How to start your 7 Days to Die server for the first time

A new 7 Days to Die server first downloads the game, about 17 GB, which takes around 14 minutes. Then click Start on the Overview page and wait for the badge to say Online. The Console shows Connected with 7DTD server when the game is up and the panel is connected to it.

Start it

While the badge says Installing, the game is still downloading. Wait until it says Offline.

1. Open your server in the panel. The badge near the name says Offline.
2. Click Start. The badge changes to Starting.
3. Open the Console tab to watch what the server is doing.

What the Console shows

1. With Auto Update on (it is on by default), every start first asks Steam for the newest game build and downloads it if there is one.
2. If you switched on Oxide (uMod), its lines come next, for example Oxide applied. Plugins in oxide/plugins will load with the server.
3. Checking on telnet connection, then Waiting for telnet connection... every few seconds. This is normal: the game is loading its mods and the world, and the first start of a random map builds the terrain, which takes several minutes.
4. The panel connects to the game's own console. When it does, the line Connected with 7DTD server appears and the badge says Online.

While the game loads, it writes its own log to logs/latest.log, not to the Console. Open that file under Files to see what it is doing, or why it stopped.

Do not click Stop or Kill while the game downloads or builds a map. Later starts are much quicker, unless a game update has to download first.

What a new server already has

• Server Name: My 7 Days to Die Server. Change it before you invite people: How to change your 7 Days to Die server name and password.
• Server Password: empty, so anyone with the address can join.
• Server Listing: Public, so the server shows in the game's server list.
• World: Navezgane (hand-built), with the Save Name MyGame. Other maps: How to choose your 7 Days to Die map, world size and seed.
• EasyAntiCheat: on. Oxide (uMod): off.
• Player slots: the number your plan includes.
• Backups: if your plan includes backups, an Automatic backup runs every night. It saves the world first.
• Wipes: none runs by itself. The ready-made World wipe waits on Quick Tasks, switched off.
• No admins yet: How to become admin on your 7 Days to Die server.

The game's own rules, such as difficulty, blood moons and day length, come from the game's default sandbox code until you change it: How to change difficulty and sandbox settings on your 7 Days to Die server.

Next steps

1. Join your server.
2. Set the name and a password.
3. Make yourself admin.
4. Invite your friends.

If the server does not reach Online, see Your 7 Days to Die server is stuck on its first start and How to fix a server that will not start.