fix(zomboid): re-sync the world settings from the live server

The vendored Sophie preset and the running debbzoid world had drifted, and the
repo only held the preset. That is not a restore point: force-pushing it would
have reverted the admins' in-game tuning rather than recovering it, which is
exactly how a Sophie world quietly became an Apocalypse one once already -- 139
values reverted, loot from 0.35 back to 0.9, CharacterFreePoints 0 to 60.

files/zomboid/sophie/SandboxVars.lua is now a snapshot of the live world taken
2026-08-31, not the preset as shipped. The modlist is untouched and still
upstream, which is why zomboid_preset_version now names the two halves and their
separate dates. server.ini.j2 carries the eight keys that had drifted:

  PlayerSafehouse              false -> true
  SafehouseAllowNonResidential false -> true   (the diner/gas-station case)
  SafehouseAllowRespawn        false -> true
  SafehouseAllowLoot           true  -> false
  SafehouseAllowFire           true  -> false
  TrashDeleteAll               false -> true
  MapRemotePlayerVisibility    1     -> 4
  ResetID                      6953472 -> 826046

ResetID is in that list on purpose, and matters most. It is the world's
soft-reset token: a file value that differs from the one the live world was
created with tells every connected client to roll a new character. Carrying the
live value makes a deliberate force-push a no-op instead of a server-wide wipe
prompt.

Spawn config gets its own switch, zomboid_spawn_force. spawnregions.lua and
spawnpoints.lua are the only config a running world re-reads -- at every server
start, where SandboxVars is read once, when the world is created -- so a spawn
edit is deployable on the live world without a wipe. Sharing zomboid_config_force
between them would have meant force-pushing the whole preset to land a one-line
spawn edit, rewriting the INI (hence the ResetID hazard above) and the world's
SandboxVars along with it.

config-template/ now tracks the repo unconditionally. Nothing on the host writes
that directory and the server cannot see it, so it has no hand edits to protect;
if it does not track the repo it is not a restore point, just an older world's
settings.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_016QdWYhwUtwM2NQGukiRh12

ansible/roles/podman/defaults/main.yml

@@ -80,7 +80,12 @@ zomboid_max_ram: 24g
 
 # The modlist itself lives in vars/zomboid_sophie_mods.yml -- 283 mod IDs and
 # 256 workshop items vendored from the upstream Sophie 42 preset.
-zomboid_preset_version: "sophie-42 @ 2026-07-31"
+#
+# The modlist is still the upstream preset. The world settings no longer are:
+# files/zomboid/sophie/SandboxVars.lua is a snapshot of the running debbzoid
+# world taken 2026-08-31, not the preset as shipped. See the seed tasks in
+# containers/home/zomboid.yml.
+zomboid_preset_version: "sophie-42 mods @ 2026-07-31 / live world settings @ 2026-08-31"
 
 # Mods subtracted from the vendored Sophie lists before they reach the INI.
 # Explicit and reasoned so that re-vendoring a newer preset cannot silently
@@ -139,6 +144,19 @@ zomboid_mods_renamed:
 # between world regenerations. Set true to overwrite it from the templates.
 zomboid_config_force: false
 
+# Same switch, narrowed to spawnregions.lua and spawnpoints.lua. They are the
+# only config a running world re-reads (at every server start, unlike
+# SandboxVars, which is read only when the world is created), so a spawn edit
+# can be deployed to the live world without a wipe. It is separate from
+# zomboid_config_force so that landing one is not an excuse to force the INI and
+# SandboxVars over the top of whatever the admins have set in-game.
+#
+#   make deploy TAGS=zomboid-conf -e zomboid_spawn_force=true
+#
+# The server still has to be restarted, with players offline, before the new
+# spawn config is read.
+zomboid_spawn_force: false
+
 sshpass_cron_path: "{{ podman_volumes }}/sshpass_cron"
 caddy_path: "{{ podman_volumes }}/caddy"
 

ansible/roles/podman/files/zomboid/sophie/spawnpoints.lua

@@ -1,3 +1,28 @@
+-- Deployed as Server/debbzoid_spawnpoints.lua, and currently unused: nothing
+-- reads it, because no entry in spawnregions.lua names it with
+-- serverfile = "debbzoid_spawnpoints.lua". The contents below are the stock
+-- sample and mean nothing until such an entry exists.
+--
+-- This is the file to use if a spawn point has to move rather than disappear.
+-- Point a region at it by serverfile instead of file, and put that region's
+-- whole spawn table here -- the serverfile replaces the map's list, it does not
+-- merge with it, so anything left out is gone.
+--
+-- Keeping "Echo Creek, KY" as a spawn choice while freeing the diner would look
+-- like this, with an outdoor square -- the parking lot or the road, not another
+-- building, or that building becomes the unclaimable one instead:
+--
+--     unemployed = {
+--         { posX = <outdoor X>, posY = <outdoor Y>, posZ = 0 },
+--     }
+--
+-- Coordinates are absolute world tiles when worldX/worldY are omitted; with
+-- them, the world position is worldX * 300 + posX (same for Y).
+--
+-- The filename is not free-form: serverfile resolves inside the server's
+-- Server/ directory, and the deploy names this copy after zomboid_server_name.
+-- Rename the server and the serverfile reference has to follow, or the region
+-- loses its points and drops out of the list.
 function SpawnPoints()
 	return {
 		unemployed = {

ansible/roles/podman/files/zomboid/sophie/spawnregions.lua

@@ -1,7 +1,35 @@
+-- Spawn regions offered to new characters, deployed as
+-- Server/debbzoid_spawnregions.lua. PZ reads it at every server start, so a
+-- change here takes effect on the live world after a restart -- no wipe.
+--
+-- Each entry either points at a map's own list (file = ...) or at a file in the
+-- server's Server/ directory (serverfile = ...). Both are loaded by
+-- media/lua/shared/SpawnRegions.lua; a region whose file is missing logs
+-- "spawn points may be broken" to the server console and is dropped from the
+-- list, taking its spawn choices with it.
+--
+-- This list is also what makes buildings unclaimable. SafeHouse.canBeSafehouse
+-- walks every point of every region here, resolves each to a grid square, and
+-- refuses the claim with "Spawn location. Cannot be claimed." if the square
+-- being claimed is inside that square's building. It does not care which
+-- profession the point belongs to, whether the region is reachable, or whether
+-- the player is an admin. A point on an outdoor square blocks nothing, because
+-- an outdoor square has no building.
+--
+-- 2026-08-31: "Echo Creek, KY" is commented out below. Its spawn list holds
+-- exactly one point -- posX 3573, posY 10899, unemployed only -- and that point
+-- sits inside the Echo Creek gas station/diner, which is why the diner cannot
+-- be claimed as a safehouse. There is no server option that lifts the
+-- restriction, so removing the region is the only way to free the building
+-- short of moving the point somewhere else (see spawnpoints.lua).
+--
+-- The cost of removing it: unemployed characters lose Echo Creek as a spawn
+-- choice. Nothing else changes -- the town, its loot and its buildings stay in
+-- the world, and no existing character is affected.
 function SpawnRegions()
 	return {
 		{ name = "Brandenburg, KY", file = "media/maps/Brandenburg, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },
-		{ name = "Echo Creek, KY", file = "media/maps/Echo Creek, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },
+--		{ name = "Echo Creek, KY", file = "media/maps/Echo Creek, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },
 		{ name = "Ekron, KY", file = "media/maps/Ekron, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },
 		{ name = "Fallas Lake, KY", file = "media/maps/Fallas Lake, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },
 		{ name = "Irvington, KY", file = "media/maps/Irvington, KY/spawnpoints.lua" },

ansible/roles/podman/tasks/containers/home/zomboid.yml

@@ -152,8 +152,12 @@
     mode: 0644
   notify: restorecon podman
 
-# Server config is seeded from the vendored Sophie 42 preset *before* first
-# boot, so the server never generates a vanilla INI we then have to patch.
+# Server config is seeded *before* first boot, so the server never generates a
+# vanilla INI we then have to patch.
+#
+# The INI and SandboxVars started as the vendored Sophie 42 preset and were
+# re-synced from the running debbzoid world on 2026-08-31 -- see the header of
+# templates/zomboid/server.ini.j2 for the INI keys that moved and why.
 #
 # force is off by design: these files are a starting point, not a managed
 # state. Stop the server, hand-edit them, regenerate the world -- Ansible will
@@ -170,7 +174,7 @@
   notify: restorecon podman
   tags: zomboid-conf
 
-- name: seed zomboid server ini from sophie preset
+- name: seed zomboid server ini
   become: true
   ansible.builtin.template:
     src: zomboid/server.ini.j2
@@ -183,17 +187,42 @@
   tags: zomboid-conf
 
 # Copied, not templated: these are Lua and must not go through Jinja.
-- name: seed zomboid sandbox and spawn config from sophie preset
+- name: seed zomboid sandbox settings
   become: true
   ansible.builtin.copy:
-    src: "zomboid/sophie/{{ item }}.lua"
-    dest: "{{ zomboid_path }}/data/Server/{{ zomboid_server_name }}_{{ item }}.lua"
+    src: zomboid/sophie/SandboxVars.lua
+    dest: "{{ zomboid_path }}/data/Server/{{ zomboid_server_name }}_SandboxVars.lua"
     force: "{{ zomboid_config_force | bool }}"
     owner: "{{ podman_subuid.stdout }}"
     group: "{{ podman_user }}"
     mode: 0644
+  notify: restorecon podman
+  tags: zomboid-conf
+
+# Spawn config gets its own force switch, and it is not pedantry: these two
+# files are the only part of the server config that a *running* world will pick
+# up. PZ reads <name>_spawnregions.lua (and any serverfile it names) at every
+# server start; SandboxVars is read once, when the world is created. So a spawn
+# change is deployable on the live world -- push, restart, done -- while a
+# SandboxVars change is not, and needs a wipe to mean anything.
+#
+# Sharing zomboid_config_force between them would mean force-pushing the whole
+# preset to land a one-line spawnregions edit, which also rewrites the INI (a
+# ResetID mismatch tells every client to reroll) and the world's SandboxVars.
+#
+#   make deploy TAGS=zomboid-conf -e zomboid_spawn_force=true
+#
+# then restart the server -- with players offline -- for it to take effect.
+- name: seed zomboid spawn config
+  become: true
+  ansible.builtin.copy:
+    src: "zomboid/sophie/{{ item }}.lua"
+    dest: "{{ zomboid_path }}/data/Server/{{ zomboid_server_name }}_{{ item }}.lua"
+    force: "{{ zomboid_spawn_force | bool }}"
+    owner: "{{ podman_subuid.stdout }}"
+    group: "{{ podman_user }}"
+    mode: 0644
   loop:
-    - SandboxVars
     - spawnregions
     - spawnpoints
   notify: restorecon podman
@@ -231,7 +260,7 @@
     state: started
     daemon_reload: true
 
-# A pristine copy of the Sophie preset, kept where the server cannot overwrite it.
+# The settings this repo would deploy, kept where the server cannot overwrite them.
 #
 # Reference only -- nothing applies this automatically. A wipe deliberately leaves
 # the live settings alone so hand tuning survives it.
@@ -242,12 +271,21 @@
 # much as an input, and that is how a Sophie world quietly became an Apocalypse
 # one -- 139 values reverted, loot from 0.35 back to 0.9, CharacterFreePoints
 # from 0 to 60. When that happens again, this is what to copy back from.
+#
+# What it holds changed on 2026-08-31. It was the pristine Sophie preset; it is
+# now a snapshot of the live debbzoid world, because the admins' tuning had by
+# then diverged from the preset in the same 139 values and re-seeding from the
+# preset would have thrown that tuning away rather than restored it.
+#
+# force is on here, and only here. Nothing on the host writes this directory --
+# the server cannot see it -- so it has no hand edits to protect, and if it does
+# not track the repo it is not a restore point, just an older world's settings.
 - name: seed canonical zomboid world settings
   become: true
   ansible.builtin.copy:
     src: "zomboid/sophie/{{ item }}.lua"
     dest: "{{ zomboid_path }}/config-template/{{ item }}.lua"
-    force: "{{ zomboid_config_force | bool }}"
+    force: true
     owner: "{{ podman_user }}"
     group: "{{ podman_user }}"
     mode: 0644

ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/server.ini.j2

@@ -8,11 +8,30 @@
     Only the keys this deployment actually owns are templated -- credentials,
     RCON, Discord, backup cadence, and the mod lists. Every gameplay setting
     (PVP, safety system, safehouses, sleep, MaxPlayers, PauseEmpty, ResetID,
-    the welcome message) is left exactly as the preset author shipped it.
+    the welcome message) is a literal, and was the preset author's value until
+    the live-config sync below.
 
     Seeded once, then left alone: the deploy task uses force=false so the
     server and admins can hand-edit this file between world regenerations.
     Re-push it deliberately with -e zomboid_config_force=true.
+
+    Synced from the running debbzoid server on 2026-08-31, so a deliberate
+    force-push cannot silently revert what the admins set in-game. Eight keys
+    had drifted from the preset and now carry the live values:
+
+      PlayerSafehouse              false -> true
+      SafehouseAllowNonResidential false -> true   (the diner/gas-station case)
+      SafehouseAllowRespawn        false -> true
+      SafehouseAllowLoot           true  -> false
+      SafehouseAllowFire           true  -> false
+      TrashDeleteAll               false -> true
+      MapRemotePlayerVisibility    1     -> 4
+      ResetID                      6953472 -> 826046
+
+    ResetID is in that list on purpose. It is the world's soft-reset token: if
+    the file's value ever differs from the one the live world was created with,
+    every connected client is told to roll a new character. Carrying the live
+    value means a force-push is a no-op instead of a server-wide wipe prompt.
 -#}
 {% set rename_map = {} %}
 {% for r in zomboid_mods_renamed %}{% set _ = rename_map.update({r.old: r.new}) %}{% endfor %}
@@ -83,7 +102,7 @@ DefaultPort=16261
 UDPPort=16262
 
 # Reset ID determines if the server has undergone a soft-reset. If this number does match the client, the client must create a new character. Used in conjunction with PlayerServerID. It is strongly advised that you backup these IDs somewhere Min: 0 Max: 2147483647 Default: 985847558
-ResetID=6953472
+ResetID=826046
 
 # Enter the mod loading ID here. It can be found in \Steam\steamapps\workshop\modID\mods\modName\info.txt
 Mods={{ resolved_mod_ids | reject('in', excluded_mod_ids) | join(';') }}
@@ -131,7 +150,7 @@ AnnounceAnimalDeath=false
 SaveWorldEveryMinutes=10
 
 # Both admins and players can claim safehouses
-PlayerSafehouse=false
+PlayerSafehouse=true
 
 # Only admins can claim safehouses
 AdminSafehouse=false
@@ -140,13 +159,13 @@ AdminSafehouse=false
 SafehouseAllowTrepass=true
 
 # Allow fire to damage safehouses
-SafehouseAllowFire=true
+SafehouseAllowFire=false
 
 # Allow non-members to take items from safehouses
-SafehouseAllowLoot=true
+SafehouseAllowLoot=false
 
 # Players will respawn in a safehouse that they were a member of before they died
-SafehouseAllowRespawn=false
+SafehouseAllowRespawn=true
 
 # Players must have survived this number of in-game days before they are allowed to claim a safehouse Min: 0 Max: 2147483647 Default: 0
 SafehouseDaySurvivedToClaim=0
@@ -155,7 +174,7 @@ SafehouseDaySurvivedToClaim=0
 SafeHouseRemovalTime=144
 
 # Governs whether players can claim non-residential buildings.
-SafehouseAllowNonResidential=false
+SafehouseAllowNonResidential=true
 
 SafehouseDisableDisguises=true
 
@@ -328,7 +347,7 @@ BanKickGlobalSound=true
 RemovePlayerCorpsesOnCorpseRemoval=false
 
 # If true, player can use the "delete all" button on bins.
-TrashDeleteAll=false
+TrashDeleteAll=true
 
 # If true, player can hit again when struck by another player.
 PVPMeleeWhileHitReaction=false
@@ -352,7 +371,7 @@ CarEngineAttractionModifier=0.5
 PlayerBumpPlayer=false
 
 # Controls display of remote players on the in-game map. 1=Hidden 2=Friends 3=Friends and nearby players 4=Everyone Min: 1 Max: 4 Default: 1
-MapRemotePlayerVisibility=1
+MapRemotePlayerVisibility=4
 
 # Min: 1 Max: 300 Default: 5
 BackupsCount=10

ansible/roles/podman/templates/zomboid/world-reset.sh.j2

@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ fi
 # every later wipe regenerates from them -- which is how a Sophie world became an
 # Apocalypse one. Nothing here corrects that automatically any more, so the
 # snapshot above is the way back: config-backup/ holds the settings as they were
-# before each wipe, and config-template/ holds the pristine Sophie preset.
+# before each wipe, and config-template/ holds what this repo deploys -- since
+# 2026-08-31 a snapshot of Greg's live tuning, not the pristine Sophie preset.
 
 # Start server
 log "Starting zomboid service..."