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If we want to start a mod for Dayz SA, where would we go to meet other people interested in that kind of thing? I'd expect the editor to be a lot like the ones Arma uses. So I wonder if a coder who used the Arma Editors can just jump right into the Dayz SA editor, or if it will be different. They are porting the game to consoles. I don't know if they will simplify the editor for that version. What I have in mind is simply to give the game seasons. Not in terms of weather, but more like a TV-series. When certain conditions are met, the game moves to its next season, which can either mean more banditry or more heroism is supported. Each season can be tipped in favor of either bandits or heroes, branching into multiple possible outcomes. In the end it will play either like the movie "The Road" (food sparce, no wildlife) or like "28 Days Later" (order partially restored, evacuation possible). For the start this mod should be nothing more than a proof of concept with just a few objectives on each stage of each season. I used to play an Arma I mission a lot, called "The Black Flag". Even though it was purely objectives (you had to Halojump, gather intel, find an operative and set off a radio call for extraction), there was a great sense of tension and purpose in that mission. And it was long and your team felt important. I always wanted to recreate that experience, but on a much bigger scale and with more freedom to pick your objectives. In Dayz we don't have missions and I don't want to change that. No General telling you what to do on radio. I want players to come across infrastructure they can reactivate or demolish, for longterm or for their own (short) gain. Bandits build camps, heroes capture+rebuild infrastructure. In the beginning things move slowly, until parts of the production are reactivated and interconnected. With active banditry we see more weapons spawn and less food. With heroism in favor, we see the opposite. The interesting thing about my idea is that everything is triggered by the state of the environment, not the players. You don't have to chose a side of either bandit or hero. You chose by your current necessity or by what you think best on the long term. And different servers will have different developments toward one or the other state. When certain development criteria in the environment are met, the game loads into the next season, which means new environments unlock and can be fixed or destroyed, captured or exploited. The scope of it all becomes bigger each season. So in the beginning you might just need a generator and fuel to power up a radio station. Maybe later you need to reactivate the electricity grid to run a hospital, etc. Once something is on it stays on, but until then it can be challenged and competed for. If a structure is damaged or destroyed, it will respawn after one or two server restarts. There would be a chain of dependency between different areas. For example if a supermarket is restored, it will influence the loot spawn in the entire area in a positive way. If you restore firestation and police station, the zombies might be kept out of a small area of the city, which can then be used for trading. A lot of buildings should have an "active" state, so as each one is switched on or off they sum up to the season's outcome and determine which stage of the next season is gonna be played. There won't be a "you've won" message in the end. You will either make it to extraction (in convoy or alone) or be dying to zombies and cannibalism as a bandit. For a proof of concept it could be a matter of hours playing through all seasons, but the mod would evolve and could potentially last weeks to months to play through; there will probably be different versions of it, in the end. I admit, the final stages of the banditry seasons are going to be terrifying for newspawns and seasoned players alike. But you need some banditry in the game, in order to get new guns to spawn in the next season. Banditry could finally sum up to someone launching a nuke or airstrikes on Chernarus and wiping out the dead and alive altogether. I can't think of a happy ending to the banditry mode. The only upside to it is that there are more guns and ammo than anything else in the game. It will be highly PvP. The only thing different from Dayz SA in terms of gameplay is that certain captured zones (e.g. churches) and bandit camps would be no-shooting-areas (so it's most likely simply a radius with godmode turned on - no big deal). Also, the radios we already find could prove useful to make contact with others that wanna either rebuild or reign chaos. Coop and teambuilding would be highly encouraged by certain tasks requiring more than one person to perform (especially in the later seasons). I had a bit of fun writing this, so I apologise if it is very long. I'd be glad to work on this project, and I can contribute textured models, concepts and documentation. But I think this is mainly a coder's baby, since not much new content needs introducing. It's a big task, no doubt, but it can be started on small scale with only very few objectives as a proof of concept.

I had the exact same situation, but I did cancel out of drinking with mmb and could save my ass. So a different outcome for me, as I canceled the action and moved around. If the zombie sounds would work, they would be less of a pain to notice. But sometimes I think the sounds and ambient is a bit bugged at the moment. Even when I see an infected in front of me, sounds will most likely come from my left speaker. I need better audio cues with zombies, and then I think I'll be fine evading them. There should be a few silent ones that maybe hit less hard; I was surprised a few times myself by a silent runner. But what killed me after all these beautiful days of looting and surviving since the patch? Driving against the low end of a fence with the V3S is what killed me! In the mods you were quite often forced to go around the zombies. They pose an obstacle now, while they were only a nuisance before. You will also hear more players shooting them, as everyone is giving up stealth one time or the other. Take into account that zombie numbers are growing and you need to treat them tactically and hopefully use them to your advantage in fights with players. You should be able to axe a bad shooter surrounded by zombies, for example. (One problem here is, how will we loot a player in the future, when he is crowded by zombies and we have a clock ticking?) These Zeds will add another dimension to the game that was absent for too long. Zombies are kind of an alarm mechanism for other players as much as they are a thread to them. You will see them chasing across town and know there is another player. You will see towns and areas free from zombies and know someone has been there before. A lot of ways to use this new situation to your advantage! Don't only see the negative about it now. Zombies will be even more a pain in the ass, but the problem is unilateral, so we all face the same situation and have to either gun or stealth our way through. I think realistically that is what such a situation would turn out like in real-life as well. I wouldn't engage zombies with an axe, unless I see no other way out.

I agree that melee fights with multiple zombies are terrifying. But that's kind of the point, isn't it? If you survive you regain health quite quickly. Getting the clothes ruined is a pain in the ass, but it makes you move on and find new ones. And even vests spawn in convenient locations now. I do wish the whole melee was more interactive, the stunning should work better or longer. I guess melee combat is limited by the technology, so we can't expect too much. I feel like things are going the right direction in general. The zombies becoming a threat is going to make a difference in pvp, especially in cities. I don't think the current zombies are horrible, but I do see room for improvement. At least you notice there are zombies in the game, now ;)

I just noticed the same thing on my last session - no rain :)

Maybe he was British and thought he was getting in on the passenger door. But yeah - trucks are a weapon - or a party if you are a zombie.

I logged on today after a restart in a village and there was a zombie walking 5 meters in front of me. It didn't seem to get aggro, despite the distance and me standing up. I could easily shoot it. However, my friend got spawned in a nearby city and got killed by zombies, before he was even able to see anything. It's a bit odd how heightened the zombie senses are inside cities. I wonder if there really is a difference in their behaviour in cities and in the countryside. It might have been that he spawned right onto the zombie, of course. But that is just a lot of bad luck then and won't happen very often. What Jonah said is right in 90% or more of the time. You can usually avoid these areas, once you play a server some more and get to know when it restarts. It is still beyond me, why we don't get a restart warning. As I heard some of the private shard servers do that. At least until things are really stable and persistant, it would be nice to know when exactly the server restarts.

Doesn't the repeater use the same ammo as Magnum? You could use that and the Magnum, if you have shitloads of ammo anyway. Hit them from far away with the repeater. Let them come and switch to the Magnum for the final few. It should be an effective combination and the ironsight on the repeater is pretty sweet. I have a silenced Ak 101 with over 200 bullets for it. And an Fnx45 with supressor and MRD scope. 2 of the pistols, the MRD scope and most of that ammo where at the same heli crash! The AK I still have from before the patch. Everything else I found today and in a few hours (bit of luck too). I absolutely love this setup, and it is kinda great that the game forces you to test out different configurations of weapons and equipment. Even if that either means you died to a player or to a glitch, first. I know I will try to get this same setup again, but I don't mind trying out something else while working on getting bigger guns.

Don't worry, after you open them with the hunting knife you have 13% left anyway... (next time try opening the can with the sharp end of the knife, duh!) I'm stuck at the start of my connection process. I see "wait for host" for a moment, then get thrown to a grey and blue version of the start screen. I hear the wind and the birds, but the damn server doesn't load. I could connect to other servers, however I am afraid my tents and gear might already be gone. It worked through the last two restarts, but now I'm stuck on this: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=418757569

That's hilarious. I guess as soon as you exit the truck they lose target and they cannot attack you when you are inside. How the hell did they get on the back anyway. I was trying that for hours when we only had the 2 seater truck. So the best way to clear a city then is to drive a truck into it and get out ^^

It must be your server, I find plenty. Look especially in places you didn't check before. Like those small military houses that you cannot enter. They have a porch at the entrance, where I found about 2 dozen cans of food, 2 AK mags and plenty of other stuff. And that was only at three of those buildings. Found a lot in garage too, just no food in civilian houses yet, which is really odd. I also didn'T find any fresh fruit, so I wonder if they are still invisible. Seriously, stuff spawns around cars and buses and in all places. Even on deerstands - 2 out of 3 had loot. You just have to look for it or change server, until you start finding stuff. The mechanics are definitely not broken. I saw two chicken in the tall gras, I saw two deer and got reasonably close to them. Had no fertilizer and no need for food, so I left them alone. In the north I saw a pig with new animations, which looks quite cute. My character was pretty much completely healthy, so I can take some hits from zombies and only my gear gets ruined. I can understand how frustrating it is as a new spawn, because you have only 1000 blood (I think) and are not fed well. The challenge now is, to first build up your character and to nurse him to full health while gearing up. I'd avoid the cities for that and head to the north and check out the villages on the way; there will be fewer infected, thus easier to get around. It's a bit annoying that zombies can wreck a pristine high capacity vest with just a few hits. I didn't even get a chance to mend it. The one thing I'm having problems finding at the moment are sewing and leather sewing kits. My character seems to keep his health a bit better for some reason, as if I am getting healthy faster than in the last patches. So if you survive an attack, you are most likely to get back to full health really quickly. If not, Saline bags seem finally useful. I have to admit, I haven't used one in at least a year ^^ This kind of new situation creates new challenges. Instead of brainlessly slashing at each other for virtually no loot, two survivors will now most likely talk and figure out ways to help each other. And if you are fully geared nothing changed. You'll still kill as usually and do your stuff. I just like how this new situation makes alliances between fresh spawns more likely and more reasonable than ever before. Add to this working persistance and take the many tents that are spawning now into consideration, and I guess we'll see completely new gameplay evolve. Glad this wasn't a hater's thread, btw. My friends also don't like the new zombies, but they never played the mods and have not experienced how fast you can get mauled if you aren't careful. I'm sure in time they will dig it! I like the direction Dayz is taking and have seen lots of improvements through the last patches. This is much more the game I want to play than all previous iterations.

I think your post belongs in either the stable branch or experimental branch feedback thread. From what I've seen there, several people have had the problem (if not all). It seems you cannot cut seeds from veggies at the moment, but I am sure it will be quickly fixed. Other people reported that their vegetables have gone bad in five seconds after harvest or disappeared altogether. I haven't planted anything yet, so I cannot confirm or deny any of it. But it seems the seeds are bugged for now. Will start planting today to test it out!

Wouldn't this require you to go fishing at sea? I mean what is the point of having another fishing hook, if you can just catch the same fish like with a improv rod from an ashwood stick? It's only cosmetical, even though logically there would be a lot of fishing rods to be found in houses. And then why would you want to take the risk of fishing at the coast, where people can spot you easily? I don't really see the need for this kind of fishing experience. It might become interesting if it had a different mechanic, i.e. some kind of minigame for fishing (a bit more diverse than "check the bait" and "pull out"). Also, if we ever get to build bases at sea or on islands it would be a welcome addition to catch some bigger fish.

Sounds like waiting for a hotfix is in order. Disappearing pumpkins/gone bad. Tents and backpacks gone. All of it needs adressing, before we can safely throw ourselves into the zombie wilderness again.

You might wanna widen your FOV a bit in Dayz. It's under video options, just like in Arma. When it gets too narrow I get nausea, too. But yeah the movement inside some of the houses feels like rolling a big ball through a maze while you're drunk. Try finding a tent in Cherno's apartments! You get a free dizzy spin.

3x3? I thought 2x2 was big for a pumpkin - and for a bag. They should spawn both sizes, as not all pumpkins are the same size. I haven't set up camp yet, but we used to do it like you, with a garden nearby. The only thing worth planting were pumpkins (haven't found potatoe seeds yet). Did that change? Any changes to the nutritional balance of the veggies? Tomatoes basiclly gave you nothing but water, I never plant them. It also sucks if the vegetables disappear in ten seconds, they should just lie around until the next server restart, at least.

That's awesome! Means I get to play 1 more week with a fully equipped player on stable and a derp on experimental ^^ I'm surprised they are bringing the 0.55 update to stable! It's a big one.

There are different versions of the mod, but in the original mod you had a bike -sort of- in your pocket and could construct it with 1 scrap metal. I think the idea of it was to give everyone the oportunity to leave the spawn areas quickly; since there weren't that many spawns originally. However the bikes were much too good to be real. They drive 50 or 60 km/h, cost no fuel, make no noise and are easy to repair and hide. I would often just go lonewolf on a bike instead of taking a car. Once you have a camp it's perfect. The addition of a bike in Dayz SA makes me think of how brilliantly the BMX bikes in GTA work. There are videos of people doing parcours with bikes in GTA that are simply astounding. They even throw their bikes on the back of trucks and drive around town to a better site. These things are pure fun! Of course we won't see parcours or anything like that in Dayz, because the engine doesn't do physics simulation. However, I think the BMX could be a kind of bike that works for Dayz, too. It would be believable to drive it over small obstacles. It doesn't drive very fast and is exhausting (so not meant for long, continuous driving). You make a small moving target, while driving it, but there is no need to stay on the road. Would be kinda awesome, if the bikes made very little impression on the animals, so you could use them to go hunting (as opposed to taking a great big truck and getting out next to the cows, shooting everything before they even realize you are there). My choice: add an oldskool BMX bike! It doesn't break down often and is ideal for short to medium trips.

I honestly don't understand why this problem exists at all. It's most likely that what St. Jimmy wrote is right: there wasn't enough planning these assets from the start. Most likely they weighted and skinned these new models based on a generic character model. Whereas they should have weighted everything twice: 1st on the skinniest character setup (e.g. jeans and t-shirt) and then on the bulkier character setup (e.g. cargo pants and padded jacket). With these two extremes sorted out (by values), everything else could have a value added to it and the vests, etc. would simple be tweaked by this value and deformed/scaled accordingly. In a more advanced engine, vertex deformation could probably be used for all clothing and look awesome (like APEX cloth), but it would come at a performance cost. This clipping issue is just one of the things that makes me wonder, who is in charge of the game design - the coders or the modelers. I like a lot of the models in Dayz, but I think the art department just storms ahead, while issues like clipping are unresolved. A lot of it just seems like sloppy work, like the wrong LODs popping up for the new rocks or some of the fences; most likely someone just entered the wrong LOD settings, but I don't see this getting fixed. Happens with a few trees too. Sure it is not a game changer, but Dayz is all about immersion and the clipping stuff and pop-up LODs deter this from happening. Also, not really clipping, but I think the leather hat doesn't work with all other attachments. I tried wearing it over the clown mask and couldn't. The leather vest clips with most everything in some place or other. It also looks too thin and lean for a handcrafted vest (imho).

Hmm, I know you can paint most of the helmets. Perhaps it's possible to paint the hats too? (I've never tried) You might also have been victim to a gfx bug that "paints" all textures black. I sometimes have that happen in my inventory list, but not actually on characters. But I've read it has been an issue for some people. It's really weird your character didn't get wiped in the update, but perhaps you were playing on a private shard? Also: I really want a top hat now :)

I like how the Chernarus+ map is shaping up! A lot of work has been done all over, especially in the north. There are somewhat dead areas inbetween and still a lot of real estate to give away, so I make this suggestion: to look up some abandonplaces sites and put together some of the most haunting and interesting pieces that fit with the vibe of the map. This can be former hospitals, grand houses, wooden houses, military installations (bunkers), hermit's house, fairgrounds, etc. They wouldn't be found in towns, but in rather remote places for the most part. The way these abandonplaces have been "composed" by nature and over time might be an inspiration to building more engaging scenery for Dayz. If we feel haunted by a place, we are more likely to linger there and re-visit, than when it is only a question of looting and moving on. And there is lots and lots of reference to chose from. I think some of it (like Rify) are based on such imagery: http://distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/ I just want to give a general idea where one might look for stuff for inspiration. I like exploring and finding new landmarks in the game. But they have to be made a bit more engaging than, e.g. the castle ruins/tower. There is already so much to run for in the cities, but inbetween we have a lot of space and suitable locations for such structures. I'm not sure there would be much loot to find, but they could be spawning tools and building supplies.

Yeah, but if you played e.g. Origins mod you'd recognize this building immediately. It's already been in the mod for years and it is just another city building. Sure, the Devs will probably enhance it and improve the building, but it's nothing new to me. I don't think it's fun or rewarding going into every single house in a city. In fact, I find too many are open and not many of them offer much, not even a tactical advantage. There will be focus areas, like industrial centers (to find spare parts for vehicles), which are already very busy places in the mods. It naturally happens with the loot distribution and upkeep of vehicles. These houses/places will become much more important than the city houses - and much more stressful to search/roam around. So, determined by the loot and by the gameplay (e.g. vehicles need upkeep), you will roam around certain areas more than others. And each area poses a different security risk (not counting random encounters). I think the abandonplaces could be a nice medium setting, between rare loot spots (like the barracks) and general loot spots (like the cities). So abandonplaces would fit somewhere inbetween: they are harder to reach/find than general housing, but not as rewarding to loot as military bases or police stations. They could be neutral ground for trading, perhaps even some kind of trade post could be established there, leaving notes and requests on a sort of blackboard; it would depend on the kind of location; maybe you can raise a flag on the roof, signifying your intention for trade. (I don't think trading is a factor yet, but it will be later) And I also think this kind of building makes sense in the Socialist realm. Because when they build all their practical architecture, these gems of hotels and old houses were left to rot as symbols of decadent capitalism; often with their complete interiors. It's this grandeur that makes them stand out as special in the dull world of architectural Socialism. They are something special to find, loot at and explore. And they take a role of a remote place with no immediate threats, a chance to make contact with others and possibly great locations for building your base at (later on). They could also make sense in their placement, e.g. old water mills would be placed near rivers and lakes, castles on ridges and mountain sides. There are just a lot of possiblities for these buildings. It would be enough for them to look cool and different, but they could also serve a social function and generally liven up the game.

Patch 0.44 - Mad Hatter now implemented into Dayz.

Yeah, I also think the game feels different without online help. I played the mods for thousands of hours, before I even got the standalone. I got it, because two friends urged me, the price was good and trucks had been announced with the next update. I haven't really regretted buying the game, but I did wonder what happened to people playing Dazy SA, in comparision to those that "grew" into the mods. 1)First of all, my friends still get lost on the map. That's because they use ONLY the online map to define where they are. They don't look enough for landmarks or shortcuts like you do when you roam around without a map. Sometimes instinct gets you completely lost in Dayz, but I think the right way to progress (when you are still looking for loot), is a combination of instinct and using your sense of direction (compass, or clouds -> they always go north-east) 2) the app is not up to date. There are some areas in the north that are missing in it or aren't named (e.g. Smirnovo). My oberservations regarding my group+using the online map: - before I got my copy and before trucks made travel easy, my friends used to play the game by finding a crashsite and jumping servers for loot. They could do this senseless thing all day, got geared up yet never really played. The online map told them where to look and they just followed. - the map is hugely helpful if you just want to meet up with your friends, provided they know where they are (not that hard to figure out) - it's a nice touch that you can only find parts of the map ingame. I remember those old maps that only displayed one county of a country, but in greater detail. However, I think maps should not take up any inventory space and should be handled like gloves or hats. I'd probably use the ingame map more if if was more accessible. Yet, most people just want the lootmap anyway. - not everyone played the mods and knows where to look for loot. Yet, I think it only takes a few days at most to recognize all the lootspawns in-game. You don't really need the map for that. My conclusion to this: I think the game is better without using the map a lot. But I think it's legit to look at it from time to time, in order to get a rough idea of what areas of interest lie near. I usually use the compass to make sure my heading is right. I keep my eyes open and see a lot of interesting stuff on the way. It's a relaxing way to play Dayz and it satisfies my curiosity. Even when I'm in a familiar area, I try to explore it from another side.

I have mixed feelings on this. Sure, guns with clips would be nice. The magazines can be a bit hard to find, but if you travel a lot and have a few servers you like you get by some. And then you don't want to lose them. So you go on, build a tent and a camp to keep your stuff safe + get dry. The game keeps growing like this and since the addition (and hotfix) of trucks, I really changed my playstyle a bit. With a truck and some time and some friends you find everything! Sure Dayz is not the game to jump into, find a gun and go blazing about. But once you made a camp, you get a backup and you have less to worry about. That doesn't make clips easier to find, but eventually you'll have lots of them lying around in your tents. I've only had problems finding a truly persistent server first, but once that is settled and you get a truck to your camp, the loot starts stacking up.

You didn't? How did you get out of this alive? Probably got out and shot the zombies?! I would have really liked you see exit from an upside down truck :)