How to Add More Ram to Project Zomboid & Improve Performance

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As juggernaut I produce a variety of content for youtube. Among other things I make Let's play's and first impressions/reviews of different video games that I find interesting. I also try to upload a video every single day, so, all that said I'd like to invite you to check my channel out and if you find it entertaining, subscribe !
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[@prolux4952]

Thanks man, I've always played with a ridiculous amount of mods this has helped massively.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Happy to help ^_^

[@doublevisionmedialiaisons2235]

This worked and helped a lot. Haven’t read all comments but if you have to load with the alternative method (giving you a command screen) - I noticed it said system32 NOT system64. So it’s best to change both the versions. 64.json and 32.json

[@stephankuebler762]

AFAIK - Java 32 Bit is allways limited to max 4GB by Windows...

[@doublevisionmedialiaisons2235]

@@stephankuebler762 actually I had to do more than just change the json files. I had to only change the minimum memory of the 64bat file as well. No maximum. Then only load the game via the 64bat file. I love this game but the devs expectation that people need to change Java and programming files to make it actually work is disappointing. Hopefully build 42 works better regarding this.

[@general-cromwell6639]

Great stuff, this has made a huge difference for me. On a taxing moment...in a vehicle, thunderstorm with heavy rain and hordes of zombies...my frame rate would tank, single digits. Even a normal drive with maxed out view...I'd drop into mid 20 FPS...I'm cruising around now with 60+ FPS thanks to your tip. Thanks much. All the best. Cheers.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Awesome, happy to help ^_^

[@albertovieira4844]

Gratitude! I don't have time to go to the forum and that's why I don't keep up to date with these details. I always found it strange that even though you have a great setup with 32 GB and there are still crashes and slowdowns in Zomboid. Now I understand where the flaw in the code is. The code itself should check the amount of available memory and use it for the game. It's something that the developers would have resolved if they put a simple option to be activated in the settings menu. It's regrettable... Thank you for passing this tip on to us! I didn't know and I love Zomboid! Thank you very much! I'm subscribed to your channel!

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Yeap, but ram is only a part of the issue, the game has problems with something called chunk loading and that causes a lot of lag even on the most powerful systems. The devs said they will fix it in the next big patch. ^_^

[@albertovieira4844]

@@JuggernautSPQR Once again, thank you very much my friend! The PZb42 is generating a lot of expectation, I hope it comes out in the first half of the year. And I definitely hope it's not like beta anymore.

[@Blaq_Phantom]

This helped out so much. Thank you for your content. you have a sub from me.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@Blaq_Phantom Thank you for the kind words, means a lot to me ^^

[@danielafonso6835]

mine doesn't change a thing still only use 3 of ram

[@Degofhas]

For me rasing xmx does not change much, but rasing xms helps quiite a bit. I still have stutters when driving or zooming out.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

I do as well, it's not just down to the ram usage other optimization things need to be done to the game, they said those are coming in the next big update, but the ram boost helps a bit especially if you use lots of mods.

[@martane665]

your help got you my sub! thanks man!

[@Mango7678]

When i set it to the amount of ram i want and i exit out it resets it back to what it was.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Yeah I've seen people complain about this before. It will reset every time there's an update for PZ, that you can't get around but from day to day I think turning off auto updates on steam for PZ might help. If not, there were a few other fixes I saw on reddit for it, but they were a bit complicated. The odd thing is it doesn't happy to everyone for some reason. I would try turning off auto updates for the game first and if that doesn't work, I can link you a few reddit threats were people tried different things so you can try your luck there.

[@Mango7678]

@@JuggernautSPQR Ok thank you I will try that

[@DrVonBoogie]

For anyone playing this on Steam Deck, what's the recommended amount to update?

[@Mitsurugi2424]

Since the game is setup with only the xmx value by default, why not just set xms to the 10g rather then setting a min and max?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

You could try it although I think this is better for overall performance of your computer. Now if you have like 200gb of ram who cares but if you have 16 or 32 this is the more optimal solution in my understanding, because the game will use the max amount of ram only if it needs to, and we're increasing the minimum amount because it's ... well a bit stupid and sometimes thinks it needs less than it actually does :)

[@user-kl4ss1wp4e]

What application do you use to open the JSON file?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@user-kl4ss1wp4e notepad ++

[@romkoshkaryov7450]

I think there is also a rule not to use more than half of currently installed RAM, i remember that from minecraft RAM settings but i do not remember why

[@JuggernautSPQR]

You can use more then half you just need to keep a certain amount for your PCs other functions. For example I have 32 gigs I can easily get away with using 20 gigs and I did in MC, but you always want to leave some for the generic windows background stuff like your browser your system apps etc.etc. if you don't it can crash your pc and cause other issues

[@OnBean-qe1vf]

I think that it was more like for a few mods, don't use more than 7-8 gigs of RAM because Minecraft doesn't know how to use it correctly and you can even lose performance. I think that it scales with the number of mods used? But I'm not sure

[@Leboobs22]

You can add as much ram as you want to minecraft if you install a specific program. Basically dedicates everything possible to just minecraft; like as if minecraft is the OS. Can't remember it for the life of me; been a few years

[@hikid2907]

I did everything right and checked the task manager but it still show that max is 3gb help

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@hikid2907 try increasing the minimum to like 6, see if it changes anything. Also check to make sure that you actually saved the changes. If you have two monitors keep an eye on it while playing see if it gets to the max while running around or driving.

[@Zeo60409]

my problem is that my cpu spikes from 30% to 98 back and forth every second no idea why I have a ryzen 7 3700 and it randomly happens I log off the game play for a bit then randomly again spikes up and down....

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Hmmm I'm not sure it could be an OS problem. I previously had a horribly bloated windows with a billion things on my system drive because I've had that computer for ages, after I formatted it my CPU problems went away. I had the same issue of very high CPU usage for no reason. If it's not that I don't really know what it could be other than some mining virus.

[@un.inspired6507]

I did this now my project zombid won’t open help help😭

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@un.inspired6507 You probably added too much ram

[@Hunter-jo8ud]

I have 32 gb ram but when i zoom out its lagging anyway but thats a problem of the game. I heard this will be fixed in the new update.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Yeah it's a complicated issue related to chunk loading, at least that's what I heard. Using this ram allocation fix helps a little bit but there's still a fair bit of lag when you zoom all the way out. It's most noticeable when driving around bing hordes.they said they'll work on It

[@ottmarvargas375]

I have a problem, I looked for a solution in all the forums but apparently no one knows anything about it. has nothing to do with this video (pretty good btw) I installed the britas, gunfighter and modoptions mod but when Im in the game, I cannot open or close the inventories when I am walking and much less if I am running, I literally have to stop all action and only then k can access the inventory and other panels in the Left (or close them), do you have any idea why this is happening? thank you

[@JuggernautSPQR]

I've used all 3 of those mods and in fact still am if you check out my lets play and I'm not having those issues and never had. I'm sorry to say it's the first time I've heard of this, you could tinker with the settings see if there's something there, try changing from windowed mode to full screen to borderless, maybe that helps?

[@ottmarvargas375]

@@JuggernautSPQR thanks sir

[@usher2664]

Do I load the game with “alternate launch” or the default launch?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

I'm not sure what you mean by alternate launch? I just run it via steam.

[@efekan_gness]

can you tell me the location of the place at the beginning of the video please?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

The in game location? It's north of the "large gated community" in Louisville. It's 3 houses all surrounded by unbreakable fences and a long fenced way into the area you can easily block it. Easily one of the safest places in the game :) you can find it over on map.projectzomboid.com/ just look to the east of town.

[@Thomas_2413]

I dont have the " xmx" line. Can someone help me ?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@Thomas_2413 is everything else the same except for that one line? If it is you can just copy how my document looks like in the video and it should work, if there are more differences you might be looking at the wrong file.

[@Leboobs22]

He clarified that in the video; if you paid attention then you would have known that it doesn't appear and you have to copy it and paste it

[@SmolFemboyShark]

Now I can finally play 16x population without watching a slideshow of my survivor getting torn apart

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@SmolFemboyShark well.. partially. Ram isn't the only problem I the game performance is also affected by other things, this provides a boost and gets rid of some stutter but it's not that massive. Hopefully the next update will let us do that they made some insane promises when it comes to optimization

[@SmolFemboyShark]

@@JuggernautSPQR it’s still something

[@POPSAHH]

So i thought my pc couldnt handle it but it is this (My pc specs: RTX 3080, AMD RYZEN 7 5800X, 32gbs of ram)

[@JuggernautSPQR]

That's a top tier PC right there unless you're playing in 4K and even then it'll do just fine ;)

[@nikamir1997]

If i have 8gb ram how much value should i set for the minimum?

[@captaincrumble837]

Whatever amount you go with, just make sure you have around 2gb spare for your computers background operations.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@captaincrumble837 Yeap, exactly, So I would do let's say 4 minimum 6 maximum. Me and a few other people on reddit figured that keeping the lower maximum higher helps a lot too so yeah ^^ But since you only have 8 gigs of ram make sure you turn off as many background things as you can like the browser and other programs you're not using.

[@robertesparza4684]

I've ran into a slight problem. I've allocated ,at, most 14 Gigabytes of RAM to the Project Zomboid Game. Now, honestly, I DO have Modded Maps, items, and Zombie mods in to the game, but I digress. Anyways. I'm about 2 days in game time playing it. And when it reached 14 Gigabyte limit, it completely crashed the whole game and my PC! Only problem is, I can't tell if It's the map mods, the item mods, or if it's because my PC doesn't have enough RAM to keep up. What should I do to prevent more RAM related Crashes? Thanks for the feedback.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

How much Ram do you have in total? If you're running a 16gig setup then you can't allocate 14 to the game. I would do 10 max, windows, your browser and the background apps take up a lot of it and it can cause crashes.

[@Gwimbley]

Does the Ram still work if Zomboid is closed like let's say I changed the max to 10 would it be reserved just for Zomboid and I'd have to change it to play something else with it? Like does it apply like a regulsr game that once the games closed its back to whatever is next like if I turned on another game and I had 32 Gigs total itd go back to 32 free for other games and not just permanently have 10 gigs solely dedicatedto Zomboid? Sorry if Im not explaining/asking well! Thanks for the help been trying to get the Mall working without massive amounts of lag.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

It only allocates the ram to zomboid when you're actually running the game. So if you have 32 gigs you can allocate let's say 20 and it will use 20 only when the game is running. Once you turn it off you will have all 32 free (we'll not literally since windows always uses some of that but you get the idea)

[@Gwimbley]

@@JuggernautSPQR Thank you very much! Much appreciated!

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@Gwimbley ofc, happy to help ^_^

[@Gwimbley]

So I copied your settings I have 64 GB of DDR5 but don't want to go overkill on poor Zomboid😂. It seems the Game will just hard stop on the minimum I set I have the 16 max and 6 minimum but it'll go up to 5.8 or 5.9ish then not Continue so should I just make it 16? As the minimum? Or a number closer?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@Gwimbley it seems that the minimum you set is more important than the max, if you have 64 gigs you can set 12 as minimum no problem, personally I would go for that see how the game behaves. Definitely put more than 6 you have tons of free ram just sitting idle ;)

[@hikid2907]

How do you check if it works or not where do you go ?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@hikid2907 well you can launch the game once, play for a bit, see if you notice anything different. Exit and go back to the file, if the changes are still there you added more ram. You can also open the task manger and keep and eye on how much ram the game is using, not that if you set the minimum at 6 the game can still to like ~5gb usage but it shouldn't go below that, at any rate the usage will be considerably higher than before doing the tweak.

[@hikid2907]

@@JuggernautSPQRI did everything right but the max memory is 3g max

[@hikid2907]

It doesn’t seem to work

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@hikid2907 how much did you set the minimum and maximum at and how much ram does your system have?

[@hikid2907]

@@JuggernautSPQRI have 8g max so I put 6g xmx inside the file and I am also trying to put xms to 6g while xmx is 8

[@joaopaulocespedes8715]

in linux?

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@joaopaulocespedes8715 no idea sorry :(

[@ScissorSeven-7]

This game runs on old java and adding more ram to it just causes errors and makes it worst.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

Minecraft runs on java and adding ram makes it run twice as well. That and I've been using this ram trick for about a month now with no errors and just better performance. I suggest you try it before you criticise :)

[@ScissorSeven-7]

@@JuggernautSPQR Its not same for everyone. For me adding more ram dosen't change anything and makes it stutter more and give me error on my Intel i9 14900K and Rtx 4090. Reducing the ram fix all the issue. You think i'd yap here without trying things myself? Its merely a comment from my own experience

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@ScissorSeven-7 fair enough, how much total ram do you have and what did you set the minimum and maximum to? The only time I've seen errors is if you overdo it, ie give the game too much memory to work with which makes your system unstable.

[@ScissorSeven-7]

​​@@JuggernautSPQR I have 64gb DDR5 ram and i tested from 3gb to 32gb using that method and server also crashes higher than 8gb ram and it becomes worst the more you give it. Oh i forgot to mention I'm talking about multiplayer as a host.

[@JuggernautSPQR]

@@ScissorSeven-7 ahhh yeah that's different, 32 might be too much for the game try what I did with min/max and don't go above 16 see if that gives you better performance/errors. A small increase shouldn't have any negative effects only positive