How to host a 7 Days to Die server

Memory use scales with world size and how much of it has been visited and destroyed. This is a game about terrain deformation, and every change is persistent — so a server on day one hundred is holding a substantially more complicated world than one on day one.

Blood moons are the real load test. Everything can look comfortable for six days and then struggle on the seventh, when the game spawns a great many enemies at once across every player.

How to install it

1. Install Steam’s command-line tool, then the 7 Days to Die dedicated server using an anonymous login.
2. Rename the example config to your own file and point the server at it with -configfile=. Editing the shipped serverconfig.xml is the mistake — an update overwrites it and takes your settings with it.
3. Choose your world before first boot. A named pre-generated map starts quickly; a random one generates on launch and takes a long time.
4. Start it and be patient if you chose random. It is working even when it looks stuck.

steamcmd \
  +force_install_dir /home/7dtd/server \
  +login anonymous \
  +app_update 294420 validate \
  +quit

# Roughly 10-15 GB. Then copy the config and point the server at the copy:
cp serverconfig.xml myserver.xml
./startserver.sh -configfile=myserver.xml

How to configure it

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ServerSettings>

  <!-- The name in the server browser. -->
  <property name="ServerName" value="Your server name"/>

  <!-- The line beneath it. -->
  <property name="ServerDescription" value="PvE, 120 minute days"/>

  <!-- Empty means anyone can join. -->
  <property name="ServerPassword" value=""/>

  <property name="ServerMaxPlayerCount" value="8"/>

  <!-- Navezgane is the hand-built map. Swap for RWG to
       generate a random one - slow on first boot. -->
  <property name="GameWorld" value="Navezgane"/>
  <property name="WorldGenSeed" value="pickSomething"/>

  <!-- The two settings that define your server's character. -->
  <property name="DayNightLength" value="60"/>
  <property name="BloodMoonFrequency" value="7"/>

  <!-- Remote admin. -->
  <property name="ControlPanelEnabled" value="true"/>
  <property name="ControlPanelPassword" value="change-me"/>

</ServerSettings>

• One file, and it is long. Read it end to end once; it is faster than searching for each setting as you need it.
• GameWorld and WorldGenSeed together decide your map. Changing either means a new world.
• Day length and blood moon frequency define your server’s character. Decide them before launch, because changing them mid-season upsets people.
• Land claim size and duration determine how much of the map gets locked up. This is the setting most likely to cause arguments.

Worth knowing

• Major game updates usually require a fresh world. Plan seasons around the update cycle rather than trying to carry a save across.
• Region files accumulate. Disk grows steadily over a long-running save.

Written from experience running these servers. If something here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will recheck it.