The DayZ mod launched in 2012 as a mod for Bohemia Interactive's 2009 game, ARMA II. The mod gained popularity extremely quickly and caused sales of ARMA II to skyrocket.
The premise of the game is survival, placing players in the middle of a 200+ square kilometer stretch of Russian countryside. They are tasked with acquiring food, weapons, vehicles and other supplies, while fighting off other players and zombies.
Work on the Standalone version of the game began in January of this year. The aim was to remake the game from the ground up, fixing many of the issues from the mod.
The largest change will be the switch to Client/Server architecture which increases performance, allows for better Zombie AI, fixes loot spawns, and significantly reduces hacking.
The Standalone will also feature a revamped Chernarus map, new weapon/player/zombie/item animations and models, new sounds, brand new buildings to enter, and much more.
Details on the massive amount of updates from the mod to the Standalone can be below in the features section below.
The Standalone will have a similar business model to Minecraft or ARMA III, with the cost of the game increasing as it moves from Alpha, to Beta, to Release.
Rocket has said that the Alpha will not transition to a Beta release, and thus a higher price point, for a long time, and the change will be announced well beforehand.
If you do not want to test a buggy, bare bones, alpha release, then wait for the issues to be fixed and content to be iterated upon. The lower price point will still be available down the road.
This section will be used for general information about the game, as well as good resources such as maps, guides, etc.
Purchase
Alpha is now available (Activates on Steam) $30/23
Steam
BI Store
Launch Trailer
GAF Mumble (quote for info)
System Requirements
The Standalone is running off of a heavily modified version of RVIII. The engine has been optimized for online play, the majority of the load has been shifted over to server-side.
If you can run ARMA II, then you will easily be able to run the Standalone.
DayZ is currently in Alpha
Guides
Health Information
Chernarus+ Interactive Map
- 7/2/14 - Stable: 0.46.124490
- 6/18/14 - Stable: 0.45.124426
- 5/23/14 - Stable: 0.44.123800
- 1/22/2014
- 1/21/2014
- 12/31/2013
- 12/19/2013
- 12/17/2013
Upcoming features set to be implemented in the immediate future
- More Zombies (Currently turned down to save on server performance)
- Multithreaded Server
- Respawning Zombies & Loot (Turned off to save on server performance)
- Server Management Options
- Animals & Hunting
- Server hopping and combat logging prevention (Turned off to save on server performance)
- Additional Anti-hack and Security
- Cooking & Gathering Resources
- More weapons, items, and crafting options
Changes from the mod
- Weapon models are being completely redone
- New audio will be recorded for the game. Everything from the mod will be replaced including weapons, ambient sounds, vehicles, etc.
- Zombie pathing and AI have been fixed (Work ongoing, both are due for another rewrite).
- Game engine is based on the RV3 engine from Take on Helicopters. The backend was completely rewritten for Server/Client architecture.
- New, dynamic, rainfall.
- Servers can now support over 150 players at once (Work ongoing, pending server optimization).
- Zombie spawns and AI are handled by the server.
- New animations and skeletons have been created for players and zombies.
- New Chernarus+ Map with thousands of improvements from textures, foliage improvements, increased devastation, areas, general improvements to realism, and more.
- New areas. Apartment area near Chernogorsk, new towns, roads, new swamp areas, derelict cargo ship along eastern shoreline, as well as numerous additions to already existing areas.
- All buildings can now be entered, with custom loot spawns, textures, and rooms for every house. Hospitals, schools, military buildings, and more have been completely reworked with new areas added to each.
- New inventory system with the ability to switch out cosmetic items on the character such as different clothes.
- Robust crafting system has been implemented.
- Weapons no longer spawn with attachments, they are crafted from items scavenged from the world.
- Items need to be disinfected if the previous user had a disease, water needs to be purified with tablets or boiled, etc. Disinfectant can also be used as a poison.
- Radios have been added for direct communication between players. Other players can intercept and listen in on these communications. Radios can be set on the ground and set to transmit to lure players in.
- [Future]Barricading and base building tools.
- [Future]Vehicles are being completely redone - new handling mechanics, modular repairs, and sounds.
- [Future]Loot is spawned based on a global economy.
- [Future]Entire Northern portion of the map is being redone with new towns, areas, and sights. This portion is already partially implemented, towns, rail road tracks, train station, and more can be seen, but more work has yet to be done.
- [Future]Several medium to large islands placed throughout the map.
