DayZ update adds new village and bow crafting recipe; removes mouse acceleration

DayZ has received a new stable update, and one that introduces some significant features to the game. More importantly, it removes some significant features. So, as we welcome a new village, a recipe for bow crafting and the ability to melee attack with a frying pan, we also bid good riddance to mouse acceleration (or, to go by its scientific name, "weird floaty mouse times").

"Two very important changes were improvements to multiplayer netcode and an entirely new mouse control system that removed the previous one based on mouse acceleration," writes Rocket in the latest DayZ update . The new 1:1 mouse movement should hopefully make DayZ a smoother, and more responsive first-person shooter.

That post also details the DayZ team's upcoming focus, much of which is in pursuit of greater optimisation in the future. 64-bit servers are being tested, solving memory-limit issues; the renderer is being disconnected from simulation, leading towards client-side FPS improvements; and loot respawn experiments are going ahead, in the hope of a globally managed loot solution.

As for other upcoming changes, Rocket is teasing a new city that the team are working on. "This city, called Novodmitrovsk, will have an industrial zone and is very close in size to Cherno or Electro but located in the north of our terrain."

You can see the full patch notes for 0.44.123800 below:

Known Issues:

Binoculars not functioning properly in crouch and prone states.
Thrown objects moving at a slow frame rate during peak server load
Crossbow damage higher than desired
Player breathing in first person louder than desired
Ongoing melee balancing has zombies more resilient to body impacts. (Aim for the head)
Accelerated Time falls out of sync after extended uptime (disabled for this update)

New:

Actions: Melee attacks added to frying pan and cooking pot
Actions: Recipe for bow crafting added
Items: Dexterity of shotguns, pistols and rifles configured
Items: Tracksuit Jackets and Russian Officer Hat configured and added to loot spawns
Items: Binoculars configured and added to loot spawns (known issues above with this item)
Items: Implemented Crossbow + bolts.
Server: Basic item bullet physics enabled (known issues tied to server performance)
Server: New guaranteed messaging system for network traffic
Server: New player spawn locations near Klen, Chernaya Polana, Orlovets
Server: Accelerated Time implemented for gameservers
Systems: 1:1 Mouse control / movement
World: New Ash Tree model
World: New village "Karmanovka" has been added

Fixed:

Actions: Crafting with medical items - splints, blood bags, blood testing
Actions: Removed force feed and force drink from epinephrine and morphine
Actions: You can no longer turn on flashlight or defibrillator laying on the ground without battery being attached to it
Actions: You can no longer empty magazines or ammunition boxes laying on the ground (and loose ammo)
Actions: Players loading into server no longer play reloading SFX
Actions: Burlap sack removes from head properly
Actions: Apply defibrillator action messages
Actions: You can catch rain holding bottle in hand only
Actions: moved quantity manipulation and item removal directly into action on self
Actions: added config entries to actions for single use food and drinks
Actions: Single use food and drink items now adding to player water and energy levels
Actions: Injection vial cannot be consumed
Actions: Medical items related actions on other player (proper quantity handling)
Animations: Player now can wave (F1) when unarmed or holding one-handed item with raised hands.
Animations: playing correct footstep sounds for 2handed melee raised run, aimed rifle run
Animations: Removed the jerky motion when sometimes equipping a weapon/item, usually at the start of eating/drinking/bandaging
Animations: sitting with 2 handed melee should now work properly
Animations: Fixed an issue where you would first stand up when pressing crouch in unarmed sitting pose
Animations: Fixed an issue where you couldn't sit from unarmed prone directly.
Animations: fixed missing rotation animation for unarmed crouched player
Animations: Iron sights now use all 3 parameters for min, max and init zoom. Values of these params tweaked.
Animations: Player's "naked eye" max zoom level lowered. It allows for the same max zoom as iron sights.
Gear: Improvised courier bag and taloon backpack shows their damage state in inspect window
Gear: Green bandage stops bleeding
Gear: Fruits no longer show 100% label
Gear: FNX45 red dot sight optics renamed and now requires 9V battery in order to work
Gear: Resolved chambering issue with 22 related to stack quantity
Gear: Tablets amount in inventory slot changed from % to pills
World: Rocks at Ship Wreck location reworked
Zombies: Melee attack bleed chance nerfed
Zombies: Damage is dealt to head while kneeling

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.