How to Set Up a DayZ Dedicated Server: The Complete Guide

Private, community and official DayZ servers: what you are setting up

DayZ is played on three kinds of server. Official servers are run by Bohemia Interactive, and nobody outside Bohemia can change their settings, loot or mods. Community servers run the same DayZ server software, but their owner decides the map, the mods, the loot, the rules and who gets in. A DayZ private server is simply a community server with a password or a whitelist, for your group and nobody else.

The software is the DayZ dedicated server that Bohemia publishes on Steam (app 223350, with a separate experimental branch, app 1042420). It runs the world without a game client, so nobody has to keep DayZ open, and the world, the bases and the stashes are there whenever someone logs in. A rented server is that same dedicated server, run for you in a datacentre with a control panel on top.

DayZ Badlands, Nasdara and Update 1.30: what server owners need to know

Bohemia Interactive set 15 October 2026 as the release date of DayZ Badlands, a paid expansion, and of Update 1.30, the game update that comes with it. These are the points that matter for a server, taken from Bohemia's announcements in the official DayZ news on Steam and the DayZ Badlands store page:

• A new official map, Nasdara. Bohemia describes it as 267 km² of arid terrain west of Chernarus, on the border of Takistan, and the largest map for official DayZ.
• New systems. Bohemia lists sandstorms, rebuildable houses, two motorbikes (a moped and an enduro), radio gameplay with Morse code signals that lead to underground shelters, regional firearms, clothing and loot, new wildlife (dogs, desert monitors and mouflons) and regional diseases. The underground facilities use a new terrain-hole system that Bohemia says will also be available for other maps and to modders.
• Update 1.30 concerns every server. It entered the Experimental branch on Steam on 16 September 2026. With forceSameBuild = 1, as in Bohemia's reference config, a server only lets in players on the same build, so update the server on the day a new version reaches the stable branch.
• Animation mods may break. Bohemia warned modders that the 1.30 animation changes can cause problems with animation-related mods. Check each mod's Workshop page for a 1.30 update before you update a modded server.
• Who can join a Nasdara server. When Frostline came out, Bohemia required players to own the expansion to join a server running Sakhal. Check Bohemia's release notes for the Badlands rules before you move a public server to Nasdara.

On a GTX server, take a backup, run Steam Update and update your Workshop mods. To test a version before it reaches the stable branch, install the Experimental Update tool from the Mod Manager: it switches your server to the DayZ experimental branch. Our support team can help you move a server to Nasdara.

Host it yourself or rent a server: an honest comparison

Running your own DayZ server is free if you have a spare PC, and it is a good way to learn how DayZ servers work. Bohemia's server configuration reference covers the basics:

1. Install the DayZ Server tool through Steam, or with SteamCMD (app 223350). Bohemia's Linux guide logs in to SteamCMD with a Steam account, not anonymously.
2. Edit serverDZ.cfg: the server name (hostname), password, the admin password (passwordAdmin), maxPlayers and the mission to load (template).
3. Start DayZServer_x64.exe with launch parameters such as -config=serverDZ.cfg, -port=2302, -profiles= (where logs are written) and -mod= for Workshop mods.
4. Open the game port and the Steam query port (steamQueryPort) on your router and firewall, so players outside your home network can find and join the server.
5. For remote admin, set an RCon password in BattlEye's BEServer_x64.cfg.
6. Shut the server down gracefully, as Bohemia recommends, so characters and the world are saved properly, and update it through Steam after every DayZ patch.

Our view after hosting game servers since 2008: a small group with a spare PC can start at home. Rent one when the server must stay up while you are offline, when you run a modded or public community, or when you do not want your home connection to carry it. Every GTX DayZ server includes up to 10 GB of RAM; see our DayZ server hosting plans for current prices and locations.

Setting up your DayZ server in the GTX game panel

DayZ servers on GTX run in our game panel and are set up as soon as you order. This is the order we suggest for the first evening:

1. Log in to the game panel at gamepanel.gtxgaming.co.uk, open your DayZ server and press STOP before you change any file.
2. Open Configuration Files and edit Config.cfg with the Config Editor: the server name, a password for a private server, the message of the day and the Mission Template, which sets the map. Press Save & Exit.
3. Add mods with the Steam Workshop button or one-click packs from the Mod Manager (how).
4. Press START and watch the Web Console: it shows the server's own output, so you can see straight away whether a mod loaded.
5. Join it. Server Details and the Connection & Controls box show your IP, ports and RCON details. Find the server by name in the DayZ server browser or the DZSA Launcher, or add it by IP and port. After changing mods, press Sync DZSA Mods so the launcher shows the right mod list.

serverDZ.cfg: the DayZ server settings that matter

Every DayZ server reads its main settings from one config file. Bohemia calls it serverDZ.cfg, although the real name is whatever the -config launch parameter points to. In the GTX panel it is the Config.cfg entry under Configuration Files, with a form (Config Editor) and a Text Editor. These are the settings owners change most:

The same reference lists the logging and network settings that affect server FPS (logAverageFps, the networkRange values, multithreadedReplication) and the ping limits that warn and kick players (pingWarning, pingCritical, MaxPing); see performance. Gameplay values such as stamina and base damage are in cfggameplay.json in the mission folder, and Bohemia publishes the default mission files for its maps in its DayZ Central Economy repository.

Maps and missions: Chernarus, Livonia, Sakhal and community maps

A DayZ map is two things: the terrain, which every player loads, and a mission folder in mpmissions on the server, which holds the loot economy, the spawn points and the saved world. The template line in the server config names the mission to load.

Official maps on GTX: stop the server, open Config.cfg in Configuration Files, pick the mission in the Mission Template field, press Save & Exit and start the server. The mission files are already on the server, so no upload is needed; see how to run Sakhal for the full steps.

Community maps on GTX install from the Community Maps section of the Mod Manager in one click: Deer Isle, Namalsk, Banov, BanovFrost, Chiemsee, Bitterroot, Siberia, TakistanPlus, NewYork and more. The panel adds the map mod, its mission files and the mods it depends on, such as CF. What we tell every customer:

• Start from a vanilla server and take a backup first. Many Workshop mods do not work on every map.
• The first start is slow: the server downloads the map, and big maps run to several gigabytes.
• A map updates in two parts: the Workshop mod (Steam Workshop button) and the mission (the Mod Manager's Update, which writes a separate _UPDATED folder so your own XML edits are not overwritten).
• DayZ updates can break a community map until its author releases a compatible version.

Mods: Steam Workshop, load order and keys

DayZ mods come from the Steam Workshop. A server loads them from the -mod launch parameter, in the order they are listed, and with Bohemia's default verifySignatures = 2 it checks each mod against its key, which is why every mod's .bikey file belongs in the server's keys folder. Mods that only the server needs go in -serverMod and are not sent to players. Players need the same client mods as the server: the DZSA Launcher downloads a server's mods for them, and the official launcher offers to subscribe to any Workshop mods they are missing.

1. Find each Workshop ID: the number after ?id= on the mod's Workshop page. Community Framework (CF), which many mods need, is 1559212036.
2. Stop the server, press MORE and open Plant Workshop Mods. Enter the IDs in load order, dependencies first: @ModID1;@ModID2;, then press Execute.
3. Open Steam Workshop, set the Content Type to Installed Content and run Reinstall All.
4. Do the mod's own setup (config files, types.xml entries, admin IDs), then press START and check the Web Console.

The Mod Manager adds the most requested packs in one click, including the DayZ Expansion Bundle (with ready-made mission files for the maps it supports), VPPAdminTools and Server Messages. To keep mods current, a Workshop Update scheduled task checks for new versions, warns players and restarts the server for you. Add a few mods at a time: when the server will not start, the Log Viewer usually names the mod that failed, and a short list makes the culprit easy to find. Full steps: install several mods at once.

Loot, zombies and the Central Economy (types.xml)

DayZ spawns loot, infected, animals and vehicles through the Central Economy, which reads XML files in the mission folder. Bohemia publishes the default files for its maps in its Central Economy repository. The files you will edit most:

Each item in types.xml is one <type> entry. The AKM in Bohemia's Chernarus file, for example, has nominal 3 (the number the economy aims for on the map), min 2 (below this it spawns more), lifetime 7200 (seconds an untouched item stays before cleanup) and restock 3600 (seconds before it restocks). Raise nominal and min for more of an item, lower them for less, and raise lifetime when loot vanishes too fast.

1. Stop the server and download a copy of every file you are about to change.
2. Edit the file in the File Manager or over SFTP. Mod items only spawn once they have an entry: put them in your own types file and list it in cfgeconomycore.xml, or add them to types.xml, using the class names exactly as the mod author gives them.
3. Run the XML Validator until the file is clean, then press START and watch the Log Viewer for errors that name a mission file.

No loot or no zombies at all usually means a broken XML file, an item set to 0 or a switch turned off in economy.xml: how to fix no loot or zombies spawning walks through every check. Remember that infected and animals spawn around players, so an empty town with nobody nearby can be normal.

Admin, RCON, whitelist and the priority queue

• Admin password: passwordAdmin in the server config is the password to become server admin.
• RCON: remote console through BattlEye, whose RCon password is set in BEServer_x64.cfg. On GTX, press Server Details for the RCON details, enter the password in the Web Console and type commands to list every command. RCON only works while the server is online.
• Whitelist: set enableWhitelist = 1 and add each allowed player's ID to whitelist.txt, one per line. A player who is not on the list is kicked, and their ID then shows in the RPT log and the Web Console. Add yourself and your admins first.
• Priority queue: players listed in priority.txt in the server's root folder go to the front of the login queue. Bohemia's format is Steam IDs separated by semicolons.
• Bans: ban.txt keeps players out (Bohemia's disableBanlist switches it off).
• In-game admin tools: admin mods add a menu for teleporting, spawning items, weather and player management. VPPAdminTools installs from the Mod Manager in one click (you enter a super admin password and your Steam64 ID). Community Online Tools comes from the Workshop: join once, then give your player file the Admin role in the File Manager; Y opens its menu. Zomberry Admin Tools reads your Steam64 ID from admins.cfg.

Updates, restarts and backups

Update day

A vanilla server needs three clicks: STOP, Steam Update, START. A modded server needs more care, because big DayZ updates often break mods and change the mission XML files:

1. Stop the server and take a backup.
2. Run the ADVANCED Steam Update. If you have edited XML files, tick Save MPMissions: it keeps your mission and writes the new default files to a separate folder, so you can merge the changes in later.
3. Update your mods in Steam Workshop and check the Mod Manager for an update to your community map.
4. Start the server and give it at least five minutes before you decide it is not coming online.

Not showing up afterwards? Read how to update your DayZ server: it covers failed Steam updates, broken mods, out-of-date map files and XML files that changed with the update.

Restarts

A DayZ server slows down the longer it runs, and Bohemia recommends shutting it down gracefully so characters and storage are saved properly. On GTX the Backup and Restart with Messages task does both: it warns players in game (and on Discord if you connect a webhook) from 30 minutes before, locks the server, kicks the players still online just before the restart to help prevent item duplication, makes a backup and restarts. Every 4 hours suits most modded servers; a quiet vanilla server can go 6 hours. Add a Steam Update task with Update only if new version is available and a Workshop Update task, and the server keeps itself current. For a one-off, MORE has Maintenance Shutdown and Maintenance Restart with warnings.

Backups and wipes

Press Backup Server before every big change: new mods, a map switch, a wipe or an update. Restore Server brings any backup back, and the Backup Manager downloads one to your PC. Every restart also saves a backup to our offsite backup machine, and we normally keep backups for up to six months. The saved world itself lives in the storage_ folder inside the mission folder (the number after it is the server's instanceId). Many communities wipe after a big update or at the start of a season: the Wipe Server button resets the world in one click, so take a backup first.

Server FPS, RAM and player count

Server FPS is how many times per second the server updates the world. When it drops, everyone feels it as desync, rubber-banding, slow doors and infected that teleport, even players with fast PCs. Measure it first: Bohemia's logAverageFps setting writes the average server FPS to the log at the interval you set, with the -doLogs launch parameter on. Then work through the changes that help most, in this order:

1. Fewer items and infected. Lower nominal on the item types nobody needs and ZombieMaxCount in globals.xml. No wipe is needed: the map thins out over a few restarts.
2. Regular restarts every 3 to 6 hours, with warnings.
3. Fewer mods, especially mods that spawn lots of items or AI. Test them a few at a time.
4. Network ranges. Bohemia's defaults are networkRangeFar = 1000 and networkRangeDistantEffect = 4000 metres; lowering them cuts the work per player. Keep multithreadedReplication = 1.
5. Fewer slots or more hardware if the FPS only drops when the server is full.

These are our own sizing notes for the plans we sell, not an official figure from Bohemia. The panel's Activity and Stats graphs show live memory use, so you can see what your server really needs. RAM, CPU, slots and the hardware package can all be changed later in the Client Area, under Upgrade/Downgrade Options.

Troubleshooting a DayZ server

• Not in the server list after an update: usually it is not starting at all. Wait five minutes, then add the QUERY INFO address from the panel in Steam (View, Game Servers, Favourites, Add a server) and check Activity and Stats.
• Will not start after an update: read the last lines of the Web Console and the server_console and script_log files in the Log Viewer. A broken mod, an out-of-date community map or a mission XML file that changed with the update is the usual cause.
• Players cannot join after a patch: the server and the game must be on the same build. Run Steam Update.
• "has a Steam Workshop ID of '0'": clear workshop.mods and reinstall all installed Workshop mods (fix).
• No loot or no zombies: an XML error, an item set to 0 or a switch turned off in economy.xml (loot).
• Loot disappears too quickly: raise the item's lifetime in types.xml.
• Lag, desync and rubber-banding: check the server FPS and work through the performance list.
• Your changes keep disappearing: the server was running while you edited. Stop it, edit again, then start it.

Playing on your server: game guides

Once the server is running, these guides help your group survive on it, from reading the sounds around you to picking a community map. We keep only the guides readers use and check them against Bohemia's update notes, but the game itself always has the last word after a patch. They are in one list: browse the play guides, and the map guides are under Maps.