Here's what I would do if I had just reformatted my PC.
Step 1: Getting the games
- Download Steam and install it
- Run Steam as Administrator (r-click the Steam shortcut to do it)
- Download Arma 2
- Download Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead
- Run Arma 2 once (you can exit once the main menu shows up)
- Run Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead once (again, exit once you see the menu)
Step 2: Installing DayZ
- Download all the .rar files from
armafiles.info/dayz (any mirror will do)
- Go to your Operation Arrowhead folder (default would be
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\)
- Make a folder inside this folder called @DayZ
- Make a folder inside the just created @DayZ folder called Addons
- Unrar all the files you downloaded here
Step 3: Installing the beta patch
- Go to
http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php and download what ever .zip files is on top of the page on the green background
- Unpack the .zip file
- Run the .exe file inside as an Administrator
- Click OK, Yes or w/e it asks of you until it's all done (if Windows says it wasn't installed correctly, don't panic - it was)
- Go to your Operation Arrowhead folder (where you created that @DayZ folder) and go to Expansions folder and then beta folder (default is
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta)
- Copy arma2oa.exe in to the Operation Arrowhead folder (the same one where you created the @DayZ folder) (if you want to be safe, just take a backup of the original file here since you will be replacing it.)
- In steam r-click Operation Arrowhead and select Properties and then Set Launch Options
- Copy/paste the following in the line: -beta=Expansion\beta;ca;Expansion\beta\Expansion -nosplash -world=empty -mod=@DayZ
Step 4: Running DayZ with the beta patch
- Double-click Operation Arrowhead in steam and a small window pops up
- Select Run as Combined Operations (should be the bottom most option)
Step 5: Enjoy.
- Eat beans
- Get killed
- Repeat
Step 6-1000: Upgrading to the latest DayZ or the latest beta patch
- If DayZ updates, just download new .rars from
armafiles.info/dayz and extract to the original location (those folders you created, remember? \@DayZ\Addons\)
- Above step is easy and you only need to download, unpack and replace files that have changed, not every single file (you can see this from the dates at
armafiles.info/dayz)
- If a new Operation Arrowhead beta patch is released, just download it from
http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php and unpack, run the .exe as Administrator and you're done.
Step X: Removing the beta patch and running the game w/o it
- If ever for any reason you have to run the game w/o the beta patch, just revert back to the original arma2oa.exe and change your Steam launch options for Operation Arrowhead to -nosplash -world=empty -mod=@DayZ