case study · dayz
The Hoard
A heavily-modded DayZ PvE community server that we build and run ourselves. It's where our server tooling gets proven before it reaches anyone else.
- Type
- Our own community server
- Platform
- DayZ on Linux, Expansion
- Work
- Mods, tools, hosting, ops
The challenge
Big modded servers get fragile. Dozens of mods from different authors, a trader economy with thousands of items, and players who notice every crash. Off-the-shelf events feel the same on every server, and editing market files by hand is slow and error-prone.
We wanted events nobody else has, an economy two admins could rebuild together safely, and crashes fixed at the root.
- 69
- mods running together on live
- 9,499
- items dumped and classified
- 9,374
- items rendered from the engine
- 14
- hand-placed signal locations
what we built
Six pieces, one server
World events
A custom events mod with three headline events (Toxic Front, Signal and Siege) plus side missions (Apex hunts, a wandering merchant, scavenger runs and hunting) and an always-running community supply drive. Siege packs follow routes walked in person around each trader camp, then split off to hunt players.
Shared market editor
A browser editor two admins use at the same time to rebuild the trader economy from scratch: drag types into categories, drop categories onto machines, lock items to sell-only per location, with validation on every change.
In-game item renders
A dev-only client mod that renders every item through the game's own preview system, then captures and crops each one, giving a real picture for 9,374 of 9,499 items.
Stock rules
A server-side override so buyable items have unlimited stock and selected items can be sold, but never bought, at specific traders. Expansion can't do that on its own.
Crash investigation
Live server crashes traced through memory dumps to one specific class name per mod set, then stopped from spawning. A real fix instead of 'restart more often'.
Vehicles & storage
A curated vehicle line-up with colour variants grouped under one listing, tuned cargo sizes and extra storage slots, generated from one spec file.
How we work on a live server
Nothing goes straight to players. Changes are built and tried on a local test server first, then on a Linux test instance running the same mod list, and only then scheduled for a live restart.
- Every live change is a deliberate, approved step
- Test boots include a spawn sweep across event classes
- Rollback-ready packages with a written deploy script
next step
Want something like this for your server?
Tell us what you need. We reply with a clear plan and a quote. No obligation.