Be Excellent To Each Other

Quite tempted to give this a go too, not sure if my PC will hack it or not, though.

I'll have to reinstall it. It's a pain in the arse and buggy as hell, though.

What sort of rig you truckin' in? If it's comparable to mine, you'll find out by tomorrow if it runs or not!



What, DayZ or ArmA II?

DayZ. It's a faff to install. ArmA has bugs, but not like this.

It is basically pre-alpha though, so understandable.

Your face is pre-alpha

DayZ requires the patience of a saint. I'm yet to get a game that doesn't fuck up in some way.

I told you.

Since saying that, I've had my only proper game yet (for nearly two hours), and it was fucking magnificent.

It's buggy, yes, and ArmAII's inventory system was designed by some sort of spastic weirdo, and the basic controls are cumbersome and there are all kinds of problems commonly associated with a game of ArmAII's scope and size - for example moving around indoors is glitchy as hell.

But, when you get a good game like I just did, it's wonderful.

I spawned near the coast as you always do (BTW: You don't spawn with any weapons whatsoever any more), and made my way to the nearest cluster of buildings. Unfortunately they were all "pretend" buildings which means you can't go inside and therefore there's no loot. I was then chased by a zombie who bit me and drained me of a fair bit of blood. Fortunately you start with one bandage so I outran him and eventually got to heal myself.

Then I noticed a lighthouse. I ran over and found...

THIS!

Now I was covering some ground pretty damn quickly and I managed to find some large warehouse-y type buildings further along the coastline. I got off my bike and investigated. There was a lot of zombie activity and a few dead human players kicking about. There was also loads of loot. I grabbed a revolver and a hatchet, along with some other kit.

Then, whilst climbing up to the top of this massive building, I glanced out of the window to see some shit making off with my bicycle! Nooooo!

I gave chase on foot but it was futile. I attracted a few zombies but thanks to my revolver was able to get rid of them. Unfortunately I was now out of ammo, just in time for a human player wielding an axe and fending off a horde of zombies to come into view. He killed the zombies and I thought about whipping my own axe out and killing him, but he declared himself friendly and asked me not to shoot him. Little did he know I was out of ammo.

We set off together to find the next town, eventually happening upon a small farm with a few zombies kicking about. All the while I was chatting to my new found chum, but secretly plotting to off him before he offed me. I had my empty revolver out, and if he decided to start hacking at me with his axe, there would be nothing I could do about it. The only thing keeping me alive was the threat of my unloaded gun. The tension this game creates is brilliant.

I knew that at some point in the near future, we were going to find a stash of guns and ammo and the playing field would be levelled. At that point it'd be easy for him to betray my trust. But at the same time, he seemed like a nice chap in the game chat, so I was genuinely conflicted about whether or not to kill him when his back was turned.

As it turns out, the zombies from the farm swarm him and he takes some damage. He passes out and asks me to bandage him. I kill the last couple of zombies around us and then axe him in the face, stealing his tin of beans. Better safe than sorry! Poor Niko.

I've found another farm now and I've logged out in a barn. Hope I'm still alive when I go back!

*reinstalls*

Christ almighty I need this in my life. Hnnngh!

I hope you're not, you bastard.

The thing is, I totally didn't want to be someone who kills other human players when I first started. But I was an hour into my life and had a fair bit of loot and that just totally changed my outlook on the whole game. He seemed legit, but there was always the possibility that he was gonna kill me when he got the chance. It's so good!

It runs acceptably on my shite PC as well. Although I have everything set to low barring the resolution which is 1080p else it looks like shit on my monitor.

Ensure that your 3D and Interface resolutions are set to the same thing or it will look like shit.

Yeah I had that problem on my first go round! It's all good now. Still need a new PC though. I bet it looks great on max settings.

One of Bohemia's strengths is making games that look very nice despite being set to low detail. I have most of my settings turned down quite low to keep it fluid with a reasonable draw distance.

Nooooo! My character died. It was pitch black on the server this time because the 24 hour cycle is in real time. I suppose I could've gone on a Yank server to get more daylight, but I wanted to try out the dark. It's rough!

Got a double barrel shotgun and then an Enfield by the end, but I was very low on blood with no way of recovering. I had plenty of raw meat and some wood for a fire but I needed matches to light the wood and cook the meat! Damn!

I eventually managed to break my leg forcing me to crawl everywhere, whilst passing out periodically. I gave up and shot a zombie with my Enfield, bringing loads of them over to devour me.

So much for the 'prisoner's dilemma'!

Great tale, write more! I suspect I'd be too terrified to play this though.

Damn it! According to the Wiki, the town I was in had a frigging supermarket to the south, which is a definite source of matches. If only I'd known! It also had a parking lot with repairable vehicles. Stupid night time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXTQhNQw ... r_embedded

(For context: DayZ's mic/text communication only works in close proximity now - like in Halo 3 for players on opposite teams!)

Brilliant! I hope that was you on your bike!

I wish! I haven't seen another one since it was stolen!

I'm suprised so many of the 'mainstream' people are playing DayZ when they have to use the abomination that is ARMA2's engine. 80 different keys required to move, and when you do move it's in some strange jolty way that doesn't seem to take acount of the terrain, and like you mention, is nothing but a farce when you're indoors. The world's worst system for giving radio commands. Stupid scroll wheel based inventroy use. Forced motion blur, terrible performance even with everything set to minimum. THE LIST GOES ON. The only reason I would suffer through all of that shit is because the gameplay itself, or at least the idea of the gameplay, if you could struggle through the input/output problems, was so promising. I quite like the version where you could BE a general and buy tanks and shit and give them to your underlings. Ordering them to go anywhere in them was utterly difficult, but fun.


Also: I play on a 5:4 monitor and the game used to look like a big blurry mess with stupid fonts.
EDIT: I see you also suffer from it looking like complete shit at anything but max resolution. WHAT A STUPID RENDERING SYSTEM.

If you set your interface and game resolutions to the same, it won't be blurry.

Yup! Maybe the standalone game will address some of these issues. Although, it will also be in the ArmA engine - though possibly the ArmA III engine!

I did all this faff and it only marginally improved. Or maybe it was ok but the font was tiny, so I had to oversize the interface and then everything was a-blur. I don't know. It's a ridiculous system. You don't see Quake needing 18 different sliders and options just to set the resolution now do you?!

Everytime I think of Arma I'm compelled to reinstall it and start playing again. (And once again try and remeber the 10,000 keys just to walk forward). Every time I reinstall it I get enraged. NOT THIS TIME. I WILL NOT SUCCUMB TO IT'S FILTHY LURE.

Good work. This sounds fun. Probably won't run on my PC, though.

I'm on call this week, so I'll have time to install and give this a bash (unless lots of things go wrong).

Ok, so the standalone for this is now on Steam Early Release. Because I am a glutton for punishment, I have purchased it.

I have already found a bug in the menus where the mouse doesn't work properly. Stay tuned for my descent into madness.

We're all playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 now.

I've got that too. Haven't played it though.

It's fantastic.

Is it still using the engine from ARMA?

Yep, but it's heavily modified.

I bloody love ARMA, but it can be helluva infuriating/amusing at times. I will look forward to your tales of misery

Haven't even managed to get on to a server yet! I'm infuriated already.

THIRTY BUCKS I HATE THIS FUCKING PAY FOR ALPHA FAD AND NOW I HATE YOU TOO FOR ENCOURAGING IT MYP IT'S REALLY HARD TO TYPE WITH YOUR LITTLE FINGER CRAMMED ON THE SHIFT KEY WHY DIDN'T I USE CAPS LOCK WHAT A TOOL

Me too, it's the first time I've done it. I loved the free mod though so happy to throw £20 their way for the time I spent on that.

Is it because you wanted to walk rather than talk while running?

He loves paid alphas and freemium games.

He is the devil.

I find myself at a beach. It is quiet apart from the occasional squawk of a seagull and the bitter wind blowing across the bay. I make my way along the coast, finding deserted house after deserted house. I am hungry and thirsty. I eventually find a ramshackle old building with an ornate fireplace (no fire though, sadly). I find a bottle of mineral water and guzzle it down gratefully. I'm still hungry, but my thirst has been quenched for now. Also in the house I find a fireaxe - I was feeling very vulnerable, but luckily hadn't come across any of those - things. No other survivors either though (I suppose this could be good as well as bad). At least now I can protect myself.

I make my way inland, the wind is not so bad here. Unfortunately this is where I encounter my first two Zeds. I make short work of them, splitting the first's head in two with my axe, before disembowelling the second and stomping on its skull. I am left a bit shaken. I had heard tales of these creatures, but I didn't expect them to be so... devoid of anything. There is nothing left of whomever they were. It is terrifying.

I am now starving. I continue my hunt for food, and now more water as I am thirsty again. I find a rotten kiwi, which is not very appetising at all, but I have no choice - down it goes. It doesn't taste very good and leaves a funny taste in my mouth.

I find a hut with a 9V battery. I am grateful to find this before the sun sets. However I am not in great shape. I find two more zombies and unfortunately I am not as good at dispatching these as the first pair. One tears a chunk out of my shoulder, but luckily it is not a bite - I am not infected. I finish them off but find myself bleeding quite badly. Also the kiwi has made me feel sick. I can no longer walk as fast and my vision is starting to go a bit wonky.

My stomach does a leap as I see what looks like an abandoned hospital up ahead - maybe I can get something to heal my wounds! I limp my way to the entrance and find three undead. They don't seem to be that interested in me, so I sneak by. Maybe I don't smell too great at this point.

I slowly climb the first flight of stairs. As I'm foraging on this floor, I hear gunshot from outside - maybe a survivor has found those zombies. I'm not curious enough to go downstairs and find out. I find some vitamins - not much use to me in this state. I feel dizzy and sick. My vision is getting worse.

I climb to the next floor. Still no medicine. I drag myself onwards and upwards, but the next floor is the roof. I sink to my knees. I know this is the end.

I lose consciousness. It is not long before I die on the hospital roof, alone.

Excellent.

I watched the bloke from Eurogamer doing a live stream of it the other day, I don't think I've ever really wanted to keep watching someone else playing a game before. It looks brilliant. Bit wonky how the zombies seemed to walk straight through closed doors and stuff, mind. But I guess that's why it's an alpha release.

Bloody hell, I've just reminded myself that I'm getting on this DayZ thing when my PEEECEEE arrives.

I actually thought it arrived at my parents yesterday (they'll be in when it's delivered, y'see) but it was my brothers dehumidifier. This is a true story.

Let me know when and where and I'm up for this. We'll have to find each other using the sun!

That sounds, strangely, awesome.

If we both aim to get on the same server then we'll end up on the coast somewhere. However, we'll have no way of knowing exactly where. Without finding a compass we'll have to find each other by landmarks, the sun, or stars (if it's night).

A pain in the arse the first time, but every time after that our position on the server is saved whenever we quit out, so we should stay together after that (until one of us dies).

Fixed for lifelike conditions.

The Beex Gentlemen's Club of DayZ would not allow this (there's too many mental fuckers out there to start bickering between us).

I'm totally up for some of this, how much is it?

Is it out yet?

It's as out as Kerbal Space Program.

Trooper: it's £19.99