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7 Days to Die Configuration guide

Learn to navigate your first server boot and connect seamlessly using your dedicated IP and port configuration.

Updated August 19, 2026
7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die is a survival horde shooter with deep crafting and world destruction. This guide gets you online and connected. The gameplay levers, admin setup, and mods each have their own guide, indexed in the 7 Days to Die guide list.

Initial Boot

  1. Log into your server panel and open your managed 7 Days to Die server.

  2. From the Console tab, click Start.

  3. First boot downloads the dedicated server files from SteamCMD. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for a fresh install.

  4. When you see GameServer: starting... followed by Server started, the server is live.

How to Connect

From the 7 Days to Die client, go to Connect to Server in the main menu and paste your IP and port (shown in the Address at the top left of your panel).

Connecting and ports

Your server listens on the port set by ServerPort in serverconfig.xml, which defaults to 26900. It does not use that one port alone — it also uses the two ports immediately above it, over UDP. A server on 26900 needs 26900, 26901 and 26902. The official wiki adds one constraint on the value itself: keep it in the ranges 26900 to 26905 or 27015 to 27020 if you want PCs on the same LAN to find it as a LAN server.

On a managed server none of that is your job. The port is allocated with the server and opened for you, and the Address at the top left of your panel is the finished IP:port to hand out. Do not change ServerPort to a value that was not allocated to you: the server will start, log nothing wrong, and be unreachable.

Joining by IP versus the server browser

There are two ways in, and knowing the difference saves the usual "it doesn't show up" argument:

  • Direct connect always works. The server browser screen has two boxes at the bottom for an IP and a port. Put your Address into them and connect. Nothing about the browser's listings, filters or indexing is involved, so this works the moment the server is up.
  • The server browser only lists you if ServerVisibility allows it. 2 is public, 1 is friends only, 0 is not listed. The wiki's own note on 1 is worth reading before you pick it: "As you are never friend of a dedicated server setting this to '1' will only work when the first player connects manually by IP."

A server that is running but missing from the browser is nearly always a visibility setting, not a broken server. Test it by direct connect first — if that works, the server is fine and the problem is listing, not networking.

Send the Address, not the server name

Asking players to search a public browser for a brand-new server is the slowest way to get them in. Copy the Address from your panel into your Discord and they can connect immediately.

Console players on Xbox and PS5

Console players can join a PC dedicated server, and there is no separate console build to line up: V3.1.0 went stable "on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox" as one release. What it does need is a server configured for crossplay. The Fun Pimps' requirements are specific — ServerMaxPlayerCount of 8 at most, ServerAllowCrossplay set to true, EAC left on, IgnoreEOSSanctions left false, and no mods installed: "PS5 and Xbox Series clients cannot join dedicated servers with mods."

The failure mode here is quiet too. A console client that finds the server's settings incompatible simply does not list it in its browser, with no error and no kick message. If a console friend cannot see a server your PC players are already on, that is the first thing to check. The serverconfig.xml reference carries the full requirement list, including nine more settings whose crossplay ranges now live inside your SandboxCode.

Server Settings

Server settings live in serverconfig.xml at the root of your server volume, which you open through the File Manager on your panel. Save the file and restart the server before any change takes effect.

One thing catches nearly everyone out: as of V3.0, most gameplay settings are no longer in that file. Difficulty, loot, XP, zombie speed and blood moon were removed and folded into a single encoded SandboxCode value, which you generate in-game under Sandbox Options and paste in. Setting the old properties directly does nothing — the server boots cleanly, logs no error, and ignores them.

What you still set in serverconfig.xml:

Setting Default What it controls
ServerName — The name shown in the server browser
ServerPassword empty Password required to join
ServerMaxPlayerCount 8 Player slots, capped by your plan
GameWorld Navezgane Navezgane, RWG, or a custom map name
WorldGenSeed asdf World layout seed, used when GameWorld is RWG
MaxSpawnedZombies 64 Server-wide zombie cap — the biggest performance lever
PlayerKillingMode 3 0 none, 1 allies only, 2 strangers only, 3 everyone
EACEnabled true Easy Anti-Cheat. Overhaul mods need this set to false

The serverconfig.xml reference covers every remaining property, the full list of what V3.0 moved, and how to generate a SandboxCode.

Made with 💜 by GameServerKings

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