A Project Zomboid dedicated server reads two files: servertest.ini (the server box — name, ports, password, PvP, RCON, mods) and servertest_SandboxVars.lua (the world — zombie population and lore, loot rarity, XP, weather). Here's every setting that actually matters in plain English, with the gotchas that trip people up: the zombie population scale is inverted, loot rarity tiers differ between Build 41 and Build 42, and one anti-cheat toggle is openly buggy.
servertest.ini + servertest_SandboxVars.lua — correct Lua tables, the right VERSION header, and a Build 41 / Build 42 toggle that follows the differences for you.Name, password, ports, and visibility — the file that controls the server box, not the game world.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| PublicName | The name shown in the in-game public server browser. Change it or you're one of a thousand identical "My PZ Server" entries. | My PZ Server | your name |
| Password | Required to join. Empty by default = open server. Set one to make it private (players still join via the browser or direct connect with the password). | (empty) | set one |
| DefaultPort | UDP port players connect on. Forward it on your router and open it on the firewall. | 16261 | 16261 |
| UDPPort | Secondary/direct-connect UDP port, one above the game port. Forward this one too. | 16262 | 16262 |
| MaxPlayers | Player slot cap. Each player adds simulation load — set it to what your box can actually run, not the max you'd like. | 16 | 8–16 |
| Open | On by default — anyone with the password can join. Turn off to require accounts be whitelisted before they can connect. | On | On |
| Public | Off by default. Turn on to advertise the server in the in-game public browser; leave off for a friends-only server reached by direct connect. | Off | Off |
| PVP | On by default — players can damage each other. Turn off for a pure PvE/co-op server. (This is the master PvP switch; the safety dials are in PvP & Safety.) | On | Off (co-op) |
| PauseEmpty | On by default — in-game time pauses when no one is online, so the world doesn't decay while nobody's playing. | On | On |
DefaultPort (16261) and UDPPort (16262). RCON uses a third, separate TCP port. Open all the ones you actually use.Remote console and the mod/Workshop load lists — the two lists must line up or mods silently fail.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCONPort | TCP port for the remote console most management tools and restart scripts use. Forward it separately from the game ports. | 27015 | 27015 |
| RCONPassword | Empty by default. Set one before enabling any tool that connects over RCON — an empty password effectively means no remote access at all. | (empty) | set one |
| Map | Map load order, semicolon-separated. Map mods usually want their map name added here, before the base map. | Muldraugh, KY | Muldraugh, KY |
| Mods | Mod load IDs (not Workshop file IDs), semicolon-separated. This list and WorkshopItems must line up for mods to actually load. | (empty) | — |
| WorkshopItems | Steam Workshop file IDs to download, semicolon-separated. Each maps to one or more mod IDs in the Mods line. | (empty) | — |
WorkshopItems is the file ID Steam downloads; Mods is the internal mod ID the game loads. They are different numbers and a mod needs both lines filled, or it downloads but never activates.The PvP safety-toggle system and damage modifiers. PvP melee is heavily nerfed vs PvE by default.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| SafetySystem | Players individually toggle PvP on/off; you can only hurt someone if at least one of you is in PvP mode. On by default. Turn off for free-for-all while PvP is enabled. | On | On |
| PVPMeleeDamageModifier | Damage multiplier for player-vs-player melee. Default 30 — PvP melee is deliberately reduced far below PvE so fights aren't one-hit. | 30 | 30 |
| PVPFirearmDamageModifier | Damage multiplier for player-vs-player ranged attacks. Default 50. | 50 | 50 |
How many zombies and how fast they move. Read the gotcha below before touching the population field.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombies | Coarse population step on an INVERTED legacy scale: 1 = Insane (most), 5 = None. Ships at 4. Modern PZ drives real population from the multiplier below — treat this as approximate. | 4 (Low) | leave at 4 |
| PopulationMultiplier | Fine multiplier on the overall population, 0–4. This is the real population dial in modern PZ — use it for everything between the coarse steps. Nests under ZombieConfig. | 1.0 | 0.6–1.0 |
| Distribution | Where zombies cluster. 1 = Urban Focused (denser in towns); 2 = Uniform spreads them evenly across the map. | 1 (Urban) | 1 |
| Speed | How fast zombies move. 1 = Sprinters (the hard one), 2 = Fast Shamblers (default), 3 = Shamblers (classic slow), 4 = Random. | 2 (Fast Shamblers) | 3 (Shamblers) |
Zombies field counts down — 1 is the MOST zombies (Insane), 5 is None — and it's a legacy/back-compat value. To actually thin out or pack the horde, set PopulationMultiplier (0–4); leave Zombies at its default and tune the multiplier instead.The deep zombie ruleset — strength, infection, senses — nested under ZombieLore. This is where "how hard is it" lives.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | How hard zombies hit and how easily they pull you down. 1 = Superhuman, 2 = Normal, 3 = Weak. | 2 (Normal) | 2 |
| Toughness | How much punishment a zombie takes before it drops. 1 = Tough, 2 = Normal, 3 = Fragile. | 2 (Normal) | 2 |
| Cognition | How smart zombies are. 3 = Basic Navigation (classic Romero shambler); 1 = Navigate + Use Doors makes them genuinely cunning. | 3 (Basic Navigation) | 3 |
| Transmission | How the Knox infection spreads. 1 = Blood + Saliva (default). "Everyone's Infected" makes every character turn on death regardless of bites. | 1 (Blood + Saliva) | 1 |
| Mortality | How long after a bite until you die. Apocalypse default = 2–3 Days. "Never" effectively disables death-from-bite. | 5 (2–3 Days) | 5 |
| Reanimate | How long after death a corpse rises as a zombie. Faster reanimation makes clearing bodies urgent. | 3 (0–1 Minutes) | 3 |
Speed (in Population) sets the movement type, but Strength, Toughness, and Cognition here decide whether a horde is survivable. Dialing Speed to Shamblers while leaving everything else Normal is the most common "make it less brutal" tweak.Loot scarcity and skill-gain rate. The rarity scale and its defaults DIFFER between builds — read the tip.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| FoodLoot | How much food spawns. Default Normal. The rarity scale here is shared by every loot category. | 4 (Normal) | 4 |
| WeaponLoot | Melee and firearms. Default Rare — the classic dial for how combat-heavy a server feels. | 3 (Rare) | 3 |
| AmmoLoot | Bullets and shells. Default Normal. Pair a low value with common weapons for a "guns but no ammo" feel. | 4 (Normal) | 4 |
| MedicalLoot | Bandages, pills, disinfectant. Default Normal. Drop it for a server where injuries are dangerous to treat. | 4 (Normal) | 4 |
| MechanicsLoot | Car parts and mechanic tools. Default Rare. Affects how easily players keep vehicles running. | 3 (Rare) | 3 |
| XpMultiplier | Global skill XP rate. 1.0 = vanilla. Bump to 2.0–5.0 for a faster-progression server. | 1.0 | 1.0–2.0 |
Day length, climate, and the utility shut-off timers that turn a sleepy town into a survival crunch.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| DayLength | Real-world time per in-game day. Default 3 = 1 Hour. Lower values make days fly by; longer ones suit slower, deliberate servers. | 3 (1 Hour) | 3 |
| Temperature | Overall climate. Default 3 = Normal. Colder settings make winter survival much harder. | 3 (Normal) | 3 |
| WaterShut | When the mains water cuts out. B41 default 2 = 0–30 days (randomised). After this you're on rain collectors and stored water. | 2 (0–30 Days) | 2 |
| ElecShut | When the electrical grid cuts out. B41 default 2 = 0–30 days (randomised). After this you need generators. | 2 (0–30 Days) | 2 |
Whether and how fast cleared areas refill with zombies, nested under ZombieConfig. The single most-important long-server dial.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| RespawnHours | In-game hours before zombies respawn in a cell. Default 72. Set to 0 to disable respawning entirely — popular on long-haul servers where players want cleared towns to stay clear. | 72 | 0 (long server) |
| RespawnMultiplier | Fraction of the original population that respawns each cycle. Default 0.1 (10%). Lower it for a slow trickle back. | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| RespawnUnseenHours | How many hours an area must go unseen by players before zombies can respawn there. Default 16. Only matters when respawning is enabled. | 16 | 16 |
RespawnHours to 0 rather than fighting the same horde forever. Leave it at 72 for an endlessly-dangerous world.Player base claims and a couple of survival-rhythm switches. The whole safehouse system is off until you turn it on.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayerSafehouse | Let players claim safehouses. Off by default — this is the master switch for the entire safehouse system. | Off | On (group servers) |
| SafehouseAllowTrepass | Let non-members enter a claimed safehouse uninvited. On by default — turn off to lock outsiders out entirely. | On | Off |
| SafeHouseRemovalTime | Real-world hours of not visiting before a player is dropped from a safehouse. Default 144 (6 days). | 144 | 144 |
| HoursForLootRespawn | In-game hours before looted world containers refill. Default 0 = never (the usual long-server choice). Separate from sandbox loot rarity. | 0 | 0 |
| SleepAllowed | Let players sleep. Off by default on MP — sleeping fast-forwards time, which is awkward with others online. | Off | Off |
| KickFastPlayers | Anti-speedhack that kicks players moving faster than should be possible. Off by default — the game's own docs warn it's buggy. | Off | Off (buggy) |
HoursForLootRespawn at 0 also means containers never refill, which is what most persistent servers want.No single "best" — but this is a comfortable group baseline that keeps the threat real without the grind being punishing. Set a join password, forward both UDP ports plus the RCON port, and pick the build your server actually runs before tuning loot.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| PVP | Off | Co-op against the dead; flip on later if your group wants it. |
| PopulationMultiplier | 0.7 | Slightly thinner than vanilla — survivable for a mixed-skill group. (Leave the legacy Zombies field alone.) |
| Speed | Shamblers | Classic slow zombies — the single biggest "make it less brutal" lever. |
| WeaponLoot | Rare | Keeps combat tense and scavenging meaningful without starving the server. |
| XpMultiplier | 1.5 | A gentle nudge so part-time players still feel progress, without trivializing skills. |
| RespawnHours | 0 | Cleared towns stay cleared — rewards effort on a persistent group server. |
| PlayerSafehouse | On | Lets the group claim and protect a base; pair with Allow Trespass off. |
| PauseEmpty | On | World doesn't decay overnight while everyone's offline. |
servertest: servertest.ini (server box — name, ports, password, PvP, RCON, mods) and servertest_SandboxVars.lua (the world — zombie population, loot, XP, weather). Both live in your user folder under Zomboid/Server/ (managed hosts expose the same two files in their editor). Stop the server before editing — PZ reads them on boot and can overwrite changes made while it's running. Edit by hand or build both with the generator.VERSION header (4 for B41, 5 for B42). In the generator, set the build toggle to the build your server actually runs and the settings follow.PopulationMultiplier (0–4, in the SandboxVars file) below 1.0 — that's the real dial. Ignore the top-level Zombies field's number; it's an inverted legacy scale where 1 = the most zombies and 5 = none. Slower: set Speed to Shamblers (3). For an even gentler world, also drop Strength/Toughness toward Weak/Fragile and set Cognition to Basic Navigation. To stop cleared areas refilling, set RespawnHours to 0.servertest_SandboxVars.lua — but the tiers and stock defaults differ between Build 41 and Build 42, so set the build first. Lower numbers = scarcer. For skills, XpMultiplier sets the global rate (1.0 vanilla, bump to 2–5 for faster progression). Separately, HoursForLootRespawn in servertest.ini controls whether world containers refill over time — 0 means never.Speed setting in the SandboxVars file. Sprinters (1) run at full pace and are brutal — a few can overwhelm an unprepared player. Fast Shamblers (2) is the default — faster than a walk, slower than a run. Shamblers (3) are the classic Romero slow-walkers most co-op servers prefer. Random (4) mixes them. Speed sets the movement type; Strength, Toughness, and Cognition decide how dangerous each one is.KickFastPlayers, that's almost certainly it — the official reference openly flags it as buggy, and it can boot legitimate players during lag spikes, in vehicles, or with certain mods. Leave it off. For mod-mismatch kicks instead, the (blunt) lever is DoLuaChecksum in servertest.ini, though turning that off weakens file-integrity checking.