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I found some good vehicles on a server, but the server disappeared in the afternoon. It came back online so I joined in, and there was this guy with me. The server resetted 6 or 7 times, and everytime I came back. He was online too, so I believe that this guy: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198066603541/ bought a server (DayZ (public/veteran) 128177 - hosted by Gameservers.com) just to organize his ridiculous own private hopping-dedicated server. I thought that I would talk to him, but what could I say? That I would report his server? Why would he care? I mean, if he bought a server just for that, he probably doesn't really care if the server is closed. What can we do? (btw if you want to get some good stuff, find a spot, join this server, it's actually restarting every 1 minute with the guy still on. I guess it's the 30th reset at least. He really wants his stuff).

To elaborate, in case you missed .53 since that was like maybe 3 months ago. That to me and my group felt like basically the best the SA had been since the alpha started. It seemed closest to the mod, in that vehicles (the single truck currently implemented) were pretty abundant, gear seemed about right and encounters were plentiful and interesting. On our private hive at least. Then they hit us with .54 which messed up some performance and stuff, and then .55 was just awful. So .57 feels like things are potentially getting back on track. There's still issues for sure, but I think the potential is back to have a good time. I suppose it depends on what you want out of the game too though, to me I want the mod experience with better mechanics and so I enjoy pvp and prefer lots of loot over no loot, and don't care about a lack of zombies. For others they want basically the opposite though. Hopefully a happy middle ground will be the eventual outcome.

Did they not mention that at .57 stable persistence would be turned off? Though vehicles were supose to be persistent.. So maybe stolen after all.

Just a question regarding vehicles: How will respawning be handled? Currently, the vehicles spawn, get taken and hidden in the forest until the next wipe. Do you guys have any plans for that problem?

The game is much better now. Anyone saying otherwise is not looking at the options now, just the nostalgia then. For instance I just made a M4A1 CCO SD w/Flashlight. That wasn't possible then. I like the struggle now, it half reminds me of the days when I had no map and no clue where I was at. When you used the stars as your guide, you asked your friends which way shadows were casting, when you found your first car(van), when you couldn't pitch a tent in a forest, had to be in an open field. My group and I have just recently went back to Vanilla. It felt great not knowing everything again, not having a map/flashlight/pistol upon spawning in. I am also in the boat that believes Helicopters ruined the maps, and that vehicles should be rare and broken when found. And let's not mention the hacking that was going on in 2012 compared to now....

If you have not seen it yet regarding persistence: http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/225863-eugen-harton-on-twitter-for-those-that-are-asking-yes-zombies-are-in-stable-yes-animals-are-in-stable-yes-persistence-for-vehicles/

No contradiction. The backpack you LIKE doesn't let you see over your shoulder, but you want to see over your shoulder... maybe you shouldn't "like" that one so much. See, that is part of the point. In 3rd person I use the biggest backpack because it is the biggest backpack and holds more crap. In 1st I NEVER use that backpack if I have any other choice because the trade-off of more spaces isn't worth the loss of awareness. See, right there you helped me demonstrate how 1st helps bring more depth to the game. Mountain Backpack is the "best" for space but horrible for view. Drybag and Tortilla have great space but can block a small amount of your view. The Hunting and Improvised don't block your view at all but don't hold as much as some and are not waterproof. See how the one difference gives different items different qualities and makes more than one backpack a solid choice? It's give and take. Ghillie Wrap on your gun can help hide it and you, but can also block LoS in 1st person. Many of my friends no longer craft one because of that. Vehicles are HARD to drive in 1st they really limit your view so you can be ambushed very easily... but in 3rd they actually give you a BETTER view of what is around you than when on foot. No trade-off in 3rd, in first it is a trade-off of armor and speed versus awareness.

i honestly don't like the zones idea. this will be like go to NWAF to get loots again. why not instead of one big red zone, we have two small ones ? i think that would spread players. any way your choice and i can live with that but honestly don't like it. i love where the vehicles design are going thought, it's awesome, i'm gonna name my vehicle and possibly paint it blue and pink, why not (if possible in future) why not ?:D i don't like how you don't spread a word about new renderer, this is suck... Q1 goal is being a Q3 i think :(

My vision for DayZ 1.0 Hey guys, this is going to be a very long post, and I hope the devs / community take the time to read the entire thing. I type 110+WPM, so get your reading glasses ready lol. Firstly, I'd like to say that DayZ has been one of the greatest experiences I've ever been a part of in gaming. Half because of what the game is, and half because of what I have always dreamed the game could be. Over the last half a year or so, I've begun to wonder about what DayZ 1.0 will really be. Looking at the game in it's current state, there are a few things that I really hope they address before DayZ gets to 1.0. Here are the main things I wanted to talk about - Customization of the world for server owners - - Types of Zombies in the game and the role they play - - Types of base building - - Soft Skills - Sever Options My biggest inspiration outside of DayZ, especially in regards to customization has got to be Project Zomboid. The game does so many things well it is hard to list them all. The game has many mechanics that could translate directly into DayZ. Here are a list of features that Zomboid allows you to customize. - zombie count - zombie distribution - water and electricity shutoff - house alarms - frequency of locked buildings - food spoilage - refrigeration effectiveness - loot respawn - zombie respawn - the temperature - the rain - how long farming takes - how quickly erosion occurs - how many resources are available in nature - food, weapon, and overall loot rarity - length of days, - Zombie toughness - Zombie infection type All of these options are perfect for creating the zombie apocalypse scenario that you feel you would enjoy the most. However, I realize that individual players in DayZ won't have the ability to customize all of these options because players cannot host their own server on their local machine the way Zomboid allows you to. This means that the developers will be responsible for creating a number value to most of these. My suggestion for this one of two options. One is to simply have difficulty levels. Have settings like Easy Medium Hard, and tweak each of these categories difficulties accordingly. The server owner can then set the difficulty he want, and players can join the server that matches the difficulty they want. The other, and what I believe would be the better option, would be to allow server owners access to all of these options the same way Zomboid allows. This will allow people to create the hardcore survival element in their server, or have a more casual experience, much like 3rd person and 1st person servers are options now. I think allowing more customization from the server owners would be the best way to achieve the best experience for everyone. You would end up with all types of servers this way, and the most options possible for the players. Zombies & The Context they Provide There are many zombie survival games out there, and none of them truly accomplish what I one day hope DayZ will. I want to draw to a very popular TV show and inspiration for many of these zombie survival concepts ; The Walking Dead. Think about a place like Woodbury, a walled off town where people feel safe. Why did they build the wall around the town? In games like Rust, H1Z1, and in versions of DayZ mod like Epoch and Origins, building a base was meant to keep other players out. In the lore of The Walking Dead, it was mostly to remain safe from the zombies. Even when they went and made camps in the woods, they made tripwire alarms and had someone on duty watching the perimeter at all times to remain safe from the zombies. One breach in security and the entire town became an unsafe place, and chaos broke out. This would imply that the zombies are a constant threat. This is what I want out of DayZ. I want the zombie threat to be so real, that you cannot let your guard down from them. I want zombies to be the reason I fortify and area, not to just be a place where I hoard my loot and have base battles with other survivors. Zombies should be trying to find ways into your base, breaking windows and doors, and be applying constant pressure to the survivors. After all, that is what they are surviving from in the first place. To accomplish this, the number of zombies would have to be drastically increased from what we see in the game now (which i'll get to in the next section),the respawn would have to be fairly consistent, and the location of the zombies should be everywhere. I do believe it should be possible to clear an area of zombies, but I do not believe they should be gone for good. I also believe they need to respawn in the same numbers they were at originally. So to make this work, I believe zombies should respawn regardless of if you've left an area or not. To stop zombies from spawning right in front of your eyes however, they should respawn outside of your network bubble, but wander to the area you are occupying. A soft aggro to your location basically when they do respawn. This would require you to defend your area from zombies, or they would eventually break and find ways into your town, making it unsafe once again. Basically zombies should always be attempting to re-take areas they have been forced out of if they remain occupied. The Types of Zombies and why It's So Important The biggest flaw in DayZ hands down in my opinion has to be it's theory behind its Zombies. Mainly the # and type it plans on having. I have played pretty much every version of DayZ that has ever been conceived. I have 1500+ hours in standalone, probably about the same in the original DayZ mod, have played Arma 3 breaking point, Origins, Epoch, etc. The one thing that is the most disappointing in all of them is the lack of a zombie threat, and the type of zombie you encounter I have heard Hicks comment on people wanting a larger number of slower moving zombies with a response of "DayZ is not meant to be easy." I believe he is misunderstanding exactly what it is players truly want from the zombies, and how large an impact the type of zombie really has on game-play. This is not a plea to make the game easier. It is in fact a plea to stop making the games zombies so pointless, which would provide a true zombie challenge. People want slower zombies to be everywhere, because of the environment it would create versus the one it currently provides. Here is a screenshot of a town with zombies in Project Zomboid. These zombies are all slowly moving towards the survivor. Individually, a slow moving shambler zombie is not too big of a threat, but when there are this many, it becomes dangerous to try and take them all out, and literally impossible to do if you don't have the right weapon. You couldn't walk up to a group of 100 zombies and take them out with your fists. It would even be dangerous if you had something as good as an Axe. Even if you had a weapon, you'd need 100+ bullets to take out all of these zombies, and shooting that many times would just draw in more, and give away your position for that much longer. So is a single, slow moving zombie more difficult to kill? No. But when there are this many, is it not more difficult than fewer fast ones? Does it not require far more in resources or manpower to take care of? Not only that, but look at the context this situation brings to the survivor. What happens if it begins to rain and he is caught in this situation? Now he has a large number of zombies around him, but he also needs to find a safe place to stay dry. It is literally impossible to remove the zombie threat in this amount of time. So he goes into a building. Okay, well once inside the building, he has a limited amount of safe time because zombies are trying to get into his house. How does the survivor choose to deal with this? What if a car drives by, or a gunshot sounds while in this situation, and the zombies all begin to move and more of them arrive? How does he deal with it? Now lets compare this to DayZ. In a town like this in DayZ, we'll say Elektro, you would instead find maybe 5 zombies in this area, and maybe 20-30 spread across the rest of the town. What type of resources would it take to deal with these zombies? You would have to deal with maybe 5 zombies at a time, and you would be forced to deal with them because they are sprinting at you. Walk around with an axe and kill 5 zombies every few minutes, and now the entire town is totally empty. You could even go through the town without dealing with 50% of them if you wanted to sneaking by, and that would require even less resources. You could go around with your fists and deal with that. Now imagine you have a gun! That problem would be taken care of with a few pulls of a trigger, and finding enough ammo to do that wouldn't be hard at all. So yes, was killing each individual zombie more of a challenge? Sure. But what is the overall challenge in the end? You've cleared an entire area with an axe or a magazine or two of ammo. How hard was that really? And now let's say it starts to rain? Well killing 5-10 zombies would take basically no time at all, so kill em and walk inside. Drama done. Once that's done, what do you care, just run into a building and sit there for a few minutes until it stops. There are no zombies left to beat on your doors and break them down, and you are free to do whatever you want. Or lets say someone shoots a gun off in the distance. At most maybe 10-20 zombies come running through an area? You could easily avoid that and just not deal with it. The DayZ zombie is the easy version of zombies, not the other way around. The less zombies there are,the easier it is to deal with overall, no matter how fast or individually powerful they are. A large hoard of slow moving zombies would literally be impossible to deal with without the correct weapon and resources, whereas the type of zombies in DayZ are both killable and avoidable. They run right at you and don't leave you alone if you're spotted, and there are few enough that you can sneak and avoid them entirely. This type of zombie does not provide the constant pressure needed to provide context to the rest of the survival aspects of the game. It instead creates slight momentary difficulty, and then extended periods of total relief. Large numbers of slower moving zombies creates constant pressure, and provides context to all other interaction in the game. Base Building / Making Existing Buildings Useful The next thing I want to talk about is base building. Most games have a core element of base building, but the context makes absolutely no sense. People build entirely new structures out of materials they find, but for what purpose? The world is already full of buildings that have been made. In a survival situation, your energy and time would be extremely valuable. Using that energy to create a new building from scratch, when perfectly good buildings already exist all around you makes no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, the reasoning for building the base in these games is to hoard loot, and not actually to defend yourself from whatever it is you are trying to survive from. In this context it is the zombies since it is a zombie apocalypse. So my suggestion is to have barricading and reinforcement of existing structures being the main focus on "base building", which I realize the devs have already stated. DayZ has done a wonderful job of making Chernarus. The buildings are almost all enter-able, and the world is large enough with enough buildings that there are plenty of places for people to take over. Allow the fortification of doors and windows, and make it so that zombies naturally attack these structures. This would force you to defend your base from zombies, not just players. Zombies should naturally attack your structures and other existing structures. The doors and windows that exist in the world should be destructible, by both player and zombie. This way you may run across a building at some point that you wish to take over, but its windows and doors have been broken by zombies over time, and would require you to put in some effort in reconstructing this if you wanted to use it as your "base". Another concept I would love to see implemented in base building, and other areas as well, is group tasks. I don't believe all tasks should be doable alone. There is already 1 concept that utilizes this and that is blood bags and saline. This is a really cool mechanic that requires you to have help when trying to get something done. I think building of certain structures, like a wooden wall as an example, should only be doable with multiple users. Other tasks, such as carrying large and heavy objects, should require multiple users as well. For example, I heard a long time ago that the developers planned on having all of the furniture be physics based and move-able. Things like couches and large dressers should take a very long time to move solo, and be much quicker if you have someone helping you. This could also be used in temporary barricading of houses when you are on the move from zombies. I imagine running through a town and being over-run by zombies with a friend. We have run out of ammo and one of us is injured. The only safe place to go is inside of a building in front of us to buy us some time. We run inside, lock the door and quickly realize that the zombies will break in soon if we do not do something. We move a couch in front of the door and I cover the windows while my friend tends to his wounds. Those are the kinds of experiences I want out of DayZ. I relate back to Project Zomboid where the threat of zombies is done so well. You will be running outside in a neighborhood, with a group of zombies not far behind. You will be trying to break into a house by looking for an unlocked window so as to not make more noise, and it will start raining out of nowhere. You now realize that you HAVE to get inside soon, or you run the risk of catching a cold. It becomes a do or die situation naturally, and it is a huge adrenaline rush. Currently, the only time DayZ accomplishes this is in its PvP battles with other players. The intensity is palpable in those situations, but when it comes to survival elements, it leaves a lot to be desired. Most of this comes from the fact that the zombie threat is not real, and the houses are just not used properly in DayZ. Getting in shelter should be a temporary safe haven, one that makes you feel secure for a short period of time. Running from zombies, searching for a way into a building, finding it and locking the doors and windows behind you is a very cool feeling in Zomboid, and it simply doesn't exist in DayZ. Zombies even spawn inside of rooms, so they can catch you off guard when clearing a house as well. Soft Skills I know the devs plan on doing this, so I just wanted to have a few suggestions in here that I thought would be really cool. Soft skills, aka things that you get better at over time, provide a real reason and incentive to survive. Currently, the only thing that makes players want to stay alive is the gear they have. This can be a problem because in reality, your life would be the most valuable thing to you. For example, in game when you are being robbed, you are far more likely to try and shoot your way out of a situation because losing your gear is just as bad as dying from your point of view. Losing your gear is the equivalent of death. However, if your character had become quite good at growing food and repairing vehicles over the last month, you would not want to lose those skills you earned over all that time, and you would do whatever it took to keep you alive. This might mean you surrender, try to compromise, or come to an agreement instead of just dying in a blaze of glory. Some tasks might not even be possible until you've unlocked a certain skill level. This would greatly increase your characters value. Some skills I would put in game. - Repair Skill : Better at repairing over time. Vehicle Repair unlocked at higher level - Farming Skill : Better at farming over time. - Weapon Skill : Less weapon sway over time, slight decrease in reload times/loading ammo into magazines - Fitness skill : Characters stamina increases the more you run These could be expanded greatly obviously. I wouldn't even mind if you got better at opening cans of food with a certain utensil the more you did it. For example, using a kitchen knife to open a can of food. You could max out after 5 attempts and be at max skill. Some skills take far less time to master than others. Repairing stuff with duct tape being an easy skill to master, repairing a vehicle part taking much longer, etc. My ending thoughts I really hope the devs take the time to read this, and I would love to hear what the people in the community think about my thoughts. DayZ has always been a game I thought could be one of the most unique and amazing experiences in gaming history. The world they've created with Chernarus is amazing, and the concept that Rocket and the developers initially came up with was groundbreaking. The community obviously thinks this as well, as it went from being a mod made by only a few people to a full fledged game with tons of community support. Thanks again. Take it easy guys =)

I wasn't able to find a good thread on this topic so I decided to make one. Basically the questions is broad. What, if any, should there be in terms of "end games" in DayZ? 'End game' is the final or highest activity that a player engages in. Once a game is completely mastered by a player, all that is left to do is more of the 'end game'. The end game of DayZ is rather unique because every life can potentially be considered a new game, but the end game still exists in the context of that life. The current end games (yes, there are, can, and should be more than one kind of end game) in the standalone are limited because we still lack features, but as it stands the current end games are: Survival. The first game for all players is simple survival. The game is quite hard at first and we all strive simply to make it inland in our Bambi dayz. This end game has recently got a buff in the form of primitive survival/ hermit style living. (loving it) Running and Gunning. This is what I call players who constantly move around on foot perfecting the perfect and ultimate load-out while looking for pvp action. This has always been a mainstay end game in the DayZ mod and will continue to be popular in the standalone. This is your bandit, this is your hero.The real militant guys who have often wrecked your day. :) Camping/Loot stashing. These are the people who prefer to get the loot and then like to sit on it for as long as possible and amass as much as possible. Hide tents and build small camps, often moving them along with their precious loot stores. Vehicles are highly prized by these players because they can move a lot of loot very quickly. This is basically all that exists so far when it comes to end games in the standalone. Some large groups can do great things with their camps and vehicles, but it feels like there lacks something more worthwhile or interesting to invest time into. Here are the end games I would like to see: Base building: I would like to see base building but not exactly in the same way as in the epoch mod (Sky fortresses). With some very basic modular construction elements like fortified doors and boarded windows almost all of the buildings in chernarus can become potential player bases. If we are given something mroe substantial like the ability to construct palisades from trees then players could have the basic requirement for a place of their own construction. I'm not exactly sure what sort of things they should be able to construct, or how, beyond wooden palisades, but I'm sure there is something viable, realistic, and dynamic we can come up with. Actual base-building sets itself apart from the current end games in a big way. the building of a base is something more long term and more permanent feeling than anything else we have so far. It is at this point that when players die, they don't just try to live a new life, they try to recover the shambles of their old one because they have much more invested than just a load-out of gear or a vehicle. It gives players something to constantly play with in creative and functional ways. It's simply essential. Vehicle Modding/construction. If we can get wooden palisades, then we can protect vehicles from the average riffraff. It would be a wonderful end game if there were 101 ways that we could customize, modify, and improve our vehicles. If we could construct our own makeshift vehicles, constantly be upgrading their engines, their armor, their fuel capacity, painting them and finding better tires, we would have a very long lasting way to explore the game and invest our time in functional ways. I envision some players opting to not build a base at all, and instead living out of their vehicle which they constantly move around and improve. Groups of players who decide to live this way would travel the roads, whether benevolent or malevolent, and likely terrify all before them. (Road warrior/mad max anyone?). And yes, before you ask, they would worship guzzoline, Server Domination. Forming alliances and making enemies between groups is when DayZ brings a real feeling of community to individual servers. I would like to see things like CB radio networks being established, and any other possible realistic way that groups could begin to interact and network with one another without bullets being the primary language. A global chat is a start but it's unrealistic and is immersion breaking, some sort of middle ground must be found. Perhaps if players were given a longer range walkie talkie as a part of their standard loadout? This along with more vehicles and base building will be the basic tools required to really see that so called 'emergent gameplay that the devs have previously alleged they desire What kind of end games do you envision for DayZ?

Cool, i only raised the issue because it might not be as transparent in a LAN environment, which i assume is where a lot of the in-house playtesting gets done... It's not so much a 'game breaking issue' for me, but its just one of those things that makes the game 'feel' bad. and it used to be much more noticeable on 'laggy' servers... It was also not present in the mod and it seems to me, to be very much a product of client-server architecture. Also, since the loot spawns have been turned down (off completely?), and there are no zombies that I've noticed... That in itself would surely contribute to there being less 'positional lag' -- So I'd be interested to see whether there is still this 'big improvement' when the loot and zombies and vehicles are all turned back on in full force... ...Because basic player movement should really be quite a high priority when playing a first person shooter [captain obvious much?] .... It certainly shouldn't be nauseating trying to move about the world, the server should never 'take control' of my character and move it around without my input. I hope I'm being clear enough, since it worries me when this is described as a 'connection issue'

It is very possible it is not the server_monitor.sqf at all, though you say you are running completely vanilla... There are some mpmission files depending on what you have running client side that can update vehicles in the database. Also, you may be experiencing the update that occurs when a player gets near a vehicle. These vehicles, which can include buildings on the map, will be updated whenever a player gets near them. This function ensures that the client is updated with any changes to the status of the vehicles and buildings. It appears to also update the records in the database whenever they are accessed. This is also likely happening to anything else in the database that a player gets near as well. It should also explain why there doesn't seem to be a pattern to which vehicles are being updated. Of course, I could also be very wrong about this, but suspect it is the case.

Part of the reason why I made this thread was to help people see the light at the developmental tunnel, and to perhaps contribute some ideas about what the destination should be. Some things I really want personally in terms of end game play styles are indepth archery which requires careful practice to master. Difficult to master aircraft, and even more difficult to upgrade/construct vehicles. I'm also keen on indepth primitive living, primitive medicines, and primitive camp making.

FlimFlamm, Oh yea, I definitely think there should be a learning curve for flying. As long as I don't have to buy a special controller to fly with reasonable control. I'm being overly cautious about it because I've played games where the controls were extremely sensitive and hard to gauge. Considering that vehicles, ground or flying, will be difficult to find anyway. I'm hoping that when I do find one I'll be able to learn to control it over a couple months of use. After all, I'm trying to play a game, not take flying lessons.

I know you're not saying this but I just think the team should keep in mind that they shouldn't push player progression too hard. The mod had great map flow (player progression) of starting on the coast and heading north for military grade weapons/gear, a clear incentive, and then returning to the coast to make "use" of said weapons. It's fine if the new focus isn't on that type of item solely, there's plenty of other useful gear/vehicles/things to motivate people off the coast besides guns, but I think the team should refrain from essentially forcing people off the coast. In another post of yours, perhaps it was a status report, you said that you wanted to get people off the coast so they could begin the "real dayz experience." I think that's a dangerous train of thought when trying to create a sandbox experience. What we saw with recent patches was the coast becoming barren of loot in a lot of cases. That's a result of an incomplete system of course, and I expect it will improve once the regional control over the CLE that you mention becomes developed. But it did seem like you were advocating it as a good thing, to get people off the coast. It seems like a really artificial way to get people to move by simply putting less essential loot (food/clothing/basic weaponry) on the coast and driving people inland. People should be capable of playing on any part of the map, and there should be incentives ("better" gear) to travel. Don't try to force an experience. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to seeing the CLE fleshed out!

Greetings Survivors, As the team continues iterating and testing on experimental while moving towards the upcoming stable update, We'll hear Lead Producer Brian Hicks discuss a bit of the methodology behind dynamic events and vehicle positions versus player spawn locations. As well, Lead Designer Peter Nespesny discusses ongoing testing work over on the experimental branch related to player data updates, and scheduling. As well, we've tossed in some links to the Development Board entry for Hermit Playstyle enhancements, and their accompanying discussion thread on the Developer forums. Check the end of the Status Report for some heart pounding Player Vs Vehicle action outside the Veresnik Military Base. Contents This Week Development Board SpotlightDev Update/HicksDev Update/PeterCommunity Video: The battle of the V3S's Development Board Spotlight Back to Contents Dev Update/Hicks I'm frequently asked about player spawns, vehicle spawns, and the mentality behind where and why they are placed. I thought I would take the opportunity this week to discuss exactly that. Player spawn points as of 0.57 For those aware of how DayZ Mod's gameplay flow operated - it was fairly simple. Players started along the coast - from Kamenka to as far as Berezino. Players progressed (for the most part) from the South - to the North. (For the most part, the North West) This gameplay required very little design side control to influence it. Natively the original Chernarus had very few buildings, and thus very few potential item spawn points (compared to say - Chernarus +). One of the initial goals of DayZ was to decentralize the flow of high value or required resources. Think medical centers, military installations, and so on. When approaching player spawns - early on my approach was to try and replicate the familiarity of player spawns in the earlier versions of DayZ Mod. (DayZ Mod circa Summer 2012 was used as a touch stone) We quickly learned that this approach did not work with the massively altered layout of Chernarus. Not to mention some of the changes to key coastal areas. The next experiment we ran with player spawns was to flip the map of Chernarus, and look at the player progression as East > West. From a design perspective this approach seemed the most logical in how we wanted to layout the world, and seemed on paper like it should find strong success. Never let it be said that nostalgia and familiarity has no merit. Players were very vocal in their longing for the familiar DayZ spawn points, Chernogorsk and Elektrozavodsk especially. Internally we were very reluctant to change this up as the early loot spawning system did not allow us any region control, and the design of Chernarus was heavily leaning towards letting us use any building model we wanted, where it made sense. (Think Military Police buildings in Chernogorsk, Balota Barracks, etc) However, as early prototyping on a more robust control over where region-wise certain items spawned, the idea of spawning in some of those core DayZ Mod areas was revisited. Obviously some small changes would need to occur to the layout of the world, as the system would take a good deal of time to develop - so Balota and the Northeast Airfield both got a redesign - and spawns from Kamyshovo to West Chernogorsk were reintroduced. Vehicle and Dynamic Event Spawns as of 0.57 As Dynamic Events, and Vehicles entered the equation their spawn placements were heavily influenced by where the existing player spawns lay, and how we wanted the flow of players across the map to operate. Obviously Dynamic Event types used to prototype the system were also used as a control point for "Very Rare" items - with the desired intent to ensure that in the final product, players could not farm one location across many servers to quickly gain an item the design team intended to be incredibly hard to find. (See: SVD) WIP Civilian Car Interior Vehicles themselves followed a similar principle, as the prototype vehicle was a heavy vehicle designed to carry large amounts of both gear and players - the spawn positions for this were placed at the highest concentration in West / Northwest. As smaller, more civilian vehicles begin to be implemented we'll see more spawn types for them a bit closer to where player spawns are located. I hope this brief look into the thought process behind these areas helps you to understand how they evolve a bit better. See you all in Chernarus! - Brian Hicks / Lead Producer Back to Contents Dev Update/Peter Hey survivors! Long time no hear and as usual there are plenty of interesting things going on in the design department of our DayZ development team. Let's talk about some of them at least. First off I would like to clarify what the cause was for the accelerated consumption of energy and water which raised many eyebrows during the last weekend. In our crusade to increase the server side performance, we implemented simple scheduler to ensure that backbone character's scripts ticks only for one character per frame. Previously there were situations in which more characters were handled during one frame which caused unnecessary drops in server performance. Apart from other things, these scripts also maintain the consumption rate of energy and water. With the very first iteration of scheduler implementation, our intention was to see the gain we can get in the live environment, as internally there was quite a difference in performance, even despite the known issue that ticks scheduling is not independent from server performance causing faster character updates in some cases compared to former tick rate to which all consumptions were balanced. So if you experienced higher consumption rates it was due to really good performance on the given server which translates into less desync issues and better responsiveness. Now the possibility of faster consumption is solved and you shouldn't worry about dying at unreasonable rates. Advanced scheduler is currently being worked on and at the end it will be completely independent from server performance. Many of you noticed ongoing changes to the camera FOV (field of view) recently. Along with caping the FOV slider in settings to the new limits, the most important thing is that now the FOV values in iron sights and scopes are independent from FOV value in settings, so there will be no way to abuse the scope zooms by changing the FOV value in settings. We will elaborate more on FOV and 3PP camera later. From the gameplay features perspective there are two new traps nearly ready to be tested. The tripwire trap has the possibility of having cans attached to it in order to turn it into a perimeter alarm, or grenades to stun or damage any intruders. Fishermen will be pleased to see a new fish trap made from the netting which allows players to catch fish bigger than sardines. There is also progress on cooking in the built-in fireplaces which I hope will breathe life into these sad and abandoned houses. Other long awaited features like vehicle parts or base building are shaping up nicely and I will talk about them next time. Get used to watch your steps... see you in Chernarus folks! - Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer Back to Contents Community Video: The battle of the V3S's So, I got the opportunity to watch the latest Youtube video by superftlol. In the last 1/3 of the video, superftlol and BarelyInfected run into another pair of players at the Veresnik military compound where, low on supplies (and trucks as it turns out), the gents try to make the best out of the situation. All things considered, it's quite impressive that none of the guys seem to get significantly phased by the encounter which lasts for some 8 minutes. If you have the time, go have a look at their Youtube accounts; they're chock-full of excellent DayZ content: superftlol BarelyInfected Also, if you have a nice video containing DayZ footage you'd like to share, or if you have come across some DayZ footage from other content creators, just post it in the Gallery section of the DayZ forums and we'll happily have a look. Always looking for good stuff to share in our status reports. Header image credit: SKiDROW - Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager

I look forward to the inclusion of aircraft in DayZ. I think they should mostly be small helicopters and small planes. Because you would want to be able to fly, but not burn a lot of fuel doing it. Being able to fly at all is a boost in mobility in and of itself. I don't think flying should be difficult. This is a game after all. Not a pissing contest. We are dealing with a mouse and keyboard, not actual flight controls. I think it's safe to say that most of us want to have fun playing DayZ. As it is now, it's already difficult to find vehicles in DayZ. And I know for the most part it's because the game is still in early development. What bothers me about threads that focus on specific features is that more often then not the OP almost always has an idea of how to limit the feature in a way that just so happens to suit their play style. Which is fine if they're the only ones on planet earth playing DayZ. But, since they're not. More views have to be taken into account. We're all here to share our ideas and experiences. But, please don't whine if the feature you're hoping for isn't implemented the way you want it to be. DayZ should be entertaining for everyone who plays. Just saying.

The end-game will just be achieving what's most difficult but still possible to achieve when you've gotten to the maximum potential of your character and other characters alongside them. Whether that's building a large headquarters at a former military base, chock full of vehicles and aircraft and a big perimeter wall with machine guns and traps, or finding a CR-527 (that would be the rarest gun in the game), and three 7.62x39 bullets to kill some animal that might allow you to live another day if you can avoid the zombies, predators, players, and stave off disease, weather, and the cold, it's still the 'end-game' of survival. People here seem to be assuming that "end-game" means it'll be to the point where everyone is operating a full combined-arms force and engaging in ArmA-style mass clan wars, but it's not. Though personally I think the end-game should lean more towards the "Big base and aircraft" side rather than the "You found the one gun in the entire game" side.

I like the idea of joining different servers where the owners have modded it to be a different experience. As long as it's not modded to give them the upper hand, such as allowing hackers to intervene in their favor. Believe me, this would happen if it doesn't already. The mere use of the phrase "end game" suggests limitations. You can't deny that. By suggesting there are only three end games you're implying DayZ is limited. And this it what bothers me about many of the posts I read regarding what people want in DayZ. For one, vehicles are already hard to find. Really hard to find. I've played DayZ for 130+ hours and I've found TWO vehicles in that time. Despite my visiting towns designated to having vehicles at least once a day over those 130+ hours. At this point, vehicles need to be more accessible. Interestingly enough, I'm coming across more fuel cans these days. Which is good. But hardly ever finding a vehicle. Which is bad. There needs to be a better balance between fuel availability and vehicle accessibility. But this is an alpha - as SO many people keep forgetting. So I'm more then happy to wait for this aspect to improve before DayZ is released. Patience is rare in these forums. 1. Modding will help increase the variety of possible experiences in DayZ AFTER it's released. 2. Asking for the ability to mod DayZ before it's release, is like placing your cart before the horse. And it's just plain selfish. This isn't YOUR game to mod when you please. Remember, you're not the only one DayZ is being designed for. Hello? 3. If you don't like the current state of DayZ then take a break from playing it. 4. If you really care about the development of DayZ then please share your ideas. 5. Stop whining about DayZ being in alpha. That's its current state. Live with it or stfu. 6. Stop telling everyone what a REAL apocalypse would be like. None of us have lived through one. 7. Despite what your head tells you, your ideas may seem better then mine but they're just ideas. I have suggestions. But don't worry, I won't ask you to join a religious cult. We're just here to share our ideas. Not convert the masses. 8. In the meantime, I will play DayZ while I'm enjoying it. Or stop if I'm not. Happy looting.

Theres a limit, I agree on that. But heres the thing. Vehicles with think metal plates, and their maneuverability, that depends on the vehicle and the metal. We could be talking Urals with multiple-spaced aluminum plates. Lets say 2 plates, 1 welded directly onto the chassis of the car (lets say a door), and another plate spaced 1 inch from the attached aluminum plate. The average weight of the Ural wouldnt increase that much, and its suspension would definitely be capable of taking the load, while still keeping much of its mobility. However, the 1st plate of spaced armor would slow the bullet substantially, not to mention if it hit at an angle (we'll assume that the bullet is hitting perpendicular though) the space between the armor means the slowed bullet has to travel further, lessening its speed and energy even more, and then, it has to pierce the welded plate, and the door itself. The bullet would likely not make it through at this point, due to its energy not being sufficient to pierce. Let me make another point though, the bullets we have in DayZ are not specific AP nor HP, so penetration amount is lower. So heres the thing, not only will the armor be facing non-AP rounds, chances are it'll be facing 9mm pistol, .45 or .380 auto, maybe a shotgun or .22. None of those should be able to pierce a 1/2 inch aluminum plate (the plates aren't that heavy, I work with them all the time) All this is assumed that at some point we can modify vehicles. All of this is also based on current items, not future. Also assuming that the vehicle is a Ural, and that we managed to find one. Again assuming that people will attack on sight. In that case, we'll assume that we haven't already run them over. And we'll assume that they're jealous. And that they're dicks for shooting anyway.

the makers of the origin mod did it way to far, vehicles with thick metal plates everywhere won't be able to move as well anymore and would have a terrible gas consumption do you really want flying fortresses in DayZ standalone? i guess you have to wait for modability then, the origin team sure will do its part on that then you need a LOT of metal to stop a 7.62 round, or a 5.56 round, these are very high velocity and can punch a hole through a few centimeters of steel plate, and how likely is it to find a steel plate 1x1 meters that is thick enough to stop a bullet?

Agreed. Thing is, End Games, whether people like it or not, are impossible to NOT have, no matter how much you try, there will always be an End Game. But like the OP said, MODDING VEHICLES. That needs to be a priority. I would find a Ural or something, and then take doors, hoods, trunk panels, quarter panels, every metal sheet I could find, and slap it on the Ural as armor, and make a plow in the front, wheel guards on the sides, windshield guards, fuel tank armor, etc. The people who made the Origins mod for the DayZ mod had the right idea, Bohemia should take a look at that and see if they can get some ideas.

Yeah, if anyones ever read the Apocalypse Z series by Manel Loureiro, he takes science and realism and slaps them together. Since zombies are ROTTING flesh, they decay and insects (flies, maggots, decomposers), and animals will eat it, and it took maybe 3-4 years before zombies were basically wiped out by mold and didnt have enough muscle to move and got baked if they were in the sun, frozen if they were in the cold, decayed till nothing if they were in moist areas. It really wouldnt take zombies an awful long time to die. But with DayZ being set only weeks, maybe months after infection, I think there should be more destroyed stuff. Obviously as the outbreak would spread, military and government forces would be fighting to contain it everywhere, so why dont we see tanks and other such vehicles in the cities where they would be most common? And assuming that people couldnt really escape the infection, and assuming that the infection spread super-quick, why isnt there so much more loot? People wouldnt have had the chance to pack up all of their items and leave.

"End game" as a phase doesn't really imply an end as in "you won". It simply implies there is no phase after it which mean no matter how well you do and many resources you amass you will still stay in this phase. Keeping this in the current "now what?"/"yolo lets fight to the death" state does not make for a good and diverse survival sandbox. There should always be a reason to not die. And at some point "satisfying your basic needs" and "improve your gear" does not cut it anymore. Then you should have the tools to get creative. It's about providing reasons to cooperate and things to do/goals beyond basic survival. It's not about causing a global power creep. That's why the "loss", "effort" and "maintenance" parts are so important. Playing with a bunch of buddies should by no means give you a ticket and basically free power. Average groups/clans (and especially those mainly focussing on PvP) should still be "stuck" in what I would call "mid game". Now the public hive/server switch part is twofold. There are positive effects in having a greater loot economy and in being able to "change your island" and even groups popping up togther can be a good thing as it prevents one group from dominating one server without having to fear competition. There is always the risk the resident clan might be victim of some kind of "viking raid" if they are doing too well. And the "vikings" won't have the same impact if they aren't allowed to bring their base/vehicles/farms etc. (as those things are server-bound). Now the issue with server switching is how fast and easy it is right now (and meeting up on a low pop/empty server and then jumping to your "target server" is actually quite close to ghosting). This can be solved by simply adding a significant cost to "changing your island" - something like "wait for X hours or start anew". This would significantly nerf hopping for loot and add some more required effort to starting a raid as it's no longer "meet up and go" but more "meet today, raid tomorrow, return the day after".

in your OBJECT_DATA table, do the vehicles have the same INSTANCE number as your server?