7 Days to Die Dedicated Server: Setup, Launch Options, Ports and Branches

A 7 Days to Die dedicated server keeps your world running between sessions, so horde night arrives on schedule whether or not the host is online. The Fun Pimps publish the dedicated server as a free Steam tool (app 294420) with native Linux and Windows builds. On your 7 Days to Die server, our panel installs and launches the Linux build for you.

This page is the setup side: what the panel sends to the server at every start, why some serverconfig.xml edits never seem to stick, the ports, how to pin a version or move to experimental, and a troubleshooting table. The configuration guide and the serverconfig.xml reference cover the gameplay settings once you're up.

Version checked

V3.2.0 stable (26 August 2026). V3.3.0 has been on latest_experimental since 24 September 2026.

First boot

1. Open the server in the panel and click Start. The first start installs the server with SteamCMD using an anonymous login, so you don't need to put a Steam account on it.
2. A Random Gen (RWG) map is generated on the first start and can take a long time, especially at larger Map Size values. Navezgane (the default) is ready immediately.
3. When the console shows Connected with 7DTD server, the server is up and the panel console is attached to it.
4. In the game, open the server browser and type the IP and port from the Address at the top left of your panel into the two boxes at the bottom of the screen.

Direct connect works the moment the server is up. A new server can take a while to appear in the public browser, and it never will if ServerVisibility isn't 2.

What the panel sends at every start

The panel starts the server with -configfile=serverconfig.xml plus a set of launch options built from your Startup tab. Since Alpha 16, 7 Days to Die lets any serverconfig.xml setting be overridden from the command line as -SettingName=value. So for the settings below, the Startup tab wins and the file's value is ignored:

The start line also turns on telnet on the local interface only and connects the panel console to it. That's why commands you type in the Console tab reach the server. The console command reference lists them. The old web control panel is switched off with -ControlPanelEnabled=false.

Game Difficulty doesn't do anything on V3

The V3.0 "Dead Hot Summer" release notes list GameDifficulty first among the 30 properties that were "removed/converted" into the single SandboxCode value. The panel still passes the old option, but on V3.2 there's nothing for it to set. To change difficulty, build a SandboxCode in the game's Sandbox Options and put it in serverconfig.xml, as the serverconfig.xml reference explains.

8 players is the supported maximum

The official wiki's entry for ServerMaxPlayerCount reads: "8 is the maximum supported player count. Anything over 30 will cause corrupted save data." The panel's Max Players defaults to 15, which is above that. Lower it to 8 if you want to stay within what the developers support, especially on horde nights. A server that console players join has to be 8 or fewer anyway, with EAC on and no mods. The crossplay guide has the full list.

Everything else, like SandboxCode, ServerVisibility, MaxSpawnedZombies, EACEnabled and land claims, is read from serverconfig.xml at the server root. Edit it in the File Manager with the server stopped, then start it.

Keep a copy of serverconfig.xml

The shipped serverconfig.xml comes from the game's own files, and community server guides warn that game updates can replace it. After you tune it, download a copy (or save it as serverconfig.backup.xml) and check your settings after each major update. The Startup-tab values above aren't affected, because they aren't read from the file.

Ports

7 Days to Die listens on its game port (the Fun Pimps' default is 26900) on TCP and UDP, and uses the UDP ports directly above it for game traffic. On your server, the game port is the one in your panel Address, and the panel passes it as -ServerPort=. Changing ServerPort in serverconfig.xml therefore does nothing, which is what you want: moving the server off its allocation would make it unreachable.

Telnet (8081 by default) only listens on the server itself when no telnet password is set. It doesn't need to be reachable from outside, because the panel console already uses it.

Branches: stable, experimental, or a pinned version

Steam keeps every major 7 Days to Die version as its own branch on app 294420:

Players have to be on the same version as the server. In Steam, that's the game's Properties → Game Versions & Betas.

How to switch:

1. Take a backup. Worlds aren't guaranteed to load on an older version once a newer one has saved them.
2. Open a ticket with the branch name from the table, such as v3.1.0 or latest_experimental, and we'll move your server to it. The Startup tab has a Beta Branch field, but we haven't tested switching branches with it yet, so let us do it for now.
3. Start the server and check the version line in the console.

Experimental right now

The Fun Pimps' V3.3.0 EXP notes list a dedicated-server bug: "picking up a vehicle currently deletes anything stored in it." Empty vehicles before picking them up, or stay on stable until it's fixed.

Pinning is also how you hold a server on the version an overhaul mod needs: ask support to pin the branch. The mod install guide says which versions each overhaul supports. Mods go in the Mods/ folder that the installer creates at the server root.

Saves and moving a world in

Your world lives in two folders: Saves/<WorldName>/<SaveName>/ for progress and, for RWG maps, GeneratedWorlds/<WorldName>/ for the map itself. Where they sit depends on the game's user-data folder, and we haven't confirmed the location for the current version on our servers. The world upload guide shows how to bring a single-player world over and how to point Map Type at it. If you can't find the folders where it says, contact support before you upload anything. Daily backups and scheduled restarts are in Managing your 7 Days to Die server.

Troubleshooting

Hosting a 7 Days to Die dedicated server yourself

On your own hardware you install and update it with SteamCMD (Windows or Linux, anonymous login, no game licence needed):

steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/sdtd/server +login anonymous +app_update 294420 validate +quit

Add -beta latest_experimental or -beta v3.1.0 before validate to pick a branch. The shipped startserver.sh / startdedicated.bat runs the server with -configfile=serverconfig.xml and connects you to telnet on localhost 8081. Forward the game port on TCP and UDP plus the UDP ports above it, keep the server on around the clock, and remember that every update means stopping, running SteamCMD again and checking your config. That upkeep is what a hosted server takes off your hands.

What to Read Next

• 7 Days to Die Configuration guide — the settings most servers change first
• serverconfig.xml Reference — every property, SandboxCode and what V3.0 moved
• How to Add Admins and Whitelist Players and the console command reference
• 7 Days to Die Mods: Modlets and Overhauls
• How to Upload Your Existing World and Managing your 7 Days to Die server
• 7 Days to Die Item IDs and giveself

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