Install IAT_FacePaints on a DayZ server

By VYKIX

Updated 7 October 2026

For a new face-paint setup, use IAT_FacePaints, the successor ItsATreee recommends for Survivalists_FacePaints. Install it on the server and joining clients, register its paint-stick item, and decide whether paint should survive reconnects before enabling database storage.

The two packages are separate Workshop items:

• IAT_FacePaints, 3396378781: the current successor, with optional paint persistence.
• Survivalists_FacePaints, 2786677604: the older package. Its author ended support and recommends changing over at the next server wipe in their 30 December 2024 comment.

Plan the saved-data change first

Don’t replace Survivalists_FacePaints on a live world as an ordinary mod update. Its description says it changes PlayerBase storage and requires a full wipe when added or removed. A new Workshop ID, renamed config file or copied paint-stick entry won’t convert that stored data.

If you already use it, keep the current installation intact while preparing the migration on a separate server copy. Take a stopped backup of the mission, profiles, player/world state, packages, signing keys and launch settings. Schedule the author-recommended switch with your planned wipe; no procedure for preserving the old paint data has been verified here.

For a new IAT setup, m_SavePlayerPaintsToDatabase defaults to 0, which leaves paint out of the database. Setting it to 1 enables saving. The successor’s description warns that enabling storage means a future removal requires a wipe. Treat that as a decision about saved characters, not just whether a cosmetic effect survives a reconnect.

The 31 March 2025 update adds CF_ModStorage support and fixes a data-save conflict with CF. A later author reply distinguishes servers already using CF from vanilla installations. Neither establishes a tested conversion from the old mod’s storage on your server. Keep CF, game and mod versions in your test record, and don’t add CF solely to try to avoid a migration wipe.

Install the original successor package

On the stopped test service, select 3396378781 in VXPanel Mods. Keep it client-required so joining players load the same scripts and character materials. For manual hosting, follow the package and signing-key procedure, using the normal -mod= list and your actual package folder name.

Copy the supplied public .bikey to the server’s keys/ directory and retain the matching .bisign files. The author fixed key/signature problems on 3 January 2025. Use matching files from the installed release; don’t disable signature checking to get past a mismatch.

Keep both mods’ original distributions. Their published terms prohibit repacking, reuploading and inclusion in a server pack. Use a Steam collection to group downloads.

Configure paint use and persistence

Start the test server once, inspect the logs and stop it. Under the active directory selected by -profiles, open the ItsATreeMods folder and look for FacePaintsConfig.json.

Back up an existing file before editing. If it wasn’t created, the author instructs admins to create that directory and filename. This example uses the published fields and removes the comment from the Workshop example so it is valid JSON:

{
  "m_EnableEatGlowStickAction": 1,
  "m_PaintStickDamagePerUse": 2.0,
  "m_SavePlayerPaintsToDatabase": 0
}

m_EnableEatGlowStickAction controls the optional glow-stick action added in July 2025. Check whether that action fits your server’s rules. m_PaintStickDamagePerUse is hit-point damage per application, not a percentage; the author confirms that 2 means two hit points. The number of uses depends on the stick’s actual maximum health, which other mods can change.

Keep m_SavePlayerPaintsToDatabase at 0 for an initial test without paint storage. If you later choose 1, revisit the removal and recovery plan before saving. Changing the setting back to 0 has not been verified as a way to remove data already written to characters.

Run the JSON parser check, upload the checked file, then restart. The old mod’s Survivalists_FacePaint/SRPFacePaintConfig.json is a different path; don’t rename it and assume its settings cover the successor.

Add the correct paint stick to loot

The successor uses IAT_FacePaintStick_Default. The old mod uses SRP_FacePaintStick. Check economy and trader entries for the old classname during migration so they don’t keep requesting an item your new mod set no longer supplies.

The IAT description supplies a complete types.xml example for its stick. Save it as a separate types file and register it using the economy extension procedure. Preserve the terrain’s existing entries and register the new definition once. The author’s example uses tools and Military, with nominal 15 and min 8; review those choices against your terrain and desired supply.

Validate the XML before uploading. Use an admin-spawned stick for the first interaction check, then confirm natural loot separately. Being able to spawn the item manually doesn’t prove its economy registration works.

Check painting, bandaging and reconnects

Join with an ordinary player account and put the paint stick in your hands. Remove sunglasses and masks before trying the paint action; the author blocks painting while either is worn. Choose a category and paint from the radial menu, then use a rag to wash it off.

Check the stick’s condition after an application and try the paints your community will use, including characters with beards. Test bandaging while bleeding as a separate action. The 1 December 2025 change removes the wash-face prompt while bleeding and addresses a potential DayZ 1.29 crash; those are reasons to check your installed release, not results from a test performed here.

Reconnect and restart the test server. With storage disabled, don’t promise players that paint will persist. With storage enabled, verify paint, inventory, hunger and thirst after both operations. The March 2025 author replies and subsequent CF fix concern player-state saving, so a visible paint effect alone is insufficient verification.

Use a running test server for these checks. The author warns that DayZ Editor and offline modes do not provide all the scripted behavior needed by this mod.

If startup or character recovery fails, stop and restore the matching pre-change packages, configuration and saved state on the test copy. Keep the failed copy and logs for diagnosis. Don’t repeatedly remove a mod that writes player data and restart the same save to see whether it recovers.

Source and verification scope

This guide used AI-assisted research and drafting. On 7 October 2026, we read both original descriptions, all seven Survivalists changes, all eleven IAT changes, the linked author announcement and its two replies, the old page’s ten displayed comments and all 46 comments on the successor’s comments page. Current package binaries, generated configuration, actual paint-stick health and saved-data compatibility haven’t been inspected or tested here. Player interaction, CF integration, restart and restore checks remain requirements for the intended release.