The Project Zomboid Helicopter Event on a Server: When It Comes, How to Survive It and How to Turn It Off

What the helicopter event is

A helicopter flies over the play area and, if it spots a player, keeps circling above them for a while. It's very loud, and noise is what moves zombies: ones from far away start walking towards it and follow it wherever it goes. When it leaves, the zombies don't go back where they were: they stay spread out along its path.

On a server, one player gets it (whoever the helicopter finds), but the whole group pays for it: if that player runs to the base, they bring the horde with them.

When it comes by default

It's set by the Helicopter setting in the server's SandboxVars file. A freshly created Build 42 server has it on 2, “Once”: it happens a single time in the whole game. According to the game's community, that day falls between day 6 and day 9, in daylight, and the exact day isn't announced.

With the default day length (1 hour 30 minutes of real time per in-game day), that's somewhere between about 8 and 13 hours of play. Those are in-game hours, not wall-clock hours, if the server has PauseEmpty (“Pause time when nobody is on”), which is on by default: with the server empty, the calendar doesn't move.

How to survive it as a group

These are players' tips, not game rules:

Between day 6 and day 9, nobody should wander around open fields or along the road without a reason. Inside a building or among the trees it has a harder time finding you.

If it settles over someone, that person shouldn't go to the base. Better to head away towards an empty area, by car if they have one, while everyone else stays inside and quiet.

When it leaves, don't treat the area as clear: the horde is spread out along the way. Go out as a group, in daylight, and use melee weapons before firearms, which make more noise.

Turn it off, leave it or make it come back

Helicopter has four options: 1, “Never” (it never happens); 2, “Once” (once, the default); 3, “Sometimes” (it comes back now and then during the game) and 4, “Often” (it comes back often).

Our advice by group: for a relaxed group, one with kids or one that's just starting, “Never”. For a normal game, “Once”, which is the experience the game was designed around. For a hard or veteran server, “Sometimes”: every visit forces you to move.

World settings are read when the server starts, so the change applies to what happens after the restart. If you want it gone, do it before the first in-game week arrives.

1. Make a backup

   Before touching the settings of a world with hours of play, make a backup: if anything goes wrong, you can roll back.

2. Stop the server

   With the server running, it can overwrite your changes when it saves.

3. Change the number

   In the SandboxVars file (servertest_SandboxVars.lua if you didn't rename it), find the line Helicopter = 2 and set the number you want. The comment above it says what each one is.

4. Start it

   Start the server. If it won't start, it's almost always a deleted comma: undo the change and try again.

The other events that draw zombies

The same file has more settings of the same kind. The values are those of a freshly created Build 42 server:

MetaEvent (“Meta Event”): events that draw zombies, like distant gunshots. Default 2, “Sometimes”; with 1, “Never”, there are none; with 3, “Often”, more.

SleepingEvent (“Sleeping Event”): what happens while your character sleeps, like nightmares. Default 1, “Never”.

Alarm (“House Alarms Frequency”): the chance a house alarm goes off when you break into a new house. Default 4, “Sometimes”; it goes from 1, “Never”, to 6, “Very Often”. And ZombieLore.TriggerHouseAlarm decides whether zombies set them off too when breaking through doors and windows (on by default).

CarAlarm (“Vehicle Alarms Frequency”): default 3, “Rare”. SirenEffectsZombies (on by default) makes zombies head towards vehicle sirens.

FirearmNoiseMultiplier: how far away zombies hear a gunshot. Default 1.0; it goes from 0.2 to 2.0. If firearms on your server draw half the map, lowering it a little changes the game a lot.

Try it first with commands

If you're an admin, you can trigger the events whenever you like: /chopper calls the helicopter over a random player, /gunshot fires a shot that draws zombies and /alarm sets off the alarm of the building you're in. They're handy for showing the group what's coming or for livening up a game that's gone quiet. The full list is in the admin commands.

If your server is on NapNodes

No need to open the file: in the panel, Settings → the “World: houses and events” block has Helicopter, Meta Event, Sleeping Event and the alarms. Type “helicopter” or “alarm” in the search box at the top. It saves by itself and applies when you press Restart.

The backup goes in Backups. And the file, if you prefer, is .cache/Server/napnodes_SandboxVars.lua in Files. If your server isn't on NapNodes, the Project Zomboid settings editor shows yours with the same names and gives it back changed. The rest of the settings for a group game are in which mode and settings to pick.

Frequently asked questions