Kirov (DayZ)

Hi mate, been a while. I, for one, find your idea interesting but not really fitting the concept. Chernarus in my opinion should remain vast, even if there seem to be areas of "nothing" in-between. Not only it is often not nothing and in the seeming middle of nowhere you can find some interesting structures, both to marvel at and hide a barrel in, but the space itself serves a purpose. Can you imagine vehicles in a 1sqm area? Even if only one spawned, half the time you would hear some engine constantly droning in the distance. And what about hunting, what kind of animals could you successfully chase and hunt in such a small habitat? And personally, I just like having vast spaces all to myself. Until the final game mechanics arrive, I give a wide berth to all those "exciting interactions" because I find them actually somewhat boring and ridiculous. First of all, interactions can't possible give me anything, i.e. there is literally nothing I could use another player for (at the moment, unstucking vehicles is probably the only thing an experienced survivor could use a hand with). Therefore, the possible outcomes are limited to either "okay, we had a nice chat" or "one of us is dead or sent running". Strategically speaking, as far as surviving chances of my toon are concerned (and I really try to "be" my character), approaching another player is the most stupid thing we could do next to drinking gasoline. Perhaps if the game was much harder...? Secondly, DayZ combat "physics", under which everyone runs faster than bullets and punches harder than the Hulk, is... look, I just don't think there's a less authentic FPS on the market, unless we count the first Wolfenstein. 75% of videos I've seen, the only thing they miss is that Benny Hill soundtrack. But I firmly believe that the devs have something up their sleeve to actually make interactions worthwhile and interesting in more ways than "I'm bored with looting and thus ready to die". Until then, I'm just happy with focusing on making my toon thrive and explore, drive around and hunt.

Thanks, I will check it out.

Are you saying that official public servers have regular stash wipes? Because I'm too all for private (HC) servers as I hate hoppers (and hackers seems more prevalent on public servers as well), but after I lost some very good camps on private servers due to those servers being discontinued, I decided to stick to the public ones so that I don't lose my gear. And now you're saying it may be gone, too? If so, can you recommend an EU private HC server which is there to stay, i.e. you can expect its admins to continue paying for it? I even supported some servers with donations, but sooner or later they would go down the drain anyway. That's the biggest, and IMHO, the only drawback. Other than that: OP, I strongly recommend private servers, although I never bothered with whitelisted communities with strange rules. But to each their own, I guess. Let us know if you find something interesting.

OP, I have the same problem. Intel E3-1230 @3,30Ghz GTX 1060 6GB 16GB RAM Win 10 overclocked with MSI Afterburner (+110MHz on core/+550MHz on memory) and I still experience heavy stuttering in urban areas, even when the FPS shows 45-65 (I capped at 65 to get more stable FPS) and my CPU and GPU usage is at 30%ish (average-to-good details). Basically what happens is, as a friend of mine told me, the FPS is an average which doesn’t always show what you really need to see. 30 FPS often works not the way you’d like – 30 frames nicely spread over 1 second, but rather one frame consumes half a second and the rest is spread over the other half. Hence the stuttering despite otherwise good performance ratios. All other games work like a charm at highest details, so I believe that only the poor design of Dayz is to blame. The irony is, I bought my GPU solely for DayZ, not caring that much about other games apart from classic RPGs and TBS. *sigh* I hope the devs are well aware of this. In the long run, poor performance is a huge deal. I don't PVP much anyway, but it's not like I have a choice, as the stuttering I have won't let me.

Before I start, lemme just say that I couldn't care less about base building as I'm a loner in this game and I probably won't go far beyond improvised tents, green barrels and buried stash. But: Real life has nothing to do with anything here, as the troops in Afghanistan don't get to log out in order to deal with RL stuff. If Dayz was "real life", I would be inside my base, I would tend it and I'd wake up when it's under attack. This game being a game, you simply want to punish casual gamers, those who can't take turns on their 24/7 overwatch. For me this is unacceptable and I actively hate those games which expect me either to commit some serious time every day or be forever a push-over in their universe. This is why I don't even touch games like EVE. Our survivors would consider their base the most important thing in their pathetic and short lives. But our players shouldn't worry about their make-believe bases when spending quality time with their families. I'm not saying that bases should be invulnerable, but I'd welcome solutions which you may call "unrealistic". The most unrealistic thing about this entire thread is that your character vanishes from Chernarus when you don't play. Everything else just logically follows.

I agree.

I'm running of out beans to give. I am myself a steadfast anti-fascist and a member of a Polish anti-fascist NGO (NEVER AGAIN Association). While sometimes the Antifa guys can piss me off every now and then (I believe in the rule of law and the 'let's convince the public' approach, while they like to provoke the police over here in Europe and otherwise assume tactics which drive 'normal' people away), the notion that there's anything even approaching symmetry between us and the far-right is completely ridiculous. What they want to bring is nothing less than hell on earth (you know, speaking from the country with all those Nazi concentration camps in). The entire system in the civilized West is rigged against minorities and women, and the counterargument for that is 'look, not all of those constantly-fucked-in-the-ass people are saints'? Don't make me laugh. I wish those white people who preach symmetry so much could spend one day, one fucking day as a black guy or woman. I wonder how many would start shooting the first moment a cab doesn't want to pull over. I'm busy these days so can't write more, but keep it up, emu.

Do you have any more info as to upcoming zed features, apart from technical stuff like UI? I've seen the door-smashing animation for 0.63 and I wonder what else they might be cooking. As for the OP question: One feature I miss the most now (and it kinda hurts my immersion) is zeds being alerted/attracted by each other's shrieks and/or maybe by the sight of their fallen brethren. You need to make your melee fights quick and maybe even drag the body away. I use the bow these days so I rarely care about the shrieks but there are situations when I run head first into a zed and I believe that half the town should know then. Some other stuff I was thinking about: - children; sometimes gangs of children - different kinds of zeds; bulky guys with higher damage, agile guys climbing walls and smashing windows in (make them children for additional pant-shitting experience), 'screamers' who attract others, etc. - zeds reacting to light sources (with the gamma exploit fixed, obviously), bright colours, etc.; but it was always my intuitive impression that they should be really scared of fire - make zeds 'do' various things like feeding on animals/people (either players or spawned just for that), lying prone quietly (sleeping?) or going about other typical zed stuff (fighting over a meal, for instance) - using ladders is of course the next logical step I wait for - what about melee weapons? could some zeds 'remember' how to use these? Everyone has a different vision of how hard the zeds should be, although I believe we can all agree that they should be much harder. My approach is: 'make them hard enough to make teaming up with a random survivor a valid and solid option'. I have no doubt that the current zeds are just placeholders (or 'bugs' if you will) and the end game solution will bring much more for us than the overwhelming feeling of annoyance, not unlike killing mosquitos.

I believe with some tinkering with the files and video settings you should be fine. My Chernogorsk (under GTX 650 Ti) is somewhat ugly but renders at 40+ FPS. GPU overclocking can also help a lot (some 10-15 FPS).

I haven't played it since the wipe. Do I get it right from the pictures that you're between Dolina and Solnichniy? I'm not sure if I can offer a speedy rescue, how long would you be willing to wait? RL these days keeps me busy.

Mate, we both know that the reason people shun nighttime is not that they aim for optimized survival simulation. ;) It's the pew-pew that it's harder. Personally, I love playing nights for additional horror effect. Zombie growls in the night are so much spookier and you can piss your pants when you walk just right on one. It's really a completely gaming experience, realism (i.e. hiding in the attic and waiting until dawn) be damned. Sometimes I truly feel 'alone in the dark'. I have to admit, these days I play just to explore new locations and map changes, so I shamelessly crank up the gamma (nobody's hurt because of that, only my immersion, but it's not my goal at the moment). But I already noticed how dark the nights became again, how the light sources work better (although WTF is it with the gas lamp casting shadow right in front of you? do you wear it on your neck or something?) and how much more solid-grey and unpleasant the increased gamma looks. I can't wait when the devs render gamma cranking useless, hopefully without negating this effect with NVG. And if this means even lower pops, well, quality over quantity.

Epic stories like riding out a disease are much fonder memories to me than a light-hearted PVP in Elektro. I remember vividly (it was a year ago) when I had the most severe case of cholera, contracted by a complete accident when after some fun exchange of punches with my friend I literally misclicked on my cooking pot (and drank water before purification). The disease was long and debilitating, while blood bags were nowhere in sight and antibiotics were virtually non-existent back then. But I made it and when I knew that, my life in DayZ was changed somehow, and I looked around like a man brought back to life. It felt like it'd been a shitload of EXP, and an epic and tense experience, too. Giving up on your toon is simply not worth the story. May your character live long and prosper!

I'm not sure I understand what's going on in this image, what's on the left and right again?

I don't see why I (or the OP) should have any problem with the above situation. KOS is certainly a valid approach to some situations, for some people. The main issue here is that KOS-ing is cancerous, as KOSed players more often that not become KOS players. Hence, instead of enhancing the pallet of possible interactions, KOS only limits it. Some people (on this board) put the KOS figures at some 80% of DayZ interactions. Now, if it was say 20%, this would certainly lend to a sense of mortal danger in our Chernarus adventures. But at 80%, with much of it of the 'screwdriver-in-Bere' variety, it's obnoxious, boring, and yes - predictable. We have always to remember that Dayz, and actually any MMORG, does not and can never deliver a truly unbiased sandbox, an environment neutral to all possible gameplays chosen by players. You mention behaviour filters like they already weren't there. Just like any cuts of canned food would drive many players away, so conversely, right now many people simply refuse to play this current, actually slightly boring 'loot&die' simulator. I didn't buy Dayz out of the sentiment to the mod, I truly wanted a 'post-apoc gritty survival simulator', and fuck me if DayZ is anything of these. The availability of ammo, the way gorka jackets make you impervious to the environment (thus still allowing etc. to comfortably snipe in bad weather), the food spawn, the still somewhat lackluster crafting options - these are all heavy filters already applied on our gameplay. For a while I had some fun with ignoring spawned food and restricting myself to hunting/farming, until I realized that it can be kinda boring and utterly pointless. The current filters in place make DayZ strongly pro-KOS and somewhat discouraging PVE, or at least leaving it to maniacs. I refuse to believe that the current player base is optimum either in figures or in diversity. Actually, I think it's probably the contrary - each COD kid drives away more than one sensible player who'd really fit into the DayZ landscape and contribute more than giggling when saying 'titties'. I read about your morale idea before and I say you have my beans. I think the only way to entice players to explore the mechanics is to make it worthwhile. Adding more slots to crafther leather clothes was a step in a good direction, I'm sure it's not the last one. There is also another layer of the PVP problem, and that is the strategy, as also pointed out by the OP. Fast A-D dancing beats situation awareness and taking advantageous positions. Usually I don't watch streams, but from what I've seen, people either camp sniper spots or do interpretive dancing. They are so super proud of their skills of chambering-a-pistol-and-doing-circles-around-the-guy that they don't even realize how ridiculous this looks like. And first of all, how this has nothing to do with... well, anything really. We can only try to guess the number of potential players who saw it, facepalmed and want nothing to do with DayZ.

To anyone who's not sure yet - focus on the OP's content, not the 'comments' which failed to grasp it. What is at stake here is giving meaning to your interactions, whether everyone walks away from them or not. This is a much subtler issue than any kind of gun control or whatever you think could be imposed. Please give it a moment to consider before jumping to any conclusions, ignore all the ridiculous strawmen in this thread. This is about tapping the actual potential of Chernarus, not about telling you what to do. This is about combat situations which don't call for a Benny Hill sountrack. This is the 'survival' which means more than applying rags to a gunshot wound. This is about making actual, meaningful decisions when meeting another player - counting your bullets, checking health and food status, etc. This is about so much more than the PVP-PVE dialectics.

Who's being patronizing now? I wonder if you ever notice that you've missed the OP's point completely. Nobody called for any kind of control and that was stated quite a few times. All the 'regulations' we talked about are already there - after all, your combat behaviour is already affected by things like ammo spawn, map distances, toon speed, etc... You know what, nevermind.

Amen to everything you said, not for the first time by any means. I must say I'm tired as well, sighing and rubbing my eyebrows as I read on. We've got the most beautiful and immersive realm I've ever seen on a screen, sure, let's make the death-by-screwdriver the horizons of our imagination. The entire hope is with the devs now. I don't expect 0.63 to bring any actual changes to the gameplay, but hopefully the final release will deal with the 'kindergarten-on-meth' situation.

LOL, my feelings exactly when I fight the zeds - a wooden dice-based and turn-based combat, with a huge random factor to boot. I see that there are new animations for 0.63, hopefully new mechanics will follow.

We were just talking in the other thread how this feature is the sufficient condition to make all dayz combat silly and pointless. I hope so much that 0.63 brings some so-needed changes.

Pilgrim, I know and appreciate your input on this site, and I think you're tad overthinking this. We above, like so many other Dayz players I talked to, are not concerned that Chernarus is a dangerous place full of well-armed people with various agendas. Trust me, I want this realm to stay that way. The problem is not action-oriented guys or even trigger-happy bandits, but rather people who drive other players away by bringing nothing more than the same kind of interactions which you usually have with the zeds. I have no doubt that you've played enough to meet your share of such folks and you know better than to go full Sun Tzu on their motivations. If a 13yo kid with a squeaky voice teabags you, it's not because he follows the Path of Black Mamba, and neither Nicaragua nor N Korea have nothing to do with it. He's just bored to death and DayZ perfectly accommodates his "gameplay" and does not penalize stupid behaviour (in the way we are talking about here). I'm putting "gameplay" in quotes because I'm just tired of pretending that a game, any game, can truly accommodate all possible approaches in one setting. This is bullshit. What the people who bludgeon your bambi do is the equivalent of your 6yo nephew whom you're trying to teach the chess but who just throws the pieces at you and insists that it's "fun". No, it's not, not for adults anyway. Let's stop pretending that a guy who takes a dump on your gaming evening brings some variety to this game. He's essentially a human equivalent of a wi-fi failure. I repeat, I have no problem whatsoever with meeting dangerous people who are after my loot or just prefer to dispose of me as a potential threat. But too many players follow literally the same script as the zeds - attack everything that moves, under any conditions. I'm not fed up with being sent back to the coast, I'm fed up with being bored to death by people who lack essential imagination. It's an irony that people who impersonate the survivors already behave like zombified. Play the chess, be super aggressive, just stop pissing on my queen, man.

Someone once told me that there are caves in Chernarus. If so, that would be one landmark I missed. Any info about that? I spent a lot of time wandering among the mountains and rocks in the North, check them out if you didn't. ;)

Where are your usual hunting grounds that you got used to hear the deer so often? I rarely get to hear that strange barking of theirs, wind or not.

On several occasions, I found poor or even extremely poor loot at Tisy/NWAF/helis. I always assumed it'd been just thoroughly looted or that that instance of loot spawn yielded poor results, but judging from that you write, this is more commonplace. So what exactly do you expect from the above locations when you go there? Assuming private servers. Is it normal that I went to Vereshnik and found literally like a pair of boots and a sweater? I don't mean 'leftovers', I mean 'next to nothing'.

I intend to really, really learn the layout of all industrial sites across Chernarus. So far I explored the Novo gas plant and already made quite a number of very useful discoveries. It's definitely worthwhile!

Don't get me wrong, I love 0.62, but after a while I figured that there is indeed something off with ambient sounds, especially with bird chirping. Not only it is super loud, but also it makes Chernarus forests sound like the Amazon jungle. I live in Eastern Europe and I can say that you would never hear this kind of bird songs here outside of pet shops. I'm no ornithologist, but too often I hear something which sounds like a parrot or a bird-of-paradise. I think the ambient sounds are a bit overdone. Still, gotta love 0.62!