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Facing the Blood Moon

The “Horde Night” (Blood Moon) is the signature challenge of 7 Days to Die (7D2D). On scheduled intervals, the sky transforms into a menacing red, and relentless waves of zombies aggressively hunt down every survivor in the world. As a server administrator, you have the power to fine-tune this encounter to align with the skill level of your community and the performance capabilities of your hardware.

Difficulty

Beginner Friendly

Time

5 Minutes

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Horde Configuration Parameters

These essential settings are managed within the serverconfig.xml file.
  • BloodMoonFrequency: Specifies the exact number of days between each horde event. The default value is 7 days.
  • BloodMoonRange: Introduces a random variable to the schedule. For instance, a frequency of 7 with a range of 2 means the horde could strike unpredictably between Day 5 and Day 9.

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Balancing Performance and Challenge

Optimizing your horde settings is a delicate balance between providing a visceral challenge and maintaining server stability.
The default BloodMoonEnemyCount is 8 zombies per player. While increasing this value to 32 or 64 creates a significantly more intense experience, it can also lead to severe server lag. The CPU must calculate complex pathfinding for every active zombie in real-time. If you experience “Z-Warping” or frame drops during the Blood Moon, reducing this count is the most effective solution.
You can manually trigger a Blood Moon or skip ahead in time using the console (F1) to verify your configurations:
  • settime <day> <hour> <minute> - For example, settime 6 21 00 allows you to test the transition into a Day 7 horde event.

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Pro Tip: Dynamic Difficulty

If your server features a mix of veteran and new players, consider using the BloodMoonRange setting. This unpredictability prevents players from over-preparing for a specific night, keeping the survival element fresh and engaging.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: January 2026 | Combat: Face the undead challenge.