Your 7 Days to Die server runs The Fun Pimps' Linux dedicated server, installed from Steam, on the latest stable version unless you choose another. Players on PC find it in the game's server browser or connect to its address, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players can find it too while crossplay is on. This is the path from checkout to your group standing in Navezgane together.
1. Let the first install finish
A new server downloads the whole dedicated server from Steam before it can start: about 17 GB of game files. On our test server (V3.4.0, 4 November 2026) the install took about six and a half minutes and used 17.4 GB of disk. The dashboard shows the server as installing until it is done.
The first start comes next. On the same test server the console printed StartGame done about 70 seconds after the server started, and that line is the one to wait for: players who try to join before it are refused or time out.
2. Find your address
Open your dashboard and select the 7 Days to Die service. The server's address, the IP and the port, sits at the top of the page with a copy button, and again under Connection Details on the Overview tab.
Your server needs exactly one port, and it is the one shown. The game's default is 26900, but the port on your dashboard is the one to give out, and it may be different. Send it by copy-and-paste rather than from memory.
3. Check the basics on Server Settings
The Server Settings tab edits the file your server reads, serverconfig.connect.xml. Before you invite anyone, look at:
- Server name: taken from the name you chose at checkout. It is what players search for in the server browser.
- Join password: empty means anyone who finds the server can join. Set one for a private group.
- Browser region: set from the region your server is in. It is the region filter players see in the browser; it does not move the server.
- World: Navezgane, the hand-made map, by default. Set it to RWG to generate a random world from a seed and size, or to a pregenerated map such as Pregen08k01.
- Save name: the save folder for this world. A new name starts a new game and keeps the old one on disk.
- Sandbox code: since V3.0, difficulty, blood moons, day length, loot and XP all live in this one code. You make it in the game's New Game menu. See Server settings and the Sandbox code.
Every change applies on the next restart.
4. Restart and watch the console
Restart from the Overview tab and open the console. The first line from us names the game version, the settings file and the save folder the server is using. When the world has loaded, the console prints StartGame done. That is the moment to tell your group.
5. Join from PC
PC players have two ways in:
- The server browser. Search for your server's name. The browser lists servers that are public, which yours is by default.
- Connect by IP. Enter the IP and the port from your dashboard. This works even when a server has not shown up in a player's browser search yet.
If you set a join password, players enter it when they connect.
Every player has to be on the same version as the server. On Latest, that means everyone lets Steam update the game. If you pin an older version for an overhaul mod, every PC player picks the same branch for the game in Steam. See Game versions.
6. Console friends
Since V2.0, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players can join a PC dedicated server when the server allows crossplay. New Connect servers start with crossplay switched on, and every plan has 8 player slots, the most the game supports for crossplay.
The Console crossplay card at the top of the Server Settings tab shows what the game decided at its last start: on, off, or switched off for the session, with the game's own reason. Mods, a pinned older version and a few settings all turn crossplay off. The full list is in Console crossplay.
7. Before you invite everyone
- Take a backup. The Backups tab snapshots the server. Take one before your first experiment with settings, mods or versions.
- Keep the version in step. On Latest, a restart after a game update installs the new build. Players update through Steam or their console store.
- Settings survive restarts. The game does not rewrite its settings file when it shuts down, so what you save on the Server Settings tab, or edit by hand on the Files tab, stays put.
If something is not right
- Nobody can connect: work through Players can't join. It starts with the two most common causes, a server that is still starting and a version mismatch.
- You changed a setting and nothing happened: the setting probably moved into the Sandbox code in V3.0. See Server settings and the Sandbox code.
- Anything else: open a ticket from your dashboard and paste the last lines of the console.