DayZ Standalone Private Server Settings: serverDZ.cfg and Every Config File Explained

A DayZ Standalone private server is a community server you control: you set a password or a whitelist in serverDZ.cfg, and only your group gets in. On PC you can run one yourself or rent one with full access to the config files. On Xbox and PlayStation, private servers are rented through Bohemia’s console hosting partner with far fewer options. This guide covers every file a DayZ server configuration touches: serverDZ.cfg for the rules, cfggameplay.json for stamina and building, and the mission’s XML for loot and infected, with the values from Bohemia’s reference files.

Does DayZ have private servers?

Yes, on every platform, but they work differently. On PC, anyone can run DayZ’s dedicated server files or rent a server and lock it with a password or whitelist. On Xbox and PlayStation, players can’t run the server software, so console private servers are rented from the one hosting partner Bohemia works with for consoles, with a short list of settings and no mods.

	PC private server	Xbox / PlayStation private server
Where it runs	Your PC or any host	Bohemia’s console hosting partner only
Password	Yes, password	Yes
Whitelist and priority queue	Yes, enableWhitelist and priority.txt	Not in Bohemia’s console FAQ
All serverDZ.cfg options	Yes	A subset: name, camera mode, time, messages
Loot and economy XML	Yes	Bohemia kept consoles close to vanilla
Steam Workshop mods	Yes	No

DayZ private server on Xbox: you rent it through the partner’s app or website and manage it there. DayZ private server on PS5: DayZ is a PS4 game that runs on PS5, and its private servers come from the same partner. Everything else in this guide is for PC servers, where you have every file, whether the server runs on your own machine or on DayZ server hosting.

Lock your server: password, whitelist and priority

A private DayZ server needs one of two locks. A password keeps out anyone who doesn’t have it; a whitelist (enableWhitelist = 1) only lets in approved players. Add priority.txt on a busy server so your regulars skip the queue, and ban.txt handles the people you never want back.

hostname = "Friends Only | Chernarus | 1PP";
password = "pick-something-long";
passwordAdmin = "a-different-long-one";
enableWhitelist = 0;
disableBanlist = false;
disablePrioritylist = false;
maxPlayers = 10;

• password is the join password. Leave it as "" for an open server.
• passwordAdmin is the admin login. Never reuse the join password.
• priority.txt sits in the server root. List Steam IDs separated by semicolons: 76561198000000001;76561198000000002. Those players jump to the front of the login queue.
• ban.txt is used unless disableBanlist = true.
• maxPlayers can be as small as your group. Bohemia’s reference config uses 60.

serverDZ.cfg: the main DayZ server config

serverDZ.cfg is the file the server loads through -config=, and the name is just a convention: Bohemia’s docs say the file can be called anything, but the server won’t start without one. It holds the server-wide rules: identity, access, view, time, persistence and network. Changes take effect on the next restart. These are the settings worth knowing, grouped by what they control.

Identity and access

Setting	Reference value	What it does
hostname	“EXAMPLE NAME”	Name in the server browser
description	“Some description”	Shown in the browser’s server details, max 255 characters
password / passwordAdmin	“”	Join password / admin password
enableWhitelist	0	1 lets only whitelisted players in
maxPlayers	60	Player slots
forceSameBuild	1	Only clients on the server’s exact build can join
verifySignatures	2	Checks mod files against their keys (2 is the only supported value)
motd[] / motdInterval	{ “line1″,”line2” } / 1	Message-of-the-day lines in chat, and seconds between them

View, voice and HUD

Setting	Reference value	What it does
disable3rdPerson	0	1 makes the server first-person only (the “1PP” tag)
disableCrosshair	0	1 hides the crosshair
disableVoN / vonCodecQuality	0 / 20	Turns voice chat off / sets its quality (0 to 20)
enableDebugMonitor	1	Shows a small character-info window in a corner
disablePersonalLight	1	Removes the faint light around each player at night
lightingConfig	0	0 brighter nights, 1 darker, 2 Sakhal lighting
defaultVisibility / defaultObjectViewDistance	1375	Maximum terrain / object view distance the server allows

Time and day length

Setting	Reference value	What it does
serverTime	“SystemTime”	Start time: the machine’s clock, or a fixed “YYYY/MM/DD/HH/MM”
serverTimeAcceleration	1	Clock speed, 0.1 to 64. At 24 a full day passes in an hour
serverNightTimeAcceleration	1	Extra night speed, multiplied by the value above
serverTimePersistent	0	1 saves the time, so restarts don’t reset it

Want short nights without a racing day? Bohemia’s own example: serverTimeAcceleration = 2 with serverNightTimeAcceleration = 4 runs nights 8 times faster than real time.

Bases, respawns and persistence

Setting	Reference value	What it does
disableBaseDamage	0	1 protects fences and watchtowers
disableContainerDamage	0	1 protects tents, barrels, wooden crates and sea chests
respawnTime	5	Seconds before a dead player can respawn
disableRespawnDialog	0	1 skips the respawn choice; new characters spawn random
instanceId	1	Numbers the storage folder (storage_1); give each server on one machine its own
storageAutoFix	1	Replaces corrupted persistence files with empty ones

Network, queue and ping

Setting	Reference value	What it does
steamQueryPort	2305	Steam query port; fixes a server missing from the browser
loginQueueConcurrentPlayers	5	Players processed at once while logging in
loginQueueMaxPlayers	500	Longest the login queue can get
pingWarning / pingCritical / MaxPing	200 / 250 / 300	Yellow warning, red warning and kick, in ms
serverFpsWarning	15	Server FPS below which a warning fires (minimum 11)

The map is picked further down the file, in class Missions: template = "dayzOffline.chernarusplus"; for Chernarus, dayzOffline.enoch for Livonia, dayzOffline.sakhal for Sakhal or dayzOffline.nasdara for Nasdara.

cfggameplay.json: stamina, building and the map

cfggameplay.json holds the gameplay rules that serverDZ.cfg doesn’t: stamina, shock, building placement, map and compass behavior and night lighting. It ships in Bohemia’s mission folders and only loads when serverDZ.cfg has enableCfgGameplayFile = 1;. Once it’s on, its lightingConfig replaces the one in serverDZ.cfg.

{
  "version": 123,
  "GeneralData": {
    "disableBaseDamage": false,
    "disableContainerDamage": false,
    "disableRespawnDialog": false
  },
  "PlayerData": {
    "StaminaData": {
      "staminaMax": 100.0,
      "sprintStaminaModifierErc": 1.0
    }
  },
  "WorldsData": { "lightingConfig": 0 },
  "MapData": {
    "ignoreMapOwnership": false,
    "displayPlayerPosition": false
  }
}

That’s a trimmed view of Bohemia’s file, which has many more keys. Edit the full file in your mission folder rather than pasting this one over it. The settings people change most:

Setting	Default	Change it to…
staminaMax	100.0	Raise it for longer sprints
sprintStaminaModifierErc	1.0	Lower it so sprinting burns stamina slower
staminaKgToStaminaPercentPenalty	1.75	Lower it so heavy gear costs less stamina
ignoreMapOwnership	false	true lets players open the map with M without carrying one
displayPlayerPosition	false	true shows a “you are here” marker on the map
use3DMap	false	true allows only the in-hand 3D map
disableIsCollidingBBoxCheck and the other disable…Check options	false	true loosens base-building placement rules
spawnGearPresetFiles	not in the default file	Add it and point it at a JSON file to give fresh spawns custom gear (Bohemia’s wiki documents the format)

JSON is strict: one missing comma and the file won’t load. Paste it into a JSON validator before you restart.

Loot, infected and events: the mission XML

Loot and spawns don’t live in serverDZ.cfg at all. They’re in the mission’s db folder (mpmissions/dayzOffline.chernarusplus/db/ for Chernarus), which holds types.xml, globals.xml, events.xml, economy.xml and messages.xml. Want a high-loot server, fewer infected or more cars? This is where you change it.

types.xml has an entry per item. nominal is how many the economy aims to keep on the map and min is the count that triggers a restock. Here’s the AKM from Bohemia’s file:

<type name="AKM">
    <nominal>3</nominal>
    <lifetime>7200</lifetime>
    <restock>3600</restock>
    <min>2</min>
    ...
</type>

Raise nominal and min together for more of an item. lifetime is how many seconds it lies untouched before it despawns. Changes show up as the economy restocks, not all at once.

globals.xml sets economy-wide limits. The values people tune:

Variable	Default	Controls
ZombieMaxCount	1000	Most infected on the map at once
AnimalMaxCount	200	Most animals on the map at once
InitialSpawn	100	% of loot spawned on a first start with no storage
RestartSpawn	0	% of loot topped up on each restart
CleanupLifetimeDeadPlayer	3600	Seconds a dead body stays
TimeLogin / TimeLogout	15 / 15	Seconds to log in / out
FoodDecay	1	0 stops food from spoiling

events.xml spawns vehicles, helicopter crashes and animal herds, and messages.xml runs the restart countdown. A broken tag in any of them stops the server from starting, so read the RPT log after every edit.

Admin and BattlEye settings

Remote admin goes through BattlEye, not serverDZ.cfg. Set RConPassword in BEServer_x64.cfg, which sits next to BEServer_x64.dll (or in the folder set with -BEpath), then connect with an RCon tool such as BEC or DaRT to kick, ban and message players. RestrictRCon switches those RCon functions (kick, ban, connection restrictions) on or off. For in-game admin menus you need a mod; see how to add mods to a DayZ server.

Three private server setups to copy

Most private servers fall into one of three styles. Here’s what to change for each.

Setup	serverDZ.cfg	Mission files
Friends-only, relaxed	password, maxPlayers = 10, serverTimePersistent = 1, disableBaseDamage = 1	Higher nominal on food and tools, lower ZombieMaxCount
Hardcore 1PP	disable3rdPerson = 1, disableCrosshair = 1, lightingConfig = 1	Vanilla loot; consider use3DMap
Short nights for evening players	serverTimeAcceleration = 4, serverNightTimeAcceleration = 4	None

Common settings problems

Most settings problems come from the wrong file, a typo, or a change that only applies after a restart. If a change didn’t work, check this list before anything else.

Problem	Likely cause
A change to serverDZ.cfg does nothing	The server wasn’t restarted, or it loads a different file through -config=
cfggameplay.json changes ignored	enableCfgGameplayFile = 1; missing, or the file isn’t in the mission folder
Server won’t start after an edit	A missing semicolon in serverDZ.cfg, a comma in the JSON, or a tag in the XML
Night lighting won’t change	cfggameplay.json is on, so its lightingConfig wins
Players get “version doesn’t match”	forceSameBuild = 1 and the server is behind; see how to update a DayZ server

FAQ

How do I make my DayZ server private?

Set password in serverDZ.cfg and restart. Share the password with your group. For a stricter lock, turn on enableWhitelist.

Can I play DayZ Standalone on a private server alone?

Yes. A passworded server with one player is a solo server. It’s a good way to learn the map or test settings.

Does a private server keep my character from official servers?

No. Official servers share one character database; a community server keeps its own characters in its own storage folder.

Where is serverDZ.cfg?

In the server’s install folder, next to DayZServer_x64.exe. Whatever file the start line passes with -config= is the one in use.

Can I change settings while the server is running?

You can edit the files, but the server reads them on start. Plan changes for the next restart.

How much does a DayZ private server cost?

Running it on your own PC costs the hardware and power. On GameTeam you pay per GB of RAM: $0.49/GB a week, so a 6 GB server is $2.94 a week, or $1.99/GB billed monthly.

Skip the setup: let the copilot edit the files

Every setting above lives in a file with its own syntax: a cfg with semicolons, JSON with commas, XML with tags. With DayZ server hosting on GameTeam you can edit any of them in the panel’s file manager, or just describe what you want. Tell the AI copilot “password the server, first person only, nights twice as fast, and stop bases taking damage” and it changes serverDZ.cfg, reads the values back so you can see what changed, and restarts. Ask “why didn’t my stamina change work?” and it checks whether enableCfgGameplayFile is on. You pay per GB of RAM with unlimited slots, from $0.49/GB a week.

Setting up from scratch? The DayZ dedicated server guide covers install, ports and restarts.