Arma 2: Combined Ops (ARMA 2 Base game now free!) (Zombie Mod!)

[jth]

Eurogamer is praising it too.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-25-day-z-the-best-zombie-game-ever-made

After watching the videos I'd really like to try it out, in fact it looks so awesome I never thought possible. But I guess going at it alone would be suicide? Would it be possible to organise a F13 team for it?

[Surlyboi]

I think we need to. Because as much as a I like being the loner, this would require some backup.

[Yoru]

Be aware that the engine is janky as fuck, the UI is nightmarish, the servers are jammed 24/7 and you'll be accosted by bugs as often as other players. If you elect not to participate in the bean wars, be prepared for long jogs through the forest interrupted by adrenaline-drenched moments of sheer terror.

You can survive pretty easily as a loner, but you just won't be able to take on some of the larger challenges. Dicking around as a group is where it shines, but your group better have a decent sense of direction. My group had one of its new arrivals walking literally in a circle for two hours until he starved to death.

I'll share a small tale that happened last night.

Myself and a buddy had both recently been killed in a gank-gone-wrong; we met up southeast of Pavlovo, having found not much more than a M1014 shotgun and an ACU pack. From there we met up with a third guy, a new arrival who didn't know how to crouch, much less survive. We headed north to Zelenogorsk to hit the supermarket there.

Along the way, we hit a few deer stands and my buddy found an M16A2 with two clips. Sweet, real firepower. On the edge of Zeleno, we entered a barn and found a Lee Enfield and a bunch of Makarov ammo. Common stuff, but an upgrade for me; shotguns are worthless.

We hear a few Makarov shots in the distance, and scan the horizon. Nothing apparent, no running zeds. From the barn, we could see clear down to the supermarket, so we decide to take the chance.

The fields were swarming with zombies, but having lived through two airfield raids so far, I figured we could do it easily. We start crouch-walking our way down the hill and are soon in the middle of the zed-pocket, with all the Zs moving in comfortably-angled diffuse directions.

Then I notice our newbie is standing. Just as I yell to him to hit X and crouch, I hear the first zombie scream and see a shambler start running for us. Myself and the M16 guy hit the deck and I tell the newbie to Yakety Sax for the supermarket. He hauls ass, and immediately has twenty zombies on his trail. Myself and M16 start crouch-running along through the newly cleared fields and I calmly instruct the newbie to use his Makarov to shoot the zombies in the head, one shot at a time, as they shamble through the door of the supermarket.

By the time we're down there, twenty Zs are lying dead on the floor and our newbie is pretty proud of himself. We rummage through the supermarket and replenish our food and first aid supplies, as well as finding him a Lee Enfield. At that point, we notice a bunch of tents out behind the building. With M16 and the newbie covering me, I crawl out there and check them. All empty.

We decide to head southwest out of town so we can wheel around and hit the airfield again for some better weapons. On our way through the parking lot, M16 spots a bandit heading into the supermarket from the rear. Newbie and I return to the front of the supermarket as M16 heads through the back.

The newbie holds the door while I go deeper in. As I'm turning the corner around the service desk, I come face-to-face with the bandit, who's got an AK-74 drawn and pointed at my face. I raise my Lee Enfield and we both open up. I go down instantly; black screen, You Are Dead.

Over voice comms, I hear M16 swearing as every zombie in the town comes running. Newbie gets swarmed at the door and Yakety Saxes his way out of town, being trailed by damn near every zed in the city. M16 searches through the store and finds both my corpse and the bandit's; apparently we killed each other.

On his way out of the store, he gets shot at by another survivor in a blue top. Bleeding profusely, he bolts for the treeline and hides. The newbie hits the coast and swims out to sea to shake off the zeds, losing all his gear in the process, and then proceeds to get shot by some newbie with a Makarov.

M16 bandages up and heads for the barn to restock and see if he can find the blue-shirted guy. I hear him scream over voice comms; he rounded the corner into the barn, only to find a third stranger lying in wait. Before he could get a shot off, he's dead.

Lessons learned: Don't fire a Lee Enfield in town. Leave someone on overwatch when entering a major building like a supermarket. Teach newbies to stealth in less-exposed conditions than a major city.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm down for group play, just tell me when and where (server).

the UI is nightmarish,

One of the last patches added the ability, or requirement rather, to open your Inv and simply right click for Context menu. So right click beans to eat type of stuff. Its a marked improvement. But yes, over all UI is nightmarish in places.

[Sky]

Why the hell did I open this thread. Damn you.

[NiX]

Why the hell did I open this thread. Damn you.

 

I've been playing with a group from NeoGAF. My advice: Keep your group small and tightly knit. Avoid leaders and just stick to a common goal.

[Sky]

Janky, fun, would like an f13 server.

Tough to join up with people, lots of ganking.

[Yoru]

I was hungover as fuck today, so I spent literally the entire day playing DayZ. It was glorious. One good story sticks out.

Today it was myself and two buddies; the guy with the M4 from the previous story now had a CZ 550 scoped hunting rifle, making him the group sniper. Another buddy had an AK-74K and I had an AKM. We'd all collected ALICE packs from Elektro on Friday and stuffed them full of ammo, medical supplies and rations. We were pretty well kitted out, lacking only a hunting knife to make full-on wilderness survival possible.

We made our way up the coast from Elektro towards the south of Novy Sobor, picking through deer blinds and barns on the way, accumulating a ridiculous amount of ammunition. We stopped a few times to familiarize ourselves with our weapons and got to be pretty decent shots, thanks to the sacrifice of a few zombies.

As we pass Novy Sobor, we hear gunshots in town - the distinctive burp of Kalashnikov fire - and decide to swing wide and avoid it. We track through the trees to the south and are coming up south of Stary Sobor when we get separated by accident. Myself and AK-74K are about 100 meters ahead, moving through a narrow line of trees up a hill when our sniper yells "HIT THE DECK!" over voice chat.

We both hug dirt and a single shot rings out. "Got him."

Standing up, we both see, not twenty meters away, a fresh survivor corpse. The sniper explains that he was belly-crawling through the bushes and had raised his Winchester at us when he received a CZ550 bullet in the temple. The fortune of being separated meant the two of us hadn't been pocked with Winchester slugs; indeed, it probably saved all our lives.

Once we stopped shitting ourselves, we stripped his corpse and found, on him, the last of the survival supplies we need - a compass, watch, knife, spare matches and so on. Thank you, random bandit.

A few hours later, we find our first helicopter crash site. No loot, unfortunately.

[TripleDES]

Apparently playing at night on a low ping server ends up me playing in total darkness. Fuck yeah, 

And too much work for the little fun gained. It's like EVE Online.

[Raguel]

OT but going through Kilroy's vids I see Mount and Blade has "mount and musket" mods. I didn't think much of its multiplayer potential when it first came out but that looked pretty good.

[Surlyboi]

I suck at this. Horribly. And I'm usually pretty good at shooters. I can't seem to get my mouse sensitivity right or something, because my aim is all over the place. Never mind the fact that I get lit up long before I ever tend to see the enemy.

[Mrbloodworth]

I suck at this. Horribly. And I'm usually pretty good at shooters. I can't seem to get my mouse sensitivity right or something, because my aim is all over the place. Never mind the fact that I get lit up long before I ever tend to see the enemy.

Are you running everywhere? Because, there is no bar for it, but if you run everywhere, then the two parts of the cross hair widen, its your stamina. IF you shoot, it will be anywhere in there.

[tgr]

One thing I think bohemia's engine doesn't deal with well, is mouse smoothing. I think mouse smoothing in conjunction with lowish FPS or something muck up everything. You could try switching that off and see if that doesn't help.

[Sky]

I suck at this. Horribly. And I'm usually pretty good at shooters. I can't seem to get my mouse sensitivity right or something, because my aim is all over the place. Never mind the fact that I get lit up long before I ever tend to see the enemy.

Did you turn smoothing all the way down? That helped a lot for me. My main problems seem to be inventory-related, trying to pick stuff up is kind of hit or miss, got killed trying to pick up a bigger backpack. And that I'm too nice and get shot in the face a lot. It's the only way I've died so far.

Fake edit - what tgr said. I should probably notch stuff back, most is on very high and it's running around 50fps but the shadows are weird and I had a bad experience with a rain front (I think) in the second city over, the whole rainy (?) area was a giant flashing graphical distortion.

[jakonovski]

Anyone else tried the standalone mod Iron Front 1944? I bought it on an impulse, tried it a bit and it first impressions are that it's glorious and bug-ridden.

[NiX]

One thing I think bohemia's engine doesn't deal with well, is mouse smoothing. I think mouse smoothing in conjunction with lowish FPS or something muck up everything. You could try switching that off and see if that doesn't help.

This and what Sky said. TURN SMOOTHING OFF! It's painful and unnecessary. You may also want to turn down headbob as it seems to fuck with some peoples ability to aim after bobbing around for a bit.

[Surlyboi]

Turned smoothing off, that helped a bit. Headbob will be next because my aim is still for shit in this game.

[Lucas]

This is getting interesting: more and more people are joining, and the official mod forums are starting to heat up with opinions about the general direction of the mod: the author is now starting to feel the same pressure/issues of all the others who tried to implement a FFA PvP/full loot approach. We'll see what his approach is going to be. A lot of topics are strongly resembling what I read during UO back in pre-trammel era (no repercussion for killing other people? "if your heart is true, don't kill blue" ? :D)

[Surlyboi]

The difference between here and UO being that it's still an FPS and FFA PvP makes more sense than it ever did or will in an MMORPG. It also fits the setting. Though, I would say if there should be any repercussions, they should be along the lines of, "you killed everyone, good for you, now you're the only survivor of the zombie apocalypse, let's see how long you last by yourself while the hordes keep coming."

[Lucas]

Oh, here is what Rocket (developer's nickname) is currently saying on the subject:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results".

1. Get a fucking plan.
2. Stop assuming everyone wants to survive.
3. Stop assuming everyone wants to cooperate.
4. Find the people (offline if needed) that want to do these things.
5. Trust those people and nobody else.
6. Don't be part of the fucking problem (avoid, rather than kill).

This IS stupid. So do something about it. Posting "aw everyone kills everyone" on the forums is what people have been doing for ages. Has it worked? NO. So try something else. I see a few groups are doing different stuff, and they're keeping quiet about it. It's obvious from the database those people who are adjusting to the "anti-game" environment and those who aren't.

I don't have the resources or the inclination to balance the game, or develop some kind of punishment system. So that just ain't going to happen, even if it was within the scope of the project (and its not).

So the DayZ world has gone to shit? Good. We're on track then. Because its a fucking Zombie Apocalypse.

[CaptainNapkin]

Oh, here is what Rocket (developer's nickname) is currently saying on the subject:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results".

1. Get a fucking plan.
2. Stop assuming everyone wants to survive.
3. Stop assuming everyone wants to cooperate.
4. Find the people (offline if needed) that want to do these things.
5. Trust those people and nobody else.
6. Don't be part of the fucking problem (avoid, rather than kill).

This IS stupid. So do something about it. Posting "aw everyone kills everyone" on the forums is what people have been doing for ages. Has it worked? NO. So try something else. I see a few groups are doing different stuff, and they're keeping quiet about it. It's obvious from the database those people who are adjusting to the "anti-game" environment and those who aren't.

I don't have the resources or the inclination to balance the game, or develop some kind of punishment system. So that just ain't going to happen, even if it was within the scope of the project (and its not).

So the DayZ world has gone to shit? Good. We're on track then. Because its a fucking Zombie Apocalypse.

Now THAT makes me want to check this out.

[tgr]

That's a mod developer attitude I can get behind, simply because it does get so much better when you're in a group, stalking another group through the forest etc.

[Yoru]

Yep. Had that happen during my lunchtime group-up today:

Four of us high-tailing it through the woods, sprinting around like newbs despite carrying an SVD Dragunov, M16, AKM and AK74K. We're wheeling around the international airport, heading over to check out a heli crash site we saw yesterday.

The pointman, carrying his Dragunov, gets sick of swinging wide around the open fields through the trees and decides to make a break for it over 300 meters of open terrain. On voice chat, the rest of us groan and tell him he's asking for bullets in the face, but we follow anyway.

As we cross the last few meters before the next treeline, the AKM guy yells "I'm hit!" Bullets go whizzing by us and we all hit the dirt and spin around.

I spot a lone survivor directly behind us, crouching out in the open, pocking away at us with his AK. I get my M16 up and return fire, forcing him to dive for cover. AKM is moaning over voice that he's bleeding out, AK74K is generally losing his shit, and Dragunov is unshouldering his weapon and trying to find our assailant.

The second that the sniper rifle starts firing, our assailant decides he's made a terrible mistake and starts heading for the trees, STANAG rounds raising dust at his feet. Another few shots from the Dragunov and he goes down behind a rock in the opposite treeline. I crawl up and begin bandaging and transfusing AKM, then crouch-run towards the bandit's last known location.

More shots, the bandit's back up and firing at me. He misses, and another Dragunov round through the chest drops him for good. I reach his corpse and feast on his beans. He has little else - standard newbie gear plus an AKM. We strip him of ammo and make fun of him in global chat.

We're shaken and down two blood bags, but we've survived an ambush. Having just unleashed several clips worth of automatic weapons fire right next to a bandit hotspot, we decide to get the fuck out of dodge. Through the trees this time. Always through the trees.

[Sky]

You may also want to turn down headbob as it seems to fuck with some peoples ability to aim after bobbing around for a bit.

Yeah, forgot that one. It's an automatic reflex to turn it off, even if I was all "They still make that?"

Had one round as the fiancee came over yesterday, started me in the middle of nowhere, and given the roving bands of humans, it only took me two deaths to figure out Yoru's strategy of sticking to the treeline (plus I played OpFlash in the day, so I just reverted to telepathic enemy mode). Made my way over to a little seaport, what I thought was a barn..nope. (Insert wish that more buildings were real) Place was crawling with Zed.

I move out to the seawall/pier thing to get some hard cover and there's a dude out there. I quickly duckwalk the length of the wall and duck back to the Zed side. I must've somehow stopped crouching at that point, some Zed mariachas over and start gnawing on my arm. I just see myself suddenly taking damage, turn around and there are three munching away on human snack (my arm, and I think maybe a knee). Reflexively pop them in the head, attracting another five or so that were in the road, curse and run for the survivor, hoping he's friendly.

He was just kind of prone/crouch/prone on the pier, spinning around looking in different direction. Panicked or lagged, I dunno. Panic goes with my immersion, so I figure I'll bring him some friends to play with and we can use up his ammo taking them out. As I flat out run around a corner, I see a little 2-door shed at the land end of the pier, duck in there and close the doors. Lookee, some bandages. Tidy up that bloody arm (hey, THAT's what the blood stat in the debug window means) and look out the window. Panic guy has run over and he's crouched behind the building, I can hear the Zed swarm on the blind side.

As I sit trying to decide whether to pop open the door and trust (or kill) this guy, it's time to go make dinner.


Overall, it's a bitch of a solo game, but even as frustrating as that is the dev kid is right. The best zombie movies weren't about zombies, it was what dire situations brought out in your human soul. Also, we really need to get an f13 group together (since my ping to Iceland probably isn't great :)

[Yoru]

Also, we really need to get an f13 group together (since my ping to Iceland probably isn't great :)

I've moved south recently, but your ping to Malta probably isn't much better. I'm usually on EU1, 11, 12 or 13 when my group's playing. We prefer Veteran mode/crosshair-off servers.

[Sky]

That seems to be what I've been on mostly. First day I was on Chicago 6, but I've been bopping around the NYC servers since. I sit at around 31-50 on those two sets.

Getting 120-145 to the EU servers.

[Surlyboi]

Another new feature of the latest patch is female characters.

I can see the corpse raping already.

[Yoru]

Anyone foolish enough to hang around a fresh corpse for more than a few minutes deserves the bullets through the head that they'll get.

[Surlyboi]

The Goons have a bus...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpAkAkLFTE&feature=related

[Mrbloodworth]

Gama and brightness looks adjusted to extremes in that.

Night is one of my major complaints right now. Also, apparently the next patch ( server/client ) is told to reduce the "loading" and and log in time down to nill. Personally, for me the sting of death hasn't been that I need to start over, but that death has meant 3-10 minutes to even log in.

[Raguel]

The Goons have a bus...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpAkAkLFTE&feature=related

I've seen vids of helicopters as well

[Sky]

I was wondering about vehicles. At one point I ran across a broken motor or something and thought there was some crafting systemish thing for vehicles.

[Mrbloodworth]

AFAIK, there are Cars, SUV's, Helicopters and buses. ( So not the 200+ from ArmA2, yet ) You have to gather all the parts ( They take lots of Gear space ) and of course, find fuel. You also need a tool box.

1.7.0
Very rough changelog:

Changelog:
* [FIXED] Long (sometimes infinite) loading times
* [FIXED] Saving sometimes will not happen
* [FIXED] Vehicles not initialized reliably on servers running multiple instances
* [FIXED] Very poor framerate on servers after some time (dead bodies causing it)
* [NEW] Server Side Architecture completely rewritten

The above is in extremely limited testing right now.

[tgr]

Changelog:
* [FIXED] Long (sometimes infinite) loading times

[Surlyboi]

Played for a few hours yesterday on a hardcore server with no reticles or third-person. Got a fever and the shakes, managed to headshot a few zeds and then ran out of food, ammo and water. Got desperate and ran up a mountain and found the ruin of an old keep, in which I found more ammo, a flashlight, a can of coke and some pasta. Of course, when I picked up the flashlight, I somehow lost my pistol, making my newfound ammo kinda useless. Then, in my somewhat desperate search for said pistol, I fell down the stairs of the keep and broke my leg. I crawled back to the top of the keep and camped.

This shit is bananas.