Trying to get DayZ to work again with no luck at all

[Deranger]

Not sure what set it off but I had been trying to get the Single Player game to work in Arma II, and then I installed the latest Beta patch for Arma II (1.61.94876), and now either I can't get DayZ mod to run or if I can get it up and running it says that I am running a different version on the server list and can no longer connect to any game (in the first screen to select multiplayer it says I have the current beta version).

I have the Steam version of Arma II and used to run it from my taskbar as I had set it all up there. Somehow after trying to load up a single player game that worked (ie the weapons are not removed by the DayZ mod) I found myself running a version where the menu screen was green, as is the inventory of the player when usng the Armory (must be a previous version of Arma II, before combined ops). Since running a few single player missions on this it seems to have completely screwed my DayZ launch options.

I have tried the Six Updater but even following Maddog's guide I can't get anywhere. (After following it I am stuck right at the start as it says DayZ is incompatible and I am unable progress with the guide). And when trying to launch the game as I did before (editing a non-steam game in Steam with the commands from the DayZwiki) it comes up with all sorts of errors.

So a tad stuck right now, would like to start from scratch but if I delete it I am worried I'll have to buy it again since I have no physical copy other than through Steam.

Think I've confused myself by trying too many different ways to get it to run. Any ideas of getting this to work, not using the Six Launcher (which i hadnt ever used before) since it doesnt work on my copy?

Cheers

[Deranger]

Oh, and if I CAN get into one of the servers (only a very few are selectable now) it comes up with the "I cannot play/edit because dependent dlc file chernarus is missing" error, and when looking at single player game only the Takistan map is playable, it's deleted the Chernas and Utes maps for some reason.. getting silly now :P

[Deranger]

Retried the steam install/run guide and managed to edit "_runA2CO_beta.cmd" . So, I can now get it to run BUT it runs in a tiny window and I can't maximise it or change it in any way. (I get it to run by clicking the "_runA2CO_beta.cmd" script).

[Noises]

try going into options>video options and changing your resolution to your native screen size. mates copy was also running in mini windowed mode, that was the fix.

[Deranger]

Cheers Noises, got that to sort the windowed problem. No idea how I got it working before now as I used the same guides before. Also went into the .cmd file and found it had -window in the load options so deleted that part and it no longer starts in windowed mode first.

Just have to wait for servers to update to the new 1.7.2.1 patch and the latest Beta version.

Get there in the end! Hopefully up and running by the weekend.

[Sp!at]

Hi Derenger,
I also run the Steam version and had a lot of errors when I first installed the mod and couldn't get into games at all. I wrote a reply on Maddog's post in YouTube of the changes that need to happen to get the game running...

1. Right click Arma2 Operation Arrowhead if you don't have CO installed. Properties -> Set Launch Options and then add:
-beta=Expansion\beta;ca;Expansion\beta\Expansion -mod=@DayZ;ca -nosplash
2. To run game without errors, right click Arma2 Operation Arrowhead and click on Launch Arma 2 Combined Operations. This should start the game properly.
3. Click Multiplayer and then add DayZ to your filter to only show DayZ games.

But it sounds like things are not going well so lets get back to a clean slate.

First of all, did you overwrite your arma2oa.exe file or did you make a backup of your file first. If you are unsure what I mean then you probably didn't overwrite it at all but if you are unsure you can get Steam to re-set the files for you.

Right click ArmA2: Operation Arrowhead in the library
Select Properties
Go to Local Files directory
Select Verify Integrity of Game Cache

This will go through the files Steam uses and replaces files it doesn't have registered. So this will bring your file system back to square.

Now make sure you have cleaned out your launch options

In the Properties screen, go to the General tab.
Open Set Launch Options...
Either save a copy of what you have in there or just delete the whole line of text. Make sure one way or another this ends up with nothing in it.

Cleaning out your launch options is important because these bring in DayZ automatically.

Try running ArmA2:CO in vanilla mode. This should work. If it still doesn't work then I'm not sure what's wrong.

Now to clean out the DayZ and Beta versions.

Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead (or where ever your version is)
Delete the '@DayZ' folder
Open the Expansion folder
Delete the 'beta' folder
If BattlEye is a problem then you may also consider deleting that folder too but you most likely won't need to.

Now you should have a completely clean slate.

You should now be able to re-install the mod version you want along with the beta version.

I copy a backup of the beta exe into the main directory but call the original arma2oa_backup.exe so I can wind the files back if need be.

To re-set the settings, the one's I use are:

-beta=Expansion\beta;ca;Expansion\beta\Expansion -mod=@DayZ;ca -nosplash

Hope this gets you sorted.

[Deranger]

Cheers Sp!at,

Got it working but not how I had it set before so thanks for the info on how to start from scratch and get it running as it should. Not done it yet but will do in a bit.