displayed after taking damage, but would quickly go away (think of how long you have to see where you are when you first spawn in, or less). It would be up to you to be attentive to have a decent idea of where you are at, blood-wise, without the need to have it displayed prominently at all times. This allows you to see how much damage each hit did to you, but then after that it would be up to you to remember and/or rely on the in-game signs of blood-loss to figure out your health. I suppose when bleeding out it would be flashing pretty often, so it would need to be displayed in a minimalist fashion to not look too obtrusive, or perhaps even forego completely any indication of bleeding/starving damage (other than the obviously visible in-game signs...).Just a thought. Overall, I like the idea of getting rid of the monitor.

My friend spawned in on the coast, and had to make the lonely journey to NWAF while I drank beer and reflected on how good it is to not be in his shoes - it was pitch black and he literally was just running full-tilt up north using his compass, essentially oblivious to everything around. So once he finally got close to the NWAF, we decided to hop over to a low-pop. server with better visibility. The one we join has 4 people including us, and is right in the midst of the day. Should be good. We approached the high value barracks, and once we got in sight (but with no zeds spawned), he went for a smoke while I guarded his body. Feeling lucky, I decide to run over and check the barracks real quick - I can probably be back by the time he returns, and I've been waiting to do something, anything. So I run over, avoid zeds, get inside, and find tons of ammo and supplies, but no great weapons. Oh well. As I sneak back out, I manage to aggro a zed, and as I flee through the woods to lose him, I eventually wind up just outside the fence that encircles most of the airfield. At this point my friend has returned, and I am circling around to meet back up with him. Right when I get to where I can see him, he says "Is that you?" I replied with an affirmative, but realize upon looking closer at him that he is looking the wrong direction, back towards the woods/barracks. I tell him as much, and say that I must have managed to draw the attention of just about the only other person on the server. We group up and watch from a few bushes/trees, and this other survivor is definitely looking for someone. Me. Little does he know that the hunter has now become the hunted. We both take aim, and I tell my friend I will fire on his mark. He shoots a burst (and admits likely missing), which spooks the bandit right as I start pegging him with single shots. He turns, takes a couple of steps, pauses, and then blinks out of existence. My first real experience with getting robbed of a kill by alt-f4. Hopefully he wound up back on a coast somewhere, bleeding.

All of these complaints about graphical issues are pretty hard to address without more concrete information. You're lucky if someone includes what video card they are using, let alone driver version. I won't claim that it's a fix for everyone, but ALL of my graphical issues were fixed by upgrading 4-6 month old NVIDIA drivers. There are certainly things outside of the scope of DayZ itself that might be causing issues for people, but without more information it's hard to suggest fixes for anyone. So what I'm trying to say is, if you are having these problems, include more information about your setup. Even if you included it once in this thread 5 days ago, and post again, it doesn't hurt to reiterate what you are working with for people looking at your latest post(s). Don't just say "I went from 1.7.2.4 to 1.7.2.5 and I still have problems! Rocket sux!" - it's not helpful in the least, and leaves little room to try and help your issues.

I paid $25 to be able to play the alpha mod, so I would think that a well-developed standalone would have to be worth $40-50. I hate paying $60 for games, as so few these days seem to really be worth it, and can't really fathom the people dropping $100+ on collector's editions, but to each his own I guess. I'm not a poor scrub just scraping by, but I could think of much better uses for the money - beans and ammo for the apocalypse, etc etc etc. That said, if a lot of additional features are present, and the current features are fine-tuned into a well-oiled zombie death machine, then $60 wouldn't be a big deal....

I noticed that a lot of people have failed to mention what drivers they're running. Anyone who doesn't have the absolute latest graphics drivers for their respective cards, and is having the graphical glitches still, might try updating drivers as well. After the patch, I was still having occasional glitch-nightmare flare-ups, while my friend has so far had none; I have an EVGA GTX 580, he a 570. The only other difference was that I was running 296.10, and he had the latest NVIDIA drivers (301.something?). After I updated as well, I played for 2+ hours without a single glitch, and I definitely was in areas where it would have been happening previously. Perhaps it will come back with a vengeance, but it appears to be fixed thus far. Just something to consider and try if you haven't already...

Out of the 3 people (myself included) I know playing DayZ, 2 of us have had this happen so far in the past ~ 4 hours combined playtime (over a 24hr period). So instead of being able to play the game with your friends, starting at a point where you all had been the last time you were playing, it then becomes a matter of running for 30+ minutes to get anywhere close to meeting up with them, hoping you don't get killed along the way. Only then can you resume where you had (thought you) left off. It feels rather sisyphean. Hope this gets resolved, because these are not the undocumented changes lulz I was hoping for...

What a night. I've been trying to teach my friend, who can only play about 2 nights a week (and only for a few hours each night), the ropes of this game, when I myself am a relative noob. We started off trying to meet up at the Balota airstrip, and eventually succeeded. I killed a guy named "Hades" in the interim, and he seemed to think I was a prick for doing so, but I was hungry and thirsty and out of tasty beverages and snacks. What's a survivor to do? Anyway, we dicked around trying to meet up for a while, and managed to on several occasions, and stayed near to Balota. After a brief foray away and subsequent return, at the far kwanza hut was a pristine GAZ. At this point I think something fishy is going on, and we decide to cautiously enter. My friend sets up on overwatch while I run out to the car - note that this is my first time ever operating any, ANY, vehicle in DayZ/ARMA; also note that this happens to be a server with nametags on, which I am not used to! I go over to the driver's side, looking over the roof, and see a figure running out from the building...some "GAZ" fellow (hurr durr hurr...). I say, "Hey, I think I see someone named GAZ! Are you running around right now?" Now, for some reason, my friend answers that question with, "No, light that fucker up!" So I do, only to immediately realize - to both of our horror - that it is indeed he that I have just injected hot lead into. I ran over and bandaged him, but he had less than 2000 life at this point. We shuffle back into the kwanza hut, with me offering profuse apologies while asking why he said he wasn't running around, and he pretty much gives up on playing for the night. But I convince him to soldier on, and while he waits there I go back for the car. We're going to make a Cherno-or-bust run, knowing we're probably as good as dead. While I'm away from him for a brief moment, he encounters someone, and manages to kill them with a revolver - all while he has blurred vision, barely any blood, and is literally passing out under any sort of stress. It turns out this person has: a ghillie suit (was wearing it), range finder, GPS, nightvision, AS50, epi-pen, antibiotics, ALICE pack, all survival gear, etc etc etc.I take everything of use besides the weapon - I figure there's at least a decent chance this is all hacked, and don't want to take any sort of ridiculous weaponry. My friend resigns himself to death given his poor life, and I oblige him with a .45 to the head. Unfortunately, he respawned in Elektro, where he went on to have a few adventures of his own before calling it a night. But as for myself, I got in the GAZ, and started driving eastbound...and down. After a short way, I got out to check a building for food (that dead survivor had had awesome gear, but nothing edible...), and had to run from a zed. I managed to lose it in some bushes, but it had hit me, and I somehow broke my leg and passed out before I could bandage. So I had to watch as I bled out from over 11k life, unconscious and never stablizing. It sucked. I spawned again, this time on the outskirts of Komarovo. Still close to where I just died, all is good in Chernarus. Except...it seems Komarovo has been nuked. And in front of me, not 100m away, is a fully functional bus. Empty. Wtf? At this point, I know something is up. There are shenanigans afoot. But I can't resist driving that big rig, so I hop in and make my way over to Balota. As I barrel down the airstrip with nothing to lose, I can see another surivor in the woods behind the airstrip, watching and thinking he's sneaky in his Yankee blue jeans. As I approach my old GAZ (and my old corpse), I park the bus so as to shield me for a minute while I loot the corpse. I manage to regain everything, EVERYTHING, and I feel great! I run a short distance away, look back to make sure I am clear of followers, and log to go smoke. Did I mention that at this point I'm feeling great? I come back a few minutes later, log in to the same server (mistake?), and spawn in the right location, but with the same gear as a fresh survivor (i.e. - essentially nothing...). Jesus Histrionic Christ! I'm not far from where the car, and my former corpse, lay. I run over, and the corpse now has the identical gear that I myself am now sporting. KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!! Needless to say, this has all been frustrating. My friend calls it a night after killing some people before himself dying in Elektro, and I decide to hop in the cursed GAZ and drive full speed towards Cherno. Cherno or bust! On the way, at the gas station, there were two cars with survivors inside! (thanks, cheap nametag feature, for making it so obvious!) Naturally, I ram into the side of the closest car - another GAZ - while yelling "Arriba! Arriba! Andale, andale!" I back up and ram it again for good measure, while the second vehicle swings around to ram me and protect his friend. When he fails at doing so, and instead rams his friend, he decides to instead hop out and point his AS50 - wait, what!? - at me. After one shot, old Gazzer was done for. I lamely turned in circles at 5 kph while he lined me up and put Gazzer out of her misery. I hopped out, and made it 2 steps before being taken down like some sort of African bush grazer. So, after finishing another beer and reflecting on life for a bit, I decide on one more go. I join a different server this time, and again spawn right outside of Balota (my spawns were amazingly lucky tonite, tbh), and make a beeline for the airfield. In the woods outside of the control tower, I hear flies abuzz. It's pretty dark, but after I look around I find 2(!) survivors' corpses. Between them, they have everything I lost previously and then some. And all is right in the world. It just goes to show that you should never give up, even when the bullshit is neck high and you are questioning if you want to keep playing. DayZ giveth and DayZ taketh away. Accept it, keep playing, and soon enough you will be having fun again.

200+ matches in a box. If you knew how to light a fire with only a couple of matches, or even one, that would last a loooooong time. Might as well be infinite for game purposes.

This is a good route for avoiding contact. My most successful survivor so far went that route and had pretty much all the survival essentials by the time I hit Zeleno.

In the forest Northwest of Nadezhdino, to the west of the lake that lies just north of the town, there is a maneating tree. I just died by crawling too close to its roots, losing a DMR and all the essentials in the process. I made it back to the same tree about an hour later after running through the outskirts of both Elektro and Cherno (and then north...). I heard flies abuzz, and as I excitedly crouched down to search for my gear, my leg snapped causing me to pass out (I had figured that, crouched instead of prone, I might avoid injury...). I woke up with just over 9000 life, listening to flies mockingly buzz me and my now-broken leg, beneath the Tree of Doom. I simply crawled back into its roots, and the sweet embrace of death. I love DayZ, but it always sucks to die to a glitch, instead of to zeds/bullets...