Day Z: a realistic open-world zombie mod for Arma 2 with PvP and persistent death

[Lobster]

I have to say that an endgame trigger or fixed plot would spoil it for me. The main draw for me is that the game has been a catalyst for emergent storytelling rather than something pre-determined. So personally I would like to see it remain a sandbox forever, though I can understand some people not being interested in that.

Although what I could see working.. is kind of a rare stash event. Like a scripted radio-cry with some coordinates of a crash site or NPC hold-out.. which offers the heavier guns and equipment, (or maybe a functioning vehicle). Something every hour or three, for groups of Survivors or Bandits to fight over and capture as a prize.

 

[Vegeta897]

And then, suddenly, the game gets that much closer to wookiee school....

 

[Acepilotf14]

Mainly I think most of the issues could be fixed by just fixing silly things zombies can do that they probably shouldn't be able to.

 

[Viperidae]

And then, suddenly, the game gets that much closer to wookiee school....

 

[Eejit]

Well I guess you get bored more easily than I do, or don't appreciate the gameplay enough. Or maybe you don't play with us on mumble enough.

So yeah, hate to say it but maybe the game isn't quite for you.

lol

 

[Vegeta897]

I know my post sounds like "well i guess ur not hardc0re enuf" when you quote it like that, but I'm being sincere.

Arma has always been about the balance between the gameplay being interesting to you and the imperfections or downsides. There are thousands of people playing and enjoying DayZ. The game has plenty of flaws but it's also the only one that offers what it does. Same with the Arma series. If ace thinks the downsides outweigh the upsides, then that means he doesn't enjoy the upsides as much as the other players who are still enjoying the game. It's just a simple line of logic. I'm not even sure what your post is trying to say anyway, did we discuss this topic earlier and I'm failing to "get" something? You said before that other people don't view things the same way I do, and that's exactly what my post is saying, so I don't really understand what your point is.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Oh I sure enjoy it when I do have a good life, but as of recently for some reason I've been aggroing zombies like nothing else. Did he increase their responses or something? I used to be able to slowly move through towns and have no problem, and now zombies will aggro me from across walls when I'm standing still.

 

[Vegeta897]

>standing
Never stand if you don't have to. Mind your visibility and sound on concrete. And also, stay out of towns if you don't have to go in them. Find smaller clusters of buildings or barns to loot.

It just takes some getting used to. I've been going through towns pretty well lately, and I honestly don't think he's made the aggro any more sensitive other than the fact that they wander around a lot.


Edit:

 

[Vegeta897]

New update 1.6.0

http://us.armafiles.info/
http://cdn.armafiles.info/

Summary: You can collect firewood by using a hatchet in forests. No more automatic bandit skins, you can wear skins you find. So far only "camo" and "ghillie suit" are out there. You can change your character to a female one time and one time only. This means once you decide to be female, you can't change back on that CD key. The disappearing bodies are fixed (will stay for 15min) Graphical glitches from fencing kits fixed. Heat packs for increasing your temp in emergencies. Bunch of other fixes.

Also some posts from Rocket that I found kind of interesting:

This is regarding people complaining about the hostile player environment and finding it hard to find people to team up with

And another about the game philosophy

(links to Grey's Anatomy and WoW)


And damn if he isn't talking about our group of players with this post:

Edit: I like this guy

 

[Bad^Hat]

I can respect his philosophy but god I really hate when people use that "definition of insanity" bullshit. It's so cliched that the other cliches groan when they see it.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Great writeup but is he ESL? He uses "loose" in place of "lose" in what is otherwise a very articulate statement about his work.

I can respect his philosophy but god I really hate when people use that "definition of insanity" bullshit. It's so cliched that the other cliches groan when they see it.

The definition of insanity is when people reuse Einstein's famous quote about insanity and expect the same profundity evoked upon its initial usages. :V !

 

[Vegeta897]

Pretty sure he's ESL as all the Bohemia devs are over in Europe.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Oh, I just read your post and was under the impression that this was the mod developer, not someone in house at BIS.

 

[Vegeta897]

It's both.

 

[Vegeta897]

Was just reading a recently published interview, and damn.
(Dean = rocket = dayz creator)

And also this part is very true

Authenticity is not for everyone. Call of Duty and Medal of Honor offer packaged experiences. Such experiences are easier to explain to the customer, and if you can’t explain the product people don’t know about it. ArmA spent a long time largely ignored by reviewers because they didn’t understand the product.

 

[Viperidae]

Yeah the last quote I agree with wholeheartedly. Explaining Wookiee School, which in my opinion is the greatest multiplayer FPS game invented by a human, is darned impossible without actually showing it to someone (ooh Viper tell us more: it's like Dayz's player hunting but 100x more hardcore).

Also:

 

[Bad^Hat]

Middle-click em, bros.

Except the ones which can't be opened which is most of them.

 

[Vegeta897]

Middle-click em, bros.

Except the ones which can't be opened which is most of them.

Pretty sure that's the cause of all the searches. I'm sure they know how to open a door when the option pops right up in front of their face.

But this is what is happening I'm sure:

1. Install Dayz
2. Read on google that loot is found in buildings
3. 95% of all buildings on the map are un-enterable

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Needs a lot of work but it's ****ing brilliant. There's too much empty terrain. 50km either needs a higher player/bandit count + more open buildings or they just need a smaller map. Right now there's no real incentive to play solo unless you go on a PK fest. Guilty.

 

[Krynn72]

They should rerelease the mod on Iron Front All buildings are enter-able.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

It'd definitely make me buy I.F.

 

[Vegeta897]

There's too much empty terrain. 50km either needs a higher player/bandit count + more open buildings or they just need a smaller map. Right now there's no real incentive to play solo unless you go on a PK fest. Guilty.

Where do you keep getting this 50km number? Chernarus has about ~160sq.km of land.

Agreed about having more open buildings. Well actually, maybe not necessarily more, but a more even distribution of them among towns. Some towns have none at all which kind of ruins the feeling of finding one after being lost for a while.

What does the map being empty have to do with playing solo though? And why would there need to be an incentive to play solo? You're forced to play solo if you have nobody to play with, or don't trust people (or do trust people but they just kill you)

I think the map being huge and mostly empty contributes to the game. If it was all busy and no boring, it would cheapen the exciting times. The map has to be big. It has to make you respect the task of travelling far away. If everyone could quickly travel to all the popular spots on the map, it'd totally ruin that dynamic. It'd making acquiring a vehicle less significant.

 

[mechanicallizard]

This thread makes me hard.

I wish I could play this.

But I cant so Im just going to cry in the corner.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Hey man, cool. I didn't mean to "keep saying" that number. I was wrong.

I disagree with you on the map. I'm glad it's alpha.

 

[Vegeta897]

Don't expect anything to change as far as how much you have to walk or how lonely it feels most of the time.

 

[Lobster]

I think the map being huge and mostly empty contributes to the game. If it was all busy and no boring, it would cheapen the exciting times. The map has to be big. It has to make you respect the task of travelling far away.

I feel the same way. I think the size of the map is perfect for 50 people, because it offers a lot of choice. If you desperately want to find people to engage with, then hot-spots like Cherno, Elektro and the Balota Airfield are fairly crowded. Though personally I like to head inland immediately and hover between the two northern airfields. Other players are less common up there, but encountering them tends to leave me with better stories to tell!

For example I logged in really early last week and ran around for a good hour unhindered. I decided to use the quiet time to hit one of the larger cities for a Box of Matches that still eluded me. I was exploring one of those school or townhall looking buildings with three stories. By this point I was feeling pretty confident that I had the free run of northern Chernarus to myself (despite the server being full) when I suddenly heard a few too many shuffling noises in my movement.

So I stop still and listen for a good ten seconds, when I hear another noise from downstairs. It is difficult to get across just how bloody tense that was at the time, there was virtually no sound aside from the shuffling below, and the low sun was making it hard to see. I had switched away from my AKM while exploring the building and was now holding a PDW in my hands, so rather than risk noisily switching weapons, I just switched it to Full Auto and began tapping my movement key slowly towards the door.

I moved quietly down to the ground floor but the shuffling noise had stopped, I looked down the left corridor and nothing was there. Then turning to face the right I find myself staring at the back of a survivor sat in the doorway peering out at the street with a sniper rifle. I hesitated for a second, but then I remembered the Night Vision Goggles I had found the day before, and emptied the PDW into him. (Hey, goggles ain't worth the risk!).

Point is though, it was a unique and tense experience that was made possible due to the deceptively empty world.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Don't expect anything to change as far as how much you have to walk or how lonely it feels most of the time.

Oh no, never duder. I actually do like that aspect. Unabashedly like this song too.

 

[morgs]

I love the big empty woodland/field areas, really gives you some much needed breathing room if you've been in a city or town for a long time.

 

[Vegeta897]

Ooooh shit son, things get real in this update:

Affected addons:
* dayz_code 1.7.1
* dayz_sfx 1.2
* dayz 1.3
* dayz_equip 1.3
* dayz_weapons 1.2
* dayz_anim 0.2

Developer's Note:
* Requires ArmA2 Beta.
* Raytracing doesn't work so well inside some buildings at the moment so interiors will ignore raytracing
* Infected sprinting animation not included yet
* On respawn, your flashlight spawns in your BACKPACK. I did this because nothing would have said NOOB more than all the new players running around in the day with torches with no idea what the **** to do.

Changelog:
* [FIXED] Wire Spools, Toolboxes, hedgehog (tank trap) kits not spawning
* [FIXED] Bodies still being deleted too quickly sometimes
* [FIXED] No backpacks or medical boxes spawning
* [FIXED] "No Speaker..." debug report spam
* [FIXED] Infected spawning too close to players (minimum 30m now)
* [FIXED] Infected not spawning inside buildings any more
* [FIXED] General Server Script Errors (big thanks to Dwarden for fixing these!)
* [FIXED] Loot/Infected spawning time delay desync'ing with server
* [NEW] Infected can't attack through walls
* [NEW] Infected can't see through objects any more
* [NEW] Infected visibility increased (but limited by LOS)
* [NEW] Infected attack range increased (but limited by LOS)
* [NEW] Infected can cause greater damage when they hit you
* [NEW] You can hide from an infected chasing you
* [NEW] Optimized server cleanup routine
* [NEW] Player body exists for five seconds after disconnect (UNCONFIRMED IF WORKING)
* [NEW] Infected see based on eye direction, not on body direction as before
* [NEW] 30Rnd_545x39_AK added to loot table
* [NEW] More infected attack animations
* [NEW] More infected feeding animations
* [NEW] Replaced monkey infected crawing run animation
* [NEW] Heartbeat when cursor on a player with very low humanity (heart beats faster the lower it is)
* [NEW] Humanity GUI indicator removed
* [NEW] New Infected and Action sound effects (more AWESOME stuff by Michael Manning)
* [NEW] Initial version of double-barreled shotgun added (by Artyom)
* [FIXED] CZ550 spawning far too often in farms
* [FIXED] Winchester decreased spawnrate (% given to double barrel shotty)
* [NEW] Recombine shotgun rounds between 2 and 8 rounds
* [NEW] Recombine 45ACP rounds between M1911 and Revolver rounds
* [FIXED] Tent placement is completely screwed (now can place anywhere except in building)
* [FIXED] Items for Eating and Drinking not removed instantly (allowed some duping)

And last but certainly not least... the hardcore switch has been flipped:

* [NEW] DayZ: Now with additional cruelty! Spawn with only a bandage, painkillers, and a torch.

 

[Viperidae]

* [NEW] DayZ: Now with additional cruelty! Spawn with only a bandage, painkillers, and a torch.

 

[Acepilotf14]

* [NEW] Infected visibility increased (but limited by LOS)
* [NEW] Infected attack range increased (but limited by LOS)

lol

I bet they're still broken too.

 

[morgs]

I was scouting Starry Sobor from a hill, nek minute...

 

[Lobster]

The new zombie behaviour takes a little getting used to. You can't really sneak past them, but you can lose their attention by running around buildings. The new attacking animations are a little tricky, because they tend to lean from side-to-side, which makes them tricky to shoot quickly. Especially considering they do more damage now.

 

[Bad^Hat]

 

[Vegeta897]

Hahahaha.

By the way, does anyone want to play ACE tonight? I've finally got not-work and not-school, and I have new missions and really have a craving to play.

 

[Krynn72]

If we can get started fairly early, I can play. Just remind me on steam or I'll forget and go do something else.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

God I'd really enjoy taking you up on that offer.

...but today I've got plans to stab myself in the esophagus with a toothpick![...]

Rending it deeply into the fleshy wall of my windpipe and cough until it becomes firmly lodged and partially blocks my breathing. Muscle memory then triggering a regretful inward gasp, burying the mouse-sized wooden pike just millimeters before it had the chance to puncture a lung and leave me a sickly off-red swollen stiff. Instead the pick will set off the process of coughing, half-conscious but aroused and sexually piqued states of masochistic bliss, exquisite and beautiful shock and terror.

The best kind of chaotic hysteria. Second perhaps only to ACE mod.

Choking on a small spindle of wood and watching bittersweet life flash through my brain in retching depraved moments of excruciating painful gagging and helpless dry heaves.

This process induces the sweet drip and trickle, the smell of near-death, the splendorous taste of iron, sinew and mucous pooling in my stomach and dripping back up into my sinus as the splintering pick secures a position near the tendons and arteries around my neck, nearly poking its way through my pale, stretched dermis.

Regardless of the medical realities the tightly wrapped skin of my throbbing neck gave the sensation of a visible obtrusion. A threat proposed only by the most simple of hygienic objects, splitting into several pine-needle sized punctures within my throat.

a "game" of teasing the end of my life, not a digital one, just enough to induce a fatalistic and exquisitely unique type of orgasm as my oxygen deprived brain lends to my masturbatory technique.

Efforts I've found more worthy than playing pseudo mil-sims with folks whom I'm not welcome with in lieu of the aforementioned, and in spite of my good looks. I hold no scorn, I find you equally unapproachable.

Anger, after all, is just a weak man's sorrow and my tear ducts dried up long before I understood what it was to experience the Death of a person I loved. Corrosive, confused tears. And so now fear is my playground and creep-outs are my dopamine.

Mind you, I've gotten in quite good shape of late. Seriousness and Sarcasm, words which evaporated over a decade ago, the condensation in my eyes revealing only fine grit sandpaper, revelations in the dreadful Ohio interstate at dawn when I woke up alone to the screech of five of god's finest angels falling violently toward hell.

A sound so chilling, so utterly mind altering, haunting and torturous I cannot fathom why I Live. The very sound I wouldn't force upon even the most loathsome folks to exist. Enemies are not real, but I believe the words most appropriate are that I'd end my own life before exposing an enemy to those angels hurling down, cast from heaven, screeching the devil's hollow bordello of suffering.

To hear the angels fall, to see their faces twist, contort and blacken. To wake to that phantasmagoria of blackness is not pain, not depressing or scary. Quite to the contrary, it eliminates evocative emotion of that sort. And one forcibly learns the lyricism and melody to emptiness. Your eyes, turned jaded into ash before a half-blink, only sockets remain. Muddled, soot-grey, coerced into blindness and castration.

So I shall resume my studies -- furthering my artistic venture into the most powerful self-induced sado-masochistic climaxes documented on these forums. Thank you.

So yeah, can't make it to ACE tonight, ya'll.

 

[Lobster]

That was... an experience. Rarely have I witnessed an RSVP response with such devotion and a sheer number of key presses.

 

[Vegeta897]

And he wasn't even invited.

A for effort.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

That's actually all OC, and no, I'm not going to get a stupid blog. Thanks for not suggesting it this time

Also, I mention that I wasn't invited to your circle jerk that never/won't happen in the story (are you being sarcastic, or did you just not read the post well... or at all). It's the got-damn centerpiece.

When I start writing replies to you I'm deliberately trying to be fascetious but I'm beginning to think you really are a simpleton.