LogZ

MetricZ

LogZ is a server-side modification for DayZ that implements structured logging in NDJSON (Newline Delimited JSON) format.

The mod is designed to send server logs to ELK, Loki, Graylog, or VictoriaLogs. It brings DevOps Best Practices into the DayZ environment.

Unlike standard text logs (.log, .ADM), which are impossible to parse automatically, LogZ creates machine-readable events with a fixed structure. This allows you to build dashboards, configure alerts, and quickly search for information.

This logger is not about errors and exceptions; it is about server statistics and analytics. The main goals are not to spam with noisy events but to provide server administrators with the most important and useful data to study player activity and behavior.

• NDJSON Format: Each line is a valid JSON object.
• Rich Context: Logs not just "who killed whom", but positions, inventory, distance, projectile type, hit zones, and much more.
• Event Coverage:
  • Player: Connection, chat, suicide, unconsciousness, actions (gestures, swimming).
  • Combat: Damage and kills (players, infected, animals).
  • Transport: Damage, destruction, driver/passengers.
  • Building & Items: Interaction, base damage.
  • Inventory: Pickup, drop, item movement (with filtering).
  • System events: Triggers, contamination areas, explosions.
• Log Rotation: Built-in file rotation system to prevent disk overflow.
• Performance: Throttling of frequent events (e.g., shooting) and damage thresholds to reduce spam.

1. Install the mod on the server. Subscribe via Workshop or download the PBO from releases. A key is not required for a server-side mod!
2. Add -servermod=@LogZ to the server launch parameters.
3. Start the server.
4. The configuration file will be automatically created at $profile:logz/config.json.
5. Logs will be written to $profile:logz/logs/.

Configuration is handled via a JSON file located at $profile:logz/config.json. Changes require a server restart to take effect.

See CONFIG.md for a detailed description of all parameters.

Example of a simple event (connection):

{"ts":1763850873,"uptime_ms":65049,"world_time":1600603200,"instance":99,"level":"info","schema":"logz-v1beta","world":"chernarusplus","event_type":"player.session","msg":"player connected","object":{"name":"SurvivorM_Elias","type":"player","pos":[2011.5880126953126,105.49319458007813,3314.195068359375],"yaw":-52,"health":1.0,"blood":1.0,"shock":1.0,"id":-2065192875,"player_name":"WoozyMasta","steam_id":"76561198037610867"}}

The same example formatted:

{
 "ts": 1763850873,
 "uptime_ms": 65049,
 "world_time": 1600603200,
 "instance": 99,
 "level": "info",
 "schema": "logz-v1beta",
 "world": "chernarusplus",
 "event_type": "player.session",
 "msg": "player connected",
 "object": {
 "name": "SurvivorM_Elias",
 "type": "player",
 "pos": [
 2011.5880126953126,
 105.49319458007813,
 3314.195068359375
 ],
 "yaw": -52,
 "health": 1.0,
 "blood": 1.0,
 "shock": 1.0,
 "id": -2065192875,
 "player_name": "WoozyMasta",
 "steam_id": "76561198037610867"
 }
}

LogZ outputs NDJSON, which is natively supported by most log collectors.
When configuring your collector, you should extract specific fields from the root DTO to use as indexed labels (or tags).

Recommended Labels (Low Cardinality):

• instance: Server ID (essential for multi-server setups).
• world: Map name (e.g., chernarusplus).
• level: Severity (info, warn, error, etc.).
• event_type: The specific event category (e.g., player.kill, transport.hit).

Always map the ts field (Unix epoch seconds) to the log timestamp to ensure accurate timing in your backend.

scrape_configs:
 - job_name: dayz_logz
 static_configs:
 - targets:
 - localhost
 labels:
 job: dayz_logz
 __path__: .../dayz-server/profiles/logz.ndjson
 pipeline_stages:
 - json:
 expressions:
 ts: ts
 level: level
 instance: instance
 world: world
 event_type: event_type
 - labels:
 level:
 instance:
 world:
 event_type:
 - timestamp:
 source: ts
 format: Unix

[INPUT]
 Name tail
 Path .../dayz-server/profiles/logz.ndjson
 Parser json
 Tag dayz.logz
[FILTER]
 Name parser
 Match dayz.logz
 Key_Name log
 Parser json
 Reserve_Data On
[OUTPUT]
 Name es
 Match dayz.logz
 # ... your elastic/loki config ...
 # Ensure 'ts' is mapped to Time_Key if needed

DayZ uses Enforce Script, and the built-in JsonSerializer has fatal flaws: it lacks polymorphism support and cannot exclude empty fields (omitempty).

Therefore, LogZ uses a hybrid approach:

1. There is a root DTO containing basic fields (ts, level, msg).
2. All additional data (object, victim, attacker, stats) are serialized separately into JSON strings from various prepared DTOs.
3. The final string is assembled by concatenating additional data and inserting it into the root DTO.

This is a "crutch" (workaround), but it is necessary to obtain valid, flat, and readable JSON without nested escaped strings, which log collectors like FluentBit or PromTail can easily digest.

The mod has built-in support for popular modifications:

• DayZ-Expansion-AI : Correctly identifies eAI bots. Damage events on them are logged as CREATURE_HIT/KILL instead of PLAYER_HIT to avoid spoiling live player statistics.
• MetricZ : Exports Prometheus metrics about the logger's operation:
  • dayz_metricz_logz_processing_seconds_total — time spent processing logs.
  • dayz_metricz_logz_events_total — event counter by levels (Info, Warn, Error, etc.).

If you want to use the LogZ API in your mod to send custom events, check out INTEGRATION.md.

Call example:

LogZ.Info("Custom event message", LogZ_Event.SYSTEM_MISSION);

If this mod saved you hours of analytics or helped catch a cheater or abuser, please consider supporting me.
At the very least, a Like and Subscribe on the LogZ Steam Workshop page would be greatly appreciated!