Hosting a Project Zomboid LAN Server with Hamachi [GUIDE]

[Loves2Spooge]

You'll find that no matter where you look, most explanations will require 'port fowarding' and all that nonsense. An alternative you can use is Hamachi. Note that Hamachi is used commonly for LAN (Local Area Network) or more basically, connecting computers to your computer via your WiFi network.

Let's start off by downloading Hamachi: https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/download.aspx
Select 'Unmanaged' and agree to their terms and conditions.

Once downloaded, install it. When Hamachi has opened, select the power button on the top left hand corner and choose the name you want to be recognised by others i.e. Bluto-PC. After all that's done, you'll be given two options. 'Create a Network' or 'Join an Existing Network'. Seeing as you'll be the one hosting, we want to create a new network. Give it a name, a password (optional) and hit 'create'. You've now successfully created your own private network that will link your computer to any other computers that join your Hamachi network.

After that, head on over to your Project Zomboid directory (most commonly located in):
C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ProjectZomboid

In order to get the server going, we want to select a .bat file called 'ProjectZomboidServer'. This will create the map and all the things neccessary to run the server. Let it do it's job until you see 'SERVER STARTED'. If you want to edit the server properties (PVP, Chat Options etc.), go ahead and close the server starter, if you don't want to then leave it on for now.

Only read this paragraph if you want to edit the server properties, if not then skip to the next one. We'll need to locate the second Project Zomboid directory which is most commonly found in: C:\Users\YourUsername\Project Zomboid
This directory is where all your save files are stored (just for the record). Once in, select the 'Server' folder which contains the 'serverOptions.ini' file. Open the .ini file with NotePad and change the settings as you please. For instance, if you wanted to disable PVP on the server you would PVP setting to 'false'. You can now restart the 'ProjectZomboidServer'.

Now that your very own server is up and going, we want to allow people to join. It would be useful to make your Hamachi network password protected to avoid any intruders you don't want in your server. Have your friend/player download Hamachi and install it exactly like you did, except they won't be creating the server this time, they'll be joining an existing network. Give them your server credentials i.e. Username: ProjectZomboidServer Password: 123
Once they hit 'connect', their computer and your computer will automatically be connected to each other. Here comes the easy part.

Start up Project Zomboid and select 'Join Server'. Give the server a name if you want and the rest of the optionals. What really matters now is the IP. Open up Hamachi and right above the name you give yourself will be a bunch of numbers with full stops seperating them i.e.
'xx.xx.xx.xx'. This will be the IP you use to connect to your server. It will also be the IP that all your friends/players use to connect to the server with. After that, hit 'connect' and everything from there should be pretty self explanatory.

I apologise for the long post - I'm writing it as if I were explaining it to someone who didn't have the faintest idea of how multiplayer worked in PZ. Hope this cleared things up for anyone wanting to play PZ solely for LAN.

If you've got any problems, feel free to drop a comment down below and I'll see what I can do :)

EDIT: I have posted this guide in the 'Guide's' section of PZ's community hub. This guide contains visuals to give you some extra help.

[Lawh]

Or that yeah. Sounds like a really good idea.

[Commiss4r]

THat's what I found on the hunt for the firewall settings, thanks for the help!

[Der Teddy]

Did everything but friends cant seem to be able to join, I can join my own server tho. And it used to work fine back in the day, did everything the same way so now we just dont know.

[Lawh]

Der Teddy :)님이 먼저 게시:

Did everything but friends cant seem to be able to join, I can join my own server tho. And it used to work fine back in the day, did everything the same way so now we just dont know.

With Hamachi?

Have you read the comments on this thread?

[Commiss4r]

Switch the Hamachi network setting off of public

[Der Teddy]

Where do I find the hamachi network setting?

[Commiss4r]

It will be in your Windows Network Settings. Hamachi shows up as a second Network, which you can set to Home, Work, or Public.

[Der Teddy]

Theres no option to change anything there, it just shows "no internet access" on the hamachi one

[Lawh]

Try going to the firewall settings, and remove the firewall from the hamachi connection. I know it sounds scary if you don't know what you're doing, but it only removes the firewall form the hamachi connection, so if you know the person who you're playing with it shouldn't be a problem.

Control Panel - System and Security - Windows Firewall

There should be an option for a private and a public network. The public or guest network should be your Hamachi connection.

I can't seem to find the option to change the network to private either. I think it has somehting to do with the sharing options, but I'm not sure.

[Thingamabob]

My friend and I have hamachi and our pc's are connected. I hosted the projectzomboidserver and it started up fine. The only problem is I can't join the game and neither can my friend. What am I doing wrong plz help

[Slyfox168]

how do you use this method when i'm playing through steam? i try to set up a server but it says that it can only connect to steam servers and i'm trying to host a server using hamachi

[Lawh]

Use the launch options on steam and write -nosteam in the launch option bar for Project Zomboid. You find this by right clicking the game in your library.

Also, have your friends do the same.

[mussij]

I have followed all the steps but when i try to connect to the server it either says already connected or invalid server password?