Project Zomboid docker-compose configuration

This is my attempt to get the slightly cantankerous Project Zomboid dedicated server working with docker compose.

First-time installation

Clone this repo somewhere in your web server:

git clone https://github.com/qualiaa/project-zomboid-dedicated-server

Now enter the repository root:

cd project-zomboid-dedicated-server

You may wish to change the listening ports in the (hidden) .env file.

Note: you do not need to change the ports in the compose.yml file.

Set the server admin password by modifying the file secrets/admin-password.

Now install the server software with the command:

utils/install

NOTE: After installation, you probably want to tweak the -Xmx8g maximum allocated RAM in config/jvm-config.yml; replace 8g with some other value in megabytes or gigabytes.

Starting a new world

To start a new world, change the SERVER_NAME value in the (hidden) file .env.

NOTE: If you want to set up mods for the server, modify the template config file at scripts/default.ini appropriately. Changes you make here will be copied into the world-specific config files generated later.

Now start the server with:

docker-compose up

This will automatically exit after completing initial world setup. You can then find server config files in config/Zomboid/Server; edit them to suit your needs.

On subsequent runs the server should be run with:

docker-compose up --detach

You can bring the server down safely at any time with:

docker-compose down

Updating an existing server

When an update is released, you should bring the server down with:

docker-compose down

then issue the command:

utils/update

then bring the server up again with:

docker-compose up --detach

Running multiple servers

In order to run multiple servers, duplicate the .env file, for example to server-1.env and server-2.env. Make sure you set the ports and SERVER_NAME differently for each server. Then launch each one with

docker-compose --env-file "server-1.env" up --detach
docker-compose --env-file "server-2.env" up --detach

NOTE: All servers will share the same config folder and game data. If you want to separate them completely, for example to run servers at different game versions, you need to copy the whole compose project folder and manage each one independently.

RCON

RCON is currently broken and I don't have time to work out how to fix it.

As a stop-gap measure, there is a script utils/send-cmd which passes its arguments as input to the server:

send-cmd help
send-cmd players
send-cmd quit

qualiaa / project-zomboid-dedicated-server