Reset Your Project Zomboid World

A reset puts your Project Zomboid server back to day one: the map, every base and every character go, and a fresh world generates on the next start. Your settings, mods and whitelist accounts stay. If you only want fresh loot and zombies in a few towns, the Worlds tab has a softer option too, covered below. Checked against Build 42.21, October 2026.

Before you reset

1. Stop the server. The game holds its world open while it runs, so Reset world stays greyed out and the Worlds tab shows Stop the server to change worlds.
2. Open the Worlds tab and press Back up first, then watch the backup finish in the Backups tab. A reset can't be undone from the panel, and the backup is how you get the old world back (How to create and restore backups).

Reset the whole world

1. In the Worlds tab, find the world marked Active under Saved worlds.
2. Press Reset world. A confirmation opens.
3. Hold the Hold to reset the world button until it fills (about three seconds).
4. The Done box reads Deleted the save for <world>; a fresh world generates on the next start.
5. Start the server. The first boot takes a few minutes longer than usual while the game builds the new world. Wait for Your server is online in the Console before anyone joins.

What goes and what stays

The reset deletes the world's save folder, .cache/Saves/Multiplayer/<world>. That folder holds the map, everything built or stored in it, and the characters.

These stay:

• Settings, in .cache/Server/<world>.ini and <world>_SandboxVars.lua.
• Mods and maps, which are listed in the same settings file.
• Player accounts, so the whitelist and everyone's role still work. Each player makes a new character on their next login.

Start a second world instead

If you might want the old world back, keep it and start another. In the Startup tab, change World / Save Name to a new name (letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, up to 64) and start the server. The game makes a new world under that name, and the old one stays on disk in Saved worlds. Each world has its own settings files, so check Server Settings after the first boot. You can switch back from the Worlds tab with Switch to this world.

Soft wipe: fresh loot and zombies in chosen towns

The Soft wipe card sits at the bottom of the Worlds tab and works on Build 42 worlds. A Build 41 server shows a note saying so.

1. Pick towns under Towns to reset, or fill in West X, North Y, East X and South Y for an area by tile coordinates. map.projectzomboid.com shows them. A town's edges are worked out from where players spawn, so they are approximate.
2. Leave Keep safehouses on to protect claimed buildings and the chunk around them.
3. Press Preview. It counts the saved map chunks that would reset, or says Nothing to reset: nobody has been there since the world was made.
4. Stop the server, then press Back up and wipe and hold the confirmation. The panel takes a backup first and waits for it.

Loot, zombies and buildings in those places come back fresh the next time a player goes there. Characters, settings and mods stay.