When you open your inventory (by default "I" or "TAB") this is the screen that comes up. This is what a new spawn (bambi) inventory looks like.
Proximity Items - The small arrow can be left clicked to open/close the items in this panel. This character has nothing currently in it's proximity
Account Inventory - This is the skins panel for the skins that exist on a players account. To apply these skins you would right click and choose "Apply" then click on the piece of clothing equipped to your character or in your bags to apply skins.
Character Panel - The big panel in the center is where you go to equip your weapons, bags, and clothing. You are given 3 slots for weapons. You can right click to drop or equip items to/from those boxes, you can also click and drag items to equip/drop or move them. In the bottom right hand corner of this panel you have a "Build" button you can use to open a building menu with any building elements you have in your inventory loaded into its interface.
Inventory Item Containers - This is your character's personal storage space, you can change the size of this inventory by adding a bag to the "Back" slot in the Character Panel.
Tabs - Above the Character Panel there are 5 tabs provided to navigate your other panels. If you are in a vehicle you will have 6 tabs.
Crafting
In the Crafting tab you will notice you still see the proximity items, account items, inventory items, build menu, and the tabs.
This is the menu you will use to craft items that you have materials for. There is a filter option you can use to adjust what you see in your recipe list. When you have a recipe selected it will tell you what materials you will need to make that item. You can craft just 1 at a time, set the amount of that item you craft, or craft all that you can based on what materials you have in your close proximity.
Discovery
In the center there are 4 empty boxes, There are 4 of them because some recipes require 4 items, you won't always fill all 4 of these boxes to discover new recipes. To discover new recipes you drag them from either your personal inventory or containers you are in. Once an item no longer has any discoveries attached to it, it will turn grey and no longer allow you to drag it into the discovery boxes when the are all empty. If an item has a discoverable recipe its text will be white, if you have one item in discovery and all the other items in your inventory are grey, they are not part of the recipe and will not allow you to drag them into the discovery boxes.
Pro Tip: Craft a storage container and place one of every item that appears white (still has a discovery attached to it) in that container. There may be some random item out there you have not collected yet that will complete that recipe. You can reference the Recipe List page to aid you in completing your own recipe list if you get stuck. There are still a few items in the game that are missing components to their recipe mostly medical related.
Radio
Radio communications are one of the creature comforts of this game. PVP is a savage world so you probably won't get a lot out of this panel unless you are listening hoping someone slips up and uses it to give out information that could be used against them.
On PVE servers the radio can have quite a bit of chatter (depending on the server) Pick up a shortwave radio when u see one, it will automatically go into the provided radio slot if there isn't one there already. Most servers use Channel 1 for general communication with each other. I have known of a few groups to use other channels to have more personal conversations but it's very uncommon.
Once you have a radio equipped you go to this panel and left click the on/off button to tune in. By Default Numpad 7 is the push to talk on the radio) Numpad 1 is group chat Numpad 4 is proximity chat. You do not need a radio to talk in group or proximity.
Group
If you want to get into a group with other players this is the place you go. You simply type their character name into the "Invite to group:" box and click the invite button. They will then appear in the "Group Members:" box
Things change a little when you group with someone: 1. You can talk to them in group chat (Numpad 1) 2. You can see their location on the map (represented by a colored dot) 3. See a green arrow "Chevron" over their head 4. See a colored outline on their character (colors vary)
Vehicle Loadout
This is the first panel you see when you open your inventory while in a vehicle. Top left box will show you what items are in your vehicles trunk. The center panel is where you see what parts are in the vehicle, its condition and how much fuel it has. You can use this panel to lock/unlock the vehicle but you can also press the "L" key to do that. This vehicle currently has no parts in it, you would drag the parts from your inventory to the boxes to place the parts. If you have a vehicle key you can just drive but if you do not you would right click that box that says "HotWire" and click the slide out menu button that appears. Hotwire takes a few seconds to complete.
Tips and Tricks
1. When in a vehicle only the person in the driver seat has access to the vehicle inventory 2. When in a vehicle for a passenger to eat or use medical supplies the driver must stop the vehicle 3. When in a vehicle only the driver can refuel the vehicle 4. When accessing a container the first person to open it is the only one who can remove and place items in the container as long as they are in the container 5. To dump a whole stack of an item from your inventory hold down "left Shift" and drag the item out 6. To move items one at a time into a container right click and choose the "Move" option 7. To move items one at a time from a container to your inventory right click and choose the "Loot" option
Stats, Buffs, & Debuffs
You will find yourself paying a lot of attention to this box as you play the game.
Health: Your overall Health points are effected by damage you take. To keep this at 100% you use medical supplies like bandaids, first aid kits, etc..
Stamina: Your stamina is effected when you run long distances, when you are tired, or very tired,
Energy: Your hunger, this slowly declines as you get hungry. To fill this stat eat something.
Hydration: Your thirst, this slowly declines as you get thirsty. To fill this stat drink something.
Comfort: This stat currently has no effect on your quality of life in game.
You can move this stats box anywhere on your screen. Open your inventory and then Press Left Shift and click and hold the box. You can now drag it anywhere you want it.
As you carry on in your life you will encounter some interesting things and be given various buffs and debuffs. Some are self inflicted while others are result of the environment.
Adrenaline is a self inflicted buff/debuff. You can find Adrenaline Shots at Kurama Hospital. When you take an Adrenaline shot your Stamina shoots through the roof and you move swiftly for a few seconds. When it wears off your stamina drops very low and you find your character bent over panting, Your stamina will slowly refill for you in a few minutes.
The Banshee's Call slows you tremendously causes your character to put a hand on their ear and turns the edges of your screen a blue'ish color. This Debuff can be deadly. You get this from Banshee Zombies when you are in range of them while they are aggroed. The banshee will scream, blood will spray out of their mouths, you take damage, and are slowed. The call attracts other zombies to the Banshee and can blow up vehicles. Be cautious of the deadly Banshee Zombie!
Deer Scent is a crafted item you can apply to your character. It is a very short buff that allows you to get very close to deer without them running away from you.
Food Poisoning occurs when you eat raw meat. It does a small amount of damage over time to your character.
There are 3 types of bleeds (Light, Moderate, and Heavy) when you are bleeding you apply bandaids, gauze, or a first aid kit to stop the bleeding. Depending on how bad your bleeding you may need to bandaid multiple times to stop the bleeding. Bleeding does damage over time to your character and should be addressed immediately.
Swizzle is a crafted item and a drug. When you take swizzle it gives u this buff/debuff which causes your character to see double and turns everything a green color. It's a short lived buff/debuff. It allows you to run without loss to stamina.
After some time your character will become tired and need to rest. They will move slowly and stamina will not increase over time. If you don't sleep eventually they will become very tired. Their stamina will start to slowly drain to nothing and stay there until you sleep.
After your character sleeps they will get this buff. They run much faster while well rested. Enjoy it while you can because your character only gets tired roughly once an hour. This buff has a short duration.
The All-in-One Cold Medicine buff currently has no effect on your character.
These buffs are only useful if you are infected with the H1Z1 Virus. The only way for you to get the virus is to be injected with a syringe of infected blood. These will not cure you of the virus they will only slow it's progress. The only way to get rid of the virus is to die.
The Coffee with sugar buff gives your stamina regeneration rate a slight increase.