How to install Namalsk Island and Survival on a DayZ server

By Niko Catarino

Updated 3 October 2026

To host Namalsk on a DayZ Steam PC server, install Namalsk Island and Namalsk Survival, copy the author’s matching mission files, then select that mission in the active server configuration. Keep the old world backed up while you verify the new terrain, player spawns, natural loot and survival systems.

The terrain and survival mechanics are separate packages. This procedure uses both:

Package	Original Workshop item	Job
Namalsk Island	2289456201	Terrain and map assets.
Namalsk Survival	2289461232	Survival systems, custom items and supplied mission examples.

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Both are published by Sumrak’s team. Xbox and PlayStation community servers cannot load these Workshop packages.

Check the author’s hosting terms

The Namalsk server-owner reference prohibits monetizing a server running Island or Survival, including selling priority queue slots. Keep that restriction in your community plan and read the current terms before launch. Use the original distributions rather than repacking the content.

A server with Namalsk Island alone is also supported by the author, but its mission needs changes described below. The first setup here keeps both packages and the supplied mission together.

Prepare a separate Namalsk test world

Finish a vanilla server installation and client join first. Record the game branch, current active mission, profiles path, launch arguments and installed mods. Keep a stopped recovery copy of the existing world before changing maps.

Use separate persistence for Namalsk. Chernarus players, coordinates and saved objects do not become a valid Namalsk world when the template changes. Follow map migration to retain the old world and restore it with the corresponding settings if needed.

Keep the first test to Namalsk and its selected author-supported requirements. Add admin tools, traders and other gameplay changes after the map works. If another selected package introduces CF, review its first-installation wipe requirement before using an existing saved world.

Install both original packages

In VXPanel:

1. Stop the test service and open Mods.
2. Search for Island item 2289456201 and Survival item 2289461232. Follow the Steam links to confirm their identity and current author requirements.
3. Install both in client-required scope. Put Island before Survival in the loading list.
4. Wait for the jobs to finish and check the central keys/ directory. Both inspected distributions supply sumrak.bikey; use the current author-supplied key.
5. Use Files and SFTP for the mission deployment below. Complete that deployment before accepting players on the new map.

For a self-managed server, copy complete package folders and the supplied key using the manual installation procedure. If the folders are named as shown, include this argument in your existing launch command:

"-mod=@Namalsk Island;@Namalsk Survival"

Preserve the active configuration, profiles path, ports and any retained supported mods. Keep signature verification enabled and use matching client packages.

The author also provides optimized server packages. Their name does not mean -serverMod=: clients still require Namalsk. The basic procedure above uses the public packages. A deployment using the optimized files must follow the author’s matching-metadata instructions to advertise the public client Workshop identities.

Choose a complete Regular or Hardcore mission

The Survival distribution includes these inspected folders:

Extras/Regular/regular.namalsk/
Extras/Regular/serverDZ.cfg
Extras/Hardcore/hardcore.namalsk/
Extras/Hardcore/serverDZ.cfg

The official server-file repository also supplies the missions and configuration examples. Use files matched to the installed release, and retain the source version in your change record.

Choose Regular for the first deployment unless your community has selected Hardcore. The author’s presets differ in economy, vehicles, building and seasonal conditions. Do not combine one preset’s init.c with another preset’s economy as an accidental compromise.

Copy the whole chosen mission folder into the server’s mpmissions/ directory. For Regular:

mpmissions/regular.namalsk/init.c
mpmissions/regular.namalsk/cfgeconomycore.xml
mpmissions/regular.namalsk/db/types.xml
mpmissions/regular.namalsk/db/types_dzn.xml

This is an abbreviated structure, not a list of all required files. Keep the other environment, event, position, spawn and economy files supplied with the mission. Avoid an extra nesting level such as mpmissions/Regular/regular.namalsk/ when the template expects regular.namalsk.

Inspect the package’s accompanying serverDZ.cfg alongside your service’s active configuration. Merge its mission selection and Namalsk-specific settings while retaining your intended hostname, access settings and service configuration. Do not overwrite your entire active file with an example containing blank passwords.

Select the mission in the active configuration

Find the file selected by -config= or the panel’s corresponding configuration control. In its existing class Missions section, select the exact copied mission. For the Regular folder above:

class Missions
{
    class DayZ
    {
        template = "regular.namalsk";
    };
};

For the complete Hardcore folder, use hardcore.namalsk. Reconcile the existing section instead of appending a second class Missions block. A launch-time mission override or panel-generated configuration can take precedence, so verify the actual mission in that run’s logs.

Retain the matched preset’s date and lighting settings for the first test. The inspected Regular initialization maintains November, while Hardcore maintains December. Those date rules are also present in init.c, so changing only serverTime may be overridden by mission initialization or stored mission time.

The author’s lighting reference uses 223 for bright Namalsk nights and 222 for dark nights. If cfgGameplay.json supplies a lighting override, reconcile that file too. Follow day/night configuration after the unmodified preset has passed its checks.

Preserve the Survival economy and event initialization

The inspected mission registers its custom Survival items through this existing cfgeconomycore.xml entry:

<ce folder="db">
    <file name="types_dzn.xml" type="types" />
</ce>

With Survival installed, preserve that registration and its matching file. It is additional to the mission’s main item definitions, not a replacement for the complete economy. Check for duplicate definitions before merging another mod’s items.

Namalsk’s item-location rules differ from Chernarus. Use the supplied mission definitions as the baseline when adding loot; do not paste an entire Chernarus types.xml into this mission. An item that loads through an admin tool still needs Namalsk-compatible economy rules to spawn naturally.

Keep the supplied init.c for the first deployment. Its CustomMission.OnInit() configures the Survival event manager and registers its events. Replacing the file with a generic starter-gear script can remove that initialization or introduce duplicate mission classes. For later starter equipment changes, merge the required changes into this mission’s existing implementation.

Test the map and survival systems

Start the service and read the fresh RPT, script and economy logs. Check for a completed Namalsk mission load, successful economy initialization, missing classes and errors in the supplied initialization script. Join with both original packages and the matching game branch.

Record the following results on the test instance:

1. The terrain is Namalsk and a fresh player spawns on usable ground.
2. Starter equipment matches the selected preset, and the normal player can move and interact.
3. Natural vanilla and Survival loot appears in several intended areas.
4. Infected and the preset’s environment behave as configured.
5. Survival mechanics operate, and the configured events can occur under the mission’s timing and probability rules. A quiet first few minutes does not establish a broken event manager.
6. After a supported stop and start of that same world, a returning character retains the intended state.
7. The old map’s recovery set remains complete and separate.

Keep weather, time and loot changes for a second pass. Changing all three before this baseline test makes failures harder to attribute.

Run Island without Survival

For an Island-only server, follow the author’s specific mission adjustments on a separate test copy. Load Island in the client-required list and remove Survival from that list.

Remove the types_dzn.xml registration from the mission’s cfgeconomycore.xml, preserving the other content. The supplied init.c also tells owners to comment out its entire Survival event-manager block when Survival is absent. Reconcile any other script references to Survival-only classes or systems before starting.

Use the edited complete mission, start with separate persistence and repeat the normal-client and economy tests. Dropping the Survival package from a world containing its saved items is a mod removal change; it is not the same as preparing a fresh Island-only mission.

Diagnose setup failures and roll back

Symptom	Check
Chernarus starts instead	Active configuration, selected template, panel or launch override and actual startup command.
Mission cannot be found	Exact folder name and case, complete copy and no extra parent directory.
Script compile failure	Matched original mission, Survival package loaded and intact custom mission initialization.
Client package rejection	Matching original content, accepted sumrak.bikey, signatures and client-required scope.
Survival items never spawn	types_dzn.xml, its registration, installed classes and the selected preset’s economy.
Vehicles absent from Hardcore	Confirm the chosen preset’s intended economy before adding another vehicle system.
Edited time or lighting ignored	Mission date initialization, stored world time and cfgGameplay.json overrides.
Players spawn at unusable coordinates	Namalsk spawn file and separate persistence; exclude old-terrain player data.

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For rollback, stop the service, retain the failed logs and restore the old map’s launch settings, configuration, mission and matching world together. Keep the Namalsk test world separate for diagnosis. Do not merge persistence between terrains or delete the only recovery copy.

Continue with map changes and recovery or return to the DayZ tutorial directory.