Navigating

Note: this page covers the Standalone version of DayZ; for information on the Mod, see Mod:Navigating. Navigating Chernarus+ in DayZ Standalone is one of the more important survival skills one can acquire. There are multiple methods for navigation and though some may be easier than others, mastering all of them means that you'll never truly be lost in Chernarus no matter how far off the path you stray. Watching the movement of the clouds, sun, and stars is a good start.

Finding your bearings

An important part of survival is knowing your bearings, there are ways to do this without a Compass.

• The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West, so if the Sun is just rising or setting you will have stable reference point.
• The Wind always blows from the west to the east, opposite of the sun/moon cycle, so use the movements of the clouds to find East and West.
• At night, you'll need to rely on the stars, locate the Northern Star to find North.
• Use Towns and Cities road signs, Terrain and various landmarks to find your location on the Map.

Using Terrain and Landmarks

Road Signs

Around Chernarus there are many road signs marking Towns and Cities boundaries and giving road directions to the next town, which are really useful for navigation. If you are unsure where you are, simply match the road sign name up with where it lies on the map. Once you've determined what town you are in, you have a starting point to navigate elsewhere.

Note: Road sign are all written in Cyrillic, which often makes it a bit tricky to figure out which town these signs are actually pointing to. See Towns and Cities page for full listing of all settlements.

The Coast, Railroad

File:Solnichniy 3a.jpg

An example: the Solnichniy train station

When you first spawn in, if you can see the water it's most likely that you will be somewhere on the South coast of Chernarus between Kamenka and Otmel, though there is a chance that you spawn at the East coast between Solnichniy and Kamyshovo.

Use the coastal Railroad tracks to find your bearing. Once at the shoreline, turn around so the water is at your back and run in-land.

• If you find the train tracks before the road, you are on the southern coast of Chernarus, between Kamenka and Elektrozavodsk.
• If you find the train tracks after the road: you are on the eastern coast of Chernarus, between Elektrozavodsk and Berezino.

If you follow the railroads you will surely find a train station -- often with the name of the town -- and the town itself.

In land, Power Lines

A network of high voltage power lines at Pass Oreshka

Power lines are a way to navigate the countryside of Chernarus. The network consists of a Power Plant, sub-stations, and high voltage transmission lines (the really tall ones) which go across nearly the entirety of Chernarus. Following power lines is a sure way to eventually find a town if you are lost.

The network begins at the Power Plant near Elektrozavodsk, eventually splitting into three and then five different routes. The first two lines head west going past Prigorodki, Dubky, Novoselky where they meet a sub-station outside Chapaevsk; from there two lines go south into Chernogorsk and two more go north past Kozlovka and Drozhino, meeting at a sub-station outside Zelenogorsk; finally, one line runs from this sub-station across the north passing Pogorevka, Novy Sobor, and Dubrovka, ultimately terminating at an end station in Berezino.

The third main line by itself heads north past Topolka Dam then splits: one line runs northeast past Msta and terminates at an end station in Solnichniy; the other goes northwest past Staroye and Shakhovka, terminating at an end station in Gorka.

Other Landmarks

You can find various Key Locations, such as crashed helicopters, to help tell friends where you are.

Using Northern Star

During the night, it can be hard to orientate and very hard to know which direction you're walking. Finding the Northern Star is probably the most obvious and the most reliable way to find north at that time. While the night sky will rotate and move as you travel Chernarus, the North Star will always point north and finding it will give you a solid reference point when you don't have a compass. Here is how to do so:

• First identifying the big dipper constellation.
• Draw a line from the 2 bottom stars and keep drawing this line upwards
• the next star you'll get is 'Polaris', the 'Northern Star'

Using a Watch

NOTE: The Watch has not yet been implemented in the DayZ Standalone.

Method 1

With your watch, check the time (Press O, your watch will be shown on the screen). The sun travels from East to West, so if it is 6 pm, the sun would be closer to the west side of Chernarus. If it is 9 AM, the sun would be closer to the East side. Therefore, if it is AM, the sun is closer to the East side. PM = West. If it's near 12 PM (noon), you will have to try another method listed below.

Method 2

If you've found a watch and do not have a compass, you can use shadows to find (roughly) north.

• find a shadow from a tree or other long object
• take out your watch and keep it horizontally (looking down)
• point the hour hand (short one) towards the sun
• draw a line from the center of your watch and between the hour hand and 12 o'clock
• north is at the other side of the center

Method 3

Use your watch or your vision to tell if the sun is rising or setting. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If the sun is in the east at the time, look at the sun (you are looking east) and north will be to your left. If the sun is setting, look at the sun (you will be looking west). Look to your right and that is north. South is obviously the opposite of that.