This is a basic introduction to what you need in order to survive on the server, this includes details like searching for loot, refuelling vehicles, reparing, inventory management and finally, saving your character and items.
Spawning In[]
When you spawn into the world after creating your character, you will always have these 2 items in your backpack
- Knife
- Wrench
This "Starting Gear" will give you a chance to defend yourself and fix up a vehicle to just-working condition.
The first thing you probably want to do is follow the tutorial that will appear on the bottom of your screen if you haven't already done so, this will give you a good idea of how to use your inventory, pick up/drop items etc.
You should think about transportation, if you run or sprint everywhere your food bar will deplete faster, that's the green bar at the top right of the screen (next to the health/weapon indicators) you can fix a vehicle up to around 45% health with the wrench, you will need other tools to fix it up to maximum health. If your vehicle has broken tires you must find a Wheel item to fix the broken wheel.
Searching for items[]
Now for the scavenging part, looking for items is all about looking in the right places. There are loot piles pretty much all over San Fierro as well as in the trunks of most vehicles. Loot is split into categories:
- Civilian - Simple common items, some useful, some junk, rarely weapons.
- Police - Small weapons, food, ammunition and some other useful items.
- Industrial - Crafting components, tools, wheels, petrol cans, mostly useful items but not as common.
- Military - High grade weaponry, armour, explosives, tools and other useful items, very rare.
- Survivor - Everything you need.
The different types of items are in the logical places, docks and industrial area, naval base, police station and housing estates. Downtown in the city has a lot of Survivor Loot hidden on rooftops, you will have to figure out how to get that!
Other Players[]
If you only recently spawned, it's not a good idea to approach other players, they could be hostile. But if you really think you can trust someone, you might be able to offer a trade, or they might be nice enough to spare some items for you.
If you are killed, don't worry, it's part of the game and you're likely to be killed on your first few characters. Part of getting the best stuff is about accepting losses. Sometimes it's safer to just get some new items rather than go back to your body where your assailant could be waiting for you to return. The game takes patience, if you want a quick thrill you can try running towards another player guns blazing but chances are they have a better weapon.
Despite this, if you are a newly spawned player, it's likely that a smart player won't waste ammunition on killing someone where they won't get anything out of it.
Remember the rule of the wasteland: Never attack an unarmed person.
Groups[]
If you have friends who play, form a group as soon as possible! Your chances of survival are greatly increased if you travel with someone. There are more eyes watching the surrounding area so you are less likely to run into a trap, and if one of you dies there's always another there to guard your items or try to pick off the attacker(s).
Setting up Camp, Saving Your Character and Items[]
When you have to leave the server, it's important you do so in a safe way. If you are on foot, you can just quit wherever you stand, but make sure you are not in a popular loot spot as there will be a higher chance of a player being nearby when you log back in.
Vehicles[]
The game always saves the last vehicle you exit, ensure the last vehicle you exit is actually your vehicle that's full of your supplies! The vehicle's condition, trunk contents and fuel will be saved. Be aware that this means the vehicle will always be there when the server restarts and while you're offline, so ensure you hide it well or another player can just drive off and when they save it, it won't be yours anymore!
Safeboxes[]
Safeboxes are containers you can put items in and they will save just like vehicles! If you find one, place it down at your camp and place some items in. These will always be here (unless another player decides to steal them!)
Things to Note About Saving Items[]
- You CAN NOT save containers of items WITHIN other boxes or trunks. If you try and store your backpack/safebox full of hotdogs inside a trunk/safebox, it will be fine while you are playing BUT when the server restarts the items inside the container will NOT be saved!
- An empty SafeBox will not save, this is to save memory and to ensure safeboxes that spawn at loot piles will not save. So if you have an empty safebox you plan to keep and use another time, just put it inside another safebox or a vehicle trunk.
- Your current vehicle will automatically save when you interact with the trunk. So if you exit Vehicle A and put an item in the trunk, that will save. Then if you walk over to Vehicle B and put an item in the trunk, Vehicle B will not save as you didn't enter+exit it to declare it as your new current vehicle.
- The server automatically saves all player-owned vehicles when it restarts or shuts off for maintenance. Just to be safe! But during the beta, it's always a good idea to save it yourself.
Saving your items like this isn't required if you plan to come back before the next Server Restart but is recommended as the server could restart unexpectedly (especially during the Beta test phase)
If an administrator notifies the players of a server restart, get to a safe place as soon as possible and get ready to save your items. A server restart will take no more than 20 seconds, but any items on the ground (apart from SafeBoxes) will not be there after the restart.
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