DayZ Server Configuration Guide: serverDZ.cfg, Loot Economy, and Advanced Settings

DayZ Server Configuration Guide

DayZ gives you a frankly absurd amount of control over how your server runs. You can tweak everything from how fast time passes to exactly how many cans of beans spawn in a given town. This guide covers the main config files you'll be working with and what the important settings actually do.

If you haven't set your server up yet, start with the DayZ Getting Started Guide.

Configuration File Overview

DayZ uses a handful of config files that all work together. Knowing which file does what will save you a lot of trial and error:

One thing that catches people out: cfgweather.xml and cfgplayerspawnpoints.xml sit in the mission root folder, not in the db/ subfolder like most of the other economy files. I've seen plenty of servers break because someone put them in the wrong place.

serverDZ.cfg In Depth

This is your server's master config. You can edit it through Configuration Files in your LOW.MS Control Panel.

Network and Performance Settings

hostname = "My DayZ Server | LOW.MS";        // Server name in browser
password = "";                                // Join password (empty = public)
passwordAdmin = "YourAdminPass";              // RCON admin password
maxPlayers = 60;                              // Maximum players (default 60)
verifySignatures = 2;                         // 0=off, 1=lenient, 2=strict
forceSameBuild = 1;                           // Require matching game version
guaranteedUpdates = 1;                        // Server-side hit registration
BattlEye = 1;                                // Anti-cheat (keep this on)
loginQueueConcurrentPlayers = 5;              // Simultaneous login attempts
loginQueueMaxPlayers = 500;                   // Maximum queue length
instanceId = 1;                               // Unique ID for multi-instance setups
lootHistory = 1;                              // Track loot history (1=yes)
storeHouseStateDisabled = false;              // Disable building state persistence
storageAutoDestroyFlags = 0;                  // Auto-destroy unused storage
storageAutoDestroyInterval = 0;               // Interval for auto-destroy check

Time and Weather

serverTime = "SystemTime";                    // Server time or fixed: "2025/6/15/12/00"
serverTimePersistent = 0;                     // Save time between restarts
serverTimeAcceleration = 12;                  // Day/night cycle speed (1-24)
serverNightTimeAcceleration = 1;              // Night speed relative to day (up to 64)

A setup I quite like for servers that want mostly daytime with short nights: set serverTimeAcceleration = 6 and serverNightTimeAcceleration = 4. You get a slower overall cycle, but night passes four times faster than day. Players still get to experience nighttime without it dragging on forever.

Gameplay Rules

disable3rdPerson = 0;                         // 1 = first-person only
disableCrosshair = 0;                         // 1 = no crosshair
disablePersonalLight = 1;                     // 1 = disable the "personal flashlight"
enableWhitelist = 0;                          // 1 = Steam ID whitelist
enableCfgGameplayFile = 0;                    // 1 = use cfggameplay.json overrides

Some servers use lightingConfig to control night brightness (0 for brighter nights, 1 for darker). I haven't personally tested all the values, but it's worth experimenting with if your players are complaining about nights being too bright or too dark.

Respawn and Persistence

respawnTime = 5;                              // Seconds before respawn is available

Understanding the Central Economy (CE)

This is the part of DayZ server management that's genuinely complex. The CE is what makes DayZ's loot system different from most games. It's not just random spawns; it's a dynamic system that tracks every item on the map in real time.

How It Works

The CE keeps a running count of every object on the server. When items get picked up, moved, or despawn, it figures out what needs to spawn and where. Player actions directly affect loot availability everywhere. If someone's hoarding all the M4s in a tent, fewer M4s will spawn on the map (depending on your flag settings).

The key concepts you need to understand:

Nominal is the target count. The CE tries to keep this many of the item on the map. Min is the floor; when the count drops below this, the CE starts spawning more. Lifetime is how long (in seconds) an item sits on the ground before it despawns. Restock is how often the CE checks whether it needs to spawn more. Quantmin/Quantmax controls stack sizes for stackable items (as a percentage, 0-100). Cost is the economic rarity weight; higher cost means the item is treated as rarer.

types.xml: Controlling Loot Spawns

The types.xml file is really the heart of it all. Every spawnable item has an entry. Here's what an M4A1 entry looks like:

<type name="M4A1">
    <nominal>10</nominal>
    <lifetime>14400</lifetime>
    <restock>1800</restock>
    <min>5</min>
    <quantmin>-1</quantmin>
    <quantmax>-1</quantmax>
    <cost>100</cost>
    <flags count_in_cargo="0" count_in_hoarder="0" count_in_map="1" count_in_player="0" crafted="0" deloot="0"/>
    <category name="weapons"/>
    <usage name="Military"/>
    <value name="Tier4"/>
</type>

With nominal 10 and min 5, the CE keeps between 5 and 10 M4A1s on the map at any given time. The lifetime of 14400 seconds means an M4 sitting on the ground untouched will despawn after 4 hours.

The Flags

These are important because they control what counts toward the nominal/min calculations:

• count_in_cargo counts items inside containers or backpacks on the ground
• count_in_hoarder counts items in tents and stashes
• count_in_map counts items spawned on the ground
• count_in_player counts items players are carrying

If you set count_in_player="1" for the M4A1, then every M4 a player is carrying counts toward the 10 nominal. That means fewer will spawn on the map. This is a good way to keep rare weapons genuinely rare.

Usage and Value Tags

Usage tags determine where items spawn: Military, Police, Hunting, Town, Village, Farm, Coast, Industrial, and so on.

Value tags set the map tier: Tier1 (coast), Tier2 (mid-map), Tier3 (northwest), Tier4 (military zones).

Common Adjustments

Want more military loot? Bump up the nominal and min for weapons and ammo with Military usage. Be careful though. Doubling these values will flood the server faster than you'd think.

Survival too harsh? Increase nominal for food items like Apple, Peach, TunaCan, SpaghettiCan. Going from 50 to 80 nominal makes early game noticeably easier.

More vehicles? Raise nominal for vehicle types like CivilianSedan, OffroadHatchback, Truck_01_02. The defaults are quite low (3-6 per type) so even small increases are noticeable.

Want a hardcore experience? Lower nominal and min for high-end weapons. Finding a military rifle should feel like winning the lottery.

events.xml: Dynamic Spawns

This file handles things that spawn dynamically rather than through the static loot economy. Zombie spawns are the big one:

<event name="InfectedCity">
    <nominal>300</nominal>
    <min>250</min>
    <max>350</max>
    <lifetime>180</lifetime>
    <restock>0</restock>
    <saferadius>1</saferadius>
    <distanceradius>1</distanceradius>
    <cleanupradius>200</cleanupradius>
    <flags deletable="1" init_random="0" remove_damaged="1"/>
    <position>fixed</position>
    <limit>mixed</limit>
    <active>1</active>
    <children>
        <child lootmax="0" lootmin="0" max="5" min="2" type="ZmbM_CitizenASkinny"/>
        <child lootmax="0" lootmin="0" max="3" min="1" type="ZmbF_CitizenBSkinny"/>
    </children>
</event>

Adjust nominal, min, and max to control how many infected roam each area. We get a lot of tickets from people who want fewer zombies for PvP-focused servers, and this is where you do it.

globals.xml: Economy Parameters

This file sets the big-picture economy behaviour. Here are the defaults:

<var name="AnimalMaxCount" type="0" value="200"/>
<var name="CleanupAvoidance" type="0" value="100"/>
<var name="CleanupLifetimeDeadAnimal" type="0" value="1200"/>
<var name="CleanupLifetimeDeadInfected" type="0" value="330"/>
<var name="CleanupLifetimeDeadPlayer" type="0" value="3600"/>
<var name="CleanupLifetimeDefault" type="0" value="45"/>
<var name="FlagRefreshFrequency" type="0" value="432000"/>
<var name="FlagRefreshMaxDuration" type="0" value="3456000"/>
<var name="IdleModeCountdown" type="0" value="60"/>
<var name="IdleModeStartup" type="0" value="1"/>
<var name="InitialSpawn" type="0" value="100"/>
<var name="RespawnAttempt" type="0" value="2"/>
<var name="RespawnLimit" type="0" value="20"/>
<var name="RespawnTypes" type="0" value="12"/>
<var name="RestartSpawn" type="0" value="0"/>
<var name="SpawnInitial" type="0" value="1200"/>
<var name="TimeHopping" type="0" value="60"/>
<var name="TimeLogin" type="0" value="15"/>
<var name="TimeLogout" type="0" value="15"/>
<var name="TimePenalty" type="0" value="20"/>
<var name="WorldWetTempUpdate" type="0" value="1"/>
<var name="ZombieMaxCount" type="0" value="1000"/>
<var name="ZoneSpawnDist" type="0" value="300"/>

The ones you'll care about most:

• ZombieMaxCount (default 1000) is the cap on total zombies across the entire map. Lowering this is the single most effective thing you can do for server performance. Try 700 if things are sluggish.
• AnimalMaxCount (default 200) controls maximum animals. More animals means more hunting opportunities, but also more server load.
• FlagRefreshFrequency (default 432000, which is 5 days) is how often players need to interact with their flag pole to keep their base from decaying.
• FlagRefreshMaxDuration (default 3456000, about 40 days) is the maximum time a base persists with regular flag refreshes.

Installing Mods

DayZ has a large modding community with thousands of Workshop mods available. Here's how to get them on your server.

Step 1: Find Mods on the Steam Workshop

Browse the DayZ Steam Workshop and note the Workshop ID for each mod. That's the number in the URL.

Step 2: Upload Mods to Your Server

1. Subscribe to the mod on Steam Workshop from your PC
2. DayZ downloads it to your local !Workshop folder
3. Upload the mod folder (the one with the @ prefix) to your server's root directory using File Manager or FTP
4. Copy the mod's .bikey files from its keys folder into your server's keys directory

Step 3: Configure Startup Parameters

Add your mods to the server's startup parameters through Commandline Manager in the control panel:

-mod=@CF;@TraderMod;@ExpansionCore;@ExpansionMarket

Load order matters here. Core frameworks like @CF (Community Framework) need to load before mods that depend on them. Always check each mod's Workshop page for dependency info.

Step 4: Merge types.xml (If Required)

Mods that add new items usually include their own types.xml entries. You'll need to either merge these into your main types.xml, or load them as separate files through cfgeconomycore.xml:

<ce folder="db">
    <file name="types.xml" type="types"/>
    <file name="types_trader.xml" type="types"/>
    <file name="types_expansion.xml" type="types"/>
</ce>

This one's a bit fiddly the first time, but once you've done it for one mod it becomes routine.

Popular Mods

• DayZ Expansion is a big overhaul. Vehicles, helicopters, improved building, markets, missions, AI. It's practically a different game.
• Trader Mod adds NPC traders where players buy and sell items for in-game currency. Very popular on community servers.
• BaseBuildingPlus (BBP) expands the base building system with more structures and materials.
• Code Lock adds combination locks for doors and gates. Simple but almost everyone runs it.
• Community Online Tools gives admins the ability to teleport, spawn items, and manage players in-game.

Changing Maps

To switch from Chernarus to a different map:

1. Official maps (Livonia, Sakhal): Change the mission folder in your startup parameters from dayzOffline.chernarusplus to the appropriate mission name
2. Community maps (Deer Isle, Namalsk, Esseker, Banov): Install the map mod first, then point to its mission folder

Each map has its own set of config files in its mpmissions folder, so you'll need to set up types.xml, events.xml, and everything else separately for each one.

Performance Tips

DayZ servers are demanding, and mods make it worse. A few things that actually help:

Reduce ZombieMaxCount. I keep saying this because it's genuinely the biggest single lever you have. Going from 1000 to 700 can make a noticeable difference on a busy server.

Schedule regular restarts. DayZ servers accumulate memory bloat over time. Restarting every 4-6 hours keeps things running smoothly. You can set this up through Scheduled Tasks in your control panel.

Trim item lifetimes. Shorter lifetimes in types.xml for common items (food, clothing, junk) means fewer objects for the server to track. Don't go too aggressive or players will feel like loot vanishes before they can grab it.

Keep an eye on RAM. Vanilla DayZ uses 4-6 GB. With Expansion and several other mods, expect 8-12+ GB. If you're consistently above 90% usage, it's time to look at an upgrade. Check the DayZ hosting page for current options.

If you run into problems, the DayZ Troubleshooting Guide covers the common issues. And our support team is always available through the LOW.MS Control Panel.