How to host a DayZ server

The server itself is moderate by survival-game standards. What makes DayZ demanding is everything around it: the central economy configuration, mods that each bring their own additions to that economy, and an anti-cheat layer that must be running for most players to connect at all.

How to install it

1. Install Steam’s command-line tool, then log in with an account that owns DayZ. Anonymous login does not work for this one.
2. Start it once, vanilla, with no mods at all. Confirm you can join before adding anything. Debugging a modded server that never worked plain is thankless.
3. Add mods one at a time, copying each mod’s own keys into the server’s key folder. A missing key rejects every player without explaining why.
4. Register modded items in the economy before expecting any of them to appear in the world.
5. Set up a restart schedule before you open to players, not after you notice the drift.

# DayZ will NOT install anonymously.
# Use an account that owns the game.

steamcmd \
  +force_install_dir /home/dayz/server \
  +login YOUR_STEAM_ACCOUNT \
  +app_update 223350 validate \
  +quit

How to configure it

// The name in the server browser.
hostname = "Your server name";

// Empty means anyone can join.
password = "";

// Admin console password. Not the same thing.
passwordAdmin = "change-me";

maxPlayers = 60;

// Message of the day. Each string is a line;
// motdInterval 0 shows it once, on join.
motd[] = { "Welcome.", "Restarts every four hours." };
motdInterval = 0;

// Leave signature verification on unless you know why not.
verifySignatures = 2;

// Day and night speed are multipliers, set separately.
// Servers that are permanently dark got this wrong.
serverTimeAcceleration = 8;
serverNightTimeAcceleration = 16;

• The economy files are your server. Loot balance is what makes a DayZ server distinctive.
• Day and night length are set separately as multipliers. Servers that are permanently dark usually got this wrong rather than chose it.
• Every mod that adds items needs economy entries. The mod authors sometimes ship them; often they do not.
• Keep your economy files somewhere safe. They represent real hours and are easy to lose in a wipe.

Written from experience running these servers. If something here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will recheck it.