Project Zomboid Multiplayer & Server Guide

Playing With Friends (Private Listen Server)

The simplest option is hosting directly from your own game. From the main menu, choose Host, pick which save (world) to run, and set a server memory allocation appropriate to your machine. Friends connect through the in-game Join menu's Favorites tab by entering your connection details. This keeps the server tied to your own play session — it stops when you log off — which is the right choice for a small, casual group rather than an always-on community server.

Split-Screen Co-Op on One PC

Project Zomboid also supports local split-screen for up to 4 players sharing a single PC and a single copy of the game — separate from the network multiplayer covered above. Plug in every controller you plan to use before launching the game, start a save in any game mode, then press A on each additional controller to add that player to the split screen. Only one player can use keyboard and mouse; everyone else joining the split screen needs their own controller, since the game can't assign keyboard input to more than one local player at once.

Setting Up a Dedicated Server

For a server that stays up independent of any one player, use the dedicated server tool instead. In your Steam library, switch the dropdown to TOOLS and find "Project Zomboid Dedicated Server." Running it once generates default configuration files, including a _SandboxVars.lua file where you set population, loot, and other difficulty sliders covered in the survival systems guide. From there, set your server name, password, player slot count, and PvP rules, then forward the default port, 16261, through your router and firewall if you're self-hosting rather than renting a game server. Players connect the same way as with a listen server — Join → Favorites → server IP and port.

Listen Server vs. Dedicated Server: Which Should You Use?

A private listen server is the right call for a small group playing together in the same real-time session — it's faster to set up and needs no separate configuration files, but the world stops running the moment the host logs off, and performance is tied to the host's own machine while they're also playing. A dedicated server is the better fit once you have more than a handful of players, want the world to keep running when you're offline, or need finer control over sandbox settings, whitelists, and admin permissions than the Host screen exposes. Most long-running community servers use the dedicated tool for exactly that reason — persistence and configuration control matter more than setup speed once a server outlives a single play session.

Server Hardware Requirements

These are practical planning numbers, not hard official minimums — a heavily modded server (especially with map expansion mods) will want more headroom than a vanilla one at the same player count.