DZSTUDIO

dzStudio · free DayZ editor for PC

Build DayZ maps together, live

Start a session, send your friends a code, and mod the same map at the same time — everyone in their own game, every change live. Place buildings, paint forests, edit loot points, and put the result on your PC or console server.

Coming soon to the Steam Workshop

Follow the release on Discord How to install

Free
Mod together, live
PC and console servers
No client mod for players

One session, everyone in their own game

No files to send back and forth, no “who has the latest version”. Whoever is in the session works on the same project, and everyone sees what the others do the moment they do it.

Invite with a code, or let friends from your list join whenever you start a session
See every participant on the map and jump to them
Watch objects move while somebody drags them
Undo only ever takes back your own changes

Shared sessions need a free dzbot account. Nothing else.

Everything you need to build a map, nothing you can’t use

dzStudio only offers what actually works on a server. No setting that silently does nothing on console, no export that a server can’t load.

Object catalog with pictures

Every placeable object with its picture and in-game name. Search, favourites, recently used, and an eyedropper that picks up any object from the map.

Place, move, rotate, snap

Drag objects into the scene, follow the slope, snap to surfaces, align, duplicate, and type exact positions when you need them.

Brushes

Paint forests, bushes or rocks around a base in one stroke, with radius and density on the mouse wheel and sets of your own.

Loot editor

Edit loot points inside buildings, see them in place and test an item at a point — saved to the loot files your server reads.

Projects and groups

Organise a build in groups, each bound to its own file. Autosave and backups keep your work safe.

Undo for everything

Every change is a step you can undo and redo, and the tooltip tells you what it will take back.

Weather and time

Look at your work at night, in rain or in fog. Only for you — nothing of it ends up on the server.

Bring your .dze files

Import existing .dze projects and keep working on them in dzStudio.

Runs on PC and console servers

dzStudio writes the files DayZ servers load by themselves: object spawner files (JSON) and the loot files of the mission. Your players install nothing.

That is also why it works on Xbox and PlayStation servers, which cannot load mods: you build on your PC, the server gets plain files.

Honest limits

Objects from the official maps: Chernarus, Livonia, Sakhal and Nasdara (Badlands)
Map objects can’t be removed — DayZ’s object spawner only adds
Object spawner files don’t carry attachments, cargo or states

What dzStudio writes — an object spawner file

{
  "Objects": [
    {
      "name": "Land_Mil_Tower_Small",
      "pos": [ 4512.38, 312.05, 10187.64 ],
      "ypr": [ 42.5, 0.0, 0.0 ],
      "scale": 1.0
    }
  ]
}

Works on its own. Even better with dzbot.

dzStudio is a complete editor without any account. Connect a dzbot account and your projects live in dzbot instead of a folder on your PC.

Free dzbot account

For creators

Open your creator mods from dzbot in the game and save straight back — no export, no upload
Edit together in shared sessions
Keep a friends list for dzStudio
Changes in the browser workbench and in the game show up on both sides

dzbot Pro on your server

For server owners

Install mods on your server with one click from the mod marketplace
Edit your organization’s mods and your server’s placements in the game
dzbot lists new object spawner files in cfggameplay.json for you at every transfer

dzStudio in the dzbot documentation

Install

You need DayZ on PC (Steam). Console server owners build on a PC and put the files on their server.

01Subscribe to dzStudio on the Steam Workshop.
02Open the DayZ Launcher, tick dzStudio under Mods and start the game.
03dzStudio opens instead of the main menu: pick a map and create a project.
04Optional: connect your dzbot account in the settings. dzStudio shows a code, you confirm it on dzbot.de.

Getting your build onto a server

Without dzbot: copy the files from the project folder into your server’s mission folder and list the object spawner files in cfggameplay.json.
With dzbot: save the project as a mod and install it on your server — dzbot transfers the files and keeps cfggameplay.json up to date.

How dzStudio came about

We never planned to build an editor. Many of our users build in an existing community editor and copied the result into dzbot by hand, so in October 2026 we offered its team a small, open add-on API — menu entries, file types, scene events — that would have helped every add-on author, and offered to write it ourselves.

The team decided against it, which is their call. So we started from a blank page. dzStudio is written from scratch, built so that every feature is a plugin, and everything it makes runs on PC and console servers alike.

Read the conversation on GitHub

FAQ

Is dzStudio free?

Yes. The editor, local projects and shared sessions are free. Only installing mods on your own server through dzbot needs dzbot Pro on that server.

Do I need dzbot?

No. dzStudio works completely on its own with projects in a folder on your PC. A free dzbot account adds shared sessions and saving into your creator mods.

Does it work for Xbox and PlayStation servers?

Yes, that is what it is built for. The editor runs on a PC, and everything it produces is a file a console server loads: object spawner JSON and loot files.

Can I play DayZ normally while dzStudio is installed?

dzStudio replaces the main menu while it is loaded. To play, untick it in the DayZ Launcher.

Which maps are supported?

The official maps: Chernarus, Livonia, Sakhal and Nasdara (Badlands). Maps from mods are not supported.

I already have .dze files. Can I keep using them?

Yes. dzStudio imports .dze files in the current format as a new project. Older files need to be saved once more in the program that made them.

When is it released?

Soon. Join the dzbot Discord to hear first when dzStudio is on the Steam Workshop.

Your next base, built together

dzStudio is free. Get notified the moment it is on the Steam Workshop.

Follow the release on Discord