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Combatting Server Lag & Desync

DayZ is an exceptionally resource-intensive engine, responsible for simulating thousands of dynamic entities across a massive 225km² landscape. To maintain a consistent server tickrate (Server FPS) and minimize network desynchronization, administrators must implement aggressive world cleanup policies and entity limits. A well-tuned server not only provides a smoother combat experience for your players but also ensures long-term stability without frequent crashes.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Time

7 Minutes

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Strategic World Cleanup (globals.xml)

Persistent entities like discarded gear and expired characters are the primary contributors to performance degradation. You can manage these variables within your mission database.
  • Technical Path: /mpmissions/[Your_Mission]/db/globals.xml

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Optimizing Dead Player Lifetimes

By default, the engine preserves dead players for one hour. During high-intensity base raids, this can lead to massive FPS drops. We recommend reducing the CleanupLifetimeDeadPlayer value from 3600 to 300 (5 minutes). This ensures that your hardware node can reclaim memory and CPU cycles quickly following an engagement.

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Reducing Loot Overhead (types.xml)

A common mistake for new server owners is allowing thousands of low-value items to persist in the world indefinitely.
1

Identify Junk Items

Review your types.xml for high-frequency, low-tier assets such as basic food items, primitive clothing, and common tools.
2

Adjust Lifetime Values

Reduce the lifetime parameter for these items from the standard 28,800 seconds (8 hours) down to 900 seconds (15 minutes).
3

Cycle the Economy

This forces the Central Economy to cycle items more frequently, significantly reducing the server’s RAM footprint and ensuring that loot continues to spawn where it is needed most.

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Essential Maintenance Protocols

Due to inherent engine-level memory management limitations, we strongly recommend a full server restart every 3 to 4 hours. This clears cached data and resets the internal state of complex physics objects like vehicles.
Always provide an automated in-game warning (5-minute and 1-minute alerts) before a scheduled restart. Vehicles traveling at high velocities during a server shutdown may experience desynchronization upon re-logging, potentially leading to fatal crashes for the occupants.

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Performance Hardware

If you are running a heavily modded server with 60+ slots, we recommend using our FREAKHOSTING Extreme plans. These nodes use high-frequency CPUs that are specifically selected to handle the single-threaded nature of the DayZ server engine.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: January 2026 | Stability: Peak performance for your survivors.