Project Zomboid: Move Your World to Your Server

A server or co-op world is the folder named after the server in Zomboid\Saves\Multiplayer (servertest unless you renamed it). Players keep their characters when they join with the same username they used there.

A game you played on your own is the save's folder in Zomboid\Saves\<game mode> (for example Sandbox). The world comes across, but single-player characters don't, so everyone makes a new character the first time they join.

• Windows: C:\Users\<your name>\Zomboid.

• Mac, Linux and Steam Deck: the Zomboid folder in your home folder (~/Zomboid).

• A Linux server (LinuxGSM) keeps it in the server user's home folder, and Pterodactyl panels in .cache.

You can upload the whole Zomboid folder, another host's download, or one of Project Zomboid's own backups (backups/startup/backup_1.zip), and we find the world inside it. Worlds over 2 GB upload best as a ZIP rather than a dragged folder.

Quit to the main menu or stop the old server first. A world copied while the game runs imports with a note, and its last changes may be missing.

1. Power down your server. Upload World is disabled while the server is running.

2. Open the Backups card and click Upload World.

3. Drop in the world folder, your Zomboid folder, or a ZIP, RAR, 7Z, or TAR.GZ of either, and confirm with Upload and replace world. Your server's current world is saved first as Backup before world upload.

4. Add the mods and maps the note names (below), then press Start.

Worlds from Build 41 can't be opened by Build 42 servers, so they are refused. A world saved by a newer Project Zomboid than your server runs (usually the unstable branch) is refused too, because the server would fail to start. That happens even when the upload holds other worlds, because the newer one is most likely the one you play now: upload a file with only the world you want. A world from an older Build 42 version loads, but some building details reset, such as which buildings were already searched.

Mods are installed separately. If the world was played with mods, add the same mods on your server's Mods card before you start it; the upload's note lists them. If it used a map mod, also set Maps on the Overview card's Details tab to the list the note gives. An upload with only mods and no world is refused, and the message names the mods.

Your Haptic server keeps its own settings. Your old server's settings files and a single-player save's own sandbox settings are not imported; the note names a few of the old values so you can set them on the Overview card's Details tab.

Your old server's accounts database is not imported either, so passwords, admins and bans from the old server don't come across. On an open server, players make a new account when they first join, and using the same username as before brings back their character. If Open Server (on the Details tab) is off, add them on the Overview card's Admins & Whitelist tab with the Whitelist role first. Add your admins there again too.

The message on your server card says what the file held: a Build 41 world, a world newer than your server, the game's program files, settings or mods without a world. Upload the world folder instead. A refused upload changes nothing on your server.

Reach us on Discord or at support@haptic.gg with your server name and the exact message on your server card.