What this is

A GUI version of DZTUI for Linux. Used to list official and community server details and quick connect to preferred servers by staging mods and concatenating launch options automatically.

DZGUI contains some expanded functionality that will eventually be backported to DZTUI. It is intended to be more of a user-friendly, turnkey solution for graphical desktop environments, and could also be used on the Steam Deck or similar devices.

Setup

Dependencies

If not already installed, the below can be found in your system’s package manager. With the exception of Steam (which presumably you already have), in 99% of cases, the other utilities should ship out of the box with mainstream distributions. They are provided here merely as a reference.

If any dependencies are missing when the application starts, it will warn you, so you need not take any preemptive measures here.

  • curl

  • jq

  • zenity

  • steam

  • wmctrl or xdotool

Preparation

  1. Download DZGUI and make it executable:

Automatic method (skip to 3 below when complete)

curl -s "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aclist/dztui/dzgui/install.sh" | bash

Manual method

chmod +x dzgui.sh

  1. Update the vm.max_map_count value (see https://www.protondb.com/app/221100) This is handled automatically by DZGUI if you just choose to run the application out of the box.

Ephemeral method:

sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=1048576

Persistent method:

echo 'vm.max_map_count=1048576' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/dayz.conf
Note
 If it detects an incorrect map count value, DZGUI will prompt you to permanently update the map count value when starting up.

  1. Steam account with DayZ license

  2. Enable a Proton version ≥ 6.8 (or use Experimental) in the Compatibility field of the game’s right-click options.

API key & server IDs

BattleMetrics API key

  1. Register for an API key at BattleMetrics (free)

  2. From the Personal Access Tokens area, Select New Token

  3. Give the token any name in the field at the top

  4. Leave all options unchecked and scroll to the bottom, select Create Token

  5. Copy the access token for later use (see below). This is the unique token you will use to query servers.

  6. Use the DayZ server browser to find servers of interest (proximity, player count, rules, etc.)

  7. Each server has a unique ID. This is the string of numbers at the end of the URL. Copy these IDs. For example, in the URL https://www.battlemetrics.com/servers/dayz/8039514, the ID is 8039514.

Note
 You will be prompted to enter these IDs when starting the app, so you could refer to them in another window while you complete setup. More IDs can be added later.

Steam API key

  1. Register for a Steam API key using your Steam account. You will be asked for a unique URL for your app when registering.

  2. Since this key is for a personal use application and does not actually call back anywhere, set a generic local identifier here like "127.0.0.1".

  3. Once configured, you can insert this key in the app when launching the "Connect by IP" feature for the first time.

First-time launch

  1. DZGUI can be launched one of two ways.

From the terminal:

./dzgui.sh

Launching from the terminal gives more verbose information, and can be a good way of troubleshooting problems.

From the shortcut shipped with the application:

*If using a desktop environment based on the Freedesktop specification

  • Located under the "Games" category of your system’s applications list.

  • Via the DZGUI desktop shortcut (Steam Deck only)

  1. Follow the menu prompts given by the app. You will be asked to provide:

    • API key (see above)

    • Player name (a generic handle, required by some servers)

    • At least one server ID

DZGUI will then attempt to locate your default Steam installation and DayZ path. If it detects multiple paths, you will be given a list to choose from.

Note
 If the path was not detected correctly, you can manually edit the config file at $HOME/.config/dztui/dztuirc.

Steam integration & artwork

Adding to steam

DZGUI can be added to Steam as a "non-Steam game" in order to facilitate integration with Steam Deck or desktop environments.

  1. Launch Steam in the "Large" view.

Note
 Steam Deck: you must switch to "Desktop Mode" and launch Steam from the desktop.

  1. Select Add a Game > Add a Non-Steam Game from the lower left-hand corner.

01

  1. Navigate to $HOME/.local/share/applications/ and select dzgui.desktop

  2. Select Add Selected Programs.

Controller layout

An official controller layout for Steam Deck is available in the Steam community layouts section. Search for "DZGUI Official Config" to download it. Long-press the View button and Select button (☰) to toggle D-pad navigation. This creates an additional layer that lets you navigate through menus using the D-pad and A/B to respectively confirm selections and go back. Remember to toggle this layer off again after launching your game to revert back to the master layer.

Artwork

The application also ships with Steam cover artwork. It is located under:

$HOME/.local/share/dzgui

The artwork consists of four parts:

  1. Grid: a vertical "box art" grid used on library pages

  2. Hero: a large horizontal banner used on the app’s details page

  3. Logo: a transparent icon used to remove Steam’s default app text

  4. dzgui: used by freedesktop shortcut to generate a desktop icon; not intended for the user

Updating the artwork:

  1. Navigate to the app’s details page and right-click the blank image header at the top.

03

  1. Select Set Custom Background

  2. Select to display All Files from the File type dropdown

  3. Navigate to the artwork path described above and select hero.png.

  4. Next, right-click the image background and select Set Custom Logo.

04

  1. Navigate to the same path and select logo.png. Notice that this removes the redundant app name that occluded the image.

05

  1. Next, navigate to your Library index (looks like a bookshelf of cover art) and find the DZGUI app.

  1. Right-click its cover and select Manage > Set custom artwork.

06

  1. Navigate to the same path and select grid.png. The final result:

07

Updating the app

If DZGUI detects a new upstream version, it will prompt you to download it automatically. It backs up the original version before fetching the new one, then updates your config file with your existing values. Once finished, it will ask you to relaunch the app.

If you decline to upgrade to the new version, DZGUI will continue to the main menu with the current version.

Note
 New versions may include changes to bugs that could prevent you from playing on certain servers. Upgrading is always advised.

If you experience a problem or need to restore the prior version of DZGUI and/or your configs, it is enough to simply replace the new version with the old one and relaunch the app. The files can be found at:

Script:

<path to script><script name>.old

E.g., if DZGUI is named dzgui, in the path $HOME/bin, it will be located at

$HOME/bin/dzgui.old

If launching DZGUI via its system shortcut, the backup file (similarly for log files) will be located under:

$HOME/.local/share/dzgui

Backup config files:

$HOME/.config/dztui/dztuirc.old

Usage

Select My servers to fetch details for the server IDs you provided. Select the server you wish to connect to and click OK.

DZGUI will check the server’s modset against your local mods. If you are missing any, it will prompt you to download them through the Steam Workshop and open a window in the background in the system browser.

Open each link and click Subscribe to schedule these for download.

Note
 You must be logged into Steam for mod change to take effect. It can take some time for the subscribed mods to download and update. You can continue clicking Next to regenerate the list, or wait for all of them to complete.

Once all of the mods are downloaded and staged, DZGUI will notify you that it is ready to connect. The app hands the launch parameters to Steam and exits.

Menu options

Server browser

The server browser retrieves and lists all publicly broadcasting servers (including official ones) in a table. These servers can be filtered by various parameters in order to display a more granular result.

After a server is selected from the list, the application continues to the mod validation step.

In order to use this feature, you must have a Steam API key. You will be asked for a unique URL for your app when registering. Since this key is for a personal use application and does not actually call back anywhere, set a generic local identifier here like "127.0.0.1".

You will be prompted to insert this key into the app when launching the server browser for the first time.

Note
 It is not currently possible to save servers from the full server browser.
Filters

The server browser exposes the following filters. These options can be combined.

Untick filters to exclude those matches from the returned results. The "All maps" and "Keyword search" filters have special behavior (see below). You must have a minimum of one filter active to return any results.

Filter Usage

All maps

Return all available map types being served. Note: disabling this option will present a list from which you can select one specific map type (e.g., namalsk)

Daytime

Include servers with gametime between 0600 and 1659

Nighttime

Include servers with gametime between 1700 and 0559

Empty

Include servers with 0 current players

Full

Include servers at maximum capacity

Low population

Include servers with fewer than 10 players online

Non-ASCII titles

Include servers with special symbols, Unicode, or text in the title. Note: disabling this filter will also exclude CJK languages, Cyrillic, and other special character sets.

Keyword

Select this option to filter by server titles matching a specific word or phrase (case insensitive)
Table details

After retrieval, the browser presents a table of results with the following parameters. Due to the density of information, the table will try to render at a minimum of 1920x1080 on a desktop or at fullscreen on a Steam Deck.

  • Total matches/total servers queried

  • Total players online on all servers

  • Map name

  • Server title

  • Gametime: the in-game time

  • Players: this is zero-padded for sorting purposes

  • Max players: this is zero-padded for sorting purposes

  • Distance: the physical distance to the server in kilometers is calculated by geolocation

  • IP: the IP address and port

  • Qport: the query port used to retrieve metadata and rules

My servers

Fetches detailed server information on the list of servers saved in the config file. This is the main place you interact with DZGUI when choosing a server from your list. These details are:

  • Server: name of the server, truncated to 50 chars

  • IP/port: IP address and port in the format ip:port

  • Players: online players, in the format current/max

  • Gametime: in-game time on the 24-hour clock

  • Status: whether the server is online or not

  • ID: numerical ID from BattleMetrics, used as a reference when troubleshooting or sharing servers

  • Ping: round-trip response time from the server

Quick connect to favorite server

Bypasses the server list and quick-connects to a single favorite server specified in advance using the Add favorite server option.

Connect by IP

Instead of relying on server IDs, returns the list of maps behind a given IP. Provide only the IP; no port is necessary. This returns the server metadata for you to verify before connecting.

If there are multiple maps hosted behind an IP (e.g. different maps on varying ports), the application will list all of them.

In order to use this feature, you must have a Steam API key. You will be asked for a unique URL for your app when registering. Since this key is for a personal use application and does not actually call back anywhere, set a generic local identifier here like "127.0.0.1".

You will be prompted to insert this key into the app when launching the "Connect by IP" feature for the first time.

Add server by ID

Prompts you to add servers to the config file by ID. An indefinite number of servers can be added. These will be listed when using the [Launch server list] option.

Add favorite server

Prompts you to add/change a favorite server to the config file by ID. The name of the server will be updated in the header of the app. This server is used when selecting the Quick connect to favorite server option. If a favorite server is already enabled, this option switches to "Change favorite server."

Delete server

Prints a list of human-readable servers currently saved, and lets you delete them by selecting one from the list.

List installed mods

Prints a scrollable dialog containing all locally-installed mods and their corresponding symlinks IDs.

Toggle debug mode

Toggles debug mode, which is used to perform dry-runs and output what parameters would have been used to connect to a server. Enabling debug mode also exposes the Debug options menu, which contains some settings for advanced use.

Report bug

Using the system browser, opens the project’s GitHub issues page to submit a report.

Help file

Using the system browser, opens this document.

View changelog

Prints the entire changelog up to the current version (and unreleased changes) in-app.

Debug options

If enabled, this menu contains a sub-menu with various advanced features, enumerated below.

Toggle branch

Used to toggle the branch to fetch DZGUI from between stable and testing. The app ships with the stable branch enabled, with the testing branch being used to elaborate various experimental features.

Generate debug log

Writes a list of your current settings to a local file that can be pasted into bug reports.

Config file key/value pairs

Under normal usage, these values are populated and toggled automatically in-app. This config file is partially compatible DZTUI.

Key Value

api_key

the API key generated at BattleMetrics. See Setup

whitelist

comma-separated list of server IDs from BattleMetrics; integer-values only

fav

server to display in the Fav field and to quick-connect to (must be one only); integer-values only

name

an arbitrary "handle" name used to identify the player on a server (required by some servers)

debug

by default, set to 0; set to 1 to print launch options that would have been run, instead of actually connecting (used for troubleshooting and submitting bug reports)

branch

by default, set to stable; set to testing to fetch the testing branch

seen_news

stores a hash of the news item last seen by the client. This is used to suppress news messages until a new one is posted.

Troubleshooting/FAQ

Mods take a long time to synchronize when subscribing from Workshop

Steam schedules the downloads in the background and processes them as they are subscribed to. This process is not instantaneous and can take some time. Check the Downloads pane of Steam to see live progress.

Game does not launch through Steam

Check the logs emitted by Steam in the terminal, or in <steam path>/error.log.

Game launches, but throws a "mod missing/check PBO file" error when connecting

In rare cases, the server may be using misconfigured, malformed, or obsolete mods. This is out of our control and depends on server operators checking their mods for integrity. If you believe the mods are correct and this is a bug, please report it.

Game and server launches, but when joining the game world, an error occurs

A mod is corrupted or the issue lies with the server. Replace the mods in question and reconnect.

Testers wanted

If any of the below apply to you, your reports are encouraged:

  • Using a high resolution (4K) monitor

  • Own a Steam Deck

  • Seeking DZTUI functionality in DZGUI, or vice versa

  • Playing on a server with an enormous amount of mods

  • Playing on a server with non-English mod names (?)