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How to Find Friends in DayZ (Easy Guide)

How to Find Friends in DayZ (Easy Guide)

Surviving in the world of DayZ is a brutal experience especially if you are alone. And considering that any random person you meet along your journey could stab you in the back makes it even more horrifying. Hence, it is always a good thing to have a friend watching your back and support you in this harsh environment.

In DayZ (vanilla), it is not easy to simply party up with a friend and begin your adventure. You will have to first find each other to work alongside. The way DayZ is designed, finding your friend is an ordeal in itself and we are going to make this somewhat easier for you so read along.

To find your friend easily, you and your friend will first need to locate yourself on the map. Then using the landmarks around you or with the help of the iZurvive app/website you can determine a meeting point.

It is not as easy as it sounds so keep reading this article to make your life a lot easier.

Issues When Finding Friends In DayZ

DayZ

DayZ has some design elements that makes it difficult to pair up with your friends. These include:

  • DayZ does not have an in-game map or mini-map to use so you won’t know where you are on the map when you spawn in.
  • DayZ doesn’t have an in-game party or clan system which automatically pairs you with your friend. You will have to rely on third-party voice chat software to talk to your friend on the other side of the map.
  • There is no spawn select option from where you and your friend could choose the exact location to start from. You will be spawned in random locations on the map.

Many of these issues like spawn select can be bypassed by playing on modded servers but those usually take away the fun of the vanilla DayZ experience.

Related: How To Cure A Cold In DayZ

Tips For Finding Friends In DayZ

Now that you know the problems of partying up with your friends, we will get into some tips to make things easy for you:

Server

server list

First and foremost, make sure you and your friend are joining the same server. You can share your server name in Discord (or anywhere you guys communicate) or even copy and paste the IP Address of the server and paste it in Discord.

Locating Yourselves

Now that you are in the same server, you will need to find your location.

Road signs

Navigate to the nearest town and look for a road sign. Signs can be found on the entrance and exit of a town.

train station

You can also look for the town name at train stations found along train tracks.

Use iZurvive App/Website

iZurvive

Now that you know the name of the town, both you and your friend need to use the iZurvive companion app/website of DayZ. This companion is the best thing to have at all times when playing DayZ. This app has the entire map of the game along with every location properly marked. It will act as the missing map in DayZ and you and your friend could even sign in and join a group which will allow both of you to see the markers you place on the map, which is great for location, meeting points, and general navigation.

There are many other benefits of having this app with you while playing DayZ so we highly recommend you download it or visit the site. Below we will link the website along with the Android and iOS apps.

Using iZurvive, in the search bar type the name of the town you are in. This website will then give you your location on the map. With both locations found, you can now decide on a midway point to meet at.

meeting point

We’d suggest meeting at a place such as a town or a city because it will often contain a good amount of food and a water pump there. It is a common thing that after a long journey to be thirsty and hungry. One of the most frustrating things that happen to new players is they finally meet up with their friends but then they end up dying of starvation shortly after.

Related: Complete Guide To Curing Sickness In Dayz

Landmarks

castle landmark

If you are not into the idea of using the iZurvive app then the other way to describe your location are landmarks such as lighthouses, radio towers, power lines, and castles. For instance, as an example, if you know your buddy is near you, you can communicate to him “do you see that castle in the distance” and if he says yes then you both can go ahead and use that landmark as a way to meet up.

Other Locating Tools

There are other helpful tools on your journey that will help you navigate and locate each other:

tourists spot

An in-game tourist stop that will display a map with a red dot on your location. This can help you locate yourself on the map and even locate your friend. You can even use this instead of iZurvive to determine a meeting point.

compass

If you’re able to find a compass then it will help you determine what direction you’re going to be heading. They are easily available by looting nearby locations.

road flare

In situations where you and your friend are close to each other but you still can’t see each other, you can use an item such as a road flare or a glow stick that can be helpful. You can ask your friend to follow the light or do you see that and if they do, they can go ahead and meet up with you.

Flare gun

If you’re lucky enough to find a flare gun and ammo, commonly found on row boats over on the coast, you can shoot the flare way up in the air and your friends should be able to see that from quite a far distance. Though be careful as this can and will attract other hostile players.

Finding Your Bearings On The Map

You can use the train tracks from your spawn point to get a good idea of your location and where you are going. Below we will discuss how to use this method on each map in DayZ.

Chernarus

Commonly on Chernarus, you will spawn on the coast. Following the train track can give you a good idea of which way you’re heading for example if you are on the tracks and the ocean is on your right-hand side you will be going east or north. If you are running down the railroad track and the ocean is on your left you are either running south or west.

Livonia

On the DLC map of Livonia, you often spawn by the river with a set of train tracks that run along the river. If you are on the tracks with the river on your left then you are running north or east whereas if the river is on your right-hand side you will be heading south or west.

Namalsk

Lastly, on the PC-exclusive Namalsk map, you will spawn up north on the coast. For 90% of the spawns, if you are running along the coast with the water on your right this will take you west. Heading along the coast with the water on your left that will take you east.

Modded Servers

Modded servers

On a final note, PC players do get some extra options in the way of mods. There are mods and modded servers for both spawn select and party systems. When searching for a server you can add “spawn” or “party” to the search and often a handful of servers will come up.

Spawn select

The nice thing about spawn select is you can much more easily spawn at the same place with a friend. Servers with a party system allow you to see each other on the map and can make meeting up a lot easier.

These servers in general are not really true to the core DayZ experience so often these servers will be more PvP oriented or just fun orientated and not so much the vanilla experience that defines DayZ.


DayZ can be a frustrating game but once you get over the first 50 hours or so the gameplay really starts to click. As for finding and playing with your friends, it all comes down to locating each other and with the tips we have provided above, you will be easily meeting up with your buddies. And as we said before, once that initial frustration and learning curve has passed then you will find this game extremely fun, especially with a loyal crew around you.