7 Days to Die: set up, join and configure your server

Your 7 Days to Die server runs the game's official Linux server. You set the options from serverconfig.xml in the Server tab, and manage players, bans and admins in the Players tab.

The first start

The first install downloads the game's server through Steam, about 12 to 15 GB. That takes a while; the console shows the progress. Afterwards GoodFlare creates serverconfig.xml with your server's name.

On its first start the server builds its world. Navezgane is ready-made and loads quickly. A random world (RWG) is generated from seed and size on the first start: that can take many minutes and needs a lot of memory meanwhile, especially for a large world. Until the console says the server is ready, players cannot join yet.

Joining

1. 1

   Start 7 Days to Die and choose Join a Game in the main menu.

2. 2

   Choose Connect to IP at the bottom.

3. 3

   Enter your server's IP address and port in the two fields, each on its own. Both are on your server's overview.

4. 4

   If the server has a password, the game asks for it.

If the server is public in the server browser, friends also find it by name under Join a Game. Besides the port, the game uses the two UDP ports right above it; your server already has them.

Settings in the Server tab

The Server tab shows serverconfig.xml as a form, in the file's groups. The small i next to each setting explains what it does and which values the game knows. Only what you change is changed; comments and every other line of the file stay as they are. If someone changed the file differently in the meantime, the page says so instead of overwriting it.

Presets

Relaxed, Standard or Hardcore set a few values for difficulty, zombies, loot and death at once

Server

Name, description, password, notice on joining, region, language, visibility, player count

World

Navezgane, a random world with seed and size, or another world on the server; save name

Difficulty and game rules

Difficulty, block damage, experience, day length, storms, death penalty

Zombies and blood moon

Speed by day, at night and on blood moon, feral zombies, how often the blood moon comes and how many zombies it brings

Loot, multiplayer, land claims

Loot abundance, supply drops, player versus player, land claim blocks

Performance, administration

Limits for zombies and view distance, EasyAntiCheat, crossplay, reserved slots

Player count and difficulty are passed to the server at start, so the page changes them in the start variable and in the file. GoodFlare sets the port and telnet at start: the Console tab and the Players tab talk to the game over telnet, with a password of its own for every server.

The server reads the file only at start. After saving, the page offers a restart.

What the page does not know in detail is listed at the bottom under More settings from the file and can be changed there. Edit file opens the whole file in the file editor.

Players, bans and admins

The Players tab shows who is online, with level, health and ping. You can kick players, ban them for a time (the game has no ban without an end; “permanent” is 100 years), send a message to everyone and save the world. Bans are lifted in the same list; players who are not online right now are banned by their ID (Steam_… or EOS_…).

Admins are given there with a level: 0 may run every command, players without an entry have 1000. The game writes this into serveradmin.xml in the Saves folder itself; do not edit the file while the server runs, or it overwrites it. Only people who may set up the server can give admin rights.

All of this goes through the running server's console. When it is off or still starting, the tab says so.

Performance and memory

• The size of the world, the number of zombies and the number of players need the most memory. Choose a large random world (10240) only with plenty of memory in your plan; 6144 is the frugal start.
• Blood moon night is the peak: then up to Zombies per player on blood moon are alive per player, and at most Zombies on the map at most on the whole map.
• If the server lags, lower these two values and the Largest view distance (6 to 12) first. After that, a regular restart helps, for example at night through Schedules.
• If the server crashes while generating a world or the start breaks off, memory is usually too short: choose a smaller size or a bigger plan.
• The Performance tab shows memory and processor over time, including blood moon night.