Greetings, Survivors!
Experimental branches of update 1.25 are now live on Steam!
Before we get to that, however, we’d like to announce a significant change. DayZ's base game, along with the Livonia DLC, will merge into a single product once update 1.25 is released on stable branches. The goal is to streamline our portfolio and simplify our offerings in anticipation of future developments. Simultaneously, we aim to elevate the player experience by enhancing accessibility to Livonia, thereby integrating the communities of both the base game and the DLC across every platform. While there will be a modest increase in price due to the new product’s expanded value, the pricing will be more economical than the current DayZ Livonia Bundle.
To clarify: the Livonia DLC will no longer be sold separately once update 1.25 is released on stable branches. Existing DayZ base game owners without Livonia will receive the DLC free of charge as a token of our appreciation. A comprehensive press release and FAQ detailing these changes will be issued on May 20th. Stay tuned for more details!
Now, let’s dive into what you should be keeping your eyes and ears on while trying out the experimental version of update 1.25.
The highlight of this update is definitely the introduction of ambient music. We’re thrilled that we were able to make this long-requested feature a reality, thanks to our cooperation with Czech composer Filip Míšek. The update features around 100 minutes of music, which plays during different times of day, as well as when you travel through various locations. We hope you’ll enjoy the music and become more immersed in your adventures. Keep in mind that the ambient music won’t be available until the second experimental build due to scheduling reasons.
Our audio team has also reworked the firearm sounds for all shotguns, as well as the sounds for the grenade launcher and crossbow. Additionally, the team has been very busy rebalancing the distance where you can still hear a player’s actions (previously, the audibility of all actions was set at 50 meters). This change doesn’t cover weapons or footsteps yet, but that is also on the team’s radar for the future.
Another thing we’ve improved is the way a player’s position is corrected between the client and the server. This only affects the character you’re playing and should prevent issues like getting stuck in a doorway.
We’ve also addressed an inventory inconsistency that was causing items in nested cargo containers to be moved around or even dropped without any notice. This has been happening since update 1.23, and forced us to limit the manipulation in such a way that you will no longer be able to assign items that are stored inside a nested cargo container to quick slots. Some of the things affected by this change include cooking pots and protector cases, as well as special actions like firearm reloads. Ammo and magazines that are stored in nested cargo containers will be ignored by the reload action.
Last but not least, we are introducing an automated game client and server crash collection system in DayZ. This will help us finally get a better idea about the overall stability of our game (particularly on PC). If you receive a prompt after your game has crashed, please provide details explaining what happened, then click “Send”.
As usual, you can check the full list of changes and additions over at our forum.
Some of you may be wondering whether there’s anything more to this update. Well, there isn't. This is mostly due to the fact that update 1.25 was built on top of 1.24. That’s because we are currently extremely busy with a very important milestone which is slated for delivery later this year. We are super excited to tell you more about it soon!
On behalf of the DayZ team,
Adam
