Night time

[Guest]

I like night time in the game ... But it's completely unplayable when you start during nightime. I don't want to ruin the immersion, but I think that the night is too dark - It would be understandable in a forest, but right at the beginning on a beach, it's almost completely impossible to see anything.

My suggestion is to just add a chemlight to the default equipment you start with - it's not OP, doesn't make a lot of light but makes it waaaay more enjoyable already. Another good thing would be to increarse the chances of finding flashlights ... because nearly each house in a normal village actually haves one (not as powerful as the ones used by the military but still useful).

That's just a simple suggestion - no major changes to apply, no destruction of the night/day cycle system, nothing too exagerated.

[eko (DayZ) 2]

I agree entirely, the nights are far too dark. It actually breaks immersion for me, our eyes naturally adapt to the dark and out in an open field or on the coast on even a cloudy night, you would be able to find your way.

As it is now - for me at least - with full brightness I literally can't even make out the outline of my gun as I hold it out in front of me.

[salty (DayZ) 39]

I agree entirely' date=' the nights are far too dark. It actually breaks immersion for me, our eyes naturally adapt to the dark and out in an open field or on the coast on even a cloudy night, you would be able to find your way.

As it is now - for me at least - with full brightness I literally can't even make out the outline of my gun as I hold it out in front of me.

[/quote']

It should never be that dark. Apparently there's a desync bug in Rocket's full moon script that's causing night time environments to be nearly pitch black. Just disconnect to the server lobby and reconnect to fix the problem.

[Reklin 56]

I agree entirely' date=' the nights are far too dark. It actually breaks immersion for me, our eyes naturally adapt to the dark and out in an open field or on the coast on even a cloudy night, you would be able to find your way.

As it is now - for me at least - with full brightness I literally can't even make out the outline of my gun as I hold it out in front of me.

[/quote']

It should never be that dark. Apparently there's a desync bug in Rocket's full moon script that's causing night time environments to be nearly pitch black. Just disconnect to the server lobby and reconnect to fix the problem.

On servers that aren't desynced it still get's that dark sometimes, and with HDR on Low, everything is pitch black apart from the sky.

[sunnz 24]

To me its just unjoyable and unplayable IMO.

Not only does ot need ot be bright( enough for us to see were we are going and whats ahead) but NVGs need to be added or be a lot more easier to find.

[saz 3]

The darkness is quite realistic actually. The only thing that i think is annoying is that the dark mountainus backdrop sometimes makes it hard to see the silhouettes.

[Rec0n412 9]

To me its just unjoyable and unplayable IMO.

Not only does ot need ot be bright( enough for us to see were we are going and whats ahead) but NVGs need to be added or be a lot more easier to find.

I agree with this to a point, but I feel that NVG's should still be some what rare. Considering that those are kinda fragile and all.

However, I would think that flashlights would be more prevalent than they are.

[droznig 20]

Nights are perfect, i love that it's so dark, survival of the fittest.

Using a flare lights you up like a disco ball which is awesome, means you need to think about what you are doing constantly and where you are.

I have no problem playing at night because I'm not a retard. It adds a whole new dimension to the game and when its starting to get dark you feel a real sense of needing to be somewhere safe or gather as many supplies as possible before it hits.

The one and only problem I have with the night mechanics is that sometimes when you have more than one light source next to eachother only one will work and that I imagine is just a bug which can be fixed.

Please for the love of god don't dumb this game down for the retards, there are enough games for stupid people out there.

[Ub3rS0ldat 0]

It's good how it is right now. If you remove the requirement to find a source of illumination or find your way in the dark it will completely destroy the sense of dread that comes from seeing the sun beginning to lower.

Don't change it.

[Leechman 8]

The darkness is appropriate.

Torches are not hard to find. Neither are chemlights or flares.

You also start with flares.

Disagree with OP

[osme_oxys 9]

I agree entirely' date=' the nights are far too dark. It actually breaks immersion for me, our eyes naturally adapt to the dark and out in an open field or on the coast on even a cloudy night, you would be able to find your way.

As it is now - for me at least - with full brightness I literally can't even make out the outline of my gun as I hold it out in front of me.

[/quote']

It should never be that dark. Apparently there's a desync bug in Rocket's full moon script that's causing night time environments to be nearly pitch black. Just disconnect to the server lobby and reconnect to fix the problem.

On servers that aren't desynced it still get's that dark sometimes, and with HDR on Low, everything is pitch black apart from the sky.

I personally like the "desynced" nights. Problem is that often times only one player has them and its afternoon for the rest of the server. I like the darkness, NVGs should be as rare as they are, because as debilitating as those incredibly dark nights are, they protect you from bandits, as it should. Thats how nights are. If the moon isnt out, you has better pay close attention to where you walk in real life, meaning it should be quite debilitating in the game. Night ought to be when you can feel safe exploring anywhere you wish, providing youre mindful of the zeds and light sources. Increasing spawn rate of NVGs would only ruin the effect anyways.

Besides most nights you can turn your gamma and brightness up to the point where it might as well be daytime. Think thats cheating? Go ask the bean hunters to play fair then and see what the response is.

[DaPessimist 1]

It's supposed to be a simulation, right? Well in the real world, we have this thing called ambient light... something that apparently doesn't exist in this game. If I'm in the middle of woods, it should be pitch dark (unless it's a full moon). If I'm anywhere around a town, or where people are using light, there should be an ambient glow. Light doesn't just stop after 80 feet.

[gooneyboi 0]

From a pure game design point of view the night IS to dark. Horror as a concept is much more effective when it hints rather than shows.

In game play terms this is why Monster Closests (like Doom 3) are not good horror but the hinted evil in Silent Hill is.

In survival horror there are several "horrible" concepts, solitude, scarcity, no hope of actually seeing a better day, and the basic animalistic brutish behavior of humanity when the social fabric has been obliterated.

To me DayZ is probably one of the best survival horror games ever made, and certain tweaks will make it even better.

Mark my words, they will be compelled to either shorten the day/night cycle greatly or simply reduce the darkness significantly when this thing reachs general availability.

You can already see that people activly seek out the servers where daylight is present, because when everything else is considered, daylight DayZ is simply a better game than nighttime DayZ.

Im sure some will say, well look all the servers are full now 24/7, and thats true but thats a function of scarcity of play spots not because people like playing in the dark. If you really look you can see that the night time servers are not the server of choice for people but rather the choice you make if you want to play but no other server is avaiable. Which should scream out to a game designer that you have a design problem with your game.

As someone said earlier for a new player especially, darkness does make the game pretty much unplayable.

Cheers,

-Gooney

[kittythepwner 1]

In my opinion this is far too dark.

How are you supposed to play in this darkness? You should be able to see without flares and NVG's.

[Leechman 8]

Honestly?

Have you ever been outside at night when there is no moon? In proper nighttime darkness?

Stop trying to make this game too easy.

[Alex (DayZ) 8]

"This games so difficult, we can't see or use strategic lighting to give us an idea of our current destination, please make it brighter, waaaah"

[Spock (DayZ) 0]

The people who complain that the nights are too dark must have never been in the wilderness on a cloudy night. It can get literally pitch black, so dark that you can't see your hand in front of you. That is one of the reasons you need campfires, to know your surroundings. This is not your average shooting gallery where nights are like day with dark filter, the sooner you realize that the better.

That said, it would be appropriate with some lighting from full moon, to make it realistic it should really only be so that you can barely make out sillouettes, anything else is too much.

[beeman 1]

I like the dark nights but I find that whenever I"m able to actually connect...or when one of my friends is on(pretty much the only time i'm eager to play), it's almost always night time.

What I'd prefer is instead of running a 24 hour day cycle, they'd run a four or six hour cycle. That way, nights would still be really long but not so long as to force us to endure them...or not play if we don't like them, for seven hours at a time ;P

I much prefer playing ArmA that way. That way, you can still have nice, drawn-out night battles full of wild tactics, artillery flares and such...but the night's not long enough to be annoying.

Also, people who think lighting in ArmA is insufficient has never played the actual game and seen a truck's headlights blinding you from a couple hundred meters away >_>

Just shine a flashlight down the road or into some forestry next time you find one, you'll see what I mean.

[MasLegio (DayZ) 0]

In my opinion this is far too dark.

How are you supposed to play in this darkness? You should be able to see without flares and NVG's.

You use the difference between sky and objects for guidance until you get into open area with better lighnting. Or use flare.

As someone who lives in area similar to the nature in chernovst and has spent quite a lot of time in the forests and wilderness with no polluting artificial lights during nighttime as a civilian and a soldier I can say that the lighntning conditions are pretty close to realistic.

the difference is that in real life I would never run in the dark since its dangerous. Going a few hundred meters in the dark in these conditions can take a very long time in real life.

[oktyabr 53]

Anyone who thinks that daytime is safer than nighttime hasn't been playing this very long. In my opinion the balance is perfect.

[deathshroud 1]

my suggestion regarding nights is probably going to recieve mixed reactinos but here goes...

all players now start with a sleeping bag within their inventory. using the sleeping bag (through a hot key places the bag upon the ground similar to doing anything else in the game such as wire fences etc.

The sleeping bag once placed, can be picked back up or you can sleep within it, however the player is unable to sleep in the sleeping bag unless its a specific time of day/night. The player essentially gets the message you are not tired enough to sleep yet.

As the day goes on and night begins at roughly midnight the player will then get the message you are getting drowsy, find a place to rest. The palyers on the server must then search out a decent spot to place their sleeping bag ready for midnight. (away from potential zombie spawns etc). The closer it gets to midnight the more messages appear to the players such as you are exhausted and may soon collapse, find a place to rest. ETC

Once midnight is reached the players within sleeping bags now sleep, all the players who are not within them collapse to the floor from exhaustion and the timer is rapidly increased whilst all the players sleep until 7.00am. Then the players all rise from their sleep, the zombie spawns have all been refilled and all the players are now hungry and thirsty. those who did not find a safe place to rest may well of been killed by zombies as they lay unconscious from the days activities.

What this change does adds a little bit of realism in terms of players now having to rest, but it also cuts down the amount of darkness players have to face to around 3-4hours instead of 8-9. Since in my opinion playing at night looses the novelty after a few hours and is counter porductive to the success of the mod.

[eko (DayZ) 2]

To clarify, I don't have a "problem" with the night being as dark as it is, I've actually had quite a bit of fun with it. And a couple hours after first posting on the subject, the moon came out on the server I was playing on and that was absolutely awesome.

I do however believe that at it's darkest it's a bit too much... I'm not trying to make the game "easier" or remove the need for using alternate light sources to make your way at night (flares, flashlights, chemlights, etc...) as that's an important part of the experience and adds a whole new level of depth to the game!

I was lucky enough to start playing DayZ during the day, if I were to have started at night however... I probably would have thought something was very broken with the game and had a very difficult time simply moving around to begin with - which I fear will turn a lot of people away from this. Not because they're "carebears" or the game is too tough for them, but because even getting a bearing of ones self is nearly impossible. Yes this is a brutal and unforgiving experience, one that people shouldn't miss out on because of what is ultimately a minor tweak in the lighting.

That's not to say everywhere should have more visibility at night, if I were to wonder off into the woods from the moon/starlit coast - I expect no visibility, I should have to use my flares etc.. to make my way.

[Guest]

People who talk about going in the wilderness during the night - I actually wonder if you ever did it, since YES, it's actually too dark. A beach, a cost, or even a village CANNOT be so dark, that is all.

[saz 3]

People who talk about going in the wilderness during the night - I actually wonder if you ever did it' date=' since YES, it's actually too dark. A beach, a cost, or even a village CANNOT be so dark, that is all.

[/quote']

If you go out a normal moonless night in the wilderness there is nothing bur pure darkness. Sure the Sky looks pretty but thats it. There is next to no source of light.

[Mutonizer 78]

Nights are perfect, I agree. First time ever in a game that I get the same feeling I have when I'm camping in the woods! I really don't understand changing your gamma for this :)

When the moon's up nice and proper, you can see quite nicely (except in some dense forests of course), but put a cloud in there and it's all gone.

That said: you got chemlights, flashlights and flares.

Chemlights and flares are very common loots so just throw them around, carry them, or whatever.

Flashlights...O..M...G. These things are a deathtrap if you so much as cross an infected with the ray and yet it's so intense with it when it's pitch black!

With the new patch, exploring a village at night is just...insane. TONS of fun (aka death!)