Spawn Select

A fresh character does not start on a random stretch of coast: you choose where it wakes up.

When you get the window

• Every new character — your first join on a map, and every respawn after a death.
• Never on a reconnect. Logging back in puts you where you logged out (unless you left from a no-logout zone, which moves you out of it as before).
• Never after Nexus travel. Arriving from another map (Nexus travel network) is not a new character, so you come out at the station as always.

Dying itself is unchanged: you still sit through the normal respawn countdown (Respawn cooldown), and the window opens once it has run.

Picking a spot

The screen is titled SELECT SPAWN POINT and works like a security-camera desk — the DayZed Camera Network:

• A list of spawn zones for the map you are on, plus a RANDOM row.
• A camera preview of whichever zone is highlighted, so you can see the area before you commit. The preview shows the world only — no players and no infected — so it cannot be used to scout who is waiting at a spawn.
• Each zone shows READY, or COOLDOWN with the time left. You have recently spawned there, and you cannot pick the same zone again until it clears. Other zones are unaffected.
• An Auto-deploy countdown runs on the screen. If you do nothing, you are deployed at random when it reaches zero.

Press DEPLOY and you wake up in that zone. RANDOM picks a zone for you and prefers zones that are not on cooldown, so it never locks you out.

While the window is open your character is safe and hidden — nobody can see or hurt it until you deploy. After that the usual fresh-spawn protection applies (Fresh spawn protection).

Cast Away

On maps that offer it, Cast Away is one of the zones in the list rather than a separate option (Castaway spawn). You wash up with a dirty rag, no jacket and no trousers, and less health than a normal start. Pick it for the harder opening, not by accident.

What goes wrong

• "The spawn is on cooldown." You used that zone recently. Pick another one or take Random.
• "This spawn is not available." That zone cannot be used right now. Pick another one.
• "I reconnected and got no window." Working as intended — only a new character chooses.
• "The screen stayed black for a moment." The black screen covers the hand-over to the camera preview. It clears on its own.