How To Reset Your Project Zomboid Server

If your Knox Event has gotten a bit too chaotic, your mod list is tangled up, or you just want to start a fresh survival run with your friends, resetting your server is the way to go.

Whether you just want to wipe the map and keep your settings, wipe the entire server for a completely clean slate, or just clean up one problem area without touching the rest of your world, it is a quick process right from the MintServers panel. No worries, let us get that server reset and running like new.

Method 1: Generating A New World (Map Wipe)

If you want to keep your current mods and server settings but just want to start with a fresh map and reset all player progress, you can simply delete your save folder.

1. Log into your MintServers panel and completely stop your Project Zomboid server.
2. Navigate to the Files tab on the left-hand sidebar.
3. Use the file manager to locate your world folder. Follow this exact path:

4. Click Delete and confirm that you want to wipe the folder.
5. Head back to your Console and click Start. Your fresh new world will begin generating!

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Method 2: Completely Resetting Your Server (Full Wipe)

To get a completely clean slate and remove all mods, configurations, and settings, we need to clear out the old files first and then run a fresh installation.

1. Log into your MintServers game panel and click the Stop button. Always make sure your server is completely offline before modifying or deleting files.
2. On the left-hand sidebar, click on Files to open your file manager.
3. Select all the files and folders in your main directory. You can easily do this by checking the master box at the very top of the file list.
4. Click Delete and confirm that you want to wipe the files.
5. Now that your file manager is empty, navigate to the Settings tab on the left sidebar.
6. Click on the Reinstall Server button. Confirm the prompt to begin the process.
7. Wait for the installation to finish. This might take a few minutes as it downloads fresh Project Zomboid files directly to your server.
8. Once it finishes, head back to your Console and click Start to generate your fresh files!

Method 3: Resetting Specific Parts Of The Map (Advanced)

Sometimes you don't want to wipe the whole world, you just want to clear out one problem area. This is useful if a town has been looted completely dry, item clutter in a heavily-played area is causing lag, a section of the map got corrupted or glitched, or you want to add a new map mod to an existing save without a full wipe. Project Zomboid actually stores its map in small individual chunks, so it is possible to delete just the files for a specific area and let the game regenerate that one spot fresh, while leaving the rest of your map, your base, and every player's characters and inventory completely untouched.

Your world data is stored inside the same MintServers save folder from Method 1. Within that folder, your map is broken up into three companion sets of files that all use the same grid of coordinates:

• map - the actual terrain, buildings, and world layout.
• chunkdata - the contents of containers and loot in that area.
• zpop - zombie population data for that area.

To fully reset one area, you need to delete the matching files from all three, otherwise you can end up with mismatched results, like a freshly regenerated town that still has an old, over-looted container sitting in it.

Option A: Using A Chunk Cleaner Tool (Recommended)

The safest way to do this is with a community tool that shows you a visual map and lets you click to select what to remove, rather than trying to manually match coordinates to filenames yourself. We recommend HDRcade's PZ B42 Map Cleaner, since it is built specifically for the current Build 42.13+ save structure and automatically detects existing player safehouses so you don't accidentally wipe someone's base.

1. Stop your server, then connect using an SFTP client. See our How to Connect via SFTP guide if you haven't set this up before.
2. Navigate to server/.cache/Saves/MintServers and download the entire folder to your computer. This is also your backup, so keep a copy safe.
3. Open the PZ B42 Map Cleaner tool in your browser and load your downloaded save folder.
4. Use the map to select the area you want to clear. Existing safehouses are marked automatically, and you can use the dry run option to test your selection before committing to anything.
5. Export the cleaner's generated script and run it against your downloaded save folder as instructed by the tool.
6. Using your SFTP client, upload the cleaned files back into server/.cache/Saves/MintServers, overwriting the originals.
7. Start your server back up.

Option B: Manual Deletion

If you would rather not use a third-party tool, you can identify and delete the files yourself.

1. Stop your server and back up your save folder as described in Option A.
2. Open the official interactive map at map.projectzomboid.com and enable the grid overlay. The yellow numbers shown in the corner of each grid square correspond to the coordinates used in your save file and folder names.
3. Using an SFTP client, navigate to server/.cache/Saves/MintServers and locate the matching files or folders across map, chunkdata, and zpop for the coordinates you want to clear.
4. Delete the matching files from all three locations.
5. Start your server back up and have a player walk into the affected area. Project Zomboid will detect that the data is missing and regenerate that section fresh, complete with new loot and a reset zombie population.

If your server gets stuck during any of these processes or refuses to boot up after starting, no worries! Just open a support ticket and our team will gladly instruct you on how to get your survival world back online.