7 Days to Die Dedicated Server
This page documents information about a third-party game or which is distributed on Steam but is not related to Valve's games, engines, or 
intellectual property. Nonetheless, it has existed on this wiki for a long time, and is being kept due to having a significant amount of information.
intellectual property. Nonetheless, it has existed on this wiki for a long time, and is being kept due to having a significant amount of information.A 7 Days to Die Dedicated Server is used for playing with multiple people in the same world. Servers can be hosted by yourself, as well as by a company. Servers used to only allow up to 4 people, but that was changed as of Alpha 1.1 Official site Currently only 8-player Co-op is supported.
Contents
- 1 Dedicated server
- 2 Serverconfig.xml
- 2.1 GENERAL SERVER SETTINGS
- 2.2 Server Representation
- 2.3 Networking
- 2.4 Slots
- 2.5 Admin interfaces
- 2.6 Folder and file locations
- 2.7 Other technical settings
- 2.8 GAMEPLAY
- 2.9 World
- 2.10 Difficulty
- 2.11 Unnamed
- 2.12 Performance related
- 2.13 Zombie settings
- 2.14 Loot
- 2.15 Multiplayer
- 2.16 Land claim options
- 2.17
- 2.18 Starting the Server
- 2.19 Firewall Ports
- 2.20 Port Forwarding
- 3 Finding your own External IP
- 4 Looking for servers
- 5 Renting a server
- 6 References
Dedicated server
Windows Requirement
Version A20 and newer requires Microsoft Visual C Redistributables 2022 to run.
Installation
- Install SteamCMD
You need to install the lastest
- Start SteamCMD
- Select install folder:
force_install_dir c:\SteamCMD\7_Days_to_Die_server\(You do not have to use this exact folder) - Login with a Steam account (Subject to the availability of the game on the accounts).
login [username] [password](You can also use login anonymous) - Run:
app_update 294420to download the latest 7 Days to Die Dedicated Server Alpha stable build. - Run:
app_update 294420 -beta latest_experimentalinstead if you want the latest experimental build.
- Select install folder:
Serverconfig.xml
This is a table of the up-to-date Alpha 21.2 (B30) serverconfig.xml file that comes with 7 Days to Die.
Only change the data in the "value=" part of the file, otherwise it will not work.
GENERAL SERVER SETTINGS
Server Representation
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ServerName | My Game Host | Whatever you want the name of the server to be. |
| ServerDescription | A 7 Days to Die server | Whatever you want the server description to be, will be shown in the server browser. |
| ServerWebsiteURL | Website URL for the server, will be shown in the serverbrowser as a clickable link | |
| ServerPassword | Password to gain entry to the server | |
| ServerLoginConfirmationText | If set, the user will see the message during joining the server and has to confirm it before continuing. For more complex changes to this window you can change the "serverjoinrulesdialog" window in XUi | |
| Region | NorthAmericaEast | The region this server is in. Values: NorthAmericaEast, NorthAmericaWest, CentralAmerica, SouthAmerica, Europe, Russia, Asia, MiddleEast, Africa, Oceania |
| Language | English | Primary language for players on this server. Values: Use any language name that you would users expect to search for. Should be the English name of the language, e.g. not "Deutsch" but "German" |
Networking
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ServerPort | 26900 | Port you want the server to listen on. Keep it in the ranges 26900 to 26905 or 27015 to 27020 if you want PCs on the same LAN to find it as a LAN server. |
| ServerVisibility | 2 | Visibility of this server: 2 = public, 1 = only shown to friends, 0 = not listed. As you are never friend of a dedicated server setting this to "1" will only work when the first player connects manually by IP. |
| ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols | SteamNetworking | Networking protocols that should NOT be used. Separated by comma. Possible values: LiteNetLib, SteamNetworking. Dedicated servers should disable SteamNetworking if there is no NAT router in between your users and the server or when port-forwarding is set up correctly. LiteNetLib should only be disabled for temporary troubleshooting. |
| ServerMaxWorldTransferSpeedKiBs | 512 | Maximum (!) speed in kiB/s the world is transferred at to a client on first connect if it does not have the world yet. Maximum is about 1300 kiB/s, even if you set a higher value |
Slots
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ServerMaxPlayerCount | 8 | Maximum Concurrent Players |
| ServerReservedSlots | 0 | Out of the MaxPlayerCount this many slots can only be used by players with a specific permission level |
| ServerReservedSlotsPermission | 100 | Required permission level to use reserved slots above |
| ServerAdminSlots | 0 | This many admins can still join even if the server has reached MaxPlayerCount |
| ServerAdminSlotsPermission | 0 | Required permission level to use the admin slots above |
Admin interfaces
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| WebDashboardEnabled | false | Enable/disable the web dashboard |
| WebDashboardPort | 8080 | Port of the web dashboard |
| WebDashboardUrl | External URL to the web dashboard if not just using the public IP of the server, e.g. if the web dashboard is behind a reverse proxy. Needs to be the full URL, like "https://domainOfReverseProxy.tld:1234/". Can be left empty if directly using the public IP and dashboard port | |
| EnableMapRendering | false | Enable/disable rendering of the map to tile images while exploring it. This is used e.g. by the web dashboard to display a view of the map. |
| TelnetEnabled | true | Enable/Disable the telnet |
| TelnetPort | 8081 | Port of the telnet server |
| TelnetPassword | Password to gain entry to telnet interface. If no password is set the server will only listen on the local loopback interface | |
| TelnetFailedLoginLimit | 10 | After this many wrong passwords from a single remote client the client will be blocked from connecting to the Telnet interface |
| TelnetFailedLoginsBlocktime | 10 | How long will the block persist (in seconds) |
| TerminalWindowEnabled | true | Show a terminal window for log output / command input (Windows only) |
Folder and file locations
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AdminFileName | serveradmin.xml | Server admin file name. Path relative to the SaveGameFolder |
| UserDataFolder | absolute path | Use this to override where the server stores all generated data, including RWG generated worlds. Do not forget to uncomment the entry! |
| SaveGameFolder | absolute path | Use this to only override the save game path. Do not forget to uncomment the entry! |
Other technical settings
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| EACEnabled | true | Enables/Disables EasyAntiCheat |
| HideCommandExecutionLog | 0 | Hide logging of command execution. 0 = show everything, 1 = hide only from Telnet/ControlPanel, 2 = also hide from remote game clients, 3 = hide everything |
| MaxUncoveredMapChunksPerPlayer | 131072 | Override how many chunks can be uncovered on the ingame map by each player. Resulting max map file size limit per player is (x * 512 Bytes), uncovered area is (x * 256 m²). Default 131072 means max 32 km² can be uncovered at any time |
| PersistentPlayerProfiles | false | If disabled a player can join with any selected profile. If true they will join with the last profile they joined with |
GAMEPLAY
World
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GameWorld | Navezgane | "RWG" (see WorldGenSeed and WorldGenSize options below) or any already existing world name in the Worlds folder (currently shipping with e.g. "Navezgane", "PREGEN01", ...) |
| WorldGenSeed | asdf | If RWG this is the seed for the generation of the new world. If a world with the resulting name already exists it will simply load it |
| WorldGenSize | 4096 | If RWG this controls the width and height of the created world. It is also used in combination with WorldGenSeed to create the internal RWG seed thus also creating a unique map name even if using the same WorldGenSeed. Has to be between 2048 and 16384, though large map sizes will take long to generate / download / load |
| GameName | My Game | Whatever you want the game name to be. This affects the save game name as well as the seed used when placing decoration (trees etc) in the world. It does not control the generic layout of the world if creating an RWG world |
| GameMode | GameModeSurvival | GameModeSurvival |
Difficulty
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GameDifficulty | 2 | 0 - 5, 0=easiest, 5=hardest |
| BlockDamagePlayer | 100 | How much damage do players to blocks (percentage in whole numbers) |
| BlockDamageAI | 100 | How much damage do AIs to blocks (percentage in whole numbers) |
| BlockDamageAIBM | 100 | How much damage do AIs during blood moons to blocks (percentage in whole numbers) |
| XPMultiplier | 100 | XP gain multiplier (percentage in whole numbers) |
| PlayerSafeZoneLevel | 5 | If a player is less than or equal to this level he will create a safe zone (no enemies) when spawned |
| PlayerSafeZoneHours | 5 | Hours in world time this safe zone exists |
Unnamed
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BuildCreate | false | cheat mode on/off |
| DayNightLength | 60 | real time minutes per in game day: 60 minutes |
| DayLightLength | 18 | in game hours the sun shines per day: 18 hours day light per in game day |
| DeathPenalty | 1 | Penalty after dying. 0 = Nothing. 1 = Default: Classic XP Penalty. 2 = Injured: You keep most of your debuffs. Food and Water is set to 50% on respawn. 3 = Permanent Death: Your character is completely reset. You will respawn with a fresh start within the saved game. |
| DropOnDeath | 1 | 0 = nothing, 1 = everything, 2 = toolbelt only, 3 = backpack only, 4 = delete all |
| DropOnQuit | 0 | 0 = nothing, 1 = everything, 2 = toolbelt only, 3 = backpack only |
| BedrollDeadZoneSize | 15 | Size (box "radius", so a box with 2 times the given value for each side's length) of bedroll deadzone, no zombies will spawn inside this area, and any cleared sleeper volumes that touch a bedroll deadzone will not spawn after they've been cleared. |
| BedrollExpiryTime | 45 | Number of days a bedroll stays active after owner was last online |
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MaxSpawnedZombies | 64 | This setting covers the entire map. There can only be this many zombies on the entire map at one time. Changing this setting has a huge impact on performance. |
| MaxSpawnedAnimals | 50 | If your server has a large number of players you can increase this limit to add more wildlife. Animals don't consume as much CPU as zombies. NOTE: That this doesn't cause more animals to spawn arbitrarily: The biome spawning system only spawns a certain number of animals in a given area, but if you have lots of players that are all spread out then you may be hitting the limit and can increase it. |
| ServerMaxAllowedViewDistance | 12 | Max viewdistance a client may request (6 - 12). High impact on memory usage and performance. |
| MaxQueuedMeshLayers | 1000 | Maximum amount of Chunk mesh layers that can be enqueued during mesh generation. Reducing this will improve memory usage but may increase Chunk generation time |
Zombie settings
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| EnemySpawnMode | true | Enable/Disable enemy spawning |
| EnemyDifficulty | 0 | 0 = Normal, 1 = Feral |
| ZombieMove | 0 | 0-4 (walk, jog, run, sprint, nightmare) |
| ZombieMoveNight | 3 | 0-4 (walk, jog, run, sprint, nightmare) |
| ZombieFeralMove | 3 | 0-4 (walk, jog, run, sprint, nightmare) |
| ZombieBMMove | 3 | 0-4 (walk, jog, run, sprint, nightmare) |
| BloodMoonFrequency | 7 | What frequency (in days) should a blood moon take place. Set to "0" for no blood moons |
| BloodMoonRange | 0 | How many days can the actual blood moon day randomly deviate from the above setting. Setting this to 0 makes blood moons happen exactly each Nth day as specified in BloodMoonFrequency |
| BloodMoonWarning | 8 | The Hour number that the red day number begins on a blood moon day. Setting this to -1 makes the red never show. |
| BloodMoonEnemyCount | 8 | This is the number of zombies that can be alive (spawned at the same time) at any time PER PLAYER during a blood moon horde, however, MaxSpawnedZombies overrides this number in multiplayer games. Also note that your game stage sets the max number of zombies PER PARTY. Low game stage values can result in lower number of zombies than the BloodMoonEnemyCount setting. Changing this setting has a huge impact on performance. --> |
Loot
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| LootAbundance | 100 | percentage in whole numbers Note that this only affects stack sizes, not % to get loot. |
| LootRespawnDays | 30 | days in whole numbers |
| AirDropFrequency | 72 | How often airdrop occur in game-hours, 0=never |
| AirDropMarker | False | Sets if a marker is added to map/compass for air drops |
Multiplayer
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PartySharedKillRange | 100 | The distance you must be within to receive party shared kill xp and quest party kill objective credit. |
| PartyKillingMode | 3 | Player Killing Settings (0 = No Killing, 1 = Kill Allies Only, 2 = Kill Strangers Only, 3 = Kill Everyone) |
Land claim options
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| LandClaimCount | 1 | Maximum allowed land claims per player |
| LandClaimSize | 41 | Size in blocks that is protected by a land claim block |
| LandClaimDeadZone | 30 | Land claim blocks must be this many blocks apart (unless you are friends with the other player) |
| LandClaimExpiryTime | 7 | The number of days a player can be offline before their claims expire and are no longer protected |
| LandClaimDecayMode | 0 | Controls how offline players land claims decay. 0=Slow (Linear) , 1=Fast (Exponential), 2=None (Full protection until claim is expired). |
| LandClaimOnlineDurabilityModifier | 4 | How much protected claim area block hardness is increased when a player is online. 0 means infinite (no damage will ever be taken). Default is 4x |
| LandClaimOfflineDurabilityModifier | 4 | How much protected claim area block hardness is increased when a player is offline. 0 means infinite (no damage will ever be taken). Default is 4x |
| LandClaimOfflineDelay | 0 | The number of minutes after a player logs out that the land claim area hardness transitions from online to offline. Default is 0 |
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DynamicMeshEnabled | true | Is Dynamic Mesh system enabled |
| DynamicMeshLandClaimOnly | true | Is Dynamic Mesh system only active in player LCB areas |
| DynamicMeshLandClaimBuffer | 3 | Dynamic Mesh LCB chunk radius |
| DynamicMeshMaxItemCache | 3 | How many items can be processed concurrently, higher values use more RAM |
| TwitchServerPermission | 90 | Required permission level to use twitch integration on the server |
| TwitchBloodMoonAllowed | false | If the server allows twitch actions during a blood moon. This could cause server lag with extra zombies being spawned during blood moon. |
| MaxChunkAge | ||
| The number of in-game days which must pass since visiting a chunk before it will reset to its original state if not revisited or protected (e.g. by a land claim or bedroll being in close proximity). | ||
| SaveDataLimit | ||
| The maximum disk space allowance for each saved game in megabytes (MB). Saved chunks may be forceably reset to their original states to free up space when this limit is reached. Negative values disable the limit. |
There are several game settings that you cannot change when starting a new game. You can use console commands to change at least some of them ingame. setgamepref BedrollDeadZoneSize 30
Starting the Server
To host a server just edit the startdedicated.bat file and the serverconfig.xml using TextPad or notepad++. You shouldn't need to edit the startdedicated.bat. In the batch file you will see the following text:
startdedicated.bat
@echo off
rem Starts a dedicated server
rem
rem -quit, -batchmode, -nographics: Unity commands
rem -configfile : Allows server settings to be set up in an xml config file. Use no path if in same dir or full path.
rem -dedicated : Has to be the last option to start the dedicated server.
set LOGTIMESTAMP=
:: --------------------------------------------
:: REMOVE OLD LOGS (only keep latest 20)
for /f "tokens=* skip=19" %%F in ('dir 7DaysToDieServer_Data\output_log*.txt /o-d /tc /b') do del 7DaysToDieServer_Data\%%F
:: --------------------------------------------
:: BUILDING TIMESTAMP FOR LOGFILE
:: Check WMIC is available
WMIC.EXE Alias /? >NUL 2>&1 || GOTO s_start
:: Use WMIC to retrieve date and time
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=1-6" %%G IN ('WMIC Path Win32_LocalTime Get Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Month^,Second^,Year /Format:table') DO (
IF "%%~L"=="" goto s_done
Set _yyyy=%%L
Set _mm=00%%J
Set _dd=00%%G
Set _hour=00%%H
Set _minute=00%%I
Set _second=00%%K
)
:s_done
:: Pad digits with leading zeros
Set _mm=%_mm:~-2%
Set _dd=%_dd:~-2%
Set _hour=%_hour:~-2%
Set _minute=%_minute:~-2%
Set _second=%_second:~-2%
Set LOGTIMESTAMP=__%_yyyy%-%_mm%-%_dd%__%_hour%-%_minute%-%_second%
:s_start
:: --------------------------------------------
:: STARTING SERVER
echo|set /p="251570" > steam_appid.txt
start 7daystodieserver -logfile 7DaysToDieServer_Data\output_log%LOGTIMESTAMP%.txt -quit -batchmode -nographics -configfile=serverconfig.xml -dedicated
echo Starting server ...
timeout 15
cls
echo.
echo Server running in background, you can close this window.
echo You can check the task manager if the server process is really running.
echo.
echo.
pause
Firewall Ports
You will need to open the following ports on your PC's firewall in order for people to be able to see and connect to your server.
TCP
- 8080-8081 (ONLY if you plan to administer your server remotely AND do not change the ports in the serverconfig.)
- 8082 (If you are using Alloc's mods, this is the control panel port +2. If you use 8080 then you need 8082.)
- 26900 (This is the port designated in the serverconfig)
UDP
- 26900-26903
Port Forwarding
If you are behind a router, you will need to tell your router that an incoming connection is meant for your server. This is called forwarding a port. You will need to port forward ports 26900-26902 so that others may join.
If router support UPnP - you can use this https://github.com/kaklakariada/portmapper
Don't know how to port forward? follow these instructions:
- Go to this Site
- Select your router brand
- Select your router version (if your version is not there, pick the one closest to your version.)
- Select 7 Days to Die
- Follow the instructions on the site
Another good reference is here... https://portforward.com/games/
If you have completed these steps correctly, your friends should now be able to join.
Finding your own External IP
To find the IP which your friends need to use go to this Site. There you will find your External IP. Send it to your friends and they should be able to join if you have already finished Port Forwarding (steps above) your router.
Looking for servers
If you are looking for a server to play on, you can find one on the current top servers list for 7 Days To Die here 7daystodie-servers.com or use the server browser on your game client.
- For computers on the same local network as the server you can connect to it by using its internal IP, simply enter this and the chosen port number into the two boxes at the bottom of the games server browser screen.
- If you are hosting the server on the same computer you intend to play from you can use 127.0.0.1 (localhost) as the connection IP.
- In all other cases you'll need to determine the servers IP address or domain name (if used) in order to make a connection. Windows users should open start, click run or search, type cmd. In the window that opens type ipconfig. You'll see a list of information. You're looking for IP address.
Example: Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Where mine says 192.168.1.100 that's the IP your server has.
Renting a server
There are several companies/websites that allow you to rent a server from them. This rented server will reside in a datacenter and hosted by them.
These servers are mostly 24/7 servers. This is useful because you won't need to keep your computer running 24/7. You can rent servers to many different specifications, some may not be powerful enough to host a server. Generally, network connections at a datacenter far exceed what is available to residential ISPs, which will cut down on latency that you might experience hosting at home.
You can use a Server Manager to setup and manage the server. Please look through this forum post for alternative server management tools
