[GUIDE] Keybindings & Tips For New Players

[Turk (DayZ) 82]

Would be nice to know how to these :-

Using hatchet, hunting knife and skinning animals, cooking, matches/fire wood (hatchet to get wood).

Also vehicle commands. yet to see 1 but i'd hate to not fix it cos of not knowing which button to press.

[afflix 33]

Would be nice to know how to these :-

Using hatchet' date=' hunting knife and skinning animals, cooking, matches/fire wood (hatchet to get wood).

Also vehicle commands. yet to see 1 but i'd hate to not fix it cos of not knowing which button to press.

[/quote']

I have covered how to use items within your inventory under the 'Gear/Weapons' section (it is the same method as using/consuming any other items).

I have added the keybind for turning on your flashlight when equipped / lighting your headlights when in a vehicle. I never really thought it was worth including vehicle keybinds as the car binds are generally similar to infantry. Chopper controls are a bit more advanced, I would suggest people load up their own armex mission to practise flying. I may consider including vehicle keybinds, but for now I will include a how-to on starting up an armex mission. Thanks for bringing this to my attention :)

[worst2first 71]

Thanks affLiX this is very helpful. I posted it and a link to it on a forum I frequent. (I wish I had read this when I first started.)

[Erik (DayZ) 61]

When I first started playing Arma 2/Dayz I had no clue how the controls work. Normaly you can just simply take a look at the control mappings but it didn't make any sense to me at that time. I hope this will help out a lot of people so that they don't have to go through all that.

[CactuarLOL 0]

Hold shift and numpad?? Hold the whole numpad down? or numock?

[Mr Muggles 19]

When I push L the flashlight does nothing :(

I can't equip it like you normally would. I found a fireaxe/hatchet and when I right clicked on it the only option was to use as firewood or some such when I wanted to equip it as a melee weapon...

[Dazenil 0]

epic guide =)

[ponc 100]

sticky that shit

[TheSexyGoat 5]

Nice tutorial.

[Mentatius 0]

Great Post! At least I feel semi-prepped......now to find me a gun and a bottle of whiskey.

[Lukio (DayZ) 24]

As a person who uses ESDF vs WASD' date=' I've had a bunch of people interested in how I have my keys set up. One thing that I suggest is having people bind Stand Up and Vault to the same key, with Vault being activated by hitting that key twice (in my case, A). For those interested:

EDSF - Movement

[/quote']

Same here, also a friend of ESDF, have V as stand and SHIFT+V for vault. X = prone, C= crouch, just out of habit though.

One thing I can recommend to anyone not only for DayZ but for ARMA 2 in general is to separate the fire button from the "use"/"menu select" key. It will make things easier and you don't accidentally fire a shot because the interaction menu somehow disappeared.

[karkus (DayZ) 1]

How do you toggle weapon fire modes (full auto, semi, single shot etc)??

[TigerEye (DayZ) 1]

That's pretty much the standard bind that most games use--WASD.

I use a different one that I think is superior.

You may notice that the keyboard has a little nipple on the F and J keys. This is where you put your index finger when typing so you can type without looking at the keyboard.

By making "strafe right" my F key I always know where my hand is on the keyboard should I have to move it to hit some far off key or sneeze or drink something. That nipple is easy to find and I can keep my eyes on the monitor and still find my keys. Also this set up makes two columns of keys to the left of my hand that I can use to bind things to as opposed to just one from WASD.

So then my set up is:

E--Forward

EE--evasive action forward.

D--Backward

S--Strafe Left

F--Strafe Right

C--Crouch

CC--Stand up

Space--prone

Space--standup

Z--Voice chat (may vary between what voip I'm using. May change it to capslock if I'm using steam or teamspeak.

A--Lean Left

AA--Toggle Lean Left

G--Lean right

GG--Toggle Lean Right

B--Binoculars

BB--Gear

X--change weapon mode or switch to thrown weapon.

Left Mouse--Fire

Right Mouse--Raise weapon

Right Mouse--Zoom/hold breath

Mouse Button 4--Sprint

Mouse Button 5--toggle Run/Walk

Mouse Wheel--click switch handgun/rifle

Mouse Wheel Roll--view menus/ click to select

Those are the only differences I think. What makes this better is that most of my movement and utility options are available without ever taking my hand off the keyboard or mouse. I can use any weapon and do almost everything without taking my finger off the F key.

The one exception is the Enter (number pad) which changes to 3rd person. I may rebind that but I can reach it easily with my mouse hand. Also if I use 5th Mouse Button and double click and hold I will go into hard sights mode if necessary.

[AzureSkys 0]

One small thing, R for Reload isn't mentioned in the OP.

I'm also an ESDF user which I've done for years starting with my first online game of Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Since then I've used in every game I've played basing:

ESDF for movement

A - Lean Left

Q - Lean Right

(which allows easy movement while leaning)

V - Crouch

LeftShift - Run/Walk toggle

R - Use

T - Reload

Everything else gets moved around from that. My Battefield 1942/BF2 days put map in W, prone at X and weapon fire mode at Z for most games I've played with them. It's funny how we get our own styles. I still don't fully understandy why WASD became the default play style when ESDF is the natural position for the left hand.

[Doyle McPoyle 77]

YOU CAN HAVE MY BEANS.

Thanks good sir/ma'am

[Inista 5]

Nice Starting-guide.

My favorite map is this one

http://dayzdb.com/map

[Flare Pie 0]

What is the 3rd person command listed as under the controls menu in the game? My computer doesnt have a numpad and i need to get 3rd person binded so i can play. /)

[Fluttershy <3 0]

cant figure out how to use junk/flares, pushing F button but nothing happens

[relen 2]

Nice guide, but in videos I see people who see items on the ground, and then they press a key {?} to get a little menu to pop out at the left, which then they can go into their inventory.

What key is that?

[Inista 5]

Nice guide, but in videos I see people who see items on the ground, and then they press a key {?} to get a little menu to pop out at the left, which then they can go into their inventory.

What key is that?

Use the Mousewheel.

cant figure out how to use junk/flares, pushing F button but nothing happens

The flares show up in the upper right corner if you press F and have some in your inventory. You can fire them up with a left-click.

[bunkers 5]

How do I toggle Debug Monitor on/off?

[bankst3r 45]

How do you toggle weapon fire modes (full auto, semi, single shot etc)??

That's something I would like to know as well.

[redrath2 0]

Great guide. Only should add this Map, it is better than any I have seen.

http://dayzdb.com/map

Edited September 2, 2012 by <SLF> Kaiser

[Jim Bean 157]

How does one roll around when prone? I've seen people do it in videos but no guides on the internet care to include it.

Must be a secret.

[DemonSlayer666 5]

How does one roll around when prone? I've seen people do it in videos but no guides on the internet care to include it.

Must be a secret.

While prone, double tap A or D.