"One game to rule them all and in the darkness bind them."

29 NOV 2014

November and December are busy months for DayZ. Coming up next week we’re aiming for the 0.51 update to stable branch, we have the conclusion of our Private Shard contest, and of course.. the initial implementation (at a very basic level) of wheeled vehicles into stable branch. It is important that when hunting for/fueling/driving these new base model V3S trucks across Chernarus you understand the limits, base functionality, and placeholder status of much associated at this time with the vehicle.
•The V3S is not tied to the persistence system at this time, so when it restarts - it respawns. ◦Yes, worry not vehicles will save, just not at this time.

•Much of the animations are in progress, we hope to greatly improve the visual immersion versus legacy animations when mounting and exiting
•The interior of the cabin is still in progress, what is there currently is placeholder. ◦Instrumentation will eventually be the primary method for tracking speed, fuel, temperature, etc

•New sound effects for the V3S will be recorded, for now we are using legacy placeholder sfx
•At this time the bed / cargo / command sections of the V3S and its variants are disabled while we continue work on them ◦This means the truck has no item storage capacity, and seats two survivors (at this time!)

•Very basic functionality is present for vehicle maintenance, this is limited to fuel consumption and refilling. ◦Further functionality is being worked on - spark plugs, exhaust, radiator, etc


This first initial implementation of vehicles in DayZ is aimed at tracking the network impact, physical simulation performance, and gameplay impact of this feature on the title. Be warned, this is the first time stable branch will get its hands on these systems, and there will be bugs. As with all systems, we will be iterating and expanding upon this as we move forward with development of DayZ. Aside from the V3S, 0.51 contains a strong amount of new mechanics, expanded systems, security hotfixes, and as always content. Going into December, we will be observing the impact of this update on stable branch and work on a end of year update for December with 0.52 mid-month.

On a more personal note, 0.51 - even with the title as early in development as it is has had a large impact on my playstyles within DayZ. I am very eager to see how survivors adapt and expand upon the world of Chernarus with these changes. In addition I hope to put a special status report up when 0.52 is published to stable branch (sort of a town hall style address) where myself, and the other leads recap the most impactful and persistent bugs in DayZ Early Access, and where we are / what the plans are for them moving into 2015.

As always, not a bandit.
- Brian Hicks / Lead Producer


Standup Notes for the week of 24 Nov 14
(Note: Standup notes are not a change log - they are a quick high level look at tasks the teams worked on throughout this week)

Art:
• Prison Complex
• High fidelity V3S instrument panel
• UH1Y Crashsite model
• Prison-themed zombies

Animation:
• Steyr Aug reload animations
• Player Suicide Animations in Progress
• Vehicle animations
• Rifle sitting animations update
• Zombies with new AI

Design:
• V3S Praga Bugfixing
• Config and scripts for prion disease balance
• New content spawn points
• Cooking extension
• Loot defines for new centralized loot spawning

Programming:
• Critical inventory fixes
• Client/server performance
• Client/server crash fixes
• Loot distribution redesign/improvements
• Player & Item duplication fixes
• Vehicle simulation diagnostics / bugfix
• Character connection issues (protecting players from attack while logging in/before being able to move)

I'm looking forward to this one.

New Items:

V3S


Ghillie Suit (Hood, Bushrag, Top)


Ghillie Weapon Wrap

Jerry can

Military Tent

Human Flesh

Netting

Steyr Aug

MP133 with pistol grip

Burlap strips



New Mechanics:

Vehicles

Vehicles refueling

Prion Disease

New crafting recipes

Updated heat transfer

Watering plants



Fixed:

Abuse of vomiting to gain energy

Mending balaclavas

Splitting and combining netting

Splitting and combining burlap strips

Ammo box dragging on magazines

Combining and splitting worms

Breaking out of restraints fixes

Uncuffing using keys

Picking up mp133 from the ground

Rangefinder mechanics

Items are no longer pristine only

Skinning should now give pelts properly

V3S going uphill

V3S physics simulation

V3S damage to characters

V3S collisions

V3S fueling mechanic

Memory Leaks

And a lot more!



Known Issues:

Item locked in hands slot

Items can't be picked up sometimes

Left earpiece sound volume is lowered sometimes

Ghillie will probably react badly on chemlight, flare and other light sources

Some items will freeze in midair when you throw them multiple times in a row

Some items will visually duplicate themselves if used from the ground


Note: iZurvive has been updated to indicate possible vehicle spawn locations. There are only 3 on each server.

For now the team is focused on critical bugfixes and server side performance optimization for 0.52 midway through December (due to the upcoming holiday season)...The latest news regarding testing of the new zombies suggests we may soon be able to significantly increase the number of zombies spawning. We plan to implement stealth mechanics into the game.

The chainsaw was put on hold for few reasons that were connected to animation and melee systems but now we feel it is quite a good time to push it out.

You will be able to put your ammunition to fireplace and examine what it will do with them over time. We will be adding a torch.

• Full length ghillie
• Bomber Jacket
• Cleaver
• Sword animations

Character connection issues (protecting players from attack while logging in/before being able to move)

Swords!

Sword?

That caught my attention as well. Perhaps, it is a language issue. They may have meant to say "melee." Some of the in-game and developer comments are clearly written by an "English as a second language" person.

Not sure how I would feel about swords in the game. I believe it would cheapen it and be an obvious repeat of Michonne's katana (samurai sword).

The beginning of 2015 the developers will perform a wipe of the hive.

Primary bug-fix focus for 0.52:
• Gunshot sounds

.52 Changelog:


New Items:

Full Ghillie suit
Stone Knife
Torch
Guts
Chainsaw
Meat cleaver
Prison uniform
Silencer east
Silencer NATO
Handgun Silencer
V3S interior
Teddy bear
Long Sword
MP5 Compensator
Prison Jacket
Prison Pants
Prison Cap
Hunting Knife
Pumpkin seeds
Pepper seeds
Wool dress (color variants)
Bomber jacket (color variants)
V3S (color variants)

New Mechanics:

Suicide (variants)
Using scopes for scouting
Redone horticulture mechanics
Redone spawn points and amount of vehicles
Exiting and entering animations for vehicles
Christmas presents
Crafting of fishing rod, stone knife, bow, with nature only resources
You can cut out seeds out of vegetables
Torch crafting
Blade sharpening
Silencers working
Using of almost all items for melee

New locations:

Kamensk village
Stary Yar village
Location "Lysaya Gora"
"Grozovye Doly"
Krasnoe village
Christmass assets
Meadows and Farms under Svergino village
Ratnoe village
Zaptudnoe village
Zaprudnoe kolhoz
Meadows and Farms near Grishino
Polesovo village

Updated locations:

Stary Yar surrounding
Kamensk mining complex
Severograd mines
Powerlines is now connected with West part of map
Forest improvments
General bugfixing

Fixed:

Muzzle blast, Impact sounds fixed.
Small fish trap exploit fixed
Supressor visible on steyraug now
Damage transfer added to ghillie crafting
Security fixes
Telescopic Baton retracting
Improved heatpack and gut heat transfer, support for multiple heat sources
Drowning while cuffed under water surface
Heatpack and more items properly positioned in hand
Supressor visible on steyraug now
Animation polish
Loot distribution polish
and much much more.

Known Issues:

Item locked in hands slot
Items can't be picked up sometimes
Left earpice sound volume is lowered sometimes
Ghillie will probably react badly on chemlight, flare and other light sources
Some items will visually duplicate themselves if used from the ground
Server crashes
Client crash when disconnected from server.