How to Update Your 7 Days to Die Server
Where game updates actually happen on GameGrid, what the platform does during one, and why restarting is not an update.
Why Updates Matter
7 Days to Die clients update themselves through Steam. When The Fun Pimps publish a patch, your players get it whether they want it or not. A server still on the old build answers "version mismatch" and nobody can join.
Major releases can change save formats, so take a backup before a big one. The Backups tab is on the left of your server.
Restarting Is Not Updating
This is the single most common misunderstanding, so it is worth being blunt: stopping and starting your server does NOT pull a new game build. The start path launches the files that are already on the host.
Game updates happen through the Admin tab. Everything below is there.
The Game Updates Card
Open your server and go to the Admin tab. The first card is Game Updates.
It shows which build your server is running. If it says the build has not been reported yet, the host has not checked in since that was recorded - it fills in on the next check-in.
"Automatically apply game updates" is a switch. Leave it on and new builds are applied for you.
When a new build is detected, the card shows an "Update available" badge with the version and, where we have one, a short summary of what changed.
The "Update now" button applies it immediately, whether or not auto-update is on. If auto-update is off, the card says so - the build will not be applied on its own.
What Happens During an Update
The platform backs your server up, warns anyone playing, stops the server, moves it to the new build, and starts it again.
Players get a countdown in the game console before the stop, starting five minutes out with reminders as it gets closer. The countdown is a courtesy, not a veto - the update goes ahead at the end of it.
A server with nobody on it is updated straight away with no countdown.
The whole thing usually takes several minutes; a large build takes longer because the host has to download it first.
The request is recorded before the work starts, and the card is updated with the real outcome - including the actual error text - when it finishes. A failure is reported as a failure, not glossed over.
If the new build fails to come up, the platform rolls back to the previous one.
Branches
GameGrid installs 7 Days to Die from the public (stable) Steam branch, App ID 294420. There is no branch selector in Settings and no way to put a server on the experimental branch yourself.
If your players are on the Steam experimental branch they will not be able to join. Have them switch back: right-click 7 Days to Die in Steam, Properties, Betas, and select None.
Always Backup Before a Major Update
The platform takes its own backup as part of an update, but take a manual one too before a major release - it is labelled, it is yours, and it does not age out with the automatic ones.
Backups tab, "Create Backup Now". Give it a label so you can find it later.
If an update breaks your world, restore that backup from the same tab. Note that a world restored from before an update may not load on the new build, so if you restore, expect to be talking to support about which build you need.