Kirov (DayZ)

Yeah, that's what I meant - in August 2017, there was no excuse to give a year-off deadline. Big screw-ups already had happened before. Recently, a friend of mine told me that it seems that I have had put a lot of work into not being disappointed. "They constantly have a year-long delay, deliver 10% of the promised content, and you still do your best not to act dismayed." Darn, didn't know I'm that of a fanboy. But something did snap and although I was usually very keen to check out new updates, this time I don't want to participate in stress tests of what I see is a half-baked, unstable version of something which will take another half a year to flesh out and become playable. Another thing that was pissing me off were status updates, completely oblivious to the delay and our finger-tapping. Some three-four months of 'being very excited' that 'we're halfway through the ladder-climbing animation'. Well, I wouldn't exactly call that 'excitement'. And recently I bought Arma 3 and since then nothing will convince that the DayZ team is properly staffed. I've heard the 'new engine' story a thousand times and sorry, I just don't find it convincing (or at least convincing enough to account for the entire under-delivery).

So can I play the stress tests or not? My list of servers doesn't seem to have changed, only 0.62 there.

I was like this for some three years. "Shush, don't rush the devs lest they release a less-than-perfect game!". It seems the team heard me and decided to kick back for a while. Well, be careful what you wish for.

There's a YT video from the devs, uploaded in August 2017, when they say we're 'just a month or two away' from the Beta. :) I'm not even saying I'm that impatient, but it's actually getting funny that rarely anyone is as poor at something as our team is at giving time estimates. They're like that download timer in the older versions of Windows: "download in 3 months... no wait, 2.5 hours... no wait, 1 year...". It's actually kinda impressive to be that wildly off 100% of the time.

According to some previous SR, lighting will get serious overhaul in 0.63. Check out the reports from February, there are numerous pictures in one of them.

It is not the overall number of the stars which was amiss, but their relative brightness. I have even used a star-gazing software to confirm that. Basically, the devs amped up very dim stars but left the brightest as they were. More about it if you care: https://forums.dayz.com/topic/237910-let’s-talk-about-the-night-time-shall-we/

At least the first of images, the one with the Moon, is 100% correct. The "before" stars are way off, while the "after" image is so much closer to the reality. For this only, I'm so happy to pop in for this SR.

Awaiting BETA, I was wondering what your thoughts are on Chernarus by night. I’m asking especially players who actually enjoy playing nights and don’t go “meh” and crank up their gamma at the sunset. As we all (hopefully) cross fingers for the gamma exploit to be largely nerfed in 0.63, there are still two things I am concerned about – night vision and night sky. 1) Night vision Let me start with one tremendous job the devs did, even though I’d prefer they didn’t. In DayZ, as in real life, I fucking hate that period of twilight-but-still-not-night, that dark-reddish-slowly-turning-black which takes place close to the sunset, especially in areas where the sun itself is not visible. My eyes are always sore and I need to squint, both in real and in game, so bravo for that! Fucking A for making me uncomfortable in a very familiar way. But this bring me to the real problem, which is that the night vision in DayZ is way way off from what it should be. I mean, the basic ideas are there – that night is dark, that light sources are bright, that vision accommodates to darkness – but my feel is that this is all quite poorly implemented in a very unrealistic way. First of all, people in RL actually need light sources at night. That’s what is meant by us being diurnal and all. Without light, very little can be accomplished and many areas (with obstacles or rough terrain) can’t be effectively traversed. While going dark has its perks (accommodation), there’s still a wide range of activities we still need light for. However in Dayz, even you don’t increase the gamma, light sources are actually harmful to your vision, and I don’t mean the accommodation issues. Basically what happens in Dayz, you see the light source and the light source only, and not that much of anything else. This applies to campfires, gas lamps, torches and chem lights – they all just make you (partially) blind. The gas lamps used to be better, but now they cast your shadow in front of you, so you have a dark area before you and a bright lamp to your right. Only the head torches and weapon/pistol flashlights are useful for illumination (still not like they should be). And the regular flashlights, the ones we used to spawn with, are fucking useless on 1pp as their circle of light is not even visible (it’s too close to your feet if I remember correctly). The head torch is also unrealistically good in that it should be much more visible to other players than it is right now. If you don’t direct the light straight at their faces, the others may not even have a clue that there is a light source in use nearby, right until they notice the circle of light on the ground. Basically, the best current solution is to forego light sources altogether and just rely on accommodation, even at dark cloudy nights when humans should see squat shit (remember that there are no city lights, so moonless nights should be really dark). DayZ night vision is actually quite forgiving here and after a while you can make out most of the loot on the ground bar plugs or pens. And that’s without the gamma trick or even checking the inventory tab too often. And one final question – how many of you actually bother to turn the headlights on when driving? I don’t find them just useless, I find them detrimental to a smooth and safe drive. Setting aside the separate issue if some actions should be unavailable without sufficient light (“stitch yourself up” or even reload), the nights should be darker while light sources should illuminate the immediate area more effectively. As it is right now, light sources illuminate only themselves, while everything else is even in deeper shadows. 2) Night sky Ok, I understand that this is not going to make most players too excited, but I’m sure that I can’t be the only amateur astronomer here. While I really appreciate the effort to render the stars correctly (the Fallout games just put a random bunch of lights in the sky), the overall feel is just one of a poorly-made planetarium. First of all, the relative brightness of stars is completely off, which makes many constellations very difficult to make out. In real life, it takes literally seconds to find Ursa Mayor or Cassiopeia in most conditions, while in Dayz it takes me long minutes or is even next to impossible. Ursa Mayor is currently “above” Ursa Minor and is largely out-of-range (I mean in the game), but the other day I was trying to outline Cassiopeia, even with the help of a star-gazing software (Stellarium) and failed after like 10 minutes (Cassiopeia is that distinct “W” shape, but good luck finding that in Chernarus). Really the only distinct features of the Dayz sky is Orion and the Pleiades (that small dense cluster of stars in Taurus). Can someone please tell me that I'm not the only player bothered by that? We need to also remember that there would be no light pollution from city lights or air traffic, so there should be not only much more stars but a very distinct Milky Way, which the designers apparently forgot about. And no guys, the stars do not become bigger dots on zoom, there are too distant for that. I hesitate if I should even mention the five planets visible to naked eye, or if I should embarrass myself with admitting to a wet dream of gazing at deep space objects (nebulae, etc.) in the Dayz sky through scopes. And what do you think, guys? How do you enjoy your nights and what would you like to see in the final release?

Much as I appreciate your valiant defence of the dev team, I believe that your 'stricly no questions asked about the development because it's childish and self-entitled' policy may go a tad too far. ;) Still, 9/10 for good intentions.

Many thanks for your answers and don't sweat it if you can't reply! I know I'm asking very specific questions so if you don't know, you don't know. Yeah, a "DayZ specialist" sounds like something I'd like to have on my resume. Very early I started to put things on things or count stuff in order to figure out how this world works. The only thing that is stopping me right now from going further is the interim status of almost all solutions. With 1.0, I imagine I'll help with the wiki, however there's gonna be a lot of stuff we won't figure out on our own (just recently I gave a chase to a pack of wolves, but they got stuck in a lake so I still don't know what exactly happens, how far they run, who becomes the next alpha, etc.). If you could mention to Peter that there will be a team of 'specialists' that wants to work with him, that will be great. Of course, I'll still cherish the pleasure of independent discovery. Again, thanks for popping by!

I have more questions if you're still around (or anyone else who knows the answers); 1) What is the devs' endgame stance toward disclosing game mechanics? I mean stuff like car damage mechanics or the number of deer spawns - something which we can't discover on our own. I have this impression that entire new features have been added without explicitly mentioning it (it was only by chance that I discovered the 'bury ashes' option). Do the devs wait for the final release or do they want to leave such analyses to us? 2) Will the midget POV in 1PP ever get fixed? Yeah I read somewhere here how the character height is ok because something something, but it's clearly and obviously not. Driving a truck feels like driving a go-kart. Will we ever get to see more than 1.5m of the road ahead? 3) Will the beta have any performance-related improvements? I have GTX 1060 and stuttering 30 FPS in Vishnoye, while MSI Afterburner says I'm using some 33% of both my GPU and CPU. I'm afraid much work is still to be done despite 0.61. Is this aspect getting any love at the moment?

Interesting. Are you sure, vaguely recalling or just guessing? And why do you think that is so? I know next to nothing about programming, but can't think of a reason preventing such a change by the very game creators.

First I have a question - can someone with programming experience tell me what the Debug Plains really are, in essence? I mean, why not a force field, which is equally arbitrary? What's the purpose here? And I know that there's no persistence or loot on the Debug, but what happens when you get caught there on the restart? Are there any special rules for our toons? I noticed recently that it actually rains (when it rains) on the Debug Plains and I wondered why bother. And coming back to the topic: I see three problems with this idea: 1) The 'jungle' with zeds and predators like the one you mention is just going to make the map smaller, and I'm afraid it's a big no-no for me. Besides there's no reason to do that (i.e. it's just a waste of content already in game). 2) The way you implement barriers is very important. The increased infected spawn will not only be irrelevant (due to the aircraft simply flying over) but actually counterproductive. I mean, introduce that feature and literally the first thing I'm gonna do is try to penetrate that line with grenades and big guns. What you described is a challenge/quest, not an obstacle of any kind. And many other kinds of barriers could be considered 'unrealistic' and actually kill immersion (come on, nobody's that stupid as to actually try and wall off a country or its part oh wait). Yeah, I understand that the Debug Plains are 'unrealistic', but they may be actually easier to swallow than a fence which pretends to be a man-made quarantine, in the same sense that I'd rather talk with C3PO that a 'human-like' robot. At least the devs are honest and blunt here: "The game ends here, go back. Oh yes, you can go farther, but it's pointless and potentially risky, so WTF would you?'. 3) But first and foremost - you're trying to solve a problem which I believe is not there in the first place. Are you really so lonely in Novy Sobor because everyone else hangs out in Stary Yar? For I have a hard time believing that people tend to flock there in any considerable extent. Yeah, people like to set up their camps at the borders, but it's hardly an issue. The Western strip is as welcoming to campers as it is to camp-robbers. As to the North/North-East, your camps may be safer there, but also much harder to reach, and don't forget the spawn points in Berezhki and around. But really, people just don't go there, or maybe they check out the car spawns. For faraway lands, there is always a trade-off between security and accessibility, and few people bother. At best, they drop their mil tents and go back. Obviously there's more traffic around Tisy, Myshkino and Kamensk. But all in all, I believe the edges serve the purpose intended by the designers.

I'm so sick and tired of the self-proclaimers 'programmers' who tell me how easy it is to make a game that I appreciate any input from any person who was actually close to the development process of any game, and triple that for folks close to the DayZ dev team. SRs are full of lines like "so we did water and some animations recently", which doesn't give me any context as to how time-consuming it was, how much of that they already have, what else they could be going if not that, etc. OTOH, Raptor's Q&A above, while quite succint, helped me imagine some issues and processes in the development. Maybe even a separate work position just for that wouldn't be a bad idea?

Maybe it doesn't take my sleep away, but I'd still really appreciate if you could get some info for us. I try to follow SRs, but nothing beats a team member actually popping by to have a talk. Especially in the current impatiently-waiting-for-BETA moods. So again, thanks! I'm asking about the medical system also because I want the team always to remember that there is a large share of players who go 'meh' on new weaponry info but instead are eager to scroll down for environment-related features. Looking forward to these in .63! I'm sure the team will deliver.

I think that's the vaguest possible answer you could give me, but I still accept that you can't say anything more specific at this moment. ;) I just wanted to point out that we've been reading about the upcoming stuff sometimes very long in advance (the Littlebird, which to many players runs contrary to the Dayz experience anyway, but also RPGs, mushrooms or bears), while we still have absolutely no idea how the medical system could possibly look like and i.e. if we get to have and stave off the common cold (which IMHO should be the standard every-day consideration for every player at least in colder months). This is the one topic which hasn't been mentioned by anyone for a long while, is what I'm saying. But anyways, I'm waiting patiently and in BETA I trust. Thanks for showing up to talk to us!

Many thanks for your reply, but this sentence gave me a pause. It's been a long time since I saw a syringe, but those brownish antibiotics vials still spawn. And I'm quite sure they do nothing yet. I'd like to use it as an excuse to ask about the medical system overhaul, as the fact that nobody mentions it makes me very concerned. As it currently is, the entirety of the medical system can be practically boiled down to 'wear 6 rags' -> 'apply when bleeding'. That's really that. Diseases are ridiculously easy to avoid and for seasoned players usually result from a misclick. Morphine was good for the ATC bug, now it's good for PvP situations only (otherwise you always have time for a splint). Epi and transfusion stuff is for group PvP only, obviously. At my beginnings of DayZ, I used to carry around a full first-aid kit, because, you know, a post-apocalyptic scenario. I imagine medicine would be something quite sought after, but now it's just 6 rags for me. I believe that this aspect seems to have gotten less love than literally any other element in the game which I can think of now. Why is that and can we expect something more interesting than blood bags for Tisy pew-pews? Something that, hopefully, could make you put 'an experienced medic' on your Dayz resume?

I have a question, and not a passive aggresive one to boot - what is the devs' stance towards human AI? Will we have any kind of NPC, either in scripted events (I think I could handle that) or traders/factions (please tell me it's not going to happen)?

Guys, I have a couple of figures which you haven’t asked for. First things first, how fireplaces work in general. It starts with the kindling, then the first stick burns longer, next sticks burn faster, then first wood goes longer, next woods burn faster, then the book (!) is consumed, then there’s a period when flames are on but without any fuel and you have time to add some. This is the followed by a super short period where the flame is out but you can add fuel and “blow air”. The simple fireplace burns through fuel the fastest, the 5-stone option takes considerably longer, and the 8-stone furnace gives you enough of free time to loot a town. I believe that the presence of firewood may affect the duration of both kindling and sticks. Bark burns longer than rags which burn longer than paper. You can stack rags as usual. @Mantasisg, you’re right – a 1 bark 1 stick campfire burns on for some 1:30 min (+11 sec for igniting). However, this should be enough to go from completely drenched to dry or slightly damp. And isn't it the basic purpose of campfires? Tree bark burns 20sec in simple fireplace to more than 30sec in furnace. Rags burn a bit shorter. Paper – 10sec in simple, up to 18 sec in furnace. Sticks – the first one goes from some 45s (simple) to 1:15 (furnace). Next ones go from 25s (simple) to 50s (furnace). Firewood – the first takes 2:05 (simple) to 4:05 (furnace). Next ones take from 1:40 (simple) to 3:15 (furnace). Book - I believe it can add some 1:15 min, but it’s bugged (didn’t disappear from the screen), so I’m not sure. Fun fact, it burns after the wood. I got very varied results, which may indicate either some randomness or various effects. Basically, I’ve discovered that the campfire mechanics seem much more complicated than it seems. I used to think that each attachment has a burn time and that’s that. However, it seems that if you tinker with your campfire by adding a small piece, you can greatly prolong the life of the next burning piece. For example, add 1 bark immediately after the 1 bark is gone, and the following stick lives for 40sec more. Similar things happened when I added single sticks when firewood was on. However, as we still can’t tell features from bugs, I guess it’s best we wait with more precise research. @Sqeezorz, remember to carry the ice-axe, the stones work fantastic! I’ve created a Behemoth of the furnaces (1 bark, 1 paper, 6 rags, 5 firewood, 8 stones) and it burnt for solid 30 minutes without any additional assistance. Even after the last piece is out, you still have 3:20 min to find more fuel and some 10sec to “blow air”. And it’s not even the biggest possible option as I didn’t know about books back then. The map can’t be used as kindling at the moment. I hear your question, guys – no, you can’t. You can’t pour gasoline on the fireplace. I haven’t checked the household hearths and barrel fires yet.

Coming back on topic - I just checked that the flashlight works very fine on 1pp when you simply raise your hands. So basically the problem lies in the light sources which you constantly carry in your 1pp FOV, like gas lamps, torches, flares and chem lights. Although in RL you obviously do see what you carry, you tend to hold your torch or whatnot more to the side and above, at the level of your head. I worry that the devs are not coming up with a special animation for that. I hope we won't get stuck with blinding light sources, or at least they'll illuminate a bigger area. Thanks OrLoK

Yeah, I remember this image. Wasn't it a proof that the things are going in the right direction and the devs try to make the night something different than a less colourful day? Obviously, the gamma thing has to be fixed, otherwise this entire conversation is idle talk. But in my opinion, this needs to include two elements: 1) playing without light should be really painful (possibly even with some actions "light-sensitive", so e.g. you can't craft in the dark), 2) light sources should be improved so they provide more illumination and less blindness.

I would agree if not for the fact that making common constellations more conspicuous is actually a step towards realism. When I said that it takes me seconds to find Ursa Major, I wasn't gloating with my stargazing skills, it's just what anyone can do. In fact, most people don't even have to look for the constellation - sometimes it just sort of hangs there (when "below" the Polar Star) and people just notice it when driving or something. It's literally the third most recognizable object in the sky, after the Sun and the Moon, although I noticed people tend to think that it's Ursa Minor. The thing is, even in a light polluted place it's quite easy to find your way around the sky. I live in Warsaw, Poland (some 1.7 million people without agglomeration) and the following can be easily distinguished by any amateur from any city park: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor's Polar Star and the rear two stars (the "sickle" itself is not visible as the stars between are quite dim), Cassiopeia, Cygnus (the cross shape), Lyra, Aquila's Altair with its right-hand neighbour Tarazed, Boötes (with its main star Arcturus). The fall/winter is much less spectacular and comes with many dim stars, but you can still rely on: Orion, Auriga (the full ring), Taurus (the Pleiades and the Aldebaran triangle), Gemini's Kastor & Pollux. This is really Astronomy 101 available instantly to anyone taking a walk with a friend who happens to know a few of them. There are a few more important constellations like Hercules, Perseus, Corona Borealis, Andromeda & Pegasus, Leo, but with these I believe you need to know what you're looking for. Also, people tend to notice Sirius, but mistakenly think it's Venus. Which reminds me that Venus itself can be so bright that people think it's either a Boeing or a comet (seriously). Yeah, that lady is really missing on our DayZ sky. And let's not forget the Milky Way! Without the light pollution, it should be instantly visible to anyone who doesn't even care.

Yep, you said it, my bad. I like your story and I've quite a number of similar ones, too. I still fondly remember the first zed that appeared right in my headtorch... quite pant-shitting, especially that I had to alternate between a gas lamp and a weapon, like in Doom 3. I believe that playing at night can be a very exciting experience and different enough from the standard one that everyone could enjoy it every now and then. However, the main drawback is that you just know that most of the others increase the gamma, which makes many people do exactly the same. After all, nobody wants to be a clear target to someone they can't even see. This is why I'm looking forward to the gamma fix hinted some time ago and that it comes with 0.63. I imagine many people will be driven away by the fact that it's dark at night, but many others will start to enjoy it much more. And with the light sources "fixed", it could become a very important and strategic issue to use them or not. With all the pieces in (like strong zeds etc.), a solo experience at night can be potentially very intense and story-building (just like you remember your journey). Fingers crossed!

Interesting, as I can't say it matches my experience. While I can't recall seeing my hand or not, what I do remember is that even after a long time in the woods (it may take more than an hour to fully accommodate) I could sometimes see only two kinds of black - the blackness of trees against the blackness of the sky, i.e. silhouttes of the canopies were the only thing that let me walk (ok, maybe I could make out brighter tree trunks nearby when with leaves, but no so much in the autumn). I'm afraid I've never tried to tend my wounds or reload a gun, but on numerous times I was in a situation where, for example, there was no such thing as "safe jogging", for holes, branches or tree stumps were completely invisible against the dark ground. In a dense enough forest, this could apply even on moonlit nights. Obviously I was never in completely dark urban areas, so I can't say how I'd navigate those. But in the forest, even if an action was possible (like pitching a tent), I believe it would still take much longer. I must say I haven't attempted many complex manual actions in the dark, mainly I just walked a lot, but man was it dark sometimes. Like, a lot. Thanks for the reference to other threads. I'm not sure if I want to dabble with thread necromancy, I just thought, since we have some time to kill anyways, to point out a problem which garners much less attention than the others. I just hope it's mentioned to the devs, that's all.

Spot on, as long as nothing is taken away, I think it would be great to have a complex anthill-like structure where a lot can happen. Exploring new structures is one of my favourite parts of DayZ and I hope that the devs haven't said their last word yet (although they rather overdid their deforestation in the NW). Overhauling the multi-floor Chernogorsk buildings seems like exactly the right idea!