DayZ 1.29 Experimental Release : New Clothing, Bunker Expansion & Terrain Improvements

Greetings, Survivors!

The time has come ! DayZ 1.29 Experimental Update is entering the experimental phase on Steam and Xbox ! This is your chance to preview upcoming content, test new systems, and help shape the future of the game by providing valuable feedback.

Let’s take a look at what this build introduces and why your participation matters more than ever.

A New Experimental Setup Focused on Survival

With update 1.29, the development team is using the experimental branch to test balancing changes to the central economy specifically on Chernarus. This experimental setup leans further into the survival-focused gameplay that many long-time players have been asking for.

These changes are exclusive to the experimental version of update 1.29 and will not carry over to the stable branch. The goal is to gather community feedback that will directly inform development on:

• The upcoming 1.30 update
• The in-progress Badlands expansion

Clean Slate: Wipe Notice

To ensure feedback is not influenced by previous progression or server states, the team has decided to perform a full wipe of all experimental servers and characters. Everyone will be starting fresh, allowing for more accurate testing of the new economy setup.

The Largest Clothing Pack Yet

Update 1.29 also brings the biggest clothing pack ever introduced in a single DayZ update. A total of nine new clothing items (excluding color variants) are being added to the world spawns, and in some cases, can be crafted.

While the team isn’t revealing full details just yet, it’s worth noting that most of these new outfits are designed to enhance immersion and survival in Sakhal’s harsh environment. Expect gear that complements the cold, rugged terrain and maybe even a few surprises.

One particular piece of clothing, however, will be especially rare and exceptionally difficult to obtain. Whether it’s worth the challenge is up to you to decide…

A New Expansion to the Underground Bunker

Speaking of Sakhal, some players shared feedback that the underground bunker felt a little too limited in size. The team listened—and agreed.

As a result, update 1.29 introduces an entirely new section to the Sakhal bunker. Just like the original structure, this new area has been faithfully modeled after a real-world counterpart: the Monolith-type bunker, also known as Javor 51. This structure was used during the Cold War to store Soviet nuclear warheads, and was built across former Czechoslovakia and various Warsaw Pact countries.

To ensure accuracy and authenticity, members of the team even visited one in person earlier this year.

A Third Entrance to the Bunker

While it’s a relatively small addition, the new section of the underground bunker brings a significant shift in gameplay flow. Most notably, it introduces a third entrance, making encounters around Sakhal’s bunker far more dynamic and unpredictable.

Whether you’re sneaking in for loot or holding the position defensively, this extra access point opens up new tactical possibilities underground.

Improved Terrain Surface Blending

For years, environment artists have struggled with imperfect terrain blending in DayZ. Harsh transitions between different surface textures especially between snow and dark ground have often resulted in blocky, broken-looking terrain, something that stood out particularly on Sakhal.

With update 1.29, this long-standing issue has finally been addressed. Thanks to support from the Enfusion engine team, the game now features vastly improved blending of terrain surfaces.

The difference is striking and a noticeable improvement to the visual immersion of the world.

Terrain Blending Comes to Chernarus and Livonia

These improvements to terrain blending aren’t limited to Sakhal. Both Chernarus and Livonia have also been updated to take advantage of the new system.

However, because this feature requires changes to existing terrain data, it’s disabled by default. Modders who wish to enable this enhanced blending in their own projects will need to opt in manually.

The development team hopes this change will bring a deeper sense of immersion and realism while exploring the varied environments of DayZ.

Looking Ahead

While update 1.29 may be lighter in terms of content, it still lays important groundwork—both visually and structurally. Most of the development team is currently focused on building the content for the recently announced DayZ: Badlands expansion, which promises to be a major milestone for the game.

In the meantime, we hope these additions and improvements make your time in DayZ even more rewarding.

Thank you and see you on Sakhal!

P.S. Curious about the full changelog? You can find the full 1.29 patch notes for PC here.