DayZ custom maps: Deer Isle and Namalsk

A DayZ community map is two things that have to match: a terrain mod that every player downloads, and a mission folder that only the server has, holding that map's loot economy, spawn points and event positions. To run one you add the map's mods to -mod= with their keys, copy its mission folder into mpmissions, point template in serverDZ.cfg at that folder, and start on a fresh persistence folder. Deer Isle needs Community Framework plus the @DeerIsle mod and its empty.deerisle mission; Namalsk needs @Namalsk Island and @Namalsk Survival plus either the regular.namalsk or hardcore.namalsk mission. Everything else in this guide is how to do that without an empty map, a crash loop or a wipe you did not intend.

The general mod mechanics - keys, load order, -mod= versus -servermod= - are in the full DayZ server guide. This post assumes you have a working vanilla server and want to move it to another map.

What a community map actually consists of#

Every DayZ map, including the official ones, is a terrain plus a mission. On official maps you never notice the split because both ship with the game. On a community map they come from different places, and most failed installs are a mismatch between them.

The terrain mod contains the world: heightmap, buildings, roads, textures. It is large - community maps commonly run to several gigabytes - and every player downloads it through the DayZ Launcher before they can join.

The mission folder is small but carries all of the map's gameplay. Its db/types.xml decides what loot exists, its mapgrouppos.xml and mapgroupproto.xml decide where loot can be placed in each building, cfgeventspawns.xml lists the coordinates for vehicles and crash sites, and cfgplayerspawnpoints.xml decides where fresh characters appear. A Chernarus mission on a Namalsk terrain is a server where every spawn point is in the sea and every loot position belongs to a building that is not there.

Choosing a map#

The official maps need no mods at all:

• Chernarus - mission dayzOffline.chernarusplus. The default, and the map most players know.
• Livonia - mission dayzOffline.enoch. Smaller, denser forests, official DLC map.
• Sakhal - the Frostline map, mission dayzOffline.sakhal in builds that include it. Cold-weather survival with its own mechanics. Check the store pages for what players need to own to join a DLC map.

The community maps people most often ask for:

• Deer Isle - a large island map with a lot of points of interest, popular for PvE and roleplay as well as PvP. Requires Community Framework.
• Namalsk - a small, cold, harsh island by Sumrak, with its own survival layer in a second mod. Comes in a regular and a hardcore mission.
• Others - Banov, Esseker, Takistan Plus, Chiemsee, Pripyat and Alteria all have active servers. The install pattern is the same; the folder names and dependencies are on each map's Workshop page.

Two practical questions decide the choice more than the scenery. First, how big is the download - every new player has to fetch it before their first join, and a large map loses some players at the door. Second, does the map have a maintained mission and an active author. A map whose mission files were last touched three game versions ago will need you to fix its economy yourself.

Installing Deer Isle#

1. Stop the server and take a backup of the whole thing, including the current mission folder and its storage_* folder.
2. Download the Workshop items for Community Framework and Deer Isle and place them in the server root as @CF and @DeerIsle. On your own machine that is SteamCMD with the client app id 221100; on a host, download them once and upload the folders over SFTP.
3. Copy the .bikey from each mod's keys folder into the server's keys folder.
4. Download the Deer Isle mission files from the map's official repository and copy the empty.deerisle folder into mpmissions/.
5. Set the template:

class Missions{    class DayZ    {        template = "empty.deerisle";    };};

1. Set the mod line, frameworks first:

-mod=@CF;@DeerIsle

1. Start the server and watch the log. A healthy start loads the mission, initialises the economy and reaches the point where it accepts players. A failed one usually names a missing mod or a missing file within the first screen.

The mission folder name in your download is the one to use. If the author renames it in a later release, template has to change with it - a template that names a folder which does not exist stops the server at start.

Installing Namalsk#

Namalsk splits into a terrain mod and a gameplay mod, and both are required:

1. Stop and back up, as above.
2. Add the Workshop items as @Namalsk Island and @Namalsk Survival in the server root, and copy both keys into keys.
3. Download the official server files from Sumrak's repository. The mission folders are regular.namalsk and hardcore.namalsk; copy the one you want into mpmissions/.
4. Set template = "regular.namalsk"; or template = "hardcore.namalsk";.
5. Set the mod line. The folder names contain a space, so quote the whole parameter if you are writing a launch line by hand:

"-mod=@Namalsk Survival;@Namalsk Island"

Check the order the map's own documentation gives - when one mod depends on the other, the dependency loads first, and the documentation for the version you downloaded is the authority. If you also run Community Framework or other CF-based mods, @CF goes at the front.

The hardcore mission is genuinely harder: tighter loot, more dangerous weather, and Namalsk Survival's own mechanics such as its EVR storms and cold-weather pressure are pushed further. Pick it for a group that wants that, not because "hardcore" sounds better in a server name. You cannot switch between the two later without effectively starting again, because their economies differ.

Persistence when you change map#

Persistence is stored per mission, in storage_<instanceId> inside the mission folder. A new mission folder therefore starts with no storage and a fresh world. That is what you want on a map change: bases, vehicles and stashes from Chernarus reference positions that mean nothing on Deer Isle.

Characters are a different question. They live in players.db in the same storage folder, so by default they do not follow you to the new map either. Some admins try to copy players.db across so players keep their gear. It can work on a like-for-like move, but characters saved standing in a Chernarus town will load at those coordinates on the new terrain - in a field if you are lucky, under the ground or in the sea if you are not. For a map change, announce a character wipe; it is cleaner and players expect it.

If you want to keep the old map available - to switch back, or to run both on two servers - keep the old mission folder as it is. A server pointed back at dayzOffline.chernarusplus finds its old storage_1 untouched. Two servers running at the same time each need their own ports and their own instanceId; see serverDZ.cfg explained for the keys. Wipes in general, including partial ones, are in DayZ wipes and persistence.

Loot, events and spawns on a community map#

A community mission comes with its own economy, and its defaults reflect the author's taste. Expect to tune it, using the same files and rules as on Chernarus. The detailed mechanics are in the DayZ types.xml guide; the map-specific points are these.

• Usage and value names differ. Each map defines its own legal loot areas and tiers in cfglimitsdefinition.xml. A types entry copied from a Chernarus guide may name a tier the map does not use, and an entry that names nothing valid never spawns. Check the map's file before pasting anything.
• Event coordinates are per map. Vehicles, helicopter crashes and other events spawn only at positions listed in the mission's cfgeventspawns.xml. Copying an event from Chernarus without new coordinates either does nothing or spawns cars inside rocks.
• Spawn points decide the first ten minutes. cfgplayerspawnpoints.xml controls where fresh characters appear. Authors often spread them generously; if every new player is killed by the same coastal camper, this is the file to change.
• Buildings need loot positions. A building only holds loot if the mission's mapgroupproto.xml describes positions for its class. New buildings added by later map versions need updated proto files from the author; you will not write those by hand.

As with any economy work, keep your own changes in a custom folder registered in cfgeconomycore.xml rather than editing the author's files directly. When the map author ships a new mission version, you replace their files and your folder survives.

Adding other mods to a community map#

Most popular DayZ mods are map-agnostic: weapons, clothing, base building, admin tools. They work on any terrain, with two catches.

Items a mod adds need economy entries, and the entries have to use the map's usage and value names. A weapons pack whose types file was written for Chernarus may need its usage and value lines edited for Namalsk's tiers before anything appears.

Mods that place things in the world - traders, safe zones, AI patrols, custom bases - carry coordinates, and coordinates are per map. A trader file written for Chernarus places the trader somewhere arbitrary on Deer Isle. Large frameworks such as DayZ Expansion publish mission files per map for exactly this reason; the DayZ Expansion guide covers combining it with a map.

Custom buildings of your own - a trader camp, a new military base - can be added without a mod. On recent builds, cfggameplay.json has an object spawner list that reads JSON files of objects and positions exported from a placement tool such as the community DayZ Editor. That keeps map additions in the mission folder, where they belong, instead of in a script you have to maintain.

Updating a community map#

Maps update on their own schedule, and a terrain update has knock-on effects:

• Clients and server must match. When the terrain mod updates on the Workshop, players get it automatically through the launcher, and a server still on the old version rejects them. Update the server's copy of the mod, and its key, the same day.
• Mission updates are manual. A new mission release - new loot positions, new events - arrives as a download you merge. Compare it with your current folder before overwriting; your custom ce folder and your edited serverDZ.cfg stay as they are.
• Game updates come first. After a DayZ patch, map mods often need rebuilding by their authors. Until they are, a modded server may not start. Do not auto-update a community-map server on patch day; what to do when a mod update breaks has the routine.

Take a backup before every update. On RE:NODE, backup slots on DayZ plans are stored off the machine they protect and restore with a button, and a backup can be locked so scheduled rotation never deletes the one you took before the update.

Resources and disk#

A community map costs more than the vanilla server in two places. Disk first: the server install is a few gigabytes, and a large community map with its dependencies can add as much again, before any other mods. Make sure the plan's disk covers the map, every other mod, logs and a couple of backups' worth of headroom.

Memory and CPU second. Dense maps with many buildings and many loot positions cost more to simulate than open terrain, and the survival layers some maps add run their own scripts. A Deer Isle or Namalsk server for 30-40 players is comfortable where a similar vanilla server is comfortable, with a little more memory for the extra mods; a heavily modded community map belongs at the upper end of the DayZ requirements table. If the server slows when it fills, check logged server FPS before buying memory - CPU vs RAM for game servers explains why.

Troubleshooting#

The server stops at start with a mission error. template names a folder that does not exist, or the case differs. Compare it character by character with the folder in mpmissions.

Players are kicked with a signature error. A map or dependency key is missing from keys, or a mod updated and shipped a new key. Copy all keys again.

Players spawn in the sea or die on arrival. The mission does not match the terrain - usually a Chernarus mission left in place with a new map mod. Check template.

The map has no loot. The economy did not load or does not fit the map. Read the .RPT log for XML errors, and confirm that any types you added use the map's usage and value names.

Vehicles never appear. Their events have no valid positions in this mission's cfgeventspawns.xml, or the map's default nominal is low.

The launcher will not download the map for players. The server is not advertising the mod, often because it is in -servermod= instead of -mod=. A terrain belongs in -mod=.

FAQ#

Do players need to download the map?

Yes. The terrain mod and its dependencies are client mods; the DayZ Launcher downloads them when a player joins your server from it. Only the mission folder stays on the server.

Can I switch my server from Chernarus to Deer Isle without a wipe?

Not meaningfully. The new mission starts with its own empty persistence, and copying characters across places them at Chernarus coordinates on the new terrain. Plan the change as a fresh start and announce it.

What is the difference between regular.namalsk and hardcore.namalsk?

They are two missions for the same terrain. The hardcore one has a harsher economy and pushes Namalsk Survival's environmental mechanics further. Choose before launch; switching later means a new world.

Where do I get a community map's mission files?

From the map author, usually linked on the Workshop page and often hosted on GitHub. Do not use a mission folder from a random re-upload; it may be outdated or modified.

Can I run two maps on one server?

One server process loads one mission. To offer two maps, run two servers with separate ports and instance ids, each with its own mods.

Why does a mod's loot not spawn on the new map?

Its types entries use usage or value names from another map. Check the names in the map's cfglimitsdefinition.xml and edit the mod's entries to match.