[V3.0] Complete Guide to the “Dead Hot Summer” Update — Players Shape the World

A major update for 7 Days to Die, V3.0 “Dead Hot Summer”, is arriving. Its theme is Player Agency (the freedom to shape the world to your own taste). The Experimental version rolls out via opt-in on Monday, June 15, and the Stable version (Steam/console) is scheduled for June 29 (barring any critical bugs).

“The apocalypse just got hotter. Amid the chaos of Dead Hot Summer, we’re delivering an ambitious systems-level update.”

This page summarizes the release notes in English without omitting any items.

1. 150 Sandbox Settings — Play by Your Own Rules

The biggest highlight of V3.0 is its 150 sandbox customization settings. You can emphasize the elements you like, tone down systems you dislike, or disable them entirely to craft exactly the survival experience you want. Each setting has at least two possible values, and the combinations number in the billions.

You can name, save, and share your created settings (presets) with other players
Numerous special presets prepared by the official team are also included
The classic difficulty presets remain available as well

List of Official Presets

Undead Matinee … A melee-focused, vintage-movie-style mode. Zombies are slow but come in hordes, and ammo is scarce. Features the new “Headshot Finisher” setting
Madmole’s Mayhem … Fewer supplies and harsher penalties. Loss of your belongings and durability loss on death, with relentless pressure
Almost Creative Mode … Nearly creative. A low-apocalypse mode for those who find “dying to be a hassle”
Bite Club … Hardcore permadeath with no respawns. You have one life — use it wisely
Legacy Survival … “2014-style” play that adds modern penalties to old-school survival
7 Days Later … A modern zombie-movie feel. Chaotic hordes of fast zombies
Caveman’s Life … Survive a primitive apocalypse where tools go no further than sticks
Dumpster Diver … A mode that turns trash into treasure (if you use it, it’s not hoarding)
Dying World … A world whose resources are running dry — and so is your lifespan
Disaster Film … Disasters pile up faster than you can repair them
Chibi Mode … Zombies that aren’t just cute but quick. You’ll need to be quick too

2. Item Magnitude — The Fun of Hunting for “Jackpot Gear”

With the new Item Magnitude system, weapons, tools, workstation MODs, and more found as loot can now come with boosted stats.

Boosted stats are highlighted with an orange star, and the values are shown as a teal percentage
Examples: a pickaxe with high block damage, a shotgun with extended range, a machete with increased damage, a cooking pot with faster cook times, and more — the combinations are endless
Every tool and weapon has the potential to roll a boosted stat when looted

The Difference Between “Random Values” and “Boost Values” (Important)

Tools and weapons can still receive random stats as before, and a teal percentage may be displayed. However, only stats shown in orange count as “boosts.” By going through combining, the resulting item can sometimes reach the boost range.

Traders Also Carry Magnitude Gear

Traders now stock magnitude-boosted gear, such as weapons with special boosted stats, creating a high-end economy for advanced players.

M60 Turret Added

As a late-game horde countermeasure, the new M60 turret has been added. It can use all 7.62mm-family ammo.

3. Quality Levels for MODs — Toward Stronger Effects

Tiered quality levels have been added to the various MODs for armor, tools, vehicles, weapons, and workstations.

Higher-quality MODs have stronger effects
Example: the Grave Digger MOD gives +5% dirt damage at quality 1 and +30% at quality 6
However, not all MODs benefit from quality. MODs with simple on/off effects, like the helmet light, remain a single version

4. Combine Station — Merge and Grow Your Gear

With the new Combine Station, you can merge the traits of similar items to gradually boost your gear up to its maximum.

It can also serve as an alternative to repairing
When combining, the highest-percentage stat transfers to the target regardless of quality
Example: even if a quality-1 item has a boost value of 20%, combining it with a quality-6 item applies that boost as a larger effect on top of the quality-6 item’s higher base performance

5. Customizing Repair and Degradation

Various degradation and repair options let players choose just how harsh the “cruelty of the apocalypse” is on their items.

Repair Method: no repairs / repair kit only / combine repair only / both kits and combine
Permanent Repair Degradation: choose 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25% of max durability lost per repair (*the first repair is free)
Death Degradation: choose how much durability is lost on death. It can even be set to a permanent loss of max durability

6. Sign-Tech — Reinventing the Signs of the Apocalypse

In V3.0, the new Sign-Tech system completely overhauls POI signage, adding thousands of signs to POIs throughout the game. Environmental signage for towns, shops, facilities, and ruins is dramatically improved, making the world feel authentic and consistent. POI creators can use the Sign-Tech tools from the Level Design Editor.

Key features available in the editor:

Place canvas/decal signs in various sizes (1×1, 2×2, 3×3, etc.)
Add text, shapes, and noise
RGBA color picker
Layer masks (Color Only / Color And Mask / Mask Only / Punch Out)
Layer warps (Skew / Pinch・Bulge / Twirl / Kaleido / Perspective / Arc / Stretch / Grid)

7. New POIs (Points of Interest)

Over 60 new POIs have been added, expanding the depth and variety of the world. The major ones with disclosed names are as follows.

Tier	Name	Internal Name
T5	Champions Coliseum (soccer stadium)	soccer_stadium_01
T4	Granddaddy’s Cable Regional Service Center	industrial_60_01
T4	Ironwood Paper Mill (paper mill)	industrial_60_02
T4	Beanthere Coffee Company	industrial_60_03
T4	ChemTech Distribution Center	industrial_60_04
T4	Water Treatment Plant	industrial_strip_06
T4	Camp Hollow Point	army_camp_09
T4	Green Hill	army_camp_10
T4	McOivey Farms	farm_18
T4	Sprout & Sons Nursery	farm_20

In addition, two new RWG tile variations have been added for 100×100 commercial and industrial themed POIs, increasing generation opportunities.

8. Main Menu Overhaul

The main menu UI has been redesigned. Visuals and presentation are improved, giving it a darker, more post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Note that a full overhaul of the entire in-game interface is planned for a future update.

9. Crosshair Customization

New crosshair customization features let you fine-tune combat visibility.

Adjust scale, opacity, and color
Configure when and how the reticle is displayed
The settings are consolidated in a dedicated “Crosshair” tab within the general options

10. Beachwear Pack (Cosmetic DLC)

The new cosmetic DLC Beachwear Pack is here. It brings summery, tropical looks to the apocalypse with new outfits, scheduled to release alongside the Stable version. “The world may be ending, but the tan is just beginning.”

11. Modding (Changes for MOD Creators)

The WebDashboard code has been integrated into the game core, so it’s always up to date. There are only two changes on the MOD side:
- References to additional assemblies are no longer needed — you only need to reference the game core’s Assembly-CSharp.dll
- Since the code goes through a publicizer, you may need to make your code that overrides vanilla methods public
Localization.txt renamed to Localization.csv (to accurately reflect its content and make it easier to open in spreadsheet software)
The entitygroups.xml format has been reverted to proper XML elements (the previous text format remains supported as backward-compatible for the time being)
Major internal overhaul and code cleanup of the XUi framework:
- A new binding system moves control from code to XML (documentation on the official Wiki: https://7daystodie.wiki.gg/wiki/XUi)
- Views have been substantially restructured to reduce code duplication. Common attributes/features are provided across view types to improve compatibility (e.g., unifying attribute names for tables and grids, window anchor names, and view pivot names)
- Unnecessary view attributes have been removed. A rect always holds a UI widget, and a panel always holds a UI panel. Rect is preferred over panel whenever possible
- New views video, scrollbar, and scrollview have been added
- The force_hide attribute has been removed; display control is unified through each view’s normal visible attribute
- Tween can now be controlled from XML
- The XUi folder has been renamed to XUi_InGame (to clarify its purpose)
- controls.xml renamed to templates.xml (to resolve confusion between XML templates and XUi controller classes)
- Removed the unnecessary ruleset XML element level from xui.xml
- Templates can now be used as windows
- Numerous small bug fixes across views, controllers, and the framework as a whole

12. All 150 Sandbox Settings

Here is the complete list of the 150 settings available in Dead Hot Summer (by category).

Player Settings: Ranged Damage / Melee Damage / Block Damage / Terrain Damage / Headshot Multiplier / Damage Taken (Player) / Walk Speed / Run Speed / Crouch Speed / Jump Strength / Stamina Recovery / Stamina Consumption / XP Multiplier / XP Display / Stat Bonus per Level / Skill Gain Rate / Skill Gain Amount / Death Penalty / Loss on Death / Number of Items Lost on Death / Death Degradation / Death Degradation Amount / Drop on Death / Drop on Quit / Infection Rate / New Player Buff / Encumbrance / Jar Refund

Entity Settings: Enemy Spawn / Max Enemy Tier / Enemy Density / Enemy Respawn / Biome Animal Respawn / Enemy Damage Dealt / Damage Taken (Entity) / Enemy Block Damage / Blood Moon Block Damage / Headshot Mode / Entity Health Bar / Entity Damage Display / Zombie Day Speed / Zombie Night Speed / Zombie Feral Speed / Zombie Blood Moon Speed / Feral Sense / AI Smell Mode / Zombie Rage / Zombie Digging / Zombies Prey on Animals

World Settings: Global Game Stage / Biome Game Stage / Biome Progression / Temperature Survival / Max Tech Type / Outdoor Workstations / Blood Moon Frequency / Blood Moon Range / Blood Moon Count / Blood Moon Warning / Air Drop / Air Drop Spread / Storm Frequency / Storm Warning / Heatmap Sensitivity / 24-Day Cycle / Daylight Length / Air Drop Marker / Map Allowed / Compass Allowed / Screen Marker Allowed / Position Display / Date & Time Display

Resource Settings: Max Loot Tier / Global Loot Stage / Biome Loot Stage / POI Loot Stage / Loot Respawn Days / Loot Timer / Loot Bag Drop / Loot Abundance / Food Abundance / Drink Abundance / Medical Abundance / Ammo Abundance / Resource Abundance / Armor Abundance / Melee Weapon Abundance / Ranged Weapon Abundance / Currency Abundance / Magazine Abundance / Treasure Map Chance / Mining Yield / Crop Yield / Seed Drop / Resource Yield / Crop Growth

Crafting Settings: Crafting Progression / Max Crafting Tier / Magazine Progression / Backpack Crafting / Workstation Crafting / Forge Type / Crafting Timer / Crafting Cost / Crafting Yield / Scrap Yield / Dew Collector Timer / Dew Collector Yield / Dew Collector Input / Beehive Time / Beehive Yield / Beehive Input / Item Degradation / Repair Method / Repair Degradation

Trader: Enable Trading / Enable Vending Machines / Trader Hours / Trader Protection / Trade Dialog / Global Trader Stage / Max Trader Tier / Trader Stock Count / Vending Machine Stock Count / Trader Reset / Vending Machine Reset / Sell Price / Buy Price / Trader Purchase Limit

Task Settings: Challenges / Quests / Intro Challenges / Intro Quests / Trade Routes / Buried Quests / POI Quests / Quests per Tier / Quests per Day / Base Skill Points

Other Settings: Vehicle Fuel Consumption / Vehicle Entity Damage / Vehicle Block Damage / Vehicle Self-Damage / Power Output / Kill Effects / Big Head / Tiny Zombies / Gravity / Funny Sounds / Black & White Display

13. For Server Admins: SandboxCode and Removal of Legacy Properties

With the addition of over 150 sandbox settings, some legacy options previously configured in serverconfig.xml have been migrated to the new SandboxCode XML property.

For server admins who want to continue their V2.6 save data:

In the in-game sandbox settings menu, recreate the settings from your old serverconfig.xml
Copy the generated code
Paste it as the value of the SandboxCode property in your V3.0 serverconfig.xml

* We have notified the various server providers in advance, but you may need support from your provider when configuring these settings. Note that the published default SandboxCode value is a setup equivalent to the old “Adventurer (=1)” difficulty setting.

List of removed/migrated legacy properties:
GameDifficulty / BlockDamagePlayer / BlockDamageAI / BlockDamageAIBM / XPMultiplier / DayNightLength / DayLightLength / BiomeProgression / StormFreq / DeathPenalty / DropOnDeath / DropOnQuit / JarRefund / EnemySpawnMode / EnemyDifficulty / ZombieFeralSense / ZombieMove / ZombieMoveNight / ZombieFeralMove / ZombieBMMove / AISmellMode / BloodMoonFrequency / BloodMoonRange / BloodMoonWarning / BloodMoonEnemyCount / LootAbundance / LootRespawnDays / AirDropFrequency / AirDropMarker / QuestProgression / DailyLimit

Release Schedule

Category	Date
Experimental (opt-in)	Monday, June 15
Stable (Steam/console)	Scheduled for June 29 (barring critical bugs)

* For details on V2.6 save data compatibility and server settings, please refer to the “For Server Admins” section above.

Our server will also be testing and adapting in line with V3.0. Please share your impressions of the new features, strategies, recommended sandbox settings, and more in the site’s comment section, the community forum, or Discord!