The internet gets majorly disrupted by a game running in single-player. | Project Zomboid | Page 1

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 12:40 AM

#

I have read the other posts about this issue and googled as much as I could to try to fix this to no avail.

I revoked Project Zomboid's firewall access and lowered server browser pings to 250.

Yet the game seems to take down my network in single player.
This isn't an issue with my internet; this isn't an issue with Steam.
My network monitor shows major spikes at launch and while the game is running, even in the main menu.

I am at wits' end. Is there any solution, even a temporary one, to fix this issue?

wary hearth Apr 19, 2026, 8:21 AM

#

The first steps should be to contact your internet provider. Maybe they have some hucks about why this happens.

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 12:15 PM

#

It actually is an issue with your internet and Steam

#

Steam pings servers, your router may or may not h andle the pings

#

Best to contact your internet provider to look into it, this is not a problem with the game

pearl raptor Apr 19, 2026, 12:53 PM

#

Hey mate! I just want to say that I also have such weird issues. When I start game (or my girlfriend does) the Internet disappears for a while. And when we play together on the self-hosted server in the same LAN we often don’t have Internet connection at all, nothing works for all devices connected to the WiFi.
I still didn’t have a chance to troubleshoot this, so, please, let me know if you get a fix. Thanks

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 4:42 PM

#

How is it not a problem with the game when it only happens with this game. It isn't my ISP fault or steams fault, blame passing is ridiculous.

My network shows large almost gig spikes on the network every few seconds, those network requests don't come out of nowhere.

#

Especially when you go through the discord, reddit and steam forms and see that I'm not the only person with this issue.

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 5:04 PM

#

Like lets look at the claims here, are we claiming my ISP is throttling my connection because of this game specifically?
Or are we claiming of all the multiplayer and single player games on steam, only this one has this issue because what? steam hates this game specifically? The developers have zero control over how the game interacts with the steam network and are held hostage by steams decisions?

#

Hell, I just submitted a ticket on steam and ill update when i get a reply from them.

vital vault Apr 19, 2026, 5:59 PM

#

bump, happens the same to me

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:15 PM

#

waxen delta Like lets look at the claims here, are we claiming my ISP is throttling my conne...

The claim is that your router cannot handle the pings that the game and Steam does

#

It is not the first time I have seen this issue, not even related to PZ, but in other games

#

The solution was the ISP providing a newer router after the users reported the issue to them

#

Which is what my first answer was to you

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 6:18 PM

#

I have the newest router from my isp. This is the first time i have ever seen this issue.
It's not a bug that in single player the game make ridiculous network requests?

#

Even just sitting on the main menu?

#

Name one other game this effects and ill go test it

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:30 PM

#

Iirc it was Gmod

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:30 PM

#

waxen delta Even just sitting on the main menu?

The game preloads servers on the main menu, meaning being on the main menu is identical as being on the server list

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:31 PM

#

waxen delta I have the newest router from my isp. This is the first time i have ever seen th...

Can you specify what router you have? And when you say that the game "takes down my network" do you mean that your whole router goes down, or just your PCs network?

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 6:31 PM

#

reinstalling gmod right now

#

I have a 500mb connection, zomboid takes the whole network capacity in requests

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:34 PM

#

That.. is interesting

#

Can you share your Task Manager network graph?

#

So I can confirm its literally using 500mb

#

And check the Task Manager Process page as well, to confirm its literally PZ using the bandwidth

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 6:35 PM

#

this is gmod, ill show zomboid.

#

no lag works fine

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:35 PM

#

waxen delta this is gmod, ill show zomboid.

You have to be on the Internet page

#

Since as said, PZ preloads servers

#

Gmod only does it on the Internet page

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 6:36 PM

#

look at the screen shot

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 6:36 PM

#

I see now, I misread it

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 7:20 PM

#

Hard for me to grab screen shots, i have to alt tab quickly because zomboid isn't saving changes to video settings and its running as more than one process. But these orange spikes like you see at the end are almost constant when im in a save. And you can even see the additional untracked zomboid.exe. If more info is needed it's going to have to wait for tomo going to have to go to campus.

severe coral Apr 19, 2026, 7:35 PM

#

It is a bit unclear to me from the screenshot unfortunately. Though does it not say that PZ only recieves around 24 000b/sec ... which is around 0.024 mb/s

waxen delta Apr 19, 2026, 8:17 PM

#

i can tell you its larger than that, if i could get zomboid to save settings i wouldn't have to make such hasty grabs. Here are some shots from yesterday when I was complaining. When i was talking to a friend on the phone it was eating half my internet.

#The internet gets majorly disrupted by a game running in single-player.