Thinking about renting a server for DayZ

[Sykotron 0]

I'd like to start off by saying I'm loving this mod. I fail so hard while playing, but this game is so immersive it's like nothing I've experienced thus far.

My biggest problem so far has been actually getting to play with my friends. The hotfixes come out so rapidly that many servers aren't up-to-date. I'm assuming (I very well be mistaken) that if I'm renting a server I would be able to initiate updating the server myself so I could expedite that process. The servers that are up-to-date always fill up so quickly that it's difficult to even find space for 3 people to play together.

I understand kicking public players to make space for my personal friends is no longer allowed due to some abusing the ability. I've also seen people complain about it, but I'm not sure of official rules and didn't see anything concrete, but would I be allowed to enable a password when the server is at 50/50 just to ensure that when people leave it will leave space for my friends and I could disable the password once my friends have joined? Also, is there a consolidated list of groups renting out servers for DayZ (I've seen individual posts, but I'd like to compare prices and locations).

Bottom line is I just want to be able to play with my friends whenever I want and I'm willing to pay to rent a server.

[Blasty 0]

You can't do what you said currently, but at some point I'm sure it will be worked on better to allow for this kind of thing. There are many threads you can find on this topic if you search a little.

[biorage 4]

How it's setup currently is your doing DayZ more of a favour than yourself, by offering your $ to host a server.

Yes you have the ability to Ban / Kick, and the biggest motivator is to have a place called "Home" for you and your friends.

However the rules are strict, you cannot spawn items/vehicles, nor can you ban or kick for slots, as Blasty Stated.

[Sykotron 0]

I've never administrated a server so I don't know the capabilities or limitations associated with such. I've seen rocket mention putting in reserved slots in the future which would obviously solve this issue. Is it possible to run a script or something on the server that would enable a password when say player count is 47/50? This would effectively reserve slots and I don't see that it shouldn't be allow for any logical reason.

I don't want to exploit or abuse anything: I just want to actually play with my friends :(

[JeffCraig 1]

No Sykotron, there's nothing you can do to reserve slots right now. If you somehow figured a way to make a script to do what you want, then yeah you could probably get away with locking it at 47/50. Someone would eventually come onto these forums and flame you for locking your server though.

However, you obviously don't know how to do this (no offense or anything, you said yourself that you haven't hosted a server before), and personally I cant think of a way to make something like that happen. There is nothing built into Arma 2 that would make it easy to script a reserve system. So in short, no, you will not be able to create a script to auto-lock the server.

It is possible to lock the server manually, so your friends can take the slots of people that log off, but that itself is looked down on and as I said before, the little bitches will come running to these forums to report you.

Regardless of all that: it is extremely hard to get a dev to white-list your server. They are extremely busy. Some people have been waiting months and still have had no reply. If you have a server sitting around that you can host on, then go ahead and request to be white-listed. But I wouldn't go out an rent one just for DayZ. You'll end up wasting a lot of money on an unused server.