Connect Project Zomboid to Discord: Your Server Chat in a Channel

What it does and what it doesn't

The bridge links the game's global chat (the /all one) with a Discord text channel, in both directions. It doesn't link group, faction or private chats, or voice chat.

If global chat is turned off on your server (GlobalChat=false, “Global chat” in the settings), there's nothing to send to Discord: check that first.

The server has to be running for the bridge to work: with the server stopped, the bot shows as offline in Discord and anything typed there goes nowhere.

The Build 42 settings (and the ones that no longer exist)

A Build 42 server .ini has five: DiscordEnable (turns it on), DiscordToken (the bot's key), DiscordChatChannel (the chat channel), DiscordLogChannel (the logs channel) and DiscordCommandChannel (the commands channel). According to the game's own help text, the three channel settings take the channel's name.

If a guide tells you to fill in DiscordChannel or DiscordChannelID, it's from Build 41: in Build 42 those lines are no longer in the .ini and writing them does nothing.

DiscordEnable=true
DiscordToken=your-bot-token
DiscordChatChannel=chat-zomboid
DiscordLogChannel=
DiscordCommandChannel=

1. Create the bot on Discord

The bot is the account the server uses to talk on Discord. You create it for free, once, from the Discord Developer Portal, with your usual account.

1. Create an application

   Go to discord.com/developers/applications, click “New Application” and give it the name you want the bot to show (your server's name, for example).

2. Get the token

   In the “Bot” tab, click “Reset Token” and copy the one it shows. It's the bot's password: don't paste it in any chat or give it to anyone. If it leaks, click “Reset Token” again and the old one stops working.

3. Let it read messages

   In that same tab, turn on “Message Content Intent” and save. Without it, Discord won't let the bot read what's typed in the channel, and the bridge would only work one way: from the game to Discord.

4. Invite it to your Discord

   In “OAuth2” → “URL Generator”, tick “bot” and, under permissions, “View Channels”, “Send Messages” and “Read Message History”. Open the link it generates at the bottom, pick your Discord server and accept. You need to be able to manage that Discord server to do this.

2. Set up the channels

Create a text channel for the chat with a simple name: letters, numbers and hyphens, no emojis or symbols (for example chat-zomboid). Since the game looks the channel up by name, an odd name, or the same name on two channels, is the easiest way for it not to find it.

Check that the bot can see the channel: if it's private or in a locked category, add the bot (or its role) to the channel's permissions.

The other two are optional. The game describes DiscordLogChannel as the logs channel and DiscordCommandChannel as the commands channel: if you use them, make them channels only admins can see, never a public one. If you don't need them, leave them empty.

3. Put it on the server

It's best done with the server stopped, so nothing overwrites the change. Fill in the settings, save and start it. If it was running, you need to restart it so it reads the new settings.

When it starts, watch the console: the lines that mention Discord tell you whether it connected or why not. Then type something in the game's global chat and see if it shows up in the channel; and the other way round.

If it doesn't work

1. The bot shows as offline in Discord

   The server is stopped, DiscordEnable isn't set to true, the token was copied wrong (check for spaces before or after) or you changed it with the server running and haven't restarted it. If you're unsure about the token, get a new one with “Reset Token” and paste it again.

2. Game messages show up, but Discord messages don't reach the game

   It's almost always “Message Content Intent” being off in the Developer Portal's “Bot” tab. Turn it on, save and restart the server.

3. Nothing goes either way, but the bot is online

   It can't find the channel: check that DiscordChatChannel has the exact name (without the #), that there aren't two channels with that name and that the bot can see the channel and post in it.

4. It was working and stopped

   If someone clicked “Reset Token” in the portal, the server's token is no longer valid: paste the new one. And if you followed a Build 41 guide, remove any DiscordChannel and DiscordChannelID lines you added by hand: in Build 42 they do nothing.

5. One bot for two servers

   Better one per server: with the same token in two places at once, there's no telling which one answers. Creating another bot takes two minutes.

On NapNodes

On a NapNodes Project Zomboid server you don't need to edit the .ini by hand: the panel's “Settings” has every server setting, and the Discord ones are together in the “Discord and RCON” block (or type “discord” in the settings search box). The token goes in a hidden field, like a password. It saves automatically when you change it and, if the server is running, the notice includes a “Restart” button to apply it.

The bridge needs the server running. On plans the server is always on, so the channel works even when nobody is playing; the free server switches off after 20 minutes with nobody on, and the bridge stops with it until someone presses “Start”. Outbound internet from the servers is open for normal things, like talking to Discord.

If you get stuck, write in the panel's “Help” with what the console says on start (without pasting the token).

Frequently asked questions