DayZ Server Config Generator
Build a valid serverDZ.cfg without hand-editing a single semicolon. Set the server name, password, player cap, the map (Chernarus, Livonia or Sakhal), how fast day and night run, the first-person lock, and the deeper network and security keys — then copy or download. Every default here is the value the server's stock serverDZ.cfg actually ships with, not a guess.
Identity & access
Server name, passwords, player cap and which map loads. The first things anyone sets.
Which map the server loads, set in the class Missions block — the only place the map is chosen. Mods add others.
Server name shown in the in-game/launcher browser. Make it searchable.
Connect password. Leave empty for public; set it to make the server private.
In-game admin password (#login). Set a strong one. This is separate from the RCON/BEServer password.
Maximum concurrent players. Size to your CPU/RAM — DayZ is CPU-bound per slot.
Seconds between MOTD line displays in chat. Keep it modest so you don't spam players.
Identifies this instance and which storage_
1 turns on the whitelist (whitelist.txt) to restrict access to approved Steam IDs.
Host-specific, not in the canonical Bohemia example; used to flag a server Private. Treat as optional.
Lines shown in chat on join. Separate multiple lines with |. Emitted as the motd[] array.
World & time
Day/night speed, persistence and lighting. Defaults shown are the stock-shipped values, which run faster than real time.
Starting in-game clock; "SystemTime" uses the host's real time, or hard-set a date/time string.
Day-cycle speed multiplier; 1 = real time. 12 (the stock value) puts a full cycle in roughly 2 hours.
Night multiplier stacked on top of serverTimeAcceleration (effective night speed = day x night); raise it to shorten nights without speeding up days.
1 = clock is saved to storage and resumes on restart; 0 = time resets to serverTime each start.
On startup, checks persistence files for corruption and replaces corrupted ones with empty files; leave at 1.
true disables house/door state persistence. Stock ships true; flip to false only if you want doors/houses to persist.
How many rolling persistence-history backup files to keep per instance.
0 = forgiving night, 1 = brutal, 2 = Sakhal/Frostline preset. Overridden by WorldsData.lightingConfig if a cfggameplay.json is loaded.
Gameplay
First-person lock, crosshair, base/container damage and respawn rules.
Set 1 for a first-person-only server; hardcore PvP crowds prefer it — it kills third-person corner-peeking.
Set 1 to force hip-fire aiming by sight only; a common survival/immersion toggle.
Leave at 1 to remove the faint glow around every player so nights stay genuinely dark.
Seconds a dead player waits before spawning a new character; raise it to make death sting.
1 shows players a corner debug panel (health/blood/position); handy for testing, off for live play.
1 makes fences and watchtowers indestructible (PvE-style base protection).
1 makes tents, barrels, crates and sea chests indestructible so loot survives raids.
1 skips the respawn choice screen; new characters then spawn at a random location.
1 loads cfggameplay.json so you can tune stamina, shock, third-person, spawn gear and world lighting; required for most modern gameplay tweaks (can override lightingConfig).
Security & voice
Signature checks, build matching, voice chat and admin logging. Leave verifySignatures at 2.
Validates client .pbo files against their .bisign signatures. Leave at 2 — it's the only secure/working value.
1 forces clients to match the server's exact game build; most hosts set 1 post-patch to avoid version-mismatch desync. Stock ships 0.
Kicks a joining player if another with the same ID is already connected. Leave at 1.
true ignores ban.txt. Leave false so your bans are enforced.
true ignores priority.txt (priority-queue slots). Leave false to honor your priority list.
Set 0 on live servers; only use 1 for modding/testing since it lets clients load unpacked files. Stock ships 1.
Leave at 0 to allow in-game voice chat; set 1 only to force radio/text-only or for moderation.
20 gives clear voice chat; drop toward 0 only if voice bandwidth strains a low-uplink server. Values above 20 are clamped.
Server-side speedhack detection; 1 is strictest. If lag spikes falsely kick legit players, raise it to loosen tolerance.
1 logs only player-vs-player hits (not every hit) to the admin log; trims noise when investigating PvP reports.
1 logs base-building placement actions to the admin log; useful for raid/grief investigations.
1 logs building/dismantling actions to the admin log; pair with adminLogPlacement for full base-build auditing.
1 periodically dumps the connected-player list (name + Steam ID + position) to the admin log.
Console-server family-sharing/alt-account mitigation toggle; mostly relevant to console hosting, usually left at default on PC.
Network & performance
Login queue, network ranges, batching and ping limits. Sensible defaults — only touch these if you know why.
Steam query port — set/forward it or the server won't appear in the client browser. Scripts default is 2305.
How many players are simulated per frame; lower it to ease CPU load on a struggling server.
How many players load into the world simultaneously during login/queue. Lower it (e.g. 3) if simultaneous joins spike frame time.
Max players allowed in the login queue at once; bump it for high-pop wipe-day rushes.
Communication protocol flag — leave at 1. Effectively fixed; no reason to change it.
Bubble radius for spawning close objects-with-items (dropped backpacks/loot). Keep small; raising it adds network load.
Bubble radius for nearby inventory-item objects. Default 150 is fine for most servers.
Bubble radius for far non-inventory objects. Increasing it streams more world at once — costs CPU/bandwidth.
Distance at which distant effects (e.g. gunshot sounds) are networked. 4000 lets players hear far-off shots; lower it to quiet long-range cues.
Objects per player bubble checked each frame for create/destroy. Default 1000 balances pop-in vs CPU; raise only on strong hardware.
Max objects sent to a client for creation per frame. Higher = faster loading but more burst traffic.
Max objects sent to a client for deletion per frame. Pairs with SendCreate; leave at 10 unless tuning a heavily modded map.
Players whose ping stays above this get kicked. 200-300 ms is typical; too low boots legitimate distant players.
Ping above this shows the player a yellow connection-warning icon; tune with pingCritical/maxPing for your region.
Ping above this shows a red connection icon and warns the player before maxPing kicks them.
Spreads network replication across threads; leave at 1 on modern multi-core hosts for better performance under load.
Server-side ceiling for terrain render distance. Higher looks better but the client's viewDistance still wins if it's lower.
Server-side ceiling for object/structure render distance. Keep at or below defaultVisibility; raising both increases client GPU load.
Timestamp style written to the server console/log; "Full" is easiest for correlating crashes and admin events.
Filename the live console log is mirrored to; keep it set so you have a crash/admin paper trail.
How often the server writes a memory-usage line to the log; useful for spotting memory leaks over long uptime.
How often a player-count/status line is written to the log; handy for population tracking.
About the DayZ Server Config Generator
A DayZ dedicated server is configured by one file — serverDZ.cfg — in the root of your server install. It's a simple key = value; list, but it's fussy: strings need quotes, lines need semicolons, and the map is set in a class Missions block rather than a plain key. This tool builds the whole file for you, with every default taken from the stock serverDZ.cfg the server actually ships with (so the day-night speed shows 12, not the wiki's 1) and the keys we were less sure about flagged ⚠ verify.
Mission and loot economy live OUTSIDE serverDZ.cfg. The map, loot tables, spawn rates and events are all in the mission folder (db/, env/, types.xml, economy.xml, events.xml, cfgeconomycore.xml, cfggameplay.json). serverDZ.cfg only points at the mission via the Missions/DayZ template block — editing serverDZ.cfg will never change loot.
BattlEye is NOT a serverDZ.cfg key. Do not add 'BattlEye = 1;' to serverDZ.cfg — it does nothing. BattlEye anti-cheat is enabled via the -BEpath launch setup (on by default for public Steam servers) and configured in BEServer*.cfg, which also holds the RCON password (separate from passwordAdmin).
Several ports are start parameters, not cfg lines. The main game port (typically 2302) and the Steam ports are usually set via command-line start params or the host control panel, not inside serverDZ.cfg. Only steamQueryPort reliably belongs in the cfg, and even that some hosts override on the command line.
Stock-file defaults differ from wiki defaults for several keys. The shipped serverDZ.cfg ships serverTimeAcceleration=12, serverNightTimeAcceleration=12, storeHouseStateDisabled=true, allowFilePatching=1, and simulatedPlayersBatch=10 — these are flagged in-line so the generator shows the real as-shipped value, not just the wiki placeholder.
Dropped as invalid/non-existent keys (do NOT add): requireAuth, storeBinaryFileWithDB / storeBinariesIn — none are real serverDZ.cfg parameters.
networkObjectBatchSend (the old single key) is legacy/deprecated on current 1.2x builds — replaced by networkObjectBatchSendCreate and networkObjectBatchSendDelete. The generator should emit only the split keys to avoid confusion.
Duplicates were collapsed: instanceId, verifySignatures and forceSameBuild each appeared twice in the source; one clean entry of each is kept, using the corrected stock default (forceSameBuild stock = 0, not 1).
vonCodecQuality range is 0-20 per the current wiki (default 20); the stock file oddly writes 30 but values above 20 are clamped. Use 0-20.
Installing the server (it needs your Steam login)
The DayZ Dedicated Server is Steam app 223350 — but unlike most game servers it is not an anonymous download: SteamCMD must log into a Steam account that owns DayZ (+login <your-account>, not +login anonymous). Once installed, drop this serverDZ.cfg in the server root and start it, e.g.:
DayZServer_x64.exe -config=serverDZ.cfg -port=2302 -BEpath=battleye -profiles=profiles -dologs -adminlog -netlog -freezecheck
The main game port and Steam ports are start parameters (above), not lines in this file. And remember: BattlEye is not a serverDZ.cfg key — it's enabled via that -BEpath setup, and it's on by default for public servers.
FAQ
Where do I change the map (Chernarus vs Livonia vs Sakhal)?
In the Missions/DayZ template line of serverDZ.cfg. Set template="dayzOffline.chernarusplus" for Chernarus, "dayzOffline.enoch" for Livonia, or "dayzOffline.sakhal" for the Frostline/Sakhal map. The matching mission folder must exist on the server. This is the only place the map is selected.
Why won't my server show up in the in-game server browser?
Almost always the Steam query port. Make sure steamQueryPort (scripts default 2305, some hosts use 2303) is set and that port plus the main game port (usually 2302) are forwarded/open in your firewall. The game and query ports are often configured in start parameters or the host panel rather than serverDZ.cfg, so check both.
How do I make the server private or whitelist-only?
For a simple lock, set a connect password (password "yourpw";). For an approved-players-only list, set enableWhitelist=1 and add Steam IDs to whitelist.txt. passwordAdmin is unrelated — it's the in-game admin login (#login), not access control.
I added BattlEye = 1; to serverDZ.cfg but it isn't doing anything. Why?
Because BattlEye is not a serverDZ.cfg setting. It's enabled through the BattlEye launch setup (-BEpath) and configured in BEServer*.cfg. For public Steam servers it's on by default. Remove the line from serverDZ.cfg — it's ignored there.
How do I speed up the day/night cycle?
serverTimeAcceleration is the day multiplier (1 = real time; 12, the stock value, gives a roughly 2-hour full cycle). serverNightTimeAcceleration stacks on top of it for night only, so effective night speed = day x night. Raise the night value alone to shorten dark hours without speeding up the day.
I edited types.xml / economy.xml but nothing changed. Why?
Those files live in the mission folder, not serverDZ.cfg, and they only take effect for the mission that's actually loaded — check that the Missions template in serverDZ.cfg points at the same mission folder you're editing. Also confirm persistence isn't masking changes (a full wipe or storage reset may be needed for some edits).
Should I touch the network range and batch settings?
Usually no. The defaults (networkRangeClose 20, Near 150, Far 1000, DistantEffect 4000, batch keys at 10/1000) are tuned for vanilla. Raising them streams more world per frame and costs CPU/bandwidth; only adjust on strong hardware or to chase a specific pop-in/performance issue.
Related tools
- Sons of the Forest Server Config Generator — another survival server config.
- Conan Exiles Server Config Generator — ServerSettings.ini + Engine.ini.
- All GamesOMG generators
DayZ patches periodically add or rename network/log keys; we re-verify against the official config reference and the stock file when it does. Spot a value that's drifted or a key we should add? Hit Report an issue above.