This page covers the 2012 DayZ Mod for Arma 2. For information from DayZ (2018), see Characters.
The Characters in Mod:Chernarus are Survivors that are player controlled and Zombies that are controlled by the computer (AI).
Survivors[ | ]
This page covers the 2012 DayZ Mod for Arma 2. For information from DayZ (2018), see Characters.
A Survivor player
Every player begins as a minimally equipped and notably unarmed survivor washed ashore on the coast of Chernarus. With only rudimentary gear, it's essential to Loot supplies and arms to survive against basic needs like hunger and thirst, as well as hostile enemies.
Starting Mod:equipment[ | ]
Starting equipment consists of:
- 1 Bandage - used to stop bleeding (the loss of Blood over time).
- 1 Stack of Road Flares - used for illumination at night. NB: the light from flares will attract zombies and players, the latter of which can see them from very far away. Running around with lit flares makes you a highly visible target to bandits.
Upon spawning in, the player is also randomly given either Painkillers or an extra bandage in addition to the two items listed above.
Male Survivors have 3 different skins (Female Survivors have one), all of which consist of a black baseball cap and tactical vest. Survivor skins are not saved with character data and can change on every server log in.
Supplies[ | ]
A survivor must stay hydrated, fed, warm and healthy. Ignoring these basic needs will cause loss of blood or other ill effects, which will severely hurt survivability in the long run.
Hydration[ | ]
The survivor will need to stay hydrated. This need can be satisfied by drinking cans of soda or water from a refillable Canteen. Not fulfilling this need will cause you to lose blood over time. Be wary of drinking non-boiled water from canteens, as there is a chance that you may contract a disease. To boil water, one needs a filled water canteen, an empty soda can, or an empty tin can, and a lit fireplace or barrel to cook it over.
Food[ | ]
Food can be found as either Canned Food in residential areas and supermarkets, or harvested as meat from dead Animals. Not fulfilling this need will cause you to lose blood over time. Eating food is also a way to regain lost blood; the only other way to do so is to have another player give you a transfusion.
In order to harvest and cook meat, the survivor needs a Hunting knife, Wood (harvested from forested areas with a Hatchet or found from scavenging), and a Box of matches. Raw meat can be harvested from various animals such as boars and cows, which must be killed and butchered. The raw meat must then be cooked to make Cooked Meat by using a Fireplace. A lit fireplace creates both light and smoke, which can attract the attention of zombies and other survivors, especially at night. One may also light one of the many barrels found throughout the large cities and cook meat on them.
Medical supplies[ | ]
Basic common supplies – bandages, painkillers and heat packs – can be found on dead zombies, as well as in residential areas, supermarkets and many other buildings. More rare medical supplies – Blood Bags, morphine, epi-pens and Antibiotics – can be found in medical facilities and military locations such as hospitals, medical or military tents and military areas. They will also drop at helicopter crash sites, and the Epi-Pen and morphine on military zombies. Please note that the epi-pen and bloodbag may only be applied to other players; to use them on yourself, you must find another player to help.
Combat[ | ]
One of the first things every survivor usually spends time acquiring is a weapon. Weapons in DayZ range from melee weapons, such as the Hatchet, to powerful rifles and explosives. Proper weapon selection depends on what the player intends to use it for, and more importantly, on what is available.
Zombies[ | ]
Zombies, often referred to as Zeds.
Zombies are infected humans that wander about cities and towns aimlessly. They will key in on movement and sound; once alerted to the presence of a player, they will begin to scream, run towards, and attack that player. Zombies can open doors, swim, and climb ladders, but they cannot walk onto docks, and they never run while indoors.
Zombies can be very dangerous if not handled properly. Becoming trapped in a small area by zombies is possible, and loud weapons can easily exacerbate a zombie problem. Zombies can cause bleeding, broken bones, unconsciousness, and death. They can also tackle players who attempt to run past them.
Viral zombies are stronger and harder to kill than normal zombies. If they have knocked you unconscious, they will eat you much quicker than standard zombies. Any damaged inflicted by Viral zombies run the risk of causing infections.
There are four ways to get dispose of zombies:
- Kill them
- Break away from their line of sight
- Distract them
- Get more than 200m away
To conserve ammunition, it is advisable that players aim for headshots, especially when using weaker weapons, such as pistols. Because of the ArmA 2 engine, however, zombies will randomly duck and weave while running at the player, which makes getting headshots on an alerted zombie very difficult.
Breaking a zombies' line of sight will cause the zombie to slowly wander around the player's last known location for a few minutes. The line of sight can be broken by running around corners, through buildings, and through evergreen trees. Care must be taken to not re-alert a zombie with sound or extra movement.
Distracting zombies may be accomplished by throwing items on the ground. Flares and tin cans can work, but they are less likely to distract alerted zombies than Smoke Grenades.
Zombies will completely despawn when the player is approximately 300 meters from them. If zombies are visible from farther away, then another player is near them.
Survivors[ | ]
Survivors are other human players in the game. All players start out as normal survivors, but some may become bandits or heroes depending on how they treat fellow survivors.
Whether or not one should trust survivors can be a tricky question; it is often difficult to tell ahead of time whether or not a survivor is in need of your last can of beans. If the player does decide to approach another survivor, the proper way to do so is to say or type "friendly" in direct chat (NEVER use voice in side chat) to let the other player know that you do not intend to kill him. When holding a primary weapon, it is polite to lower it (default: double-tap control) when looking at a friendly survivor. When holding a pistol, look near (but not at) the friendly survivor.
Bandits[ | ]
Two Bandits wait in ambush behind some wreck vehicles
Bandits are players who have murdered other survivors. They have a distinctive skin, which as of 1.7.7 is camouflage clothing with a shemagh, or head scarf. When one looks at a bandit at close range, a heartbeat should be audible; the faster and louder the heartbeat, the more murders the bandit has committed recently. It is inadvisable to trust bandits; in fact, most players have adopted a "kill on sight" policy with regards to the bandit community.
A player's status as a bandit is determined by his humanity score, which is a positive or negative integer. Players gain humanity points by giving medical aid, and lose humanity points by killing survivors and heroes. Humanity will also slowly return to 0 over time. Killing a bandit will never lower a player's humanity.
Sometimes, players can lose humanity in self-defense situations; this happens when the defending player hits the attacker before the attacker hits the defending player. If this occurs often enough, an innocent survivor may become a bandit.
Heroes[ | ]
A Hero player
Heroes are survivors who have given other players medical aid or who have killed bandits. They are generally more trustworthy than the average survivor. Killing a hero is usually a bad idea, as doing so will cause your humanity score to plummilt. However, not all heroes are friendly, so be don't let your guard down near them.
Tips[ | ]
Grouped players (both survivors and bandits) often raid Chernogorsk (Cherno) and Elektrozavodsk (Elektro) - the two biggest cities along the south coast. Another big target for survivors is StarY Sobor, one of the biggest towns in the North. Heading to these cities unprepared can be risky, though they are often scavenged by freshly respawned players before heading north. Looting high value military targets can be very dangerous. Enemy bandits will often take up positions to snipe anyone looking to loot. Extra precautions should be taken when around:
- Airfield/Airstrips.
- Military tents.
- Towns with Supermarkets, Hospitals and Churches.
- Firestations (especially the last floor or on the roof).
- Crashsites.
- Vehicles
Watch out for survivors carrying scoped or military-grade weapons; these players are rarely out there to kill just zombies. Player-made fortifications such as sandbag walls, barbed wire, or tank trap obstacles can also identify a location frequently visited by other players. Barbed wire is not dangerous to players, but they cannot walk through it.
Most survivors head north after gathering immediate supplies or immediately upon respawning. Grouping in Chernarus can be difficult, so it is advisable to avoid any size of groups of survivors you don't know.
See also[ | ]
Zombies[ | ]
A typical zombie
Zombies, otherwise known as infected, are the inhabitants of the post-Soviet satellite state of Chernarus which have succumbed to an infection that has devastated most of the world's population. They attack players and are able to hear and see them. Getting too close, using a bright light source at night, and making too much noise will draw them to a player. About 35% of Zombies have loot on them.
On civilian Zombies you can find Canned Food, Soda cans, Empty Soda cans, Empty Whiskey Bottles, and rounds for common weapons like the Makarov PM and Lee Enfield.
On military Zombies you can find ammo for rare weapons, for example AK or STANAG rounds. They also have a chance of dropping HE and Smoke Testing
Types of Zombies[ | ]
- Walkers: These Zombies stand upright and walk slowly. They run very fast at the player and are often hard to hit. They are the most common type of Zombie.
- Hoppers: These Zombies are crouched and hop towards the player at a medium speed flailing their arms once aggroed, they can be hard to see and often blend in with grass on approach.
- Crawlers: These Zombies are the rarest and are in prone position, they can be very difficult to see in the grass and are the quickest of Zombies when they aren't alerted. However, this is the slowest Zombie when they are alerted. These may be mistaken as players from a distance because of their similar animations.
- Viral Zombies: Viral Zombies were added to version 1.7.7 of DayZ. They are identifiable by a significant amount of blood on their shirts. Their attack is 3 times the damage of normal Zombies. This type of Zombie has the same amount of blood as a normal survivor (12000).
Zombie Facts[ | ]
Zombie Spawns[ | ]
- Zombies can spawn from almost every kind of building, and they can also spawn inside them.
- When approaching a spawn zone (buildings) with no other players nearby, Zombies will spawn and start heading towards the player's general direction.
Idle Zombies[ | ]
- Zombies have a programmed propensity to move towards a nearby player; they will continuously sense and move towards a nearby player's general location after a short while after arriving in their spawn zones, which can be observed if remaining in a town or other heavily built area for long periods.
- Zombies investigate lit fireplaces and other sources of light such as flares up to 300 meters from their position. However, Zombies cannot detect flashlights.
- Zombies will investigate thrown items and smoke grenades at shorter distances.
Aggressive Zombies[ | ]
- Zombies will always close in and attack the closest player and will change targets if another player is closer to them than the original target.
- Zombies are not socially active, or grouped, so alerting of one Zombie will not cause others to be alerted.
- Zombies can be lost by breaking their line of sight, but they will continue to investigate players' last known locations and the area; going prone after leaving their sight can lose Zombies, especially during nighttime.
- Zombies stop chasing players when they are more than 300m away.
Zombie Movement[ | ]
- Zombies can climb ladders, open doors, climb over (or glitch through) some objects, and crawl under fences and walls.
- Zombies currently must walk when they are indoors, making large warehouses and other open buildings ideal for losing them.
- Zombies are extremely slow at climbing steep hills, allowing a chance for the player to break their line of sight.
- It is possible to shake Zombies by zigzagging through evergreen trees, breaking the Zombie line of sight and crouch/crawl away.
- Zombies currently will not go anywhere over water (piers, wharves, etc.).
Zombie Damage[ | ]
- Zombies do little damage on their own but often cause status effects like bleeding, pain, or Broken Bones; and, occasionally, Infection.
- Zombies can knock you Unconscious in one hit if you're under 9000 blood, or if the hit took you under 9000 blood.
- Zombie swarms attacking players in a building may very rarely destroy the building.
- Zombies can hit you (and you can hit them with a melee weapon) when they may appear to be too far away.
Zombie Health[ | ]
- Zombies have about 4400 blood.
Zombie pathfinding[ | ]
Zombie are spawned by the server and every client receives their position from the server.
Once Zombie are alerted to your presence and actively start chasing you, your client takes over the Zombie's pathfinding; this is sent to the server and relayed to other players. Because of this mechanic Zombies can often lag, even at low latencies to the server.
This is performed to ease the AI pathfinding load on the server.