Upload a Project Zomboid save to your server

Bring a Project Zomboid world you already play onto your server: a game you hosted from your own PC, or a save from another host. The Worlds tab takes the save as a zip, installs it as a new world beside your current one, and switches to it when you say so.

Before you start

1. Check the build. A Build 41 save needs a Build 41 server. The Game build card in Server Settings shows Build 42 (current) or Build 41 (legacy), and switching it is covered in Project Zomboid: getting started.
2. Add the same mods. A save made with Workshop mods needs those mods on the server before it loads. Add Workshop mods to Project Zomboid shows how.
3. Stop the server. The game holds its world open while it runs, so Import stays greyed out until it is stopped.

Find the save on your PC

Project Zomboid keeps saves in a Zomboid folder in your user folder:

A game you hosted from the main menu is under Saves/Multiplayer/<world name>. Its folder holds files such as map_meta.bin and players.db, and a lot of small map files.

A single-player game is under Saves/<game mode>/, such as Saves/Sandbox or Saves/Apocalypse, in a folder named after the date you started it (for example 2026-10-21_22-45-12).

From another host, download the same folder over their file manager or SFTP. It sits in their Zomboid/Saves/Multiplayer/ (some hosts put it under .cache/Saves/Multiplayer/).

Zip it

Zip the world's folder itself. On Windows, right-click it and pick Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder. The panel finds the save up to three folders deep inside the zip, so a zip of its parent folder works too.

Import it

1. Open your server's Worlds tab.
2. Under Import a save, drop the zip on Drop your save .zip here, or click to browse.
3. When the upload finishes, the zip shows in the list below. Press Import on its row.
4. Set the World name: letters, numbers, dashes and underscores. It can't match a world already on the server.
5. Leave Switch to it now (copies the current settings across) ticked to play on it straight away.
6. Press Import save, then start the server.

The Done box lists each step the panel took. Wait for *** SERVER STARTED **** in the Console, then join.

What comes across, and what doesn't

The import installs the save folder only: the map and everything built, dropped and stored in it.

• Settings don't come with it. With Switch to it now ticked, the new world copies your current world's Server Settings and sandbox rules. Change them after the import if the old world used different ones. A single-player save is the exception for sandbox rules: it brings its own (see the FAQ).
• Accounts don't either. Each world has its own account list, so players log in again (on an open server their first login makes the account) and you set roles again in the Players tab.
• Maps from Workshop mods go in Maps and spawn regions, further down the Worlds tab. Add each map by its folder name and press Save maps.

Switch back and forth

Every world stays on the server. The Saved worlds list shows them all, with Active on the one that loads.

1. Stop the server and press Back up first. Wait for the backup to finish in the Backups tab.
2. Press Switch to this world on the world you want.
3. Tick Copy the current world's settings across if that world has none yet if it has no settings file of its own, and confirm with Switch world.

The world's name is the World / Save Name in the Startup tab, so switching changes that, too.

If it doesn't load

• Couldn't find a Project Zomboid save (no map_meta.bin) inside that zip. - the zip holds something else, often the whole Saves folder with nothing inside it, or a single file. Zip the world's own folder and try again.
• That's not a .zip - the panel takes zip files only. A .rar or .7z needs unpacking and zipping again.
• A world called ... already exists - pick another name. - choose another World name.
• The server boots into a fresh world - check the World / Save Name in Startup matches the imported world, and that the mods and maps it needs are added.