Player guides

Survey Map: explore, navigate and keep your discoveries

Your Survey Map is a physical item. The terrain you discover and the markers you draw belong to that particular map, not your account. Give it to another survivor and they receive its discoveries and notes. Lose it and you lose access to that information; picking up the same map restores access. A different map has its own record.

Open and choose your map

Survey Maps can spawn in towns, villages and hunting areas; pens in towns, villages, offices and schools; GPS receivers in hunting locations. These are places to search, not guaranteed spawns.

• Carry a usable Survey Map and press M to open its full-screen view. You can also hold it and choose Unfold Survey Map to enter the custom map menu after the animation. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, and press M again or Escape to close it.
• If you carry several Survey Maps, hold the one you want to use. The held map takes priority. Only the active map records your journey; carrying several maps does not combine their discoveries.
• You can keep a Survey Map in the dedicated map attachment slot on supported backpacks. It remains the same physical item, with the same discoveries and markers.

Unknown terrain starts covered. Travel into new areas to chart nearby terrain. Your active carried Survey Map keeps charting terrain while its screen is closed. The charted percentage shows how much of that map you have discovered. Opening the screen or standing still does not reveal the whole world.

No navigation equipment

You can keep exploring and charting terrain without a compass or GPS, but the Survey Map does not give you an exact location marker or a live compass heading. Use the terrain and landmarks to find your bearings. A compass or GPS alone does not replace the Survey Map needed to open this menu.

Compass: heading and an approximate area

Carry a usable compass to see your heading and an estimated area on the map. The circle starts at a 1,200-metre radius and can narrow to 300 metres as you travel through different sampled areas in compass mode. It is always an estimate, not an exact position pin. Standing still or repeatedly circling previously explored ground does not keep improving it. There is no guaranteed time or walking distance to reach the smallest circle.

GPS: an exact location while powered

Carry a usable GPS receiver with a working battery and switch it on. GPS takes priority over a carried compass and gives an exact position arrow, facing direction and X/Z coordinates. It charts a wider area as you travel, but does not instantly uncover the entire map. Travel in powered-GPS mode does not train the compass estimate.

Switch off the GPS, lose it or lose power and the exact fix disappears. Your existing discoveries and markers stay on the paper map. A compass can still provide its approximate navigation help if you have one.

Draw markers with a pen

• Carry a black, red, green or blue pen with ink remaining. Open the Survey Map and right-click the place you want to mark, then choose Add marker. You can also double-click a location to open the marker editor.
• Choose a pen colour and an icon: person, tent, vehicle, meeting point or house. Enter a label of 1–48 characters and choose Place marker.
• A full pen has five marker uses. Adding a marker spends one use; the pen controls show the uses remaining. Each map can hold up to 64 markers. Save a full black pen for copying and use a partly used pen for ordinary notes.
• Right-click a visible existing marker and choose Remove marker. Removing a marker is free and needs no pen, but does not refund ink. To change a note, remove it and place another. The Markers ON/OFF control hides or shows annotations without deleting them.

These are notes you place on that map. Placing a marker does not uncover unknown terrain. A vehicle or person icon does not automatically track a moving vehicle or another player. Anyone who receives that physical map can read and change its notes; annotations have no private ownership lock.

Repair a damaged map

Combine a Damaged or Badly Damaged Survey Map with paper and complete Repair Survey Map with paper for 10 seconds. It uses one paper and repairs the map to Worn while retaining its discoveries and markers. Cancelling does not spend the paper. A ruined map cannot be repaired with this action.

Make an independent copy

Combine your Survey Map with a full black pen showing five uses left. Complete Copy Survey Map for 60 seconds. A successful copy consumes the pen and creates another map containing the original discoveries and markers; a separate blank map is not required.

The original stays with you. After copying, each map develops independently: new exploration or marker changes on one do not update the other. Cancelling the action preserves the ingredients. Part-used black pens and other pen colours cannot make a copy.

Look after the item

Compass accuracy is temporary navigation confidence, separate from the discoveries and markers saved on the paper and separate from its charted percentage. Copying or handing over a map does not copy a GPS device, battery or that temporary confidence. Do not rely on compass confidence surviving a reconnect or restart.

Discoveries and markers survive normal reconnects and restarts with the surviving map item. Trading, dropping or recovering that same map does not turn it into a fresh chart. Death alone does not erase it: someone can recover the surviving item. Ruining a map permanently clears its discoveries and annotations; repair cannot bring them back. A deleted or despawned map takes its information with it. Keep an independent copy somewhere safe. Ordinary DayZ paper maps are different items; use a Survey Map for these features.

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Recover a stuck vehicle with a Pipe Wrench

Vehicle recovery helps move a stuck, supported road car to a nearby safe position. It keeps the existing vehicle rather than creating a replacement.

• Stop the engine, wait for the car to become stationary and have everyone get out.
• Remove any vehicle cover. Stand close enough to reach the car without a wall, fence or closed door between you.
• Hold a usable Pipe Wrench, look at the vehicle and hold Recover stuck vehicle for 20 seconds.
• Keep the same tool and remain in reach until the action finishes. Follow any refusal message before trying again.

Use a Pipe Wrench, not the ordinary Wrench used for native attachment work. The action is for supported, non-ruined road cars; it is not a motorbike or boat recovery action.

After a successful recovery, you and that vehicle each have a two-minute recovery cooldown.

Recovery can refuse an unsafe placement, blocked access, a moving or occupied vehicle, or an active cooldown. It is not a repair, refuel or a way through locked barriers. If the action is unavailable, check the requirements and ask for help rather than repeatedly forcing the vehicle.

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Cover and uncover a parked vehicle

Use a camo net to cover a supported parked vehicle. The original vehicle, its contents and the attached net stay in the world. Covering does not store the vehicle away or make it invulnerable.

• Park, switch off the engine and have everyone get out. Close fitted doors, the hood and boot; close applicable truck panels too.
• Hold a usable camo net, approach the vehicle and complete Cover vehicle for 10 seconds.
• To use the vehicle again, complete Remove vehicle cover for 10 seconds. Empty your hands or make room in your inventory for the returned net.

While covered, driving, door use, cargo and part changes, and DS Core vehicle recovery are blocked. Remove the cover first. Covering does not repair the vehicle, refill fluids or add an ownership lock.

Supported families include ADA, Olga, Gunter, Sarka, Humvee, covered trucks and inflatable boats. Support is for the implemented variants, not every modded vehicle. Vehicle-cover availability follows the server setup.

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Earplugs, autorun and seated vehicle inventory

End: earplugs

Close open menus before toggling earplugs. Press End to cycle world sound through 100%, 50% and 20%. Voice chat, radio and music volumes stay unchanged.

Home: autorun

Press Home to toggle autorun while you steer. Normal stamina and survival limits still apply. Autorun requests sprint when normal DayZ limits allow and otherwise uses running. Manual movement, opening menus other than the supported player map, entering a vehicle, swimming, ladders, climbing, restraint, unconsciousness or death cancels autorun. Blocked movement also stops it.

The supported player map can stay open during autorun. Press your configured autorun key again to stop; opening the map does not start autorun. Stay aware of terrain, obstacles and other players.

Rebind earplugs and autorun under Controls > DS Core.

Vehicle inventory

Open your normal inventory while seated to access the vehicle you occupy. Use your usual inventory binding. DayZ’s normal inventory rules still apply; this is not access to every nearby vehicle.

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Local and Global chat

Open chat with your configured DayZ chat control. Check the LOCAL or GLOBAL label before sending. Use Tab to switch channel and Enter to send your message.

Local uses native DayZ local delivery. Global is the server-wide DS Core player channel, with a 240-character limit and a visible counter. Longer text can scroll in the editor; the limit is not the width of the input box. Use the mouse wheel or Page Up/Page Down to browse history; return to the bottom to follow new messages.

Keep player reports, private evidence and ban appeals in Discord support tickets rather than Global chat. Follow the community rules in both channels.

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