@l909 I think the automated system you are referring to was designed to prevent "rollbacks" in the player.db by first locking the server and kicking all players before performing the shutdown. This ensures that the player.db is properly written for each player before the shutdown happens. The system uses RCon protocol to perform all of these commands.

It's possible that this system exists based on problems with DayZ that no longer exist. Are you saying that using messages.xml to perform the shutdown will not result in the players losing a small amount of progress?