Status Report - 17 July 2018

[ImpulZ 2491]

This week, we are moving to push our first content update to the public Stress Test branch. To start today's report off, Eugen is going to talk us through the remaining issue of the week as well as last weeks challenges for the team. Our leads from animation, sound and map design share a few insights on their past work. We close everything with our beloved Community Spotlight.

• Dev Update/Eugen
• Dev Update/Eugen
• Dev Update/Viktor
• Dev Update/Adam
• Dev Update/Filip
• Community Spotlight

 

Dev Update/Eugen

Dear Survivors,

it's been quite busy around the office in the last two weeks, and there is a lot to talk about in general. I wanted to cover a couple of topics: the first content update for 0.63, and issues you have been experiencing in the past few days.

 

Database issues with 0.62

The problem with the legacy 0.62 Stable branch had manifested in two different ways:

a) an infinite spawn timer
b) by loading a wrong character

During the last maintenance, we switched to a temporary database to figure out a solution, making sure the issue does not repeat in the future. Since then we have identified the culprit, fixed it and will be moving back to the Stable hive during our next regular maintenance tomorrow morning. Most of you will be getting your old characters back as the data itself has not been tampered with.

 

Blue Screen of Death crash issues

This issue was quite rampant - luckily, we managed to get it identified and fixed in a patch released last week. The problem was caused by an interaction of multiple external factors that we have since looked into and found a workaround that will keep us stable going forward.

 

New content and features for 0.63

I'm happy to say that we no longer track any major gameplay issues with the upcoming 0.63 update there were assigned a priority of blocker/critical. There is a number of issues being tracked, and on schedule to get fixed, but most (if not almost all) of them can be described as visual glitches. 

As of now, the patch is scheduled for a large internal playtest tomorrow and if we don't run into any more issues, we will release the update on the Stress Test branch. One thing we're quite excited about is not only the features that we're bringing back but also the huge number of bugs that have been fixed. All this together should bring a more stable and interesting DayZ experience.

As we're seeing the comeback of the unconscious state, as well as everyone's favourites - the M4A1 and Mosin, alongside numerous scopes - we will consider using a specialized mission for testing these, probably switching back and forth from the regular survival gameplay to a more action packed combat scenario.

I'm extremely excited to see those unconscious clutch situations getting back to DayZ, as saving people and playing a hero has always been my thing a lot more than being a bandit :)

I don't want to spoil everything, but I do believe it's going to be tons of fun!

See you in Chernarus! ;)

- Eugen Harton / Lead Producer

 

Dev Update/Peter

The implementation of the firearms scopes back into 0.63 version is ongoing for some time now. Long range combat has always been a staple of DayZ and you can count on the fact, that it will be in the future as well. The focus is to bring back scopes for firearms currently in the game and those which are coming.

 

Switching between iron sights/scopes

The new implementation introduced the ability to use iron sights along with scope view. Of course, that’s possible only when a given firearm and scope combination allows it. If you are curious, we are not planning to do slanted sights for now.

 

Zeroing and accuracy

With upcoming scopes, allowing encounters over long distances, it’s time to utilize zeroing to compensate projectile ballistic trajectory. Similarly, you should be aware of the accuracy of different firearms to choose the best tool for the job. As a side note, barrel dispersion is already back in Experimental 0.63 version for quite some time, however it seems it’s not that noticeable without magnified view of scopes.

While aiming down the scope, projectiles should be fired directly from a barrel of a gun, same as it’s while in iron sights. This will prevent the possibility of some additional angle to be added to the trajectory.

Unfortunately, we found out that there is a divergence between actual projectile trajectory and directional vector of the barrel, which is definitely an issue on longer ranges. We are currently going through all aspects of range combat as we are trying to isolate and fix the underlying problem.

 

Revision of scopes

Reimplementation of scopes is also a good opportunity for us to revisit individual scope models, as well as their configuration. Especially their camera positions, reticles, magnification levels and zeroing ranges.

For some of them, it’s needed anyways, for example the PSO 1 can be used along iron sights, and it’s being turned into a 3D scope now, instead of just a 2D texture. This change alone requires a removal of the eyepiece to avoid the first person camera clipping, and will allow for a in-scope view as large as possible.

We don’t have a picture in picture rendering, so we're looking into adding some post-processes such as depth of field, sphere distortion and colour tints to make scopes more visually pleasing. I believe that scopes will now be be easier and more fun to use.

Zoom in... see you in Chernarus folks!

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer

 

Dev Update/Viktor

The animation team has been quite busy over the past two weeks, creating some completely new animation and improving existing ones. Let me go over a few of those.

 

New usage animations for items like a shovel, pickaxe, or hoe

These should provide more variety in animations and a better representation of each item in general.

 

Improved holding of items emitting light

We have added a new animation instance and a new set of animations (walking, running, holding) for flashlight, torch, and a flare. Players are now able to have the light in better positions.

 

Animations related to vehicles

We are testing and finding the best way of adding animations for changing gears, starting the engine, and other related actions.

 

Improvements to existing animations and systems

We created new animations for when the player gets hit and added more unconscious variations for different items and stances. Additionally, we polished attacking animations and fixed bugs related to firearms animations. We've also made a bunch of new holding poses for various items, so your character can now hold items in a visually more pleasing way.

- Viktor Kostík / Lead Animator

 

Dev Update/Adam Franců

This time around I won't be sharing anything brand new, as I have spent most of past few weeks squashing bugs all over the Chernarus terrain. While the 0.62 update has definitely brought Chernarus up to whole a new level, the vegetation swap also introduced a lot of issues with the object placement.

This trend continued with the update 0.63, which introduced a revamp for rocks, stones and bushes as well as a number of model updates to the environment assets (be it a complete replacement or just smaller changes to the doors and ladders). It has been a long time since a proper bug fixing passed and as the updating of 0.63 is progressing, Chernarus should definitely receive some bug fixing love from us.

Over the past weeks, I have squashed literally thousands of issues (major issues like getting stuck somewhere, problems with swimming, ladders, but also minor ones such as frequent object clipping). I am certainly not done yet and plan to continue this bug bash in the upcoming weeks before returning to the general map updates (for example we have got buildings like the city police station to add to the major towns).

There is one more thing that I would like to mention, as it is kind of tied with the topic bug fixing. Everyone knows (and loves ) the all-Cyrillic directional and settlements signs (did anyone say KAMYWOBO?). For a very long time, a number of settlements, railway stations and road intersections in the new (non-Arma 2) parts of Chernarus were completely missing these features. As a part of this bug fixing pass, we have re-added them along with fixing many issues with the existing signs. These changes along with the already mentioned bug fixing pass (or at least a part of it) will be available in the Content Patch #1.

I hope that you all have a great time exploring Chernarus, see you there!

-  Adam Franců / Map Designer

 

Dev Update/Filip Čenžák

The last couple of weeks brought a number of updates from the audio department - we don't have any samples for you, but most of the things should make their way into the game soon enough. Let's go over a couple of examples:

• female character voice support has been added
• some new character sounds have been added
  • hacking down trees
  • cutting bark off of a tree
  • digging
  • mining for stones
  • cooking (boiling, baking, drying)
• thunderstorm sounds were improved to capture the atmosphere of DayZ just right

For the upcoming new features and content for the Experimental branch, we've mostly contributed in terms of weapon sounds:

• a sonic crack of bullets has been improved
• impact sounds of bullets have been improved
• Mosin and M4 sounds have seen some updates
  • we have a brand new set of reloading sounds for each weapon
• we've managed to fix a bug with weapon reload sounds while on the move

- Filip Čenžák / Sound Designer

 

Community Spotlight

Hello guys,

At first, I have a news for you. Our name on social channels has been changed. We were known as DayZDevTeam on our Twitter and Facebook for a long time, but now we are just DayZ. So no more weird tweets like "I am playing @DayZDevTeam right now, come and join me!", I am so proud of Martin,  who managed to change it, it is not that easy. Don't forget to tag @dayz next time!

Let's check the community content.

Do you have a Samsung Gear S3 watch? Flip-Gaming.de has an inspiration for you. He made the most perfect Watch face ever and of course it is in DayZ style.

Some of you went to real Chernarus and sent us nice pictures from your trip. Like NiloxCSHO from Reddit, who didn't need a map to travel around this area. He knows Chernarus very well. Check out the gallery here.

I want to show you a talented player, who can make really nice screenshots. His nickname is Sp1kerZ and you can follow his work on Twitter. Keep it up, man.

Streamer Reece McDowall shared a screenshot with us. It is about resolving struggle between players. The king is dead, long live the king!

Love is everywhere, even in Chernarus. WineDaddy captured a picture of two lovers who don't care about the apocalypse. I have no idea how you made it, WineDaddy, but you did it right.

And the last thing from your content is a story made by M1NDR. He infiltrated a group of cannibals and tried to destroy them from the inside…

And we want to congratulate M1NDR because he hit 100 000 subscribers on his YouTube channel today! You are amazing, man and we <3 you.

You've sent me so many answers to the last riddle, I was really surprised! But only a few were correct. Here is a wall of fame!

• Puddin_TheKrow
• D. E. Parry
• Rustycaddy
• CanisDirus
• Go Up
• Setup
• Jacob_Mango

And here is a next one. Can you guess where is this location? It is not so hard this time! Tweet your answer to our official Twitter channel with a #DayZriddleTime hashtag. Don't forget, our Twitter is changed to @DayZ now. 

Thank you for reading today's Status Report till here and see you in two weeks.

- Baty / Community Manager
 

Header image by CMDR_sunny.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

13 minutes ago, ImpulZ said:

As of now, the patch is scheduled for a large internal playtest tomorrow and if we don't run into any more issues, we will release the update on the Stress Test branch.

Super awesome.

Thanks to devs and all involved!

 

[Gobbokirk 546]

That almost made me buy a watch :)

[blackberrygoo 1416]

Hmmmm let’s hope from here on out this train moves a bit quicker ... glad to see things return but was sad to them go in the first place -_- 

[emuthreat 2837]

New content, yayeeee!!!!

Any word on persistence?  Even if it only lasts a day or two, it gives many of us a reason to keep testing.  Also gimme back those ani-meals already.

[amadieus 315]

Glad to see the content patch coming now! It looks like it will be a Great patch with lots of content and fixes. Well done!

 

[IMT 3190]

Oh boy, oh boy, I can not wait to touch that Mosin again, and the scopes of course. Hopefully we're on par soon with 0.62 so we can look forward with going over that.

[philbur 476]

The return of the scope!

Not for picking off the unaware...but for scanning into towns and encouraging the use of single-shot rifles!

Just imagine the horror of those who love their scoped CCWs!

Too bad I cant have it MY way, eh? (make the pew-pew semi and fully auto stuff rare and make them degrade quicker than the big bore long guns, I say!)

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

Is content update (stress test branch) incoming today? Was the internal test successful?

[ImpulZ 2491]

13 minutes ago, Arthur Dubrovka said:

Is content update (stress test branch) incoming today? Was the internal test successful?

We have an official comment on yesterday's test here:

 

[Espa 711]

Happy to read Development is still churning out and .63 is coming along swimmingly. .

Still VERY excited to mess around with Vehicles once more, as well as see the eventual-rise of Helicopters/Planes that'll bring the game to the level and passed of the renditions of DayZ on Arma 3 and such. 

Maybe next SR we can hear how close cars are to experimenting with?

[philbur 476]

20 hours ago, Espa said:

Maybe next SR we can hear how close cars are to experimenting with?

And remember, Dev Team... Less is more, when it comes to getting the vehicles implemented...I don't want to be scouring the countryside looking for a hundred spare parts just to get my trusty Uaz up and running!

If we get fully-functional basic vehicles to play with you will be able to track the rubber-banding and desync better and balance spawns easier because we will have a bunch of Mad Max's out there busting stuff up!

You can add the realism and loot grind later. (please!)

[amadieus 315]

15 hours ago, philbur said:

And remember, Dev Team... Less is more, when it comes to getting the vehicles implemented...I don't want to be scouring the countryside looking for a hundred spare parts just to get my trusty Uaz up and running!

If we get fully-functional basic vehicles to play with you will be able to track the rubber-banding and desync better and balance spawns easier because we will have a bunch of Mad Max's out there busting stuff up!

You can add the realism and loot grind later. (please!)

It would not surprise me if we spawn on the NW Airfield with tons of cars around for some vehicle deathmatch during one of the stress tests :P

Edited July 22, 2018 by amadieus

[LordBlackwolf 656]

8 hours ago, philbur said:

And remember, Dev Team... Less is more, when it comes to getting the vehicles implemented...I don't want to be scouring the countryside looking for a hundred spare parts just to get my trusty Uaz up and running!

If we get fully-functional basic vehicles to play with you will be able to track the rubber-banding and desync better and balance spawns easier because we will have a bunch of Mad Max's out there busting stuff up!

You can add the realism and loot grind later. (please!)

When vehicles are implemented again, I am sure they will be able to be driven without having to hunt for parts as they were in 0.62. We probably won't have to worry about having to fix them before driving them until possibly they hit stable or until they've got the game where they want it to be.

[jostino 43]

What about the issue of the magazine bug? Unable to unload from the weapon and make impossible to change magazine.

Edited July 22, 2018 by jostino

[philbur 476]

14 hours ago, LordBlackwolf said:

. We probably won't have to worry about having to fix them before driving them until possibly they hit stable or until they've got the game where they want it to be.

Ideally, Yes... But the devs have been guilty of getting ahead of themselves in the past, and the limitations of the old tech created a real crap show with trying to get the vehicles working right. Pulling them completely was the best decision as it probably would have taken a lot of resources away from the larger core development and would inevitably been a bit of a waste of time seeing as how they evolved to the .63 state. I was not happy to hear the vehicles were being removed and initially was critical of that decision..as I thought this was a sign that the team simply couldn't figure out how to make them work...and that they were getting in over their heads.

This was, again, the smart move...so I am very keen to see if they have learned from the previous mistakes and difficulties when rolling in content as complicated as vehicles and helicopters.

I still would prefer to see bicycles in game before vehicles...as I am sure this would help them sort out some of the initial performance, character, animation, and server issues that might need attention...but it seems they are not even considering the bikes yet… I personally think this is a bad idea (or maybe just an oversight) so once again I look forward to being wrong! ;-)