GamesOMGHosting
7 Days to Die · Troubleshooting

7 Days to Die server not working?
Start here.

Most 7 Days to Die trouble traces back to V3: the gameplay settings moved into one SandboxCode, mods load from a folder at boot, and anti-cheat decides which of them run. The rest is server visibility, admin ids that need a prefix, and a save folder picked by a setting.

7-days-to-die — the three checks
# what fixes most 7 Days to Die problems
1  Not in the server list
   → Settings → Server Visibility
2  Difficulty and loot settings gone
   → Settings → Build gameplay settings
3  Mod won’t load
   → Folder with ModInfo.xml, then EAC
Each one is written out below, with the panel tab you fix it on.
🔧

My friends can’t find the server, or can’t connect

Updates only go forward: a world written by a newer build will not load on an older one. The copy taken before the update sits in Worlds & backups as Before your last game update.
1

Check Server Visibility

Settings → Server Visibility: 2 is public (the default), 1 is friends only, 0 is not listed at all — players then have to connect by address.

2

Connect by address

Copy the address at the top of the panel and connect to it directly, with the Server Password if you set one.

3

Crossplay has two conditions

With Allow crossplay on, the game’s own rule is that the server is only findable and joinable while Ignore EOS sanctions is off and Max Player Count sits at the default (8) or lower.

4

Update after a game patch

7 Days clients and servers have to match, and Steam updates your players’ clients by itself. When a newer build reaches our node the panel says A newer 7 Days to Die build is ready, with Update; your world is copied first. Mods never pin the build on this game, so a modded server updates the same way.

🔧

Where did difficulty, loot, XP and day length go? The settings in my old guide don’t exist

A code built before V3.1 that set enemy density now sets daytime density only — V3.1 split day and night and reused the old ids for day. Re-pick the biome density and respawn options and the code is current. A group the game does not recognise is skipped on its own; the rest of the code still applies.
1

They live in the SandboxCode now

Since V3.0, difficulty, zombie speed, loot, XP, blood moons, traders and crafting are packed into one SandboxCode string. Old-guide keys like GameDifficulty, LootAbundance, DayNightLength, XPMultiplier, DropOnDeath and BloodMoonFrequency are not serverconfig properties any more.

2

Use the builder

Settings → Build gameplay settings: every option as a field, the difficulty and official themed presets as one-click chips, a filter and Changed only. Apply code, then Apply & restart.

3

Or paste a code

A code from the game’s own Sandbox Options screen, or from anywhere else, pastes into the builder and loads.

4

Your current world takes it

Measured on our own server: the next boot runs the new code on the same world. No new save needed.

Why: serverconfig.xml keeps only the server-level properties now, and 7 Days refuses to boot on a property it does not know — a stale key is a crash-loop, not a skipped line. That is why the panel rewrites the file from Settings on every start, and why hand edits there don’t last.

🔧

My mod won’t load, or players can’t join after I added one

Darkness Falls: when we last looked, its current release was built for game version 1.x, and our servers run the current release. Turn mods off on the Mods tab boots the server vanilla and leaves your files exactly where they are.
1

One folder per mod

Upload the folder that directly contains ModInfo.xml into 7dtd/Mods/ on the Files tab — a folder nested inside another folder is the usual miss. Restart: mods load at boot, and the Console names each one the game loaded.

2

Then EAC

A settings-only modlet loaded with EasyAntiCheat on, on our own server. Mods that ship their own code (a .dll) — the big overhauls — need EasyAntiCheat off on the Settings tab.

3

Players may need it too

Anything that adds blocks, items, textures or UI has to be in each player’s own Mods folder as well, or they fail to join or see missing content.

4

The full guide

Installing, the EAC step and what players need, in order: 7 Days to Die server mods.

🔧

How do I make myself admin — and why won’t my ban or unban take?

No console at all? The server has no telnet password — servers made before 28 August 2026 never got one. Settings → Telnet Password, then Apply & restart. Telnet is plain text over the internet, so use a password you use nowhere else.
1

Make admin from your own row

Join the server, then Players → your row → Make admin. That is level 0: every console command, and the step you need before you can make a web dashboard login.

2

Ids carry a prefix

7 Days wants Steam_7656119…, not the bare 17 digits — a bare SteamID64 is refused as “not a valid user id”.

3

Lift bans from the list

Ban someone while they are online and the game kicks them and files the ban under their EOS_ id instead. Open the ban list and press Lift: it sends the id exactly as stored.

4

Kick is not a ban

A kicked player can rejoin straight away. Bans can be timed: 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or Permanent.

🔧

I changed the world or the Game Name and my base is gone

1

Game Name picks the save folder

Game Name (Save Folder) is not a label. Change it and the server boots a different, usually empty save while the old one sits untouched on disk — one character off is a different save.

2

Put it back exactly

Set Game Name and Game World back to what they were, then Apply & restart.

3

Seed and size only matter on RWG

World Gen Seed and World Gen Size are read only when Game World is RWG, and the same pair loads the world already generated. Size must be a multiple of 2048 — the engine silently snaps anything else.

4

Loading a saved world

In Worlds & backups, loading a world sets its own Game World and Game Name on the server, so it opens its own save. A restore refuses a backup whose Game Name or world differ from the server’s, and names both.

🔧

The web dashboard won’t log me in, or the map is blank

Anyone you give the dashboard address to can read the map and player list without logging in — that is how the game built it, and it is the point of the switch. Running a command still needs an admin login.
1

The login is not your Steam id

It is a web user you create in game: make yourself admin (Players → Make admin), press F1 in game and type createwebuser <name> <password>, then sign in at the Dashboard link on the Server tab.

2

createwebuser refused?

You are not admin yet — rejoin and try again. It only runs in the in-game console: the panel console and telnet cannot create a web user, and an API token is refused by the login form.

3

Blank map

Settings → Render the map on. It draws only what players have walked through, so a fresh world stays blank until somebody explores.

4

The full walkthrough

7 Days to Die web dashboard setup.

🔧

My console is full of “Executing command 'lp' by Telnet” lines

That makes the dashboard readable by anyone with its address (see the question above). If you would rather keep it off, the lines are noise and nothing more.
1

That is the panel asking who’s on

With the Web dashboard off, the panel reads your player list over telnet, and each read writes about six lines into the console you are reading. We counted 119 of those reads in a single boot.

2

Move the roster to the web API

Settings → Web dashboard on → Apply & restart. The panel then reads players from the game’s own web API, which writes nothing to the console.

Why: Telnet has no quiet mode: the game echoes every command it runs, ours included. Five calls to the web API moved the log by zero lines.

🔧

Horde night lags, or the memory bar is near the plan’s cap

Max Player Count matters too: the game’s own comment is that performance falls off a cliff long before the slot limit.
1

Read the game’s own numbers

Console → Performance snapshot (mem): the game’s own FPS, heap, chunks and entities.

2

Turn the dials the game gives you

Max Spawned Zombies is the whole-map zombie ceiling. Max Allowed View Distance only works between 6 and 12. Dynamic mesh off saves performance at a visible cost. Twitch actions during blood moons adds spawns on top of a horde. All on the Settings tab.

3

Don’t trust the bar on its own

The panel’s memory figure comes from Docker and counts page cache — on another game it read 5.5 GiB for a server really using 1.3 GB. An empty Navezgane world uses 2.03 GB of real memory on our node; under load we have not measured it yet.

4

Give it room

A random-generated map, a bigger group or an overhaul wants 12 GB. Adjust RAM at the top of the panel moves RAM from your plan to this server.

💬

None of these, or still stuck?

1

Check the problems every game shares

Connections, settings that will not take, where your world is, lag: the answers that hold on every game are on the support page.

2

Write to us

The form arrives with 7 Days to Die already set; tell us what you tried and it saves a round trip. Pressing Need help? in your panel does the same and attaches your server, so there is nothing to look up.