Items in types.xml whose <usage> is set exclusively to ContaminatedArea (no fallback usage such as Military or Underground) fail to spawn reliably, and we cannot find documentation that explains the actual intended interaction between painted ContaminatedArea zones (areaflags.map) and a building's own usage tag from mapgroupproto.xml.

Over a continuous test session with logging enabled (log_ce_lootspawn / log_ce_lootrespawn), items restricted exclusively to ContaminatedArea usage showed very low and inconsistent success rates:

• AK101_Black: 1/10 successful, 22 "search overtime" warnings

• AK101_Green: 1/10 successful, 73 "search overtime" warnings

• Ammo_40mm_ChemGas: 0/8 successful, 12,755 "search overtime" warnings

By contrast, comparable items with a fallback usage (e.g. Underground+ContaminatedArea) spawned close to their full nominal count with far fewer warnings.

We tried to narrow down the cause ourselves by cross-referencing the exact spawn coordinates of the few successful placements against mapgrouppos.xml/mapgroupproto.xml. The results were inconsistent with any single explanation we could come up with: some successful spawns landed on buildings whose proto definition does not include ContaminatedArea usage at all, in locations we can confirm do not have a ContaminatedArea area-flag painted. This makes it hard for us to understand what determines eligibility here.

Multiple admins in DayZ modding Discord communities report the same confusion around this exact topic, so this doesn't appear to be specific to our setup.

1. In types.xml, define an item with usage set exclusively to ContaminatedArea (no other usage tags), e.g.:

xml

   <type name="TestItem">
       <nominal>10</nominal>
       <lifetime>28800</lifetime>
       <restock>3600</restock>
       <min>6</min>
       <cost>100</cost>
       <category name="weapons"/>
       <usage name="ContaminatedArea"/>
   </type>

2. In the CE Tool, paint a ContaminatedArea zone over an area containing normal loot-capable buildings that already have their own usage tag in mapgroupproto.xml (e.g. Military barracks).

3. Export areaflags.map and deploy it to the mission folder.

4. In cfgeconomycore.xml, set log_ce_lootspawn and log_ce_lootrespawn to true.

5. Delete storage_1 to force a fresh economy wipe, then start the server and let it run for an extended period (a few minutes is not representative — differences only become clear over hours).

6. Observe the RPT/console log for the test item versus a comparable item that has a fallback usage (e.g. Underground+ContaminatedArea).

Expected result

We'd like to understand what the intended behavior actually is, since none of the documentation we found (Contaminated Areas Configuration wiki, Central Economy setup guide for custom terrains) covers this interaction:

1. Does painting a usage flag (e.g. ContaminatedArea) over a building via the CE Tool / areaflags.map add to the building's existing usage tags, or replace them?

2. Is there a fallback/relaxation mechanism that allows an item to spawn somewhere without a full usage match after enough failed placement attempts ("search overtime")? If so, how is that meant to behave?

3. Is there a recommended way to give an item exclusive to a custom usage (like ContaminatedArea) a fair chance at spawning, when many other item types (roughly 100 in our case, including several vanilla ones) compete for the same usage across a limited number of painted zones?

Whatever the intended behavior turns out to be, clearer documentation on this specific interaction would help — this doesn't appear to be an isolated case based on Discord discussions we've seen.