• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

DayZ - zombie apocalypse online FFA permadeath survival Arma II mod

Spat_triate

Member
Toha2.png


THE SETUP
When you start off you have a flashlight, some water and a can of beans. You have no map/compass and have no idea where you are. Naturally, food, weapons and other useful items are scarce, so scavenging/hunting is the only way to survive.

Your character is persistent across all servers linked to the central server and if you die, it is permanent.

The mod is still in Alpha so there are still some bugs to be sorted out, but if you like the idea of a true survival sandbox, I can't recommend this mod enough.


PLAYER INTERACTION
Most of your time in DayZ will be spent in paranoia, deciding who to trust. Some people want to live in a friendly community, some will do whatever it takes to survive and most just want to watch the world burn.


HOW TO GET STARTED

You will need:

Arma2 (Full version or Free version) and Operation Arrowhead (Fully patched)
OR
Combined Operations.

Comprehensive install guide: Link!

Quick install guide for non-steam users (courtesy of Hawk SE):Link!

To get DayZ installed use the official updater:

Six Updater Suite - Download

YOU WILL NEED THE MOST RECENT BETA PATCH TO PLAY ON THE NEOGAF SERVER. DOWNLOAD HERE.

If you have issues, ask in the thread.


PLAYING WITH GAF

Where do we play? Quote to see!

How do we communicate?


HOW TO PLAY

TO BE UPDATED: I'll be adding images of all the icons and a basic tutorial on how to play DayZ. Be patient!

Advice that will keep you alive:

- Trust NO ONE
- Avoid joining large groups
- Stay low, stick to cover and do your best to remain unseen
- If you have to shoot a zombie, use a pistol or melee weapon to avoid alerting too many zombies.
- Enfields will get you killed. They're a zombie magnet.
- Don't follow orders from other people if you think they're stupid. More than likely it'll end in you dying.


MAPS - Using these may ruin your initial sense of discovery

Topographical Map - Based off of the physical printed maps sold by Bohemia.

Map with with legend and markers for important buildings

In-game Map

Hi-Res Map (Vehicle spawns may be outdated)
 

Bulk_Rate

Member
Anyone try out DayZ yet? Arma engine issues aside, it is by far the most immersive, addictive experience I've had in quite some time.


The setup: Your typical zombie survival scenario EXCEPT for the fact that the focus is not on actually killing zombies. Much like The Walking Dead comics, this mod is primarily about human interaction/emotion.

When you start off you have a pistol with a couple mags, some water and a can of beans. You have no map/compass and have no idea where you are. Naturally, food, weapons and other useful items are scarce, so scavenging/hunting/trading is the only way to survive.

The stakes: You can only play one character at a time and death for each character you play is permanent. If you've survived for weeks out in the wilderness (all of your character's items/info are saved to a master server), only to be shot in the head by a marauding bandit player, that character is gone forever. When you respawn, you will start a new character.

Player interaction: Most of your time in DayZ will be spent building relationships and deciding who to trust. Some people want to live in a friendly community, some will do whatever it takes to survive (even if that means killing you for a can of beans because they were on the verge of starvation) and some just want to watch the world burn. I've seen small groups of friendly survivors get robbed by masked bandits and used as zombie bait/distraction. I've seen people get murdered for a can of Coke. I've seen people trust others, only to be shot in the back and stripped bare as they lay bleeding on the ground. This is the reality that DayZ presents.

The mod is still in Alpha so there are still some bugs to be sorted out, but if you like the idea of a true survival sandbox, I can't recommend this mod enough.

By the way this all takes place on the entirety of Chernarus' 225 sq km.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSWRfI4SkWc

DayZ is insane and can be terrifying with the sound turned up. I bought ArmaII:Combined Ops earlier this week specifically for this mod. We should get a GAF group going as the mod matures.
Basically feels as if you are trapped in "28 Days Later."
 

Cday

Banned
Yeah the Day Z mod pushed me over the edge in buying Combined Operations. CO is in the Steam top sellers currently. Mostly due to that mod I'd wager.
 

DTKT

Member
DayZ is amazing.

It's basically pure survival-horror with zombies + players. It's a 250km sandbox with village/towns and dynamic spawn system for weapons and commodities. There is a "hunger" system for food and water which pushes you into exploring. Zombies are fast and relentless. You can find cars and helicopters but you need the parts to repair them. Every single encounter with players is a tense affair. Shoot first and asks question later. I had some truly terrifying moments and some of the best adrenaline in the past year of gaming. Seeing a white jeep rolling around was extremely tense because I didn't know if the player was friendly.

I widly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Stalker series or any other hardcore survival horror game.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
How do servers work? How many people are active on a single map?
 

Allonym

There should be more tampons in gaming
Man I can't wait until I get a decent PC...this sounds really amazing
 

Sliver

Member
How do servers work? How many people are active on a single map?

Usually 30-50 on main servers. Whatever you do in one server carries over to the other. Say you find a ton of awesome ammo and want to head north, but it's dark on the server you're on. You can join another server, where it's daytime, with the same stats, items, and position, and continue on your way.

I really enjoy the mod but got a bit worn out, me and some buddies clocked like 20 hours in in the span of a week.
 

Sliver

Member
so how do the zombies work? a.i controlled? how many can there be on screen at once?

They are spawned dynamically, I think. There's always a counter on the right of total zombies in the server, I've seen it as high as 1200. Number that can appear on screen is as much as can fill it..I've had over 50 chasing me.
 
This sounds pretty darn incredible! :O
Definitely too cool to not check out at least once.

Gotta get a copy of Arma II during the next Steam sale or something.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Usually 30-50 on main servers. Whatever you do in one server carries over to the other. Say you find a ton of awesome ammo and want to head north, but it's dark on the server you're on. You can join another server, where it's daytime, with the same stats, items, and position, and continue on your way.

I really enjoy the mod but got a bit worn out, me and some buddies clocked like 20 hours in in the span of a week.

Cool. Cool. Sounds like The Road, with zombies.
 

Sethos

Banned
People should also check out Chernarus Life ( I believe it's still called these days, It's something with Life ) if you're into role playing. You go about your daily life, can work to earn money, rob banks, haul drugs, create huge militias and go against some of the players playing as cops. The cops just keep the peace by their own means. Normally that all sounds like a recipe for the disaster with CoD kids but these are mostly ArmA players so you can actually get some hilarious times.

Plus it's persistent ( If the server doesn't shut down ), so everything you earn you keep ( If you don't die I believe ), people who play police log on sometimes and play, then you can build up a huge arsenal when no one's playing and all that jazz.
 

SparkTR

Member
A friend told me about this today, going to download it later. I assume it works perfectly with the Steam version of Combined Ops?
 

fanboi

Banned
This beggs the question, why haven't anyone made a MMO with this concept? Would be so good.

No levels... just loot and weapons... build a town with defences etc etc.
 

Phandy

Member
I've been playing this with a few of my friends lately, its pretty good fun.
It's VERY early alpha though really, so be warned. Only 2 weeks ago the game was running on about 3 servers, now its up to like 15 servers.

Like the OP said, the best thing is about dealing with other players.

In one game we played we came across a guy who was sat on the roof of a power station with a big scoped machine gun. We all decided to gamble and see if we could kill him for the gun. My friend shot him with a sniper and it looked like a kill, but you cant tell if you kill someone other than just watching for movement from a distance. Needless to say, he wasn't dead and he mowed us down when we got trapped in a field approaching the station. :(.

Watching people from a distance trying to survive zombie rushes is hilarious. Firing your gun can attract a lot of zombies because they are attracted by sound(you have a sound meter which tells you how far your noise carries.).

Game is very fun though. Will be great when its gets polished up and few more features added. And more servers, every server is filled up non-stop at the moment.
 

SparkTR

Member
Game is very fun though. Will be great when its gets polished up and few more features added. And more servers, every server is filled up non-stop at the moment.

Who runs the servers? It sounds expensive for something no-one is paying for (unless there's donations or something).
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Seems interesting. Really a shame they're using Arma 2 since that seems really unoptimized at times.

fanboi said:
This beggs the question, why haven't anyone made a MMO with this concept? Would be so good.

Because it wouldn't sell. Most people don't want perma-death. Hell, I wouldn't mind if this mod turned perma-death off. But it ruins the "spirit" of this mod so I can understand why they wouldn't do that option. Major issue for me is that when you log-off you have no ability to "defend yourself" if this matches something like a web-based game like Urban Dead. So people can go into your area and ransack it and you and your character won't attempt to defend since you aren't there. Shit is stupid. :/
 

Son1x

Member
I have to say, this mod really makes me want to get Arma II. But its a little expensive. I'll wait till it gets a price drop or for a steam deal.
 

Phandy

Member
Who runs the servers? It sounds expensive for something no-one is paying for (unless there's donations or something).

I think, basically, people approach the guy who runs the mod and 'donate' a server too him. Only he has the server files I think, they aren't public, so you have to talk to him I guess.
I wouldn't be surprised if people do it so they always have a server to play on since they are always full.

Also worth noting, the guy who makes the mod works for Bohemia Interactive. So if it gets big, there might be some kind of support or something from BI.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
I have to say, this mod really makes me want to get Arma II. But its a little expensive. I'll wait till it gets a price drop or for a steam deal.

Can't you use mods with the free version? Or is CO an expansion and not included with the Arma 2 F2P version?

fanboi said:
Also worth noting, the guy who makes the mod works for Bohemia Interactive. So if it gets big, there might be some kind of support or something from BI.

Interesting. I wouldn't mind them taking this concept and making it a full retail game (and making some tweaks to run it on consoles so ERRYBODY is included in the zombie/human paranoia action) but like I said: I doubt it'd sell well since perma-death is an issue for some people.
 

SparkTR

Member
Because it wouldn't sell. Most people don't want perma-death. Hell, I wouldn't mind if this mod turned perma-death off. But it ruins the "spirit" of this mod so I can understand why they wouldn't do that option. Major issue for me is that when you log-off you have no ability to "defend yourself" if this matches something like a web-based game like Urban Dead. So people can go into your area and ransack it and you and your character won't attempt to defend since you aren't there. Shit is stupid. :/

You're right, but what I would give for an Urban Dead-style MMO. I had some great times with that game, and it doesn't even have graphics. Hopefully the WoD MMO (which has some degree of perma-death) will get the ball rolling. Though I would assume in a real-time combat game (not UD style) you're character would disappear when you log off (like it does in this mod).

Also worth noting, the guy who makes the mod works for Bohemia Interactive. So if it gets big, there might be some kind of support or something from BI.

That's awesome, I'm hoping for a spin-off franchise in the future.
 

derFeef

Member
This pushes me over the edge to buy Arma II - seems fascinating. Is there a dedicated GAF group? If not - why not? :)

You're right, but what I would give for an Urban Dead-style MMO. I had some great times with that game, and it doesn't even have graphics. Hopefully the WoD MMO (which has some degree of perma-death) will get the ball rolling. Though I would assume in a real-time combat game (not UD style) you're character would disappear when you log off (like it does in this mod).

Maybe the "Stalker MMO" will be for you then.
 

Foffy

Banned
Tempting. Guess I'll install when I can get ARMA II on the cheap

Oh the cheap? You can buy every ArmA game as a collection on Steam for $50. It's a steal, considering all of the content the games come with, and then there's the mods..
 

kodt

Banned
Played last night for a few hours.

It was at night so everything was dark, making it pretty difficult for my first time playing. I also didn't know anyone in the server. Scouted a few small barns but found nothing of use. Made my way into a small village and took out a few zombies. I was crouched near a building when I see someone running right at me, I thought it was a zombie so I started firing, realizing it was a player I stopped, hoping we could team up. He then killed me. Only later did I realize that it was a bandit (different player model).

Respawn. This time I ran around and found the guy who killed me, he was booking it somewhere and I followed him (without him knowing) for quite a while. Eventually I lost him after he ran behind some buildings. I searched many small villages for supplies, found a good amount of ammo, but no guns. The limited inventory really makes you decide on what you need to keep. Problem was I never found ammo for my pistol. At one point I end up pulling about 5 zombies and use up all my ammo killing them. Now I have no ammo and I am just sneaking around. I think I know where friendlies are so I work my way over there, nothing.. wrong building. Well I somehow attract a few zombies, with no ammo I start running for it. At this point I should have just given up, but I decide to have fun and just train as many zombies as I could. I get about 30-40 following me and run through a few towns, other survivors and laughing in chat, but I wasn't able to shake them. Eventually, dying of thirst, I fall in the middle of a field and let the zombies eat me.

Respawn again. This time I am going to try to avoid zombies at all costs, it is just too risky to run out of ammo. My goal was to find others (while avoiding Cheno or Elektro which are full of bandits). I check many villages but don't find anyone and was getting tired so I logoff.

The game is very fun and intense, but you really need a group of friends to play with. The only humans I ran into where PKers. And I saw plenty of good groups talking in chat, but the map is so huge I never ran into them.

This video series on YouTube gives a good idea how the game plays if you get a good group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRpPIyJDSEQ
 

Bulk_Rate

Member
1) Zombies. They are fast, a la 28 Days later, and tough to hit as they sometimes charge in a zig-zag pattern. Still, they are manageable unless you’re surrounded, or out of ammo. The starting weapon (junky pistol) is not good…better to avoid them if that is all you have. Gunshots, especially from rifles, will attract them. Traveling at night is the trickiest; you have to frequently stop, look, and listen, and slowly thread your way between them Solid Snake or Splinter Cell style. Much like STALKER: COP, the mod takes into account how loud or visible you are, so crouching/crawling and walking (not running) with care can usually get you around a few zombies. But it can be super scary to slowly clear corners in a desolate farm village, especially in the dark!

2) Other players (usually 40-50 per server). Some are friendly or at least not hostile. Many will group with you for shared protection. However, there are a fair number of murderers, many armed with sniper rifles they have found or stolen. They may kill you for your food/gear or just to be mean. If you are super sneaky you can avoid them, but if you waltz down the main street of the more popular urban areas, especially in daytime (or dropping flares/glowsticks if at night), then you are asking for it. Players of all types tend to congregate near the starting zones along the coast, or in the towns/cities immediately nearby. The more successful survivors make their way far inland, away from the crowds, often to the military airfield, where high-grade weapons can be found. Of course, the airfield usually turns into a battleground. I printed out one of the uber-sized Chernarus maps found online to aid with navigation.

3) Wounds/healing/respawn: Wounds are roughly as serious as in real life, which forces you to behave accordingly. You can take a few quick hits from a zombie, but more serious zombie attacks, let alone gunshot wounds, will see you die from blood loss within minutes if not instantly. You can also suffer broken bones. Bandages and painkillers are available, even blood transfusions (apparently) if you can make it to a hospital which has not been looted. If you die, you drop all the gear you’ve acquired and spawn a new character at a random spot along the southern coastline. So while there are not levels or XP per se, losing hard-won gear is painful. This also means that death can separate you from your co-op group, if you have one, by miles!

4) Hunger/Thirst: This is a bear. Hunger and thirst accrue, and more quickly than in real life. If not addressed, you will get shaky, blurred vision, and ultimately barely able to crawl. Cans of food are scare, which leads to a lot of competition. You can hunt and kill animals and cook them, but I have never managed to do that. Water is easily refilled. Both accrue (slowly) when you are offline, which I think is a bit much....

5) Day/Night: The game includes a full day/night cycle, which (controversially among some in the community) is tied to the REAL LIFE cycle for wherever the server is located. So when I (Central Texas) connect to a server in Dallas, or NYC, at 9pm, it is going to be dark the whole time I play. You will find road flares, chem glow sticks, and flashlights. You can make campfires too. However, light (obviously) draws all sorts of attention…..

6) When you log out, your character is saved and remains with his gear and same location the next time you log in.

There are also cars which you can repair and us, boats, and, apparently, a helicopter or two, but unlike others on this thread I have not seen one yet.

So what’s the big deal? Another zombie game, “Woot.” Well, the sense of immersion and hence tension offered by this mod is what makes it memorable. The sound in particular is outstanding. In fact, when playing at night you need to wear headphones or else crank your speakers, less you miss tell-tale cues that a threat is near. The closest approximation would be STALKER (w/ complete mod) but Arma’s world is MANY times larger and more realistic. The environment, combined with the realistic injury model and the high stakes of dying, will leave your heart pounding. It is awesome and I hope they don’t nerf the experience any time soon!


The core elements are: sneak, shoot only when necessary, scavenge, and try to find allies (or not). There is not much more depth to it than that, but the core experience can approach holodeck levels of immersion. The element of “who do I trust” in particular adds an amazing layer of stress to the game. Will this dude shoot me in the back as we creep along? I have not suffered any dramatic betrayals but they can and do happen.


Is it worth paying $29 for Arma2 just to play this mod? That depends. It is a singular experience as I outlined above. If sneaking around abandoned landscapes in a constant state of paranoid alertness does not sound fun, then DayZ is not for you. If you always wished there were other live players during a particularly creepy session of STALKER, then dive in!

Hope to see you there!
 

muu

Member
Sounds like a FPS version of that one zombie apocalypse webgame whose name I can't remember, just that it doesn't take a month for the game to end. Might try and see if some friends will be willing to fork over money for it.
 

Bulk_Rate

Member
Do you need to know ARMA II mechanics? I never played that.

Really just the core infantry movement controls (which are more complex than CoD for ex., but not too crazy) and the chat channel controls.

If you buy the game there's a PDF manual on Steam w/ keyboard map.

Oh, and manipulating inventory is a bit janky....
 
Top Bottom