How to Change the Difficulty on Your Project Zomboid Server

Project Zomboid lets you tune how brutal or forgiving your server experience is. You can adjust zombie population, loot scarcity, respawn rates, and many other survival settings to match what your group enjoys. The RiverHosting panel gives you a dedicated page to change these settings without touching any config files by hand.

Before you start

• Make sure you have an active Project Zomboid server with RiverHosting. You can check your servers at panel.riverhosting.com.
• You will need to stop your server before saving certain world settings. The panel will prompt you when this is required.
• Changes to world difficulty apply to newly spawned areas and zombies. Settings like zombie population may not visibly change in already-explored chunks until those chunks reset or are wiped.

1. Open the World Settings page

1. Log in to the RiverHosting panel at panel.riverhosting.com.
2. Select your Project Zomboid server from the server list.
3. In the left-hand menu, click World Settings.

The World Settings page is a built-in editor that lets you change your server's world and difficulty options directly from the panel. You do not need to edit any files manually.

2. Adjust your difficulty settings

The World Settings page contains several sections. The options most relevant to difficulty include:

• Zombie population: Controls how many zombies spawn in the world. A higher value makes the game harder.
• Loot abundance: Controls how much loot is available. Lowering this makes survival much tougher.
• Zombie respawn settings: Controls whether zombies respawn after being killed, and how quickly. Turning off respawns makes the world more manageable over time.
• Day length and time settings: Shorter nights mean less time in the dark, which can reduce or increase difficulty depending on your preference.
• Zombie speed and cognition: Controls how fast and how aware zombies are. Sprinting zombies are significantly harder to deal with than shambling ones.

Find the settings you want to change and update the values to match your preferred difficulty level. Each setting usually has a dropdown or a number field.

3. Save your changes and restart the server

1. Once you have finished adjusting the settings, scroll to the bottom of the World Settings page and click Save.
2. Go back to your server's main page and click Restart to apply the new settings.

Your server will restart and load with the updated difficulty configuration. Players can reconnect once the server is back online, which usually takes under a minute.

4. Verify the changes in game

After the server restarts, log in to your Project Zomboid server and spend a few minutes exploring to confirm the changes feel right. Things to check:

• Are zombie numbers higher or lower than before in new areas?
• Is loot more or less plentiful in buildings you have not visited yet?
• Are zombies behaving at the speed you selected?

If something does not feel right, you can return to the World Settings page at any time and adjust further.

Troubleshooting

• Changes do not seem to apply in explored areas: This is expected. Project Zomboid only applies updated world settings to areas that have not been loaded yet. Existing chunks keep their original data. To see the full effect, consider wiping the world or exploring new areas.
• The World Settings page shows an error when saving: Stop the server first from the main server page, then return to World Settings and try saving again.
• The server does not come back online after restarting: Check the Console tab for any error messages. If you see an error related to a setting value, return to World Settings and check that all fields have valid values.
• Players are still seeing old zombie behaviour: Ask players to disconnect and reconnect. Some client-side caching can cause a short delay before the new settings are fully visible.

Need help?

If you run into any issues adjusting your Project Zomboid difficulty settings or need guidance choosing the right values, the RiverHosting support team is happy to help.