DayZ was supposed to receive a major update last week, but the deployment to stable servers of the 0.37 patch has been delayed, for various reasons. Multiple bugs have been detected, and the team has been addressing them accordingly. However, this delay proves to be in favor of DayZ players, who most certainly will be rewarded for their patience. Writing a detailed update on DayZ’s devblog, lead developer Dean “Rocket” Hall has described what’s in store for tomorrow’s patch, as well as what players can expect in the upcoming future.
First and foremost, multiple issues have been touched upon, and bugs such as invisible players or zombies have been fixed. Many of these bugs were caused by DayZ’s new physics engine, which compliments the game nicely. While still a work in progress, the physics seem to add a lot to the world of DayZ. Sure, there will be future bugs, that’s to be expected, but the delayed patch allowed the devs to iron out most of them. Desync issues between client and server have also been addressed, and rubber-banding should now be a thing of the past.
Survival still is the flavor of the month in DayZ, and as such, multiple fireplace textures have been designed. New fireplaces looks stunning, and players will be able to build anything from the most basic of fireplaces to more complex contraptions that resemble ovens. We’ll soon be able to cook a wide variety of perishable foods, and providing players with the ability to craft fireplaces is a crucial element of the process. Additionally, the map design team has been hard at work, and new towns and villages will be added in tomorrow’s patch. These are most likely to expand upon the more desolate areas of Chernarus, where players had no real incentive to go up until now.
Now let’s turn to the core of DayZ, killing. Regardless if your goal is to pop some zombies or sadistically gun down some fresh-spawns, DayZ’s arsenal is getting pimped. A lot! From new side-arms, to AK variants, you’ll have it all. New AK rifle models have been completed (including the AKM), and expect the new AK rifles to be heavily modifiable. In fact, the same level of complexity that the M4A1 has received will be transferred to the Kalashnikov rifles as well, and you’ll be able to customize your weapon with a wide variety of attachments, such as a side-mounted PSO scope. Of course, the weapon-goodness isn’t ending here. If you’re a fan of Daryl Dixon and the Walking Dead series, you’ll be happy to know that a crossbow is making its way to DayZ as well, as part of the more complex bow and arrow-themed survival direction the game is heading towards. Of course, the old DayZ mod had a crossbow available, but that weapon was pretty much useless. The new one aims to be just as cool and useful as you’d expect it to be, making it a perfectly viable silent game or player-hunting option.
Lastly, Rocket revealed that a new team based in Bratislava will be working on fixing zombie pathfinding, collision issues and animal AI. While this is a long-term engagement, it’s nice to see that the DayZ devteam is expanded and now has a separate division working on these issues, issues that have caused many people to give up on DayZ for the time being. You can take a look at Rocket’s complete post on the official DayZ Devblog.