Day Z FAQ

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

What is Day Z?
Day Z is a zombie survival mod for Arma 2 and it's stand-alone expansion Operation Arrowhead. It is currently in early alpha and frequently updated.

You start on the coast of Chernarus, a fictional post-soviet state based on satellite photos of the Czech Republic. You begin with a flashlight and some basic supplies, but no way to defend yourself. From there, you must do whatever it takes survive. That might be scavenging abandoned buildings looking for food or weapons, or running around in a state of panic as you're chased by a train of zombies. Perma-death is always on so if you die, you must restart as a new character with starter gear and in one of the semi-random spawn locations.

Okay, hardcore zombie simulator, I'm interested. How much does it cost?
To run Dayz, you need Arma 2 and the expansion Operation Arrowhead. You can get them separately, or bundled together as Arma 2: Combined Operations. You can also get Arma X: Anniversary Edition, which includes Arma 1 and 2 with all expansions and DLC. If you don't own any Arma games, you are best off buying Combined Operations. If you already own Arma 2, just buy Operation Arrowhead.

You can also get a slight discount buying them from the Bohemian Interactive store, but make sure you buy the Steam versions, unless you hate Steam I guess.

How do I install Day Z?
There's a lot of ways, but the easiest I found was to use Steam with the Six Updater launcher.

1. Install both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead using Steam
2. Close Steam, run it as an Administrator and load both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead once so it installs properly.
3. Download and install the Six Updater launcher
4. Run Six Updater and it should download all the Day Z mod files.

You also probably want to install the Arma 2 beta patch. The beta patch is backwards compatible, so you can still play on non-beta servers. If you have previous beta patches it's suggested to unistall them before installing a newer version. You can also try deleting beta subdirectory inside ARMA 2 folder manually.

1. Download and install the beta patch (use the 94876 patch for now, the newer ones have issues)
2. Browse to the Arma2:OA main directory (../Steam/steamapps/common/arma 2 operation arrowhead/) and right-click on shortcut "Launch Arma2 OA Beta Patch". Add "-nosplash -mod=@dayz" without quotes to the target line.
3. Run "Launch Arma2 OA Beta Patch" and enjoy playing on beta servers!

There are a variety of errors that could crop up after going through all that. This thread on the Day Z forums details a lot of them, otherwise searching the mod forum or asking here is your best bet.

Common questions/problems
I'm stuck on "Waiting for character to create" and/or "Loading..."! WHAT DO I DO!?!
This happens when a server is full, or hasn't been restarted in a while. The only thing to do is wait and eventually your request will go and you'll load in to the game. Sometimes it takes a minute, sometimes it takes 10 minutes.

Why does everyone call me bad names when I use voice?
Sending voice (by holding Caps Lock) through side/general channels sends your voice to everyone in the server. It lags the entire server and it's annoying, so don't do it.

However, you can use voice in the Direct Communication channel and only people in close proximity to you will hear it. This is a good way of communicating with people near by to find out if they're friendly, or if they're likely to kill you. Use the < and > keys to change which channel is active until you get to Direct Communication. Be aware that using voice can also attract nearby zombies.

This game is buggy as hell! I just had <insert something horrible here> happen to me!
Yeah, bad stuff happens from time to time. Sometimes you lose a sweet gun because you tried to transfer it to a bag that was full. Sometimes you clip through a ladder and break your legs in the fall. Unfortunately you have to accept that in Day Z, sometimes you're going to have to start over through no fault of your own.

Familiarise yourself with the Known Bugs List and try to avoid them as best you can.

Games.on.net Servers
ANZ7 - Regular (3rd person cam on, crosshair enabled, name tags enabled)
203.26.94.194:2302

ANZ8 - Veteran (3rd person cam enabled, crosshair/name tags disabled)
203.26.94.194:2302

Resources
Day Z Wiki
Day Z Map with loot spawns
Official Day Z Forums
/r/Dayz subReddit
General Survival tips and more tips. Take these with a grain of salt because
some info may be outdated.
Tips on starting without a gun - a good break down of how to move, which items are useful and where to find good stuff other than "go to cherno lol"
Weapon information post (or handy image chart) including damage per shot and audible range (for zombies to hear the shot)
Survival tips from a veteran a mixture of sensible tips (e.g. barns and deer stands contain good weapons) and bug exploits (e.g. if you stand amongst fir tree branches, zombies can't hit you)

This thread is a work in progress, so feel free to reply with any extra useful links/tips/questions and I'll add them in.

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Placeholder post for more info in future.

[Disco LT]

Good start Matt, can I suggest adding that if you're using a microphone you can chat verbally on the direct chat channel (by holding Capslock) and people nearby will be the only ones that hear you, it's also directional and the further away you move from someone the harder they are to hear (it's useful when working with a friend, or trying to locate someone that's using direct chat). It has no-where near the range of typed direct chat, but is obviously quicker.

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Good suggestion, I've tried to clear up the Direct Communication part a bit more.

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Added this guide to the Resources section of the OP.

An excellent write-up on how to begin Day Z now that you don't get a free weapon to start, including how to move through town without being spotted, why "trash" items like empty cans and bottles are useful, and good spots to pick up your first weapon.

[Makena]

Thanks for putting this up, was a great help in getting it going.

[RaTTuS007]

One thing you can try, go low-pop server that's in night time crank the gamma up and go gear yourself out, zombies can barely see you and alot of the time if you're running on grass you'll only have one bar for sight and sound.

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Added to OP:
Weapon information chart including damage per shot and audible range (for zombies to hear the shot)
Survival tips from a veteran a mixture of sensible tips (e.g. barns and deer stands contain good weapons) and bug exploits (e.g. if you stand amongst fir tree branches, zombies can't hit you)

[Scarecrow]

Map to see Chernarus overall:


View full sized image

Good for finding towns in relation to each other.

Interactive map for closeups showing loot spawns around Chernarus and other helpful info in the database it links to:

http://dayzdb.com/map

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Already the second link in the Resources section of the OP

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

Added a handy image chart version of the Weapon Information data

[RSOblivion]

Any chance of chasing up the guys updating the server? Currently it's still on the broken 1.7.2 patch and needs updating to the 1.7.2.3 patch as well as server version 94878.

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

I've sent tickets about it, but I'll chase it up.

[RSOblivion]

Thanks

[Matt 'El_Funko' Long]

The servers have been updated.

These posts don't need to go in the FAQ thread. Hopefully a forum admin can remove them at some point.