The Infamous 'Bird Simulator'

[johannesmp 2]

The infamous 'Bird Simulator'

Overview

• 
  In Patch 1.5.5 Users encountered what many called a 'bird simulator' (

forum link) This was quickly labelled as the result of hackers, and people that torrented the game.
Today patch 1.5.7 was released and I experienced this same bug when I first tried to log onto a server.
I am not a hacker or torrenter. I legally purchased 'Arma 2: combined operations' on May 11 with the explicit purpose of playing 'DayZ' after reading the rock paper shotgun article about it. You can check my steam profile for that, as well as my steam transactions. I also did not do anything else to my Arma II installation except install DayZ in the standard '@DayZ' folder in Operation Arrowhead's root folder. Nothing else was touched
This post is intended to document this bug/feature/whatever it may be for users that haven't seen it yet (I do think it was very cool), and to maybe help the developers see that this is an issue that does seem to occur with perfectly legal users.
Also I just wanted to share a really unique experience I had.

What happened

• Note: you can click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger image, or go

here for a complete gallery of all the screenshots I took. By default I play on very low settings, so the first few screenshots look much more 'posterized', with low texture detail and no AA. A few screenshots in I tried raising my graphics quality and noticed that the framerate stayed very high from this perspective, unlike the regular game which is unplayable at high for me. since gamma changes are not captured in screenshots, I've added a simple level transform with photoshop to make these screenshots easier to see
I am a brand new DayZ player. As many recent additions to the community, I purchased Arma2:CO with the intent of playing this mod. I played through the basic CO bootcamp tutorials to learn the controls, and then jumped straight into DayZ.
I'm not really sure what triggered this bug. I had just updated to 1.5.7, and tried to log in on the first, low-ping server I could find that had upgraded to 1.5.7. When I first spawned I was in the 'debug forest' and although I could move around, all my gear was gone.
Then when I tried to re-spawn, this bug happened.

• 
  

Starting out as a bird

I realized very quickly that this bug was quite unique. Even though I had my Audio turned all the way up, The game was completely silent. There was no music, no nothing. I was also limited to only using the green group chat, but other users did not seem to see what I typed there.

• 
  

No sound dispite it being turned up, and initial attempts to communicate go un-answered

On a few occasions I even tried to fly infront of users but they all seemed to ignore me (more on that later), so I was completely cut off from the rest of the server.

(post split due to image limitation)

---

Although I've played DayZ for a good few hours already, as most new users I had so far only hugged the coastal areas of the map and had not dared to explore further in-land. This 'Bug' gave me an amazing overview of the map, and a feel for just how expansively huge it really is.

• 
  

Flying silently over the countryside.

What probably was the most fascinating to me about this 'Bug' was how much it contrasted with the feel of the regular game.

When playing as a survivor you are constantly on edge, keenly listening to any unexpected sound, watching for any sudden movements, and constantly in fear of being jumped or shot in the back of the head.

• 
  

First encounter with a survivor - due to lag he was stuck running in place

As a survivor you also focus keenly on your UI to see how easily detected you might be, to check your stats and gear, and many users use the on-screen chat to communicate with others.

• 
  

Following a lone Bandit, possibly circling his pray.

Players are also limited to realistic human speeds, so navigating the map can take a very long time, especially when crouch-running or sneaking around zombies and potentially dangerous locations.

• 
  

A new arrival, running by the water

---

In contrast, when flying as the bird there was no audio at all. There is no UI to keep an eye on except the chat which, as mentioned before, you can't even use.

The bird also controls like a helicopter in hover mode, (WASD for lateral movement, Q and Z for altitude, C and V for rotation) and could fly at around 200 km/h

This allowed me to sit back and really take in how beautiful this game is, especially at night.

• 
  

Some landmarks

I was no more than a shadow, flying over the dark countryside, only rarely disturbed by the occasional flare.

• 
  

Flares in the night

This provided me with a unique opportunity to spectate other players as they are fighting for their lives against the terrors of the night, staking out their claim on rooftops and in clearings.

• 
  

Survivors camping out for the night.

With 1.5.7 the devs claimed that zombie spawning had been increased a good bit, and I could definitely tell. Zombies were -everywhere-

• 
  

Zombies don't much seem to care for birds.

---

About about halfway through my bird adventure I ran across a small troupe of 3 survivors that I decided to follow. I'm pretty sure they were heading East towards Chernogorsk.

• 
  

I would often fly around them to see if they could see me. At times it looked like they were looking at me, but none ever opened fire and it could have just been a coincidence. With no way to communicate, there was no way for me to ask.

• 
  

I was really rooting for these guys. They were very careful, always taking the time they needed to sneak around zombie hordes and, only lighting flares or engaging them when it was absolutely necessary.

• 
  

---

I definitely learned a good bit about how to go about playing as a team at night by watching these guys.

• 
  

To my dismay, as they were approaching what I think was Cherno from the west, I was abruptly disconnected.

• 
  

Random Disconnection. Sad face.

Although I attempted to log in afterwards, I could not remember the server this occurred on, and when I did finally spawn on a server I was back to my regular human self.

In conclusion

• 
  Having done some research I now know that this bug seems to be specific to Arma 2. The bird is something like the 'spectator mode', and it can sometimes kick in when there is no free slot for the user to spawn into, or something like that.
  That discussion is really not the point of this post though. I just wanted to share my experience and show that, yes, this can occur for someone that has bought the game completely legally, with no hacking.
  I won't go as far as to say that I want this in the game. I know that this 'feature' could be easily abused by players to spy out enemy hideouts and would totally break immersion, but it still is something worth considering. At the very least it is a cool easter egg.'
  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.
  

As mentioned above, you can find the full gallery of screenshots I took during my experience here: http://imgur.com/a/abxXW

[jordnz 102]

Sorry, changed misspelling in the title - was annoying me :P

Thanks for posting such a detailed thread on the topic. If anyone else suffers this issue and your experiences aren't covered by what has already been posted above, please share it here. Want to move it to the 'Bug Reports' but some of those images are just too cool, haha.

[johannesmp 2]

PS:

Sorry, due to the way this forums work I cannot edit my post above. You cannot have more than 10 images per post, so I split up the post. however since I created the posts in quick succession it combined them into one post, ignoring the 10 image limit. Now when I try to edit the post it won't let me save it.

Therefore please forgive the occasional mistake in the post above. for example I mis-linked the following image, so here it is linked correctly:

---

Sorry' date=' changed misspelling in the title - was annoying me :P

Thanks for posting such a detailed thread on the topic. If anyone else suffers this issue and your experiences aren't covered by what has already been posted above, please share it here. Want to move it to the 'Bug Reports' but some of those images are just too cool, haha.

[/quote']

Thanks! I was debating where I should put this post for a while. I may write up a proper bug report later.

=Edit=

Bug report has been posted (waiting for admin approval)

Thanks Johannes - Bug Report approved.

-jordNZ

[bayers 28]

Thats cool man. Thanks for sharing

[dut 21]

Nice pictures. It looks like a relaxing change of pace, just a shame it would be exploited for PvP if you could choose to play as a bird.

*waiting for the guys you followed to find your thread*

[johannesmp 2]

Nice pictures. It looks like a relaxing change of pace' date=' just a shame it would be exploited for PvP if you could choose to play as a bird.[/quote']

Yeah, it really is a shame. I just wish the devs found a way to incorporate it without it being abused.

*waiting for the guys you followed to find your thread*

Haha, yes I would love it if they do. I still don't know if they actually ever saw me. I wish I had remembered the name of the server, otherwise I would have jumped on it right after I got disconnected and asked if anyone saw a bird.

Has anyone else ever encountered this, or seen a bird flying oddly in-game?

[Leechman 8]

Wow, some nice pictures you took in there.

Sounds like rather an enjoyable bug.

[griffinz 2816]

Id love to log in as a bird for a while...just to take a step back and observe

[startrekern 88]

This is what's known as FADE - it is an ArmA 2 copy-protection system. It essentially turns the game into a kind of demo, allowing normal play at first but eventually degrading the game to an unplayable state (you become a bird).

Amazing photography and writing. Thank you, sir.

[saf119900@gmail.com 0]

Yeah it happened to me the other day, it is not a bug though

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext

ArmA 2 has 4 respawn types:

"Bird" - you respawn as a seagull

"Instant" - respawn just where you died

"Base" respawn at a marker with the name 'respawn_west', '_east', '_guerrila', '_civilian'

"Group" - respawn at your group

"Side" - respawn into an AI of your team

[johannesmp 2]

Yeah it happened to me the other day' date=' it is not a bug though

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext

ArmA 2 has 4 respawn types:

"Bird" - you respawn as a seagull

"Instant" - respawn just where you died

"Base" respawn at a marker with the name 'respawn_west', '_east', '_guerrila', '_civilian'

"Group" - respawn at your group

"Side" - respawn into an AI of your team

[/quote']

Ah, thanks for clarifying that.

It definitely is a 'feature', given how well developed it is. But I meant in the context of DayZ this really should not happen - therefore I call it a bug.

[tajin 17]

It definitely is a 'feature'' date=' given how well developed it is. But I meant in the context of DayZ this really should not happen - therefore I call it a bug.

[/quote']

Yeh, I remember watching several no-respawn coop-sessions in ArmA this way after getting killed. :angel: The seagull is a classic.

I was really rooting for these guys. They were very careful

Just saying: Walking in the middle of the road is not really careful. Roads are ok but never walk directly on them, only next to them. Otherwise you'll be easier to spot for both zombies and hostile players.

[Macenzie 79]

Yeah it happened to me the other day' date=' it is not a bug though

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext

ArmA 2 has 4 respawn types:

"Bird" - you respawn as a seagull

"Instant" - respawn just where you died

"Base" respawn at a marker with the name 'respawn_west', '_east', '_guerrila', '_civilian'

"Group" - respawn at your group

"Side" - respawn into an AI of your team

[/quote']

I make that 5 respawn types :P

[saf119900@gmail.com 0]

Yeah it happened to me the other day' date=' it is not a bug though

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext

ArmA 2 has 4 respawn types:

"Bird" - you respawn as a seagull

"Instant" - respawn just where you died

"Base" respawn at a marker with the name 'respawn_west', '_east', '_guerrila', '_civilian'

"Group" - respawn at your group

"Side" - respawn into an AI of your team

[/quote']

I make that 5 respawn types :P

oops :P

[landstriker 9]

Well put together, beautiful pictures and a nice read. I too wouldn't mind flying over Chernarus, seeing how other players were doing or what they were up to.

[KevinsLunchbox 7]

That was amazing detail, amazing screenshots and just overall a 10/10 thread. I would of panic'd and logged out and immediately sent messages to all the admins telling them I was innocent to what I had just witnessed.