Servers

Servers are the machines that host DayZ Standalone. All DayZ servers are connected to a central database called a "hive" which is responsible for remembering character data and allowing players to use the same survivor on different servers. They are several types of servers used and distributed across the real world. Both public and private servers are made available by Bohemia Interactive Studios through host distributors and administrated by the server owner. For more information about hives and private vs public, see Types of Servers below.

Weekly Maintenance
NOTE: Official DayZ server maintenance and downtime occurs every Wednesday at 0700 GMT. During this time period, all servers connected to the central hive will be offline and players will be unable to connect to servers for an expected 3-hour maintenance window or until maintenance is completed.

Joining, Leaving, and Changing Servers
When joining a server, your character will be in the same place and with the same equipment if you already had a character established on that hive the last time you played the game. From the title screen, select Play to join the last server you had played, or select Change Server to use the server browser to view a list of available servers.

Server Browser
This is the game menu that is used for finding and selecting a server to play on. The tools available for filtering your results are fairly robust and should allow you to find something that suits your needs.


 * Search : This is a true search box which allows you to enter the name of a particular server that you are looking to join. The search will filter your results on the left based on the keywords you enter here.
 * Ping : Omits servers which have ping above the limit set in the box on the right. By default, it is set to only show servers with a ping of less than 100. You may want to change it if you have a weak internet connection or want to show international servers as well. Be aware that higher values will affect your gameplay causing lag and desync issues, especially during encounters. This is the only filter checkbox which does not have a "red X" option, because either you are filtering by ping or you aren't (there is no third option).
 * Favorited : Restricts your results to only servers which you have previously added to your favorites list. Servers can be favorited by clicking the star icon to the left of their name on the list.
 * Friends Playing : Your results will be limited to servers which already have players from your friends list active on them. You can see who is playing on that server by viewing the server's detailed info.
 * BattlEye Protected : This will search only for servers which have BattlEye activated. All official servers are currently required to have this active.
 * Passworded : This restricts results to only servers which require a password to join.
 * Previously Played : Only servers that you have previously played on will show in your results.
 * Proper Version Match : Filters out servers which are not the same version as your client. (NOTE: Not working properly as of 0.61)
 * Full Servers : Only servers which are already full (and would require you to wait in a queue) will be shown.
 * Third Person : Shows only servers which allow the used of Third Person Perspective (3PP).
 * Public : Restricts results to only servers which use the Public hive for character storage.
 * Accelerated Time : Limits results to servers which use the accelerated time setting.

Timers
Currently there are preventive measures in place to deter unfair gameplay, these measures are in place in the form of timer-based functions. These functions are as follows:


 * Changing Servers - a 90 second timer will be in place before you spawn if you have been on a different server within the last 5 minutes. This is a measure taken as a deterrent to server hopping -- a term for describing the activity of switching servers to find more desirable loot.
 * Logout - a 15 second timer will begin upon disconnection and will keep your character in its place until it expires, this is in effect for all circumstances which you disconnect from the server. This is a measure taken to prevent combat logging (leaving to avoid current circumstances or to avoid possible death) and to ensure continuity and fair play in the face of possible consequence during encounters. You will not see this timer after logging out of a server, but your character will remain present where you logged out for the duration of the 30 seconds.

Server Names
Choosing the right server can affect the quality and -- to a lesser extent -- the difficulty of your gameplay through factors like player traffic. Many DayZ servers use a generally accepted naming convention, which makes it easier to digest information about the server's settings and location at a glance. Choosing the right server parameters will help you play with options that match your preferences and can potentially help you avoid language challenges if that is a concern. Server owners are usually able to set the name to anything they want however, and custom names may not follow this convention or provide all the same information.

A common convention of server naming is as shown: DayZ   ()  - hosted by 

Breakdown:
 * City/State Province: Set to give a general location of where a particular server is located. In the US, usually this will contain the city or state. In other locations, it may contain a country name or territory name.
 * Server Number: This number is used to distinguish between other servers that may have nearly identical information. More often than not, the number is somewhere between 1 and 9999, and is randomly chosen.


 * Difficulty/Settings/Other Info: Contains information regarding server settings. In the DayZ mod, there were difficulty levels implemented, and this was the place to put them. In the event that something similar is implemented for the Standalone, that kind of information should be placed here. Other pertinent info can also be listed here, but it's best to keep it short.


 * DayZ Version Number: The build number for the version of DayZ that is running on the server. It's very important to update this number whenever a server does an update, because it helps players see which servers are running older versions of the game.
 * Server Host: Servers which are hosted using 3rd party services are sometimes required to place the "hosted by Company X" tag at the end of the server title, mostly as a form of advertisement.

Example: DayZ US 293 (Public/Veteran, First Person, 24hr day cycle) v113772 - hosted by SuperServers

Location Codes
Official servers typically follow some version of the above naming convention, and may use a country or state code to denote their location. Anything that isn't listed here does not regularly host official servers.


 * AS -- Australia
 * AU/NZ -- Australia/New Zealand (typically located in Australia)
 * BR -- Brazil
 * TR -- Turkey
 * DE -- Germany
 * ES -- Spain
 * FR -- France
 * CA -- Canada
 * CZ -- Czech Republic
 * CA/FR -- French Canada
 * NL -- Netherlands
 * PL -- Poland
 * RU -- Russia
 * SE -- Sweden
 * SG or SNG -- Singapore
 * UK -- United Kingdom
 * US -- United States (non-specific)
 * N/A -- California
 * LA -- Los Angeles
 * SJ -- San Jose
 * GA -- Georgia
 * IL -- Illinois
 * CHI -- Chicago
 * MO -- Missouri
 * NJ -- New Jersey
 * NY -- New York
 * BUF -- Buffalo
 * TX -- Texas
 * DAL -- Dallas
 * WA -- Washington
 * MI -- Miami

Persistence and Restarts
Since update 0.50, all public servers have a feature called Persistence enabled by default. However, as of 0.61, only limited gameplay material such as vehicles, their parts and world containers will retain persistence through a server restart.

Persistence of world items is only applicable to their home server and cannot be carried on to other servers unless the items are carried by your character.

During a server restart, players will lose connection and loot and similar gameplay items & events may be refreshed. Certain gameplay material such as vehicles or items may be respawned or removed if they have reached the end of their lifetime, and dynamic events such as Helicopter Crash Sites and their loot may respawn in a new location. Server restarts are typically automatic and set to occur at predetermined intervals, but can also be done manually by a server administrator. It will usually take a few short minutes before the server completely restarts and appears visible and functional again.

In the event of a disconnection caused by the host server itself or the linked database -- there may usually be a rollback of server data which as a result, will bring a player, his location and most items in the world to their locations and statuses during the time of actual server disconnection.

Types of Servers
Currently, all DayZ servers are linked to a central database called a "hive". A hive is the database that maintains all of the information relating to your characters such as equipment, location on the map, health status, etc. There are theoretically four types of servers within the hive hierarchy: official hive, community hive, private shards, and private hives. Players will be able to use the same survivor on each server they connect to within the same hive, and will be able travel freely between all servers connected to it with no loss of progress.

Public

 * The Official Hive is exclusive to servers that are directly maintained and operated by Bohemia Interactive, meaning that regular users are not able to rent or operate a server connected to this hive. Official servers are intended to present the vanilla DayZ experience exactly as the developers intended, without changes in gameplay resulting from mods or heavy manipulation of the loot economy. Players are able to use the same character on any Official server, but separate characters are established for 1PP (1st Person Only) and 3PP (1st Person/3rd Person) servers.
 * The Community Hive is similar to its Official counterpart in that only the vanilla DayZ experience is allowed, but regular users are able to rent and operate servers on this hive and use them as they see fit (without the use of mods). By design, this hive offers less control to server owners & admins compared to private servers in the pursuit of maintaining vanilla gameplay. All servers on this hive share a common 1PP and 3PP characters as with the Official Hive, but they are separate from Official servers.

Private

 * A Private Shard allows a community to have their own private servers and saved characters. Private shards can contain a single server or a group of rented servers. Players would only be able to jump between servers on that private shard. These allow more flexibility to their owners and admins, but these shards are still under the purview of Bohemia Interactive and currently adhere to vanilla gameplay.
 * A Private Hive uses its own separate database not managed by Bohemia Interactive, so an admin can do whatever they want with the database -- eventually including the use of mods. Like private shards, it can contain a single server or a group of servers and players would only be able to jump between servers on that private hive. (NOTE: Private hives are not yet an option in DayZ, but will likely become available in either the Beta or Release phase of development.)

Camera Perspective
One small but very important difference between servers is whether or not you have the ability to use the third person camera perspective, otherwise known as "3PP". Servers where you are able to do this are listed in the server browser with a little "person" icon next to their name, and servers where you are only able to use the first person perspective ("1PP") do not have an icon next to their name. In servers which allow third person, by default you can toggle between the camera modes using the key. A visual example of the two can be found below.