If you have ever tried to load a big overhaul mod onto your 7 Days to Die server only to watch every player get kicked the moment they connect, you have already met EasyAntiCheat (EAC). EAC is the anti-cheat layer that ships with 7 Days to Die, and while it does a useful job on vanilla servers, it actively blocks most of the mods and overhauls that make a private server worth running. The good news is that disabling it is a documented, fully supported one-line change in serverconfig.xml — but there is a client-side half of the process that catches almost everyone out the first time. This guide walks through both halves, explains the trade-offs honestly, and covers the gotchas for the current 1.0-and-beyond builds (the 2.x series, current as of 2026).
What EasyAntiCheat does and why you would turn it off
EasyAntiCheat is a kernel-level anti-cheat system that validates the game files and memory on each connected client. On a vanilla, unmodded server it works silently and keeps obvious cheaters out. The problem is that almost any mod that changes game code or assets — and certainly any large overhaul — fails EAC’s integrity checks. When EAC sees a modified client, it does not warn; it kicks. So if you run a modded server with EAC left on, legitimate players who have installed the mod will be unable to stay connected.
The single most common reason admins disable EAC is to run overhaul mods. Darkness Falls is the textbook example: it is incompatible with EAC, and players are kicked otherwise. The same applies to most content mods that touch the game’s code, the kind of mods covered in our roundup of the best 7 Days to Die mods. If your server is staying vanilla, leave EAC on — there is no reason to disable it. The instant you want to run a code-changing mod, EAC has to come off.
The server-side switch: EACEnabled in serverconfig.xml
Every dedicated 7 Days to Die server is driven by a file named serverconfig.xml. It is a plain XML file where each setting is written as a single EACEnabled, and by default it is set to true.
To turn anti-cheat off, find that line in serverconfig.xml and change the value to false:
That is the entire server-side change. There is no second flag, no separate toggle, and no extra file to edit. You may see references online to a dedicated command-line launch flag as an alternative, but that approach is unconfirmed and unnecessary — the XML property is the documented, reliable method, so use it and ignore the rest.
One critical detail: the server must be fully restarted for the change to take effect. 7 Days to Die reads serverconfig.xml once at startup, so editing the file while the server is live does nothing until you stop and start it again. On a managed host this is a single “Restart” button; on a self-hosted box it means stopping the dedicated server process and relaunching it. Always confirm the restart completed before you tell players to join.
Where to find serverconfig.xml
On a managed game host, serverconfig.xml is usually exposed through a configuration editor or a file manager in the control panel — you open it, change the value, save, and restart. If you run the server yourself, the file lives in the dedicated server’s install directory alongside the other config files such as serveradmin.xml. We cover the full file structure and the panel workflow in the 7 Days to Die server documentation, which is worth bookmarking before you start editing anything.
The half everyone forgets: the client side
Here is the step that trips up most admins. Disabling EAC on the server is only one side of the handshake. Players connecting to an EAC-disabled (modded) server must also launch the game without EAC on their own machine. If the server has EAC off but a player launches the game with EAC on, the connection will fail — and the player will usually blame your server config when nothing is actually wrong with it.
The fix is built into the game’s launcher. On Steam, the steps are:
- In your Steam library, click Play on 7 Days to Die.
- When prompted, choose “Show Game Launcher” instead of launching the game directly.
- In the launcher, select the non-EAC launch option (the launch profile that runs the game with EasyAntiCheat disabled).
- Launch from there, then connect to your modded server as normal.
If a player has previously dismissed the launcher and set Steam to skip it, they will need to re-enable the launcher prompt in the game’s Steam properties so they can pick the non-EAC profile. It is good practice to put a short “How to join” note in your Discord or MOTD telling players to use Show Game Launcher → non-EAC; it saves a lot of “I can’t connect” tickets.
The trade-off: what you give up by disabling EAC
Turning off EAC is a deliberate trade, and it is worth understanding both sides before you flip the switch.
- What you lose: automated cheat protection. With EAC off, the server is more vulnerable to players using cheats, memory editors, or modified clients. Anti-cheat is no longer policing connections, so enforcement falls to you.
- What you do not lose: there is no ban risk for disabling EAC. Running with
EACEnabled=falseis a fully supported configuration — The Fun Pimps built the option in precisely so modded servers can exist. Neither the server owner nor honest players face any penalty for using it.
For a private or friends-only modded server, the trade is almost always worth it — you know your players, and the mods you want simply will not run otherwise. For a large public server where you do not know who is connecting, weigh the loss of automated protection against your need for mods, and lean harder on the admin tools below to keep order.
Replacing protection with active moderation
Because EAC is no longer screening connections, your in-game admin tooling becomes your primary line of defense. 7 Days to Die manages admins, whitelists, bans, and per-command permissions through a file called serveradmin.xml, which uses a permission scheme ranging from 0 to 1000. The counter-intuitive part is that 0 is the highest authority (super-admin, full control) and 1000 is an ordinary player (lowest). A player can run any command whose required level is at or above their own number, so the lower your number, the more you can do.
On modern 1.0-and-later crossplay builds, you add an admin using the platform-prefixed syntax, which supports both Steam and Epic accounts:
You can also manage admins live from the console once connected:
admin add 76561198XXXXXXXXX 0
admin remove 76561198XXXXXXXXX
kick [reason]
ban add [reason] Ban durations accept units of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. You can grab a player’s SteamID64 from a calculator like steamid.io or steamdb.info. For the complete walkthrough — including per-command permission tuning — see our dedicated guide on how to add an admin to your 7 Days to Die server. On an EAC-off server, a tight admin roster and a ready kick/ban workflow are what keep the experience clean.
Where EACEnabled sits among the other server settings
While you are in serverconfig.xml, it helps to know the neighbours. EAC is one property among dozens that shape how your world plays. Here are the most relevant defaults to recognise so you do not accidentally change the wrong line:
| Property | Default | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
EACEnabled | true | EasyAntiCheat on/off (set false for mods) |
ServerPort | 26900 | Primary game port (also uses 26901–26902 UDP) |
ServerMaxPlayerCount | 8 | Max concurrent players (verify default on 1.0+) |
ServerVisibility | 2 | 2 = public, 1 = friends, 0 = hidden |
GameWorld | Navezgane | Navezgane (handcrafted) or RWG (random gen) |
GameDifficulty | 2 | 0 (easiest) to 5 (hardest) |
DayNightLength | 60 | Real minutes per in-game day |
BloodMoonFrequency | 7 | Days between blood moons (0 disables) |
BloodMoonEnemyCount | 8 | Max zombies alive per player during the horde |
A couple of these are worth a note. The default port is 26900, and the game also uses 26901 and 26902 on UDP, so open all three if you are configuring a firewall. Blood moons land every 7th day by default via BloodMoonFrequency — if you are building a modded horde-survival server, that interacts with everything in our blood moon horde strategy guide. Note that one default may have shifted on 1.0+: the wiki snapshot for player count came from an older Alpha 20.5 reference, so verify ServerMaxPlayerCount against a fresh 1.0+ config rather than assuming it is still 8.
Setting up the dedicated server (so you can edit the config at all)
If you are self-hosting and have not built the server yet, you install the dedicated server tool through SteamCMD. The two app IDs to know are 251570 for the game client and 294420 for the dedicated server tool. The dedicated server is free and installs anonymously — you do not need a second game license:
steamcmd +force_install_dir /path/to/7dtd-server +login anonymous +app_update 294420 validate +quitThe download is roughly 10–15 GB. To pull the latest experimental branch instead of stable, append -beta latest_experimental to the command. Once it is installed, serverconfig.xml appears in the install directory and you can make your EACEnabled=false edit. If you would rather skip the SteamCMD setup entirely, a managed 7 Days to Die server hosting plan gives you a ready-made config editor and one-click restarts, which makes the EAC toggle and mod installs considerably less fiddly.
A clean order of operations for going modded
Putting it all together, here is the sequence that avoids the usual “nobody can connect” panic:
- Stop the server before making any changes.
- Open
serverconfig.xmland setEACEnabledtofalse. - Install your mods on the server (and confirm exactly which files each mod needs).
- Restart the server fully and confirm it comes back online.
- Distribute the same mods to your players so their clients match the server.
- Tell players to launch via Show Game Launcher → non-EAC before connecting.
- Connect yourself first to verify, then open the doors.
Mismatched mod versions between server and client are the second most common cause of join failures after the client-side EAC step — so keep everyone on the same mod build. With EAC off and mods aligned on both ends, your overhaul-equipped server should accept connections cleanly. From there you are free to dig into the systems that make modded 7DtD shine, from reworked biomes to the deeper crafting trees built around components like mechanical parts.
Frequently asked questions
Will I get banned for disabling EasyAntiCheat?
No. Setting EACEnabled=false is a fully supported configuration that The Fun Pimps built into the dedicated server specifically so that modded servers can run. There is no ban risk to the server owner or to honest players. The only practical consequence is that automated cheat protection is no longer active, which is why active admin moderation matters more on an EAC-off server.
I disabled EAC on the server but players still can’t connect. Why?
Almost always it is the client side. Each player must launch the game without EAC by clicking Play in Steam, choosing “Show Game Launcher”, and selecting the non-EAC launch option — not launching the game directly. The other frequent cause is a mod-version mismatch: the player’s installed mods must match the server’s exactly. Confirm both before assuming the server config is wrong.
Do I have to restart the server after changing EACEnabled?
Yes. 7 Days to Die reads serverconfig.xml only at startup, so any edit — including the EAC toggle — takes effect only after a full stop and restart. Editing the file while the server is running changes nothing until you restart. On a managed host this is one button; when self-hosting, stop and relaunch the dedicated server process.
Does disabling EAC differ on the Console Edition?
This guide covers the PC dedicated server, where serverconfig.xml and the Show Game Launcher → non-EAC flow apply. The modern Console Edition launched on the 1.0 base in July 2024 and is built around hosted/official sessions rather than self-edited dedicated-server config files, so the manual XML and launcher steps here are a PC workflow. The Console Edition may also lag PC’s 2.x content depending on its current patch level, so verify console-specific behaviour at the time you set things up.
Should I ever leave EAC enabled?
Yes — if your server is vanilla. EAC works silently and quietly keeps cheaters out on unmodded servers, so there is no reason to turn it off unless you specifically need mods. The moment you want to run a code-changing mod or an overhaul like Darkness Falls, EAC has to come off, because it will otherwise kick every player running the modified client.
Which mods actually require EAC to be off?
Any mod that modifies the game’s code or assets will fail EAC’s integrity checks, and large overhaul mods are the clearest case — Darkness Falls is the canonical example of a mod that is incompatible with EAC. Small client-side cosmetic tweaks may sometimes slip through, but as a rule, if a mod changes how the game behaves on the server, plan to disable EAC. Our roundup of the best 7DtD mods notes which ones are overhaul-class and therefore require it.
Disabling EasyAntiCheat is genuinely a one-line edit — EACEnabled=false — but the experience only works once both halves of the handshake are in place: the server flag plus every player launching through the non-EAC option, after a clean restart. Get those right and your modded 7 Days to Die server is ready for whatever overhaul you have been wanting to run.
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