How to change the player settings of your Project Zomboid server

The Players group controls what players see and can do: whether time stops when the server is empty, where new characters appear, whether names and coordinates show, sleep rules, chat and voice. All of them apply at the next start.

Open the editor

1. Open your server in the panel and click the Settings tab.
2. In the list on the left, under Config files, click Server Settings. The file name is shown at the top.
3. If the list says No config files yet, start the server once. The game writes its settings file the first time it runs.

The editor only saves while the server is stopped, because the game writes this file while it runs. Stop the server, change the settings below, then click Save only or Save & start. The full steps are in How to change Project Zomboid server settings in the panel. Headings such as Players appear in capitals in the editor, and the search box at the top finds any setting by its name.

Every setting in Players

The settings most owners change

• Pause when empty: game time stops while nobody is online.
• Forced spawn point: How to set a spawn point on your Project Zomboid server.
• Other players on the map, Show usernames and Show coordinates decide how easy it is to find friends and enemies.
• Global chat and Voice chat turn the all-players chat and in-game voice on or off.

Good to know

• Settings you change here apply at the next start. A sandbox rule or server rule that is not in this editor can still be edited under Files, with the server stopped.
• These settings belong to the save named by Server Name under Settings, then Game Settings. A new Server Name starts a world with its own settings files: How to switch between Project Zomboid worlds on your server.
• Back up first if a change could affect players' progress: How to back up and restore your Project Zomboid world.