How to Host a DayZ Server on LoafHosts

Hosting a DayZ server means renting hardware that runs Bohemia’s survival sim around the clock so your group keeps the same Chernarus or Livonia world whether or not anyone is online. The part that scares most people is the configuration: DayZ is driven by a serverDZ.cfg file with its own quirky syntax and a separate cfggameplay.json inside the mission folder, and a single stray quote or comma can stop the server booting. On Loafhosts you do not touch FTP or SSH for any of it. The DayZ Config Editor built into the panel gives you a form for every top-level setting in serverDZ.cfg, a universal search box, a raw mode for power users, and a validated JSON editor for the mission gameplay file. This guide walks through where to find the editor, what it lets you change, which settings are deliberately locked, and the one gotcha that catches everyone: a handful of keys are managed elsewhere and cannot be edited here.

What the DayZ Config Editor Does

The DayZ Config Editor is the in-browser editor for your server’s two main configuration files. Instead of downloading serverDZ.cfg, editing it on your PC, and uploading it back, you open it in the panel and change values directly. It is split into two halves. The first is a structured form over serverDZ.cfg — the file in your server root that holds settings like the in-game time of day, login queue sizes, the instance ID, the MOTD and persistence options. The second is a raw JSON editor for cfggameplay.json, the mission file that controls gameplay rules such as base building and player limits. The editor only appears on DayZ servers; on any other game it stays hidden, so the sidebar entry only shows up where it applies.

Note: The editor works on two files — serverDZ.cfg (a form editor) and the mission’s cfggameplay.json (a raw JSON editor)

Note: It only shows up on DayZ servers; it self-hides on every other game

Note: Everything happens in the browser — there is no FTP or SSH step

Where to Find It

Open your DayZ server in the Loafhosts panel and look in the server’s sidebar — the DayZ Config Editor is added there alongside the other server tools. Selecting it opens the editor in place, keeping your normal sidebar and header so you can jump back to the console, files, or settings at any time. The editor reads your live files straight off the server, so what you see is exactly what is on disk right now. If you have just created the server and never started it, serverDZ.cfg may not exist yet — the editor will tell you to start the server once so the game can generate it, then it will load normally.

Tip: If the editor says the file does not exist yet, start the server once to generate serverDZ.cfg, then reopen the editor

Tip: The editor reads the file live, so it always reflects the current on-disk config rather than a cached copy

Editing serverDZ.cfg in the Form

The form lists every top-level setting found in your serverDZ.cfg as its own field, with the comment from the file shown next to it as a hint. Change the values you want and save, and only the keys you edited are written back. Everything else is preserved byte-for-byte: comments, blank lines, the order of your settings, the exact spacing around the = sign, the trailing semicolons, and the nested class Missions { ... } block all round-trip untouched. That last point matters — DayZ’s config format is fussy, and the editor is built to leave the parts you did not touch exactly as they were. A universal search box sits over the whole list, so on a long config you can type a setting name and jump straight to it instead of scrolling.

For power users, there is also a raw text mode for serverDZ.cfg. It hands you the entire file as plain text so you can add keys the form does not list, hand-edit the Missions block, or paste in a config wholesale. The same protections apply on save in raw mode as in the form, so you cannot accidentally use it to slip past the locked settings described below.

Tip: Use the search box to jump to a setting by name on long configs

Tip: Saving from the form only rewrites the keys you changed — comments, ordering, and the Missions block are kept exactly as they were

Tip: Switch to raw mode when you need to add a setting the form does not list or edit the Missions block by hand

The Locked Settings and Why

A specific set of serverDZ.cfg keys is shown read-only in the editor, and the editor will not save changes to them from the form or from raw mode. These are the settings the panel manages for you from the server’s Startup configuration, and it rewrites them in the file whenever the server is reinstalled or re-synced. If the editor let you change them here, your edit would be silently reverted the next time that happened — so instead it locks them and points you at the right place. The locked keys are: hostname, password, passwordAdmin, maxPlayers, verifySignatures, forceSameBuild, disableVoN, vonCodecQuality, disable3rdPerson, disableCrosshair, disablePersonalLight, lightingConfig, serverTimeAcceleration, serverNightTimeAcceleration, serverTimePersistent, and steamQueryPort.

To change any of those — your server name, the join and admin passwords, the player cap, signature checks, third-person and crosshair toggles, the day and night time multipliers, or the Steam query port — open the server’s Server Settings (Startup) tab and set them there. The panel writes them into serverDZ.cfg for you and they survive reinstalls. Everything not on that list stays fully editable in the config editor.

Note: The locked keys live on the Server Settings (Startup) tab because the panel rewrites them on reinstall — editing them in the config file would just get overwritten

Note: Player count, server name, passwords, time multipliers, and the query port are all Startup-tab settings

Tip: A locked key is read-only on purpose — there is nothing broken; just change it on the Startup tab instead

Editing the Mission’s cfggameplay.json

DayZ’s gameplay rules live in a JSON file inside your active mission folder, at mpmissions/<mission>/cfggameplay.json. The editor figures out which mission that is by reading the template value from the Missions block in your serverDZ.cfg — the default Chernarus mission is dayzOffline.chernarusplus, and Livonia is dayzOffline.enoch — and opens the matching file for you. You edit it as raw JSON, and the editor validates it when you save: if the JSON is malformed, the save is rejected with an error instead of writing a broken file that would stop the server loading. One important detail is that the game only reads cfggameplay.json when enableCfgGameplayFile is set to 1 in serverDZ.cfg. That key is not locked, so you can turn it on in the form editor; with it off, your gameplay-file edits will not take effect in game.

Note: The mission file is cfggameplay.json, and the editor resolves the right mission folder from your serverDZ.cfg automatically

Note: Chernarus uses dayzOffline.chernarusplus; Livonia uses dayzOffline.enoch

Tip: Set enableCfgGameplayFile = 1 in serverDZ.cfg (it is editable in the form) or the game will ignore your cfggameplay.json changes

Tip: Invalid JSON is blocked on save, so a stray comma cannot reach the server

Limits, Permissions, and Applying Changes

The editor caps how large a single file it will read or write — one megabyte by default, which is far more than serverDZ.cfg or cfggameplay.json ever need. That cap is also why the large economy files such as types.xml are not exposed in this editor; they routinely run past the limit and are handled separately. Access follows the same permission model as the rest of the panel: a sub-user needs the config read permission to open and view files, and the config update permission to save changes, so you can give a trusted helper edit access without handing over the whole account. As with most DayZ settings, a saved change does not take effect until the server reloads the file — restart the server after saving so it picks up your new serverDZ.cfg or gameplay values.

Note: Config changes apply on the next start — restart the server after saving

Note: Large economy XMLs like types.xml are intentionally outside this editor

Tip: Sub-users need the config read permission to view files and the config update permission to save — grant edit access without sharing the whole account