BleedoutBill

I'm sorry if I gave offense, but you seem to have read more into my comments than was intended. All of us want to see the zeds back and better than before. Hicks has tweeted on numerous occasions that DayZ is a horror survival game and that he is fully committed to following through on that vision. Additionally, he has spoken in some detail about how the modding community will be fully supported, in the event that someone wishes to build a more PVP oriented mod. Despite that, the PVE camp complains about a loss of direction when loot and powerful weapons are too prevalent and the PVP folks complain that they have been abandoned when food and gear is too scarce. These complaints are generally punctuated with threats of uninstalling the game. The reality is that in the alpha phase, the devs' primary focus is on adding new mechanics and ensuring that they are stable (AKA free of crashes). Until we get to beta and the balancing commences, we really don't know what the finished product will look like. Optimization generally happens in beta as well, unless the performance is so horrendous that it is interfering with development. Unfortunately, I believe that is exactly where we currently are. When the end game goals are taken into consideration, I think that it is clear that we have arrived at the point where server performance is limiting the inclusion of any additional resources. "...one of the big things I was enjoying about this game was the threat of infected. Without them, the game feels hollow to me. The fact that they haven't talked about the AI in quite some time makes me think that the code is nowhere near optimized enough to raise the player counts, clean up desync, and put the infected back in with the server performing at an acceptable level." I and I think that most others agree with you. If the zeds were improved to the point that they were an actual threat, instead of a mere annoyance, I expect that many of the PVP players would agree as well. In 0.57 Exp, I seem to remember experiencing pretty bad desync, whenever there were more than 25 players on the server. There weren't exactly a lot of zeds in those builds, either. Clearly, reaching the goal of 100 person servers, increasing the number of zeds and adding a meaningful number of animals is completely out of the question, until some serious improvements can be made to the server performance. Therefore, I think that Hicks' observations/comments were on the mark and server performance should become a priority. After all, what is the point of perfecting the zeds, if their numbers are so small (artificially capped due to poor server performance), that you never bump into one? "This push to improve server performance is about improving the experience of shooting another human controlled player." I was with you right up to this point. I don't agree that improving the server performance only benefits, or is only intended to benefit the PVP game, nor do I believe that the devs have abandoned the horror aspect of this horror survival game. As I have already mentioned, without a significant improvement in server performance, it will not be possible to have high pop servers, a meaningful number of zeds, or anything more than a token number of animals. We have a recent tweet from Eugen, stating that resolving the problem with zeds hitting characters from several meters away is a priority. But, we don't have much else regarding progress on the zeds, because that's how Hicks rolls. He is not inclined to report about work that is ongoing, unless there is a milestone, or some specific accomplishment that he can mention. Knowing that this is is nature, I don't see how we can jump to the conclusion that the devs have done a 180 and have abandoned the zeds. On the contrary, during 0.57 Exp, IIRC, the devs identified three contributors that were causing the zeds to use more resources than expected. I think that it is safe to say that those issues are being wrestled to the ground.

IIRC, one of the devs indicated that portable generators will eventually be in the game.

Agreed. Additionally, I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theory that the zeds have been removed, because the devs have other priorities. Quite the contrary. I believe that the zeds have been removed because they are being actively worked on. The devs have obviously changed something, whether it be the zed AI, their character controller, or something else and it's not yet working well enough that it can be tested on experimental. I'm sure that they will be back soon and when they are, we'll see the same stress testing with them, in terms of their numbers, aggressiveness and resistance to damage. There are still MANY things that have not yet been balanced.

Exactly. Stress it >>> make it crash and burn >>> analyse the failure >>> make it better, stronger and faster.

The devs have always wanted a higher player density (I seem to remember that 75-100 players was a early goal) and to that end we have had high pop servers in the past. Honestly, I don't think that anything nefarious is going on. If they have to temporarily remove zeds anyway, why pass up the golden opportunity to crank up the player numbers to see how the servers handle the load? It would be a missed opportunity, otherwise and, after all, this is the experimental branch!

No, sorry. I spawned on the East side of town and I found the SMERSH pack in the fourth, or fifth house that I looted.

I didn't see any in the current build.

East side of town, on the beach.

I found one in Elektro, as a fresh spawn.

I hope not; I had a SMERSH pack stored in one. :(

Howdy! The sword and mace typically only spawn at the various castles. Seat of the pants, I'd say that the mace was 3-4 times more common than the sword, but the mace can be hard to see, depending on its surroundings. This probably accounts for why you haven't seen one before.

Correct. A gasoline engine needs electricity to power the ignition system at the very least, unless it is fitted with a magneto. Nobody runs magnetos any more, except for aircraft engines, top fuel dragsters and some industrial applications. A Diesel does not have an ignition system. It compresses the air/fuel mixture until it literally explodes from the heat and pressure. A gasoline engine ignites the air/fuel mixture and it burns in a controlled manner. A Diesel still needs electricity for the glow plug to operate and both types need electricity for the starter motor.

Yes and no. The glow plug is needed to get a cold engine to start. After that, it's just along for the ride. But, if you remove it, that leaves a big hole in the cylinder head. The engine wouldn't run, because it couldn't build any compression, due to the big hole/leak.

The mace was introduced way back, when the sword was. They both look pretty impressive, but the ax(s), sledge and pick ax are still superior, IMHO.

I found a damaged leather sewing kit and I was surprised that it lasted long enough to patch up three items: a mountain pack, a press vest and a riders jacket. The other pleasant surprise was that it repaired each item on the first attempt. In the past, I usually had to make two, or three attempts, before my gear would change to the "worn" status.

We were all suddenly more productive, when the experimental servers went down ... NASA, included. I submit that there is a common link here. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to recognize that the folks at NASA are huge DayZ fans. It's elementary!

The only thing obvious are the high pop servers. So far, everything else looks pretty similar to the last build.

Confirmed. This is not a drill. Edit: Ver. 0.58.128820

It's less stressful when the power grid goes down!

I have an update queued!!! Sorry, this may be a false alarm. I can't remember if my antique machine had already been updated to 0.58, or not.

Agreed. If they don't run into any big problems, the build should be up by lunch time in CZ. How long it takes Steam to get organized is another matter, all together. Hopefully, they'll be on their game!

I am still showing 0.58.128187 and I haven't had an update tonight / this morning. The servers are still showing this same version, but as was already mentioned, Battleye is looking for a different version.

Great pic!

We have SteamDB activity ..