Change Any Sandbox Setting (Zombies, Loot, Food, and More)

Project Zomboid dedicated servers control population with a multiplier, the same one the game calls Population Multiplier under Advanced Zombie Options.

• The Zombie Population preset in your dashboard sets it for you: Insane is 2.5, Very High 1.6, High 1.2, Normal 0.65, Low 0.15, None 0.

• Want an exact number instead? Turn on Custom Population Multipliers and set the multiplier yourself (0 to 4), plus the start multiplier, peak multiplier, and Population Peak Day.

• Respawn is separate: Respawn Hours (0 turns respawn off), Respawn Unseen Hours, and Respawn Fraction control how zombies come back. Zombie Migration Hours controls how they drift into cleared areas.

Save, restart, done. Population settings apply to the world on the next restart.

These live in the settings under the food group:

• Food Spoilage Speed: Very Fast to Very Slow.

• Refrigeration Effectiveness: Very Low up to No Decay.

• Nutrition System: turn off to stop weight gain and loss.

• Rotten Food Removal (days): -1 keeps rotten food forever.

Build 42 changed the day length list. The game’s default is now 1 Hour, 30 Minutes, and your dashboard lists every option the game has, from 15 minutes up to real-time days.

At the bottom of the Project Zomboid settings there is a Sandbox Overrides box. It accepts raw lines exactly as they appear in the game’s world_SandboxVars.lua file, one per line:

ZombieLore.Sight = 2
MultiplierConfig.Cooking = 3.0
LockedHouses = 2
WorldItemRemovalList = "Base.Hat, Base.Glasses"

• One setting per line, spelled exactly like the sandbox file spells it. Nested settings use a dot, like ZombieConfig.RallyGroupSize.

• Values can be true, false, a number, or text in double quotes.

• Lines starting with -- are treated as comments and ignored.

• Overrides win over the regular settings above them, and they apply on the next restart.

• This also works for settings added by mods, which normally only exist inside the sandbox file.

The dashboard checks each line as you type and points at the first one that is not valid, so a typo can never break your server.

• Editing world_SandboxVars.lua directly (through file access) does not stick: the game itself rewrites that file, and your dashboard settings are reapplied on every start so they always win. Use the settings and the Sandbox Overrides box instead; they cover everything the file covers.

• Restarting without saving: settings apply on restart, but only after you hit Save.