How to set up a dedicated Server guide

[-=IF=- QBallDuke]

• create a .bat file lets call it startserver.bat
  
  (in your game folder where the 7DaysToDie.exe is located) . if you got the game over steam its "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\7 Days To Die"
  
  startserver.bat
  

  @echo off
  cls
  echo starting sevendaystodie Dedicated Server
  start 7DaysToDie.exe -batchmode -nographics -configfile=serverconfig.xml -dedicated
  Pause
  

  the parameter -dedicated needs to be the last of all parameters
  
  
  
• edit the serverconfig.xml
  
  serverconfig.xml
  
  

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
      <ServerSettings>
        <property name="ServerIP" value="yourexternalip_not_127.0.0.1"/>
        <property name="ServerPort" value="25000"/>
        <property name="ServerIsPublic" value="true"/>
        <property name="ServerName" value="InternationalFreaks"/>
        <property name="ServerPassword" value="*****"/>
        <property name="ServerMaxPlayerCount" value="64"/>
        
        <property name="GameWorld" value="Navezgane"/>
        <property name="GameName" value="t3"/>
        <property name="GameDifficulty" value="2"/>
        <property name="GameMode" value="GameModeSurvival"/>
        
        <property name="EnemySpawning" value="true"/>
        <property name="ShowAllPlayersOnMap" value="false"/>
        <property name="FriendlyFire" value="true"/>
        <property name="BuildCreate" value="false"/>
        <property name="DayNightLength" value="20"/>
        <property name="DayCount" value="0"/>
        <property name="FragLimit" value="0"/>
        <property name="MatchLength" value="0"/>
        <property name="RebuildMap" value="false"/>
        
        <property name="ControlPanelEnabled"	 	value="true"/>
        <property name="ControlPanelPort" value="8080"/>
        <property name="ControlPanelPassword" value="******"/>
        
        
        <property name="TelnetEnabled"	 		value="false"/>
        <property name="TelnetPort" 			value="25003"/>
        
        <property name="DisableNAT" value="false"/>
      </ServerSettings>
  

  
  
  ServerIP use your external you can find hit on a webside like this http://www.whatismyip.com/
  
  
  
  
  
• Port forwarding
  TCP/UDP 26900
  UDP 26901-26902
  TCP 8080-8082
  
  and 8080 for the web panel
  
  for normal routers INBOUND and OUTBOUND are the same.
  
  
  
  
• Start the server
  
  1.make sure by opening the task manager that no other instance of the server is still running.
  2.double check you saved the changes to the configs.
  3.start the startserver.bat file

If its not working (you cant connect or whatever...)

• 1.after you started the startserver.bat you need to get the press any key to continue button or somthing went wrong.
  
• 2.remember the External IP is not the same as your internal ip http://www.whatismyip.com/
  
• 3.make sure no instance of the server is running in the task manager before you start a new
  
• 4.try to open yourweb panel in your browser http://ServerIPAdress:8080/ (change ServerIPAdress to your server ip adress) if this is not working somthing with your port forwarding went wrong
  
• 5 try to change this value

    <property name="DisableNAT" value="false"/>

  to true
  
• 6 the server needs some time to start up wait at least 1 minute before you try to connect
  
  
• 7 make sure you use a proper text editor like notepad ++ so you dont srew up the formatation of the .xml file.
  
  
• 8 How can my friends join my game? give them your external ip adress if you are hosting the game on your pc (internal_IP --> router --> external_IP) find it here http://www.whatismyip.com/ or you join the server, and if its running on your PC you can connect by 127.0.0.1 to it. after that they follow you over the join game button in steam friend list.
  
  
• 9 if your ip starts with 192.168 you can be sure its a internal and no external
  
  
• 10 if you cant run the game after you started the server copy the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\7 Days To Die" to a differed location and start the server from that location and the game normal.
  
  
• 11 How do i join my own server? Just try to connect to 127.0.0.1 or localhost
  
  
  
• 12 Do i need a second copy. The awnser is no . Just copy(doublicate not cut)the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\7 Days To Die" to your desktop or where ever you like and run you server from that location that should do the trick.
  
  
• 13 0.000 EXC: FormatException: An invalid IP address was specified
  You dident change the ip adress in the config file to your ip adress. do so.
  
  
  
• 14 Only blank spash screen when trying to join via local or external ip. Try to connect via server browser.
  
  
• 15 cant connect to your own game. Try to connect via "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" instead of the server browser.
  
  
• 16 How can i wipe the world/restart the level . Just change the game name in the config file
  

  <property name="GameName" value="whatevernameyouwant"/>	 <!-- Whatever you want the game name to be -->

  to a differend name you want :D

So i have to say thanks to all the people posting stuff i keep this up to date so noone has to search to long for a answer

[(DEAF)DRAGON]

Hello! I also tried to create a private server , and I also did not work . It is better to create a Normal Server 7 Dayz to die.

[Rancid Raccoon]

So I've noticed when I run the startserver.bat, 7DaysToDie.exe actually does pop up and run in my Task Manager, but it closes by itself after about 2 seconds. How do I get it to stay open?

[-=IF=- QBallDuke]

Read the log file

[Ceasar JL]

Not sure if
Someone has already asked this but do I need to keep my
Computer running for the sever to stay up?

[Masha'to Ginja]

Originally posted by Ceasar JL:

Not sure if
Someone has already asked this but do I need to keep my
Computer running for the sever to stay up?

If you are hosting a dedicated server for others to join, you must keep your computer powered on, awake, and connected to the internet. (If the computer goes to sleep, players are disconnected from the server.) Yes, this can get expensive, since the average gaming computer consumes between 250 and 450 watts, which comes out to $18 USD to $32 USD per month (assuming 10 cents per kilowatt hour). It may be cheaper to pay for dedicated hosting in the cloud, once you factor in the wear and tear on yoru equipment, and the cost of a good internet connection that can handle any decent number of players.

[Masha'to Ginja]

For those who are curious, if you wanted to get a dedicated host out on the cloud, one option you could look into would be Azure. You can have a virtual machine (with dedicated IP address) with 2 cores, 3.5 GB ram, 60 GB HDD, running Linux for ~$65 / month. When enough players join to justify the higher hardware, upgrade to 4 cores, 7 Gb ram, 120 GB HDD for ~$130 / month. Yes, that is a little expensive, since that rig would consume about $30 USD in electricity, so you are paying $100 for dedicated IP address, fast internet hosting, and worry-free hosting. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that. Get a few friends together to each pitch in, and it would be a lot cheaper (per person).

[Tev]

Huge bump, but what I did was I port forwarded

• TCP/UDP 26900
  
• UDP 26901-26902
  
• TCP 8080-8082

All of those to my LAN IP. It seems to work now and the server shows up under [All] with my WAN IP and host port.

It seems like despite this pinned thread mentioning the UDP 25000-25002 range, the host port is 26900 nowadays in conflict with what's written in the starting post's serverconfig.xml -file. The starting post was last edited in 2014.

I of course tried editing the 26900 to 25000 from within the serverconfig.xml -file and then booting up the server, but that didn't seem to change the port the server was being hosted on. Either that, or my Steam's server list hadn't updated properly.

Funny that the 7DTD Server Guide on Valve's forums mentions the range 26900-25002, which makes the least sense due to not only its huge number of ports between, but its descending order.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/7_Days_to_Die_Dedicated_Server

You will need to port forward ports 26900-25002 so that others may join.

o_O

Probably intended to be 26900-26902.

[-=IF=- QBallDuke]

Updated it if there are bigger changes to make send me a pm or a link to a paste bin. Sry I did not host a 7DaysToDie server for a while.

[Markes12344]

i'd like to run a server off of my freenas server

[Masha'to Ginja]

@Markes12344 I doubt you can do that, since Freenas is BSD. Last I heard, there were attempts to run linux binaries on an emulation layer in FreeBSD, but it was still so early that Steam won't run. You might look into Wine and emulate Windows instead. Here's a thread where they are discussion this, but I'm not sure it will help much. https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/0/598198356168551970/

[Markes12344]

@warren.garabrandt thats a shame i did a google search n read for about a half our on the subject, closest i came to it was running steam via a linux emulation. i hope your answer isnt the case, but im sure you're right as i found no direct answer. yet i can host a minecraft server, so i was hoping it could be two of the same.

[Melchizedek]

Has anyone had trouble with the port forwarding when they have a cable modem ethernet'd to a router set up?

I can connect via lan but none of my friends can see the server on the server list.

I thought maybe my router wasn't working right so got a new one and set up the port forwarding
25002-26900 and 8080-8082 with the external IP

But still no dice.

Am using a Synology RT1900ac and a cisco dpc3000 for networking.

Even tried using DMZ and no luck

[Masha'to Ginja]

Originally posted by Melchizedek:

Has anyone had trouble with the port forwarding when they have a cable modem ethernet'd to a router set up?

I can connect via lan but none of my friends can see the server on the server list.

I thought maybe my router wasn't working right so got a new one and set up the port forwarding
25002-26900 and 8080-8082 with the external IP

But still no dice.

Am using a Synology RT1900ac and a cisco dpc3000 for networking.

Even tried using DMZ and no luck

Have you tried creating a private game (instead of public), then inviting your friends to join via the steam overlay? If they are unable to join that way, then you certainly have a port forwarding issue. it could be that your ISP is blocking incoming connections. You can try using a port forward checker tool (such as you get signal . com), just google for one. Most of these tools only work with TCP ports, and I believe you may have trouble testing since they are UDP, but it takes only a minute to try.

[Maximum Overspook Enabled]

What can we do if we're really bright and forgot to turn on the control interface? Is there any way to shut down the server (without forcing it and losing data)?

[Maximum Overspook Enabled]

Originally posted by warren.garabrandt:

Originally posted by Melchizedek:

Has anyone had trouble with the port forwarding when they have a cable modem ethernet'd to a router set up?

I can connect via lan but none of my friends can see the server on the server list.

I thought maybe my router wasn't working right so got a new one and set up the port forwarding
25002-26900 and 8080-8082 with the external IP

But still no dice.

Am using a Synology RT1900ac and a cisco dpc3000 for networking.

Even tried using DMZ and no luck

Have you tried creating a private game (instead of public), then inviting your friends to join via the steam overlay? If they are unable to join that way, then you certainly have a port forwarding issue. it could be that your ISP is blocking incoming connections. You can try using a port forward checker tool (such as you get signal . com), just google for one. Most of these tools only work with TCP ports, and I believe you may have trouble testing since they are UDP, but it takes only a minute to try.

If I'm understanding this right, you have a router from your ISP plugged into another router, which you're connected to (I've got a similarly annoying setup). If that's what you've got going on, you're going to have to set up port forwarding on both of the routers, pointing the port forwarding on the router from the ISP towards the other router, and then from that router to the computer. Alternativley, you can just connect the 'server' computer to the ISP router, and only port forward there (thats what I've done)