The actions of a “Dayz sounds interesting” noob

[Surg3on 4]

This is a "my experience post" and it is factual to the best of my recall. No need for name calling if you think I'm stupid for doing whatever it is that I did.

Bought the pack from Steam and followed the recommended instructions on the Dayz website for getting the mod up and running (6updater). Took a little fiddling but nothing more than expected.

Opened operation Arrowhead, turned the graphics to high. Framerate seemed acceptable so did the first training mission. Controls seem OK. I haven’t set up voice yet but to start with I don’t want to bother any players with my noobness anyway.Used the 6updater to launch a game on a USA server that is on 25/50 players. Lowest server I could find that wasn’t greyed out. All the Australian servers were full (congrats!).

Start on a beach. Somewhere.... Grass growing all the way to the water eh? :P Run maybe 5 steps as I have heard on the forums of people running up and down the beach to get to towns. Music changes, 3 zombies that were over a small rise and not visible to me come and eat my brains.... I don’t bother running, its mainly flat where I am and I wouldn’t be able to lose them if I wanted to.

Sit at YOU ARE DEAD screen for a while trying to figure out how to respawn. The respawn/restart buttons on ESC menu doesn’t seem to do anything, even if I wait a min or two. Quit server. I never do figure out how to respawn.

Start next to a small town, can see plenty of zombies. Crouch walk to some of the buildings on the outskirts. I am unable to tell the difference between a house you can enter and a house you cannot. I do not find a house you can enter (note the tutorial covers opening doors so I knew how to do it). I decide to head up the hill and see if I can find a less zombie infested area. Walking through the forest is cool but the trees roots look silly on the slope. Find a big radio tower! Very cool looking. I can see zombies so I crawl to the tower. Again unable to tell if I shouldn’t be able to search the small shed next to tower. Climb tower, have a look around. Ooh ! farm , so I climb down and crouch walk down the hill . A zombie sees me and hits me before I know what’s happening. I start to bleed. Sprint down to the barn hoping it has 2 entrances (as the forum says that is how you lose zombies). Doesn’t work. Zombie attracts every other zombie for large radius and they are heading towards me from all directions. I continue to bleed , start to walk.... die.

Start next to a small town again. This time I find a house that I can enter (door was already open? Is it like this for all enterable houses? I guess I’ll learn that). Find a Coke AND Pepsi can and get them into my inventory (as if the two would exist in the same household!) Crouch walking to the next house, zombie I cannot see is hiding behind a fence or something, all I know is an aggroed zombie runs out from behind the fence. This aggros every zombie in town and I’m dead again.

I won’t suggest much as you’re the game designer and can take what you want from my experience. I was disheartened by the fact that if aggro was attained there was nothing at all I could do about it and that aggro was very easily attained in my 3rd try even though it could not see me and I was not running.

[chrispow 3]

Did you play 1.7.1.4 or 1.7.1.5? The bugged zombie detection is supposedly fixed in the latter. Now, .5 is still not an easy version to play, but at least you shouldn't be dying to the game screwing you over. You'll learn how to sneak, avoid zombies, lose them, where to look for weapons and in no time you'll be loving the experience. Patience is key, and if you can--sneak around at night! The zombies will have a much harder time detecting you, but you will need to use your flashlight to navigate. You can right-click most items in your inventory (G) to interact with them.

Go on a full server. As a newbie you have nothing to lose other than your mind. Try to approach people, type to them in direct chat, use your mic in direct. See if they want to co-operate. You'll run into the arseholes as well, but as long as you're unarmed, a surprising amount of people will help you out.

[Surg3on 4]

Did you play 1.7.1.4 or 1.7.1.5?

Latest version as at yesterday.

[walkerbait421 19]

That was .4 (bugged zombie aggro). Try .5.

[TheDangerBox 0]

For the record I Like both coke and pepsi and keep both in the house pepsi in cans and coke in the glass bottle. So they can both be found in 1 house.

[Surg3on 4]

For the record I Like both coke and pepsi and keep both in the house pepsi in cans and coke in the glass bottle. So they can both be found in 1 house.

Probably how the virus started!

[hidden 1]

Pepsi Max all the way. But on a serious note: the last update really did it for me. I can easily sneak past those pesky zeds again. I am not happy about them spawning inside buildings, but at the same time it adds to the challenge, not to mention weapon-less starters can pick up empty cans and bottles, press the F key until the word "throw" is showing, and then basically throw it like a hand grenade in Arma II. The sound of metal or glass hitting preferably a hard surface such as asphalt, rock or concrete, will attract zombies nearby – if they are within a 30m radius.

I have only tried it once myself so far. I did it after sneaking up on a barn yesterday, and I was welcomed and promptly gang-raped by a family of six zombies inside their otherwise so charming barn. I was clinging the rifle I had just found on the second floor when the zombies commenced feasting on my body, leaving behind the fresh remains of a once survivor clinging to a rifle with no ammo.

Do not be afraid to sneak into Chernogorsk to pick up some useful loot in there, and the castle ruins can be generous (I found two rifles on two floors in the same tower once). The zombies are easy to shake off as the area is littered with ruins and obstacles to break their LOS. For places like Chernogorsk, Balota air field and Eletrozavodsk, I recommend sneaking in during the twilight hour. There is just enough daylight to spot the zombies and other possible enemies, and dark enough to hide in the shadows to avoid detection.

I am a newb myself, and casual gamer. I love Arma II and this MOD is terrific as well. Somehow it allows for casual game play (like when I spent an hour laying under a pine tree one pitch dark night, listening to the calm, gentle breeze in the treetops and admiring the starry night sky), with some intense action often when you least expect it. DayZ is flawed, no doubt, but at the same time very rich and vast on many levels.

If we ever meet, I just want you to know that I am usually friendly (unless being shot at). Also, I die easily; one bullet to the head does it for me. It is a good thing that most of the supposed snipers in DayZ have no clue how to actually use their boom stick, so crouch, prone, get out of sight, "duck and cover!", and get the hell out of there when they open up on you and miss with the first shot.

[Areoss 4]

Its a simulator, you need to be really careful not to be detected. If you think your near any zombies... lie down. You are very hard to see and hard to hear.

Id suggest searching for barns first to arm your self. But be careful, shots can agro more zombies.

I died about 5 times before getting the swing of things, don't be diss hearted by the steep learning curve. When you get used to it, it will be second nature to act certain ways, scouting everything before you go in. Litterally a full circle so you know where everything and everyone is. Knowledge is the key.

Keep at it. Watch some guides and stuff if that helps.

I've only been playing for about 2 days so far and I've just got the hang of it. Id recommend working out where you are straight away and referencing it to an online map so you have your barings and can work out which way you want to go.

[Surg3on 4]

Op here. Tried again last night with the new patch.

Spawned on the docks of Ectro (using itnernet map to guess) and wandered around there for an hour or more. I had all the parts to repair a car (windscreen, fuel tank, scrap metal) and some shotgun bullets. In the end I was killed by two players with hatchets (I assume they were just your typical internet trolls).

It was certainly a bit better last night. Possibly due to side chat being enable and zombies not having x-ray vision and bionic hearing.

It may just have been due to spawning in a more interesting area too.

[Hazzer (DayZ) 0]

If you continue to struggle then I can help you out a little. Steam name is "Hazzer", I'm the guy with the bald eagle as his profile picture.

I live in the UK and am obviously based in the GMT timezone so I'm unsure of how that will work.

[Cicero 2]

i just started im on my second life just got a le enfield my first gun oh that feeling man nothing beats THAT feeling. like u ive been trying to loot towns only to find that the houses cant be entered a little trick is if the windows can be seen through then you can enter. trust me get a gun play smart and thisgame is awesome also been on my 2nd life for like 3 hours sadly i have no water and it looks like that will be my end but still epic as can be you just have to find a gun and QoL becomes awesome

[TheFired3mon 33]

I'll be glad to help you out, even though I'm a noob too. I'm not always the most stealthy (I try to be, but patience isn't my strong point so occasionally I'll crouch run and screw myself over) but I somewhat understand how to get away from them. XD Either way, if you need any help, just PM me on here.

---

i just started im on my second life just got a le enfield my first gun oh that feeling man nothing beats THAT feeling. like u ive been trying to loot towns only to find that the houses cant be entered a little trick is if the windows can be seen through then you can enter. trust me get a gun play smart and thisgame is awesome also been on my 2nd life for like 3 hours sadly i have no water and it looks like that will be my end but still epic as can be you just have to find a gun and QoL becomes awesome

Also, if you're going to die anyway, head to Elektro/Cherno if it's not too far. No, it's not the safest, but the supermarkets should provide you with food and water/soda.

[Surg3on 4]

Day 3! perhaps nobody wants me to post this but then again perhaps someone will find it useful.

Spawn at night! Good gosh its dark, I lived on a farm and I gotta say if you can see stars its never that dark! I found another player and we attempted to group up (his torch lit up the trees like it was one of those x-files torches, except with no refraction). I expect the Arma 3 lighting engine will help with the torches a bit. Noticed my person was not able to hold a torch even remotely level while jogging, poor guy must have stiff joints. We were killed by a zombie, was unable to figure out why it aggroed and others much closer did not.

Switch to a daylight server. I have lived a fair while and actually found a gun! (when it rains it pours, one barn held a shotgun, 2 lee enfeilds and a crossbow). It was fun throwing all my tin cans and a smoke grenade to get the zombies in the barns upper floors to leave. I am unsure what I am doing wrong when throwing as it seems to make me stand up.... Before that I was overflowing with ammo and I fear when I log back in I wil starve to death as I never found food after a couple of hours!

I am unsure why, when I pick up a gun I drop almost every item I had on the ground.

edit: I might add I gave up and cheated using an online map.

[LastShenanigan 8]

I assure you it is because you're new. Even you if had a pistol with you, you probably would have been overwhelmed and died. All new people seem to think having a gun will save them. Honestly, if you're accidentally aggroing an entire town worth of zombies you will probably die if you don't lose them. This is just how the first few runs go.

Running in and out of buildings with multiple entrances does work, you just have to keep looking over your shoulder and learn when to finally crouch to completely lose them. The biggest obstacle for a new player is learning the map, figuring out where to find supplies and what buildings are most likely to hold something useful. There are a lot of small towns that have only a few spawn points, if there's a ton of zombies wandering around these places its better just to skip over them.

As for respawning hit the button to go back until you see the list of players on the server again, then hit ok there.

I'm honestly not opposed to players spawning with a weapon but it'd need to be different then before. Perhaps a fairly weak close range shotgun with only a few rounds. something that requires getting close to another player while also being useful for those first few zombies.

[Surg3on 4]

I dont mind about the dying or the no starting gun. Unlike many I do accept its Alpha (and I have a feeling it's going to be ported to Arma3 on its release anyway). Im just reporting my experience in a way that someone might find useful. The no food and water abundant but not drinkable for example.

[schmotto 32]

Congratz on playing the game. Well done.

[Surg3on 4]

Nobody forcing you to read it. Trollers gonna troll i guess. I guess another thing to note is the community, the number of l33+ Do0dz is unfortunately high (at the moment).

[hidden 1]

How are you doing so far? Have you found the barn and nearby dam a bit North of Elektrozavodsk? The barn offers some prime quality loot such as weapons (I see you have at least one gun now), and you can run down to the dam below the barn to fill up your water flask, then if you check your map you can run straight up to the Rog Castle from there, where you might find useful survivor's stuff (food, beverages, weapons, matches, etc.).

Using a map with this MOD is not cheating; the game world spans 225 square kilometers and you would probably get lost out there in real life. I found a map in a building somewhere, and I jot down notes on it when I found loot spots such as barns, tents, etc., but I use a browser and/or Android map as well. When using the Android map on my smart phone it feels like having a pocket GPS receiver, which is very realistic, if anything.

Also try some of the Arma II missions. Chances are you will (really) like it. I love the editor and am starting all over again with it, as I have not created missions since OFP 1985, the very first game in the series by B.I.S. I do enjoy playing this MOD, either way, even in this stage of development. Good luck, and "break a leg" :)

[Surg3on 4]

Day4

Played a bit over the weekend. I'm not pro but I have now seen most of what the mod offers and I might come back to it in a few months. Will be a very cool game with more polish and some incentives to group. BIS should give rocket a couple of staff :D

Got shot in the face in a barn by someone for no good reason after running a loooong way :) Used all my ammo in one village killing zombies hoping for a can of food. Hunger needs to increase slower OR cans need to spawn more because outside of cherno/electro there really isnt a lot of loot areas that drop cans of food. Finally found ONE packet of matches after sooo many hours of searching!