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Editor Tool

The Editor is a standalone program that lets you test and set up the mod outside of the game. It simulates the zombie movement on your computer so you can see how your settings will work before using them in 7 Days to Die.

The Editor does NOT require the game to be running - it's a standalone preview tool.

Download

As of version 1.1, the Editor is no longer included with the mod and must be downloaded separately from the releases page. Download the appropriate version for your platform:

  • Windows: WalkerSim2-Editor-Windows-x64-{version}.zip
  • macOS: WalkerSim2-Editor-Mac-arm64-{version}.zip
  • Linux: WalkerSim2-Editor-Linux-x64-{version}.zip

Extract the zip file and run the Editor executable.

WalkerSim Editor

Working With Configuration Files

Loading a Configuration

To load an existing configuration file:

  1. Click File > Load Configuration
  2. Browse to your config file (usually WalkerSim.xml)
  3. The Editor will load all your settings

Common locations to load from:

  • Mods/WalkerSim2/WalkerSim.xml (the default mod config)
  • <7 Days to Die>\Data\Worlds\<World>\WalkerSim.xml (world-specific config)
  • %APPDATA%\GeneratedWorlds\<Your World>\WalkerSim.xml (generated world config)

Try the example configurations

Download any of the example configurations and load them directly into the Editor to see different movement behaviors in action. This is a great way to understand how processors interact before building your own setup.

Saving Your Configuration

Once you're happy with your setup, you must save it to use in the game:

  1. Click File > Save Configuration
  2. Choose where to save it:
    • Save to Mods/WalkerSim2/WalkerSim.xml to use for all worlds
    • Save to your world folder to use for one specific world only
  3. Click Save

Important: The Editor only previews your settings. You must save to use them in the game!

Saving and Loading Simulation States

The simulation state (.bin files) contains all zombie positions, health, and current behaviors. These files are automatically created by the mod when the game is running.

In the Game:

  • The mod automatically saves the simulation state every 60 seconds to walkersim.bin in your world's save folder
  • This preserves all zombie data when you exit the game
  • When you reload the world, the mod loads this file so zombies continue from where they were

In the Editor:

You can load these game-generated state files to test from a specific point:

  • Load State: Simulation > State > Load State - Loads a walkersim.bin file from a game save
  • Save State: Simulation > State > Save State - Saves the current editor simulation to a .bin file

This is useful for:

  • Testing how your configuration changes affect an existing game save
  • Debugging specific situations that happened in your game
  • Continuing editor work from where you left off

Note

State files include zombie positions and the configuration that was active when saved. The world size must match or the state cannot be loaded.

Main Settings

World

Pick a map to preview. This loads the map so you can see where zombies will go. The map choice is not saved - it's just for testing.

Other Settings

Most settings here match the settings from the Base Parameters page. Click on any setting to see what it does.

Movement Systems and Processors

This section lets you set up Movement Systems and Processors.

You can:

  • Create groups of zombies with different behaviors
  • Set how fast each group moves
  • Choose what zombies do when they spawn
  • Add behaviors like "stick to roads" or "chase loud noises"

Display Options

The View menu controls what is drawn on the map and how the camera behaves. These only affect the preview display, not the simulation or your saved configuration.

  • Zoom > Reset / In / Out (also Ctrl + and Ctrl -)
  • Pause Rendering freezes drawing while the simulation keeps running
  • Layer toggles: Biomes, Roads, Road Network, Cities, Prefabs, Inactive Agents, Active Agents, Events

Testing Your Setup

Starting the Preview

  1. Click Simulation > Start (or press F5) to begin
  2. Watch zombies move around on the map
  3. You can change settings while it's running (some settings need a restart)

Simulation > Stop (or Shift+F5) stops the preview, and Simulation > Reset resets the simulation back to its initial state.

Speed Controls

Use Simulation > Speed to change how fast the preview runs: 1x, 2x, 64x, 128x, or 256x. Higher multipliers fast-forward the simulation so you can quickly observe long-term behavior such as the population ramp, respawns, and city migration. Simulation > Advance One Tick (or F7) steps the simulation forward a single tick, useful for inspecting movement closely.

Note

Very fast speeds might not be accurate. After speeding up, slow back down to normal speed and let it run for a bit to see the real behavior.

Tools

The Tools menu interacts with the running preview. For the location based tools, pick the option from the menu and then click on the map.

Emit Sound

Tools > Emit Sound > (distance) creates a noise of the chosen radius at the spot you click. This tests if zombies move toward loud sounds (needs a sound-aware processor such as WorldEvents).

  • The circle shows how far the sound travels
  • Zombies should start walking toward it

Kill

Tools > Kill... kills all zombies in a circle where you click. This tests if zombies come back (respawn) properly.

  • The circle shows which zombies will die
  • Watch to see if/where new zombies appear

Players

Spawning and despawning happen around players, so you need at least one player to preview spawn behavior.

  • Tools > Add Player adds a player to the simulation. Add more than one to test multiplayer spawning.
  • Once a player exists, a Players submenu lists each one. For any player choose:
    • Change Location, then click on the map to move that player
    • Remove to delete that player from the simulation

Preferences

Settings > Preferences... opens the Editor preferences:

  • Theme: Changes the appearance of the Editor
  • Pan Button / Zoom Modifier: Which mouse button pans the map view and which modifier key is used for zooming
  • User Data Folder: Overrides where the Editor looks for game data such as generated worlds. Only set this if you launch the game with -userdatafolder=<path>, the default is %APPDATA%/7DaysToDie
  • Detected Game Folders: Game installations auto-detected from Steam and the registry, these are always scanned for worlds
  • Additional Game Folders: Extra folders to scan for worlds, useful for custom install locations

Summary

  1. Load a configuration to start with (or use the default)
  2. Adjust settings and test with the preview
  3. Save your configuration when you're happy with it
  4. Put the saved file in your mod or world folder
  5. Launch 7 Days to Die to use your settings

The Editor is just for testing - always remember to save your configuration!