Black screen when creating server

[SkinnyBunny]

I'm trying to create a server to coop with a friend, but as soon as i finish character creation I get a black screen, i've tried waiting a lot, clicking, etc to no avail and pressing escape returns to the main screen.

 

I know this has to do with mods, because if i disable everything it does work, but the weird part is that I know for sure it's not a specific mod, it seems to depend on the amount of mods the server has, and the size of them. For example, having 4 big mods enabled will cause this black screen, but having 10 small ones wont. I'm super confused since around the time Louisville released I was able to create a server with basically my entire modlist enabled with no issues. I've tried increasing the server memory too, nothing changed

 

here's console.txt after I got the black screen and returned to the main menu

console.txt

 

 

[SkinnyBunny]

Sorry for the late response, I just tried a public server with plenty of mods and everything went fine. I usually assign about 6gb of RAM to the server but i've tried 2 and 8 too when trying to solve this issue

[Beard]

Hm, I would probably recommend trying to enable just a single mod to see if it causes a black screen, it is possible that one of the mods or a combination of them specifically is causing the issue.

[Beard]

Well, have you tried diagnosing whether it isnt a specific mod? Try adding the big mods you mentioned just one by one and see if the issue happens.

[SkinnyBunny]

It happened with many mods in a way that implies there's some sort of limit, for example:

 

I started adding one mod, running the server, adding another, running again, and so on. Then I got a black screen when I added Authentic Z, so I disable everything BUT Authentic Z, server runs fine, start adding mods one by one again, black screen again once i add Filibuster Rhymes' Used Cars. And just like with Authentic Z, server runs fine if only Used Cars is enabled. This happens with any mod that's kinda big like those two

 

I also tried not enabling any of the bigger mods and instead use a bunch of smaller ones, black screen too. Tried many combinations, it seems like any combination of mods that surpasses some kind of threshold just doesn't let me run the server

[SkinnyBunny]

A single mod doesn't cause it, tried with many, its only when i start combining them, specially the big ones but none in specific.

 

Furthermore, i started playing with my friend today but he's hosting now, and he straight up copied my modlist, everything enabled, running smooth. I also just tried reinstalling project zomboid entirely, disabling any kind of antivirus, even tried using an older version from around the time I could run the server and the black screen is the same. I'm guessing something unrelated to pz in my computer is messing with the game

[Beard]

I would have to assume that it has to be related to some of the mods causing issues when enabled together and I recommend experimenting with that, the logs themselves dont show any mod errors so I cannot really provide a lead on that.
Though what you can try is hosting a dedicated server instead? Those usually handle mods much better:
 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2682141370

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2682570605

[Beard]

In that case, can you replicate the black screen issue and after that share the console.txt file, coop console file and the whole "server" folder? Since we would need all of them to check for the issue exactly, see what the server logs show and what the config for the server is and so on.

[SkinnyBunny]

Dedicated server solved it, thanks

[SkinnyBunny]

just deleted the console text files and the server world to start fresh, launched, ran the server, black screen, went back to menu and quit

server.rar

[Beard]

There doesnt seem to be anything specifically shown as an error, how much RAM are you assigning to the server? And can you join a random public server that has a lot of mods as well for example to see if you can connect to it?