Changing Your DayZ Map: Chernarus, Livonia and Sakhal
Which DayZ maps a GameGrid server has, which setting selects the map, where each map keeps its world and loot edits, and what running a community map involves.
How DayZ Picks the Map
A DayZ server loads one mission, and the mission decides the map. It is set by the template line inside the class Missions block of serverDZ.cfg, and it must match a folder name in mpmissions/.
| Map | Mission folder (template) | What players need |
|---|---|---|
| Chernarus | dayzOffline.chernarusplus | DayZ |
| Livonia | dayzOffline.enoch | DayZ. Livonia has been free for every DayZ owner since update 1.25 |
| Sakhal | dayzOffline.sakhal | DayZ and the Frostline DLC |
All three mission folders are in the server files your GameGrid server is created with.
Only Sakhal needs a DLC. Choosing it locks out every player who does not own Frostline, so tell your community before switching.
The Map Setting on GameGrid
On the Settings tab, the mission template setting is the one that selects the map: it writes the template line in serverDZ.cfg. DayZ reads it only when the server starts.
If you change it:
1. Take a manual backup on the Backups tab first.
2. Change the setting, save, then Restart from the status bar.
3. Wait for Online. The first start on a map you have not used before takes longer, because the loot economy fills the new map.
4. Join and check you are on the map you chose. If the server does not come back, restore your backup and open a support ticket.
Update your server name if it mentions the map, so the browser listing stays accurate.
You can put your maps on a rotation instead of changing this setting by hand. A rotation is an ordered list and a place in it: the Event Manager takes the turn, and a map turn is a settings write plus a restart, warned in advance like any other. A map whose terrain is not installed on your server is refused by name, before your server is stopped, so a rotation cannot strand you on a map the server cannot load. Everything on each map stays with that map, so coming back round finds your bases exactly where you left them. See Supply Drops, Airdrops and the Rotator.
Where Each Map Keeps Its World
DayZ keeps save data inside the mission folder, in mpmissions/<mission>/storage_1/. Each map therefore has its own save folder, and changing the template does not delete the other map's folder.
- A map you have not used before starts with a fresh world and fresh characters.
- Characters do not move between maps.
Your loot and gameplay edits are per mission too. Changes you made to Chernarus's db/types.xml, db/events.xml, db/globals.xml or cfggameplay.json do not carry over to Livonia. Make the same edits in the other mission's folder if you want them there.
Sakhal is not a reskin of Chernarus. It ships its own lighting, colder temperatures and different files; for example it has no
db/messages.xmlof its own. Copying files between missions wholesale can break a map, so copy individual settings instead.
Community Maps
Community maps such as Deer Isle or Namalsk are Steam Workshop mods, installed from the Mods tab like any other mod. See Mods on Your DayZ Server.
A community map needs more than the mod itself:
- The map mod and everything it depends on, in the load order its Workshop page gives.
- Its mission folder in
mpmissions/, which the map's author provides. - The mission template setting set to that mission folder's name.
- Every player loading the map mod: a map is a Client & server mod.
Take a manual backup on the Backups tab before you start, and follow the map author's own instructions for the mission folder.
New Maps from DayZ Updates
The mission folders on your server are copied from the DayZ server files when your server is created, and they are not refreshed afterwards. That protects your loot and gameplay edits, but it also means a mission added by a later DayZ update does not appear on an existing server on its own.
Bohemia has announced a new DLC map, Badlands. Its mission folder name is not known until it is released. If you want a new official map on an existing server, open a support ticket.
Before You Switch: Checklist
- Take a manual backup.
- Warn players that characters do not move between maps.
- For Sakhal, check your players own Frostline.
- Re-apply any loot or gameplay edits in the new mission's folder.