Definition

The Sway Modifier in DayZ determines how much a weapon’s base aiming sway is amplified or reduced. It is stored as a 3-component vector {x, y, z}, where each axis corresponds to horizontal, vertical, and depth sway when aiming. A value of 1.0 means no change, values below 1 reduce sway (steadier aim), and values above 1 increase sway (less stable).

Formula

Per-axis application:

\(Sway_{final}(axis) = Sway_{base}(axis) \times SwayModifier(axis)\)

Each axis is multiplied independently, so attachments and weapon configs can selectively influence sway in one or more directions.

Overall Sway Modifier (geometric mean):

\(SwayModifier_{overall} = (X \times Y \times Z)^{\tfrac{1}{3}}\)

The parser reduces the 3D sway values into a single scalar using the geometric mean, preserving the multiplicative nature of modifiers.

Sway Control (UI-friendly score):

\(SwayControl = \frac{1}{SwayModifier_{overall}} \times 100 \; \text{(normalized to 1–100 scale)}\)

This converts sway into a control score, where higher = more stable aim. Normalization ensures weapons are comparable on the same 1–100 scale.

Where

  • \(Sway_{base}(axis)\) = base sway defined in the weapon’s config
  • \(SwayModifier(axis)\) = multiplier from weapon or attachments
  • \(X, Y, Z\) = the three per-axis modifiers

Explanation

Sway Modifiers define how steady a weapon feels when aiming. Attachments like bipods or stocks can reduce sway, while some weapons inherently have higher instability. By converting the per-axis modifiers into a single control score, the parser makes it easy to compare how different weapons perform in terms of aiming stability. A higher sway control score means steadier aim and easier target tracking.

Example

If a weapon has swayModifier[]={2.2, 2.2, 0.75}:

  • X = 2.2 → horizontal sway more than doubled
  • Y = 2.2 → vertical sway more than doubled
  • Z = 0.75 → depth sway reduced by 25%

Overall Sway Modifier = \((2.2 \times 2.2 \times 0.75)^{1/3} \approx 1.58\) Sway Control = \(\tfrac{1}{1.58} \times 100 \approx 63\) → The weapon is harder to keep steady compared to baseline.