Greetings, Survivors!
As we enter the experimental period of massive game update 1.26, we also find ourselves on the doorstep of the busiest period we’ve experienced in years. That’s because this game update is coupled with the release of the DayZ Frostline expansion. We highly recommend adding DayZ Frostline to your wishlist if you haven't already. Make sure to check it out on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2968040/DayZ_Frostline/
You can find the patch notes for 1.26 EXP on our forum here[forums.dayz.com].

This is a long read, so please bear with me as I outline all the important things to look for during your experimental playthroughs.

Game update 1.26 offers changes and gameplay additions that not only support the DayZ Frostline expansion, but also impact the overall experience of our existing maps Chernarus and Livonia. As the title "Frostline" aptly suggests, we have concentrated a lot of work around the temperature systems. That was a challenge in and of itself: ensuring the game systems adapted to a simple change in global temperature.

We’ve also rebalanced the way various elements of the environment have an effect on the player character, be it from their position or the current weather. The progression of the player character’s heat comfort is now always delayed, as opposed to instant. This progression may be noticed by one or more arrows at the HUD as the character adapts to the changes in temperature.

The heat buffer, also known as the + symbol in UI when you spend enough time around a heat source, is also getting an update to help you visualize its state. This is primarily so it no longer looks like an on and off bonus, which was actually never a thing.

Edible items now have their temperatures simulated. They can freeze if the environment temperature is low enough, and will need to be thawed in order to be edible. They can be put on a fireplace grill (or a stove), warmed up, and eaten for warmth benefits. Just make sure to keep an eye on the temperature as the player character can take damage from consuming items that are too hot. In addition to that, we have changed the temperature badge in the tooltip and replaced it with a simple temperature description.

If you want to learn more about these systems, have a look at our recent dev blog post about environmental dangers.[forums.dayz.com]

Speaking of dangers, we have also looked at the common cold/influenza. We wanted to make sure that players who took care of their characters would not run into too many issues with it, while the ones who continue to ignore it would eventually face the consequences through the newly added stage of pneumonia. Temporal immunity has also been added to the medical system, which makes an instant re-infection impossible for diseases like the common cold. Pain suppression meds (i.e. codeine pills and morphine) have also been expanded and now have the ability to suppress symptoms of both influenza and the common cold.

A significant change has also come to large predators like bears and wolves, whose meat will be infected. Most importantly, it won’t be possible to eliminate the infection even after cooking the meat. There is still an option to eat and/or cure the disease, of course, but we wanted to make sure that predators who come to the player naturally are not an easy source of food.

Going from Livonia’s fairly warm climate to the unforgiving cold of Sakhal means that you will have to adapt the type of gear you wear (or take frequent baths in local ponds). Luckily, changes to the loot distribution will help you, as items are now distributed with the climate in mind. We’ve also taken a deeper look at the item distribution in Sakhal and applied a kind of regional theme to each map, which will mostly be noticeable through the firearms you’ll find lying around. Livonia will primarily host western-made firearms, Sakhal will mostly host eastern ones, and Chernarus will continue to offer a mixture of both.

In terms of spawning, be on the lookout for two new small animals roaming around the wilderness! If you want to spoil the surprise, you can learn more about them at our dev blog here[forums.dayz.com].

A lot of work has also been done around various actions and associated features. One of the highlights is the fishing feature, which has received a long overdue update. We have changed the simple "hold until you catch a fish" system into an event-based one, where you have to keep an eye on the water and release the action button when a water splash appears. If you miss this window of opportunity, you’ll have to attach new bait and start fishing again.

We’ve also added a new entry-level wooden hook and a fishing jig, which allows you to fish without any bait. Regarding the bait, we’ve removed the crafting recipe and replaced it with a simple inventory attachment process (i.e. dragging a worm on top of the hook).

We felt they were quite underused, so a number of changes were made to the hunting traps. We’ve increased the chances of catching an animal, decreased the time it takes to catch one, and made the hunting traps more durable. There is also audio-visual feedback when the trap is triggered.

We’ve tweaked force feeding actions because we felt it was way too easy to forcibly feed somebody. Now you actually have to face the player character. Additionally, the camera movement during continuous actions has been restricted, as we didn’t want players to have an easy 360-degree look around.

You will also notice that the inventory is now missing a rough and precise indicator. That is not a bug. We have decided to remove the precise and rough skill as we weren't happy with the design, or its implementation (it caused a lot of actions to be desynced). We may revisit the topic of character skills in the future, but no hard promises on that one at this point.

A fairly substantial change to the gameplay in 1.26 comes from a large pass over the inventory cargo sizes of most clothing items. We’ve been waiting a long time to revisit this topic because we felt the inventory space of the player character was just too big. This has often resulted in players collecting whatever they find lying around without thinking too much about what they actually need at the given time. This change has impacted most jackets, pants, and vests, as well as several item sizes. Have a look at the following example of a fresh spawn and a geared survivor:

You’re probably wondering, “Where am I supposed to store all the repair kits?!” Well, we’ve also reduced the damage that clothes take from infected hits.

Apart from the gameplay additions and changes, we have also taken a deeper look at our server browser. Namely, we re-designed the server details section and added it to the console version. This also includes the addition of a server description field, where server owners can describe what their server is about. A new map column and filters were also added ahead of the introduction of a third official map.

Another thing we were finally able to implement is the official server verification system, which ensures that only official servers will be displayed in the official tab on our Steam build. This will put an end to all kinds of shady servers, which tend to confuse players who want to play on official servers.

Understanding the server names plays a big part in finding a place where you want to spend your time. That’s why we revisited the official server naming convention. We wanted to make sure the servers are easier to read and still offer the most relevant information. You can see a preview in the picture above.

When it comes to UI, PC players will be able to spot two new graphical settings - terrain and object visibility. We realized how much scenery would open up (especially with Sakhal coming), if we made these options available. These settings are client-side and independent from network bubble settings. Increasing them won’t give players any serious tactical advantage over others (i.e. you can’t see players/vehicles further away). Maximum values can also be limited by server owners, should they desire to do so.

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, check out our earlier dev blog[forums.dayz.com].

The blog also details the new ways that fog can be controlled dynamically. This feature can be utilized in Sakhal, as well as in Chernarus and Livonia, where we used it to implement occasional morning fog that settles in the valleys. We hope it’ll increase your sense of immersion, as well as make the environment more visually varied and interesting as you play.

We’re sure our creative modding community will appreciate the expanded weather script API, as well as the increased vertex limit on a single model (previously 32 thousand, now 65 thousand vertices). 

This has already been a massive post, and I haven’t even mentioned all the new content that’s available in update 1.26. I hope you’ll enjoy discovering the rest on your own. I also hope you’ll join this experimental update. Have fun and share your feedback. Help us test the stability of one of the most important updates DayZ has had in years.

On behalf of the DayZ team,
Adam