I fixed it, but I still don't know what the issue was and I'm concerned file verification did not help. I downloaded and installed DayZ Experimental, launched that and it worked fine, so I knew my PC hardware was not causing the issue. I then copied the entire DayZ Experimental folder (not the config files in the users folder) into the DayZ folder and did a file verification and 169 files were reacquired. I launched the game, and everything works fine again.

Thanks for your reply. I did all that, but the effect is the same. The game appears to launch but the screen stays black with a visible windowed mode and the DayZ name at the top left, and the minimize, maximize and close buttons on the top right. It then hangs there until I end task or close it, generating an error report.

Hi Geez,