How to install RedFalcon Heliz on a DayZ server

By Niko Catarino

Updated 5 October 2026

Install RedFalcon Flight System Heliz to add helicopters with model-specific parts and flight settings, plus wreck behavior. Generate the baseline by spawning a disposable aircraft, then set up its economy event and test saved recovery. Verify package loading, an operational helicopter and natural spawning as separate results.

Support ended at DayZ 1.29, according to the original Heliz listing, item 2692979668. The visible update is 16 April 2026. The author warns that future game patches can break the mod. Keep a recovery set and rehearse your installed release before adding it to a populated world.

Choose full Heliz or a Core-based model

Choose item 2692979668 for the full fleet. The Heliz-Core author, item 2744096881, confirms that Core is included in the full mod. A custom helicopter can use Core as its dependency instead; select the packages required by that particular model.

Record the stable Workshop item, deployed folders and client releases. Use a separate installation for Experimental or Release Candidate packages. Follow the chosen model’s dependencies rather than transferring an unrelated tutorial’s framework list. Workshop installation here is for Steam PC servers.

Install and generate a configuration baseline

With the service stopped, preserve the packages, launch settings, mission, profiles and world using the backup procedure. Select the item and its documented dependencies in VXPanel Mods, then use the binding controls to require the client package. Keep signature verification enabled.

On a manual host, put the full-mod package in the deployed folder and copy its supplied .bikey files to the server’s keys. Add that folder to your existing mod argument:

"-mod=@RFFSHeliz"

Use matching client files to join the separate test world. On clear, level ground, spawn an installed helicopter class through your authorized administration tool. The author’s manual identifies spawning as the trigger for default settings. An installation without a spawned model can have no configuration directory yet.

Find RFFSHeli within the configured -profiles directory and preserve its generated files. MasterConfig.json holds shared settings; {helicopter class name}_Config.json holds settings for a model, for example RFFSHeli_Apache_Config.json. The manual groups retextures under their model. Generate a baseline for each model the server will use.

Edit generated JSON rather than annotated examples

Keep the generated Master_ConfigVersion and Heli_ConfigVersion unchanged. The public examples checked here come from revision 3c4e6d637795b439efd8d67bfdc337b7fc50721f, 24 May 2025, before the final Workshop update. Compare their field descriptions with the installed baseline instead of using them as current full replacements.

The public MasterConfigExample.txt and {Heli_Class_Name}_Config.json include ** explanations and both fail JSON parsing. The master file also says it is for explanation. Retain the generated document, edit supported fields and parse the complete result before saving it to the server.

For a metric-instrument test, set these existing fields within the generated MasterConfig.json. Keep its other fields: the snippet shows a partial edit and cannot replace the full file.

{
  "HUD_ForceMetric": 1,
  "HUD_ForceImperial": 0
}

Select the documented training mode by changing Heli_TrainerMode in a generated model file that contains the field. This snippet is another partial edit:

{
  "Heli_TrainerMode": 1
}

In the manual, training mode limits pitch and roll to 35-degree angles and descent to 8-metre-per-second. The author names the Robinson R22 as the model whose default enables it. Test the installed model’s handling before giving players those limits as server rules.

Test changes on a fresh disposable aircraft: the manual says most settings are read at the next helicopter spawn. It gives a separate restart requirement for Control_Grounded. Apply that exception and compare a new spawn instead of assuming saved aircraft received the edit.

Setting	Meaning to verify against the generated release
Heli_FuelCapacity	The model’s fuel storage, measured in litres
Heli_FuelConsumptionRate	Engine-running fuel use in litres per minute
Flight_MaximumAirspeed	A KPH governor; a higher limit does not add thrust
Flight_MaximumClimbRate	A metres-per-minute limit on the climb rate
Control_AllowTakeCommand	The shared rule permitting one pilot’s control at a time
Damage_AllowCollisionDamage	Whether contact causes damage; test weapon damage through its own setting

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Save a diff for each handling or damage change and retain the original baseline. Verify the helicopter’s parts and normal controls first, then adjust one setting per test. That record lets you recover a failed tuning change.

Register types, parts and the spawn event

Select configuration files for your installed release. The pinned author repository separates Types.XML from Event Spawn Config. Its checked types contain 87 unique definitions, while VehicleHeliSpawn contains 29 child entries. Resolve the selected classes against the current package before importing a fleet from those older examples.

Save the chosen complete types, spawnable-types and event documents in the active test mission under rffs_ce/rffs_types.xml, rffs_ce/rffs_spawnabletypes.xml and rffs_ce/rffs_events.xml. Register those saved files inside the existing cfgeconomycore.xml root, retaining the other modules:

<ce folder="rffs_ce">
    <file name="rffs_types.xml" type="types" />
    <file name="rffs_spawnabletypes.xml" type="spawnabletypes" />
    <file name="rffs_events.xml" type="events" />
</ce>

Compare existing imports with your new files to give each intended item, attachment definition and event one owner. Parse the complete edited documents. Establish one installed model’s spawn behavior before expanding the fleet, using the vehicle-spawn procedure to trace events, children and positions.

The inspected Little Bird definition uses nominal 0, min 0 and 3888000 seconds, 45 days of lifetime. Its natural spawning is governed by the separate VehicleHeliSpawn event, whose example target is 3, min 2, max 5. Choose and observe a population for your workload; changing item-loot targets to zero does not disable the vehicle event.

Resolve the public files’ RFFSHeli_KA26 event/attachment name against the RFFSHeli_Ka26 type name and your installed class. We found a difference in casing across sources, with no running-game evidence establishing a spawn failure from that difference.

Merge positions for the selected terrain

Keep the mission’s <eventposdef> root and its other events in cfgeventspawns.xml. Compare an existing helicopter definition before merging the selected VehicleHeliSpawn node. Its name must identify the registered spawn event, and the merged file should contain one intended definition for it.

Checked author position example	Structure and required action
Chernarus	Merge the single <event> node with its 8 positions into the existing mission root
Banov	Measure its 12 positions in the Banov world before merging the <event> fragment
DeerIsle	Retain the mission’s other events when extracting the 12-position helicopter node from its <eventposdef> document
Namalsk	Repair the 17-position fragment before use: a leading </event> and first x value of 4526.123047, need attention

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Correct the Namalsk fragment’s stray closing tag and replace the comma-containing coordinate with a measured numeric value before using it. Validate numeric coordinates as well as XML syntax in the merged mission file. Use positions for the selected terrain and inspect ground placement and rotor clearance at each site.

Wait for an observed natural spawn at a chosen site after the economy loads, and record the fleet count and diagnostics in the session logs. Creating an aircraft as an administrator checks whether its class loads; you still need the natural-spawn test to check the event. Preserve the live world’s storage during this diagnosis.

Check parts before expecting a flyable spawn

In the checked Little Bird example, HeadlightH7, RFFSHeli_hydraulic_hoses, RFFSHeli_wiring_harness, RFFSHeli_igniter_plug and RFFSHeli_aviation_battery each have 0.10 attachment chance. The enclosing group’s 1.00 chance retains those individual probabilities. Inspect the spawned aircraft rather than assuming the example delivers every part.

Inspect the chosen model’s installed attachment slots and fluids before deciding how players obtain its parts. Options include attached parts, world loot or a trader. After an attachment-chance edit, inspect several fresh natural spawns. Rehearse trader delivery through the separate Expansion Market or TraderPlus integration.

Rehearse flight, wrecks and saved recovery

Write down the test aircraft’s class, position, attachments, fluids, damage and cargo. Check its engine with the required parts, the pilot/passenger control rule and HUD units, then make a short flight and landing. Compare the saved aircraft after a normal stop/start. Repeat these observations for each model and integration offered to players.

Use disposable cargo when testing Crashsite_CreateOnHeliRuined and Crashsite_ScatterHeliInventory. The manual describes inventory deletion at wreck creation when scattering is disabled. Verify that cargo outcome together with the selected damage rules before applying them to player property.

Keep the wreck-retention policy separate from live aircraft retention: the checked wreck definitions use 3600-second lifetimes. The author’s mapgroupproto.xml is a set of 28 <group> fragments. Reconcile any selected wreck-loot groups with installed wreck classes inside the active mission’s <prototype> root, preserving its other groups.

Apply the CarCover procedure and Heliz addon review if you introduce covers. Compare saved cargo, key ownership and fluids across cover/uncover operations and restarts. Loading the packages together isn’t enough to check whether those features work together.

Troubleshoot or recover the installation

Symptom	Inspect first
RFFSHeli settings directory is absent	Spawn an installed model, then inspect the active profiles path for its generated defaults
Edited JSON fails to load	Look for copied explanation text while parsing the complete edited document
Admin spawn works but world spawns fail	Trace the retained population, event registration and terrain positions with matching event names
Helicopter spawns but cannot start	Check fluids and required parts alongside generated Control_Grounded
Handling change seems absent	Retest a fresh aircraft and restart for the grounding exception specified by the manual
Cargo disappears after ruin	Compare the crash record with the chosen wreck-creation and inventory-scattering policy

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Stop the service before recovering from a failed update. Save its failed logs and state, then recover a compatible set of packages, settings, economy files and world storage. Evacuate affected helicopters and cargo through the mod-removal procedure before withdrawing the package from the community world.

Sources and verification

This guide used AI-assisted research and drafting. We reviewed the visible original Heliz/Core listings and change notes on 3 October 2026, plus 29 pinned repository files and all 9 manual pages. Source analysis covered XML/JSON structures, class references and the printed partial edits. These examples precede the final Workshop release. We have not compared the current packages or tested generated settings, natural spawns, player flight, wreck loot or saved recovery. No game tests were run as part of these source checks. Run the separate-world checks against your actual releases before live use.