DayZ Server Startup Parameters

The DayZ dedicated server is started by a command line, a shortcut, or a service unit. That line names the binary, the port, the config file, the profiles directory, and the mod list. serverDZ.cfg holds the hostname and the mission. The command line holds how the process is invoked. If they disagree, the one the process actually used wins, and you will debug the other file for an hour. Write the real command down. If CFTools Architect starts the server, read the command it generated instead of assuming your old batch file is still in charge.

-mod= is the parameter that makes or breaks a modded server. It is a semicolon-separated list of @ folders. Order is load order. A missing folder is a startup failure or a silent skip, depending on the build, and both look like "mods broken" in chat. The mod install guide is the file side. This page is only the argument. Do not also paste the same mods into a cfg field if your startup already lists them, or you will not know which list the binary read.

The port parameter and the port inside the cfg have to be the same story you told the firewall. Changing -port= without changing the RCon offset is how BattlEye ends up on a port nobody opened. RCon is not this parameter. RCon is the BattlEye cfg. People pass an "rcon password" on the command line because another game did it that way. DayZ's BattlEye RCon will ignore the gesture. Read ports after you change anything with the word port in it.

Profiles and the name of the config file matter when you run more than one server on a box. Two processes, one profiles directory, and you have two servers taking turns corrupting each other's persistence. Give each a directory. Give each a port. Give each an RCon port. CFTools Cloud will then have two connections, which is what you want. One Cloud entry pointed at the wrong port will manage the test server while you yell at the live one.

CPU affinity and priority tweaks are optional and easy to cargo-cult. A fast core and a machine that is not also a backup target will do more than a startup flag you copied from a forum signature. If the server still stalls, the requirements are the next read, not another parameter. Log the startup. If Architect or the service manager rotates logs, know where today's file is before you need it at night. The admin log page is the operations side of that habit.

When the process is up, confirm three things in order: you can join from outside, the public list shows the map you selected, and the mod count on the server page matches the -mod= list. If the map is wrong, the mission in serverDZ.cfg is wrong. If the mods are wrong, the command line is wrong. Do not restart randomly between those checks or you will not know which edit worked.

The command line is a config file

Print the real command the supervisor uses and save it in your notes. A shortcut on your desktop that you double-click during tests is how you end up with two different -mod= lines and a public server that does not match the test. If CFTools Architect starts the process, its command is the one to read. Retire the old batch file so a helpful friend cannot start a second copy on the same port.

-mod= order is load order. Change it one move at a time. A missing @ folder should fail loudly enough that you notice before players do. If it fails silently, your modded page and your launcher will disagree, and the disagreement is the symptom. Compare them after every edit. The port in the command and the port in serverDZ.cfg and the port you opened in the firewall are three places to drift. Drift shows up as a server that is joinable from the host and absent from the server list.

One profiles directory per instance. The parameter that sets it is not optional once you run a test server beside live. Shared profiles are shared corruption. Two RCon ports, two Cloud connections, two names. A restart job aimed at the test port during a live event is a story you only tell once. Name the services so the name contains the port.

Leave CPU-affinity folklore alone until the basics are stable. A server that hitches on a busy Chernarus night needs a faster core or fewer mods, not a flag copied from a forum. Watch a real session. Then change one thing. CFTools Cloud can restart you after the change. It cannot tell you which parameter the crashed process used if you did not log the command. Log the command. The community page will show the result an hour later. You should already know the result because you joined.