• Development Board Spotlight
  
• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Dev Update/Peter
  
• Dev Update/Viktor
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

I know a good deal of you are reading this hoping to see somewhere in big bold letters that 0.61 is hitting experimental/unstable branch *right now!*. Well, let me derail that train right away. We're not quite there yet. Fortunately in this Status Report I'll do my best to fill you guys in on what the dang hold up is, and our progress against getting it onto experimental/unstable branch since the last Status Report. In addition, Peter will be talking briefly about our designs for the DayZ Launcher, and Viktor will be talking about some of the animation teams work towards the implementation of the new animation system. As well, the Trello should have some new renders of the CR 550 and its magazines, as well as an updated image of the current look of the server browser.



Over the last two weeks the team has been doing almost daily all-hands multiplayer tests in an effort to isolate the remaining blocking issues getting us to experimental/unstable. Those issues specifically are fundamental to the base gameplay of DayZ. Namely server side performance, and player-to-player synchronization. I'm sure some of you are wondering why we're currently fighting new issues related to synchronization of players, as one of the milestone goals for .61 is just that - improving and reducing the chance for client/server desynchronization.
The work Miroslav, and the gameplay programming team have been doing in this area has made massive changes to the communication process between client and server for DayZ - and it has most definitely changed how a lot of the behaviour is manifested client side. While the improvements in client/server synchronization have been outstanding (and lets hold our breath until the larger testing pool gets ahold of them to be safe) they have (not unexpectedly mind you) caused new issues. Thanks to the frequent all hands MP sessions we've had over the last few weeks, we have isolated repro steps and proper bug data on all of the ones we have encountered.

As we get closer to .61 hitting experimental/unstable and look at the road beyond .61, towards massive engine and gameplay changes such as the new animation system, player controller, user actions, and so on we have to be very aware of the fact that huge changes like that are going to take time to get ready for Steam, and thus we have to make sure that the build that you'll all be playing while we work on that is as enjoyable and functional as we can make it. We're all very aware that the journey we've all taken together in Early Access has not been the easiest, and can be massively frustrating at times. However, speaking for myself I think we've opted for the harder road in the short term, but the road that leads to the best final product - and always keeps the focus on 1.0 being the best DayZ it can be, first and foremost.

Enough rambling from me though, lets dig into exactly what our blocking issues are for .61 (and keep in mind, these are Must-Fix for Stable branch, not all of these are must fix for Experimental/Unstable)

• Player SFX significantly quieter than others: (Fix for this is in testing now)
  
• Network: Players can become severely out of sync with each other: (Gameplay Programming team working on a fix for this currently)
  
• Client crash when exiting title
  
• Player position hitching when navigating collision
  
• Magazine ammo count quantity reporting incorrectly
  
• Items can be stuck in hands under certain cancel action situations
  
• Dynamic Infected spawning without player trigger
  
• Some infected not responding to triggers (Fix in test currently)

Before I sign off for this Status Report - I'd like to encourage you all to visit, and participate in our official forums. I do my best to jump into as many discussions as possible, and as we move closer to the major systems dependencies that are holding back large gameplay systems changes and updates such as soft skills, weapon customization, base building and so on I would love to see the discussion around those mechanics and systems start to open up more. If you're interested - you'll find me at forums.dayz.com

0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
• Predators (Wolves)
  
• Dynamic Shadows
  
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
• New Server Browser

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director




In the upcoming 0.61 version of DayZ you will be able to try out the brand new Server Browser which doesn't bog fps down like the old one, and it's a breeze to use with all these filter options (mind that per character filter won’t be part of 0.61 release as it's not yet fully implemented). Alongside the new server browser I hinted at the external launcher a few status reports ago, so why not uncover a bit of information about it now.

The most important function of a launcher is obviously to run modded DayZ. Without mods there would be hardly any launcher at all. Actually it's possible to have mods support even without the launcher but that will lead to unpleasant yet necessary restarts of the game as different addons should be loaded at start, unless you are launching them from command line. However, both cases aren't very user friendly. In the launcher you can easily manage installed mods and overview their current state and additional information like description, author, source and others.

Apart from the game section for mod selection, there are also two other separated sections dedicated for tools and servers with central economy including their startup parameters and launch buttons for additional value which offers easy discovery of options of DayZ as a platform to users that aren't aware of them. Last but not least, the launcher will also serve as the official DayZ communication channel aggregating news, status reports, change logs of releases, Q&A videos, WIP showcase and hands on videos, maintenance and community spotlight.

The launcher is currently being implemented with all requirements mentioned above with the aim to be well arranged and simple to use and while it might not see daylight publicly in 0.61 it will be released once DayZ is ready to be open for modding community.

See you in Chernarus folks!

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer




As I have mentioned in last status report the animation team is busy with many tasks related to player character. We are doing polishing pass for unarmed and rifle locomotions. That includes work on animations and graph as well. The animations are being adjusted so they blend nicely and feel more natural which has to be on a par with the player graph where blendtimes between animations need to feel right and fluent.

There is also ongoing work on user actions. Since these are already in the player graph now we need to connect them with the designers scripts so the animations are played when some actions happen. This is a big task as it includes drinking, eating, all the medical action, as well as any item usage and even gestures.

We have some progress regarding the combat as well. We do have few prototypes now like combat stances for unarmed, one handed item and two handed item and some simple attack animations. This week we will have a meetng and more discussions about the combat itself and the animations style.

- Viktor Kostik / Lead Animator






Keeping in trend with highlighting some of the awesome DayZ communities, we'd really like to put focus on one of the largest community sites out there (currently +4 million hits/month.) There's a good chance have already crossed paths with this one which is simply known as: DayZTV!

DayZTV has been around basically since forever, and they have a really nice site that provides a lot of options and info for users via the many sections on their site. As an example; if you're looking for other players to team up with for a session, or a more permanent group to team up with, you should be able to find plenty via the Broadcast tab in the Forum section, and if you feel like setting up an event for yourself and others, you can do so via the Community --> Community Server selection. For this, DayZTV have also been helpful for users by setting up a Discord server where you can reach other players.

What is also relly nice about DayZTV is that via the Live section you will find a selection of live Twitch streams from users playing DayZ, and outside of that, there is a boatload of helpful info for users stowed away under other sections such as Guides for example. We can only imagine how much work and effort it must take to run and develop the site, and we really appreciate the massive support that DayZTV has provided for so long in regards to promoting DayZ as well as DayZ related news while it is in development!

As always, in case you are part of a community that you would like to see highlighted, or if you are a contect creator looking to share your stories and footage, just send us some info at support@dayz.com and we'll be happy to have a look!

Header image credit: HunterKiller

- SMoss / Community Manager

• Development Board Spotlight
  
• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Dev Update/Peter
  
• Dev Update/Viktor
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

I know a good deal of you are reading this hoping to see somewhere in big bold letters that 0.61 is hitting experimental/unstable branch *right now!*. Well, let me derail that train right away. We're not quite there yet. Fortunately in this Status Report I'll do my best to fill you guys in on what the dang hold up is, and our progress against getting it onto experimental/unstable branch since the last Status Report. In addition, Peter will be talking briefly about our designs for the DayZ Launcher, and Viktor will be talking about some of the animation teams work towards the implementation of the new animation system. As well, the Trello should have some new renders of the CR 550 and its magazines, as well as an updated image of the current look of the server browser.



Over the last two weeks the team has been doing almost daily all-hands multiplayer tests in an effort to isolate the remaining blocking issues getting us to experimental/unstable. Those issues specifically are fundamental to the base gameplay of DayZ. Namely server side performance, and player-to-player synchronization. I'm sure some of you are wondering why we're currently fighting new issues related to synchronization of players, as one of the milestone goals for .61 is just that - improving and reducing the chance for client/server desynchronization.
The work Miroslav, and the gameplay programming team have been doing in this area has made massive changes to the communication process between client and server for DayZ - and it has most definitely changed how a lot of the behaviour is manifested client side. While the improvements in client/server synchronization have been outstanding (and lets hold our breath until the larger testing pool gets ahold of them to be safe) they have (not unexpectedly mind you) caused new issues. Thanks to the frequent all hands MP sessions we've had over the last few weeks, we have isolated repro steps and proper bug data on all of the ones we have encountered.

As we get closer to .61 hitting experimental/unstable and look at the road beyond .61, towards massive engine and gameplay changes such as the new animation system, player controller, user actions, and so on we have to be very aware of the fact that huge changes like that are going to take time to get ready for Steam, and thus we have to make sure that the build that you'll all be playing while we work on that is as enjoyable and functional as we can make it. We're all very aware that the journey we've all taken together in Early Access has not been the easiest, and can be massively frustrating at times. However, speaking for myself I think we've opted for the harder road in the short term, but the road that leads to the best final product - and always keeps the focus on 1.0 being the best DayZ it can be, first and foremost.

Enough rambling from me though, lets dig into exactly what our blocking issues are for .61 (and keep in mind, these are Must-Fix for Stable branch, not all of these are must fix for Experimental/Unstable)

• Player SFX significantly quieter than others: (Fix for this is in testing now)
  
• Network: Players can become severely out of sync with each other: (Gameplay Programming team working on a fix for this currently)
  
• Client crash when exiting title
  
• Player position hitching when navigating collision
  
• Magazine ammo count quantity reporting incorrectly
  
• Items can be stuck in hands under certain cancel action situations
  
• Dynamic Infected spawning without player trigger
  
• Some infected not responding to triggers (Fix in test currently)

Before I sign off for this Status Report - I'd like to encourage you all to visit, and participate in our official forums. I do my best to jump into as many discussions as possible, and as we move closer to the major systems dependencies that are holding back large gameplay systems changes and updates such as soft skills, weapon customization, base building and so on I would love to see the discussion around those mechanics and systems start to open up more. If you're interested - you'll find me at forums.dayz.com

0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
• Predators (Wolves)
  
• Dynamic Shadows
  
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
• New Server Browser

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director




In the upcoming 0.61 version of DayZ you will be able to try out the brand new Server Browser which doesn't bog fps down like the old one, and it's a breeze to use with all these filter options (mind that per character filter won’t be part of 0.61 release as it's not yet fully implemented). Alongside the new server browser I hinted at the external launcher a few status reports ago, so why not uncover a bit of information about it now.

The most important function of a launcher is obviously to run modded DayZ. Without mods there would be hardly any launcher at all. Actually it's possible to have mods support even without the launcher but that will lead to unpleasant yet necessary restarts of the game as different addons should be loaded at start, unless you are launching them from command line. However, both cases aren't very user friendly. In the launcher you can easily manage installed mods and overview their current state and additional information like description, author, source and others.

Apart from the game section for mod selection, there are also two other separated sections dedicated for tools and servers with central economy including their startup parameters and launch buttons for additional value which offers easy discovery of options of DayZ as a platform to users that aren't aware of them. Last but not least, the launcher will also serve as the official DayZ communication channel aggregating news, status reports, change logs of releases, Q&A videos, WIP showcase and hands on videos, maintenance and community spotlight.

The launcher is currently being implemented with all requirements mentioned above with the aim to be well arranged and simple to use and while it might not see daylight publicly in 0.61 it will be released once DayZ is ready to be open for modding community.

See you in Chernarus folks!

- Peter Nespesny / Lead Designer




As I have mentioned in last status report the animation team is busy with many tasks related to player character. We are doing polishing pass for unarmed and rifle locomotions. That includes work on animations and graph as well. The animations are being adjusted so they blend nicely and feel more natural which has to be on a par with the player graph where blendtimes between animations need to feel right and fluent.

There is also ongoing work on user actions. Since these are already in the player graph now we need to connect them with the designers scripts so the animations are played when some actions happen. This is a big task as it includes drinking, eating, all the medical action, as well as any item usage and even gestures.

We have some progress regarding the combat as well. We do have few prototypes now like combat stances for unarmed, one handed item and two handed item and some simple attack animations. This week we will have a meetng and more discussions about the combat itself and the animations style.

- Viktor Kostik / Lead Animator






Keeping in trend with highlighting some of the awesome DayZ communities, we'd really like to put focus on one of the largest community sites out there (currently +4 million hits/month.) There's a good chance have already crossed paths with this one which is simply known as: DayZTV!

DayZTV has been around basically since forever, and they have a really nice site that provides a lot of options and info for users via the many sections on their site. As an example; if you're looking for other players to team up with for a session, or a more permanent group to team up with, you should be able to find plenty via the Broadcast tab in the Forum section, and if you feel like setting up an event for yourself and others, you can do so via the Community --> Community Server selection. For this, DayZTV have also been helpful for users by setting up a Discord server where you can reach other players.

What is also relly nice about DayZTV is that via the Live section you will find a selection of live Twitch streams from users playing DayZ, and outside of that, there is a boatload of helpful info for users stowed away under other sections such as Guides for example. We can only imagine how much work and effort it must take to run and develop the site, and we really appreciate the massive support that DayZTV has provided for so long in regards to promoting DayZ as well as DayZ related news while it is in development!

As always, in case you are part of a community that you would like to see highlighted, or if you are a contect creator looking to share your stories and footage, just send us some info at support@dayz.com and we'll be happy to have a look!

Header image credit: HunterKiller

- SMoss / Community Manager

• Development Board Spotlight
  
• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Dev Update/Peter
  
• Dev Update/Mirek
  
• Dev Update/Viktor
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

First off let me apologize for the status report being pushed a day, I was unfortunately ill over the last few days - and wanted to ensure that the data in the Status Report reflected the most up to date state of our 0.61 branch, and where we were with it.

Yes, we are still working on destroying the last few remaining issues preventing us from pushing 0.61 to experimental. As is usual, I'm going to walk you all through what those issues are in this Status Report so you're aware of what they are, and what it is that is keeping 0.61 from hitting the experimental servers. Once we go over those, I'm going to spend some time discussing points made over on our forums in regards to status reports, and feature set backlog so as to address some discussion I've read on the community side regarding those. In addition to that, Peter will spend some time sharing his excitement for future changes to the animation system, player controller, user actions, and so forth, Miroslav will discuss some of his teams current tasks, and Viktor will elaborate on some of the work the animation team is focused on for builds past 0.61.

As of this morning, we're looking at approximately 11 open must fix issues, are regression testing 5 other issues that have been flagged as resolved by the developers assigned to the issue(s).
Taking a look at what exactly that means:

Current Must Fix Open Issues:

• Client crash after exiting title
  
• Player SFX sounds near silent
  
• Players can become severely out of sync
  
• Some firearms not firing on first mouse click
  
• Player position stuttering under 100+ ms network conditions
  
• Some lighting conditions not casting proper shadows
  
• Known 0.60 item duplication methods
  
• Magazine capacity issues
  
• New methods for players swimming in ground
  
• UI Zeroing not present
  
• Glock muzzle flash / SFX not present for other players

Obviously some of these issues are far more critical than others, and some are new. Over the last few weeks we've been fairly aggressive with some of our bug bash sessions, and while it is most definitely frustrating for all of us - I'm very pleased with the fact we've been able to track down some of these critical issues. For example, the players out of sync issue (#3 on the above list) took a good deal of time to find a proper repro on, but the behavior it caused makes for a total break down of network messaging between two players. Causing some animations, and sounds caused by other players to not show up properly for several minutes. (Think gunshots, or player position) which will only lead to incredibly frustrating gameplay and is something I absolutely do not want to see on the Steam branches. Tackling known methods for duplication, animation glitching, and so on are also absolutely critical to get resolved - and left unchecked will do damage to both the economy, and player experience in the time between new builds being pushed to Steam.

In addition to those, the issues we're currently regression testing include issues with player temperatures / modifiers, player sounds, and several serious client crashes. The player temperature issue is something I've spent a good deal of time focusing on, and discussing with Peter's design team on. As I feel that both resolving the issue present on 0.60 stable for hyperthermia, and pushing towards providing players on 0.61 an actual environmental risk (more towards hypothermia being a risk when wet and or dealing with severe cold and improper protection against those elements) is absolutely important.
While those above issues are regression tested, and fixed by the appropriate developers, Peter and I have also gone over behaviours of per player dynamic spawning, and what the technology of the Central Economy will allow us - and have pushed for changes in that area to switch to a more area based trigger rather than per player, to reduce player ability to try and meta game the system.

Recently I've been pushing myself to have more of a presence on our official forums, and engage actively in discussion on the project, gameplay, mechanics and so on with the users over there. As well as sharing experiences and details of the ongoing 0.61 internal testing. I hope at the very least more of you will read the posts over there, if not actually register and participate.
Speaking of the forums, I want to revisit some key points I've made over the last few months in the "A Few Thoughts On" posts. Specifically, in regards to Status Reports, and Pending Feature/Content updates.

As many of you may recall, or have noticed - we made changes to how we communicate "new things" in the Status Reports. From the old method of talking about whats to come in DayZ as soon as we've settled on a design, or may have a model ready, to specifically focusing on what is upcoming in the very next build to be pushed to Steam.
I know some of you haven't necessarily enjoyed this change, but I honestly feel it is a much safer approach to managing hype, and not giving people false hope on how soon they might see something in game. Now, I do feel there is however some compromise on our part that can be made - which is why I'd like to compile a 1.0 feature set we can keep on our forums that will give people an idea of exactly what to expect of the final version (within a margin for error of course), and I hope this will help reduce some of the confusion. I'll need to sit down with Eugen, and the leads responsible for each department before publishing this, but I hope it will serve to answer some of the questions I've seen out there.

Which brings me to my next point.
Just because Status Reports are not touching on a major technology change, or new pending feature set does not mean it is not being worked on. As I mentioned above, we focus the Status Reports on progress towards the next major build to be pushed to Steam - and does not cover changes that are slated for builds to be pushed to Steam past that. A perfect example would be the new animation system, player controller, and user actions. The developers responsible for this have been working their fingers to the bone day in and day out, and we *will* be talking about it and showing off examples once we reach the point in which we are focusing on those updates for the next major build update for Steam.

In addition to that, we have a *significant* content and feature backlog that is dependant on these systems - and as Peter will discuss below, we are at a point in which it does not make much sense to create systems, or address non game breaking issues in the old SQF script and hierarchy. I, and the rest of the team are all very aware of how frustrating this might be for many of you. We're all right there with you, but the work we are doing and have been doing this year represents *massive* changes and the introduction of the major key points for DayZ's new Enfusion engine.

We're not going anywhere. The developers who work on DayZ are some of the most passionate, dedicated, and hard working folks I've ever had the pleasure of working with. We love this game, we love the stories you all create in the world of Chernarus, and I believe I speak for all of us when I say we have the most absolute faith that all of our hard work is going to make DayZ a game that is truly worthy of the dedication and love you have all shown it throughout the trials and hardships of public development.
We might not always agree - all of you that make up the DayZ community, and I - but I don't think I could ask for more amazing, and dedicated fans for the project - and I wouldn't trade you all for the world. Truly, thank you for being there with us through the ups and downs. I can not wait for the adventures we will all have together.


0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
  • Ready for experimental branch testing - no current issues preventing this at this time.
    
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
  • Technology successfully merged into DayZ branch. Ready for further testing on experimental branch.
    
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
  • All current firearms configured - Audio team is now focused on addressing must fix issues for 0.61
    
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
  • Testing complete on initial implementation, Programming team is now making the requested changes described above to area triggers in order to provide the Design team with the requested functionality.
    
• Predators (Wolves)
  
  • Internal Testing is very optimistic, several fixes to behavior have been merged over - and programmers are focused on addressing several server crash issues potentially tied to the predator AI.
    
• Dynamic Shadows
  
  • Last few issues related to proper shadow projection are being focused on now, once these are resolved we should be ready on this specific feature.
    
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
  • The gameplay programming team is currently focused on addressing the previously mentioned issues with 100+ MS connections having jittery gameplay in some situations, as well as tracking the recently discovered repro steps for causing player to player sync to fail. Once these issues are resolved, we should be good to go.
    
• New Server Browser
  
  • Functionally this is ready, however while the must fix issues are addressed, several small UI changes have been made to make the new server browser easy to use and understand.
    

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

For the full Status Report, please use the following link: http://dayz.com/blog/status-report-28-sept-2016

• Development Board Spotlight
  
• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Dev Update/Peter
  
• Dev Update/Mirek
  
• Dev Update/Viktor
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

First off let me apologize for the status report being pushed a day, I was unfortunately ill over the last few days - and wanted to ensure that the data in the Status Report reflected the most up to date state of our 0.61 branch, and where we were with it.

Yes, we are still working on destroying the last few remaining issues preventing us from pushing 0.61 to experimental. As is usual, I'm going to walk you all through what those issues are in this Status Report so you're aware of what they are, and what it is that is keeping 0.61 from hitting the experimental servers. Once we go over those, I'm going to spend some time discussing points made over on our forums in regards to status reports, and feature set backlog so as to address some discussion I've read on the community side regarding those. In addition to that, Peter will spend some time sharing his excitement for future changes to the animation system, player controller, user actions, and so forth, Miroslav will discuss some of his teams current tasks, and Viktor will elaborate on some of the work the animation team is focused on for builds past 0.61.

As of this morning, we're looking at approximately 11 open must fix issues, are regression testing 5 other issues that have been flagged as resolved by the developers assigned to the issue(s).
Taking a look at what exactly that means:

Current Must Fix Open Issues:

• Client crash after exiting title
  
• Player SFX sounds near silent
  
• Players can become severely out of sync
  
• Some firearms not firing on first mouse click
  
• Player position stuttering under 100+ ms network conditions
  
• Some lighting conditions not casting proper shadows
  
• Known 0.60 item duplication methods
  
• Magazine capacity issues
  
• New methods for players swimming in ground
  
• UI Zeroing not present
  
• Glock muzzle flash / SFX not present for other players

Obviously some of these issues are far more critical than others, and some are new. Over the last few weeks we've been fairly aggressive with some of our bug bash sessions, and while it is most definitely frustrating for all of us - I'm very pleased with the fact we've been able to track down some of these critical issues. For example, the players out of sync issue (#3 on the above list) took a good deal of time to find a proper repro on, but the behavior it caused makes for a total break down of network messaging between two players. Causing some animations, and sounds caused by other players to not show up properly for several minutes. (Think gunshots, or player position) which will only lead to incredibly frustrating gameplay and is something I absolutely do not want to see on the Steam branches. Tackling known methods for duplication, animation glitching, and so on are also absolutely critical to get resolved - and left unchecked will do damage to both the economy, and player experience in the time between new builds being pushed to Steam.

In addition to those, the issues we're currently regression testing include issues with player temperatures / modifiers, player sounds, and several serious client crashes. The player temperature issue is something I've spent a good deal of time focusing on, and discussing with Peter's design team on. As I feel that both resolving the issue present on 0.60 stable for hyperthermia, and pushing towards providing players on 0.61 an actual environmental risk (more towards hypothermia being a risk when wet and or dealing with severe cold and improper protection against those elements) is absolutely important.
While those above issues are regression tested, and fixed by the appropriate developers, Peter and I have also gone over behaviours of per player dynamic spawning, and what the technology of the Central Economy will allow us - and have pushed for changes in that area to switch to a more area based trigger rather than per player, to reduce player ability to try and meta game the system.

Recently I've been pushing myself to have more of a presence on our official forums, and engage actively in discussion on the project, gameplay, mechanics and so on with the users over there. As well as sharing experiences and details of the ongoing 0.61 internal testing. I hope at the very least more of you will read the posts over there, if not actually register and participate.
Speaking of the forums, I want to revisit some key points I've made over the last few months in the "A Few Thoughts On" posts. Specifically, in regards to Status Reports, and Pending Feature/Content updates.

As many of you may recall, or have noticed - we made changes to how we communicate "new things" in the Status Reports. From the old method of talking about whats to come in DayZ as soon as we've settled on a design, or may have a model ready, to specifically focusing on what is upcoming in the very next build to be pushed to Steam.
I know some of you haven't necessarily enjoyed this change, but I honestly feel it is a much safer approach to managing hype, and not giving people false hope on how soon they might see something in game. Now, I do feel there is however some compromise on our part that can be made - which is why I'd like to compile a 1.0 feature set we can keep on our forums that will give people an idea of exactly what to expect of the final version (within a margin for error of course), and I hope this will help reduce some of the confusion. I'll need to sit down with Eugen, and the leads responsible for each department before publishing this, but I hope it will serve to answer some of the questions I've seen out there.

Which brings me to my next point.
Just because Status Reports are not touching on a major technology change, or new pending feature set does not mean it is not being worked on. As I mentioned above, we focus the Status Reports on progress towards the next major build to be pushed to Steam - and does not cover changes that are slated for builds to be pushed to Steam past that. A perfect example would be the new animation system, player controller, and user actions. The developers responsible for this have been working their fingers to the bone day in and day out, and we *will* be talking about it and showing off examples once we reach the point in which we are focusing on those updates for the next major build update for Steam.

In addition to that, we have a *significant* content and feature backlog that is dependant on these systems - and as Peter will discuss below, we are at a point in which it does not make much sense to create systems, or address non game breaking issues in the old SQF script and hierarchy. I, and the rest of the team are all very aware of how frustrating this might be for many of you. We're all right there with you, but the work we are doing and have been doing this year represents *massive* changes and the introduction of the major key points for DayZ's new Enfusion engine.

We're not going anywhere. The developers who work on DayZ are some of the most passionate, dedicated, and hard working folks I've ever had the pleasure of working with. We love this game, we love the stories you all create in the world of Chernarus, and I believe I speak for all of us when I say we have the most absolute faith that all of our hard work is going to make DayZ a game that is truly worthy of the dedication and love you have all shown it throughout the trials and hardships of public development.
We might not always agree - all of you that make up the DayZ community, and I - but I don't think I could ask for more amazing, and dedicated fans for the project - and I wouldn't trade you all for the world. Truly, thank you for being there with us through the ups and downs. I can not wait for the adventures we will all have together.


0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
  • Ready for experimental branch testing - no current issues preventing this at this time.
    
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
  • Technology successfully merged into DayZ branch. Ready for further testing on experimental branch.
    
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
  • All current firearms configured - Audio team is now focused on addressing must fix issues for 0.61
    
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
  • Testing complete on initial implementation, Programming team is now making the requested changes described above to area triggers in order to provide the Design team with the requested functionality.
    
• Predators (Wolves)
  
  • Internal Testing is very optimistic, several fixes to behavior have been merged over - and programmers are focused on addressing several server crash issues potentially tied to the predator AI.
    
• Dynamic Shadows
  
  • Last few issues related to proper shadow projection are being focused on now, once these are resolved we should be ready on this specific feature.
    
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
  • The gameplay programming team is currently focused on addressing the previously mentioned issues with 100+ MS connections having jittery gameplay in some situations, as well as tracking the recently discovered repro steps for causing player to player sync to fail. Once these issues are resolved, we should be good to go.
    
• New Server Browser
  
  • Functionally this is ready, however while the must fix issues are addressed, several small UI changes have been made to make the new server browser easy to use and understand.
    

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

For the full Status Report, please use the following link: http://dayz.com/blog/status-report-28-sept-2016

• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

Lets dive right into it and take a look at where we are with our milestone goals. After that we'll talk about some of the current top issues we are working on in prep for 0.61 experimental, and lastly we have a few new things on our Trello for you all.

Fair warning - text wise this is a brief status report - but we tried to also push in some stuff that is being worked on, if not specifically for 0.61.

0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
  • Ready for experimental branch testing - no current issues preventing this at this time.
    
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
  • Technology successfully merged into DayZ branch. Ready for further testing on experimental branch.
    
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
  • All current firearms configured - Audio team is working on completing SFX for future firearms. In addition, this week several issues were encountered with impact noises on some weapons not operating properly, this issue is being addressed by the audio team as of the time of this report.
    
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
  • Gameplay Programmers are still working on fully plugging in animal spawns to this system. While this is ongoing, the design and gameplay programming teams have been discussing ways to evenly distribute dynamic spawns across all vilages and points of interest, and ways to provide a compelling experience without impacting the server performance budget during the lifetime of the server.
    
• Predators (Wolves)
  
  • Still cautiously optimistic here. However at this point it is looking like we *will* be testing wolves on some of the initial 0.61 experimental pushes to see if they behave and operate as expected in a live environment.
    

Beyond our defined milestone goals, we have several additional changes that are looking to be rolled into 0.61, lets take a quick look at those right now.

• Dynamic Shadows
  
  • Programmers from the Enfusion engine team have been working to resolve the last remaining issues encountered in internal testing with this. As of the current build in internal testing right now we still have a few small issues with light in some edge cases ignoring geometry, however this is looking really good for 0.61 experimental. Below you'll see an example of how this is looking right now, both in the Status Report and on our Trello.
    
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
  • As Miroslav, our Lead Gameplay Programmer discussed in a previous Status Report - he has been working hard on improving our client/server synchronization in an effort to improve quality-of-life and reduce frustrating deaths and poor gameplay experiences due to client/server disagreements. Things are looking very, very promising. That said, as tends to happen in development, internal testing has encountered several issues that can potentially cause unexpected changes to player position and movement under less than ideal network conditions. As everyone that plays DayZ has different connection conditions, and communities are spread across the globe, ensuring that gameplay and network synchronization works properly under all reasonable pings and connection speeds is critical. So that said, the gameplay programming team and the quality assurance teams are working hand in hand to resolve this issue for 0.61 experimental.
    
• New Server Browser
  
  • Many players have reported large frame drops and client unresponsiveness in our legacy server browser (currently used in 0.60 stable branch), and due to that we have pushed up the merge of our new server browser to 0.61 in an attempt to address this sooner, rather than later. Keep in mind however, this is only the first iteration of this and some functionality will not be present or working entirely. However, functionality we fully expect the first iteration to be 1:1 with the current 0.60 server browser.
    

Currently, our QA Lead Ondrej (Andy) is tracking 16 must-fix bugs for 0.61, including but not limited to:

• Player Sounds significantly quieter than environment and AI
  
• Client crash after exiting
  
• Player position hitching under less than ideal network conditions (150+ms)
  
• Animation Issues related to swimming
  
• Certain walls and objects not displaying shadows at certain angles
  
• Characters getting stuck when climbing ladders
  
• Player to Player magazine capacity synchronization
  
• Item Duplication Exploit (Thanks to the new security feedback form!)
  
• Client crash related to connecting to server
  
• Characters stuck in weapon raised pose in certain conditions

We've updated our Trello with some new progress shots from the art team, and a preview video of the current status of dynamic shadows (see below!)



- Brian Hicks / Creative Director





Thanks again for all the bug reports we've received from you all so far! Since noone likes a cheater, don't be shy to also report those security related issues that you come across. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have a new task type in our feedback tracker which is specifically set up so that you can safely and securely report sensitive issues in DayZ. For more info on that, please have a look at the following link: http://dayz.com/blog/dayz-security-issue-report

Also, for those of you that have been having trouble finding supplies in Chernarus as of late, there is help to be found. MadMcardle has made a small guide on how you can go about getting food in 0.60: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP83toJSzfo

On top of that; MadMcardle also has a pretty neat playlist containing useful guides for crafting different items such as the fireplace, the spear, and the improvised fishing rod for example. All good help for those that like to try and create their own gear and such: DayZ Crafting Guide

Well done, sir!

Header image credit: JøhnnY

- SMoss / Community Manager

• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

Lets dive right into it and take a look at where we are with our milestone goals. After that we'll talk about some of the current top issues we are working on in prep for 0.61 experimental, and lastly we have a few new things on our Trello for you all.

Fair warning - text wise this is a brief status report - but we tried to also push in some stuff that is being worked on, if not specifically for 0.61.

0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
  • Ready for experimental branch testing - no current issues preventing this at this time.
    
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
  • Technology successfully merged into DayZ branch. Ready for further testing on experimental branch.
    
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
  • All current firearms configured - Audio team is working on completing SFX for future firearms. In addition, this week several issues were encountered with impact noises on some weapons not operating properly, this issue is being addressed by the audio team as of the time of this report.
    
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
  • Gameplay Programmers are still working on fully plugging in animal spawns to this system. While this is ongoing, the design and gameplay programming teams have been discussing ways to evenly distribute dynamic spawns across all vilages and points of interest, and ways to provide a compelling experience without impacting the server performance budget during the lifetime of the server.
    
• Predators (Wolves)
  
  • Still cautiously optimistic here. However at this point it is looking like we *will* be testing wolves on some of the initial 0.61 experimental pushes to see if they behave and operate as expected in a live environment.
    

Beyond our defined milestone goals, we have several additional changes that are looking to be rolled into 0.61, lets take a quick look at those right now.

• Dynamic Shadows
  
  • Programmers from the Enfusion engine team have been working to resolve the last remaining issues encountered in internal testing with this. As of the current build in internal testing right now we still have a few small issues with light in some edge cases ignoring geometry, however this is looking really good for 0.61 experimental. Below you'll see an example of how this is looking right now, both in the Status Report and on our Trello.
    
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
  • As Miroslav, our Lead Gameplay Programmer discussed in a previous Status Report - he has been working hard on improving our client/server synchronization in an effort to improve quality-of-life and reduce frustrating deaths and poor gameplay experiences due to client/server disagreements. Things are looking very, very promising. That said, as tends to happen in development, internal testing has encountered several issues that can potentially cause unexpected changes to player position and movement under less than ideal network conditions. As everyone that plays DayZ has different connection conditions, and communities are spread across the globe, ensuring that gameplay and network synchronization works properly under all reasonable pings and connection speeds is critical. So that said, the gameplay programming team and the quality assurance teams are working hand in hand to resolve this issue for 0.61 experimental.
    
• New Server Browser
  
  • Many players have reported large frame drops and client unresponsiveness in our legacy server browser (currently used in 0.60 stable branch), and due to that we have pushed up the merge of our new server browser to 0.61 in an attempt to address this sooner, rather than later. Keep in mind however, this is only the first iteration of this and some functionality will not be present or working entirely. However, functionality we fully expect the first iteration to be 1:1 with the current 0.60 server browser.
    

Currently, our QA Lead Ondrej (Andy) is tracking 16 must-fix bugs for 0.61, including but not limited to:

• Player Sounds significantly quieter than environment and AI
  
• Client crash after exiting
  
• Player position hitching under less than ideal network conditions (150+ms)
  
• Animation Issues related to swimming
  
• Certain walls and objects not displaying shadows at certain angles
  
• Characters getting stuck when climbing ladders
  
• Player to Player magazine capacity synchronization
  
• Item Duplication Exploit (Thanks to the new security feedback form!)
  
• Client crash related to connecting to server
  
• Characters stuck in weapon raised pose in certain conditions

We've updated our Trello with some new progress shots from the art team, and a preview video of the current status of dynamic shadows (see below!)



- Brian Hicks / Creative Director





Thanks again for all the bug reports we've received from you all so far! Since noone likes a cheater, don't be shy to also report those security related issues that you come across. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have a new task type in our feedback tracker which is specifically set up so that you can safely and securely report sensitive issues in DayZ. For more info on that, please have a look at the following link: http://dayz.com/blog/dayz-security-issue-report

Also, for those of you that have been having trouble finding supplies in Chernarus as of late, there is help to be found. MadMcardle has made a small guide on how you can go about getting food in 0.60: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP83toJSzfo

On top of that; MadMcardle also has a pretty neat playlist containing useful guides for crafting different items such as the fireplace, the spear, and the improvised fishing rod for example. All good help for those that like to try and create their own gear and such: DayZ Crafting Guide

Well done, sir!

Header image credit: JøhnnY

- SMoss / Community Manager

Greetings Survivors,

Over the last few months and into the beginning of the year we've been making adjustments to our Feedback Tracker to better support the Early Access userbase. We're happy to announce that one of our newest initiatives, driven by our production and quality assurance teams is the DayZ Security Report.

This new task type in our feedback tracker is specifically set up to allow users to safely and securely report sensitive issues in DayZ unrelated to general game bugs. Entries through this form are private, only shared between the developers and the reporter, and are given top priority attention upon being reported. With this new feedback tracker type set up we hope to reduce some of the confusion and increase ease of reporting critical security related bugs.

You can find the new Security Issue report form here:

DayZ Security Issue Report Form

"What kind of issues should I report here?"

Any security issue that isn't directly caused by an in-game bug (Please report standard bugs using the DayZ Bug Report, or Private DayZ Bug Report if you feel like the issue shouldn't be known publicly). Common examples include:

• Abusable Script Commands
  
• Memory Hacks (Specifically abusable functions which can be called by client)
  
• Remote Code Execution
  
• Access Rights Elevation (Such as acquiring server admin rights without having access)
  
• Server Stability Issues

"What kind of issues don't belong here?"

• Reporting hackers
  
• Reporting cheating sites
  
• Issues working only on older DayZ Version than the current Steam Stable Version.
  
• Server admin abuse and other breaking of server hosting rules (Please use DayZ Bug Report for that)
  
• Item duplication issues using a bug (Please use DayZ Private Bug Report for that)
  
• Ways to glitch into buildings using in-game bugs (Please use DayZ Private Bug Report for that)

"What should I include in my report?"

Please be aware that the quality of your report increases chances of timely and successful fix. To ensure that we are able to understand what you are reporting and the potential impact, please make sure your report contains the following items:

• What type of issue are you reporting? (Is it a memory hack, script, network issue ...?)
  
• How does a user reproduce your issue? (Detailed steps or source code are very helpful).
  
• What is the impact of your issue? (Does the issue affect other players? What does it allow you to do?)"

As always, thanks for your support!

Greetings Survivors,

Over the last few months and into the beginning of the year we've been making adjustments to our Feedback Tracker to better support the Early Access userbase. We're happy to announce that one of our newest initiatives, driven by our production and quality assurance teams is the DayZ Security Report.

This new task type in our feedback tracker is specifically set up to allow users to safely and securely report sensitive issues in DayZ unrelated to general game bugs. Entries through this form are private, only shared between the developers and the reporter, and are given top priority attention upon being reported. With this new feedback tracker type set up we hope to reduce some of the confusion and increase ease of reporting critical security related bugs.

You can find the new Security Issue report form here:

DayZ Security Issue Report Form

"What kind of issues should I report here?"

Any security issue that isn't directly caused by an in-game bug (Please report standard bugs using the DayZ Bug Report, or Private DayZ Bug Report if you feel like the issue shouldn't be known publicly). Common examples include:

• Abusable Script Commands
  
• Memory Hacks (Specifically abusable functions which can be called by client)
  
• Remote Code Execution
  
• Access Rights Elevation (Such as acquiring server admin rights without having access)
  
• Server Stability Issues

"What kind of issues don't belong here?"

• Reporting hackers
  
• Reporting cheating sites
  
• Issues working only on older DayZ Version than the current Steam Stable Version.
  
• Server admin abuse and other breaking of server hosting rules (Please use DayZ Bug Report for that)
  
• Item duplication issues using a bug (Please use DayZ Private Bug Report for that)
  
• Ways to glitch into buildings using in-game bugs (Please use DayZ Private Bug Report for that)

"What should I include in my report?"

Please be aware that the quality of your report increases chances of timely and successful fix. To ensure that we are able to understand what you are reporting and the potential impact, please make sure your report contains the following items:

• What type of issue are you reporting? (Is it a memory hack, script, network issue ...?)
  
• How does a user reproduce your issue? (Detailed steps or source code are very helpful).
  
• What is the impact of your issue? (Does the issue affect other players? What does it allow you to do?)"

As always, thanks for your support!

• Dev Update/Hicks
  
• Dev Update/Mirek
  
• Community Spotlight

Greetings Survivors,

Over the last two weeks the team has been hard at work tackling bugs and final missing functionality on intended .61 milestone goals. Not to mention a few additional improvements not listed on the milestone goals, such as dynamic shadows, network sync improvements, and expanded improvements in the audio technology side of Enfusion. The test / fix / regression process between when a build is feature ready for experimental and functionally ready for experimental can be a bit of a grind here in the office (especially when you consider the branching that occurs so that the stable candidate can be worked on, while the rest of the team continues work on .62 and forward), but as always I'm proud to say the team has been relentless. To give you an example, just over the last week the QA, Programming, and Design teams have squashed bugs such as:

• Client freeze on server connection
  
• Isolating remaining issues with new synchronization system
  
• Audio configuration issues w/ interior and exterior surfaces
  
• Infected hit detection issues
  
• Reload / Chambering not occurring when player initiates animation
  
• Chambered ammo not being depleted when firing (ooh boy that one is nasty!)
  
• Dynamic shadows not behaving properly with certain geometry within Chernarus
  
• Client side control failures under certain animation states (clients locked into one direction after jumping off of certain terrain)
  
• NavMesh problems with Infected (ignoring some structure geometry)
  
• Character gear loss under certain crafting, and connection scenarios
  
• Client crashes when using Exp Debug window
  
• Dynamic events not showing on client side
  
• Virtual Machine exception related to containers
  
• Infected being blocked by collision with corpses
  
• Server crash caused by animal behaviour
  
• Server delay registering clients after initial connection

This is just a brief look at some of the issues tackled over the last week - and does not include issues the team is still working on. Countless issues are tackled before the player even sees the next testable build - and I hope this gives you all at least a small example of the work that goes into getting a build to experimental. Unfortunately the reality of development is its never quite as easy as just making the desired functionality, and pushing it to the experimental branch.

Past that - Miroslav will be talking to you guys this week about exactly what he hopes to see from the upcoming improvements to network synchronization, and while I might have a bit more caution to my optimism I can safely say I am excited to see how it will behave under a larger testing pool. Keep in mind as well, he specifically calls out that there is a high chance the initial experimental builds for .61 won't be spawning vehicles - as he and his team are currently working on the synchronization improvements for them specifically.

Looking at the .61 milestone goals for this Status Report:

0.61 Milestone Goals:

• Server Login Queue
  
  • Ready for experimental branch testing - no current issues preventing this at this time.
    
• Merge of New Audio Technology from Arma 3 Eden Update.
  
  • Technology successfully merged into DayZ branch. Ready for further testing on experimental branch.
    
• Update of Weapon Sounds for New Audio Technology.
  
  • All current firearms configured - Audio team is working on completing SFX for future firearms, as well as working with design and programming team to tackle configuration, and surface effect issues as they pop up in QA.
    
• Dynamic Spawning of Infected.
  
  • Programming team is currently working on plugging animal spawning into this system. Once this is functioning properly they will continue working on adding the additional functionality of per-player impact on the quantity inside a defined area.
    
• Predators (Wolves)
  
  • We're cautiously optimistic here. While we're seeing improvements on our end, there is still a high chance this milestone goal will be pushed to a future build. Network synchronization improvements could make this viable for .61. Testing, and regression will give us a better idea.
    

Past the milestone goals for .61, as you all know we have several improvements we're aiming to also be present for that build. Including but not limited to:

• Experimental Branch Debug Monitor
  
• Network Synchronization Improvements
  
• Dynamic Shadows

And for those who don't keep an eye on our development board - we've pushed a few updates there to give you an idea of what some of this can be expected to look like:



Lastly, I completely understand the frustration many of you may feel in the lull between build publishes to experimental, and stable branch. There is a saying that goes around the community that after two months of a build being available, it starts to get long in the tooth and the community is eager for the next, and this is entirely true. However, it is not just the community - we (the developers) are just as eager as all of you out there playing, and participating in DayZ's development, as hard as that may seem to believe. As we move closer to beta, the builds we push out are less about initial prototyping and more about large changes to DayZ's engine. Enfusion is a massive change for us on so many levels, and it is because of that that these builds seem to take longer to push out. We're all massively grateful for those of you who continue to ride through the storm with us, and help to shape the final product that DayZ will become. I'm personally very excited to jump into .61 experimental when it goes live, and start a new series of adventures in Chernarus.

Brian Hicks / Creative Director



As we are more and more close to 0.61 experimental, we're mostly stabilizing the build (catching crashes, tweaking character selection from main menu and new infected/animal spawner).
But there will be also one big thing we would like to enable in 0.61 experimental which Brian mentioned in last status report a bit. We were reworking major part of network code and completely changed synchronization of player controlled entities, which should deal with position desynchronization. This means that there won't be any weird deaths (on stairs, near the edges on the roof, etc.), character won't be blocked somewhere else on server side (infected or other players won't hit you from big distance and if player is inside building, he won't be blocked outside), game should behave much better with worse network condition and it should deal with a lot of issues which were present in the game since EA release.
I have to admit that these changes aren't applied on vehicles yet, so vehicles won't probably spawn in first iterations of experimental builds, but once we will enable them for vehicles, they should fix most issues like lagging and freezing, when vehicle is in proximity of another vehicle.
Also, please don't expect everything will be amazing, we're still have some animation issues and a couple of other bugs, especially connected to ladder movement and it's very likely that more will appear after experimental release. It's even possible that if a lot of issues appear, network changes won't hit stable and will be postponed to 0.62, because we don't want to block 0.61 stable release for too long.

Miroslav Maněna / Lead Gameplay Programmer



Kind of like the last time around, we'll see if we can help players who are looking to join a community which is not necessarily english speaking.

We were approached by Dopeyferes who asked if we would have time to look at a couple of his videos as well as showcase his channel, and of course, we were more than happy to do so.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUu3ubX61pA

Outside of having really nice videos of DayZ on his channel, he is also part of a larger hispanic community that plays DayZ among other titles. So, if you are looking for a spanish speaking community, I'm quite sure that he'll be able to help you out if you contact him via his Facebook page, or if you for example join the Steam Group that he is a member of. Of course, Dopeyferes also has a Twitter account where you can follow his updates and he streams from his Twitch account as well.

We do have yet another community lined up for the next status report, but in case you are part of one that you would like to see highlighted, just send some info to support@dayz.com and we'll be happy to have a look.

- SMoss / Community Manager