Staying hidden
How infected and animals see and hear you — stance, speed, footwear, voice, fires, lights, gunshots — and how to get by unnoticed.
Infected and animals notice you by what they see and what they hear. Both follow clear rules: how you stand, how fast you move, what is on your feet, whether you talk, and when you shoot. Get those right and you can walk through most towns without a fight.
How far they see you
In daylight, an infected sees about 40 metres straight ahead and about 20 metres to the sides. Night cuts that to about a third, rain to about 60 %, fog to about half. Being seen alerts an infected far faster than being heard.
How you move decides how much of that range applies:
| You are … | Seen from about … of the full range |
|---|---|
| Running or sprinting upright | 100 % |
| Walking upright | 85 % |
| Standing still | 70 % |
| Crouch-sprinting | 65 % |
| Crouch-walking | 50 % |
| Crouching still | 35 % |
| Crawling | 30 % |
| Lying still | 20 % |
- Raising your weapon or keeping it lowered makes no difference.
- A calm infected checks whether it can see your chest; once alerted, it looks for your head. A low wall that hides your body is good cover only while it is still calm.
- Clothing has a camouflage value in the game files — a ghillie suit is among the lowest — but nothing in them shows infected or animals using it. Don't count on camouflage against them.
- Nothing in the game makes infected react to a flashlight, head torch or glow stick. Darkness is what protects you: at night they see much less.
How far they hear you
Infected hear ordinary noise up to about 35 metres and gunshots up to about 110 metres. Each sound has a strength, and the stronger it is, the further it carries. A rough comparison:
| Sound | Strength |
|---|---|
| Lying down and crawling | 1 |
| Crouch-walking in sneakers on grass | 1 |
| Walking upright in sneakers on grass | 4 |
| Jogging in sneakers on asphalt | 8 |
| Whispering on voice chat | 5 |
| Opening or closing a door or gate | 10 |
| Sprinting in boots on gravel | 15 |
| Landing after a drop of 3 metres or more | 16 |
| Talking on voice chat | 25 |
| Shouting on voice chat | 40 |
Footsteps
- Stance matters most: a step standing is almost three times as loud as one crouched or prone.
- Speed comes next: walking is half as loud as jogging, and a roll while lying down is the loudest movement there is.
- Footwear: boots are clearly louder than sneakers; barefoot is quietest.
- The ground counts least. Grass, dirt, sand and carpet are quiet, gravel and metal loud.
- Clothes, backpacks and what you carry make no noise of their own.
Which shoes count as quiet:
| Quiet (like sneakers) | Loud (boots) |
|---|---|
| Sneakers, athletic shoes, running shoes, hiking boots, trail shoes, dress and leather shoes, combat boots | Hunter boots, assault boots, jungle boots, working boots, wellies, NBC boots |
SneakersSneakers_Black
Hiking BootsHikingBoots_Black
Combat BootsTTSKOBoots
Your voice
Voice chat makes noise in the game, once a second while you speak. Talking normally is louder than sprinting in boots, and shouting carries further still. Near infected, whisper or stay quiet.
Weather
Rain, snowfall, wind and fog cover up noise, and the sound of the sea covers the most. Bad weather is the best time to move — it hides your steps and cuts how far infected see.
Gunshots
A gunshot is a special kind of noise: infected hear it up to about 110 metres, some medics and NBC infected up to about 175 metres, and bears up to about 300 metres. Where the bullet hits makes noise too.
| Weapon | Shot strength |
|---|---|
| Rifles and shotguns | 100 |
| Assault rifles, heavy pistols (Deagle, Magnum) | 80 |
| Submachine guns | 60 |
| Pistols, signal pistol | 40 |
| Sporter 22 | 20 |
| Crossbow | 2 |
| VSS, MK II | quiet — they count as ordinary noise, not as shots |
A suppressor cuts a shot down to about a tenth of its strength; the plastic bottle suppressor to about a seventh. A stab from behind that kills an infected outright makes no noise at all.
Standardized SuppressorM4_Suppressor
Normalized SuppressorAK_Suppressor
Pistol SuppressorPistolSuppressor
Plastic Bottle SuppressorImprovisedSuppressor
CrossbowCrossbow
Explosions are louder than anything else: grenades 200, plastic explosive 300.
Other things that make noise
| Source | Notes |
|---|---|
| Alarm clock, kitchen timer | Very loud (200), every second for up to a minute once it rings — a lure that pulls infected away from where you want to go. |
| Fire | Only at night. An outdoor fire is twice as loud as one indoors, in an oven or under a roof. |
| Car horn, smoke grenade | Moderate (30). |
| Melee hits | Every hit makes noise where it lands. |
| Alerted infected | An alerted infected calls out every few seconds and can wake the others nearby. |
Alarm ClockAlarmClock_Blue
Kitchen TimerKitchenTimer
Fires, smoke and light
Infected only hear a fire at night, and nothing in the game files makes its smoke or light draw them in. People are a different matter: the light of an open fire can be seen from far away, while a fire in a house's fireplace or oven only shows up close. A stone oven and a closed fire barrel make no smoke at all — see Fire and cooking.
Animals
| Animal | Sees you from | Hears you from |
|---|---|---|
| Wolf | 100–200 m | up to 100 m, but only about 50 m for gunshots |
| Brown bear | 20–60 m | up to 110 m, gunshots up to 300 m |
| Red deer, roe deer | up to 50–80 m | 70–80 m, gunshots up to 300 m |
| Wild boar | up to 60 m | about 30 m, gunshots up to 300 m |
| Farm animals | under 20 m | about 30 m |
| Hare, fox | they don't react to sight | about 15 m |
Most animals see less at night too, and wolves see you as a smaller target when you crouch or lie down. When stalking deer, crouch-walk, use wind and rain as cover and shoot from as far as you can — see Animals and hunting.
Stamina and weight
Running away only works while your stamina lasts. The bar goes up to 100. These are the vanilla values — servers can change them:
| What you do | Stamina it costs |
|---|---|
| Sprinting upright | 4 per second — a full bar lasts 25 seconds |
| Crouch-sprinting | 1 per second |
| Crawling fast | 3 per second |
| Swimming fast | 5 per second |
| Climbing a ladder fast | 8 per second |
| Holding your breath to aim | 0.2 per second, rising to 1 within 5 seconds |
| Jumping | 25 |
| Climbing over a wall or obstacle | 42 |
| Vaulting over a low obstacle | 20 |
| Heavy / light melee hit | 25 / 5 |
| Dodging in melee | 8 |
| Rolling | 5 |
- Crouch-sprinting costs a quarter of an upright sprint and keeps you harder to see — the best way across open ground near infected.
- Stamina comes back after a pause of about half a second: roughly 8 per second standing still, 7 walking and 5 jogging.
- Weight: up to 6 kg of everything you carry and wear costs nothing. Every kilogram above that takes 1.75 off your maximum stamina — at 20 kg your bar ends at about 75, at 30 kg at 58, at 40 kg at about 40, and from about 60 kg on it is down to the minimum of 5. Wet clothes weigh more, so they cost stamina too (see Temperature and clothing).
- A gas mask with a filter makes stamina drain a quarter faster and come back at half speed. Epinephrine Auto-Injector fills the bar and makes sprinting free for a minute.
A quick checklist
- In towns, crouch-walk. Sprint only where nothing can see you.
- Sneakers, hiking boots or combat boots are quieter than hunter or assault boots.
- Keep voice chat to a whisper near infected.
- Move in rain, wind or fog; avoid gravel and metal roofs.
- Kill quietly — a stab from behind, a crossbow or a suppressor — and keep loud guns for when you have to.
- Throw them off with a ringing alarm clock.