DayZ Tips & Tricks for Survival

DayZ is one of the more brutal survival games available. Not only must you contend with zombies, but also pesky bandits looking to make your life hell. Thankfully, Reddit user oscc posted valuable tips in the website’s DayZ subreddit that all players will benefit from.

• If you are bleeding but have no bandages, remove your shirt and right click it to tear off a rag – this can be used to stop bleeding. Note: This does not work if your clothes are damp.

• Use Tab to view your inventory. For a detailed explanation of the new inventory system, click here.

• You spawn with a torch and battery. Drag the battery onto the torch to power it. Drag the torch to your hand to wield it. Pressing space aims the torch ahead at the sacrifice of movement speed.

• If you can’t find any servers, try clicking the “Internet” tab – it may be defaulted to LAN.

• Change the quality of the clouds to very high to improve vision at night time | Video

• Increasing the gamma and brightness from the settings will also help you see better at night time. Note: This is seen as cheating by many.

• For a map of the new Chernarus, click here.

• Use the number keys to cycle through your weapons.

• Pressing space lowers/raises your weapon accordingly. If you aren’t carrying anything, space will ready your fists to punch.

• If you are running and change weapon while it is raised, you will stop running. If you change weapon while it is lowered, you continue running.

• Hold down right click to zoom in.

• Holding Alt locks the direction of your movement, allowing you to look around while running without changing direction.

• Pay extra attention when looking for loot, some loot isn’t immediately obvious.

• Avoid the coast unless you’re looking for trouble. Head in-land after spawning.

• Poor framerate? Go to Documents > DayZ and open DayZ.cfg in Notepad. ChangeGPU_MaxFramesAhead and GPU_DetectedFramesAhead to = 1.

• Keep a spare pair of shoes in case they get wet or damaged. Not being able to run hinders your chance of survival.

• If somebody is holding you at gunpoint, you can usually see whether they have a mag in it or not. For example – Pistol with mag, Pistol without mag.

• Bad frame rate? Try disabling Ambient occlusion. Frame rate will increase by up to 200 percent.

• If the doors to a house are open, the chances are it has already been looted. Look out for closed doors for optimal looting.

• If you are armed, don’t kill a player that isn’t (unless they are trying to punch you).

• Use the third-person view to your advantage to see around corners. Note: This is frowned upon by many, but won’t be an issue upon the introduction of first-person only servers.

• Avoid running across open fields if possible – leaving yourself exposed will get you killed. Stick to the tree line if possible.

• If a zombie falls face down, it’s still alive, and if it lands face up, it’s dead.

• Draw distance can be changed despite not being available in the settings. Go to Documents > DayZ Other Profiles > [Your username] > [Your username].DayZProfile (open it in notepad). Then change the number in viewDistance=number; to a distance.

• Not sure where to go for loot after spawning? Follow this loot route guide. Note: a server that has recently reset with fresh loot is ideal for this.

• These green houses contain no loot.

• You sprint faster with your fists raised.

• Change the keybind of Z to “Go prone”, as opposed to “Prone”. See the difference here.