STEP 0 : CLEAN YOUR GAME (optional but recommended)

This first step is not strictly required but it can help prevent issues, especially if you've installed Project Zomboid a long time ago and have a bunch of outdated files in your Workshop folder. Here's how to do a thorough clean of your game:

1. Head to the Project Zomboid Workshop in Steam. Choose Browse > Subscribed items

2. Click Unsubscribe from All on the right side and give Steam a second to work its magic

3. Go back to your library, click Project Zomboid, then go to the gear icon on the right and choose Manage > Browse local files. This will bring up your game folder.

4. In the address bar, click steamapps to go up two levels, then click Workshop > Content > 108600 to navigate to PZ's Workshop folder.

5. If there are any folders left in here, delete all of them. This gets rid of old mod data that hasn't been properly cleaned for some reason. Keep the folder open.

6. Uninstall your game via Steam and let the process finish.

7. Navigate back to where your game was installed: steamapps > Common > ProjectZomboid. If this folder still exists after uninstalling, delete it.

8.Delete your "Zomboid" config folder. This one is typically found here: C:/Users/YourName/Zomboid ("Zomboid" being the folder in question!)

9.Reinstall the game.

STEP 1 : DOWNLOAD THE MODS AND THE PRESETS

Make sure Project Zomboid is installed on a drive with plenty of space left - The mods will also be downloaded onto this drive and the main collection is over 10 GB in size. Please install the game on a decent SSD or your load times will increase exponentially.

Navigate to the collection's Steam page, found here: COLLECTION

Scroll all the way to the bottom until you see the item list. Click Subscribe to all. It will ask you if you'd like to overwrite your own subscriptions or if you only want to add new mods. Choose whichever works for you.

Unsubscribe from the mod that DAMN Library and subscribe to the mod that DAMN Library Reworked. This is so you can use the KI5 collection in MP. (otherwise you can't join)

Download my preset archive:
Server[mega.nz]

STEP 2 : PLACE THE PRESET FILES IN YOUR CONFIG FOLDER

Find your config folder. THIS IS NOT YOUR GAME FOLDER Navigate to C:/Users/YourName/Zomboid
( /home/username/Zomboid/ on Linux!)

1.1. If the folder is missing, run the game through Steam once and it'll generate.
Open the ZIP archive you've downloaded before. Inside, there are three folders. Drag and drop all three folders into your Zomboid folder. THIS IS NOT YOUR GAME FOLDER

Note: This will overwrite any mod presets you may have created with Mod Manager. To keep your own, do not overwrite saved_modlists in the Lua folder. To keep multiple presets, simply add the text that defines the preset to the bottom of the file, or simply make a backup of your saved_modlists file.

Double, no, triple-check if you've used the correct folder. If you placed the ZIP archive into it as-is, you've done it wrong. If you took the files out of the folders, you've done it wrong. If you've extracted anything into your "ProjectZomboid" folder (which is your game folder), you've done it wrong.

STEP 2: Make sure you've allocated more RAM to your own client.

**WARNING:** 32 GB of RAM are recommended to host and play at the same time.

Do NOT allocate all of your available RAM to the game & server!

If you only have 16 GB, try running the server at 6 GB max. Better yet, consider hosting dedicated or renting a server.

Not doing this will cause bad performance, timeouts and crashes!
1) Close the game entirely
2) Go to Steam
3) Find Project Zomboid in your Steam library
4) On the right side of the screen, click on the small gear icon
5) Scroll to Manage
6) Select Browse Local Files
7) Scroll down in the folder that opens until you find "ProjectZomboid64.json"
8) Right click on that file and open it with Note Pad
9) Scroll down in that file until you find the section with the header VMargs
10) Find the sub-line under that header labeled "Xmx3072m"
11) Highlight "3072m" and replace it with "12g" (for 12 GB of memory, if your computer can handle this)
12) Close the file and accept changes
13) Project Zomboid will now be able to use up to 12 GB of RAM
14) If you are using Alternate Launch of just want to make doubly sure this setting sticks, open the ProjectZomboid64.bat file with Notepad and find "-Xmx", set this to the same value as above.

STEP 3 : LOAD UP THE PRESET INGAME

Start Project Zomboid through Steam AFTER all of the mods have finished downloading
In the main menu, click Mods to open the mod menu

In this list, scroll down and find "Mod Manager". Double-click to enable it AND NOTHING ELSE. Hit Okay and let the game do a LUA reload
Head back into the Mods menu - It should now look different thanks to Mod Manager

At the bottom, find the dropdown menu and select the current 700+ preset to activate the correct mods and sort your load order. Click Okay and let the game reload (this will take longer now since it's loading a lot of mod files)

NOTES:
IF THE PRESET DOES NOT SHOW UP IN THE DROPDOWN, GO BACK TO STEP 2
DO NOT CLICK 'ENABLE ALL': THE PRESET IS THERE FOR A REASON
RED AND WHITE MODS AFTER LOADING THE PRESET ARE NORMAL

STEP 4 : CHECK YOUR SETTINGS AND START PLAYING

First of all, head to Options - Display and make sure "Use double-sized Textures" is ENABLED

STEP 5: Skipping Downloads by Copying your Local Mods

Note: This step is optional, but can help circumvent the issues with Workshop not downloading your server mods properly.

First, DELETE the contents of your server mod folder before to avoid outdated/corrupted files resulting in mismatch errors.

Navigate to:

...\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid\steamapps\workshop\content\108600, select all folders inside and delete them, then proceed with the following

👇

- If you are stuck on "initializing", DO THIS! -

1. COPY all folders from here:
...\steamapps\workshop\content\108600

to here:
...\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid\steamapps\workshop\content\108600

2. Copy the appworkshop_108600.acf file from:
...\Steam\steamapps\workshop

to:
...\Steam\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid\steamapps\workshop

This moves both your mod files and the Workshop manifest (.acf) to your server and basically tells it that everything is there and accounted for. Note that you must be subscribed to the mods first and have them downloaded on your client.

For this to work, you need to move the mods AND the acf manifest!

STEP 6: SERVER GOT INITIALIZED, BUT CRASH AFTER CHARACTER CREATION!

I managed to get it working by using this mod order(thanks to PuddingPanda).
If it still doesn’t work, make sure these two mods are removed and that the load order is correct!

Fanta Tiles Mod must be the first in the load order.

Removed:
NEKO ROAD
NEWTERSH
Nightfall, KY

Skizot's Tiles – Didn’t find any dependencies from maps in my map list.

Dylan Elysium Tile Pack – Duplicate tiles caused the server to hang.