Day Z, Arma 2 zombie mod.

[SymphonicX]

Right so I have this now - I paid for the Arma games and got the Alpha 1.7.0 version of Day Z. All I can say is I'm glad it's still an Alpha cos right now it's borederline unplayable. Zeds can hit you through walls, see you through walls. The servers are often in "nightime" mode when the server is based in another county - and when the game is in night mode, it's unplayable. You can't see anything, literally not even the ground below you - I had to up the gamma settings to see what the hell was going on, and even then couldn't see past my own gun. Zombies appear out of nowhere, behind you with nothing but a beach there before. You'll get attacked and chased by 10 zombies at once, and you have no means of defending yourself. You bleed out in ten mins or less - depending on how much you get beasted. Oh and you want to meet up with a friend in game? Good luck. You'll never find a server you can both join, first of all. Secondly, if you do get in the same game together, you've no way of orienting yourself to your friends location. No maps in game and random spawn points along the beach mean you cannot find a friend unless you know the game, and you certainly cannot find a friend if it's nighttime and the game takes hours and hours (real time) to go from night to day. Not impressed so far, but it is an alpha and can only get better.

[AcesandEights]

Oh and you want to meet up with a friend in game? Good luck. You'll never find a server you can both join, first of all. Secondly, if you do get in the same game together, you've no way of orienting yourself to your friends location. No maps in game and random spawn points along the beach mean you cannot find a friend unless you know the game, and you certainly cannot find a friend if it's nighttime and the game takes hours and hours (real time) to go from night to day. Are you sure there's no way to group up beforehand and spawn together? I've seen pretty large groups convene together, so I figured there was a way to do it. I have Arma2, now as well, but haven't gotten round to figuring out the install, as it gave me some trouble when I dpwnloaded it the first time. Plus, running arma2 doesn't seem to be a problem, except the heat the damn game generates.

[SymphonicX]

Are you sure there's no way to group up beforehand and spawn together? I've seen pretty large groups convene together, so I figured there was a way to do it. I have Arma2, now as well, but haven't gotten round to figuring out the install, as it gave me some trouble when I dpwnloaded it the first time. Plus, running arma2 doesn't seem to be a problem, except the heat the damn game generates. Are you getting a table.shadow config error message? You can fix that, I had it myself - you have to be careful what you're choosing from Steam as a launch option. you can see an install video on the Dayz website to find proper details of install, I followed that and it worked a treat - you need Arma 2 and Arma 2 Arrowhead - but I bought "Combined operations" from Steam. You have to work really hard to get a map in game - but you can steam PM your friends with a link to a map and it'll open up in the steam browser, in game. That's great - then you have to very quickly read the text that pops up when you spawn telling you your location - then use that to reference the map and all your friends so you can find a centralised meeting point... That's the only way I can do it, personally - there's definitely no function to "friend" or team up with anyone in the game - whatsoever. Anyway the unreliability of the servers negates all this - as I spent all Sunday trying to get into a game and didn't manage a single moment in the game...

[Neil]

Anyway the unreliability of the servers negates all this - as I spent all Sunday trying to get into a game and didn't manage a single moment in the game... Oh! That doesn't sound good!?

[Rancid Carcass]

Seems like things might be moving forward: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/06/ru...me-by-bohemia/ If this is true then you would think he'd be getting help/funding so tech issues should be ironed out sooner or later. Also, if the bugs are proving too much, you might wanna try the undead mod, could be worth a punt: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9207

[Neil]

^^ ..and a dedicated game being designed/produced could be very exciting too. ie: Think hardcore Left 4 Dead!!!

[SymphonicX]

So this last few days I managed to get into loads of games. In fact this time, I found more working servers than not! Finally I managed to meet a friend in-game - we spent a shedload of time looting and building up our characters until I made a fateful decision to pop into a town and accidentally lured the whole city towards me - my friend survived, I didn't - but by that time we were so far deep in the world that it was impossible for me to return to her location - so we didn't meet up again for a couple of days. Last night we had three of us online and again we didn't manage to see each other - we however got two people into the city of Chournogoblskyskysky or whatever it's called (having real fun mispronouncing those names) - and that's when I left - so hopefully when we reconvene we'll all be in Chourno and can finally have three of us together. On a side note....we joined a South african server, for fun really expecting it to lag us to death - but it was smooth as f**k and really nice to play - but the server manager decided to limit the map to just 24 zombies - and with 8 humans on the map - just so they could free roam and loot the place to death for other servers. I raided the hospital in Elektro - and got TONS of stuff - before opening the church door to see three humans running around inside. They chased me out, and shot me dead. Back to the start...again. In fact all my deaths are usually from bandits - the times when I've survived long enough to get a really good haul of stuff, some idiot sniper takes me out or something. It's a bit frustrating - but still it's a good element of the game, not knowing if people will be friendly or not. My first kill in the game was hilarious - I saw a flare off in the distance at nighttime and went over to inspect - nothing there. Had a look through inventories and whatnot and tried to get my bearings - when i popped the menu off there was a human in front of me - I had my gun out. He stood there for a while then reached into his inventory....I shat myself..."what if he's a bandit?" I asked my friend...no reply from her...I considered letting him kill me, taking the chance - after all I didn't have anything of value to lose....his hand came out and he lit up green...."motherfucker's throwing some green shit at me!!" I screamed, before pumping my whole clip into his head. His lifeless body hit the floor, but not before the glowstick landed at my feet. He threw a glowstick....I felt bad!

[AcesandEights]

How's it feel to be a bandit, Symph?

[SymphonicX]

How's it feel to be a bandit, Symph? There should be a category for "really shit good guy" that goes between bandit and friendly....or "jumpy bastard, stay away" category.... haha

[Tricky]

So is it worth me downloading Day Z? I've had Arma 2 for 3 years now and love the milsim game, absolutely played it to death! There has been a few zombie mods for the game but they looked a bit choppy, so is this one a bit more professionally done? Also worth checking out is the new World War 2 game which uses the Arma 2 engine, Iron Front I think its called, just been released.

[SymphonicX]

So is it worth me downloading Day Z? I've had Arma 2 for 3 years now and love the milsim game, absolutely played it to death! There has been a few zombie mods for the game but they looked a bit choppy, so is this one a bit more professionally done? Also worth checking out is the new World War 2 game which uses the Arma 2 engine, Iron Front I think its called, just been released. Yes you should definitely get it. It's not in any way close to acceptable, let alone perfect - it's got bugs, flaws and choppyness all over the place - and all of that is dwarfed by a really solid game idealogy and a hugely fun map - with some of the best ideas and shityourpants scary moments...it's not easy, because it takes the ideas of frustration and makes them gameplay elements - and in doing so you're left out in a world not knowing whats going to happen - the idea that any human you meet could be either a real asset to your survival, or a complete liability to it, is fantastic...it's a slow burner but you'll find yourself desperate to explore the world as you get stronger and stronger. It's become the closest thing to a realistic zombie game so far. I'd say best zombie game since...left 4 dead...

[Neil]

^^ You've got to wonder if they do a dedicated game/mod how much better it could be There's clearly a desire/market for it! Wasn't Left 4 Dead initially a mod, but when Valve saw it they quickly threw money at it to turn it into a dedicated game/release?

[krisvds]

Exactly. The hype for this game has reached such heights that it being turned into a standalone release seems like a smart move. I surely hope the philosophy behind this zombiegame gets carried over into other games; the instadeath coupled with a large open world environment online is gold. Now if only we can have shamblers we are one step closer to an online Romero - rules experience.

[Tricky]

Ok I've played it now, I also downloaded a mod so I could play it in offline mode seen as I couldnt get on any servers. It seems pretty good, but despite my current rig being pretty beasty, it feels very choppy to play despite the fact Arma 2 runs fine on the same graphics settings. The running animation is still as laughable as it was when Arma 2 first came out as well which is painfully obvious when a zombie spots you and starts running around in a weird kind of way, that definitely needs to be worked on. Plenty of atmosphere though, the music adds to it and the graphics on Arma 2 have always had a gritty realistic look to them which I've never seen recreated in any other game. I already know the Chernarus map well through Arma 2 so its easy for me to find my way to towns & villages. I found myself upstairs in a barn with a crossbow and a few bolts at one point with zombies coming in from all sides, was a creepy moment and they got me eventually. I couldnt figure out how to stop bleeding once injured though, I clicked on the bandages and they disappeared from my inventory, but nothing happened!

[Neil]

^^ I've seen videos of the zombies running/atacking you, and it seemed difficult to aim at them due to them zig zagging around to quick. It seemed a little unfair TBH!