Project Zomboid: How to Make Loot and Zombies Respawn on Your Server

Where to change it

In Build 42, everything in this guide is in the world settings: the server's <name>_SandboxVars.lua file (servertest if nobody renamed it). Only one goes in the server .ini: SafehousePreventsLootRespawn. Many old Build 41 guides put the loot ones in the .ini; on a Build 42 server you have to look for them in SandboxVars.

On NapNodes you don't need to open the file: “Settings” has every setting. The loot ones are in the “World: loot” block; the zombie ones, in “World: zombies” and “How many zombies and where”. Or type “respawn” in the search box at the top. They save automatically and apply when you press “Restart”.

If you prefer the file, it's in “Files” → .cache/Server/napnodes_SandboxVars.lua. Edit it with the server stopped: how to change the settings without breaking anything.

Making loot respawn

HoursForLootRespawn: every how many in-game hours the containers in towns and trailer parks are refilled. With 0 (the default), loot never comes back. A container is only refilled if it has been looted at least once.

MaxItemsForLootRespawn: a container with this many items or more isn't refilled. That way cupboards nobody fully emptied don't fill up to the brim.

ConstructionPreventsLootRespawn: with true, nothing respawns in buildings players have barricaded or built in. It's what stops the fridge in your base from filling itself.

SeenHoursPreventLootRespawn: if it's greater than 0, loot doesn't respawn in areas someone has visited within that many in-game hours. It stops the town next to your base, which you go into every day, from refilling non-stop.

SafehousePreventsLootRespawn (in the server .ini; on NapNodes, “Settings” → “Safehouses and factions”): with true, nothing respawns in houses claimed as a safehouse.

Making zombies respawn

The simple option is “Zombie Respawn” (ZombieRespawn): High, Normal, Low or None. To fine-tune it, the three in the ZombieConfig block (“How many zombies and where” in the panel):

RespawnHours: the in-game hours that have to pass before zombies spawn again in an area of the map (a cell). With 0, they don't respawn. It goes from 0 to 8760 (one year).

RespawnUnseenHours: how many hours an area has to go unseen by anyone for zombies to respawn in it. That's why they don't appear in front of you: they come back in the places you've left behind.

RespawnMultiplier: what fraction of the area's population comes back each time, from 0 to 1. With 0.1, a tenth comes back every RespawnHours; with 1, it fills up completely in one go.

In a Build 42 (42.21) server file, the comments give 0 as the default for all three: if your server is like that, the zombies you kill don't come back. Check what yours has before changing anything.

I cleared the area and there are zombies again

Even with respawn off, zombies move. RedistributeHours (in “How many zombies and where”) is every how many hours the zombies in a cell spread out into its empty parts: 12 by default, and with 0 they don't move. “Zombie Migration” (ZombieMigrate) decides whether they follow sounds and gradually move around the map.

On top of that, the population grows over the days up to a peak: PopulationPeakDay (day 28 by default) and PopulationPeakMultiplier (1.5 by default, 50% more). If after four weeks there are more zombies than at the start, that's why.

If what you want is fewer zombies overall, don't touch respawn: lower “Zombie Count” or the population multiplier. Fewer zombies is also less work for the server, as the lag guide explains.

Values that work

1. Group of friends, long game

   HoursForLootRespawn=720 (a month of game time), MaxItemsForLootRespawn=5, ConstructionPreventsLootRespawn=true and SeenHoursPreventLootRespawn=72. Zombies with no respawn, or RespawnHours=168 with RespawnMultiplier=0.1: one in-game week and a tenth comes back.

2. Hardcore survival

   Everything at 0: neither loot nor zombies come back. Whatever you don't loot is lost and every cleared area stays that way for good.

3. Open community with people joining every week

   Latecomers need something to loot: HoursForLootRespawn=168 and SeenHoursPreventLootRespawn=24, safehouses with SafehousePreventsLootRespawn=true, and zombies with RespawnHours=72, RespawnUnseenHours=16 and RespawnMultiplier=0.1 so the map doesn't end up empty.

What changes in a game that's already started

These settings apply on restart, also in a game already in progress: from then on, the hours for loot and zombies start counting. What doesn't change without a new world is the starting population and the map (what applies and what doesn't).

Before raising respawn a lot on a server with people on it, make a backup in “Backups” and warn everyone in chat: nobody likes finding out that the town they cleared yesterday is full again.

Frequently asked questions