# 7 Days to Die V2.5 EXP available now!
- Product: 7 Days to Die (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/7-days-to-die)
- Vendor: The Fun Pimps
- Date: 2025-12-12
- Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/251570/view/533243594419470647
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/7-days-to-die/releases/2025-12-12-v2.5-exp-available-now
What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.
Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.
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- **added** — Added CameraRestrictionMode server config option to control first and third person camera availability
- **added** — Added JarRefund server config option to set empty jar refund percentage after consuming items
- **added** — Added AISmellMode server config option to adjust zombie smell sensitivity from off to nightmare levels
- **added** — Improved water survival with empty jar system requiring scavenging and boiling of murky water from natural sources
- **added** — Added jar crafting capability at forge with crucible, requiring 31 sand and 6 clay, reduced to 25 sand and 5 clay with Advanced Engineering 5/5
- **added** — Added vehicle storage mods that increase any vehicle's storage capacity by one row with 10 slots, supporting up to two mods per vehicle
- **added** — Added Rancher zombie replacing the Plague Spitter with lore-friendly desert appearance while retaining swarm spitting attack
- **added** — Added Chuck zombie replacing the Frost Claw with lore-friendly snowy mountains appearance while retaining boulder throwing attack
- **added** — Added new smell system where carrying 5 or more raw meat creates a detectable smell with 10 second grace period
- **added** — Added Apiary Station for producing honey
- **added** — Added new honey-inspired recipes
- **added** — Added third person camera support as toggleable in-game option
- **added** — Added new character window rendering
- **added** — Added new free cosmetic skins
- **added** — Added new Trader Jen model
- **added** — Added new food and water bars with stats display
- **changed** — Each vehicle now supports additional default storage column with bicycle gaining 1 slot, minibike 3 slots, motorcycle 4 slots, gyrocopter 5 slots, and 4X4 truck 9 slots
- **changed** — Dew collector now unlocks at Workstation Crafting level 16 and is crafted on the workbench with additional resources required
- **changed** — Updated biome hazards, storms, temperature, and protective clothing mechanics
- **changed** — Improved storm rendering with distant storm visibility
- **changed** — Improved turret ammo and quest systems
- **changed** — Reset all controller input bindings to new defaults on first launch after updating
- **fixed** — Fixed cleansed crafting queues issue in workstations that could occur during updates
Hello Survivors!
V2.5 Experimental is now available on Steam.
Although the build is compatible with 2.X save games we highly recommend starting a new game for the best experience. If you continue an old save game **we recommend turning on storms** as they are much improved.
We did have issues where some people experienced cleansed crafting queues in workstations, so we do **heavily encourage players** to clear their crafting queues before updating.
Here is how you participate:
- Right click on the game in steam
- Click on properties
- Click the “betas” tab
- The drop down menu will have latest_experimental available <— you want THAT
- Select that and wait for the game to download
**New entries to the serverconfig.xml that should be added:
**
This feature-rich update focuses on community feedback and the return of some long awaited features. The Stable update for all platforms will be out before the holidays. The update includes:
- Improved Water Survival with Empty Jars
- Vehicle storage improvements and mods
- The new Lore Friendly Rancher Zombie (Replaces the Plague Spitter)
- The new Lore Friendly Chuck Zombie (Replaces the Frost Claw)
- A brand a new Smell System with some great surprises
- Distant storm rendering
- Updated Biome Hazards, Storms, Temperature & Protective Clothing
- A new Apiary Station to produce Honey
- New Honey inspired recipes
- Third Person Camera support (Toggleable In-Game)
- Turret Ammo Improvements
- Quest Improvements
- A new character window rendering
- New Free Cosmetic Skins
- New Trader Jen Model
- New Food and Water Bars with Stats
**Warning to players before upgrading to V2.5**
****
_With changes made to the workstation progression, if a player is in the middle of crafting a workbench, the update may remove that recipe unlock and clear the crafting queue. This will NOT refund the crafting ingredients back to the player. Be sure to clear all crafting queues before updating to V2.5._
_Please note that we have adjusted the default controller layout to accommodate some new and reworked controller inputs. The first time starting the game after updating all input bindings will be reset to their new defaults._
**2.5 Survival Revival Release Notes**
**Improved Water Survival (Empty Jars)**
We know this is a topic of great interest to the community, and we have taken extra care to listen and read hundreds of posts and polls. What stood out the most is that people liked the old empty jar system for the immersive feeling of rummaging through loot to find an empty jar, locating a water source, filling the jar, and boiling it to drink it safely.
With that in mind, we combined the best of the old and new systems and made it balanced. Here’s how it works:
- In the early game, you scavenge for jars and fill them with murky water from natural lakes, rivers and ditches, or from other man-made bodies of water. Murky water is boiled for use as normal. Toilets, sinks, and other water fixtures are all dried up.
- Early to mid-game, you can choose to craft dew collectors or continue only to use the jars that you find.
- To balance gameplay, jars are one-time use, not refunded by default _(See Jar Refund Options Below)_. The dew collector unlocks at Workstation Crafting level 16, is now crafted on the workbench, and additional resources are required for crafting. Murky water and other drinks still have a chance to be found in loot.
- Jars can be crafted once you have a forge and a crucible.
- With no perks, the recipe will be 31 sand and 6
_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/251570/view/533243594419470647]_