diff --git a/GameEngine/Account.php b/GameEngine/Account.php
index 9c1fbe90..b3b9287a 100755
--- a/GameEngine/Account.php
+++ b/GameEngine/Account.php
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ class Account {
 		global $database;
 
     // ==================== VERIFICARE DATA DE START A SERVERULUI ====================
-    if (START_DATE < date('d.m.Y') || (START_DATE === date('d.m.Y') && START_TIME <= date('H:i'))) {
+    if (\App\Utils\DateTime::hasServerStarted(START_DATE, START_TIME)) {
         
         // Caută codul de activare în tabela activate
 		$code = trim($_POST['id'] ?? '');
diff --git a/Templates/activate/activate.tpl b/Templates/activate/activate.tpl
index 0a3ebaf1..74f1cb87 100644
--- a/Templates/activate/activate.tpl
+++ b/Templates/activate/activate.tpl
@@ -45,10 +45,10 @@ if(isset($show)){
                 </p> 
             </div> 
             </div> 
-        <?php if(START_DATE > date('d.m.y') || START_DATE == date('d.m.y') && START_TIME <= date('H:i')){ ?> 
+        <?php if(!$serverHasStarted && $serverStartTimestamp !== null){ ?>
 <br/><center><big><?php echo TZ_ACTIVATION_AVAILBLE_IN; ?> </big></center>
 <script>
-TargetDate = "<?php echo START_DATE; ?> <?php echo START_TIME; ?>";
+TargetDate = <?php echo json_encode($serverStartTimestamp); ?>;
 CountActive = true;
 CountStepper = -1;
 LeadingZero = true;
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ if (CountStepper == 0)
   CountActive = false;
 var SetTimeOutPeriod = (Math.abs(CountStepper)-1)*1000 + 990;
 putspan(BackColor, ForeColor);
-var dthen = new Date(TargetDate);
+var dthen = new Date(TargetDate * 1000);
 var dnow = new Date();
 if(CountStepper>0)
   ddiff = new Date(dnow-dthen);
@@ -117,11 +117,11 @@ CountBack(gsecs);
 <?php }}else{ ?> 
             <p> 
                 <?php  
-                if(START_DATE > date('d.m.y') || START_DATE == date('d.m.y') && START_TIME <= date('H:i')){
+                if(!$serverHasStarted && $serverStartTimestamp !== null){
 				?>
 <br/><center><big><?php echo TZ_ACTIVATION_AVAILBLE_IN; ?> </big></center>
 <script language="JavaScript">
-TargetDate = "<?php echo START_DATE; ?> <?php echo START_TIME; ?>";
+TargetDate = <?php echo json_encode($serverStartTimestamp); ?>;
 CountActive = true;
 CountStepper = -1;
 LeadingZero = true;
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ if (CountStepper == 0)
   CountActive = false;
 var SetTimeOutPeriod = (Math.abs(CountStepper)-1)*1000 + 990;
 putspan(BackColor, ForeColor);
-var dthen = new Date(TargetDate);
+var dthen = new Date(TargetDate * 1000);
 var dnow = new Date();
 if(CountStepper>0)
   ddiff = new Date(dnow-dthen);
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ CountBack(gsecs);
 
 </script>
 <?php       
-}else{ ?> 
+}elseif($serverHasStarted){ ?>
             <div id="activation"> 
                 <form action="activate.php" method="post"> 
                     <p class="important"> 
@@ -205,4 +205,4 @@ CountBack(gsecs);
             </div> 
              
 <?php } 
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>
diff --git a/activate.php b/activate.php
index ae376d90..89848934 100644
--- a/activate.php
+++ b/activate.php
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ use App\Utils\AccessLogger;
 include('GameEngine/Account.php');
 AccessLogger::logRequest();
 
+$serverStartTimestamp = \App\Utils\DateTime::getServerStartTimestamp(START_DATE, START_TIME);
+$serverHasStarted = $serverStartTimestamp !== null && time() >= $serverStartTimestamp;
+
 ?>
 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
 <html>
@@ -56,7 +59,7 @@ AccessLogger::logRequest();
 <div id="content"  class="activate">
 <?php
 
-	if(isset($_GET['e']) && (START_DATE < date('d.m.y') || START_DATE == date('d.m.y') && START_TIME <= date('H:i')))
+	if(isset($_GET['e']) && $serverHasStarted)
 	{
 		switch($_GET['e'])
 		{
@@ -93,4 +96,4 @@ AccessLogger::logRequest();
 <?php include("Templates/footer.tpl"); ?>
 <div id="ce"></div>
 </body>
-</html>
\ No newline at end of file
+</html>
diff --git a/src/Utils/DateTime.php b/src/Utils/DateTime.php
index 467da31b..3095e3be 100644
--- a/src/Utils/DateTime.php
+++ b/src/Utils/DateTime.php
@@ -23,6 +23,57 @@ namespace App\Utils;
  */
 class DateTime {
 
+    /**
+     * Parse the configured game-world start using the server timezone.
+     *
+     * The installer writes START_DATE as d.m.Y and START_TIME as H:i. Parsing
+     * them together avoids the month/year ordering bugs caused by comparing
+     * the formatted values as strings.
+     *
+     * @return int|null Unix timestamp, or null when the configuration is invalid.
+     */
+    public static function getServerStartTimestamp($startDate, $startTime, $timezone = null)
+    {
+        if (!$timezone instanceof \DateTimeZone) {
+            $timezone = new \DateTimeZone(date_default_timezone_get());
+        }
+
+        $value = trim((string) $startDate) . ' ' . trim((string) $startTime);
+
+        try {
+            $start = \DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('!d.m.Y H:i', $value, $timezone);
+        } catch (\ValueError $exception) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        $errors = \DateTimeImmutable::getLastErrors();
+
+        if (
+            $start === false
+            || ($errors !== false && ($errors['warning_count'] > 0 || $errors['error_count'] > 0))
+            || $start->format('d.m.Y H:i') !== $value
+        ) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return $start->getTimestamp();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return true from the first second of the configured start minute.
+     */
+    public static function hasServerStarted($startDate, $startTime, $now = null, $timezone = null)
+    {
+        $start = self::getServerStartTimestamp($startDate, $startTime, $timezone);
+        if ($start === null) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        $now = $now === null ? time() : (int) $now;
+
+        return $now >= $start;
+    }
+
     public static function getTimeFormat($time)
     {
         $min = 0;
@@ -42,4 +93,4 @@ class DateTime {
         return $days ." day ".$hr."h ".$min."m ".$time."s";
     }
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/tests/regression/ServerStartTimeTest.php b/tests/regression/ServerStartTimeTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b465f336
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regression/ServerStartTimeTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+<?php
+
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../../src/Utils/DateTime.php';
+
+use App\Utils\DateTime as TravianDateTime;
+
+function fail_server_start_test($message)
+{
+    fwrite(STDERR, $message . "\n");
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+function test_timestamp($value, DateTimeZone $timezone)
+{
+    return (new DateTimeImmutable($value, $timezone))->getTimestamp();
+}
+
+$lisbon = new DateTimeZone('Europe/Lisbon');
+$utc = new DateTimeZone('UTC');
+$kathmandu = new DateTimeZone('Asia/Kathmandu');
+
+$decisionCases = [
+    ['one second before', '20.09.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 11:59:59', false, $lisbon],
+    ['exact start second', '20.09.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 12:00:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['inside start minute', '20.09.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 12:00:59', true, $lisbon],
+    ['one second after minute', '20.09.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 12:01:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['earlier same day', '20.09.2026', '08:30', '2026-09-20 12:00:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['later same day', '20.09.2026', '18:30', '2026-09-20 12:00:00', false, $lisbon],
+    ['previous day', '19.09.2026', '23:59', '2026-09-20 00:00:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['next day', '21.09.2026', '00:00', '2026-09-20 23:59:59', false, $lisbon],
+    ['previous month', '25.08.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 12:00:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['next month', '02.10.2026', '12:00', '2026-09-20 12:00:00', false, $lisbon],
+    ['previous year', '31.12.2025', '23:59', '2026-01-01 00:00:00', true, $lisbon],
+    ['next year', '01.01.2027', '00:00', '2026-12-31 23:59:59', false, $lisbon],
+    ['valid leap day exact', '29.02.2024', '00:00', '2024-02-29 00:00:00', true, $utc],
+    ['UTC boundary', '01.01.1970', '00:00', '1970-01-01 00:00:00', true, $utc],
+    ['positive offset before', '01.01.2026', '00:00', '2025-12-31 23:59:59', false, $kathmandu],
+    ['positive offset exact', '01.01.2026', '00:00', '2026-01-01 00:00:00', true, $kathmandu],
+];
+
+foreach ($decisionCases as [$label, $date, $time, $now, $expected, $timezone]) {
+    $actual = TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted(
+        $date,
+        $time,
+        test_timestamp($now, $timezone),
+        $timezone
+    );
+
+    if ($actual !== $expected) {
+        fail_server_start_test(
+            $label . ': expected ' . var_export($expected, true)
+            . ', got ' . var_export($actual, true)
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+$validParseCases = [
+    ['epoch', '01.01.1970', '00:00', $utc, 0],
+    [
+        'leap day',
+        '29.02.2024',
+        '23:59',
+        $utc,
+        test_timestamp('2024-02-29 23:59:00', $utc),
+    ],
+    [
+        'leap century',
+        '29.02.2000',
+        '12:00',
+        $utc,
+        test_timestamp('2000-02-29 12:00:00', $utc),
+    ],
+    [
+        'last minute of year',
+        '31.12.2026',
+        '23:59',
+        $lisbon,
+        test_timestamp('2026-12-31 23:59:00', $lisbon),
+    ],
+    [
+        'surrounding whitespace',
+        ' 20.09.2026 ',
+        ' 12:00 ',
+        $lisbon,
+        test_timestamp('2026-09-20 12:00:00', $lisbon),
+    ],
+    [
+        'non-hour timezone',
+        '01.01.2026',
+        '00:00',
+        $kathmandu,
+        test_timestamp('2026-01-01 00:00:00', $kathmandu),
+    ],
+    [
+        'DST repeated local time',
+        '25.10.2026',
+        '01:30',
+        $lisbon,
+        test_timestamp('2026-10-25T01:30:00+00:00', $utc),
+    ],
+];
+
+foreach ($validParseCases as [$label, $date, $time, $timezone, $expected]) {
+    $actual = TravianDateTime::getServerStartTimestamp($date, $time, $timezone);
+    if ($actual !== $expected) {
+        fail_server_start_test(
+            $label . ': expected timestamp ' . $expected . ', got ' . var_export($actual, true)
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+// Exercise every possible H:i value accepted by the configuration format.
+for ($hour = 0; $hour < 24; $hour++) {
+    for ($minute = 0; $minute < 60; $minute++) {
+        $time = sprintf('%02d:%02d', $hour, $minute);
+        $expected = test_timestamp('2026-06-15 ' . $time . ':00', $utc);
+        $actual = TravianDateTime::getServerStartTimestamp('15.06.2026', $time, $utc);
+
+        if ($actual !== $expected) {
+            fail_server_start_test(
+                'clock sweep ' . $time . ': expected timestamp ' . $expected
+                . ', got ' . var_export($actual, true)
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// Exercise every calendar day across a common year and a leap year. Each
+// parsed timestamp is checked immediately before, at, and after the boundary.
+$day = new DateTimeImmutable('2023-01-01 12:34:00', $utc);
+$lastDay = new DateTimeImmutable('2024-12-31 12:34:00', $utc);
+while ($day <= $lastDay) {
+    $date = $day->format('d.m.Y');
+    $expected = $day->getTimestamp();
+    $actual = TravianDateTime::getServerStartTimestamp($date, '12:34', $utc);
+
+    if ($actual !== $expected) {
+        fail_server_start_test(
+            'calendar sweep ' . $date . ': expected timestamp ' . $expected
+            . ', got ' . var_export($actual, true)
+        );
+    }
+
+    if (TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted($date, '12:34', $expected - 1, $utc)) {
+        fail_server_start_test('calendar sweep ' . $date . ': started one second early');
+    }
+    if (!TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted($date, '12:34', $expected, $utc)) {
+        fail_server_start_test('calendar sweep ' . $date . ': not started at exact boundary');
+    }
+    if (!TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted($date, '12:34', $expected + 1, $utc)) {
+        fail_server_start_test('calendar sweep ' . $date . ': not started after boundary');
+    }
+
+    $day = $day->modify('+1 day');
+}
+
+$invalidParseCases = [
+    ['blank date', '', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['blank time', '20.09.2026', '', $utc],
+    ['wrong separator', '20-09-2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['un-padded date', '20.9.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['two-digit year', '20.09.26', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['zero day', '00.09.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['day too large', '32.09.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['zero month', '20.00.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['month too large', '20.13.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['invalid month length', '31.04.2026', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['invalid non-leap day', '29.02.2025', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['invalid non-leap century', '29.02.2100', '12:00', $utc],
+    ['un-padded time', '20.09.2026', '9:00', $utc],
+    ['wrong time separator', '20.09.2026', '09.00', $utc],
+    ['hour too large', '20.09.2026', '24:00', $utc],
+    ['minute too large', '20.09.2026', '23:60', $utc],
+    ['unexpected seconds', '20.09.2026', '12:00:00', $utc],
+    ['non-numeric time', '20.09.2026', 'noon', $utc],
+    ['NUL byte in date', "20.\0.09.2026", '12:00', $utc],
+    ['NUL byte in time', '20.09.2026', "12:\000", $utc],
+    ['DST skipped local time', '29.03.2026', '01:30', $lisbon],
+];
+
+foreach ($invalidParseCases as [$label, $date, $time, $timezone]) {
+    $actual = TravianDateTime::getServerStartTimestamp($date, $time, $timezone);
+    if ($actual !== null) {
+        fail_server_start_test(
+            $label . ': expected invalid configuration, got timestamp ' . $actual
+        );
+    }
+
+    if (TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted($date, $time, PHP_INT_MAX, $timezone)) {
+        fail_server_start_test($label . ': invalid configuration must fail closed');
+    }
+}
+
+// Verify that omitting the timezone uses PHP's configured server timezone at
+// the exact decision boundary, rather than silently falling back to UTC.
+$originalTimezone = date_default_timezone_get();
+date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kathmandu');
+try {
+    $defaultTimezoneStart = test_timestamp('2026-01-01 00:00:00', $kathmandu);
+    if (TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted('01.01.2026', '00:00', $defaultTimezoneStart - 1)) {
+        fail_server_start_test('default timezone: started one second early');
+    }
+    if (!TravianDateTime::hasServerStarted('01.01.2026', '00:00', $defaultTimezoneStart)) {
+        fail_server_start_test('default timezone: not started at exact boundary');
+    }
+} finally {
+    date_default_timezone_set($originalTimezone);
+}
+
+fwrite(STDOUT, "Server start time regression tests passed.\n");