How to generate a random world (RWG) with advanced options for a 7DTD server.

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Dedicated servers for 7DTD do not allow the use of advanced world generation options that are available in the 7DTD game client, such as turning up wilderness POIs, turning down mountains, or changing biome sizes. Additionally, random world generation in 7DTD can be extremely CPU intensive and take some time. For our game servers, this can lead to our automated systems restarting the server during the world generation process because it thinks it is crashed (due to the downtime and/or CPU usage). For these reasons, it is recommended to generate a random world on your home computer and then upload it to the server.

There are a few options for generating a random world locally. If you already have a world you want to use and want to know how to add it to your server, you can skip to the last section.


Generate a world using the game client (Recommended for simplicity):
Improvements to 7DTD's Random World Generation (RWG) has seen improvements over time and is much faster than it used to be. It also allows you to select the advanced generation options. This makes using the default game client an ideal way to generate a custom world on your home computer, without any requirements for additional tools or mods.

To generate a world for use on a server, you start by simply generating a world the same way you would for a local play session or when hosting the game yourself. Once finished, you can find your generated world in its own folder within the game's saved data. By default, it will be located in:

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%APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\GeneratedWorlds

There you should find a folder with the same world name as the world you generated. That entire folder is the one you need to copy.


Generate a world using a game client with mods:
There are mods that change how the game handles RWG without adding content or changing gameplay, resulting in a world with a modified generation in a format that the default vanilla game can use without the server or players needing a mod to play on it. These may add extra options or tools to the advanced map generation options or be passive in what they do. For example, there may be extra biome layout options or cause much larger cities to generate.

Like any other mods for 7DTD, map generating mods can come and go over time as they fall behind current game updates and new mod projects get started. You will need to check version compatibility as you search for what is available.


Generate a world using a separate 3rd party tool:
There are often 3rd party tools that allow for more control over world generation, even to the point of completely hand-crafting a world. Such tools are more advanced and may have a steep learning curve to them, so they are usually more suited for those that want to explore their creative side.

Like with mods, these tools may come and go over time, so checking version compatibility is recommended.


Adding your world to your server:
To get your new world on to your server, you will need to:

1. Cconnect to your game server FTP using an FTP client. If you aren't sure how, we have a guide for that here.
2. Once connected, create a new "GeneratedWorlds" folder in the root of the FTP for the game server.
3. Place the folder containing your generated world inside it. It should look something like this (the world name varies):
   

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   /GeneratedWorlds/Nataroha Territory

4. In the ./serverconfig.xml file on your server, set the "GameWorld" option to the exact name of the world folder you added.
   

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   <property name="GameWorld" value="Nataroha Territory"/>

After this, you should be able to restart and have the custom world load.

Ideally, you will want to either start a new save with this new world, or (if you have already been playing on it before adding it to the server) upload your existing save data to the server. We will cover this in a separate guide.


With these different options, adding a more customized world to your server ranges from simple to very advanced, If you like the idea of sharing a more customized game world experience with your friends, but don't have a server yet, you can order a 7 Days to Die Server to try it out right now with Immediate setup and a free 2-day trial for new customers.