By John Walker on February 21st, 2013 at 12:00 pm.
If you’re me, and you’ve tried to install the DayZ mod into Arma II, then you made a real hash of it. Fortunately for all the me out there, there’s a simpler way. The mod has been made available directly over Steam, meaning you can just click a couple of buttons and all the scary work is done for you.
You’ll need to own both Arma II and Arma II: Operation Arrowhead, or indeed the bundled version, Arma II: Combined Operations, to make it work. If those are installed, and have been run at least once before, then getting the DayZ mod going is so simple that even I just did it. No, I really did. I clicked to download the mod, then clicked Play. And there it was.
If you want to know why you should care, Jim can explain here and here and here.
21/02/2013 at 12:10 DarkFenix says:
Steam is a bit late to the party here, DayZ Commander has been making it all very easy for a long time now.
Still, ought to bring more victims into DayZ regardless. Never a bad thing, now I can go fishing for beans with a sniper rifle once again.
21/02/2013 at 13:16 particlese says:
Haha, excellent mental image with which to start my day. Thanks!
22/02/2013 at 01:50 Dozer says:
Whatever. I know the Commander because he’s my pal. Don’t think you know something about the Commander. Here’s a picture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxi7JRJrod4
21/02/2013 at 12:13 Zemalf says:
On release Steam installs old version, 1.7.4.4, while 1.7.5.1 is out and on most servers. Good and convenient, sure, but not a good start.
21/02/2013 at 12:20 ankh says:
Hahaha.. As a steam hater this makes me so happy.
21/02/2013 at 12:35 MOKKA says:
So are we treating digital stores now like sports teams?
21/02/2013 at 12:41 bstard says:
A mob of angry hooligan Pacmans are on their way as we speak to wreck up the place.
21/02/2013 at 12:53 ankh says:
“Digital stores” sounds like something that lives in your browser.
21/02/2013 at 13:09 phuzz says:
Or your gloves.
21/02/2013 at 14:40 Syra says:
That’s what I call my cupboard full of circuit boards.
21/02/2013 at 15:31 SirSmoke4lot says:
The DayZ version is currently up to date. It has been fixed quite soon today. You can play now.
21/02/2013 at 16:42 goettel says:
Don’t mess with a man’s hate, dude, he’s obviously thought it through.
21/02/2013 at 12:30 Velko says:
It never ceases to amaze me how whenever I open Steam’s top sellers list, ArmA2 is in the top ten. That is mostly due to DayZ. I don’t like the mod that much (don’t care for zombies), but damn, it became a right goldmine for Bohemia Interactive.
21/02/2013 at 12:51 Crazy Hippo says:
its great for Bohemia as it keeps the cash rolling in on a title years after it was launched. it surprises me when other games are released without mod support, the potential for additional revenue to be made as a result of mods is huge. not only that its great for players as the variation and creativity that the mods provide are almost never provided for by traditional published titles.
21/02/2013 at 13:06 jkz says:
Yeah, although it’s not very often that you get a mod that generates this many sales for the original game, but they do happen.
21/02/2013 at 17:00 TwwIX says:
Counter Strike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat did the same for the Half Life series. Hence Valve’s continued and growing success. Then there’s the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942. DICE even hired the modders to work on Battlefield 2 and then shortly after the game’s release fired them. DICE has turned their backs to the modding community since then. That’s why i won’t support those assholes anymore.
21/02/2013 at 12:31 FieldyGB says:
yay! I can play now
21/02/2013 at 12:45 jeffcapeshop says:
I’d be really interested to read some opinion on the Wasteland mod/mission for arma 2..
for me it’s actually playable rather than just a good concept..
21/02/2013 at 16:22 cairbre says:
I play wasteland on the gaellord server great craic!
21/02/2013 at 13:05 brulleks says:
I got the free version of ARMA II – legitimately free – from Green Man Gaming a while back. Is it possible to play Day Z on that?
21/02/2013 at 13:11 Velko says:
I don’t think it works on ArmA2Free.
21/02/2013 at 13:27 Schaap says:
It does but you still need operation arrowhead.
21/02/2013 at 13:22 rapchee says:
you’ll need operation arrowhead too, unfortunately. i got arma2 there too.
21/02/2013 at 13:46 brulleks says:
OK, cheers. I think I’ll wait to see whether the standalone DayZ comes out before OA or CO get down to a reasonable price. I’m unlikely to want to play ARMA 2 or its expansions ever again, so paying the current asking price is not an option.
21/02/2013 at 16:22 SkittleDiddler says:
Arma II is one of the all-around ugliest games I’ve ever had the displeasure of installing on my system, so I too will be waiting for the standalone. Hopefully the mechanics are drastically different.
21/02/2013 at 19:10 Karrahad says:
Sounds like you’ve never played a sim before. Arma II is not a mainstream video game, neither should it be judged like one.
21/02/2013 at 20:22 SkittleDiddler says:
Does it really matter if I’ve never played a sim before? My overall experience with Arma II was negative, and I’m going to judge it based on that experience. I don’t give a toss about genres.
21/02/2013 at 13:11 bill says:
Is anyone still playing it? Because it seems to have fallen out of the headlines very quickly.
21/02/2013 at 13:42 profaniti says:
Yes!
21/02/2013 at 16:44 phelix says:
Most certainly. There just isn’t an awful lot of new things happening with the mod, because the devs are developing the standalone et al.
21/02/2013 at 14:20 derbefrier says:
Cool been a while since I have played it and was thinking about reinstalling it. Might as well give it a shot now
21/02/2013 at 18:44 jonfitt says:
I haven’t been in for a long time either. I can pop in and check if it’s still Zombie deathmatch, or has settled into something better.
.
I can’t see the point of the standalone game supporting things like diagnose-able diseases, when most people just shoot each other at range and then rob the loser.
21/02/2013 at 15:23 bangalores says:
The concept art/picture for this article is pretty cool…..just saying
21/02/2013 at 16:39 shengjing says:
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21/02/2013 at 17:17 Chaz says:
I wouldn’t mind but the update went and borked my Arma install and left my Steam task bar icon stuck at showing a 30% done install still in progress even though the update had supposedly finished.
What really annoys me is that there was no information on Steam about the update. So I’m left wondering what the hell it was and why has it gone wrong. Had to delete my Arma CO data and go offline to clear the problem as the integrity check wasn’t working either. Can’t be arsed to re download it now.
I just wish that when Steam updates stuff that there was some explanation of what the update is. I shouldn’t be finding out 2 days later through a totally unconnected website.
21/02/2013 at 17:20 Dudeist says:
Loading longer, old mod version, error messages on start, server browser powered by gamespy…. wot a shit. Back to DayZ Commander ofc.
I hope I can still play DayZ by DComm
21/02/2013 at 18:33 purdz says:
Again another friendly reminder that we have an unofficial RPS DayZ server up and running.
RockPaperZombies!
It’s a 40 man private hive and whitelisted server with extra vehicles.
We are busy throughout most of the day so would be great to add some extra RPS types to the mix.
You can find out more info and also get yourself whitelisted over on our forums.
rockpaperzombie.freeforums.org
21/02/2013 at 22:58 Alfius says:
Wait. What? Are there two Rock Paper Zombie servers?
I play at the one at http://www.rpz-hive.tk
Confused now.
21/02/2013 at 19:41 akbarovich says:
Is it now possible to play DayZ without the server randomly crashing every 20 minutes and losing everything, or breaking your legs and getting mobbed by zombies after falling three feet, or instadying because you somehow clipped into an invisible wall? I’ve seriously never understood how anyone even manages to get to the mythical NW airfield, let alone spend enough time in-game to cobble together a working vehicle.
21/02/2013 at 19:46 Dudeist says:
lol man. Ok, last update is crap, but. I’m playing only north of Zelenogorsk, every day I’m on North Airstrip for ammo or weapon or just making game more intense for others – means, killing airfield loters (imo, killing noobs in Chern or Elektro is low).
All what you need to reach this airstip base is some skill, weapon, morphine and balls.