Can someone explain to me how the game works, because I'm failing miserably

[Enfrozt 4]

I've been watching some streaming and videos of Day Z and it seemed like a really fun game, that is until I actually played it.

Basically it took me an entire night to download the game, and another 2 hours the next day getting the mod files.

After I started the game I noticed everything was laggy and my computer was over heating like a demon.

So I eventually join a server like an hour later and I notice my game is running at max possible settings and whenever I move it lags and is really shaky/weird.

So I change all the settings and fix the move issue (had to match up 2 settings) and think I'm going to play, but I was sadly mistaken.

So out of the 4-5 servers I've played on (all near full) I have died at least twice or more on each and have gotten no where in the game.

Being an avid gamer I realize I probably don't know all the controlls so I look down the keybindings section for a good 10 minutes and realize there is about 1000 hotkeys.

>> So basically every single game goes like this. No-one talks in chat, or will help me with any of my questions. Where ever I go, no matter what, crouching, crawling etc I ALWAYS agro 1 or more zombies and seem to die.

Not to mention every goddamn house is basically fake with no way in, except for buildings in a city.

>>> So I head to multiple citys (agroing zombies and dieing along the way) And everywhere is empty, no guns, no supplies nothing.

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Was that a rant? Yes.

Now onto my real questions:

How on earth do I get a weapon and NOT agro zombies, it seems impossible because if you like 2 feet from them they instantly attack you and I have not been able to outrun them.

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bump sks

[Turin (DayZ) 3]

Use prone more to avoid zombies. The game will get a lot easier once you become familiar with which buildings are enterable / generally have good loot.

[MissBehave 37]

Welcome to DayZ! The recent patch that went out had some bugs in it that may have made your first experience a bit brutal. Also they just removed the starter gun, food and additional supplies. 1.7.1.2 looks like it will fix some of the bugs and introduce melee weapons in rough form.

My advice with the new patch would be to move slow, crawl when in doubt. Crouch run when you think you can but use shift while crouching to walk.

Double tapping shift will engage slow walk when standing or crouched and slow crawl when crawling.

Stay behind zombies when you can. Being a noob without a gun, if you hear gunshots I would get the heck outta town. If you aggro zombies you can go inside a building with two exits and dodge them out the back. You can enter buildings that have windows you can see into. Zombies slow inside buildings so easier to shoot. You can also lose them by zig zagging around buildings or trees in the forest.

Use cans, bottles, smoke grenades, chemlights or flares to distract them and it will help you get around them; however be careful at night as flares can be spotted forever. You can put them in your inventory and select them with the F key. Throw with Left Mouse button.

Right mouse button tap will look down weapon sights. Holding right mouse button will zoom, handy for plotting routes.

I have a blog entry that might be helpful with some basics about gameplay style. Hope it helps just a bit.

Hard Lessons Learned While Surviving A Zombie Apocalypse

Good luck!

[-Cdn-Chard 96]

I'd also suggest you go into single player > editor > Chernarus map and put in a single soldier to play around with, get used to the controls etc... It's hard to learn when walkers are all around...

When you're reasonably comfortable with the controls, hop back in game and sneak... always crouch walk/run and go prone when within 50 yards of a zombie.. Get used to crawling around towns. Keep an eye on the eye and ear symbols on the right side of the screen. They give you an idea of how noticable you are. Try to keep them as low as possible...

Finally, stay clear of all other players... Too many will shoot on sight... Some are likely helpful, but I've learned not to trust anyone that's not on some 3rd party comms (eg Teamspeak)

Finally, don't get too used to your character.. They'll die off quickly at the start... Keep on going...

And if you see an old bald guy with a beard, camo clothing and a DMR, don't shoot... I'm friendly!!!

[TheDangerBox 0]

Welcome to DayZ new user. My advice as is to not give up as you go through the process of dying and starting anew you will start to learn more about the enemies you encounter and the world around you, such as where to find the "good loot" and where and when you must crawl/run.

DayZ is a huge map and can be very overwhelming to find where your at i suggest finding a map on google so you can get a basic idea (through landmarks) where you have spawned and where to go next ( such as http://www.teamfackin.com/moocow/dayz/map/ ).

DayZ lately has not been very friendly towards new players, be it patches that increase the difficulty or just many more bandits than there used to be. Introduce yourself on the forums and find other friendly players willing to help you out and get you started. Theres plenty of people that want the game to increase in player count and are more than happy to help a new player get their bearings.

Don't discount the little things! All those empty tin cans you seem to find, you can keep those into your inventory and throw them to distract a zombie you may not be able to pass otherwise. ( as the poster above stated, F to switch to throw and left mouse to throw ).

Try third person! lots of new players have a rough time with first person be it the shaky camera while in motion or just the decreased level of awareness. If you press enter on your numpad you can go into a third person perspective and in my opinion it can make the game much easier on a new player.

Avoid populated servers! If your new it sucks to have some bandit just kill you all the time especially now that you cant defend yourself right off the start, so find a server with a lower player count chances are that those players don't wanna get killed either and may be more open to helping/not killing you.

Well those are the best tips i can give at the moment but don't lose heart. We have all been at this stage at one point. and trucking through it is what gets us our eventual 7 day chars with alice packs and m4sd's, as you will soon learn about. Good luck out there!

[boldcut 0]

Well all this has helped me out a lot, had no idea what i was doing. thanks guys :1

[Peyj 1]

Some really great advice already in this thread. :)

A big tip is to always be cautious, even over-cautious. If you think there's a slight chance you're too close to that zombie, or you see another player, play cautiously. Back away from the zombie (crawling, preferably), and get outta there if you see a player! Most players at the moment are playing on a "shoot first, ask questions maybe" basis.

[n4ndoz 20]

One thing that is being brutal for new players is that we don't get any weapon at the start!! I wonder why dev's did it... =)

[Peyj 1]

One thing that is being brutal for new players is that we don't get any weapon at the start!! I wonder why dev's did it... =)

I think to add another element of "survival" to the game, to keep players on their toes. :)

[Jimmy James 18]

Welcome to DayZ and ArmA!

The first thing I'd do is go into options and find the "head bob" slider and drag it to zero. This will make movement in 1st person way more comfortable. The above posts have lots of good info about the game, but whenever I first install ArmA I find I need to do a lot of sensitivity tweaks/setting changes and doing so might help you as well.

[Bottlerocket 205]

Welcome to your funeral :)

Day Z is tough - I've died countless times and expect to die countelss more. It's the nature of the game. There's a lot of good info in the above posts OP, and I'd also suggest going into ArmA and playing the tutorial (think it's called Boot Camp?) Gives you a rundown of the basic movement controls.

Also, chat has mostly been disabled now - that's intentional. You can use the 'direct chat' channel when you'e in close proximity with someone. You can change channels with the ',' or '.' keys. I forget which. But if you're close enough to chat, you're close enough to get shot. And you may get shot.

Finally, check out the New Play Discussion forum for some great tutorials.