To save you some time, upload a copy of your dxdiag and a crashdump from your DayZ AppData folder. You might aswell do it now, since that will be the first thing the feedback team will ask you for.

If you're unsure how to, there's a guide here:
http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/186540-my-dayz-crashed-what-do-i-do/

Copied from the link above:

Getting your DxDiag file:

1. Open the Start menu
2. Write "dxdiag"
3. Press enter
4. A window will open
5. Click "Save all information"
6. You will get a text file - that's what we need

Getting your crash dumps:

1. Go to this file location: "C:\Users\<Name>\AppData\Local"
2. There you should see a DayZ folder.
3. Create a .zip or .rar file of that folder.

Hey Andy,

Thanks a bunch for the reply - it's greatly appreciated.

I tried what you said, but when DayZ starts (and immediately crashes) - it only creates an empty folder within the AppData/Local folder.

What now?

• Mads

Hey Andy,

As mentioned, I cannot upload a new AppData file, because the game only creates an empty folder upon startup, before it crashes. So what do we do now? :)

• Mads

So... It's been three months. Long time no talky.

I have to admit, that this is getting a bit frustrating. I'm quite aware that the game is in alpha, but I'm starting to feel that you've forgotten me :)

I just tried opening the game again, hoping that the numerous patches would've corrected the issue, but amazingly it's actually gotten worse. When the problem started, I got to the main menu where the game froze whenever I pressed "Play" or "Change Server" - and not once since have I been able to circumvent that issue.

But now I can't even get into the game. It just freezes immediately on startup with a black screen and a loading cursor. The game stops answering and I have to force a restart to close it properly - killing the application in task manager apparently doesn't close some background process.

Hey Andy,

I really don't mean to be rude, but it's been almost three months since I heard from you, where you said that you hoped to be "the bearer of good news soon".

I'd like to stress that I'm not demanding a solution to the issue right this instant. But if you could just comment here, and reassure me that my problem is still on your radar, and that you're still working on it - I would be very grateful.

Sincerely,
Mads Liljendahl

... And just for kicks, I tried switching to experimental (for the bajillionth time, roughly), but to no avail.

I'll try reinstalling the game again, but I'm... somewhat less optimistic about the results.

I'm eagerly awaiting your reply :)

Hey Andy, long time no talky!

I tried opening the game again, hoping that the issue would have been resolved in the last few updates, but sadly this isn't the case. This pesky problem is still an issue.

... Any news to share? :)

Regards,
Mads

Hey Andy,

I really appreciate the update.
Keep up the good work!

Kind - albeit zombie-killing-craving - regards,
Mads

So... Are there any news to report, Andy? :)

Another batch of things I've tried:

• I tried to join a server through my Steam Favorites list, in order to circumvent the menu. This time, the game froze and crashed on the black screen with the DayZ logo - so no real change.

• I reinstalled the game again for the fun of it. The problem (unsurprisingly, perhaps) persisted.

Another thing to add:

• I have now tried updating to experimental, but the problem persists.

Hey Andy,

I tried updating the experimental build to the latest version, but that didn't help the issue.
Neither did switching back to stable and verifying the steam game cache.

I was wondering something, however. I've had a few months hiatus from the game, and as far as I can gather there was a character wipe of some kind, prior to (or around) the release of the 0.49 build - is that correct?

If it is, I just find it weird that my old character is still featured beside the menu when I open the game.
Could that be related to the issue in some weird way?

Thanks in advance,
Mads

Thanks, Andy.

And to clarify: My editing this ticket earlier to add "Not responding" as a tag, was in no way intended as a snarky remark on the response time of the otherwise excellent DayZ feedback team, but rather related to the problem at hand.

Unlike this comment, naturally.

All kidding aside, thanks again for the reply.

• Mads

Also; I forgot to mention that while the game itself seems to freeze, I can still move the cursor around - but other than that, the game is unresponsive.

A couple of things to add:

• I have of course tried disabling anti-virus (including Windows Defender), with no change at all.

• My graphics drivers are up to date.

I can now add that I've tried reinstalling DayZ through Steam, yet the problem persists.