How to set up a DayZ server

This is the manual way, start to finish. Set aside an evening for the first time. Nothing here needs programming, but it does need patience: DayZ is unforgiving about typos in file names.

What you need

• A Windows machine that stays on. Your own PC works for testing, but players will only see the server while it is running.
• DayZ bought on Steam. The server itself is free, but it only shows up if you own the game.
• A text editor that does not corrupt files. Notepad++ or Sublime Text. The standard Windows Notepad will do at a pinch, but it likes to add hidden characters.
• About 20 GB of free disk space.

1. Install the server

In your Steam library switch the filter from Games to Tools and find DayZ Server. Install it in the default place, do not move it anywhere clever:

Steam\steamapps\common\DayZServer

You will also need a second folder, the one where Steam keeps the mods you subscribe to:

Steam\steamapps\common\DayZ\!Workshop

2. Make the start file

The server has no launcher. You start it with a small text file that tells Windows what to run and with what settings.

In the DayZServer folder create a text file and name it start.bat. Inside, describe four things: which port to use, how many processor cores the server may take, which settings file to read and which mods to load.

Two things trip almost everyone up here:

• Windows hides file extensions by default, so start.bat quietly becomes start.bat.txt and simply opens in the editor instead of starting anything. Turn extensions on in Explorer before you save.
• The number of cores must not be larger than the machine actually has. Asking for more does not make it faster, it makes it unstable.

3. Server settings

The main settings file is serverDZ.cfg, it sits next to the server. This is where you set the name players see in the list, the slot count, whether there is a password and who counts as an admin.

Two passwords live in there and they are not the same thing:

Setting	What it does
password	Players need it to join. Leave it empty for a public server.
passwordAdmin	Gives control over the server. Never share it and never reuse a password from anywhere else.

Also add -config=serverDZ.cfg to the launch parameters, otherwise the server starts with defaults and ignores everything you just wrote.

4. Ports

If the server runs at home, these have to be opened on the router. On a rented machine they are usually open already.

Port	What for
2302	The game itself. This is the one players connect to.
2303 to 2305	Service ports, the server takes them alongside the main one.
27016	So the server appears in the public list.

5. Mods

A mod is not installed on the server automatically even if you are subscribed to it in Steam. Every one goes through the same three steps.

1. Copy the mod folder from !Workshop into the server folder, keeping the name with the @ in front.
2. Copy the mod key, the file ending in .bikey, into the keys folder. Without the key the server starts but nobody can join.
3. Add the mod name to the mod list in start.bat. Several mods are listed one after another and separated by a semicolon.

Order matters. If a mod says in its description that it needs another one, the one it needs goes first in the list.

6. Loot

How much of everything spawns on the map is decided by one file:

DayZServer\mpmissions\dayzOffline.chernarusplus\db\types.xml

Every item has a line there: how many exist on the map at once, the minimum before more appear, how long one lies around before it disappears.

Mods that add items bring their own types.xml, and its contents have to be merged into yours. This is the single most annoying part of the whole setup, and the one people lose work on most often.

Keep a copy of your types.xml somewhere outside the server folder. A game update replaces the file with the standard one without asking, and an evening of balancing disappears.

7. Start it

Double click start.bat. A console window opens, and after a minute or two the server appears in the in game list. Search by name, not by scrolling: on a first launch it can sit low down.

While the server is running, do not edit its files and do not add mods. Stop it first, change what you need, start it again.

When it does not work

What you see	Where to look
Console opens and closes at once	A path in start.bat points somewhere that does not exist, or the file was saved as .bat.txt.
Server starts but is not in the list	Ports are closed, or -config=serverDZ.cfg is missing from the launch parameters.
Players get a mod mismatch error	A .bikey file did not make it into keys, or the mod versions differ.
Server starts and immediately falls over	Almost always types.xml. Paste it into any online XML validator, it will point at the line.

Whatever happens, the answer is usually in the log files inside the ServerProfiles folder. They look frightening but the last few lines before the crash normally name the file that caused it.