[GUIDE] Keybindings & Tips For New Players

[afflix 33]

With more and more people buying the game and downloading this mod, I figured i'd make simple guide for any new players to DayZ, or more specifically Arma2, as I myself have only played Arma2 for a short while!

Anything to add, just post and I'll throw it in the list.

~ DT = DOUBLE-TAP

~ NUMPAD refers to a key on the number pad located to the right of your keyboard.

~ [#] See tips regarding this particular keybind.

Movement

• 
  - RUN/WALK: SHIFT (DT toggle)
  - SPRINT: DT W
  - PRONE: Z
  - CROUCH: X
  - STAND: C
  - VAULT (step over fences): V
  - LEAN (roll when prone): Q and E (Left and Right, DT toggle)
  - CLIMB LADDER/ACTION: MOUSE WHEEL SCROLL / CLICK (often times you may have to re-position yourself to successfully climb a ladder, look for a up/down arrow) [1]
  

View

• 
  - THIRD PERSON: NUMPAD ENTER (ensure you are in a 3rd person enabled server for this to work)
  - ZOOM OUT/WIDER FIELD OF VIEW: DT NUMPAD -
  - ZOOM IN: HOLD RCLICK
  - IRONSIGHTS: TAP RCLICK
  - HOLD BREATH: HOLD RCLICK (whilst aiming down sights)
  - FREE LOOK: ALT (DT toggle)
  

Social

• 
  - CYCLE CHAT CHANNEL: , and .
  - CHAT: /
  - VOIP/PTT: CAPS LOCK (DT toggle)
  - MUTE PLAYER: P > SELECT PLAYER > MUTE (located to the right)
  

Gadgets

• 
  - BINOCULARS: B
  - WATCH: O (DT toggle)
  - COMPASS: K (DT toggle)
  - NVG: N (DT toggle?)
  - MAP: M [2]
  

Gear/Weapon

• 
  - OPEN INVENTORY: G
  - PICK-UP ITEM: G or MOUSE WHEEL SCROLL / CLICK
  - USE/CONSUME ITEM: RCLICK ITEM ICON IN INVENTORY (specifically the icon, rather than the name in the list)
  - CYCLE WEAPON (cycle through grenades, flares, throwable items): F
  - SWITCH WEAPON (cycle between your primary and secondary weapon): ;
  - LOWER/RAISE PRIMARY (does not work with pistols): DT LCTRL or RCTRL + R
  - ZERO (adjust distance of sniper scope/shots): PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN
  

Misc

• 
  - FLASHLIGHT/HEADLIGHTS: L
  - SIT: '
  - SALUTE: \
  - TOGGLE WINDOWED/FULLSCREEN: ALT+ENTER (I believe you have to press ESC to bring up the menu, then ALT+ENTER)
  

General Tips

• 
  - FLUSHING: If you experience graphical glitches, sometimes 'flushing' might help. To do this, hold SHIFT and NUMPAD - and type 'flush'.
  - [1] CAN'T PICK UP AN ITEM?: I have occasionally struggled to pick up an item from a certain stash on the ground, usually because it is right next to a door. People often miss this simple tip: scroll the mouse wheel up/down until you have the option of 'Take x y z' or 'Gear'.
  - [2] LOST? One of the best maps I have found online so far is

AvidBlur's.

[Legacy (DayZ) 1091]

This is the best damn guide I've seen so far, I'm tempted to stick it but we have so many fucking guides already stickied.

[interista 0]

Great one , Thank u =)

[Legacy (DayZ) 1091]

I'm stickying this, it's too good.

[afflix 33]

Ah thanks a lot, thats brilliant. Will update it as I come across any other tips and bindings I might find useful! I did try to keep the tips quite short as there are so many guides! :)

[Changamer1000 0]

Thanks! You cleared up some confusion for me. Which button on the numpad is "numpad?" The one used to zoom out? Sorry if I sound like a noob.

[dallas 5195]

Right click does a few things.

Click to bring up iron sights.

Hold to zoom and hold breath(steaddy aim).

I prefere to reassign hold breath to a seperate key.

[afflix 33]

Thanks! You cleared up some confusion for me. Which button on the numpad is "numpad?" The one used to zoom out? Sorry if I sound like a noob.

'NUMPAD' refers to the actual NUMPAD itself rather than a physical key. So where I have put 'NUMPAD -'' date=' I generally mean the minus on the right hand side of your keyboard under the number pad section.

Don't be sorry! This post is intended for anyone new and I won't judge anyone for any questions they might have!

EDIT: I have updated the original post with a little colour change to avoid any further possible confusion :)

Right click does a few things.

Click to bring up iron sights.

Hold to zoom and hold breath(steaddy aim).

I prefere to reassign hold breath to a seperate key.

Yup, they've been covered under 'View' in the original post, but thanks :)

[Changamer1000 0]

Thanks for the help and the quick response!

[Chicago Ted 3]

Salute is \ by default, not #

[afflix 33]

Salute is \ by default' date=' not #

[/quote']

Thank you, I had remember changing it from the default as it was the same key as my Steam Overlay keybind! Changing that now, thanks for that.

[Changamer1000 0]

Also, isn't there a way to quickly cycle through actions you can do like eating, drinking, and bandaging without going into the menu? Isn't it mouse wheel or something?

[afflix 33]

Also' date=' isn't there a way to quickly cycle through actions you can do like eating, drinking, and bandaging without going into the menu? Isn't it mouse wheel or something?

[/quote']

Kind of, I believe the latest patch has changed that slightly; Middle Mouse Scroll / Click used to give you the option to eat, drink, use bandage and more, however since the patch, it has made it so that you must use/consume items from your inventory.

Middle Mouse Click still allows you to open doors and pick up items, which i kind of covered in the Gear / Weapon section, but i will review that in a few minutes (replying from my phone atm), thanks chan.

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

I would put prone on the space bar. It's the biggest and quickest button to mash when you get in trouble.

[afflix 33]

I would put prone on the space bar. It's the biggest and quickest button to mash when you get in trouble.

Fair suggestion, considering space bar isn't used in DayZ (afaik). I suppose it'd be a good key to bind to vault aswell.

Although, the original post is about the default keys. :)

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

Space is your command interface in normal Arma and still a waste of a key in my opinion.

Vault is pretty terrible to map to it though, seeing as it is extremely time consuming and finicky. Best keep it to V.

[Bearwidme 0]

I've found that some keys don't seem to be re-bindable e.g. lft-alt: command watch (thing that lets you move your head independently). Very minor annoyance in a game i'm loving atm.

[afflix 33]

I've found that some keys don't seem to be re-bindable e.g. lft-alt: command watch (thing that lets you move your head independently). Very minor annoyance in a game i'm loving atm.

I've managed to rebind 'Free Look' to the Space bar, just a second ago. Are you attempting to rebind the KEY LALT to something else, or something else to Free Look?

[MrBenn 0]

Great info, thanks!

[effigial 1]

Something that really helped me was changing the sprint and run button to space bar. I don't really know if that messes up anything for the normal arma 2

also key binding weapon cycle to my mouse.

[Kyodan 0]

As a person who uses ESDF vs WASD, 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

Space - Fast Forward

A - Stand Up

Z - Crouch

Left Shift - Prone

2xD - Walk/Run Toggle

MMB - Toggle Weapons

LMB - Fire

R - Reload

G - Switch Weapon (Primary/Secondary)

H - Toggle Raise Weapon

MWheel Up - Previous

MWheel Dn - Next

W - Default Action

V - Freelook

Tab - Gear

X - Watch

C - Compass

B - Binoculars

M - Show/hide Map

Page Up - Zero Up

Page Dn - Zero Dn

RMB (hold) - Hold Breath

Q - Salute

2xA - Step Over

U - Previous Chat Channel

Y - Next Chat Channel

T - Chat

[afflix 33]

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:

[/quote']

This is very interesting! Not many people play ESDF (even though it makes so much sense), i don't think i'd be able to get my head around it!

EDIT: Snipped the quote as it was rather large :]

[machomanugget 26]

thanks for posting this, really helps alot

[adanteh 2]

Hey there everyone. I'm a user of the G13 myself and made an Arma2 profile. (Mostly for DayZ really). I didn't play Arma for quite a while till I switched to DayZ, so the M2 and M3 (Land and air vehicles) modes are kind of lacking. It basically uses the same setup that I use in every game. Felt like I might as well share it with you guys, even though I do suspect everyone with a G13 has his own setup they want to stick to.

(Look at G1. Doesn't make Walking Simulator that bad)

You can download my DayZ G13 profile here

Then I also use a G700 mouse, that has 4 buttons at the side and 3 buttons right next to the left mouse button.

Thumb buttons:

Bottom Left = Push to Talk on Teamspeak

Bottom Right = Direct Comms voice

Top Left = Zoom in

Top Right = Zoom out

Buttons next to left mouse button:

Front = Zero Up

Center = Setpoint profile switching (Not for the game)

Back = Zero Down

The only ingame control that I changed is that I unbound Zooming when you hold right mouse button!

[afflix 33]

thanks for posting this' date=' really helps alot

[/quote']

Not a problem :)

Also, Adanteh, thanks for sharing the profile :)