Daerk

Don't forget to take into account that ONLY professional bodybuilders would survive a zombie apocalypse. So of course they'd take the time to set up their equipment in downtown and industrial areas... ;P

*flings bean cans* Take it! TAKE IT ALL!!! ;D

Just generate a salted hash for the player's cd key + that specific player number, use it as a reference to the instanced underground shelter. If another player ID number comes along with the same player cd key (as in, the player has died and is trying to get back into his old house using a new character), randomly increase the chance for things to happen such as: * Roof cave-in of the shelter, destroying % of stored items, and severely injuring anyone inside * Infected swarm around the door area of the shelter, disallowing access in/out without removing them from the equation * "Accidental Discharge" of a stored munition (a shotgun round goes off, smoke grenade, etc) * The "Bed" becomes infested with lice/ticks/bedbugs/etc & now requires replacement, otherwise you become sick & need antibiotics & time to heal. * Any nearby grass around your shelter door immediately becomes flattened and stays flat for X amount of time (days) * Rats infest the shelter and eat all the food Any player that assisted with the building of the shelter is referenced as having a "key" to the place. They're on the "list" of accepted players without causing the above problems. The process of "working" on the shelter itself, putting in time digging, or installing the wooden components yourself (not giving them to your friend to install, but doing it yourself), automatically adds you to the accepted ownership list for that shelter. Shelters are instanced on the server you're on. Leaving that server, the server uploads the content for your instanced shelter back to the main central server database and it then retains the instanced shelter for 1 hour before sending it to dev/null, allowing only the central db to retain memory of the shelter... UNLESS there is another person still on the server that is on the "owners list" of players with access to that shelter. Once ALL players with access to that shelter are gone from that server, the server retains the instanced shelter long enough to allow someone to loot it. IF someone DOES loot it, the server uploads to the central DB the updated shelter info. The next time you join any server, that server instances the shelter based off of downloading it from the central db (referenced directly via your player hash created from cd-key + player id number). If you've died and created a new character, and are joining a server, the server will NOT instance your old shelter for you UNLESS you had a buddy assist in building the shelter AND your buddy is still alive AND your buddy is on the same server as you. Allowing someone who did not assist in building the shelter to go into the shelter will randomly cause some of the problems listed above. If a player leaves a server, immediately joins another server (thus generating a new instanced shelter based off the the old server updating the central db and the new server retrieving the data from the central db), and on the old server their shelter is looted or destroyed before it is de-instanced, when the old server updates the central db with that info, the central db sends an update to the NEW instanced shelter server, and any of the items that were looted are immediately purged from the player's inventory or home inventory, or the shelter is destroyed entirely, etc. If the player was inside the shelter at the time... well, goodbye shelter, goodbye player... hello "You Are Dead" screen. In the instance that two shelters are supposed to have their doorways in the same position in an area, and both are being instanced on the same server, the server will temporarily "offset" BOTH entrances a few feet apart from each other. It will NOT send the offset info back to the central db. Offset entrances are temporary server specific instances. I can imagine a situation where a popular shelter spot might have half a dozen players on the same server, so there are now six entrances immediately within a few feet of each other... increasing the risk of looting or destruction. This would mean it is extremely important to carefully pick your shelter location. Don't use a location that everyone else is picking. Digging that shelter inside of a castle courtyard MIGHT just not be as genius an idea as you originally thought.

Actually, if you instanced the underground caverns in a neutral worldspace and had a "door" or gateway that accessed the space, then it wouldn't need to be a part of the terrain at all except for the entryway. Embedding a bunker-like entrance into the terrain, that when the door is opened it transports the player into a voidspace that's been filled with the "interior" models, is rather easy. And if it were a double door system, continuity of realism would be maintained since to open the second door to enter the "mine/bunker/cave/etc" the first door automatically closes... you wouldn't be able to see outside from the interior into the world.

I *love* the new layout, joeyslucky22! I like how you also moved the weapons boxes down to around waist area, where they are usually naturally held while in use or movement. Question about headgear and possibly other gear areas: Will I be able to layer up like with the shirt and overshirt idea? For example, I would personally wear a bandanna/doo-rag/zandanna, with the option of a baseball cap or balaclava over it depending on weather... Not to mention the possibility of armoured head protection. Also, thermal underwear or "longjohns" would be an option underneath regular clothing during winter to reduce or even eliminate requirement for a fire or heatpacks. And for those of you saying it's not realistic to carry the amount of gear currently being shown without some extreme deficiency in movement, let me correct you based on experience. I'm military. My ruck alone usually weighs out at around 90 pounds not including weaponry. I can hike at a fast pace over 20 miles while wearing my ruck and carrying my weapon. I'm 6'3" and about 200 pounds. My boots are around 2 pounds and my clothing is around an extra 40 to 50 pounds including body armour. So fully decked out I'm usually able to tip the scale at around 360 to 375 pounds. And I can hike 20 miles carrying all of that without much of a problem other than feeling like a hammered turd afterwords. I'd be able to tote the kit currently being shown here for DayZ indefinitely without ANY decrease in mobility and even without feeling tired after a full day and night of roughing it. Now, if you're the type of person that breathes hard after moving 3 metres... then yeah. This is too much for you to carry without falling over and having a massive heart attack. Heh... but let's face it... if we're in a situation like DayZ, then the survivors still left AFTER the world has gone to shit are more like me and less like the overweight couch potato who has never run a mile without stopping.

If something like this were to be implemented, it would need to be more realistic for the conversion from plan to actual development. Specifically, require a minimum set of tools and materials to BEGIN the construction, however allow the player to have to stop construction to then go out and gather more resources to continue the project. Requiring ALL of the components prior to construction beginning is unrealistic. Often-times projects grow or shrink in scope during development, requiring an "on-the-fly" re-adjustment of priorities, resources, and manpower. I should be able to start development of my hideout without requiring every stick of wood to have been gathered first. Also, there needs to be some choice in how the excavation dirt is handled. By default, it's all just piled beside the entrance. OR, you could take more time and energy in transporting the dirt and rocks to another area and dumping it there... possibly also requiring more tools or equipment such as a wheelbarrow or dump cart. Or you could even create a few "dummy" hideouts, where you only dig a small entrance and build a door over it, and dump all of your dirt beside it. Any other players looking for hideouts to raid will see the dirt mound, and when they go to raid it, the explosive you rigged to the door of the fake hideout goes off. ;D

Currently, the clouds always move East. Any chance we can get cloud movement to match current wind direction?

Click the "I, Zombie" link below.

Ok, I neglected to think about the fact that while I'm browsing through the inventory screen an infected could be crawling silently up my six for a bite of lunch. I like keeping the interface as minimal as possible on screen realestate, in this case. Let me see WTF is going on around me without windows popped up all over the place. Maybe on hover, each item hovered over could "zoom" to fill more of the inventory window? Allowing a more "in depth" or "examination" view of that item? Just like in real life, I'd want to carefully look over my flashlight to see if the bulb was broken, etc.

Click on my signature "I, Zombie" link. ;)

I like it. Looks initially cluttered or otherwise messy, however upon cursory examination it's quite obvious what each field is used for. I also like the fan-made reddit pic posted above, but mainly only because of it's obvious intuitiveness. Everything is organized by it's physical location (belt under the ... vest???, Backpack out to the side (as if the player had unslung it from one shoulder and was pulling stuff out from the side quickly), Ground loot separate from other locations...) I'd change the reddit user's middle box to be more like yours, joeyslucky22... it's not as physically organized as the other boxes. I'd like to see a hybrid of these... Basically: Ground Loot to the far left. Middle Box going from head down to waist. Primary and secondary weapons displayed below waist (where they are usually held around waist level). Belt box below weapons box. Lower box for the rest of the leg/feet gear. Out to the far right, the Backpack has it's own box. If a downed body is being looted, duplicate the player's box style to the left of the player's actual inventory. Keep the ground loot to the furthest left. As long as there's enough screen realestate, I'd think that hybrid layout would seem more obvious, and still be as detailed and accessible.

I agree with Rigor Mortis's suggestions. Although the "time" factor needs addressing with the smells. For example, infected shouldn't be able to smell blood that was just spilled from a gunshot wound... FROM A FOOTBALL FIELD AWAY. That's ridiculous. Instead, the radius of area effect should slowly grow over time (in a circle around the source at the very LEAST, but it'd be better if it followed the wind currents, drifting out away from the source and spreading wider in a cone as it moves away from it). In addition, the smells should dissipate over time, slowly decreasing in odor strength in addition to the area of effect SHRINKING back down to the source. -- Daerk

Congrats on actually reading the post. :P The infected remain the way they are. I'm talking about temporarily allowing a player to play as an infected as a revenge scenario prior to their death. A limited time "infection" for a player. Also, I do not recall seeing anywhere that Rocket has detailed that all "survivors" are currently "immune" to the infection... as a matter of fact, I've seen a few dozen places including video interviews where he has stated the exact opposite. -- Daerk

Just thought of something else to add to this... Imagine killing an infected and being able to "gut" them with the hunting knife just like you do animals... and you get "Infected Guts". Then you could "Wear" them. The scent would confuse the Z's and the ZedHeads would think you were a zombie, too... allowing you to run right by them without much notice... until the scent "dried" or the rain "washed it off"... ;D That'd be awesomesauce. -- Daerk

I can build a fire in practically any weather condition. Not being able to build a fire in rain is TOTALLY unrealistic. I can even make a fire with a firebow in rain... no matches, liquid fuel, etc. All tinder and kindling and firewood gathered from the wild. And the firebow built from the wild resources, too. Concerning the Z's, I believe body shots shouldn't do anything. Headshots should kill. Arm shots should make arm use reduced including hitting attack power reduced. Leg shots should slow them down, eventually with enough shots it should force them to crawl. Center mass shots to the lung areas should "mute" the Z's so they are soundless except for the clacking of their teeth when they're close. -- Daerk