Tools / Project Zomboid / Fixes
Fix Project Zomboid Workshop Download Failed
Steam could not fetch one or more Workshop items before the server started. The item may be private, deleted, blocked, or cached in a corrupt local folder.
When this is the problem
- The log says Failed to download Workshop item.
- The same item ID fails every restart.
- The server starts without expected mods or stops before loading the world.
Repair steps
- Open each failing Workshop item URL and verify it is still public.
- Remove deleted/private items from the collection and regenerate the server config.
- Delete the matching folder under steamapps/workshop/content/108600 and restart.
- If SteamCMD is used manually, run workshop_download_item 108600 <item_id> and check for Steam Guard, network, or disk errors.
Prevent it next time
- Use one public collection as the source of truth for the server.
- Check collection changes before restart windows, especially after mod authors remove or hide items.
- Keep enough disk space free for SteamCMD downloads and extraction.
Check the fresh log
After changing the server, restart once and analyze the newest log tail. Do not keep debugging the old failed startup log after the config changes.