Install Building Fortifications on a DayZ server

By VYKIX

Updated 7 October 2026

Install Building Fortifications, Workshop item 2670506982, by Dumpgrah, and its required dependency CF, item 1559212036 on your DayZ Steam PC server and joining clients. The mod adds barricades for existing building doors and windows.

If CF is new to an existing world, read its first-installation warning before starting that world with it. Use a separate test instance to generate the fortification settings, then stop it before changing construction costs or damage rules.

Use a server you can already join and take a stopped backup of its mission, profiles, persistence and mod list. Keep the original package and current signing key. The author discourages repacks and excludes them from support when their conflicts can’t be reproduced with the original mod. The Workshop terms also prohibit selling access to this mod’s content or items through donor perks or paywalls; the stated exception concerns Bohemia-approved paid priority queues.

Install the package and generate settings

In VXPanel Mods, confirm both Workshop IDs and publishers, then install the packages in client-required scope with CF first. For a self-managed server, follow the mod and signing-key procedure. Add their actual package folders to your existing normal mod list, preserving the other packages and their dependencies.

Start the test service and check its logs for Building Fortifications initialization. Resolve the directory selected by your service’s profiles argument. The reviewed source creates a BuildingFortifications directory there, containing:

Fortifications Settings.json

Stop the service and copy that file before editing. Preserve its exact filename, including the space. If it doesn’t appear, check the active profiles path, package loading and startup errors before creating a guessed file elsewhere.

The checked source uses ConfigVersion "7". When it loads an older version, it copies the earlier settings and generates a new construction-material list. Compare the converted file with your backup before accepting an update. Keep the generated version value; manually changing it isn’t a configuration migration.

Adjust construction quantities

With UseCustomMaterialsList set to true, ConstructionMaterials lists the materials for individual barricade parts. Each entry identifies a ClassName and PartName; its Materials entries contain SlotName and Quantity.

Choose one generated part and change only the quantity you intend to test. Preserve its class, part and slot names. This setting changes the amount required by an existing material slot; it doesn’t replace nails with an arbitrary item. The source generates lists for small and medium window barricades, doors and double doors.

Validate the JSON, restart the test service and reconnect the client. The source sends construction settings to clients when they join. Check the displayed requirement, the amount consumed while building and the amount returned when dismantling. Repeat for repair if your chosen part supports it.

Keep customized costs off the live server until those checks pass. In the reviewed construction code, the material-return branch handles a successful lookup differently from the build/consume branches. That needs checking against the installed release before relying on custom dismantle returns. The source review doesn’t establish what a current Workshop binary returns.

Configure damage and the destroy action

Door and window damage have separate settings for gunfire, explosives and melee. The six generated fields begin with Door_Barricade_ or Window_Barricade_ and end in FireArm_Dmg, Explosives_Dmg or Melee_Dmg.

The author’s May 2024 notes describe 80 as applying 80 of 100 incoming damage, equivalent to a 20% reduction; the defaults are 100. Those notes say the mod reduces damage before impact, but the reviewed source revision still restores health after a hit under specific health conditions. That source hasn’t been matched to the current Workshop package. Test each damage type, including a lethal hit, on a sacrificial structure before relying on the percentage setting.

Disable_Raiding_Tool controls the mod’s destroy action. The default is 0; setting it to 1 disables that action’s initial condition in the reviewed source. This is separate from gunfire, explosives and other mods’ raid systems. The duration field is spelled Raid_Destory_Part_Time, with a default of 120. Keep that spelling when editing.

Leave Enable_Destroy_Logs at its default 0 until the installed release’s logging path is checked. The pinned destroy-action source reads a player identity from an unassigned player reference, and the hit logger also assumes a player before its later check. Enabling those paths needs exact-release verification; no current-server crash is claimed here.

When loading settings, the source replaces Disable_Base_Damage with the server’s disableBaseDamage value. Don’t rely on editing that JSON field as a complete damage policy. If Expansion BaseBuilding is installed, the generated configuration also directs damage control to Expansion’s RaidSettings.json. Review the Expansion setup and verify the combined rules with ordinary players.

Check placement, locks and persistence

The March 2025 change notes require disableIsCollidingBBoxCheck to be false in the active cfggameplay.json for the double-door placement correction. Check that field under BaseBuildingData → HologramData, and retain the rest of your file. A permissive building preset can conflict with this requirement.

Before opening the server to players:

1. Place and build small and medium window barricades, a door and a double door in the building types your community uses.
2. Check each build stage and its materials from both sides. Test dismantling separately from the raid action.
3. With your installed lock system, test an authorized player and an ordinary outsider. Check opening, closing, unlocking and access after changing a code or revoking permission.
4. Damage and destroy a test barricade, then check that its old geometry no longer blocks movement. Later author updates specifically addressed invisible door geometry and window interactions.
5. Restart the server and check structures, door state and locks. Restore a rehearsal backup and check the same saved structures again.

Record the DayZ build, Workshop version, lock package and damage settings with the results. RuinCodelock affects lock handling when parts are removed or destroyed; check your actual lock variant before choosing that policy.

If an update fails, stop the service and restore the previous package, profiles settings and matching world together. Don’t wipe persistence to repair a placement or JSON error. Review mod removal before removing a package that owns saved barricades.

Source and verification scope

This guide used AI-assisted research and drafting on 7 October 2026. We read the original Workshop description, the latest ten of 44 change entries and nine complete files from the author’s repository at revision eeff34f. That November 2025 source revision hasn’t been matched to a current Workshop binary. Game loading, material returns, logging, damage, multiplayer permissions and restart/restore behavior remain untested here.