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For a 2–6 player cooperative PvE world, start with player killing disabled, Normal difficulty, a 60-minute day, a fixed seven-day Blood Moon, daytime walking or jogging with running at night, 4–8 Blood Moon enemies per player, 100% loot abundance, and five to seven in-game days for loot respawn. Keep the documented 100-unit shared-kill range and one 41-block land claim per player. This profile leaves room to build and quest without removing survival pressure, and it gives you clear levers to adjust when the group wants a different pace.
A practical co-op PvE baseline
There is no single official “best” preset. The right values depend on player skill, available play time, host hardware, and whether the group wants a construction sandbox or a demanding survival game. The profile below is an editorial starting point for roughly two to six cooperative players; it is not an official preset.
| Setting | Starting value | Why this works for a small PvE group |
|---|---|---|
PlayerKillingMode |
0 | Disables player killing, preventing accidental or deliberate friendly-fire deaths. |
| Difficulty | Normal | Leaves room for mixed-skill players to learn stamina, healing, weapons, and horde defense. |
DayNightLength |
60 real-time minutes | Preserves a familiar day-night rhythm; use 90 minutes when the group prioritizes building, exploration, and quests. |
BloodMoonFrequency |
7 days | Creates a predictable weekly preparation cycle. |
BloodMoonRange |
0 | Removes random deviation, so the event occurs exactly on the configured interval. |
| Day/night movement | Walk or jog by day; run at night | Maintains early-game tension without making ordinary travel overwhelming. |
BloodMoonEnemyCount |
About 4–8 per player | Provides a conservative simultaneous-spawn ceiling while you check CPU load and frame rate. |
LootAbundance |
100% | Keeps the default resource economy; this setting changes stack sizes, not drop chance. |
LootRespawnDays |
5–7 in-game days | Lets regular players revisit explored points of interest without making containers refill constantly. |
PartySharedKillRange |
100 units | Retains the documented default distance for shared kill XP and quest-objective credit. |
| Land claims | 1 per player; 41-block size | Provides a simple protected base for each player; review offline expiry if schedules vary. |
Change one category at a time and record the game version, world, and configuration method. That makes it possible to identify whether a change improved pacing, progression, or server performance.
What makes a server feel good for co-op?
Compare a preset on five separate axes instead of chasing one “perfect” number:
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- Pace: day length and Blood Moon interval determine how much real-world time the group has between crises.
- Combat pressure: movement modes, difficulty, and the simultaneous horde limit decide how dangerous travel and defense feel.
- Resource friction: loot abundance and respawn interval control how often players must leave a familiar base to search.
- Co-op convenience: shared-kill range and land claims determine how easily a party can split up while still progressing together.
- Performance headroom: player count, Game Stage, simultaneous zombies, and host hardware interact; a value that feels fine for two players can overload a six-player event.
Make the world genuinely PvE
Set PlayerKillingMode to no killing
The official server reference defines PlayerKillingMode as follows: 0 means no killing, 1 means kill allies only, 2 means kill strangers only, and 3 means kill everyone. Use 0 for a cooperative PvE server. Verify the value after the world loads rather than assuming an inherited configuration was applied.
Disabling player killing does not make the world safe. Zombies, animals, environmental hazards, infection, falling, starvation, and other survival systems remain active. It only removes player-versus-player damage according to the documented rule.
Choose day length and the Blood Moon calendar
Day length is real-time minutes
DayNightLength is expressed as real-time minutes for one in-game day in the server reference. A 60-minute day gives a familiar cycle for a group that can play regularly. A 90-minute day is more forgiving when players need to build, travel to quests, sort loot, or teach a newcomer before nightfall. Longer days also reduce how often the group experiences night and therefore reduce the number of night-time decisions per real-world hour.
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Use a predictable weekly Blood Moon first
BloodMoonFrequency sets the nominal interval. BloodMoonRange adds random deviation around that interval. Setting the frequency to seven and the range to zero produces a horde on the configured seven-day cycle, which gives the party a reliable preparation deadline. The Blood Moon event is complete at 04:00, according to the official Blood Moon reference.
Increase the interval when the group wants a relaxed building server or needs more time to recover from an event. Decrease it only for players who already find the weekly cycle easy and actively want more frequent combat. A random range can add uncertainty later, but it makes it harder for a new group to learn how much preparation a cycle requires.
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Set zombie movement without making ordinary nights miserable
For a mixed-skill party, walking or jogging during the day and running at night is a useful baseline. Daytime travel remains manageable for gathering and questing, while night retains a clear risk premium. Faster settings are best reserved for groups that already understand stamina management, healing, escape routes, and defensive building.
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Movement speed changes the value of every other setting. A fast night mode can turn a modest loot run into a lethal chase, particularly for a new player carrying supplies. If the group raises movement speed, test it on a disposable outing before combining it with a larger Blood Moon count or a higher difficulty.
Blood Moon enemy count: pressure and performance
What the number means
BloodMoonEnemyCount is a simultaneous-spawn limit per player, not a guarantee that the game will always display that many zombies. Official references state that actual counts are also shaped by Game Stage, player count, and other game settings. Multiplayer limits can override the per-player value.
For two to six players, begin around four to eight simultaneous enemies per player. Start at the low end if the host is a modest PC or if several players are new. Increase in small steps only after observing a complete event.
Check the host and clients during an event
- Watch CPU utilization, memory pressure, server tick or simulation warnings, and client frame rate.
- Look for delayed hit registration, rubber-banding, zombies freezing and then moving in bursts, or players disconnecting.
- Test with the largest expected party, not just the host playing alone.
- Keep a written record of the previous count so you can revert quickly.
If performance degrades, lower the simultaneous count before lowering unrelated settings. Reducing enemies directly addresses the workload; increasing day length or loot does not.
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LootAbundance changes stacks, not drop probability
The official server reference explicitly says that LootAbundance affects stack sizes and does not affect the chance for loot to drop. At 100%, a container is not more likely to contain an item than it would be at another abundance value; the quantity in a stack is what changes. This makes abundance useful for reducing carrying and crafting friction, but it is not a way to target a particular rare item.
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Keep 100% while the group learns the economy. If resource handling becomes tedious, raise abundance modestly and observe whether storage, crafting, and transport become easier without removing the need to explore.
LootRespawnDays controls when explored containers refill
Respawn days determine how quickly previously searched points of interest become valuable again. Five to seven in-game days works for players who log in regularly: a location can refill between visits, but the party still has a reason to travel farther. A longer interval makes the world feel more finite and encourages mapping new areas; a shorter interval supports frequent, focused play in a familiar region.
Cross-platform dedicated-server documentation lists five in-game days as the minimum for that environment. Do not set a lower value on a cross-platform dedicated server, even if a local configuration appears to accept it.
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Keep cooperative progression synchronized
Shared kill and quest credit
PartySharedKillRange controls the distance required for shared kill experience and quest-objective credit. The documented default is 100 units. Keep that value when the group normally travels together. If players routinely split into separate buildings or sides of a town, a larger range can reduce missed credit, but it also makes progression less dependent on physical proximity.
Use the smallest change that solves the group’s actual problem. A shared range cannot repair a disconnected party, a quest state that failed to load, or a server setting that was not applied.
Land claims and offline protection
Land-claim settings govern how many claims each player can place, the protected size, spacing between claims, offline expiry, and durability. One claim per player with the documented 41-block size is a sensible starting point for a small co-op base. Review the seven-real-world-day offline expiry if members have irregular schedules; an expiry designed for an active group can surprise someone who is away for a week.
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Keep claim count and size conservative until the group understands how protection interacts with building plans. Expanding every claim immediately can make a shared base harder to manage and can consume protected space needed for future members.
Changing settings in current 3.x builds
Configuration behavior changed in the 3.x line. A current community technical reference reports that version 3.2.0 no longer reads several former serverconfig.xml gameplay properties, including BloodMoonFrequency, DayNightLength, LootAbundance, and XPMultiplier. A companion technical guide explains that these controls are handled through sandbox options, SandboxCode, or the setgamepref command, while some server properties remain in serverconfig.xml.
Use this version-aware workflow:
- Confirm the target build. Record the game version shown by the host and clients. Do not assume a tutorial written for an earlier release uses the same storage location.
- Stop the server and back up the world. Preserve the existing configuration and save before changing values.
- Identify the control type. Check whether the setting is exposed in the current sandbox options, represented in
SandboxCode, accepted bysetgamepref, or still read fromserverconfig.xml. - Apply one change. If using the console route, use the current command format
setgamepref SettingName Valuewith the exact setting name and value supported by that build. - Restart or reload as required by the host. Some options are read when a world starts; changing a file while the server is running may have no effect.
- Verify in the loaded world. Check the actual day length, next Blood Moon timing, player-killing behavior, loot behavior, or event load rather than trusting that a file saved successfully.
- Record the working method. Note the version, setting, value, and whether it came from sandbox options,
SandboxCode,setgamepref, or XML.
Labels and menus can differ between a locally hosted game, a dedicated server panel, and a rented host. If a value appears to save but the world behaves unchanged, restore the backup and try the configuration path documented for that exact build.
Dedicated and cross-platform server limits
The official Help Center states that cross-platform dedicated servers support up to eight players and documents hard limits for several settings. These limits apply to that server environment, not automatically to every local or single-platform setup.
| Item | Documented cross-platform dedicated-server limit | Practical implication |
|---|---|---|
| Player capacity | Maximum 8 players | Plan party size and hardware around the maximum your server actually supports. |
DayNightLength |
At least 10 | Do not configure a shorter day on this environment. |
BloodMoonEnemyCount |
4–64 | Values outside this range are not valid for the documented cross-platform service. |
LootAbundance |
No higher than 200 | Higher values are outside the stated limit. |
LootRespawnDays |
At least 5 | Use five or more in-game days between refills. |
When choosing a hosting service, check its supported game version, player slots, geographic location, backups, mod support, and crossplay status against these limits. A host panel may expose a field that the game later clamps or ignores; the loaded world is the authority.
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These profiles are practical recommendations, not official presets. Keep the PvE rule and verify version-specific limits before applying them.
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| Profile | Pace | Combat | Resources | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relaxed builder | 90-minute day; Blood Moon every 10–14 days; range 0 | Walk or jog by day; run at night; four enemies per player | 100% abundance; seven or more respawn days | Casual groups, new players, and large construction projects. |
| Balanced co-op | 60-minute day; seven-day Blood Moon; range 0 | Walk or jog by day; run at night; four to eight enemies per player | 100% abundance; five to seven respawn days | Most mixed-skill parties of two to six. |
| Combat-focused | 60-minute day; five- to seven-day Blood Moon; range 0 initially | Faster movement only after testing; eight enemies per player, then increase gradually | 100% abundance; five-day respawn | Experienced players who want frequent defenses and can monitor performance. |
Do not change every column at once. Start with the balanced profile, then alter only pace, combat pressure, resource friction, or co-op convenience according to the problem the group is trying to solve.
Troubleshooting common outcomes
The Blood Moon arrives on an unexpected night
Check both frequency and range. A nonzero BloodMoonRange intentionally adds deviation. If the event is still off schedule with range 0, verify that the current build reads the setting from sandbox options or setgamepref rather than the old XML field, then confirm the world was restarted or reloaded.
Loot feels unchanged after raising abundance
Remember that abundance changes stack sizes, not the probability that an item drops. Compare quantities in stacks and confirm the value was applied in the loaded world. If the goal is more frequent exploration, adjust respawn days instead of expecting abundance to create new item types.
The horde causes stutter or disconnects
Lower BloodMoonEnemyCount, test with the full expected party, and watch both server and client performance. Because Game Stage, party size, and game settings also affect actual counts, reducing the per-player ceiling may not be the only required change.
Players miss shared XP or quest credit
Check whether members are farther than the configured PartySharedKillRange. The 100-unit default works when the party stays together; a modest increase can help a group that deliberately splits up. Confirm that everyone is in the same party and that the setting was applied to the active world.
A server-panel edit has no effect
Identify whether the panel writes an XML property that the current 3.x build ignores. Restore the backup, use the supported sandbox, SandboxCode, or setgamepref path for that setting, restart as required, and verify behavior in-game.
A simple tuning routine
- Run one complete ordinary day and one night with the baseline profile.
- Record travel difficulty, resource consumption, missed quest credit, and client performance.
- Run one complete Blood Moon with the smallest expected and largest expected party.
- Change exactly one axis—pace, combat, resources, or convenience.
- Repeat the same observation and keep the change only if it solves a stated problem without creating a new one.
This method keeps a cooperative server understandable. Players can tell whether a better experience came from a longer day, a different horde load, a changed respawn interval, or a wider shared-kill range instead of losing track of several simultaneous edits.
Quick Recap
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