HordeForge is an open-source engineering collective dedicated to pushing the performance, stability, and scale limits of 7 Days to Die dedicated servers.

Our suite spans low-level Mono/IL reverse engineering, a zero-allocation native server rewrite in Zig, adaptive C# runtime overload governors, continuous eBPF/GC telemetry, synthetic 100+ client protocol load generators, neural combat bots, 1:1 GIS planetary terrain streaming, and server-side behavioral anti-cheat.

HordeForge projects follow a strict evidence-driven development loop:

flowchart TD
    subgraph Research ["📜 Reverse Engineering & Specs"]
        RES["hordeforge/7dtd-engine-research<br><b>📜 Schematics</b><br><i>IL Decompilation & Protocol Specs</i>"]
    end

    subgraph CoreRuntimes ["🚀 Core Dedicated Server Engines"]
        ZDTD["hordeforge/zdtd-server<br><b>⚡ BloodWire</b><br><i>Native Zig Dedi Engine</i>"]
        OPT["hordeforge/7dtd-server-optimizer<br><b>🔥 Crucible</b><br><i>EfficientServer Governor</i>"]
    end

    subgraph LoadAndGuard ["⚡ Load Testing & Security"]
        LOAD["hordeforge/7dtd-loadgen<br><b>😱 Screamer</b><br><i>100+ Bot LoadGen</i>"]
        GUARD["hordeforge/7dtd-server-guard<br><b>🛡️ Landclaim</b><br><i>Behavioral Anti-Cheat</i>"]
    end

    subgraph TelemetryAndWorld ["📊 Telemetry & World Engine"]
        APM["hordeforge/7dtd-server-apm<br><b>☣️ Geiger</b><br><i>Server APM & Profiler</i>"]
        REAL["hordeforge/7dtd-realearth<br><b>🌍 Pangea</b><br><i>1:1 GIS Earth Engine</i>"]
    end

    subgraph ContentPipeline ["🏭 Mod Content Pipeline"]
        SHAM["hordeforge/7dtd-asset-pipeline<br><b>🏭 Shamway</b><br><i>Gated AssetBundle Build</i>"]
    end

    subgraph ModHost ["🧫 Mod Host & Sandbox"]
        QUAR["hordeforge/7dtd-wasm<br><b>🧫 Quarantine</b><br><i>Wasm Mod Sandbox Host</i>"]
    end

    subgraph BotAndAutomation ["🤖 Automation & Scenario Testing"]
        PLAY["hordeforge/7dtd-playtest<br><b>🛡️ Vanguard</b><br><i>Scenario Test Runner</i>"]
        BOT["hordeforge/7dtd-fps-bots<br><b>🤖 Clanker</b><br><i>Tactical FPS Bots</i>"]
        CONN["hordeforge/7dtd-fastconnect<br><b>⚡ Hotwire</b><br><i>Direct IP FastConnect</i>"]
        SAFE["hordeforge/7dtd-sandbox<br><b>🏠 Safehouse</b><br><i>Lab Instance Isolation</i>"]
    end

    RES --> ZDTD
    RES --> OPT
    RES -->|Asset URI & Bundle Rules| SHAM

    LOAD -->|Synthetic Protocol Clients| ZDTD
    LOAD -->|Synthetic Protocol Clients| OPT
    LOAD -->|Protocol Validation| GUARD

    APM -->|Baseline & eBPF Metrics| OPT
    APM -->|Evidence Regression Gate| LOAD

    PLAY -->|Real-Client Fidelity| ZDTD
    PLAY -->|Real-Client Fidelity| OPT
    PLAY -->|Direct IP Join| CONN
    SAFE -->|Isolated Instance, Ports, Config| PLAY

    OPT --> GUARD
    OPT --> REAL
    OPT --> BOT

HordeForge maintains the canonical 7 Days to Die Modding Best Practices Guide for V3.2.0+ (Henpocalypse). Key engineering rules include:

• Mod Hierarchy: Clean separation between XML XPath modlets, compiled C# Harmony DLLs, and standalone native server engines.
• Load Order Rules: Alphabetical Mods/ scanning conventions, 0_ prefixing for early-loading performance governors, and ModInfo.xml specifications.
• EAC-Off Guidelines: Rules governing Easy Anti-Cheat enforcement (-noeac) for C# code mods while maintaining vanilla client join compatibility.
• Asset URI Protocols: Texture, UI atlas, audio, and AssetBundle URI formatting (#@modfolder:...), gated offline by 🏭 Shamway.
• Distribution Hygiene: Flat zip structures (Mods/<FolderName>/ModInfo.xml) preventing nested directory bugs.

Four tiers, one direction of dependency (ADR 0001):

A run picks two axes rather than one fused target: who owns the server process (managed on a Safehouse instance, or attach to one already running) and which server is under test (stock dedicated or BloodWire). A suite declares the world it needs as serverconfig properties, so an A/B of one setting is two suite files differing by one line.

1. Evidence Over Claims: Lower CPU usage alone is not an acceptance criterion. Performance improvements are validated using identical worlds, seeds, duration, and bot counts captured via 7dtd-server-apm.
2. 20 TPS Target: Dedicated servers operate on a strict 50 ms tick budget (20 TPS). We optimize for low latency, zero GC pauses, and bounded memory allocation.
3. Clean Boundaries: Measurement (7dtd-server-apm), optimization (7dtd-server-optimizer), client testing (7dtd-loadgen), and security (7dtd-server-guard) live in independent repositories and DLLs.
4. EAC-Off C# Modding: All C# code mods require Easy Anti-Cheat to be disabled (-noeac) on the server. Vanilla clients can join 7dtd-server-optimizer and zdtd-server without client-side mods.

All HordeForge projects are licensed under open-source software licenses (MIT or Apache-2.0).

7 Days to Die is a registered trademark of The Fun Pimps Entertainment LLC. HordeForge is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Fun Pimps.