Make Chernarus UNIQUE

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

Right now, Chernarus is a fine map, sure, but it lacks a plethora of unique areas.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

Currently, most towns in the game look the same, other then a few of the new ones. Same buildings, acceptable, same old battered cars, sure. You can't expect new buildings in each town, but you can expect one thing-

 

Something unique or noticeable about that town. Something that makes it stick out and gives the player a reason for going there.

 

I'm talking about some sort of unique remnant.

 

Perhaps one or two towns have festival banners and abandoned, bloody floats in the middle of the street. The infected interrupted their celebration, leaving a nice, eery remnant for passing survivors to take in.

 

Maybe have a carnival, or some sort of amusement park, or some sort of place that shows Chernarussians weren't dull, boring people who did nothing to entertain themselves? Perhaps a shooting range in rural areas, or a community center in others.

 

These are all things that could be used multiple times, and would add some liveliness to the map, but there are some other things that could be done as well.

 

Specific, unique, one-place only areas could be thrown around the map, like the car that's at the bottom of a cliff near NEAF. Perhaps have more car wreckages on the long roads between towns and cities.

 

I know you fellows don't like adding military spawns, but how about alongside crashed heli's, we get randomized crashed military conveys on the road? They would spawn a few bits of gear, not as much as an airfield, but a bounty neverless. It would also reward exploration. Imagine being in the middle of the map and spotting an old military convey on the road. Though they are basically the same thing as a crashed heli's, the same basic idea, it would be a good thing to throw in, randomized loot spawn wise.

 

You could also have more houses in the middle of the woods. Isolated cabins, surrounded by thick trees, making a perfect location for a base of operations for a survivor, and also adding to the woods. You could stumble upon a cabin, and a shed, along with an old rusted, wrecked pickup. The area could also be dirty, sort of hardened. Perhaps have the construction site of a humble log cabin somewhere in the woods, supplies all around, ready to be built? Of course, that construction was interrupted by the infection.

 

To expand upon the shooting range, it could be a good place for survivors to flock to for a few reasons:

 

1. You can use it as it is intended, as a range.

2. You could possibly find ammunition, and perhaps a gun, though ammunition should be the primary thing to spawn. It could be a good place for CIVILIAN GUN spawns as well.

 

To expand upon the addition of more common car wreckage between towns / cities on the roads and why it would add to the game:

 

1. When vehicles are added, it would force players to navigate around the wreckage and make offroad vehicles more valuable.

2. In the panic of an apocalypse, people are going to get into wrecks.

3. I know the devs love making stuff spawn in trunks, they now get another opportunity to do so.

 

This is a bit of a ramble-style post, but I really want the map to be UNIQUE. Right now, a lot of the towns feel copy-paste, which was fine for Arma, but this is DayZ and as an apocalyptic title it needs to up its atmosphere.

 

[shaeg 136]

Have you ever been to Russia? Dull is its middle name in the country. The festival banners would be gone..judging by the decay of cars and boats it looks like chernerus event happened a long, long time ago. But I feel what you are saying..chernarus needs some depth.

[Chaingunfighter 917]

The atmosphere could definitely use a lot of work, but the clinics & police stations as well as the other unique locations have definitely given the area a more "spiced-up" feel than it had in Arma 2.

They've probably got plenty of plans to do more buildings and one-of-a-kind locations, but they take a lot of time to make and then configure for loot, zombie navigation as well as proper collisions and what have you. I'm quite impressed with all they've done so far, pretty much everywhere has an interior and there are plenty of places to go. It's just something that takes time.

 

 

 

Have you ever been to Russia? Dull is its middle name in the country. The festival banners would be gone..judging by the decay of cars and boats it looks like chernerus event happened a long, long time ago. But I feel what you are saying..chernarus needs some depth.

The cars look more "burned-out" than anything, but the damage is inconsistent. Some places look pretty bad while others seem like they're in fresh condition. My guess is that a few months-time has passed, enough for the car wreckage to rust through constant rainstorms, but not enough for even gravel paths to become overgrown.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Chaingunfighter

[DBC (DayZ) 9]

I just want to add that I think there should be more car wrecks placed along all major roadways, with loot spawn.

 

The reasoning could be taken as those who were trying to travel while the outbreak occurred. As of now the roads are lifeless, hopefully that changes.

[Etherious 907]

Right now, Chernarus is a fine map, sure, but it lacks a plethora of unique areas.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

Currently, most towns in the game look the same, other then a few of the new ones. Same buildings, acceptable, same old battered cars, sure. You can't expect new buildings in each town, but you can expect one thing-

 

Something unique or noticeable about that town. Something that makes it stick out and gives the player a reason for going there.

 

I'm talking about some sort of unique remnant.

 

Perhaps one or two towns have festival banners and abandoned, bloody floats in the middle of the street. The infected interrupted their celebration, leaving a nice, eery remnant for passing survivors to take in.

 

Maybe have a carnival, or some sort of amusement park, or some sort of place that shows Chernarussians weren't dull, boring people who did nothing to entertain themselves? Perhaps a shooting range in rural areas, or a community center in others.

 

These are all things that could be used multiple times, and would add some liveliness to the map, but there are some other things that could be done as well.

 

Specific, unique, one-place only areas could be thrown around the map, like the car that's at the bottom of a cliff near NEAF. Perhaps have more car wreckages on the long roads between towns and cities.

 

I know you fellows don't like adding military spawns, but how about alongside crashed heli's, we get randomized crashed military conveys on the road? They would spawn a few bits of gear, not as much as an airfield, but a bounty neverless. It would also reward exploration. Imagine being in the middle of the map and spotting an old military convey on the road. Though they are basically the same thing as a crashed heli's, the same basic idea, it would be a good thing to throw in, randomized loot spawn wise.

 

You could also have more houses in the middle of the woods. Isolated cabins, surrounded by thick trees, making a perfect location for a base of operations for a survivor, and also adding to the woods. You could stumble upon a cabin, and a shed, along with an old rusted, wrecked pickup. The area could also be dirty, sort of hardened. Perhaps have the construction site of a humble log cabin somewhere in the woods, supplies all around, ready to be built? Of course, that construction was interrupted by the infection.

 

To expand upon the shooting range, it could be a good place for survivors to flock to for a few reasons:

 

1. You can use it as it is intended, as a range.

2. You could possibly find ammunition, and perhaps a gun, though ammunition should be the primary thing to spawn. It could be a good place for CIVILIAN GUN spawns as well.

 

To expand upon the addition of more common car wreckage between towns / cities on the roads and why it would add to the game:

 

1. When vehicles are added, it would force players to navigate around the wreckage and make offroad vehicles more valuable.

2. In the panic of an apocalypse, people are going to get into wrecks.

3. I know the devs love making stuff spawn in trunks, they now get another opportunity to do so.

 

This is a bit of a ramble-style post, but I really want the map to be UNIQUE. Right now, a lot of the towns feel copy-paste, which was fine for Arma, but this is DayZ and as an apocalyptic title it needs to up its atmosphere.

I agree! 100% Araida, once again you write a great post. + Beans

  

[captain_finnish 134]

I just want to add that I think there should be more car wrecks placed along all major roadways, with loot spawn.

The reasoning could be taken as those who were trying to travel while the outbreak occurred. As of now the roads are lifeless, hopefully that changes.

I agree. When we get vehicles, you cant just go as fast as your car can go, because you would need to dodge those car wrecks.

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

I just want to add that I think there should be more car wrecks placed along all major roadways, with loot spawn.

 

The reasoning could be taken as those who were trying to travel while the outbreak occurred. As of now the roads are lifeless, hopefully that changes.

 

Good idea. Car wrecks as well as makeshift roadblocks, wrecked military vehicles and such things.

[Tomo2000uk 33]

how good would it be to have a "dark forest" type area. This place could have a constant fog and a hive of zombie activity

but also increased loot spawns.

 

It could be a safe haven for someone being tracked, but the chances of death by falling into hole / traps would be high

 

 

 

 

 

 

[qww 287]

sure il be happy if they increase the detail, but i dont see the problem with how it looks now, its an abandoned area. theres a bit of damage in places, i dont know what more people expect,

 

as far as im concerned the atmosphere is already there, i hope the designers dont go over the top with it, or change it much from what it is already.

Edited April 17, 2014 by qww

[zeroy 240]

Im sure more ambient FXs are planned for the map. Currently there is no fires/smoke or even localized fog - other than when its raining.

[Windex 13]

Right now, Chernarus is a fine map, sure, but it lacks a plethora of unique areas.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

Currently, most towns in the game look the same, other then a few of the new ones. Same buildings, acceptable, same old battered cars, sure. You can't expect new buildings in each town, but you can expect one thing-

 

Something unique or noticeable about that town. Something that makes it stick out and gives the player a reason for going there.

 

 

This is not really feasible for technical reasons.   Adding one new car or statue or house costs the same as adding 100 of that thing.   It all has to be on your hard drive, plus loaded into memory at some point while playing.

 

There is plenty of variety already, and reasons to go places or avoid them.   If you don't know them yet, maybe you should work on learning them.

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

This is not really feasible for technical reasons.   Adding one new car or statue or house costs the same as adding 100 of that thing.   It all has to be on your hard drive, plus loaded into memory at some point while playing.

 

There is plenty of variety already, and reasons to go places or avoid them.   If you don't know them yet, maybe you should work on learning them.

I do not mean new houses, cars, or models.

 

I mean placing more of them on the map.

[DMack 60]

Have you ever been to Russia? Dull is its middle name in the country.

hehe

[gibonez 3633]

One easy way to make chenarus unique is to have loot be unique to different regions of the map.

 

They can do something like western military rifles only spawn on the far north west of the map meanwhile southern military spawns are only low tier russian firearms.

[Katana67 2907]

The one thing that I've always missed, and I hinted at this in my "Save The Trees" thread, is the wilderness being fairly boring. It used to be just a vague colonnade of trees on top of a boring heightmap.

 

Now, I think they've made some good headway (especially in the north). There's no some cool rock formations, more imaginative groves of trees and treelines. But the rest of the woods needs to be given some unique features.

 

Rock formations, waterfalls, creeks, vernal pools, natural formations. I think this is better, in the context of the wilderness, than adding man-made stuff.

 

I'm not sure I'd be in support of certain things (like bunkers) as unique items in the woods, but maybe an isolated cabin or two would be awesome.

 

I'd also like to see more mountains. They've flattened the north so that there are no more large hills and mountains.

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

One easy way to make chenarus unique is to have loot be unique to different regions of the map.

 

They can do something like western military rifles only spawn on the far north west of the map meanwhile southern military spawns are only low tier russian firearms.

Bad idea just for the simple fact that people would only go to where the best stuff is, just like it's already happening.  Loot should be random

[sai (DayZ) 137]

You can actually expect new building in each town. It's very easy to make new buildings. Just look at some games that allow you to make your own buildings. You can do it very fast, would take a days work doing a whole town. And that type of editing is way watered down from what you can do in a proper rendering program. 

 

It might be laziness, or maybe they are planing to make unique towns, (very much doubt it) maybe its a memory issue. Really not much of an issue.. but I've no idea how the arma engine works. 

[gibonez 3633]

Bad idea just for the simple fact that people would only go to where the best stuff is, just like it's already happening.  Loot should be random

 

People will do that regardless, but forcing people to travel far into the north and far west will encourage map migration.

[Katana67 2907]

People will do that regardless, but forcing people to travel far into the north and far west will encourage map migration.

 

So how does that jive with your assertion that spawns should be random? People won't be migrating anywhere if they spawn near military spawns.

 

I don't want everyone in the west any more than I want everyone in the east along the coast. Both need to have an attraction. They should be different attractions as well. But everywhere needs to have a reason to be populated.

 

My ideal DayZ map would have the coast be too difficult for newspawns to handle (in terms of danger) as to force them inland to gear up, then having them travel back and forth between the coast and inland to maintain their gear.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Katana67

[gibonez 3633]

So how does that jive with your assertion that spawns should be random? People won't be migrating anywhere if they spawn near military spawns.

 

Well that would be a highly unlikely scenario a one in a million shot. if they happen to spawn near or around a military spawn then luck hit them.

[Katana67 2907]

Well that would be a highly unlikely scenario a one in a million shot. if they happen to spawn near or around a military spawn then luck hit them.

 

Seeing as military spawns cover a good chunk of the map now, it's more likely than you might think. Anywhere on the western side is a quick jog to any number of military bases (Balota, Zelenogorsk, Veresnik/Dichina, NWAF).

[gibonez 3633]

Seeing as military spawns cover a good chunk of the map now, it's more likely than you might think. Anywhere on the western side is a quick jog to any number of military bases (Balota, Zelenogorsk, Veresnik/Dichina, NWAF).

 

Yea that would be a problem.

 

Really not sure why they not only increased the number of military spawns but actually increased the loot that each spawns.

[Katana67 2907]

Yea that would be a problem.

 

Really not sure why they not only increased the number of military spawns but actually increased the loot that each spawns.

 

I don't really have an issue with them increasing the overall number of military spawns, but I do have an issue with their placement. Specifically with regard to the ones at Balota, Pavlovo, and Zelenogorsk being just as rewarding as the ones at NWAF.

 

That and there's no distinguishable gap, really between the loot that spawns in police stations and the loot that spawns at military bases. There is a smaller gap, if any as many could argue the supremacy of the Mosin, between so-called "civilian" and "military" items.

 

I'll leave that type of analysis until they actually get around to balancing the loot spawns. But, as a principle, I don't think having military spawns south of Zelenogorsk and/or Pustoshka is a good idea.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Katana67

[Inception. 9443]

Moved to Suggestions.

[INoEmo 29]

On the subject of car wrecks, I believe they should be able to be moved by vehicles.  You could have makeshift rams to fit onto cars to reduce damage taken by moving wreckages or even tow trucks to pull wreckages away.  Also on the subject of car wreckages, when a player breaks his vehicle make the car stay where it broke.

 

It would also be nice to have some spectacular wreckages around the map.  Maybe have a 10 car pile up that blocks all the lanes of the road, a truck that's lost control and gone through the walls of a house or even a car that has become sandwiched between 2 trucks.

 

Have these type of things appear randomly on different servers and at different locations.