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How to install BuilderItems on a DayZ server

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To use BuilderItems on a DayZ Steam PC server, load the original object pack on the server and every joining client, then deploy the placements through your chosen editor or loader. Installing the pack makes its configured objects available. You still need a placement file to put them on the map.

Use BuilderItems, Workshop item 1565871491, published by Not A Banana. This is a pack of objects for map decoration, separate from BaseBuildingPlus and its player construction system. Xbox and PlayStation servers cannot load this Workshop pack.

Check whether Expansion supplies the objects

Section titled “Check whether Expansion supplies the objects”

The author warns against loading standalone BuilderItems alongside Expansion content that includes it. For split Expansion installs, the author links DayZ-Expansion-Map-Assets, item 2792983824. That package’s description confirms it includes BuilderItems.

Review your actual installed modules before adding another provider. Expansion Core or Market alone does not establish that Map Assets is installed. Check the package set and selected bundle rather than treating every Expansion-named item as the complete suite.

Use one provider for the object definitions:

  • If your installed Expansion set supplies them, keep that supported set and test the objects through it.
  • For a server without that provider, install the original standalone BuilderItems package below.

Record which package supplies the classes in each map edit. Replacing a provider later requires testing the existing exported classnames and client joins.

Start with a working server and keep a stopped backup of its mission, persistence, profiles and launch list. Retain every existing map export and the packages it references. Use a separate test instance for the first placement.

Choose a placement workflow. The procedure here uses DayZ Editor for offline authoring and DayZ Editor Loader for server deployment. Follow their installation and scope requirements, including the client requirement when an export removes baked terrain objects. BuilderItems itself is always client-required under its author’s instructions.

If an authoring tool or another mod introduces CF to an existing world, review CF’s first-installation wipe requirement before adding that framework. Do not add a framework to the live saved world as part of an unplanned decoration test.

In VXPanel:

  1. Stop the test service and open Mods.
  2. Search for item 1565871491. Follow its Steam link and confirm Not A Banana’s original BuilderItems distribution.
  3. Choose Install and keep the binding in client-required scope. Check the author’s current requirements and those of the selected placement tools.
  4. Wait for the installation to finish. Check the supplied public key in the server’s central keys/ directory. The inspected original package supplies NotABananaV3.bikey.
  5. Start the server and join with a client loading the same package. Resolve any signature or missing-PBO error before uploading a map edit.

For a self-managed host, copy the complete original package and its current signing key using the manual install procedure. For an installed folder named @BuilderItems, append its entry to the existing client mod list:

"-mod=@BuilderItems"

That argument shows this package’s scope, not a complete Editor Loader installation. Retain the frameworks, Loader and other packages required by your full mod set in the same client mod list, with dependencies first. Keep signature verification enabled.

Load BuilderItems in the offline Editor session alongside the target terrain and the Editor’s requirements. Use the editor’s object list to choose a class supplied by the installed pack. Place one decorative object at a clear, recorded test location.

Inspect its position, rotation, scale and intended collision. Keep it as an exported server object rather than an Editor-only helper. Save the build as .dze and retain the source file outside the server’s live loading directory.

With the test server stopped, upload one copy to the active mission’s EditorFiles/ directory. The Loader procedure explains that path and the client save location. Remove an older version from the loading directory before uploading a renamed replacement.

Keep one placement mechanism for each build. A .dze file plus the same objects copied into init.c can create overlapping duplicates. Do not install the full offline DayZ Editor on the public server to load the export.

The BuilderItems description also links an editing-only utility for finding names of baked map objects. The author says that utility belongs in offline editing, not on the live server or player clients. It is not a required addition to this Loader procedure.

Start the server, review the fresh logs and join with the matching content. Visit the test coordinates with a normal account:

  1. Confirm the intended object is visible and only one copy exists.
  2. Check collision from the directions players can approach. Test doors, gaps or nearby access routes where relevant.
  3. Have another joining client inspect the object with the advertised mod list.
  4. Stop and start the same test mission and confirm the placement loads again.
  5. Remove the test export while stopped, start again and confirm the decoration is gone before deploying the full build.

Decorative placement does not prove an object behaves as a usable player container, vehicle or persistent base part. Test the actual interaction needed by the community. If the placed class should spawn natural loot, follow the Loader’s prototype and position export checks; a decoration pack does not configure the economy on installation.

Diagnose missing objects or package conflicts

Section titled “Diagnose missing objects or package conflicts”
Symptom Check
Objects appear in the Editor but not on the server Installed server package, loaded launch argument, export location and object classname.
Some clients cannot join Matching original package and signing key, complete PBO/signature transfer and client-required binding.
Server or client reports duplicate definitions Standalone BuilderItems plus an Expansion provider, or a repack containing the same definitions.
Object appears twice Duplicate exports, renamed old builds or a second placement system.
Decoration disappears after restart Loader startup, the same active mission and the export remaining in its loading directory.
Placed building has no loot Supported prototype and position definitions, economy registration and spawn rules.
Scroll to see all columns →

Check one cause at a time on the test instance. Preserve the failed logs and the exact mod list; installing more object packs can hide the source of a conflict.

Keep the tested source build, export and package versions before updating mods. Update the server and client together, then repeat the visible-object and collision checks.

Before removing standalone BuilderItems, find the .dze, init.c or other exports that reference its classes. Stop the service and remove or replace those placements as part of the same change. If switching to an Expansion provider, test those classnames with the new provider on the rehearsal instance first. Follow mod removal rather than removing an asset pack from a live build without a replacement plan.

Related documentation: DayZ Editor author’s export reference.

Return to the DayZ server tutorials or continue with Editor Loader deployment.

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