Soft Reset Your Server
Perform a soft reset to refresh the world while keeping player progress on your Project Zomboid server.
A soft reset refreshes the game world (buildings, loot, zombies) while preserving player characters and progress. This is useful when the world feels "looted out" without forcing everyone to start over.
Soft Reset vs Hard Reset
| Type | World | Players | Config |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft Reset | Reset | Kept | Kept |
| Hard Reset | Reset | Reset | Kept |
A hard reset (full wipe) deletes everything. See Reset Server for a complete wipe.
Perform a Soft Reset
Back up your server
Always create a backup before resetting. See Back Up and Restore.
Stop your server
Stop the server from the Dashboard.
Delete world data (keep player data)
Delete these files and folders:
map_*files — chunk and map datazpop_*files — zombie population datavehicles.db— vehicle positions and states
Keep these files:
players.db— player characters and inventoriesmap_sand.bin— sandbox settings
Start your server
The world will regenerate fresh while players keep their characters.
What Gets Reset
| Data | Reset? |
|---|---|
| Buildings and structures | Yes — all buildings return to default |
| Loot in containers | Yes — all containers refill |
| Zombie positions | Yes — zombies respawn at default locations |
| Vehicles | Yes — vehicles reset to default spawns |
| Player-built structures | Yes — player bases are removed |
| Player characters | No — characters, skills, inventory preserved |
| Player position | Depends — players may spawn at default location |
⚠️ Warning: Player-built bases and fortifications will be removed in a soft reset. Warn your players before performing one.
Selective Soft Reset
If you want to reset only certain aspects:
Reset Only Zombies
Delete only zpop_* files. Zombies respawn at default positions but everything else stays.
Reset Only Vehicles
Delete only vehicles.db. Vehicles respawn at default positions.
Reset Only Loot
This isn't directly possible through file deletion. Instead, use the loot respawn settings:
HoursForLootRespawn = 24,
MaxItemsForLootRespawn = 0,See Loot Respawn for details.
Schedule Regular Soft Resets
For long-running servers, you can schedule soft resets to keep the world fresh:
- Announce the reset to players (give 24–48 hour notice)
- Create a backup
- Perform the soft reset
- Announce the reset is complete
💡 Tip: Many servers do a soft reset every 1–3 months to keep the world feeling alive and give new players a fair start.
Related Guides
See also: Reset Server | Reset World | Back Up and Restore | Loot Respawn
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