---
title: "Configuring your DayZ server"
description: "Optimize your serverDZ.cfg variables, adjust time acceleration, enable persistence, and establish safe defaults for a new community."
url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/dayz/configuration-overview/"
category: "DayZ"
category_url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/dayz/"
published: "2026-07-02T03:20:15.893Z"
updated: "2026-08-07T21:05:31.889Z"
source_format: "markdown"
site: "GameServerKings"
---

# Configuring your DayZ server

This guide covers the configuration files on a DayZ server: where they live, what each setting in `serverDZ.cfg` actually changes, and which ones are worth touching. For first boot and connecting, see [Getting started with your DayZ server](/knowledge-base/dayz/getting-started-with-your-server/).

## 1. Where the Config Lives

`serverDZ.cfg` sits at the **server root**, alongside `mpmissions/`, `keys/` and any `@ModName` folders. Edit it through the File Manager on your [rented DayZ server](/games/dayz/), or over SFTP.

It is not the only file that shapes a server. The split is worth knowing before you go looking for a setting in the wrong place:

| File | Controls |
|---|---|
| `serverDZ.cfg` | Server identity, access, gameplay rules, time, persistence |
| `mpmissions/<mission>/db/types.xml` | Which items spawn, how many, how long they last |
| `mpmissions/<mission>/db/cfgspawnabletypes.xml` | What spawns inside containers |
| `mpmissions/<mission>/storage_<id>/` | Live world state — not edited by hand |

Loot tuning lives in the mission files, not here. That trips people up regularly: there is no loot multiplier in `serverDZ.cfg`.

## 2. The File

```cfg title="serverDZ.cfg"
hostname = "My GSK DayZ Server";
password = "";
passwordAdmin = "STRONG_ADMIN_PASSWORD";
maxPlayers = 60;
verifySignatures = 2;
forceSameBuild = 1;
disableVoN = 0;
vonCodecQuality = 20;
disable3rdPerson = 0;
disableCrosshair = 0;
serverTime = "SystemTime";
serverTimeAcceleration = 1;
serverNightTimeAcceleration = 1;
serverTimePersistent = 0;
guaranteedUpdates = 1;
loginQueueConcurrentPlayers = 5;
loginQueueMaxPlayers = 500;
instanceId = 1;
storageAutoFix = 1;
class Missions {
    class DayZ {
        template = "dayzOffline.chernarusplus";
    };
};

steamQueryPort = 27016;
```

## 3. Identity and Access

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `hostname` | What players see in the server browser |
| `password` | Empty for public, set for a private server |
| `passwordAdmin` | RCON-style admin access — **not** in-game admin |
| `maxPlayers` | Slot count, capped by your plan |

> [!IMPORTANT] `passwordAdmin` is not what gives you an admin menu
> It authenticates BattlEye RCon, which is a separate tool from anything in game. In-game admin needs a mod — see [DayZ Admin Commands: BattlEye RCon and Admin Tools](/knowledge-base/dayz/how-to-add-admins-and-commands/).

## 4. Security and Version Locking

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `verifySignatures` | `2` enforces signed content. Recommended — leave it on |
| `forceSameBuild` | `1` requires players to be on the same DayZ build as the server |

A third belongs with them, and it is missing from most stock configs:

```cfg
allowFilePatching = 0;
```

`allowFilePatching = 1` lets clients join with **unpacked** game data. Bohemia's modding documentation uses it deliberately when testing a mod that is not signed yet — which is precisely why it does not belong on a live server. Leave it at `0` in production; combined with `verifySignatures = 2` that is what keeps modified client data out.

These settings prevent the most common connection failures. `verifySignatures = 2` is why every mod's key has to be copied into the server's `keys/` folder — a missing key shows up as players being rejected at connect, not as a mod error. `forceSameBuild = 1` produces the "Wrong session state" message when the server has fallen behind a game update; the fix is a restart to pick up the current build.

## 5. Gameplay Feel

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `disable3rdPerson` | `1` for a first-person-only server |
| `disableCrosshair` | `1` for a hardcore feel |
| `disableVoN` | `1` turns off in-game voice entirely |
| `vonCodecQuality` | Voice clarity — higher is clearer and costs more bandwidth |

`disable3rdPerson = 1` is the single biggest identity choice here. First-person-only servers play very differently — no peeking over walls — and players filter for it, so it belongs in your `hostname` if you set it.

## 6. Time and the Day/Night Cycle

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `serverTime` | Starting world time. `"SystemTime"` follows the host clock |
| `serverTimeAcceleration` | Day speed multiplier. `1` is real-time |
| `serverNightTimeAcceleration` | Night speed multiplier, applied on top |
| `serverTimePersistent` | `1` carries in-game time across restarts |

```cfg
serverTimeAcceleration = 12;
serverNightTimeAcceleration = 6;
serverTimePersistent = 1;
```

> [!NOTE] What acceleration 12 works out to
> Acceleration 12 means one in-game hour per five real minutes, so players see both day and night inside a single session. Left at `1`, a player who logs in at night only ever sees night.

Night acceleration is separate because unaccelerated DayZ nights are genuinely dark and most communities want them shorter than the days.

## 7. The Login Queue

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `loginQueueConcurrentPlayers` | How many players load into the world at once |
| `loginQueueMaxPlayers` | How many may wait in the queue |

Concurrent logins are throttled because loading a player is expensive. Raising it on a busy server makes joins spikier, not faster.

## 8. Persistence

| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| `instanceId` | Which persistence slot the world uses |
| `storageAutoFix` | `1` lets the server repair damaged persistence at boot |

`instanceId` is the wipe lever. World state is stored per instance in `mpmissions/<mission>/storage_<id>/`, so changing it starts a fresh world while leaving the old slot untouched on disk — useful when you want a clean map without discarding what was there.

> [!IMPORTANT] Take a backup before changing instanceId
> The old data survives, but it is easy to lose track of which slot held what. Snapshot from the Backups tab first.

## 9. Mission Selection

```cfg
class Missions {
    class DayZ {
        template = "dayzOffline.chernarusplus";
    };
};
```

The stock templates:

| Template | Map |
|---|---|
| `dayzOffline.chernarusplus` | Chernarus (vanilla) |
| `dayzOffline.enoch` | Livonia (DLC) |
| `dayzOffline.sakhal` | Sakhal (Frostline DLC) |

Community maps — Namalsk, Banov, Pripyat, Esseker, DeerIsle — are a mod plus a mission folder, and both are needed. The full procedure is in [How to Install Mods on a DayZ Server: Folders and Keys](/knowledge-base/dayz/how-to-install-mods/).

## 10. Ports

`steamQueryPort` is the one to get right. **DayZ lists servers by query port, not game port**, so a server that runs perfectly but never appears in the browser is almost always a query port problem rather than anything in the rest of this file.

## 11. Message of the Day

```cfg
motd[] = {"Welcome to our server", "Read the rules on Discord"};
motdInterval = 300;
```

Messages cycle in chat every `motdInterval` seconds. Keep the list short — it repeats forever, and long rotations read as spam.

## 12. Applying Changes

> [!IMPORTANT] Nothing here is live-editable
> DayZ reads `serverDZ.cfg` at boot. Stop the server, edit, start. Editing a running server means your changes are overwritten when it shuts down.

The safe order: stop from the Console tab, wait for the server to report offline, edit, start, then watch the boot log.

## 13. FAQ

### Where is the DayZ server config file?

`serverDZ.cfg`, at the server root — the same level as `mpmissions/` and `keys/`.

### How do I increase loot on a DayZ server?

Not from this file. Loot is controlled by `types.xml` in `mpmissions/<mission>/db/`; raise `nominal` and `min` on the items you care about. The full breakdown is in [How to Increase Loot on a DayZ Server (types.xml)](/knowledge-base/dayz/how-to-increase-loot/).

### How do I make my server first-person only?

`disable3rdPerson = 1`, then restart. Put it in the hostname too — players filter for it.

### Why doesn't my server appear in the browser?

Check `steamQueryPort` before anything else. DayZ lists by query port, so a wrong value hides a server that is otherwise running fine.

### Why do my settings keep reverting?

The server was running when you edited. DayZ writes its own state on shutdown and overwrites your changes. Always stop first.

### How do I wipe the world but keep the map?

Change `instanceId`. The old world stays on disk in its own `storage_<id>` folder; the server starts fresh in the new slot.

## 14. What to Read Next

- [Getting started with your DayZ server](/knowledge-base/dayz/getting-started-with-your-server/) — first boot, maps, and how `types.xml` entries are structured
- [DayZ Admin Commands: BattlEye RCon and Admin Tools](/knowledge-base/dayz/how-to-add-admins-and-commands/) — BattlEye RCon, CommunityOnlineTools and VPPAdminTools
- [How to Install Mods on a DayZ Server: Folders and Keys](/knowledge-base/dayz/how-to-install-mods/) — mod folders, keys and load order

---

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