serverDZ.cfg Explained

serverDZ.cfg is the file the DayZ dedicated server reads for the things players notice first. Hostname, passwords, maximum players, voice, time acceleration, and which mission is loaded. It is not the BattlEye RCon file. People merge those two and then cannot understand why Cloud connects to the wrong port. RCon lives in BEServer_x64.cfg or beserver_x64.cfg. This page is only the server cfg.

The hostname is a contract with the public roster. If you write "1PP" and the keywords say third person is on, the server page on DayZ Manager will show the keywords. If you write "vanilla" and the mod flag is set, the modded list will include you. The hostname should match the mission and the rules you are willing to enforce. It should also fit in the space the server browser actually shows. A paragraph of rules in the hostname is how the map name gets cut off.

Passwords in this file are the join password and the admin password for the game itself. They are not the RCon password. Use different strings. A leaked admin password and a leaked RCon password are two incidents. Slots are the cap, not the population. Setting 100 slots does not create 100 players. It creates a fraction on the server page, players over slots, which is one of the first things a skeptical visitor reads. Start nearer the community you have. The requirements guide is about whether the process can even hold that cap.

Time acceleration is a number that changes the kind of server you are. Fast nights are a design choice on Chernarus and a survival choice on Sakhal. The public keywords expose day and night acceleration. Players who care will sort with their eyes on the server page, not on your Discord pin. Set the values, restart, and read your own listing before you announce it.

The mission template line is how you select Chernarus (chernarusplus), Livonia (enoch), Sakhal, or a Workshop map. A wrong template is the entire bug behind "my server says the wrong map." There is no style pass that fixes it. Change the mission, restart, and confirm the token on the map page. Official versus community is not a dropdown in this file in the way newcomers hope. The keyword flags the crawler sees are what DayZ Manager calls official. If you are running a private hive with traders, you are a community server. Say so. The official versus community note is the longer version.

Verify signatures, third-person disable, and similar gameplay switches are split between this cfg, the mission, and the server command line depending on the build. When a guide on the internet disagrees with the file you have, believe the file that the running process loaded, then check the startup parameters for a flag that overrides it. Keep one commented copy of the cfg in the same repo or ticket where you keep the mod list. "It worked in March" is not a backup.

CFTools Architect will edit and restart around this file when you host there. CFTools Cloud will not magically rewrite a bad hostname. Cloud manages the live server: RCon, restarts, bans. A wrong mission is still your text file. Read it once out loud. If you would not join that server, change the line before the restart.

The file is the promise

serverDZ.cfg is what the process reads for the name, the cap, the join password, the time, and the mission. The hostname is the sentence that will be copied onto the server list. If it says vanilla, the vanilla flag should agree. If it says a wipe date, the date should be real. The cfg will not update the date for you. Stale text is a choice you are making every boot.

The join password in this file is not the RCon password. Set them differently. A player password can live in your Discord. An RCon password must not. Leaving the join password empty is how you appear on the open list. Setting one is how you appear with the flag. Neither choice hides you from the crawler. Do not put a secret you care about in the hostname field because you needed a place to store it. The hostname is public. It is the most public field you have.

Time acceleration and the mission path are gameplay. They are also support load. A night that lasts four real minutes will generate tickets if you advertised a slow survival server. Look at a Chernarus server you respect and notice how boring their time setting is. Boring is playable. Extreme acceleration is a novelty that makes food and spawns feel broken. If you wanted that, say it in the name.

After every cfg edit, restart once and read the public page, not the file. The file is what you hoped. The page is what the crawler saw the server report: name, map, players, slots, password flag. Mismatches mean the process did not load this file. Find the other copy. CFTools Cloud will not rewrite serverDZ.cfg for you. CFTools Architect hosts the process that reads it. You still own the words. Keep a copy of the last good cfg in the same backup as the hive, because a bad edit is as destructive as a bad mod, and unlike a mod it looks like "just text."