DayZ Server Not Showing: Ports, BattlEye, Signatures and Versions

1. Confirm the process and mission

Read the RPT under the path selected by -profiles. Confirm that the mission finishes loading and the process stays alive. Fix a serverDZ.cfg syntax error, missing template or unwritable directory before touching networking.

Confirm client and server use the same branch and revision. With forceSameBuild=1, DayZ deliberately rejects another build. Update both sides rather than disabling that protection.

2. Separate game and discovery ports

The -port value—2302 in common examples—is the game endpoint. steamQueryPort, 2305 in the current configuration example, supports browser discovery. Allow the selected UDP values through the firewall and forward them to the correct private address when needed.

Test direct IP on the LAN, then from another network. If direct access works but discovery does not, inspect the query port and conflicts between instances. If LAN access fails, the public router is not the first suspect.

3. BattlEye, signatures and mods

BattlEye has its own path through -BEpath; logs and BEServer_x64.cfg must be accessible to the service. An RCON secret is not a player join password.

verifySignatures=2 checks PBOs against .bikey files in keys. Signature errors usually indicate a missing key, different client/server mod versions, altered PBO or inconsistent list. Synchronize the mod and key instead of permanently disabling verification.

DayZ error 0x00020016 - EQUAL_MOD reports unequal mods. Compare -mod order, Workshop IDs and timestamps. The DayZ Workshop guide gives the full procedure.

4. Final decision tree

• No process: configuration, mission, permissions or crash.
• LAN fails: service, local port, firewall or build.
• LAN works, Internet fails: forwarding, double NAT or CGNAT.
• Direct IP works, browser fails: query/discovery port.
• Connection is rejected: build, whitelist, password, BattlEye or signatures.
• Connection hangs: dependency, mod order or persistence.

Preserve RPT and BattlEye logs with the test time. After a fix, test join, persistence and restart. If inbound access is unavailable, compare DayZ hosts.

Quick questions

Can a server be online but absent from the browser? Yes. A direct-IP join may work while steamQueryPort or discovery is misconfigured.

Should verifySignatures be disabled to admit a player? No. Synchronize the mod and its key; disabling verification turns a diagnosable mismatch into a security gap.

Which log matters first? Start with the RPT for mission and mod loading, then use BattlEye logs when the connection reaches its authentication stage.