HumanitZ Server Performance Optimization Guide

HumanitZ Server Performance Optimization Guide

The HumanitZ dedicated server is an Unreal Engine simulation: it runs zombie, bandit and animal AI, vehicles, loot spawners and network replication for every connected player. Most lag on a busy server comes from how much AI the world keeps alive and how cluttered the world gets over weeks, and HumanitZ gives you direct settings for both.

Every key on this page is taken from REF_GameServerSettings.ini, the reference file shipped with the dedicated server, checked against the 1.1A build of 20 October 2026. The game has no tick rate, network rate or "max active zombies" setting in its server config: guides that show [ZombieSettings] or [NetworkSettings] sections describe keys the server does not read.

Monitoring Server Resources

# CPU and memory of the server process (Linux):
top -p "$(pgrep -f HumanitZServer-Linux-Shipping | head -1)"

# The server's own log, which prints the settings it loaded at start:
tail -f HumanitZServer/Saved/Logs/HumanitZServer.log

At start the log lists values such as ZombieSpawnMulti = 1.0, BanditSpawnMulti = 1.0 and AI event set to Default. If a value you changed does not appear there with your number, the server did not read it.

AI Population: the Biggest Lever

Zombies, bandits, zombie dogs and animals are the main CPU cost. Each population has a multiplier and a respawn timer in [World Settings]:

[World Settings]
; 2 = twice as many, 0.5 = half as many.
ZombieAmountMulti=1
HumanAmountMulti=1
ZombieDogMulti=1
AnimalMulti=1
; Minutes before each population respawns. 0 disables respawning.
ZombieRespawnTimer=90
HumanRespawnTimer=90
AnimalRespawnTimer=90
; Raids on player locations: 0 = off, 1 = low, 2 = default, 3 = high, 4 = insane.
AIEvent=2

On a full server, ZombieAmountMulti=0.7 and HumanAmountMulti=0.7 cut the AI load noticeably while the world still feels dangerous. Longer respawn timers help too, because a cleared area stays cheap for longer.

Change the population live with RCON

The RCON commands shipped with the server change the same values without a restart, which makes them the right tool to test a number before you write it into the file:

overridezeekmulti 0.7
overridebanditmulti 0.7
overrideanimalmulti 1
overridezeekrespawntime 120
suspendspawners true    ; despawns all AI and pauses spawners, false resumes

Once a value works, write it into GameServerSettings.ini so it is the value the server starts with.

Map Spawn Segments

The server divides the map into grids and spawns the objects of a grid cell when someone is inside it. MapSeg0 covers objects that must appear from far away, such as houses; MapSeg1 covers broken cars and similar props. The value is the grid size: MapSeg0=12 means a 12 by 12 grid.

[World Settings]
MapSeg0=12
MapSeg1=20
MapSeg2=60

The developers' own advice is to leave these as they are unless you are tuning performance against spawn distance. Older configs that write Seg0, Seg1 and Seg2 use names the current server no longer reads.

Autosave

[World Settings]
; Seconds between world saves. 0 disables autosave.
SaveIntervalSec=300

A save is a short burst of disk work. The default of 300 seconds is a sound balance; do not set 0 to chase performance, because a crash then loses everything since the last manual save. If saves cause visible hitches on a large, built-up world, the storage is the problem: run the server on SSD or NVMe.

Keep the World From Filling Up

A server that runs for weeks accumulates dropped items, abandoned bags, unfinished blueprints and claimed cars. These timers keep that under control:

[World Settings]
; In-game days before dropped pickups are destroyed. 0 = never.
PickupCleanup=6
; Added in 1.1: in-game days before a dropped, unworn backpack is purged. 0 = never.
BackpackCleanup=0
; Minutes before an unbuilt white blueprint piece is removed. 0 = never.
FakeBuildingCleanup=3000
; Real days before a building with no spawn point protecting it fully decays. 0 = off.
BuildingDecay=7
; Real days, from the owner's last login, before a claimed car loses its owner. 0 = off.
RecycleCar=14

1.1 also fixed guard towers that kept leftover items after being damaged and caused server instability, so a 1.1 server is the baseline to measure from.

Time Passing on an Empty Server

[World Settings]
; When true and the server is empty, time does not pass.
FreezeTime=true

Keep it on for small groups: the in-game clock and the season stand still while nobody is online. Building decay is counted in real days, so it continues either way.

Common Performance Anti-Patterns

• ❌ Raising every population multiplier at once: zombie, bandit and dog counts stack. Raise one, measure, then the next.
• ❌ Disabling autosave: it trades a small, regular cost for losing the world on the next crash.
• ❌ Never cleaning up: with PickupCleanup=0 and BackpackCleanup=0 a busy PvP server collects thousands of dropped objects.
• ❌ Sharing the machine with other game servers at peak time: competing processes take CPU exactly when the AI load peaks.

Scheduled Restarts

A restart at a quiet hour returns memory the server has accumulated. Before restarting, save from RCON with save, or use QuickRestart, which saves and restarts in one minute.

Professional Hosting

On Supercraft the population multipliers, respawn timers, autosave interval and cleanup timers are fields in the server's configuration screen, and a scheduled restart is a setting rather than a cron job. Host your HumanitZ server with Supercraft on NVMe storage.