World Settings on a Dedicated Server

A dedicated server has no menu to pick world settings in, so edit WorldModSettings.xml in the save folder while the server is stopped. This page covers the file, the order to do it in, and how to confirm the values took.

A dedicated server never opens the Mods World Settings screen, so its world settings are changed in a file. Gears reads WorldModSettings.xml from the world's save folder every time the server starts, and sends those values to every player who joins.

You need file access to the server and the ability to stop and start it.

Stop the server before you edit

Gears rewrites WorldModSettings.xml at every server start, from the values it has loaded. An edit made while the server is running is overwritten the next time it starts.

Before you start

Install Gears and the mods on the server, exactly as you would on a client. A server without Gears sends nothing, and every player joining it falls back to the mods' default values.
Set EACEnabled to false in serverconfig.xml. Players run Gears with EasyAntiCheat off, and a server with EasyAntiCheat on does not let them join.
Every player needs the same mods, and Gears, on their own machine.
Know which save the server loads. It is the GameWorld and GameName pair from serverconfig.xml.

Change the settings

Start the server once

Gears writes WorldModSettings.xml out at every start, so the first start of a new save creates the file with every installed mod's world settings already in it, at their default values. That is the easiest way to get the exact mod names and setting names you are allowed to use.

Skip this step if the file already exists.

Stop the server

Stop it fully. Gears loads the file at start and rewrites it in the same breath, so an edit made while the server runs is lost.

Open `WorldModSettings.xml` in the save folder

The file sits in the save folder for that world, beside the world's save data — usually Saves\<GameWorld>\<GameName> under the server's user data folder. UserDataFolder and SaveGameFolder in serverconfig.xml move that folder, so check them if it is not where you expect. On a Linux server the default user data folder is ~/.local/share/7DaysToDie.

It looks like this:

WorldModSettings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WorldModSettings>
	<Mod name="MyMod">
		<Setting name="FeralNights" value="False" />
		<Setting name="SpawnMultiplier" value="1" />
		<Setting name="LootRespawnDays" value="7" />
	</Mod>
</WorldModSettings>

One <Mod> element per mod, named by the mod's <Name> from its ModInfo.xml, and one <Setting> element per world setting that mod declares.

Edit the values

Change the value attributes and nothing else. The names are how Gears finds each setting again, so leave them as they are.

Write each value the way Gears wrote it:

Setting shows	Write
an on/off switch	`True` or `False`
a number	the number, in the same form the file already uses
a named choice	the name exactly as the file spells it

A value Gears cannot read is reported in the log, and that setting keeps the value it already had. The rest of the file still loads.

Start the server

Gears loads the file, applies the values, tells every mod, then writes the file back out.

Players get the new values as they join. Nobody has to change anything on their own machine, and anyone already connected keeps the old values until they reconnect.

Confirm the values took

Open WorldModSettings.xml again after the server has started. Gears rewrites it from the values it actually applied, so anything that reverted was not accepted — check the spelling of that value.

The server log records the rest. Search it for [Gears]:

Log line	Meaning
`[WorldSettingsFromXml] Mod <name> not found installed, unable to load the world's current settings for the mod`	the `<Mod name="…">` does not match an installed mod, usually a typo or a mod that is not on the server
`[WorldSettingsFromXml] Mod <name> : Setting <name> not found`	that mod has no world setting by that name; the mod may have renamed it
`[WorldSettingsFromXml] Mod <name> : Setting <name> has no value attribute, keeping its current value`	a `<Setting>` element is missing `value`
`[WorldSettingsFromXml] Failed parsing WorldModSettings.xml`	the XML is malformed, so no values from the file were loaded
`[WorldModValueSetting]` lines naming a setting	the value could not be read as that setting's type, so the setting kept what it had

Copy the settings from a single player world instead

If you would rather use the menus, set the values on a client and copy the result over:

On a machine with the same mods, open the New Game screen, open its Mods tab, and press Mods World Settings. Pick the values and press SAVE.
Play into the world once so the save folder exists, then quit.
Copy WorldModSettings.xml out of that save folder into the server's save folder, with the server stopped.

Gears matches the file to settings by mod name and setting name, so the two saves do not have to share a world or a name.

Notes

There is no way to change a world setting while the server is running. Stop it, edit, start it.
Deleting WorldModSettings.xml resets that world to every mod's defaults at the next start, and Gears writes a fresh file.
Removing a mod from the server leaves its <Mod> element behind in the file. Gears logs that it is not installed and carries on; you can delete the element.
Settings a player changes under Mods are theirs alone. Nothing on the server changes them, and they are not part of this file.
The server's own global settings are in a different file. See Global Settings on a Dedicated Server.

World Settings on a Dedicated Server

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