The game of my dreams?

[Gamewiz 12]

I randomly stumbled across this mod in another game forum and it immediately peaked my interest. Essentially an MMO-style FPS Survival Zombie Apocalypse game all rolled into one neat little package? :o

After doing just a bit of research I was immediately hooked. I'm currently downloading ARMA Combined Operations via Steam right now as I type this. So, with a little bit of time to kill, figured I'd post here while I continue to do more research. From what I can tell, the premise behind the game is amazing, and the core gameplay is intact. However, the game is still considered "Alpha" and as such is buggy as all hell. And what's this I'm hearing about DayZ becoming standalone? And what does that have to do with the ArmA III game coming out (and I guess was delayed) in 2013?

So here are my questions if someone could oblige me. :)

-I've never played ArmA before, and apparently the interface is one with a steep learning curve. Any suggestions for a quick tutorial in navigating the interface so I can jump straight into DayZ once I get it installed?

-Any tips and/or hints for getting DayZ to run as easily as possible? As it stands I'm just following the directions provided here: http://dayzmod.com/?SixUpdater

-I'm assuming my love for anything zombie (which means if a real apocalypse happened I think I'd be pretty good at fending for myself) can translate into basic survival mode for this game. Anything considered "non-conventional" where this game steers away from "standard zombie survival" and I wouldn't realize that what I'm doing is a good way to get myself killed?

-What's this talk about DayZ going standalone and what does it have to do with ArmA III, if anything?

Thank you all for any advice and answers you can offer. I'll see you in game!

[cptWaffelbert 10]

search for beginner guide to the hotkeys in the new search bar :)

if dayz is going to go standalone i think youre gonna have to wait for a long time.

[Gamewiz 12]

I'll search right away! Thank you!

I don't care if I have to wait a long time for the standalone... I just spent $30 on a game solely for the mod. :P Better get some use out of it. ;) I was just curious as to what is officially out there regarding that particular piece of news. I guess my followup question to that would be... how long has this been in alpha? Is it getting frequent upgrades, patches, etc? Is development still well underway? So many mods I've gotten attached to in the past with other games seem to die out well before the mod is ever completed. Such is the nature of the beast, I guess.

Edited July 12, 2012 by Gamewiz

[Alex__2 11]

The game is very original in its UI its really different then anything we seen before!

It will take you some time to get used to the UI and gameplay of DayZ i advise you play ArmA 2 editor to get used to how the game works and how the UI is!

I got used to the UI of Arma 2 and its a good UI but different then anything you seen before!

Its a real PC game so it uses all the keys on the keyboard and its really original because not many games do it!

There are a few bugs and glitches but you will get used to them i have to say there are less glitches in Dayz then in skyrim!

You will have hard time at the start but you will get used to it all after a few deaths!

[Alex__2 11]

You should try Arma 2 free to get used to DayZ UI and gameplay and controls!

its on steam its called the Demo version but its the Full editor+full multiplayer but without mod support and no singleplayer story!

[Gamewiz 12]

Thanks for the tips. Another question just popped into my head... how many people does a typical server hold? And if I play on one server and then switch to a different one, do I have to start a new character or is the character saved across all servers?

[Bodom94 0]

Your character is saved across all servers, and an average server has its cap set at 50, sometimes a little more.

[BobofTibia 11]

If your looking for amazingly helpful videos, check this guy out, he's helped me a lot so far.

http://www.youtube.com/user/dayzguidez?feature=g-all-u

[orion 54]

After reading your post... you will figure it out :) . Rely on your instincts and you will go far my friend!

[jetao2008@hotmail.com 175]

Yes, your character and the gear you're carrying are saved through all servers (only official servers - if you're playing on a non-official server, a.k.a. private server, your character won't get saved across all the other servers, only inside the one you're currently playing), including your current position on the map .

TENTS and VEHICLES won't cross server with you. Those will stay in the server you found them.

[Gamewiz 12]

Ok so did a bit of researching, watched those video tips... I think I'm good to go! First time I logged in I was surrounded by about 10 zombies right when I was trying to adjust my graphic settings, so my first round wasn't much of a success lol

[Interfector 3]

Some words of advice from my own experience. Treat other players with EXTREME caution. Some people like to advise you to be merciless and kill on sight so you don't risk getting killed by them, but personally for me this game is at its peak when I team up with a complete stranger (playing with friends is safer, but I find strangers to be more fun). If you find someone unarmed, jump at the chance to join up with them. Your chances of getting good equipment are much higher, also because solo bandits are less likely to mess with you (the other day a bandit killed my friend but because there were two of us, I managed to kill the bandit and his gear was fantastic that I took from him. If you have a weapon and they don't, and you decide to work with them rather than shoot, you gain their trust. But you have to be careful around them once they get a weapon as well until you're sure you can trust them. If the person you come across also has a weapon, point your gun at them and tell them you'll shoot if they turn towards you , but you're friendly and you'll team up if they want (and do shoot if they turn). This tells them you're cautious of them but it's not in your best interest to shoot them, once again gaining their trust. Until you can trust them, however, stay behind them and continue asserting if they aim at you, you'll shoot. If your group comes across another, especially in a town, the best bet is to kill on sight, because chances are they'll do the same for the same reason (unfortunately that's the way the game is). If you find a single person, same deal as before. Both of you aim and them and don't let them aim back. Hope this helps.

Edited July 12, 2012 by Interfector

[Druig 7]

There are also several inventory tutorials in Youtube, you should watch one of those to understand how the inventory works (very complicated at the beginning).

I can only recommend you not to give up in learning this game, as it gets more and more awesome the more you understand it.

[terraknight 11]

Hmm, lets see, a few tips to get you started huh.... awright, lets see

1. You're either a Bandit or a Carebear. The Difference is that Bandits will shoot on sight WITHOUT some sissy warnings and crap. If you wish to get someone you can trust and play with, take em from some other game/irl where you KNOW they have your back, as trusting strangers in this game, even if they just started out = certain death. On the other hand, if you're a carebear, have fun being shot in the face by bandits who you think are your friends cause they gave you some food and let you hang with them until you found a weapon/usually other way around but yeh.

2. If you die, get yourself the basic starting gear: Hatchet (if nothing else, first weapon) hunting knife, box of matches (a biatch to find at times) compass (your holy grail on your quest further north/northwest) a map (you can always use online maps to figure out where you are by landmarks and compass, so its quite unnecessary) watch (you can get your bearings by using the shadows from trees with it, ofc, this is only if you don't have the patience to look for a compass. It also tells the time of the server =D)

3. weapons. For your secondary, I would suggest getting a makarov to start with unless you find better, then you should get an M1911 or Revolver, mostly because you can turn revolver rounds into M19 rounds and the other way around, tho I have to tell you, Never EVER pick up a G17, thats the next most useless gun in the game after Makarov, and you will still use makarov cause its easier to find ammo for it.

For your main, atleast what I've found the way I do it is: Hatchet > Lee Enflield > AK 74/M4A1 > ak/m4 with scope >different snipers or rarer weapons from barracks/heli crashes if you're lucky

Sure, you could get a shotgun as well, but as I see it, none of them really stands up to a ranged fight if you were to encounter an enemy player. Ofc, if you stay in towns alot, thats a different matter, but I would still recommend longer range even there

If you get a hatchet, remove it from your tool belt and equip it, this will serve damn good as your first weapon, cause if you get within close enuff range of Zeds, you will 1hit kill them without them noticing you (if you're lucky) btw, normal Zeds drop food/bandages, and military ones drop ammo. Ofc, this is just a few of them, again, if you're lucky.

You are free to choose whatever weapons you wish to have, but these are atleast my tips.

4. NEVER get too attached to gear, cause in one fast "swipp" it can all be gone and you'd have to start again. I've seen ALOT of people crying about starting again without ANY weapons and that they're defenceless babies etc. The only thing I agree with those people is that they're babies. This game is MEANT to be hard, its MEANT to simulate how you would behave if, lets say, your ship sunk out at sea thanks to the zombie infestation onboard, and all you could with you was stuff that wouldn't make you sink, like Bandage, painkillers and a flashlight (not so heavy) If you had the same situation, and had tried bringing a gun, you'd have sunk like a stone unless you were some kind of athlete.

5.should've been brought up as 4th, but conserve your ammo! This is not L4dead where a big pile of all ammo will be and your gun uses magicly refilling clips, and you can be sure, if you use your gun within a town, you are sure to bring attention to yourself both from Zeds and Bandits alike. Best thing to do is to avoid them all in all.If you somehow aggro, run into a building that you can run out on the other side of, and when I say run, I mean crouchsneak out of it so you don't further aggro Zeds. This brings us to

6. Learn ALL the buildings! learn how they look, and which ones that have 2 entrances/exits. This will be valuable info when the Zeds are running after you ready to buttrape you Ofc, you ought to take notice of all enterable buildings, and if there's sounds of flies coming from them if you're outside one, you ought to be careful, as there might be a player inside camping the building for unsuspecting pray.

7. If you get a tent, hide it WELL, and by that, I don't mean close to the road somewhere behind a random tree, nonono, hide it somewhere far in the woods where even YOU would need a compass to locate it, preferrably close to pinetrees, as they give the best cover.

8. Read the forums after a patch! more specificly, the bug section, cause you will find stuff happening with stuff that you might be looking at, or intending to use, like the Ghille suit, and boom, its gone with all your stuff! Thats atleast what've been happening since 1.7.2 and there's atleast 3 threads about it, and one had I think 4 pages with cries and rage about how they lost their stuff, this is why you read on the forums after a major patch, and wait to use stuff until its been fixed (feel bad for you guys out there who used yer ghille suit, but its yer own fault =D)

Thats about all I have time for now, I'm at work, and I'm about to get off, but I'll check this thread again thats for sure. Until then, have fun surviving!

oh yeah, btw, these maps/sites are freaking awesome, you ought to use em:

http://dayzdb.com/map

http://dayzwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://southcoastbeanwars.com/day-z-maps/