Demystification of the DayZ loot spawn system [SPOILER]

[TheMedic 58]

You sir would have my entire inventory if I could offer it. This guide is beyond invaluable for all players.

[HolyTeRRoR 6]

Thank you for this info. I may play around with this later on tonight as a test.

Beans for you!

[Welch (DayZ) 756]

Nice. And as BazBake said on Pg. 1, I hope that the game becomes more of a random environment rather than a set-script, like sometimes zombies won't spawn, or maybe look won't have to be predestined in buildings...

[insitv 305]

To the people who say it's cheating and we only know it because someone looked "behind the curtain":

We could have gathered this information by simply testing it. It would have taken a LOT of time and some people already knew how it was working in some way. This information is to clear up some misunderstandings so everyone can benefit from it.

Call it cheating but hey, it's a game mechanic and players can use this the way they like. Ofc Rocket can (and i'm sure will) change it later on but currently it's something everyone should know. "Hiding" this stuff is currently impossible because everyone can look at the source code, given the right tools and understanding of source code. I would bet that the stand-alone version will store such information in another way.

It's the same in every game, you get information on a specific game mechanic and use it for your benefit. I just made the information public so everyone can use it.

[insitv 305]

Sorry for the double post but i updated the OP with some more information about the loot timer and players spawning loot while they are in vehicles.

I hope i could already help some people with these informations. Feel free to ask if something is bothering you.

[2skillD4Uok? 3]

Perfect use of the forum, thank you for your work.

[codave 121]

This explains quite a bit.

I often hit up Balota when I spawn on the southern coast. I enter the hanger and there are no sees, no loot.

I hit the tower, there is nothing there.

I started hitting the hangers again after the tower if I felt it was safe, and regularly found loot where there was none before. And also when I went back to the tower.

I read on the forums a few days ago that it's a good idea to pick up the can piles so new loot can spawn in those spots, this kinda validates that I think.

Question: If I pick up some cans, and drop them again, are they still considered spawned loot? Does it have to be dropped outside the building, etc.

[insitv 305]

...

Question: If I pick up some cans, and drop them again, are they still considered spawned loot? Does it have to be dropped outside the building, etc.

If you drop them where you found them, no loot will spawn. The game is checking for items laying there, it's unimportant if the items spawned naturally or were placed there by a player.

Dropping the items outside the building is the safest bet. You CAN drop them inside a building but not near loot spots. In a cafe/bar building (the high value residential building) you can drop them on the stairs because there isn't any loot spawning naturally.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

Awesome post.

[DeathJester76 29]

To the people who say it's cheating and we only know it because someone looked "behind the curtain":

We could have gathered this information by simply testing it. It would have taken a LOT of time and some people already knew how it was working in some way. This information is to clear up some misunderstandings so everyone can benefit from it.

Call it cheating but hey, it's a game mechanic and players can use this the way they like. Ofc Rocket can (and i'm sure will) change it later on but currently it's something everyone should know. "Hiding" this stuff is currently impossible because everyone can look at the source code, given the right tools and understanding of source code. I would bet that the stand-alone version will store such information in another way.

It's the same in every game, you get information on a specific game mechanic and use it for your benefit. I just made the information public so everyone can use it.

This x10000000

I've played mutiple games with 'random loot spawn' mechanics and you know what? Access to code or not someone ALWAYS takes the time to learn how the loot spawning system works. As insitv said if he didn't have access to the code he could just jump on a server with some buddies and test it out, it would have taken him far far longer than it would with access to the code but it would still have been done.

No matter what the loot spawn system is or becomes in the mod and/or standalone...someone will take the time to work it out, trust me.

[dubardo 23]

Isnt putting a timer on each building a great struggle on de server? Theres what a few thousand loot spawn... count one loot timer per zombie... that must not help the lagging?

As Rocket tested this?

Thanks for explanation!

[gambles 234]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Did we really need MORE meta gaming? :\

[nekrus2 0]

Nice information

suspected most of it by trial and error but didn't know exact ranges

[Doomlord52 62]

Wow, thank you op! This is awesome.

+beans

Righteous! Thanks for sharing this. It's always good to know about the many ways the game can be exploited so that everyone is on the same page with regards to who is cheating and how.

It's still cheating. You took apart the game code to look behind the curtain. You cheated. I'm glad that you revealed that others are also cheating, though, so beans for you.

Hopefully rocket figures out a way to conceal this or a workaround to patch up this hole in his scripting.

It's not really cheating. He hasn't done anything that breaks the game, nor has he done something unintended (i.e. exploit, glitch, etc). He looked at the game code. Truth is, if you make a PC game with loot, SOMEONE will eventually break the whole thing down into stats.

[Faceman Peck 93]

this was a useful explanation and I will direct my friends here because there has been a raging debate among us in regards to this topic.

[mech (DayZ) 7]

Seems all is true except that i do see zeds spawning while sitting in a vehicle

[mech (DayZ) 7]

Seems all is true except that i do see zeds spawning while sitting in a vehicle

[insitv 305]

Isnt putting a timer on each building a great struggle on de server? Theres what a few thousand loot spawn... count one loot timer per zombie... that must not help the lagging?

As Rocket tested this?

Thanks for explanation!

Not at all.

The loot spawn isn't tied to zombies. It's tied to a building. Every building or structure which can hold loot, has a timer. There are quite a few buildings in Chernarus but it's not thousands of them.

Seems all is true except that i do see zeds spawning while sitting in a vehicle

I can refute that, 100%. Atleast for 1.7.2.5, i haven't looked at .6 yet but i don't think Rocket has stealth changed the loot system. Will look into that later.

[thomas.bowyer@hotmail.co.uk 25]

Im not saying you are wrong, since well, i dont know jack shit about anything ever.

but I couldve SWORN ive been told that the zed spawn radius was 250 not 200.. are you 100% sure its 200?

[alicefanboy 0]

Nice post man, I had figure most of this out just from playing, I didn't have the ranges or the exactly how the timer worked though so thanks for the info. Won't you share some beans around my campfire, friendly I promise, here i'll even set down my gun.

[insitv 305]

Im not saying you are wrong, since well, i dont know jack shit about anything ever.

but I couldve SWORN ive been told that the zed spawn radius was 250 not 200.. are you 100% sure its 200?

Yes, it's 200 meters.

I updated the OP with a better image (flipped colors and better distance relation), thank you alicefanboy!

[schrecksekunde 9]

Isnt putting a timer on each building a great struggle on de server? Theres what a few thousand loot spawn... count one loot timer per zombie... that must not help the lagging?

As Rocket tested this?

Thanks for explanation!

Isnt putting a timer on each building a great struggle on de server? Theres what a few thousand loot spawn... count one loot timer per zombie... that must not help the lagging?

As Rocket tested this?

Thanks for explanation!

1

the triggers of the building timers are not activated until someone comes into the areas the first post explains. then it makes things spawn (and also the zeds, they stick on the player who triggered them....so when you travelled through some high-zed areas its wise to log out for a second and log in, so the zeds in the area you were in stop to spawn or - if another player passes there, he "carries" them around) but if no one comes nearby again they dont shuffle items. compared to the load of the items, their amount and the gfx having to be added having a timer or trigger run is nothing. so no need to worry, i couldnt think of a better system (and i never had a problem with a server that had a too high load)

cheers,

schreck

and again : this is NO cheating. someone telling you the range of a gun or its audible range is not cheating, right ? the only thing he does is tell you the numbers and how they affect you. well, this is nothing else. there is a - neither hidden nor encrypted - part of game mechanics and someone tells you how it affects your gameplay. same thing as above.

[curtisalanmcgee 0]

I thank you for this info.

[rekrul 91]

Great work. What we do/did was to clear up all the loot, dump it on a zombie, then run 200m away and back again to find new loot instead of tons of empty soda cans. That seemed to work without the timer, but I guess it was the timer that did this. I can't really argue against the source code. :)

I updated the OP with a better image (flipped colors and better distance relation), thank you alicefanboy!

I think you might want to re-read your 1st post. :)

The red circle represents a kind of dead zone for loot. If you are the only player around and you are closer than 30 meters to the building, NO loot will spawn.

[...]

Every 10 minutes new loot is generated as long as a player is in the red circle.

[HacksawJack 4]

Any chance you can figure which range Animals will spawn and how it relates to other players?