Fixed: Hytale Assets.zip Corruption on Linux Dedicated Server
The Assets.zip file is the cornerstone of any Hytale dedicated server, containing over 3GB of models, textures, and world-gen data. On Linux systems, particularly those using older versions of unzip or tar, this file can become partially corrupted during transfer or mapping, leading to a NullPointerException on startup. This guide covers the 2026 fix.
๐ฆ Symlink vs Copy
Many server managers use symlinks for Assets.zip to save space. However, if the source file is updated while the server is running, the symlink mapping can break.
๐ ๏ธ Zip64 Verification
Hytale's assets use the Zip64 format. Standard Linux check commands like unzip -t may report false positives if they don't support files over 2GB.
How to Repair Assets.zip
1. Use the Hytale-Downloader Integrity Check
The official Hytale Downloader CLI includes a built-in hash verification tool. Instead of redownloading the whole 3GB, you can run a repair command:
./hytale-downloader repair --path ./bin/Assets.zip2. Fix "Too Many Open Files" Error
If your server fails to load the assets despite the file being valid, you may have reached the Linux ulimit. The Hytale engine opens thousands of small file handles inside the zip. Increase your limits in /etc/security/limits.conf:
* soft nofile 65535
* hard nofile 655353. Clearing the Asset Cache
Hytale generates a cache/ directory where it extracts common shader data. If your server crashed during the initial load, this cache might be corrupted. From your Hytale root directory, run:
rm -rf ./bin/Server/cache/*Note: Assets.zip must be in the /bin/ folder relative to the HytaleServer.jar. If you moved the jar file without updating the working directory, the server will fail to find the assets even if they are present on the disk.
Enterprise-Grade Reliability
Storage corruption is often a sign of failing hardware or poor disk choice. At Supercraft, we host Hytale on redundant RAID-10 NVMe arrays with ZFS checksums, ensuring your Assets.zip never experiences a single bit-flip.