Status Report - January 2019

[Baty Alquawen 3688]

Dear DayZ Community,

We are three weeks into our quite intensive development planning that will shape DayZ this year. It means sorting through, and selecting features, content, and timeline of their delivery - in practice a lot of meetings, whiteboard scribbles, and digging through our backlogs trying to identify what we're able to deliver this year, and when. In the meantime, normal development continues, and we have deployed a first bug fixing patch, with more bug fixing ahead of us of course, as we also have a backlog there to go through.

The first quarter of this year is pretty much all about spring cleaning, and us getting on track to more scheduled Stable Platform Updates bringing new content and fixes. The first Platform Update is on its way to be released in February, and we will share more details once it's live on Experimental. We want to improve the game in many areas. We also hear you loud and clear and are aware of a vast amount of reported issues. They will get the attention they deserve when there's a right time for that, for now, let's look at some of the most critical and immediate ones.

Top Community Issues

Server Performance - server performance affects everything, from user actions taking too long, doors not opening, infected that stutter, to vehicle physics behaving in weird ways. Most of the gameplay can get affected when the server FPS dip below 20, and currently, that's happening on full or high population servers more often than acceptable. As such, this is our top priority to sort out. While the build out there right now has seen a noticeable FPS increase on low population servers, it still does not scale well enough when more players are active, and we are tracking possible causes of this server performance drop.

 

Persistence  - right now, we are preparing a safety net for persistence that will help the current shortcomings where entire areas get wiped when the server crashes during the writing process of the snapshot of the world state. In simpler terms, the persistence data does not save correctly because of a crash. The proposed solution is in testing and will land on Experimental once ready. When that happens, we will do our best to share useful information on the usage and functionality of the safety net solution.

 

Server Browser - we know the new server browser still has its flaws, and performance issues which are getting in the way of the DayZ experience. We are looking into possible improvements on a more granular level; however, those might take time, so at first, we will dig into the issues that damage the experience the most. Once there is more information to share, we will provide an update.

 

Animation issues - we are tracking multiple issues that break characters/weapons and more, and these require engine level fixes that are in discussion right now. Once the details get sorted out, and fixes are confirmed, we will talk about these in greater detail. 

The issues above are our primary areas of interest as of now, but the list of reported issues goes on, from bullet damage to medical items not serving any real purpose, or item placing being very limited, and more. While the list above does represent some of the reported issues (arguably the ones that break the gameplay experience the most), it does not mean we're not considering, or working on the rest. 

 

Modding

We'll do justice to our company motto - Curiosity, Creativity, Community - by delivering significant modding improvements this year. Documentation, samples, and fixes that make new things possible are all in our pipeline. We will look at the topics of licenses and content usage, as well as making sure that with upcoming Platform Updates, we provide Experimental server branch to everybody so that both server owners and content creators can look at the game changes happening, and make necessary arrangements for their creations.

We're already seeing lots of cool creations in the Steam Workshop (some prime examples in the video below!), and it'll be exciting to see what's possible in the future. 

 

Weapons

We have a massive weapons backlog to go through, and you can expect that we will not only look into current issues with firearms (both visual and functional), damage and unconsciousness values but most importantly into that big stash of weapons that haven't been implemented yet. Our weapons strike team has already managed to make steps toward having two new firearms implemented in the upcoming February Platform Update. We will share more details when they're ready.

 

Vehicles

Vehicles have a lot more polish coming to them this year in terms of stability and functionality. As already mentioned, we know and understand that server performance has a huge impact on the experience, especially when player counts go beyond the recommended 60 players on community servers. Server optimisation plays a huge part in our early spring cleaning, so bear with us. While this is, of course, important, we can't forget that we should expand the variety of vehicular transport; this year will bring more options to players. Once again, we will share more details on the upcoming vehicles once we're sure we're ready to deliver.

 

Consoles

Recently, we've opened a round of Community Feedback targeted at our Xbox Survivors, and it proved to be a great source of useful information. Our console specialists in Bratislava are already looking into Xbox specific issues that were reported often and can be scheduled for a relatively easy fix, and there are of course the more complex issues like rendering and performance drops that are being investigated. DayZ launched with very decent frames in Xbox Game Preview, and we believe we can get rid of the current drops. It will take some time though.

We also know that we still have a large sleeper community on PlayStation 4 patiently waiting for a release. While we are currently not able to dedicate more resources to advancing with another platform, we're taking small steps towards a PS4 release later this year. 

 

Communication

With many internal changes in planning and how we approach update releases overall, we will also need to be rethinking how often and in what forms we're communicating with you. We still have a lot of brainstorming to do, but it's very likely that the frequency of development Status Reports will no longer follow the 2 week period. Instead, we'd like to think of ways how to more actively work with what's happening in the community, engage in the events organised by community server owners, and improve the direct communication across channels. 

Before the PC 1.0, we've made an attempt at Focused Feedback rounds with our game designers, and we'd like to get back to that idea when we know our developers can invest the time into carefully evaluating the feedback we receive on balancing, or specific game design topics. 

What we mentioned today is merely a fraction of things that are ahead of us this year; there's more to share down the road, but only when we're ready to talk about it. Once our internal roadmap is fleshed out, we will start our deep dive into how exactly DayZ will change this year.

Until then, see you all in Chernarus!

 

- Eugen Harton / Project Lead

[Vernon_Price 135]

Yay. :D 

[GrosTon1 26]

... for real folks ?

We're being told that linux is one of the top priorities since November, and not a single word in the first SR of 2019 (neither in the past, except for twitter, the feedback tracker or some livestreams) ? Now I'm disappointed... I guess we won't even have news in February's Platform Update...

Good work and stuff, DayZ is going in the good direction, but I don't really care if I can't open my server without having to rent a license for 20€/month in addition to good hardware.

[pilgrim* 3514]

Nice !!

BUT - Have to say:  duping on Xbox REALLY IS a gameplay disaster. - I was going to say " IS BECOMING SERIOUS" - but it has gone past that point - I guess by now TOTALLY ALL Xbox players know how to dupe.  This STRONGLY tends to make the game meaningless for those who do AND for those who don't.
IMO

[smokedgolem 3]

So what im wondering is when is bows and fun crafting weapons being released im a huge fan but feels broken when i cant make a bow on a survival game and the inventory is horrible constantly closing and reopening to switch to a new bag or running from zombies to see my game crash and sogn back on to a fresh spawn 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Max Planck
Removed massive quote

[deewd27 5]

Wow, 2 "new" weapons. What´s with all the rest of the content/features?

Me and my wife are Day 1 players, with both over 700 hours each, played together. Was holding my Steam review in hope the first patch after 0.64 would bring some life into the game(gameplay wise, renderer, player controller etc. updates with all it´s advantages was geourgous, that came along 0.63).

To be fair, for the price we paid, DayZ was absolutely worth it and one of the best gaming experiences(if not the best together with project reality) we ever had playing together the last 10 years.

But imagining we would have to pay 39.99€ each now, to play with less content then before is ripping our hearts apart.

We are both working as developer/in the development department(3D) and know what kind of a mess software development can be/is and meeting a deadline(without cutting sth out) is as having won in the lotto, we just wish you would communicate a bit clearer what the goals for 2019 are, as it feels you would rip out some of the promised gameplay features.

No hate, wish you all the best and hope you can fullfill the dream we all had about DayZ

Edited January 25, 2019 by deewd27

[kopo79 426]

So top community issues is not examble loot farming?...pkease fix that and stomach problems for eating raw meat...

Ofc..

Persistence also

[IMT 3190]

That's it? I'm glad that I didn't get high hopes for this Status Report because I would've been seriously disappointed. This is just a summary ([issue] -> "We're working on it") of what we've already knew with a few small details we didn't know. It took you 1 month to write down most of what we already knew? The Status Report was delayed because you guys had to get your plan together for 2019, where is that plan? Where is that juicy Status Report with the planning of all the features and the rich details?

And why the secrecy? You want to be better at communicating to the community, right? Then give us some transparency! No "we'll give out more details later", just give the details already. Even if they lack, are a work in progress or might change. Just give the details and tell us that they might change. At least people won't be so disappointed then and it gives us a better understanding about what is happening behind the scenes.

This is a shame, a real damn shame.

[Private Evans 1303]

This SR is not only a full bunch of nothing but also a big Fuck You to all all the people that still supports the game after releasing this incredible content lacking, piece of buggy garbage they call 1.0. 

I was done with playing this game anyway but now after reading this SR I also completely lost interest in following any future development of it :(

 

and yes a real damn shame that is

 

[Survivor1431 116]

A perfect status report for a perfect game. What more can I say...

We keep on surviving!

[THEGordonFreeman 664]

I'm glad to hear you are working on persistence, but in this status report, I didn't really learn anything new.

[Maxzymator 26]

What about controls? When are we going to be able to not get a carpal tunnel syndrome while playing this game? What about binding stand/prone/crouch to a different buttons? Toggle weapon raise? Delivering two more weapons is more pressing issue than this? Well, fuck me.

[GigiGamer87 26]

2 hours ago, Maxzymator said:

What about controls? When are we going to be able to not get a carpal tunnel syndrome while playing this game? What about binding stand/prone/crouch to a different buttons? Toggle weapon raise? Delivering two more weapons is more pressing issue than this? Well, fuck me.

And also hold breath same button as sprint (LSHIFT)as how all the other games I know

[amadieus 315]

Pretty nice Status Report! I was especially happy to see that the first platform update comes in February, as I personally was even expecting it more around March. Now I still have to see what this update brings, but it is already great that it includes two new weapons. However, I do hope to see vaulting/climbing and fishing in it as well, since these features were already in development before the feature freeze. Hopefully this patch will see the solution to the persistence problem as well and with a noticeable increase in server performance.

It is a pity that the roadmap is not finished yet, so I do hope/expect to see it at least next month. Nevertheless, I do hope to see some steady content and features coming this year! It would for example be pretty disappointing if we had to wait all the way till spring for vaulting/climbing and fishing, as these were supposed to be in 1.0. In one of the streams you mentioned that the current goals still will take till 2020 to be completed. This worried me a bit, as when looking at the features and content from the roadmap released back in November 2017, I would expect to see all that or at least 90% of it in this year. Thinking about the possibility that even at the end of this year we still won't have two-wheeled vehicles or planes annoys me.

[LostOrc 0]

So if you use a surrender emote while holding a gun it disappears. My ak just disappeared. And I just realized that the server had wiped my base.

[felixdoni 15]

This status report is just so unnecessary.

 

What have we learned?

You are working on fixing bugs, fixing more bugs, fixing even more bugs aaand planning the roadmap.

 

Wasn't that crystal clear and obvious to like, hm, let's say everyone?

Since this game exists you are fixing bugs.

Please tell us something new, like for example, when will the roadmap be ready?

Will we get more new content soon or 2 guns every two months?

 

How is the work on new wildlife, new vehicles and new equipment going?

What about vaulting?

 

In case you really want to communicate more clearly with us, the community, you better do so in asking us what we want to know about the development of the game, not telling us about the bugs we already know about.

The next report is your biggest chance to do so, if not, I think that many Day1 players will stop following and playing this game, me included.

 

[IMT 3190]

3 hours ago, amadieus said:

Pretty nice Status Report! I was especially happy to see that the first platform update comes in February, as I personally was even expecting it more around March. Now I still have to see what this update brings, but it is already great that it includes two new weapons. However, I do hope to see vaulting/climbing and fishing in it as well, since these features were already in development before the feature freeze. Hopefully this patch will see the solution to the persistence problem as well and with a noticeable increase in server performance.

It is a pity that the roadmap is not finished yet, so I do hope/expect to see it at least next month. Nevertheless, I do hope to see some steady content and features coming this year! It would for example be pretty disappointing if we had to wait all the way till spring for vaulting/climbing and fishing, as these were supposed to be in 1.0. In one of the streams you mentioned that the current goals still will take till 2020 to be completed. This worried me a bit, as when looking at the features and content from the roadmap released back in November 2017, I would expect to see all that or at least 90% of it in this year. Thinking about the possibility that even at the end of this year we still won't have two-wheeled vehicles or planes annoys me.

No offense but you shouldn't get your hopes up too high. When they were still making the engine they said that DayZ would a flood stream of content after it is finished. Many months further and we barely got any content. This Status Report was far from nice, in fact, it's horrible to come up with this after 1 month.

[amadieus 315]

2 hours ago, IMT said:

No offense but you shouldn't get your hopes up too high. When they were still making the engine they said that DayZ would a flood stream of content after it is finished. Many months further and we barely got any content. This Status Report was far from nice, in fact, it's horrible to come up with this after 1 month.

No, I already expect that reality will different from my expectations. Like having a functioning core game by Christmas :P. While I am disappointed in how stable the current game is, I can't really complain about the rate of content patches we received. I still think that they come with decent rate. So far it was most of the time between 2 and 3 months, and each patch had various features and content. But we will see, I hope they can keep a steady pace in 2019.

[kopo79 426]

for more communication....what if just answer peoples questions on official forums or in bug tracker?
https://feedback.bistudio.com/T134945
what about loot farming?is it intendet on official servers that i can create new loot just run away from gathered loot point approx 200 meters...new loot spawns.

[Deadboy (DayZ) 21]

I know there might only be little to report on, on a biweekly update, but I would gladly opt-in for something like the old Status-report. Call it a lifeline, if you will. People need their Pings and your Pongs.

Furthermore, I'm very glad you are eager to fix bugs. However, it would be *really* cool if you were able to bring in elementary necessities more rapidly. A simple bicycle will go a long way.

[Blafirelli 39]

Backlogs, backlogs everywhere!

[Troll_Hunter 54]

Yes, and Yes Deadboy, very well said.

The SR's are a lifeline, I now have a tab page open on the Dayz website, awaiting the SR - to see when it's ready for me to enjoy Dayz.

Also a bicycle indeed would be very nice indeed.

Let us not forget Dayz is attempting something very challenging, to have such a large enviroment, and such a large amount of objects, movement and player actions that it's very challenging to have all that information flow.
In regard to the physics, is that done server side or client side? I'm seeing a car dance in the air, and I wonder with all the multi core cpu's people have if it's not better the client (driver of the car) renders it's physics? Also if the car crashes into a bush/tree, house the physics of that would be done on the driver's cpu. Sending out the object position and velocity data to the server, but maybe also to the other car occupants so what they see is closer to real time? I'm just rambling but anyway I love the netcode and physics problems to be solved.

[bettyblue 0]

Are they doing anything about the flu epidemic? Nothing seems to cure it and there is next to no useful information about it, except for "go kill yourself"... It's not fun to play with it all the time, especially as the frequency of coughing and sneezing is ridiculously unrealistic. 

[eno 1049]

3 hours ago, bettyblue said:

Are they doing anything about the flu epidemic? Nothing seems to cure it and there is next to no useful information about it, except for "go kill yourself"... It's not fun to play with it all the time, especially as the frequency of coughing and sneezing is ridiculously unrealistic. 

Codeine cures it and multivits help avoid it.

[pilgrim* 3514]

4 hours ago, bettyblue said:

Are they doing anything about the flu epidemic?

It's not flue - it's a virus with initial flue-like symptoms.   Unique but perhaps similar to Ebola.