DayZ SA Modding: A New Map

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

Here is something i found out. This might help with the map and FPS.

Off the map in dayz i had 277+ fps Looking at 1-2 trees no objects.

 

On the map i had 45 fps, to 90fps depending. To a whopping 20 fps in heavy bugged cities.

Trees and buildings decreased the FPS a ton.

 

Graphics on high, with the current tool set in dayz.

 

If you where to make a map, size may only matter if we where loading the map up all together. So size i don't feel is a problem.

I think its more along the lines of what and how many objects are loading at once.

 

So what type of theme would you consider? a semi treed area, lots of water, lots of rocks, and fewer buildings?

 

Cities just don't seem to be nice. As much as we want them.

 

We can't make sweeping statements on this yet. One of the features of the new renderer is supposed to be proper occlusion culling which should substantially improve the FPS in cities issue.

[sneakydudes 278]

That would be amazing. I dont seem to have as much issues as some. Then again i am sporting the 2nd best card in the world.

 

Too bad i couldn't have purchased a 2nd one.

 

I want to see it improve because i know if an i3, 8800gtx is working with 8gb of ram in zel then i know the new renderer will be awesome for people with mid range towers.

 

I havent made a map, but i have worked with building it in arma. Not the trees and that but the buildings. Its so much fun i spend hrs on hrs trying to make a new theme.

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

That would be amazing. I dont seem to have as much issues as some. Then again i am sporting the 2nd best card in the world.

 

Too bad i couldn't have purchased a 2nd one.

 

I want to see it improve because i know if an i3, 8800gtx is working with 8gb of ram in zel then i know the new renderer will be awesome for people with mid range towers.

 

I havent made a map, but i have worked with building it in arma. Not the trees and that but the buildings. Its so much fun i spend hrs on hrs trying to make a new theme.

 

I've got an i5-4690k @ 4.5ghz and a GTX 970. At max settings, 1080p, 100% resolution scale I get 27 FPS minimum. With a few cfg tweaks and dropping object quality (which I won't have to do with when occlusion culling gets worked out), I can bump that up to 40. The new renderer will change quite a lot, as well the multi-threading optimizations that Eugen talked about at the beginning of this year.

 

For the record, SLI Titan X's wouldn't move your minimum FPS by not one frame. Right now, we are limited by server simulation rate and CPU single core performance.

Edited December 8, 2015 by ColdAtrophy

[sneakydudes 278]

Yup, i agree

 

I just wish i had a 2nd one for the ability to have the best, when the times come in other games etc..

If we can get past that single core performance of arma etc.. it would make it run so much better.

 

Did you know? i was checking the memory usage of sql and it was over 1gb without the server running? 985,644 right now.

on the server right now,

 

so i wonder.... if we are bottle necked right now some also with that sql? I am not a pro at it but that seems excessive to me.

 

 

I want the 4970k, i am working towards it and in the next few weeks may have it. 1150s might not find any left, i dunno.

Edited December 8, 2015 by TheSneakyDude

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

Yup, i agree

 

I just wish i had a 2nd one for the ability to have the best, when the times come in other games etc..

If we can get past that single core performance of arma etc.. it would make it run so much better.

 

Did you know? i was checking the memory usage of sql and it was over 1gb without the server running? 985,644 right now.

on the server right now,

 

so i wonder.... if we are bottle necked right now some also with that sql? I am not a pro at it but that seems excessive to me.

 

 

I want the 4970k, i am working towards it and in the next few weeks may have it. 1150s might not find any left, i dunno.

 

Tbh, I'm not sure, but we do know that SQL is being replaced by Enscript and that is supposed to be able to be processed much faster than SQL. Time will tell. It's definitely an exciting time to be involved in this project!

[sneakydudes 278]

I am sorry i moved onto something different and not on track.

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

I am sorry i moved onto something different and not on track.

 

It's fine man. It's still on topic for modding at least. What I've had a problem with was the recurring gun debate and people trying to vent general frustrations with development or use this as an avenue for attacking the devs. Nothing you've said falls into those categories.

Edited December 8, 2015 by ColdAtrophy

[sneakydudes 278]

I too would love to see the map, running better then what i have seen in dayz and in arma 3.

I feel objects, and items present us with huge limits in sandbox mods. The engine and the rendering will make it run much better.

 

Seeing the self made servers running very well with arma 3 until you start adding ai, and more objects, items. It starts to pitfall.

 

AI is the devil, which is why i built the other 3 i7's up to make more AI towers. What if the map could be done in the same fashion would it help with these objects and take some of it from the client?

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

I too would love to see the map, running better then what i have seen in dayz and in arma 3.

I feel objects, and items present us with huge limits in sandbox mods. The engine and the rendering will make it run much better.

 

Seeing the self made servers running very well with arma 3 until you start adding ai, and more objects, items. It starts to pitfall.

 

AI is the devil, which is why i built the other 3 i7's up to make more AI towers. What if the map could be done in the same fashion would it help with these objects and take some of it from the client?

 

It's possible, but that makes the cost of running a server exceptionally, prohibitively high. People are not going to want to pay for or rent multiple machines to run one server. Also, you probably technically could build another machine to run some of what the client does, but once more of the rendering processes are offloaded to the GPU, what difference is there between that and SLI/Crossfire? Factor in DX12 utilization with the new renderer which has been promised for some time after beta (DX11 first), hopefully before full release. There won't be a point. Also, not to sound like a broken record, but the new renderer should help a lot with performance for the previously mentioned reasons. You are talking about throwing a massive amount of hardware and computing power at something that is already not utilizing the hardware we have effectively or efficiently. <--Not a judgement, just a fact. Even if you somehow built up a mod that could use all that extra hardware, very few, if any, other people would even be willing to try to run it. At best, someone might make a youtube video about how crazy you are.

[Pandema 352]

Namalsk.

 

We need Namalsk, that was the single greatest map I've ever had the pleasure of playing on. The atmosphere was just perfect.

 

Oh, and Lingor, the jungle was great fun.

 

The problem with wanting a big urban area is that the game shits the bed trying to handle Chernogorsk, imagine a 10x10km map with that sort of urban density. (Although for some reason Fallujah ran REALLY well)

 

<1 fps for days.

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

@Pandema

 

DayZ currently handles cities poorly. I don't think it will be the way come beta, let alone release. Can you tell me what about Namalsk intrigued you the most? When you think of that map, what does it bring to mind first? I keep seeing that from people over and over about Namalsk and Lingor. Not complaining, I am just new to BI games. I own this and Arma 3 which I played for about 2-3 weeks before I got bored and uninstalled. Not saying it was bad or anything, I really only got it to get a taste of the Arma community. Tried Epoch and Exile, quite a few missions, tons of mods, and beat the campaign. It was a lot of fun, but I think AAA has me a little bit sick of strictly military games tbh.

[Pandema 352]

@Pandema

 

DayZ currently handles cities poorly. I don't think it will be the way come beta, let alone release. Can you tell me what about Namalsk intrigued you the most? When you think of that map, what does it bring to mind first? I keep seeing that from people over and over about Namalsk and Lingor. Not complaining, I am just new to BI games. I own this and Arma 3 which I played for about 2-3 weeks before I got bored and uninstalled. Not saying it was bad or anything, I really only got it to get a taste of the Arma community. Tried Epoch and Exile, quite a few missions, tons of mods, and beat the campaign. It was a lot of fun, but I think AAA has me a little bit sick of strictly military games tbh.

 

Namalsk just felt good.

 

It felt barren, creepy, and cold. You were utterly alone and if felt that way. The wide swathes of barren tundra made moving around tense, since you had little to no cover. The ambient noise was great, the wind blowing across the barren land just sounded great, there were no birds, no bugs, nothing lived here. The bunker under A2 was awesome, the massive pit at A1 was spooky. The body temperature mechanic actually being useful was a nice change, since the whole map was pretty damn cold, and the southern mountain range even more so.

 

When you walk around Chernarus, its quaint little farm towns nestled in happy fields. Namalsk was dull, there were no happy fields, no quaint towns. Just barren tundra, thin pine forests, towering commie blocks, and military bases standing guard over dark secrets.

 

The map was marketed as being harsh and unforgiving, and it felt that way.

[The Gent 20]

There are a lot of history books to read if you're really wondering.

Ahh yes, you guys believe your M4 will stand up to tanks and predator drones in case of "a tyrannical government"...smart.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

Ahh yes, you guys believe your M4 will stand up to tanks and predator drones in case of "a tyrannical government"...smart.

 

Yeah, I can't think of any example of an armed populace defeating a much better equipped enemy.  We should just roll over if a tyrannical government rose to power.  Wait.. no, I'm pretty sure that's also covered in those book things I mentioned.

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

The government probably is out to get you but having an M4 in your hand only guarantees that you get shot and killed immediately and won't have the opportunity to help us with the underground resistance later when Hugo Weaving shows up.

 

Please at least consider keeping it on topic.

[Espa 711]

I'd love for there to be new types of areas within our own map expanse.

 

I know that our current map is WIP, but I would love for there to be a more southern continent below Cherno across the ocean. It could be extremely urban and be a cityscape, perhaps hosting a military base in the heart of it. .

 

This could be largely Infected and quite a horror to explore. . but also provide large gains towards those who venture in and are successful.

[Salty seadog 125]

Hey all, just wanted to start this thread hoping to get some info from any people that have created a map or are familiar with the process!

Due to some hospital reasons, ive found myself with a lot of time off for at least the next couple of months, im already twidling my thumbs, and one thing im interested in doing is having a crack at creating a new map.

 

Problem is, I am basically a computer noob in every sense of the word :(  (got my first pc under a year ago). I have created modes on console and in games like gta5 and have over 100k plays in the modes i created (even though it has full editor and is small fish compared to actually creating a map/ world items). Even if I was to flat out fail, I found I just really enjoyed doing it and since I have the time atm, id like to give it the ol' college try.

 

So I just wanted to ask, as a complete noob, where would I start? Do I need to be well versed in coding? What program would you start to create a map in? once you have the terrain built, can you essentially copy and paste pre-made world items into the map like all the houses/ladders/roads/radio towers? if you wanted to build completely new areas such as bunkers, would you have to learn how to model and create all the extras? Is it even possible for one person to do? If you managed to get a project done 90% to the point you just needed to build a few original places (missile silo's/ new props) would someone who knows how to do that stuff help build models or create items for free in the community if the project showed promise? Is there any helpful videos that would help me start a project? Do I need to be extremely well versed with computer commands and such before I start or can I learn all that I need inside one editing program?

 

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, and any advice from any devs or anyone experienced would mean a lot!

 

Cheers  :thumbsup:

 

[boneboys 7988]

 

 

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, and any advice from any devs or anyone experienced would mean a lot!

 

Cheers   :thumbsup:

 

 

Merged.

 

Until if and when  there are dedicated tools this should keep you busy...

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/forum/161-arma-3-editing/

 

                                or

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/forum/89-arma-2-operation-arrowhead-editing/

[Salty seadog 125]

 

 

 

 

Merged.

 

Until if and when  there are dedicated tools this should keep you busy...

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/forum/161-arma-3-editing/

 

                                or

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/forum/89-arma-2-operation-arrowhead-editing/

 

 

Thanks for the links, some light reading ahead! 

 

Edit: If i created one now to work with arma 3, would it be possible to use it in the standalone down the line?

Edited January 12, 2016 by Salty seadog

[boneboys 7988]

I am not able to answer that question.

I doubt it, maybe, import possibilities pending...

[Brotato Chips 0]

They are perfectly legal to own if you have the money/patience. It's actually a very easy process, just have to get permission from your local sheriff and send the feds a couple hundred bucks for the tax stamp and wait for it to arrive. Then you have to shell out big bucks for the rifle cause civilians have to pay roughly 10x what the military does for an m4.

Not true.  This is for NFA firearms.  Legitimate, select fire m4s, are not legal to own.  Due to restrictions put in place by the FOPA revisions of the GCA of 1968, any full auto firearm produced on or after May 19 (EDIT: forgot date) 1986 is NOT legal for civilian citizens to own, tax stamp and BATF registration or not.  The first m4s only came out of production and started getting used in service that very year, 1986.  Therefor, you're going to have an extremely hard time finding any m4 legally owned by a civilian.  This does not include any semi-automatic replica or alternative model.  Even if it did, semi-automatic firearms are not regulated under the NFA, unless being converted (which I'm pretty certain is also illegal).  That being said, there may or may not be a very small gap between the end of production and the FOPA of 1986, which could have resulted in a very small number of them being owned and hence, grandfathered in under the FOPA regulations.  I'm not sure of the exact date, so I can't say for sure.  But I can assure you that it is nowhere near as "perfectly legal to own" nor as "easy" as you describe it to be.  Just a little background =)

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brotato Chips

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

Not true.  This is for NFA firearms.  Legitimate, select fire m4s, are not legal to own.  Due to restrictions put in place by the FOPA revisions of the GCA of 1968, any full auto firearm produced on or after May 19 (EDIT: forgot date) 1986 is NOT legal for civilian citizens to own, tax stamp and BATF registration or not.  The first m4s only came out of production and started getting used in service that very year, 1986.  Therefor, you're going to have an extremely hard time finding any m4 legally owned by a civilian.  This does not include any semi-automatic replica or alternative model.  Even if it did, semi-automatic firearms are not regulated under the NFA, unless being converted (which I'm pretty certain is also illegal).  That being said, there may or may not be a very small gap between the end of production and the FOPA of 1986, which could have resulted in a very small number of them being owned and hence, grandfathered in under the FOPA regulations.  I'm not sure of the exact date, so I can't say for sure.  But I can assure you that it is nowhere near as "perfectly legal to own" nor as "easy" as you describe it to be.  Just a little background =)

 

[roguetrooper 201]

1 word: America. Make a suburbia/urban area map, M4's in every house, because thats how we roll, and mod in some American muscle cars, and I'll play that shit till the day i die.

 

In game or in real life?

[RobotDeNiro 0]

Simple. An escape from New York style setting. Maybe not New York as such, but a geologically walled in (River?) City or similar. The map dictates what kind of gameplay we can get from it. The Arma 2 map is what it is. Old. It's very individual when it comes to design, very realistic. But the gameplay is just run around, walk around, run around a bit more, venture in to a kind of built up (sort of) area. Couple rows of buildings, loot them, then open fields. It's appeal can wane pretty quickly. Beautiful though it is.

Here's my input.

A map, right, that adapts and moves with the players. I'll explain. The first wave of the infection, or natural disaster, hits the entire globe. Blackouts, panic, death. Wipe out. A month goes by. Pockets of survivors come out of the woodwork in a major City. We are those survivors.

Having to (If you choose to) stick together in large numbers if possible. But no lumbering Romero zombies. Players are savage and brutal enough, scary too, why do we need scripted half wit zombies. Nothing more spine chilling than hearing someone or a group advancing on your position inside a building, while keeping silent on the comms, and you know THEY know your in there. Your life hangs in the balance and how you react is crucial. Believe it or not, it doesn't always have to end up as a gunfight like it 99% of the time does in DayZ. We could team up and take over areas of this City, the sewers, the shopping malls, the parks. Control who comes in and who goes out. The strongest keep on going, trying to carve out a path with strangers or alone. Real time survival. Night time (Yes! Night time) would play a major part in this. Movement in the dark, mass exodus to different parts of the city in search of a weapon to protect yourself, a drink, something to eat. Food should be far more numerous to start with. What I mean is the variety, not the amount. The 'Loot' of this food supply 'Spawns' once. Once only. A cupboard stocked with tinned goods, a bit of bacon half cooked in a frying pan, out of date eggs in the top draw of the fridge, might keep you from starving to death. Your fate depends on what you find, where you were when the catastrophe happened.  

One life. Yes ONE life. You die and...Yep, it's over.

Let me explain.

Official servers are set at 250-500 players, yes, possibly 500 players. Arma 3 life has 250 player servers and it runs a treat. Why not with DayZ? Say, 100 servers, or maybe more, as many as people who buy the game. A one way ticket as soon as you purchase DayZ or already have it. These servers record your progress. If you die you cannot join an official server again, as it will be locked to you. Other, non-official servers will be available after you die, offering death match and game modes similar to current DayZ settings, run around, walk around, run around again, loot a few buildings, meet up with friends and go to NW airbase, type of game modes. If you like doing this then join these servers. Boring! On the 'official' servers map there is a time frame. A reason to stay alive. Say a set amount of game time linked to the amount of days survived in-game; 48hrs real game time, 2 days survival in-game. Your progress tied to one server. If you only casually play the game, then you will be left behind (where you can join a non-serious death match server as mentioned above if you die), most of the food and water taken and all that is left is partly empty, ruined streets. If you choose to stay, then death will be dependent on your intelligence, or power among those that stayed put. These players could include the groups who have taken over places, like stadiums, shopping malls, sewers. Cannibalistic in nature, as the supplies have run out. No more animals or stray pets to hunt down here, as the supply would more or less have vanished once the player numbers have come through and gone. Remember, one 'spawn' of items on each server. That's it. Cue the events; Radiation zones or a sunami or earthquake, say, wipe out or advance further into the City, tearing down buildings and killing all players left behind in those areas. Game over for them. Totally random, to a certain degree. Then the map changes. Incorporating parts of the 'old region' of the map, the 'new region' will open up, bigger, more dense, like going from the east end of London, or Yonkers in New York -- to Canary Wharf or Manhattan. A constantly evolving map. Doesn't have to be huge to start off with as it will open up and get more spread out, eventually leading to rural areas or a vast mountain range. This could be the 'End game'. Survival of the fittest, like in Ark Survival, but with much more purpose and scope.

The weapons on offer are already enough. Just add a few more pistols, few more rifles and call it a day on the firearms.

We don't even need to go to the toilet in DayZ yet! But we can take our blood sample or feed someone a rotten banana under duress! Priorities please.

I agree it's more of a community Mod type thing, but seeing the state of DayZ, I think the community should come together and make something for everyone, not just the odd weapon add-on pack or uniform pack that you can use on only 3 servers. No more lists of 10+ mods that you need to have to join certain servers either. Lets get creative here. Lets make an evolving world of horror and survival. Not just a bloody map! It will be same old thing, shoot on sight. Boring!

This is a bit rambling and all over the place, I know, but I'll update when I get a better picture of what I'm trying to get across.

But for the time being, think escape from New York and the atmosphere when they are scaling the World trade centre to get to the glider.

I thank you.

[koffeekage 322]

Technically it would be AR-15s as M4s are not legal to own for most people but AR-15s are everywhere. 

these weapons are automatic, so it would have to be an M-4.