Game-Hangout · Project Zomboid
Play Project Zomboid with friends — without renting a server
The dedicated server on a friend's PC, Steam Workshop mods, one list for everyone. No rented box.
Free. No account. Server files: 6.7 GB, once, on the host's PC.
How it works with Project Zomboid
Somebody hosts
The app downloads the Project Zomboid server files (6.7 GB), starts the server on their PC and opens an encrypted tunnel to your friends. No port forwarding, no router settings.
Friends join
From the app or through an invite link. They see the world card, press join, and they are in — with the same mods as everybody else, automatically.
The world follows
When the host logs off, the next one to start picks the world up right where it was. An always-on PC of your own can hold it overnight. Optional.
Mods on Project Zomboid
Steam Workshop. You pick the mods in the app, the list travels with the session, and everyone runs exactly the same set in the same order — the thing that breaks most modded Zomboid evenings.
Required items are spotted before the start. A mod that declares itself for another build is shown as what it is — the author's claim, not a verdict — and if the server still refuses to start, the bisect finds the culprit.
What it costs you
Nothing hidden — this is the trade:
- Somebody's PC is the server. When they go to bed, the game goes with them — until the next one starts it. Your ping is your internet.
- Everyone needs the app and their own copy of Project Zomboid. The host also needs the server files — 6.7 GB on disk.
- The first start asks for admin rights. It creates a real network adapter — that's the price of never touching port forwarding.
Common Project Zomboid problems
Mods not loading in multiplayer
Nine times out of ten somebody's list differs from the server's. In Game-Hangout the list is shared in the session, so everybody's app pulls the same Workshop items in the same order — there is no copying of mod IDs.
A Workshop mod says it is for Build 41 only
That is the author's tag, and tags lie in both directions. The app shows the claim next to the mod and lets the server's own test decide: start it, and the verdict says which mod really did not load.
How big are the server files?
About 6.7 GB, measured from Steam's own manifest. They are downloaded once, on the PC that hosts; everybody else just needs the game and the app.
Get your evenings back
Every release is signed, and the app keeps itself up to date from then on.
Download for Windows