Project Zomboid Server Always Online: Play Without Waiting for the Host

Why the game ends when the host leaves

When someone hosts the game from “Host” in the game's menu, the server runs on their PC and only exists while they have it open. If they go to bed or turn the computer off, everyone else is locked out. Unlike other games, in Zomboid each player's character lives on the server, so without it there's no character to join with either.

To play whenever each of you can, you need a dedicated server running on a machine that doesn't get turned off. The ways to play as a group, compared, in how to play Project Zomboid with friends.

Always on doesn't mean the world moves on its own: PauseEmpty

Before choosing where to put it, the most common question: with the server on and nobody inside, do the days go by? By default, no. The PauseEmpty setting comes turned on and stops the game clock when nobody is connected, so zombies don't advance, food doesn't rot and the countdown to the power and water shutoff doesn't run while nobody plays.

If you turn it off, the world carries on: whoever joins at three in the afternoon may find that several in-game days have gone by and the power is already gone. For a group that never overlaps, leaving it on is the fairest. On NapNodes it's “Pause time when nobody is on”, in “Settings” → “The essentials”, and it applies on restart. What each .ini option does, in the server options.

Option 1: your PC on all day

The dedicated server is free on Steam (“Project Zomboid Dedicated Server”, under “Tools”), so you only pay for electricity. A desktop PC running the server draws, depending on the hardware, between 60 and 100 W continuously: 43 to 72 kWh a month. With electricity between 0.15 and 0.20 € per kWh, that's 6 to 14 € a month. The electricity calculator works it out with your hardware and your rate.

The downsides: with Build 42 the server alone needs about 6 GB of memory, so if you play on the same PC you need 16 GB for both to run; you have to open UDP ports 16261 and 16262 on the router (with CG-NAT, some ISPs don't allow it); and if Windows restarts to update, the game is over. Step by step, in the dedicated server on your PC.

Option 2: an old computer

A laptop or mini PC you no longer use draws much less than a desktop (15 to 30 W, about 2 to 4 € of electricity a month). The problem in Zomboid is memory: with Build 42, an 8 GB machine is very tight as soon as the loaded map grows or you add mods, and with less it isn't worth it.

Steam only provides the dedicated server for Windows and Linux on Intel or AMD processors, so the Raspberry Pi and the free ARM cloud machines won't do without tricks that break with every update. And if the power goes out or the router restarts, the server stays down until you get there.

Option 3: a host

It's the only one where you don't have to do anything to keep it on: the server is in a data centre and doesn't depend on anyone's PC. NapNodes has two Project Zomboid plans: Fort, with 6 GB, for a group or a community with Workshop mods, and Bastion, with 8 GB, for added maps and long mod lists. Your plan's RAM is reserved for you (it isn't sold twice), and if the server crashes, it starts back up on its own; if it crashes twice in an hour, you get an email with the most likely cause.

You join through “Join” → “Favorites” with the address and port, without opening anything on your router. Settings are changed in “Settings”, each with its name and an explanation, and mods are searched by name in “Mods”. On top of the backups the game makes itself, the panel makes an automatic daily backup and lets you keep two more. You pay for the RAM, per GB per month, with no commitment: each plan's price is on the pricing page, so compare it with the electricity in option 1.

And if you only play now and then: the free server

If you don't need it always on, the NapNodes free server is a Project Zomboid dedicated server with 6 GB, no card and no end date. It doesn't depend on the host's PC: you start it with “Start” in the panel when you're going to play, and it shuts down on its own after 20 minutes with nobody on. With PauseEmpty, the world waits for you just as you left it.

Its limits, stated plainly: it starts in the space nobody has paid for, so at peak hours you may have to wait in a queue; it has 15 GB of disk and no panel backups; and if nobody plays for 7 days in a row it's deleted along with its world (we email you 2 days before). If one day you want it always on, “Move to a plan” on its card in “My servers” keeps it on with the same world. All the free options, in free Project Zomboid server.

Which one to choose

To play now and then and always together, the free server or hosting with “Host” from the game. To have it always on without paying rent, a PC with 16 GB that you have spare, if you can handle the router and don't mind the electricity. For everyone to join whenever they can without anyone having to keep an eye on it, a host.

Make it run on its own: one restart a day

A Zomboid server that's been on for days takes up more memory and you notice it as stutter, especially with mods. Restarting it once a day leaves it like new and also downloads the Workshop mod updates (which otherwise kick players when they join). In the NapNodes panel you schedule it in “Advanced settings” → “Schedules” (everything you can schedule).

1. Choose what to do

   In “New schedule”, “What to do” → “Restart the server”. Leave “Warn players one minute before” ticked: they get a message in the game.

2. Choose when

   “Every day” and the time, for example 05:00 (it's mainland Spain time). Leave “Only if the server is online” ticked, so it doesn't start a server you'd left off.

3. Press “Create the schedule”

   It appears below, in “Your schedules”. From there you can pause it, turn it back on or delete it.

4. Test it

   With the server online, press “Run it now” and check in “Console” that the warning appears and it starts back up.

More ways to stop worrying about it

A server that's always on is always visible: if it's just for the group, give it a password or use the whitelist so only accounts you create can join (how, in Project Zomboid private server).

Before a big change (adding mods or maps, touching the sandbox settings, a game update), take a backup even though there's the daily one. How and where they're kept, in Project Zomboid backups.

Frequently asked questions