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General
What is DayZ Standalone (SA)?
DayZ Standalone is a gritty, authentic, open-world survival horror hybrid-MMO game, in which players follow a single goal: to survive in the harsh post-apocalyptic landscape as long as they can. The much hyped follow-up to the award winning mod of the same name, being developed by Bohemia Interactive (BI).
Proper updates to the DayZ Mod could not progress as desired without affecting other Arma 2 mods (ACE, ACRE, etc). Eventually BI and Dean Hall formed a partnership to do the game properly and make it a standalone title. Originally the intent was to be a "tidied up" version of the Mod with a scheduled release date of December 2012. Once December hit, the team revealed that internally they decided to go big or go home; they chose to completely rebuild the architecture of the game engine.[1]
What is the difference between the DayZ Mod and DayZ Standalone?
DayZ Standalone will be a game on its own and no longer requires ArmA 2 (and its expansion Operation Arrowhead) to run. It will use a more advanced graphics and physics engine not limited by the constraints of its ArmA foundations, a new server architecture, and an extensively reworked Chernarus map.
When will DayZ Standalone be available and will I have to re-buy it?
There is no confirmed release date as of yet. According to the 2015 Roadmap released by the development team, the game is slated to go into its Beta phase of development by the 4th quarter (Oct. to Dec.) of 2015. The hope of the developers is to release the game sometime in 2016, but exactly when has yet to be hinted at.
Is it worth buying DayZ yet?
Dean Hall (Creator and former Project Lead) responded in this thread: forums.dayzgame.com
How will I get this game and on what platform(s)?
DayZ Standalone is intended to be a multi-platform title. Currently, the game is available only for Windows PC via digital distribution from Steam.[2] The reason for this being that it allows the developers to update the game with small patches that replace specific files (also known "delta" updates).[3] A PlayStation 4 version has been confirmed but no details have been given about it.[1]
What are the system requirements for DayZ Standalone?
| MINIMUM | RECOMMENDED | |
|---|---|---|
| OS: | Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1 | Windows 7 SP1 |
| Processor: | Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz | Intel Core i5-2300 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 or better |
| Memory: | 2 GB RAM | 4 GB RAM |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or AMD Radeon HD 3830 or Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 512 MB VRAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 7750 with 1 GB VRAM or better |
| DirectX: | Version 9.0c | Version 9.0c |
| Hard Drive: | 10 GB available space | 14 GB available space |
| Sound Card: | DirectX®-compatible | DirectX®-compatible |
| Internet: | A High Speed Internet Connection | A High Speed Internet Connection |
Development
What is an "alpha release" and what is my role in the development?
An alpha release is designed to allow the development team to interact with a game's community during development in the form of discussion and feedback based on pre-release gameplay. Those who participate in this process are providing valuable statistics, crash reports, and other data to the developers; this allows for a larger scope than what would normally be possible with only an internal testing group. Early access builds will be plagued with bugs and half-finished progress, so it is critical for players to keep this in mind when considering feedback for the game. Those who chose to help make the game better will need to create tickets in a feedback tracker that the developers can then take into consideration. Tickets can be bug related, feature related, animation related, performance related, etc.
How do I switch between Stable and Experimental builds?
- Go to your Games library in Steam and find DayZ.
- Right click on it and select Properties from the menu.
- A window will pop up with several tabs at the top; select the Betas tab.
- You will need to select an option from the drop-down menu you find here. Choosing "NONE - opt out of all beta programs" will put you on the Stable branch; choosing "Experimental" will similarly put you on the Experimental branch.
To switch back and forth, simply change which option you have selected in that menu at any time. The game may need to download new files before you play in order to switch between builds so be patient. You also have separate character sets between the two branches as well which do not overlap.
When is in the next update and what will be in it?
The Stable branch is generally updated once a month, usually towards the end of the month. This usually follows a month-long period of testing the new version as a series of weekly builds on the Experimental branch. Most updates to either branch are released on Wednesdays during the scheduled maintenance period, but this is not a hard rule and updates can occur at any time without notice. All updates will automatically download and be installed via steam.
Experimental builds are usually new each week leading up to the release of a new version to the Stable branch and serve as a de facto preview of upcoming items, mechanics, map changes, etc. What they contain will vary over time. Stable updates are a cumulative update that aims to release all content from previous Experimental builds to the Stable branch without game-breaking bugs, but this cannot always be achieved.
See also: Changelog and Roadmap.
Dayz isn't working for me! How do I fix it?
First of all: search the official forums and take a look in the troubleshooting section here. Most issues are already known about and some have temporary or known fixes. Also check the Bug Tracker and if your particular issue has not already been submitted, please add it there. Often simply verifying your cache in Steam will fix most issues, but the FAQ on the official forums [forums.dayzgame.com] has a nice guide on some of the common fixes.[4]
I found a bug! What do I do?
Report it on the official Bug Tracker at [feedback.dayzgame.com]. Make sure to read the how-to guide first. You can also post in the Bug Reports section here, or on the official DayZ forums. In either case be detailed and give as much information as possible.[5]
Gameplay
What is the difference between 1st Person and 1st/3rd Person servers?
1st person is first person view only, 1st/3rd person has both first person view and third person view enabled. They use separate hives (databases), so there is a character save for each of these.
How do I change my in-game name?
Your default name will be the name you use for your computer (i.e. "Christopher"). To change this, click the username in the lower right hand corner of DayZ Standalone welcome screen and modify as required.[6]