Power and Water on a Project Zomboid Server: When They Shut Off, How to Change It, and Generators

When power and water shut off by default

Four settings in the server's SandboxVars file decide it: ElecShut and WaterShut (“Electricity Shutoff” and “Water Shutoff”) set a range, from “Instant” to “Disabled”, and ElecShutModifier and WaterShutModifier set the exact day, counted from the day the game starts (July 9, 1993, unless it's been changed).

A freshly created Build 42 server has both ranges on option 2 (14 to 30 days for power, 0 to 30 days for water) and both modifiers at 14: power and water shut off on day 14. With the default day length (1 hour 30 minutes of real time per in-game day), that's about 21 hours of play. A group that plays two evenings a week loses power in its second or third week.

Those are hours of play, not of the clock, 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. If you turn it off, days go by on their own and the shutoff can arrive without anyone having played.

Delay the shutoff or turn it off

For it never to shut off, set “Electricity Shutoff” and “Water Shutoff” to “Disabled” (option 9). For it to come later, raise the modifier to the day you want: with 60, power lasts two in-game months. If you set the modifier to -1, the game picks a random day within the range from the list.

Changing it in a game that's already running works as long as the power is still on: the shutoff comes on the new day. If the world is already past the day you set, it shuts off when the server restarts.

1. Make a backup

   Before touching the settings of a world with hours of play in it, make a backup: if something looks off, you can go back.

2. Find the setting

   In the SandboxVars file (servertest_SandboxVars.lua if you didn't rename it), look for ElecShut, WaterShut and their modifiers. Read the comment above each one: it says what each option number means.

3. Change both, power and water

   If you only extend the power, the water will still go on day 14, and it matters just as much: without tap water you have to collect rain and boil it.

4. Restart the server

   World settings are read at startup. With the server stopped, your changes don't get overwritten when it saves.

If the power is already gone

Raising the modifier after the shutoff has no reliable answer: some say the power comes back and some say it doesn't, and it depends on the version. If you try it, do it with a backup made beforehand, and if it doesn't come back, restore it.

What always works is what the game has for this: generators. And if you'd rather have long-lasting power from the start, a new world with the settings already changed (how to reset the world without losing the old one).

Generators: power for your base

A connected generator powers what's around it: fridges, freezers, lights, the stove. It needs gas, and to connect it your character has to have read the magazine that teaches how to use them. It's the goal of almost every group as soon as the power goes out.

The server settings that change them, in the same SandboxVars: “Generators” (GeneratorSpawning, how many spawn around the map; option 4, “Rare”, by default), “Generator Fuel Consumption” (GeneratorFuelConsumption, how much gas it burns per in-game hour; 0.1 by default), “Generator tile range” (GeneratorTileRange: how far it reaches; 20 tiles by default), “Generator vertical range” (GeneratorVerticalPowerRange: how many floors up and down; 3 by default) and “Generator Working in Exterior” (AllowExteriorGenerator, on by default: it lets you, for example, power a gas station).

On a server with lots of players, the rare generators go to the first group that finds them. If you want every base to have its own, raise their spawn to “Normal” or “Common”; it applies to the parts of the map that haven't been generated yet.

Gas runs out too: the minimum and maximum starting gas settings say how much is in the gas stations at the start, and “Infinite Gas Pumps” (off by default) makes them never run dry.

When the water goes

Without tap water, water comes from rain and from rivers and lakes, and you have to boil or purify it before drinking. Rain collector barrels are crafted and placed outside the base; “Rain” (from “Very Dry” to “Very Rainy”) changes how much it rains.

“Enable 'Tainted Water' tooltip” decides whether the game warns that the water hasn't been boiled. Turning it off is for hardcore servers: whoever drinks without looking gets sick.

What to choose for your group

This is our advice, not the game's. A relaxed group, or one that plays rarely: power and water on “Disabled”, or a high modifier (60 or 90), with PauseEmpty on. A normal group: leave power as it comes and raise water to match, since that's what catches people out. A veteran group: “Instant”, and the game starts with a hunt for a generator.

If you're torn between options, decide before you start: extending the power in a running world works, but it doesn't bring back the food that rotted in the fridge. For the rest of the settings for a group game, which mode and settings to pick.

If your server is on NapNodes

You don't need to open the file: in the panel, “Settings” → the “World: power, water and weather” block has the power and water shutoff, their modifiers and the generator settings, each with a readable name. Type “shut” or “generator” in the search box at the top. It saves automatically and applies when you press “Restart”.

“Pause time when nobody is on” (PauseEmpty) is in the “The essentials” block. The backup beforehand, 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 you yours with the same names and gives it back changed.

Frequently asked questions