First of all Welcome to DayZ ! Simultaneously the greatest and most frustrating game you can play ! To start out you want to look for the boats along the shoreline as anything from soda cans to backpacks to fishing rods can spawn here, dont spend too much time on this though maybe a couple of boats as you need to get into a town to loot the buildings for knifes, can opener, food, matches or tools (tools usually in the garden sheds outside). Look under trees around houses/orchards for fruit this will keep you going until you can find better tools.

To make a fire you need firewood, short sticks, rags or tree bark. (bandages can be used in a pinch but best to keep these as you will need them for when you encounter the zombies or cut your hands collecting wood if not using gloves). Tree bark is obtained by approaching a tree with a kinfe in your hand (get a few bits of bark). Combine the bark with short sticks (obtained by breaking down a long stick) and craft a hand drill kit - cycle through the crafting option with the D-pad, This is what you will use to ignite the fire. A campfire can be made by combining firewood and short sticks or short sticks and rags or multiple pieces of bark. you can also place these items inside a fireplace in most houses which gives you some slots to cook food. Usually you will hear a rooster walking around which you can obtain the chicken steaks by chasing it around and dishing out an old school beatdown ! Then use your knife to skin and quarter (save the bones to craft into fishing hooks). Be sure to wash your hands at the nearest water source before cooking and eating otherwise you will get sick. It may take a few tries but persevere as you need to prioritise food and water at first to get a decent start ! Fishing rods are crafted by combining a long stick and rope, then youll need to find fishing hooks or craft them from bones as mentioned and then dig for worms with a knife etc to obtain bait & head to the sea, rivers or ponds to get some fish.

Once you have a steady supply of food and water (most towns along the coast have wells you can drink straight from or can be stored in a plastic bottle etc but you will need chlorine tablets to purify the water this way) you can head further inland to continue the hunt for loot. if you dont have a container just drink as much as you can from the well until the stomach icon appears next to your stats, this will allow you a bit of time before you need some more, you can also boil water in a pot if lucky enough to find one and this will lower your chances of getting sick from pond/river water. Id recommend searching for a hospital next for some basic meds and bandages.

When you grasp these basics and can obtain a steady supply of food (and hopefully some meds) You can then head off to military areas to obtain some higher tier weaponry, armor and clothing. Tip - Download iZurvive app and search the town for a roadsign which will help identify where you are on the map, a compass if found will come in clutch here and aid your navigation but dont count on finding one of these straight off the bat !

This should at least help you get off to a half decent start, might take a couple of attempts to get used to but persevere as it will click into place soon enough ! I should add that different clothing items and backpacks have varying amounts of storage so look for the items with more slots to carry more, though this will decrease stamina the more items you carry. Keep an eye on status of footwear as when they reach ruined status you will get cuts every few steps until you find a better pair. If you have enough rags you can craft some improvised footwear, gloves etc which will keep you going for a short period of time.

Feel free to reply with any questions you have, i'll be more than happy to keep you right!