DayZ, a zombie mod for ArmA2 - Now standalone on Steam Early Access

[zeitgeist]

http://kotaku.com/5910279/pc-zombie-darling-causes-sale-explosion-arma-devs-happy-to-help



Some more general info in the article. IIRC it's now outselling max payne 3 on steam.

I'm not surprised, it's flavor-of-the-month pretty much everywhere now, since there was a huge niche (persistent or semi-persistent zombie survival game) just waiting to be filled for such a long time. I'm very interested to see how quickly and in what way (or if at all!) they'll fix the usual permadeath MMO/MUD problems: forced playerbase segmentation into very clearly defined roles in the game, various exploits and "workarounds" (such as the ones related to disconnecting/connecting) and similar. Haven't tried the mod yet since I don't have ARMA II, but from reading various forum threads it seems to be plagued with textbook issues related to this type of a game.

 

[potatojohn]

Bohemia are fucking bros.
If they are on helping the mod out it could take on some great improvements.

Like being able to interact with every building on the map, that would be nice.

Bohemia are shitheads. They haven't made anything interesting since Codemasters dumped them like a bunch of diseased whores.

ArmA is shit compared to OFP.

 

[Nattvardsvin]

While I agree that OFP is much better than the ArmA games, I still enjoy the ArmA games and like Bohemia for being a part of the games community and helping out with mods.
And maybe they are better off on their own, what with Codemaster making that horrible unofficial sequel Dragon Rising.

 

[potatojohn]

Maybe if they actually put some effort into making their games work, fixed some bugs and improved something other than graphics shaders, they could get a real publisher again.

But of course that's a whole lot of work for nothing since BIS fans will suck their dicks no matter what trash they release.

 

[Carrion]

Bohemia's games have probably been too ambitious for their own good, but they're one of the only studios who really try to push PC gaming forward. No compromises or streamlining, just hardcore war games that are always a bit bigger and harsher than their predecessors. Can't have anything but respect for them. I just wish they'd finish their games before releasing them.

 

[thesoup]

Got it up and running. Looking forward to some broop.

 

[MetalCraze]

There's an interview at PC Gamer with Dean Hall.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/16/d...es-arma-2-created-gamings-best-story-machine/

Here's some info about his next priorities

Right now I know you’re focused on meeting demand and making sure the game is stable and quashing bugs. Beyond that, what does your road map look like for changes and features?

Hall: I think that the immediate short term goal is that I want to round out the decision-making process. There’s one area that I didn’t get to finish and it’s just started to appear in 1.5.7, which is that you’re not only battling, potentially, the other players, you’re battling the zombies, but you’re also battling the environment. So you have to deal with you getting cold, maybe getting an infection. So I want to have the environment play a greater role. So that if it is raining outside, that has a decision-making impact on your behavior. If it is sunny, if you have to swim, all those things will have an impact on your player. Not huge, but they’re just another thing that you’ll have to juggle to really keep that tension up and to really keep that connection with that beautiful map.
And I guess the other part of it is the wider game world, the wider environment. So that’s the ability to clear areas. You know, you can already construct the fortifications, but provide a little bit more option around that, and I guess develop the world a little bit more so that its actually inhabitable as a player beyond just surviving.
Also, there’s a thing that I’ve been working on—being able to have a companion, a dog. It’s very useful for hunting food and all the normal things a dog is useful for. I haven’t quite got it working yet.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Haha, a dog. Guess we'll be shooting packs of them as well as zombies.

I finally downloaded Combined Operations. Remapping Right Mouse button to Move Forward didn't work. Somebody here said it did, but I don't think it's doable. Neither did X-Mouse but good ol' AutoHotKey worked. After several hours of wanting to shoot the developers for allowing you to remap any key but the fucking right-mouse button, I'm happy now. Unfortunately I did it in vanilla Arma2 so I'm suspecting I'll have to re-do all of my mappings for Arrowhead and then the mod on top of it. Unless someone knows how to transfer key bindings easily, I'm thinking of just cutting and pasting from the profile settings but that never ends well in most cases.

Besides that, I'm super happy that I've finally got an MP game that I'm interested for the first time in probably seven years. I'm CreamyBloodex if you see me anywhere, so don't shoot. I also joined that fucking Steam Group thing. Not sure what the point of that is though.

 

[thesoup]

Codex Diversity Squad group?
Join the group chat and play games with us.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Codex Diversity Squad group?
Join the group chat and play games with us.

I joined the 'RPG Codex' Group. I did find the 'Codex Diversity Squad (CodexDS)' but it's by invite only. I also have voice activation off and activate by key to 'none'. I think I disabled the steam overlay as well. It's a bit of a clunky interface this steam stuff.

But what's the point? It looks like DayZ uses a voice system where you can only hear the players around you but you can use a global chat of some sort. Invite me if you like, I'm just not up on the steam stuff as I've never used its 'features' before and after spending hours remapping keys I'm not sure what I'd assign to steam chat. Love to play with some experienced codexers though.

 

[someone else]

Got to ride a helicopter. .
Odd that I don't even bother with it on single-player.

 

[MetalCraze]

Direct Chat is broken you won't be able to talk or hear anyone using it, Creamy. That's why global chat is on. It will be disabled as soon as Direct Chat is fixed.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Alright. Does that mean I can't hear anyone talking that is standing beside me? And do you mean voice chat? Or text? I haven't played or researched long enough. I was going to learn how to play Arma first to get the hang of it but decided to jump in and crawl around the bushes. The videos looked like they had people talking within earshot but if they ran away from him they couldn't tell. I'm not even sure that I have my mic calibrated properly.

Anyways, I'm on the coast somewhere, super paranoid and killed two zombies in the dead of night Still alive and avoiding the roads. Might have to grab some balls and figure out which town I'm in. I have the massive map but can't find the sign.

 

[Nattvardsvin]

Good luck bro but you're probably gonna get fucked up if you stay in the coast towns. Lots of bandits there.
There is some sweet loot in them towns though, but tread lightly.

 

[CreamyBlood]

I put 'dex' on the end of my name. Don't shoot and I'll try and be friendly.

 

[thesoup]

PM ed 123 or Sovard to send you an invite for CDS. I told you about it so we can coordinate ourselves easier and play together.

 

[someone else]

My current fun thing is to run through the cities with all the zombies chasing me while dodging bandit sniper fire. Love the wizzs and ricochets. Players hunting players will choose to kill a player running from the zombie hordes. :/
I've soloed the map twice so I'm currently co-oping, fooling around killing bandits.

Is there a way to take screenshots? Or is there an external program that you recommend that goes well with ARMA2?

 

[MetalCraze]

Fraps works well.

HOW TO RUN STEAM ARMA2 COMBINED OPERATIONS WITH NEWEST BETA PATCH AND DAYZ

1. Download and install the beta patch from here:
http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php

2. Download this batch file and put it into your Steam OA folder (which has the main exes, do not put in subfolders)
http://speedy.sh/URBdd/ARMA-OA-BETA.cmd

3. Double click batch file and you should be all set!

 

[villain of the story]

Are you sure about beta patches, skyway? In the lobby, I see only one server using a beta patch and I can't join it. I'd expect that those with beta patches can't join non-beta servers as well.

someone else, you can take screen with Steam also.

 

[thesoup]

Yes they can. With beta patches, you can join any server.

 

[Nattvardsvin]

What does the latest beta patch change? I can't seem to fucking read the changelog or download the patch right now, it's slow as shit.

EDIT: Can see the changelog now.

 

[MetalCraze]

There are several servers that use beta patches. Coincidentally they are also the ones running at veteran difficulty. Meaning no cheatish 3rd person and no map markers for you and enemies.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Thanks, got it. I'm a member now, just have to figure out how to use the steam stuff, Arma is enough for one day.

So, I was left in the dark of night on the coast as we all are and soon found a road and some zombies. As you've seen I have a huge map on my wall, but it didn't help. I wanted to sneak up to a town sign to get my bearings and was overly cautious, mostly sticking to the bushes and trees and either crawling or crouched. I was quite paranoid. It's not hard to follow the road but what town am I at. I went past a couple of them but had to kill a few zombies that I walked into. Head shots work.

Then I heard a crackling of someone talking to me and tried to talk back (I'm on default keys and am not sure if my radio works "Roger, I copy do you?" Silence. I figure I was being stalked. I'm guessing I went from Balaota and Kamojarovo on my belly but I'm not sure, it was almost black, never saw a sign. Walking up the coast (ocean on my right) with the road on my left is probably not a good idea. I tried to take the advice of Shack Tactical, always aware and keeping it slow, carefull and cool.

A heard shots a few times, and some crackling on my radio (I also turned the music off, jeepers), maybe someone calling my name (can you identify players by looking at them?). At one point I saw a surviver walk right past me and heard him say something, I was right behind him and had him in my sights for quite awhile, then lost him, it was dark.

I think my downfall was getting impatient, I wanted to see what the name of the the name of the town to place myself on the map. Stupid really, because I didn't have anyone to hook up with, hadn't been to these towns and couldn't recognize any land marks. So I plowed into town, standing up and jogging. I still think it was probably Kamenka, but I'll never know. A dude with a pistol popped out of nowhere and we danced around each other.

I think he shot first. I emptied round in his general direction, possibly hitting him once or twice.

Then I saw the green hour glass.

The moral of the story is stay stealthy. Always.

Zombies: 6
Headshots: 3

 

[CreamyBlood]

Ammo Left: Probably not much
Me: Dead

Good times.

 

[CorpseZeb]

In the darkness of night, this thing is just brutal... Whole pitch black of survival fun