7 Days to Die server: tutorials & guidesAll guides around your own 7 Days to Die server

In 7 Days to Die, almost everything depends on two switches, both of which sit in the serverconfig.xml. The first is the world: Navezgane is the hand-built map that is always the same, with well-known points of interest - predictable, economical and good for beginners. RWG generates a random world from WorldGenSeed and WorldGenSize that keeps surprising you for longer, but demands more resources. You control both via GameWorld, and you are better off settling both before the first evening, because changing the world means starting over.

The second switch is EasyAntiCheat, and it decides which mods come into question at all. Purely server-side modlets - additional quests, quality-of-life changes, more zombies - run with EAC active and often without any adjustment for the other players. As soon as a mod brings its own DLLs, as the big overhauls do, EAC has to be off via EACEnabled, on the server and in the client. That also rules out crossplay: console players only get onto a server with active EAC and unchanged game files. So if you want to bring PC, PlayStation and Xbox together, you automatically decide against DLL mods.

1. Clarify whether console players will join - that fixes EAC and with it the scope for mods.
2. Choose the world: Navezgane or RWG with seed and size.
3. Set the serverconfig.xml: server name, password, ServerMaxPlayerCount - and since version 3.0 the SandboxCode, which bundles difficulty, loot, XP and the blood moon cycle and is generated in the game via the sandbox options.
4. Enter your own SteamID64 with permission_level in the serveradmin.xml - level 0 is the highest.
5. Take a backup of the save folder before the first blood moon.

One value that is often overlooked: ServerMaxPlayerCount is set to 8 by default and can be raised in the configuration - we neither charge for slots nor limit them. What decides the choice of package is not the player count alone anyway, but the interplay of world size, number of zombies and mod load. Exactly this interplay is put to the test on the blood moon night: it is the predictable peak load of the game, and if a server stutters, it is almost always then. You connect via IP and port together - the default port 26900 only serves as orientation; what counts is the port in the web interface. Backups are self-service: you fetch the save folder, generated world and serverconfig.xml yourself via SFTP or WebFTP - it does not happen automatically.

Getting started: connect and manage

Get onto the server and give yourself the rights you need. In 7 Days to Die, admin rights do not work via a password in the game but via the serveradmin.xml: your SteamID64 is listed there together with a permission_level that determines the scope of unlocked console commands. The crossplay guide belongs here as soon as console players are involved - it describes the value ranges that have to be kept for it.

Configuration & world

The serverconfig.xml is the central file - this is where you find what matters in it.

Mods & overhauls

Server-side modlets run with EAC, real overhauls need it switched off.

Troubleshooting

The blood moon night is the load case where everything is decided - and the only one that can be reliably predicted. Anyone who plays smoothly the rest of the week and only collapses on that night does not have a network problem but an entity problem: too many simultaneously active zombies. The matching levers are in the configuration and the SandboxCode, not in the package. If, on the other hand, the server stays permanently unreachable, the way leads via address and port.

Before you order

Cross-game buying advice - also applies to 7 Days to Die.

Frequently asked questions