craft (DayZ)

Mine is probably no more than six or eight hours, but I'm still pretty new at this. What was your longest game? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Has anyone lived longer than, say, a couple weeks? In-game weeks seems like an awfully long time not to have been eaten or sniped or axed or glitched. Just curious.

Pretty rare to hear of kindness in-game these days. Nice to hear it still exists!

You crouch-run faster than you run upright, and crawl five times faster than you run? Don't think so... Still, interesting idea. I'd like to get better data and do some calculations about just how fit my toon is.

I've had the same problem. Other posters seem to think that you're walking, not running, but that's not it -- I run slower than the people I'm playing with. I'm guessing it's a latency issue, but it's hard to say.

What tool(s) do you use to monitor your hardware? I usually just estimate FPS based on experience, so I don't have hard numbers. And do you use something other than Task Manager to monitor CPU usage? I'd love to get some hard data, as I'm having many of the same problems you all are having. CPU, GPU, FPS, ping, temperatures, etc... And yes, I'm sure I could just Google it, but asking you all is so much more fun.

Same thing happened to my brother and I while playing last night. Tried playing on four different servers, got single-digit framerates on all four. Pings were in the neighborhood of 30-60ms for both of us, so it wasn't a network latency issue. Both of us have rigs perfectly capable of playing the game (as demonstrated by many weeks playing), so it's not a local issue. I find it hard to imagine that four servers could have been having symptoms like that independently, which implies some centralized problem -- either the most recent server patch, or a hive/database distribution issue. Would love to find more details on this. Pretty difficult trying to aim at a zombie when I'm getting 3 fps. EDIT: I was also having trouble connecting to servers, but it often takes me 2-3 tries to find a server I can play on, so this didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary.

Yeah, if you server-hop around a little, eventually you'll find a server where someone has broken the window.

I've been carrying one around for a few days, unwilling to drink it because it's "rare." I know that (1) it's nothing more than a collection of ones and zeros, which are literally infinite in number and (2) this is just a video game -- yet I still can't bring myself to drink it. The mind is a strange place.

Don't listen to him -- the 640 is fine. As I've posted elsewhere, I run the game with a Core2Duo and a GT8800. I have to run with all settings on low, but it works. You'll be fine.

These are pretty goddamn spectacular. But maybe it's not a bug; maybe Rocket just slipped LSD into cans of soda without telling anyone. I mean, come the fuck on. That top one is totally the Fortress of Solitude.

What "graphical bug" are you talking about? I'm just curious, because I've never seen any graphical glitches that made the game unplayable. I've been frustrated by random broken legs and whatnot, sure. But while I've seen some strange glitchy things -- trees and loot spawning in mid-air, textures not drawing in -- I've never experienced anything like what you describe. Edit for typo.

Just what the title says. I just started a new character, logged off the server I was on because it was getting dark out (yes, I'm a big pansy, blah blah blah). Logged onto a different server, which started a new character. Is there a way to know which server is connected to the hive?

Hope springs eternal.

I was so happy! For maybe the first time ever, a person on an internet forum used the verb "affect" correctly! What rapture! And then this happened: Thanks for restoring my faith in humanity. For 10 seconds.

Your post is whiny and nonconstructive, but I know what you mean about those f-ing AKs. First time I went into those tents I spent like five minutes trying to click on the damn things.

That is some zen shit. The things you own end up owning you.

Sorry, but this is the second time in 24 hours I've read the hen's teeth idiom on these forums. I find myself compelled to link to this story from a few years ago about a team of UK scientists who triggered a genetic mutation in chickens that allowed them (the chickens, not the scientists) to grow teeth. My point? Hen's teeth are getting less rare. How's that for off-topic? Aww jeah.

Gotcha -- I'll look for it. Thank you!

Yeah, that was the solution I was hoping to avoid.

The first sensible suggestion I've seen re: endgame. Zombie sex FTW!

Axe at some point.

Just a thought about how to decrease the number of unwarranted murders: implement a one-button command to drop or unequip your weapon (if any) and raise your hands in a clear surrender gesture. Doing so makes it clear to other players that you pose no immediate threat, as it still takes a few clicks to pick up/re-equip your weapon and load it. The existing analogue -- lowering your weapon -- is insufficient; you're still holding a gun, after all, and it wouldn't take long to raise it and shoot, so you could still be perceived as a threat. A surrender gesture does nothing to keep bandits from killing you. It only addresses the problem wherein players who don't necessarily want to PK are no longer forced to kill other players on sight for fear of getting shot themselves. It also provides a few seconds where a voice chat could be initiated, This solution puts all the power in the bandit's hands, where it already was anyway. It doesn't penalize players for banditry. It just allows a player to easily identify him/herself as a non-threat, and let the chips fall where they may. Thoughts?

Ah -- I didn't find that thread. Thank you. FWIW, in it it says "if everyone was aware of the surrender key..." which is probably the biggest problem. People who don't know about this functionality won't know to look for it. Maybe some publicity could help...

You mean kill other players? Sure -- players whose intent was to kill other players still would have that option. It just gives players who don't want to kill other players an opportunity to ascertain definitively whether or not another player is a threat.

There are a number of new-player guides on this forum; see the sticky list of helpful guides, here. My advice: Don't worry about staying alive too long during your first few lives. One of the best things you can do while you're learning the basics (e.g., how to navigate the inventory, how to pick up items, basic movement controls) is to learn the zeds' aggro parameters. Find a small village with buildings you can get into (you can enter only a small percentage of the buildings; generally, the ones you can see into are the ones you can get into) and try to make your way in. Experiment with movement speeds and stances (prone, crouched, standing) to see how and when the zeds notice you. Keep an eye on your visual and auditory monitors on the right side of the screen. Having a better feel for how close you can get to the zeds, and how quickly you can move around them, will be very helpful; I spent way too much time being overly cautious when I first started, thinking the zeds would aggro on me from very far away. In certain scenarios they can see you from a great distance -- running across an open field, for example. You'll learn what these situations are like. But you can get a lot closer to the zeds than you think you can, especially if you're in the grass and crawling fully prone. So dig around those small villages for a while and learn the basics. You might even pick up some minor gear. A hatchet is a priceless tool for a new life. You'll start with no gun, so if you can find a hatchet you'll at least have some way to defend yourself -- and it's actually not a bad weapon, as it's completely silent and has unlimited "ammo." (Note that the hatchet is actually just a model for a gun. It does have ammunition, and it does fire "bullets" -- it's just that they have a very fast drop-off rate. You can hit a zed with the hatchet from as far away as a couple of meters; you don't have to be right up next to them.) Once you have a hatchet you can take a shot at looting Cherno or Elektro, the two major cities along the southern coast. A lot of people will tell you not to use an out-of-game map, but I don't agree with them, especially when you're just learning your way around. My two favorite maps are the ones hereand here. You'll start finding better loot in the cities, although there are going to be more players there, and more zeds. Most players will kill you on sight, although some will ignore obviously new players (i.e., those carrying no weapon or only a hatchet). Avoid them if you can. If you can get your hands on some food and drink, you can try to move north. Cities also have hospitals, which have morphine, which can (inexplicably) heal broken legs. Broken legs happen a lot, so morphine is pretty handy. To get into a hospital you'll need to break the windows, which you can either do with your hatchet or by throwing an empty can at them. I'm starting to get into the guides' territory now, so I'll stop. I hope this helps. One last thing: try not to get too attached to your gear, because you will lose it -- repeatedly. You will die many times in your first few hours playing DayZ; don't worry about it. This is just the learning curve. Try to approach it like you're just learning the game mechanics and the layout of the map. Once you get the hang of those two things you'll start getting better gear, which will allow you to move north into the forest and to some of the more distant settlements. It's a big map. Have fun!