DayZ messages.xml Generator

What messages.xml does

messages.xml holds the messages DayZ shows to players on your server: on join, repeated every few minutes, or as a countdown before a restart. DayZ shows them itself, on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Each message is a <message> inside <messages>, and all times are in minutes. A message can use these settings:

<text>Text

#name is the server name, #tmin the minutes left in a countdown.

<delay>First shown after

Minutes after the server starts (or after joining, for join messages).

<repeat>Repeat every

Minutes between repeats. Empty or 0: shown once.

<deadline>Countdown

Minutes to count down, shown with #tmin.

<onconnect>Show when a player joins

1 shows the message to each player as they join. Set First shown after to the minutes after joining.

<shutdown>Shut the server down

When the countdown ends the server shuts down. Leave off unless you want that.

A welcome message and a restart countdown look like this. The generator writes only the settings a message uses:

<messages>
    <message>
        <delay>1</delay>
        <onconnect>1</onconnect>
        <text>Welcome to #name</text>
    </message>
    <message>
        <deadline>240</deadline>
        <shutdown>0</shutdown>
        <text>Server restart in #tmin minutes</text>
    </message>
</messages>

Where messages.xml goes

The file lives in your mission's db folder, next to types.xml, events.xml, globals.xml and economy.xml. On Xbox that is dayzxb_missions/dayzOffline.chernarusplus/db, on PlayStation dayzps_missions/dayzOffline.chernarusplus/db. Livonia uses dayzOffline.enoch and Sakhal dayzOffline.sakhal. To change it on a Nitrado server:

1. Stop the server in the Nitrado web interface.
2. Open the file browser and go to your mission's db folder.
3. Download messages.xml and keep an untouched copy as a backup.
4. Open it here to keep your current messages, or start fresh with the presets. Fix anything marked in red.
5. Download the new file, upload it over the old one and start the server. Changes apply after a restart.

Make a restart countdown that matches your restart schedule

A countdown message has a <deadline>, the minutes to count down, and #tmin in its text becomes the minutes left. To match your restarts, set the countdown to the length of your restart cycle: 240 minutes when the server restarts every four hours, 180 for every three. Set that number in the box above the presets, then add Restart countdown.

Leave <shutdown> at 0 when your restarts are already scheduled, so the message is only a warning. Set it to 1 only if you want the message itself to stop the server: when the countdown ends, the server shuts down. The guide to scheduling DayZ server restarts on Nitrado shows how to restart on a timer with a warning in Discord first, and how this countdown fits in.

On Xbox and PlayStation servers running Law's KillFeed, the dashboard's Server Files page opens, checks and uploads messages.xml for you and keeps the last 15 versions of every file; editing in place is on the paid plan.

Questions