How to balance loot tables and create custom loot on a DayZ Server

[Oneleg]

You can quickly balance loot tables and set up new lootable items in your DayZ server. This guide assumes you know how to use an FTP(S) client -- if you're not sure how to do that, check out our FTP FAQ.

1. Inside your FTP, navigate to the mission folder your server is running. For instance, “mpmissions/dayzOffline.chernarusplus”
2. Open the folder titled “db”.
3. Open “types.xml" for editing.
4. You’ll see a long list of items, and the different variables that are set to define how these items will work as loot. Edit this as you'd like.
5. Save the file back to your server.
6. Make a copy (backup) of your file with changes. For instance, make a copy in that folder and call it types.xml.backup. This is important because any game update, server move, or repair will reset the regular file back to the default version. (If you do lose your changes in one of those operations, you may still be able to retrieve it from our last server backup, but it's not guaranteed.)

Here is a breakdown of the parameters:

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    <type name="ACOGOptic">   // This is the ID name of the object
        <nominal>10</nominal> //This defines how many can spawn in the world
        <lifetime>14400</lifetime> // This is a timer for how long an object lasts at its spawnpoint before being deleted
        <restock>1800</restock> //This is a timer to measure how long before the object respawns
        <min>6</min> //  This defines the minimum quantity of the object in the world
        <quantmin>-1</quantmin> //  This value is used for objects with a quantity, such as magazines for example.
        <quantmax>-1</quantmax> //  This value is used for objects with a quantity, such as magazines for example.
        <cost>100</cost> //  This value defines spawn weight, a lower value means less of a chance it will spawn.
        <flags count_in_cargo="0" count_in_hoarder="0" count_in_map="1" count_in_player="0" crafted="0" deloot="0"/> //  These are default flags that should not be altered unless you know what you’re doing.
        <category name="weapons"/> // This value defines what loot type is spawning, in this case we’re spawning a weapon attachment, so it’s in the weapons category.
        <usage name="Military"/> //  This value defines what areas the loot will spawn in.
        <tag name="shelves"/> //  This value can be used to define where it will spawn, the valid tags are currently: shelves, ground, floor.
        <value name="Tier3"/> // This value defines what difficulty area the loot will spawn in. Tiers exist from 1-4, with 1 being the easiest, and 4 being the hardest.
    </type>

As you can see, there are many different parameters to define how you want loot to spawn and be interacted with in your server.

Any custom items added to your server that you want to be lootable will also need to be defined as a type in the types.xml file.

For reference, here is some useful information you can use for creating your own loot tables in a DayZ server.

Usage name examples:

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        <usage name="Town"/>  // average town spawns
        <usage name="Farm"/>  // barn spawns
        <usage name="Industrial"/>  // development buildings, construction sites, sheds, etc..
        <usage name="Village"/>// like town spawns, but exclusive to small villages
        <usage name="Military"/>   // military checkpoints, bases, heli crashes, vehicles, etc.
        <usage name="Police"/> // police departments, and cars
        <usage name="Medic"/> // community centers, doctors offices
        <usage name="Hunting"/> // hunting stands and campgrounds
        <usage name="Firefighter"/> // fire departments
        <usage name="Office"/> // office buildings only
        <usage name="School"/> // school buildings only
        <usage name="Lunapark"/> // amusement park only
        <usage name="ContaminatedArea"/> // toxic/contaminated zone only
        <usage name="Coast"/> // coastal spawns, boat loot