Welcome to the guide!

Welcome to my quickstart Project Zomboid server guide! After finishing this guide, you should understand how to host and configure your very own Project Zomboid server for you and your friends to enjoy.

Note: This guide is made for Project Zomboid build v32.30 on Windows.

What is covered in this guide?

This guide covers downloading, configuring, and hosting a Project Zomboid server. It also covers installing mods on your server; Hydrocraft is used as an example. By the end of the guide you should be able to do the following:

Download your slice of the Project Zomboid server pie. Configure server settings to fit your needs.
Get comfy with great server mods like Hydrocraft. Make your server habitable through port forwarding.

Downloading the server

Downloading the server files is fairly straightforward.
Project Zomboid Dedicated Server
In your Steam library, select the dropdown labelled "Games" (or your current selected category, e.g. "Installed," "Recent," "Favorites") and click on "Tools."


Find "Project Zomboid Dedicated Server" and install it. Once it's been downloaded, launch the server and follow the prompt to create an administrator account password. Once the server is finished loading (you'll be able to tell), type quit and close the window. The server is now ready to be configured.

Configuring server settings

Server settings are located in C:\Users\%username%\Zomboid\Server\servertest.ini and are all editable to your preference. Here are some settings worth noting:

There are many 56 options total, so I recommend that you figure out what the rest of them do and decide whether or not they are useful to you.

We can now move on to configuring mods.

Configuring mods (optional)

NOTE: This step is not required. I recommend it, but feel free to move on to port forwarding.

Configuring mods for your Project Zomboid server is very easy. In Project Zomboid, both the players and the server must have the same mods installed in order to work. Communicate with your players to plan which mods everyone will use. I'll be using Hydrocraft as an example.

Hydrocraft
Hydrocraft, in it's authors words, is a mod based around crafting and filling in the empty world of Zomboid with more stuff," inspired by games like Haven and Hearth. It adds crafting trees for alchemy, herbalism, metallurgy, mining, and many other professions, and adds hundreds of other items. This mod is core to my server experience.


Download the non-Workshop version of Hydrocraft. Extract the contents of the zip file into a folder named Hydrocraft. The folder will contain a media folder containing mod assets, a Hydrocraft ReadMe.txt containing credit to contributors, a mod.info file containing mod name, poster file specification, id, and description, and the poster.png image.

Move the Hydrocraft folder, containing all the files I just described, to C:\Users\%username%\Zomboid\mods.

Now, open the Hydrocraft folder and open mod.info. One of the lines should read id=Hydrocraft. This is the identifier you need to place after Mods= in servertest.ini. For future reference, be sure to separate mod names with a semicolon if you end up with more than one.

Have all players subscribe (i.e., download) the Workhop version of Hydrocraft. This ensures that the player client and server are on always on the same page referencing the same content.

Mod installation complete!

All of the mods I have encountered so far (except for maps) are installed in exactly the same way. Just be sure to add the proper id to servertest.ini and separate them with semicolons.

Port forwarding

Port forwarding is a much better solution than Hamachi or other such products. Rather than opening ports, they create small, private virtual networks that essentially emulate LAN. They should be considered temporary solutions.

Port forwarding is the act of telling your router to allow specific ports to receive traffic. Port forwarding is required in order for people to connect with your server. However, there are many, many, many different router models, all with different software, so I'll just give you the essentials. If you've never done this before, don't worry! So long as you are specific with the ports you open, there shouldn't be any issues.

Here's what you need to know:

Port forwarding complete!

Players should now be able to connect to your public IP address, which you can find at WhatIsMyIP.com. Have fun!

Credits

I'd like to thank some people for their contributions to Project Zomboid, the PZ modding community, and for helping me with this little guide:

I hope you've found this guide useful!