Loot in DayZ isn't random. It's controlled by the Central Economy, a set of XML files that decide what spawns, how much of it exists at once, and how quickly it comes back after being picked up. Editing these files is the most powerful way to customize your server's loot without installing a single mod.
Where The Central Economy Files Live
These files live inside your server's active mission folder, and which folder that is depends on the map you're running.
📁 mpmissions
📁 dayzOffline.chernarusplus (or your map's mission folder)
📁 db
📄 events.xml (dynamic events)
📄 globals.xml (economy-wide settings)
📄 cfgeconomycore.xml (registers which economy files load)
dayzOffline.chernarusplus for Chernarus, dayzOffline.enoch for Livonia, and dayzOffline.sakhal for Sakhal. Editing the wrong folder has no effect, since the server only loads the mission set in serverDZ.cfg.
Editing types.xml: The Loot Table
Every item in the game has its own entry in types.xml, controlling how often it spawns and how long it sticks around.
The Fields That Matter Most
nominal— the target number of this item alive on the map at once. Raise it to make the item more common.min— the floor. Once the live count drops below this, the economy queues more to spawn.lifetime— how many seconds an untouched item sits on the ground before being cleaned up.restock— how many seconds after hittingminbefore the economy tops back up towardnominal.0means it restocks immediately.quantmin/quantmax— for items that hold a quantity, like ammo or canned food, the percentage range they spawn filled to.-1uses the item's default.categoryandusage— which loot category the item belongs to, and which building or location types it can spawn in.
Making An Item More Common
Raise nominal and min together, keeping min lower than nominal:
Making An Item Rarer, Or Removing It Entirely
Lower both values, or set them to 0 to stop the item from spawning at all:
events.xml: Dynamic Events
Dynamic events cover things like helicopter crash sites, police cars, boats, and animal or infected hordes. Each event in events.xml has its own nominal, min, and max values, plus timing controls (secmin and secmax) that set the cooldown between spawns. Raise nominal and max for more frequent events, like additional helicopter crashes, or lower them to scale events back. Spawn locations for many events are set separately, in cfgeventspawns.xml.
globals.xml And cfgeconomycore.xml
globals.xml holds economy-wide settings, like cleanup timers and the maximum number of active animals or infected. cfgeconomycore.xml tells the server which economy files to actually load, if you're splitting loot definitions across extra custom files (common when combining loot changes with mods), they need to be registered here or the server will ignore them.
Editing Workflow
- Stop your server from the Console tab. Never edit Central Economy files while the server is running, changes can be overwritten and persistence data can become corrupted.
- Open the file you want to edit from the Files tab.
- Make your changes and save.
- Validate your XML before saving if you're unsure about the formatting. A single unclosed tag can stop the entire economy from loading, leaving your server with no loot at all.
- Start your server and check the startup logs to confirm the economy loaded without errors.
🛠️ Troubleshooting Loot Issues
Server won't start after editing types.xml:Check for an unclosed or mismatched tag. Run the file through an XML validator to find the exact line.Item still isn't spawning after raising nominal:Give the economy time to cycle naturally, or wipe persistence data for an immediate reset.Changes don't seem to apply at all:Confirm you edited the mission folder that matches your active map, and that the file is registered incfgeconomycore.xmlif it's a custom addition.Server performance dropped after a loot change:You likely raised nominal values too aggressively across multiple categories at once. Scale back and increase items more selectively.
With these files, you can shape exactly how scarce or generous your server feels, from a stripped-down hardcore economy to a loot-flooded casual server. If you run into any trouble getting your changes to take effect, no worries! Just open a support ticket and our team will be happy to take a look.