Installing as the User and Setting up Steam (Windows 10) – by Zamirathe

Installing the mod can be a daunting task, but I am here to walk you through it one step at a time. This is how I do it, but if you wish to just install it into your main install of 7 Days to Die that is fine.Just know that if you install it into your main 7 Days to Die install, it could get corrupted/removed/broken with any update The Fun Pimps pushes to the main game.

Download the Mod

1. Downloading the mod is easy. Go to the forum thread to find the latest download link.
   
2. This will let you download the latest build. Click on the 3 dots to the right.
3. Choose Download zip.
   
4. Wait for it to finish downloading. It will be several Gigabytes in size.
5. Open the downloaded zip file in your zip program of choice. I use 7zip which is free
   .
6. You should see a window with the zip contents. Move it to the side for now. the screenshot is from Alpha 19. In Alpha 20, there is no data folder.
   

Make a Copy of your 7 Days to Die Install

Being able to keep my different modded games separate from each other is important to me, so first I make a copy of my Vanilla 7 Days to Die install.

1. Open up File Explorer (the folder icon) and go to your steam install directory where your 7 Days to Die folder is located. This is usually C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\ but it could be another folder like my setup.
2. Now right click on your Vanilla 7 Days to Die folder and choose Copy.
   
3. Right click outside of the folders and choose Paste. This will create a copy of your 7 Days to Die Install.
   
4. Once it is done copying, rename the folder to whatever you like. I use 7 Days To Die AOO for this example.
   

Copy the Files into the new folder

1. Go into your new copy of 7 Days to Die.
2. The latest version of the mod will only have a Mods folder. Versions older than Alpha 5 have both Data and Mods folders. Drag and drop the folder(s) into a blank white space outside in your game copy. 
   

Setup Steam to see this Copy of 7 Days to Die

1. Open Steam. Go to Steam at the top of the Window and choose Add a non-steam game.
   
2. Click on Browse.
   
3. Navigate to the copy of your 7 Days to Die install with AOO installed. Once you click on the 7 Days to Die exe (or EAC version if you plan on connecting to public servers) click on Open.
   
4. Now click on Add Selected Program.
   
5. You will now be able to start your modded 7 Days to Die game within Steam.
   
6. Let’s make it easier to tell them apart and rename the modded copy. Right click on the game name and go to Properties. Now you can type in the name field and change it to something to let you know which one is which.
   

Playing Age of Oblivion 7 Days to Die

This is really easy. Just go to your modded copy you added in Steam and click Play. It will still show as vanilla 7 Days to Die is running, come up on anything you allow Steam to broadcast as you playing.

Have fun in the Age of Oblivion!

Coming soon.

Updating as the User (Windows 10) – by Zamirathe

Updating the mod is simple once you know what you are doing. I am here to walk you through it one step at a time.

Download the Mod

1. Downloading the mod is easy. Go to the forum thread to find the latest download link.
   
2. This will let you download the latest build. Click on the 3 dots to the right.
3. Choose Download zip.
   
4. Wait for it to finish downloading. It will be several Gigabytes in size.
5. Open the downloaded zip file in your zip program of choice. I use 7zip which is free
   .
   

Delete the Old Mod Files

1. Go to your game folder where Age of Olivion is installed. (If you were running Alpha 5 or later, skip to Step 7.) Go to the Data Folder.
   
2. Go to the Prefabs folder.
   
3. If you have a zip of the older version of the mod, open it in your zip program. I use 7 zip. (I rename my zips after installing with their version so I can keep them straight and use for reference later to verify any file changes.)
   
   
4. Inside the zip, go into the Data folder, then the Prefabs folder.
   
   
5. For Alpha 20 Alpha 4: Delete the AOO Folder, skip to Step 7.
   For Alpha 19: In the game folder, sort the Prefabs by Date Modified so the latest files are on top. For me, this always puts the Age of Oblivion files at the top and easy to see which is vanilla and which is not. If you just installed 7 Days to Die, this might not work for you. You can verify which files are from the mod if you have a copy of the previous mod version so you can select the right files.
   
6. Once you have found all the mod files, highlight each of them and delete them. If they are all together, you click on the top one, hold shift while you click the bottom of the group to highlight them all, then delete. You have 3 options to delete. Right click on one and go to delete, click on delete at the top of the window, or simply press your delete key on your keyboard.
   
   
7. Now return to the main game folder and go into the Mods folder.
   
   
8. Assuming you haven’t installed any other mods alongside Age of Oblivion, highlight all the folders and files and delete them. If you have installed another mod, obviously do not delete that mod’s folder.
   
   
9. IMPORTANT! If you had a previous version zip open to verify files to delete, CLOSE IT before continuing so you don’t accidentally copy over older files.
   

Copy the New Version Files into the Folder

1. Open the new zip, usually called Latest.
   
2. The latest version of the mod will only have a Mods folder. Versions older than Alpha 5 have both Data and Mods folders. Drag and drop the folder(s) into a blank white space into your game folder.
   
   
3. All done!
   

Have fun in the updated Age of Oblivion!

Coming soon.

How to Install Age of Oblivion – Part 1 (User) – Zamirathe

How to Update Age of Oblivion – Part 1 (User) – Zamirathe

Installing and Setup of a Server with AOO (Windows 10 with RDC) – by Zamirathe

So you have decided you want to play with friends, or create a community, and want to setup a server. More fun for everyone! I am here to walk you through how I setup my LAN servers.

Assumptions

1. You are hosting on a Windows machine/server hosting.
2. You have access to Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) to the Server or at least access to the Desktop (say if this is another computer with a monitor).
   

If you do not have either of these things, please speak with your host on how to add the mod the server. In many cases it is just a matter of uploading it and unpacking it into the server folder, but not always.
If you are hosting a server from your own computer and playing, please note that the server will require up to 16Gb of RAM to run as will the player, so 32Gb RAM minimum. You also need to have a very good CPU as both can spike your CPU during hoards.

Get the Mod Zip File to the Server

1. If you are on the server via RDC and can use a browser, you can download the mod same as a player would. Go to the forum thread to find the latest download link.
2. . Click on the 3 dots to the right, then choose Download Zip.
   
   

OR

1. You can move your downloaded zip from your player computer to the server computer using ftp or some other means to get it on to the server computer. I usually move it via network connection since mine is a LAN setup, but ftp works for remote servers.
   
2. Open the downloaded zip file in your zip program of choice. I use 7zip which is free.
   

Make a Folder to Hold your Server

All of my servers are separated out into different folders appropriately named with which one it is. This is critical if you are running more than one server on a machine.

1. Right click on the Desktop, go to Folder, then click on New.
   
2. Rename the folder to whatever you want to recognize it as the server you plan to create.

Install 7 Days to Die using Steamcmd

1. If you haven’t already installed Steamcmd, do so now. (7 Days to Die Dedicated Install guide with a link to steamcmd install guide.)
   
2. I installed the copy for our server to C:\steamcmd to make it easy to remember where it is.
   
3. Open Command Prompt. Go to the search box, type in cmd, then click on Command Prompt. (It may show up in recent after the first time you do this.)
   
4. At the prompt navigate to your steamcmd folder. In my case the command becomes “cd C:\steamcmd”.
   
5. Type “steamcmd” and hit Enter to start steamcmd. Then type “login anonymous” and hit Enter. 7 Days to Die does not require a real account to download the server.
   
6. Now tell steamcmd where to install the game. In my case, I will point to my new folder. Type “force_install_dir C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\7d2d-aoo-test\”. Replace yourusername with your computer username. Verify it is the correct path with the folder you created earlier. Once verified, hit Enter.
   
7. Now tell steamcmd to install the game. Type “app_update 294420” and hit Enter.
   
8. Once it is done installing you’ll be back at the steamcmd prompt. You can type “exit” and Enter to exit steamcmd. Then type “exit” and Enter again to close Command Prompt.
   

Change the Settings of your Server and Make a Backup

Here is where you can play with the vanilla settings of your server. Follow the dedicated server guide with different things you can change. This is separate from the mod. At the very least, change the server name, password if you want one, whether it is public, and the map if you are not doing Navezgane.

1. Right click on the server_settings file and edit. I use Notepad++ to edit my config files, it is free.
   
2. Change the settings to how you want your server setup and then save the file.
3. Now make a backup copy in case any surprise updates come along that may wipe out your newly changed settings. Right click on the server_settings file and click Copy.
   
4. Now go to a blank white area outside of the files or folders, right click and choose Paste.
   
5. Now that you have a copy, rename it to say backup. You can also move it outside this folder to another folder or the Desktop if you want.
   

Install Age of Oblivion

Finally we can install the mod! This is the easy part.

1. Highlight the folder(s) from your zip file in your zip program, and drag them into your server folder to copy them over. Alpha 4 and previous had Data and Mods as in the screenshot. Alpha 5 and later only has Mods.
   
2. Once done copying you can add other mods that are compatible, change any settings you might wish, but otherwise AOO is now installed.

Start the Server and Start Playing

1. To start the server open Command Prompt again. Search bar, type cmd and click Command Prompt.
2. Now tell command prompt to go to your new folder. For me since it starts on C:\Users\yourusername\, type “cd Desktop\7d2d-aoo-test” and press Enter.
   
3. Now start the server. Type “.\startdedicated” and press Enter. The period and slash is required.
   
4. The server will now start and will take a while to load. If this is your first time starting the server, it will take a lot longer than later startups as it has to generate the world. Larger RWG maps will take longer and will depend on your setup. My system took 40 minutes to generate and start an 8k RWG map server the first time, but subsequent loads only took 5 minutes to load up. You’ll know it is done when it gives you an approximation of the external ip that it is broadcasting on.
   

As a note, if you ever get asked for the output log from the server for troubleshooting errors, it is located in your 7daystodieserver_data folder.

Connecting to the Server

1. Now that the server is up and running, players should be able to connect to it. If the server is set to public, it will show up in the public server list. Otherwise, you can connect via ip if you know the server ip. As mine is a LAN server, I connect via our LAN ip.
   
2. Now you can play on your very own Age of Oblivion 7 Days to Die server with friends or community!
   

Coming soon.

Updating of a Server with AOO (Windows 10 with RDC) – by Zamirathe

Assumptions

1. You are hosting on a Windows machine/server hosting.
2. You have access to Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) to the Server or at least access to the Desktop (say if this is another computer with a monitor).
   

If you do not have either of these things, please speak with your host if you cannot adapt these steps to your setup. It is a matter of deleting files and replacing them with newer versions, but each host is different.

Make sure you have shut down your server and made a backup of your save games before updating.

Get the Mod Zip File to the Server and Open your Server Folder

1. If you are on the server via RDC and can use a browser, you can download the mod same as a player would. Go to the forum thread to find the latest download link.
2. . Click on the 3 dots to the right, then choose Download Zip.
   
   

OR

1. You can move your downloaded zip from your player computer to the server computer using ftp or some other means to get it on to the server computer. I usually move it via network connection since mine is a LAN setup, but ftp works for remote servers.
   
   
2. Open the downloaded zip file in your zip program of choice. I use 7zip which is free.
   

Delete the Old Mod Files

1. Alpha 20 Alpha 5+: Skip to Step 4.
   Alpha 20 Alpha 4: Delete the AOO folder. Skip to Step 4
   Alpha 19: In your server folder, go into the Data folder, then the Prefabs folder.
   
   
2. Sort the folder by Date Modified so the most recent files are at the top. This should let you see the Age of Oblivion files easier and select them easier. Otherwise you will need to find them one by one.
   
3. Highlight all the mod prefabs and delete them.
   
   
4. Go back to the main server folder.
   
5. Go into the mods folder.
   
6. Highlight all the mods in the folder. If you have any other mods besides Age of Oblivion, obviously you do not want to highlight those. Then delete all the Age of Oblivion files and folders from this mods folder.
   
   
7. Return to the main server folder.
   
8. In the latest mod zip, highlight the Data and Mods folders.
   
9. Drag and drop them into a blank white space in your server folder to copy them over.
   
10. Once the copy is complete, you are all done!

Coming soon.

How to Install Age of Oblivion – Part 2 (Server) – Zamirathe

How to Update Age of Oblivion – Part 2 (Server) – Zamirathe