7 Days to Die Server Settings – Casual to Insane

Finding Your Perfect Server Settings

7 Days To Die exposes a huge amount of its game behaviour through serverconfig.xml, and the values you pick genuinely decide whether your group plays for months or logs off after the first Blood Moon. The settings below are not "optimised" in any scientific sense. They are starting points we've seen work well on LOW.MS servers across a lot of different groups, and they're a sensible base to tweak from once you know what your players enjoy.

This guide walks through four play styles: casual PvE, hardcore survival, PvP raiding, and a nightly Blood Moon challenge. Each one has a copy-paste XML block and a short note on why we run it that way. For the full list of every option, see our Server Configuration Guide.

Casual PvE

This is the setup we recommend for small groups of 2-8 friends who want to explore, build and survive without feeling punished. It's also a good fit for mixed-experience groups where not everyone has hundreds of hours in the game.

The idea is simple: more loot, more daylight, a forgiving Blood Moon, and bases that actually last. You still get the signature 7DTD tension, just with the dial turned down a notch.

<!-- Casual PvE Settings -->
<property name="GameDifficulty" value="2" />
<property name="PlayerKillingMode" value="0" />
<property name="DayNightLength" value="90" />
<property name="DayLightLength" value="18" />
<property name="BloodMoonFrequency" value="7" />
<property name="BloodMoonRange" value="0" />
<property name="BloodMoonEnemyCount" value="6" />
<property name="LootAbundance" value="150" />
<property name="LootRespawnDays" value="5" />
<property name="XPMultiplier" value="150" />
<property name="AirDropFrequency" value="48" />
<property name="LandClaimOfflineDurabilityModifier" value="8" />
<property name="BlockDamageAI" value="75" />

Adventurer difficulty keeps combat fair, 90-minute days give you real time to go out scavenging, and 150% loot and XP gets players into the mid-game faster (which is where 7DTD really opens up). AirDropFrequency of 48 is every 48 in-game hours, which is actually more frequent than the default 72, so expect a friendly stream of care packages. The BlockDamageAI drop to 75 means your builds take a bit less punishment from wandering zombies, and we like Navezgane or a small 4096 RWG world for this style.

Hardcore Survival

When an experienced group of 4-12 wants the "one mistake kills you" flavour of 7DTD, this is the preset we reach for. Resources are thin, nights are long, and you cannot trust any Blood Moon to arrive when you expect it.

<!-- Hardcore Survival Settings -->
<property name="GameDifficulty" value="4" />
<property name="PlayerKillingMode" value="0" />
<property name="DayNightLength" value="60" />
<property name="DayLightLength" value="16" />
<property name="BloodMoonFrequency" value="5" />
<property name="BloodMoonRange" value="2" />
<property name="BloodMoonEnemyCount" value="10" />
<property name="LootAbundance" value="75" />
<property name="LootRespawnDays" value="14" />
<property name="XPMultiplier" value="75" />
<property name="AirDropFrequency" value="0" />
<property name="BlockDamageAI" value="125" />
<property name="BlockDamageAIBM" value="150" />
<property name="MaxSpawnedZombies" value="80" />

Warrior difficulty gives zombies serious health and damage, and only 16 hours of daylight leaves you working in the dark more often. BloodMoonFrequency of 5 with BloodMoonRange of 2 means the horde lands somewhere between day 3 and day 7 of each cycle (the range is a plus-or-minus deviation, not a flat shift), so you can never quite plan around it. 75% loot and XP stretches the early game, airdrops are disabled, and AI block damage is cranked so cobblestone won't save you.

One thing worth knowing: MaxSpawnedZombies is a hard server-wide cap. On a full server during a Blood Moon, BloodMoonEnemyCount × players can easily exceed 80, and anything over that limit simply won't spawn until something dies. Raise MaxSpawnedZombies if you have the headroom, or lower BloodMoonEnemyCount if the horde feels thin. We'd usually run this on a 6144 RWG world with a random seed to match the unpredictable feel.

Nightly big hordes and a higher zombie cap do use more memory. If you find your server struggling, a larger plan helps – you can upgrade through LOW.MS in a couple of clicks.

PvP Raiding

This is the one for 8-30 competitive players who want zombies and players to both be threats. The goal is a lively server where raiding, alliances and territory actually matter, without the map filling up with abandoned ghost bases.

<!-- PvP Raiding Settings -->
<property name="GameDifficulty" value="3" />
<property name="PlayerKillingMode" value="3" />
<property name="DayNightLength" value="60" />
<property name="DayLightLength" value="18" />
<property name="BloodMoonFrequency" value="10" />
<property name="BloodMoonEnemyCount" value="6" />
<property name="LootAbundance" value="100" />
<property name="LootRespawnDays" value="3" />
<property name="XPMultiplier" value="125" />
<property name="AirDropFrequency" value="24" />
<property name="AirDropMarker" value="true" />
<property name="LandClaimDeadZone" value="50" />
<property name="LandClaimOnlineDurabilityModifier" value="4" />
<property name="LandClaimOfflineDurabilityModifier" value="1" />
<property name="LandClaimExpiryTime" value="5" />

PlayerKillingMode 3 enables full PvP. Blood Moons are pushed out to every 10 days so raids and base-building get room to breathe, and 3-day loot respawn keeps POIs worth fighting over. Airdrops with visible markers every 24 in-game hours create reliable hotspots for player encounters. The land-claim values are the important bit: online bases are tougher, offline bases are fully raidable (that's the whole point of a PvP server), and a 5-day expiry means abandoned bases clear themselves. We leave LandClaimSize and BlockDamagePlayer at their defaults since the defaults already do the right thing here.

Even on a PvP server, a couple of written rules and a moderator or two go a long way. Servers without any moderation tend to empty out fast. A 6144 or 8192 RWG world gives groups enough room to find their own corner of the map.

Blood Moon Challenge

If your group is there for the tower-defence loop more than the exploration, this one pushes that to the extreme: a Blood Moon every single night, a faster day cycle, and generous progression so you can actually keep up with the escalating difficulty.

<!-- Blood Moon Challenge Settings -->
<property name="GameDifficulty" value="3" />
<property name="PlayerKillingMode" value="0" />
<property name="DayNightLength" value="50" />
<property name="DayLightLength" value="16" />
<property name="BloodMoonFrequency" value="1" />
<property name="BloodMoonRange" value="0" />
<property name="BloodMoonEnemyCount" value="8" />
<property name="LootAbundance" value="125" />
<property name="LootRespawnDays" value="3" />
<property name="XPMultiplier" value="200" />
<property name="AirDropFrequency" value="24" />
<property name="BlockDamageAIBM" value="125" />
<property name="MaxSpawnedZombies" value="64" />

BloodMoonFrequency of 1 is the defining setting: every night is horde night. 200% XP and 125% loot keep players in ammo and levels, and 50-minute days on Nomad difficulty give just enough breathing room to repair and restock between waves. BlockDamageAIBM at 125 means Blood Moon zombies hit your structures harder than the default, which is what makes base defence the actual gameplay loop here rather than a formality.

Remember that MaxSpawnedZombies of 64 is the hard ceiling that BloodMoonEnemyCount × players has to share. With 8 enemies per player, that's enough for about 8 concurrent players before you start seeing the cap bite. Lower BloodMoonEnemyCount or raise MaxSpawnedZombies if you have more. Nightly hordes also hit the server harder than normal play, so keep an eye on performance and dial things back if you see lag.

Keeping the Server Happy

Whichever preset you pick, a few habits keep things smooth:

Match world size to your player count. Oversized RWG worlds waste memory on chunks nobody visits.
Use a nightly restart. Schedule a daily restart during your quiet hours using Scheduled Tasks in the TCAdmin control panel at https://control.low.ms. It clears memory and keeps long-running sessions stable.
Go easy on overhaul mods. If you're already running a demanding preset, stick to modlets rather than stacking big overhauls. Our Darkness Falls install guide is a good reference for how we manage heavier mod setups.
Watch memory. If RAM usage is consistently pinned, it's usually time for a larger plan.

Applying Your Settings

To swap one of these presets in:

Stop the server from your TCAdmin control panel at control.low.ms.
Open serverconfig.xml from Configuration Files (or edit it directly through File Manager).
Replace the matching <property> lines with the block from your chosen preset.
Save, then start the server again.

Changes apply on the next start. You don't need a world wipe unless you're changing world generation itself (seed, size or type). If you're bringing a save across from singleplayer first, our local save upload guide walks through that process.

Need help, or want to try one of these presets on a fresh box? Grab a 7 Days To Die server from LOW.MS and our team is around 24/7 if you get stuck.